Muts, page 7
“What’s the holdup?”Allana stage whispered at him with aggravation, but he didn't respond or even twitch in acknowledgement. His outline began to vibrate softly and Sasha reached her hand out as if to touch him. I couldn’t stop her without calling attention to us. James was “charging up”, that was the only way for me to think of it. He had to have come in contact with some kind of electricity, maybe a booby trap…? I could feel a crackle in the air that reminded me of the moment before lightning struck. James’s hair had now risen on its end and he was shaking hard enough that his outline was blurred. Sasha seemed to realize what was happening and began to quickly scramble back away from him. I snatched around her shoulders to pull her tightly to me as a deafening bang crashed around us and he crumpled unconscious to the ground. Well, there goes our element of surprise I thought, then chided myself. I hadn’t even checked to see if he was okay yet. He laid still for an endless second then he violently seized a few times before flopping back onto the grass, breathing like he was trying to fill his entire body with air.
None of us could even figure out what to do before there was a bright white light blazing down on all of us, rendering us blind. Then there was a sudden, loud blaring alarm that caused us all to instinctively recoil. The repeated tones echoed in my teeth, and Sasha broke out of the circle of my arms, clamped her hands over her overly sensitive ears, and cried out in pain at the sound. My suspicions were right it seemed, her hearing was getting better than before she started mutating. The lights had done its job, I was completely blinded by flashing spots. I didn’t even think about protecting my insanely sensitive eyes. I couldn’t see anything in front of me, but I could hear the sudden, heavy footsteps of boots hurrying towards us.
“Hands in the air! Now!”, a deep voice pierced through the light. I immediately raised my arms, Allana, however, had different ideas.
“Turn off the damn lights then!”, she yelled back at them defiantly, her hands in fists at her side. Her sentence was punctuated by a gunshot that caused my heart to leap into my throat. Even though there were dancing spots covering most of my vision from the floodlights, I could still see a glimmering form slowly collapse to the ground at my feet. Allana laid directly under me, the light in her eyes slowly dimming and glossing over. I couldn’t move... couldn’t think. I was not prepared to see this, no matter how many bodies I’ve buried behind the azaleas. What even just happened? It didn’t make sense, nothing could get through Allana’s mirrors. We’ve tried everything except for… bullets. Matthias had processed what happened to his sister faster than I did, and he collapsed to his knees over her body and started to heave with silent sobs.
“Stand up with your hands over your head now, unless you want the same.”, the deep voice from earlier commanded through the blaze of white light.
“Please...”, Sasha begged Matthias in a hushed tone, looking down at his hunched form from behind a thick layer of tears, her hands raised in helpless surrender, “Please stand up. Just hold it together for a little while longer. Please, please just stand up. Please, Matthias.”
He rose as directed, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of his sister's body, tears streaking down his face. We all stood perfectly still as the group of guards approached. Their faces were covered completely with some kind of weird hard plastic masks, and the light had to be messing with my eyes because it seemed like some of their uniforms didn’t fit as well as they should. But, at the sight of their guns turned towards us, my heart froze. I was breathing so heavily that trying to slow it down was only causing my lungs to hitch painfully. I had to remain calm, I was the leader of this group and I needed to broadcast that fact. No matter how much I wanted to start running and screaming.
As they surrounded us and I could get a good look at their heavy tactical armor only caused my insides to curdle more. They quickly and painfully tied our hands together behind our backs, I couldn’t help but look down on what was Allana. I watched as a pool of what looked like glittering, iridescent sand slowly bloomed under her head, it was as if she didn’t even have blood flowing through her veins anymore. Her mutation was so much more progressed than any of us could’ve possibly imagined. I swallowed back the nausea and had to rip my gaze away from them adjusting the gurney, their movements causing her body to jerk in weird ways. As much as I wanted to fall apart or freak out, I couldn’t mourn the loss of my friend or ponder how far her mutation had progressed right now. They were taking us into the darkness.
* * *
I couldn’t stop fidgeting with my hands, running my fingers over the unflinching knot holding my wrists together. I knew by now that the thin rope couldn’t be undone, but my body seemed to think there was a possibility and kept moving anyway. We all sat silently in the doctor’s office, there was no mistake as to where we were. The monochrome and puke green cabinets on the wall and anatomy posters alone were more than enough to clue in anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together. I kept fidgeting and inspecting every inch of the room. Every corner and wall I memorized, except the one beside me where Allana’s body lay under a tarp.
Matthias sat to my right, staring off into the distance with stuttered sobs choking his breath off every now and again. I regretfully could imagine how he was feeling, and I quickly turned to look anywhere else except for his direction. I was dangerously close to losing my cool facade, and I couldn’t run that risk right now. Sasha had a calculating look on her face, and Clint’s eyes were darting around the room, desperately trying to find more information. James, however, was completely out of it. He was just staring across the room, his jaw slack and his eyes unseeing. Not that it was surprising, ever since he got that shock from whatever was laid across the grassy lawn, he’d only been with us physically. His brain was on another planet it seems, I just hoped that it didn’t cause any serious mental damage for the kid. There was enough insanity around us already.
As for Allana dying, even though I witnessed her get shot, I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. Out of all of us, she was indestructible. Without ever saying it, I always thought she’d be the one to survive it all, even if she didn’t want to. I couldn’t help my eyes drifting over to her lifeless form while I thought about her. As I watched another small river of shimmering sand spill out from under the tarp covering her, I had to bite back bile, turning my head away. The silence seemed to stretch out endlessly, even Clint stayed quiet for once. At last we heard the door slowly click open, and two stern-faced women strode in. Great. These were the two I had to stand my ground against? They both seemed grim and annoyed, not an easy combo to charm.
They were both dressed casually under their lab coats, and I had to wonder if that fashion choice was a gimmick. What’s the point of wearing a uniform during this fuckery? But their attire was where their similarities ended. They were at such a stark contrast with one another it would be comical if I wasn’t so anxious. The dark one, with skin and eyes like the night, sat in the chair behind the desk while the one that looked sun bleached every part of her was so pale, was casually leaning against the bookshelf behind her partner. The dark one idly picked up a clipboard and pen and casually leaned back in her chair before surveying us all with one quick glance.
“Names?” she asked, clicking her pen and hovering it above the paper. Her gravely voice managed to sound bored, but I could see the open curiosity in her eyes—show time.
“You first.” I dared her with more strength in my voice than I could believe was in my entire body. The stranger cocked a dark brow at me, then shrugged.
“Phoebe. This is Emilie. We are in charge of this establishment. Now...”, she gestured to each of them in turn, then leaned over the desk to give me a withering stare, “Names.”
I jutted out my jaw in aggravation but complied and copied her careless tone.
“Carrie. That’s Clint, Matthias, Sasha, James, and that was-”, I paused to pointedly glance towards Allana’s body which was now steadily trickling her sand onto Phoebe's squeaky clean linoleum. “Allana.”
“Ah.”, she stated with apathy, as if none of this was of interest to her, but her pen was flying across the paper, “Yes, sorry about that little mishap earlier. My guards are a bit... high strung at the moment.”
“Little mishap?!” Matthias burst out violently, trying to stand but unable to get out of his bonds, “You shot her without her even doing a thing to you! You killed- they killed my-”
His voice cut off, and he quickly lowered his head. But, without his hands free, his tears just cascaded down his face to drip off his nose. I couldn’t stand to look at his misery anymore and glanced up to see that Emilie also had her face averted, a new tenseness to her jaw made me think that she was upset at the guard’s hair triggers as he was. Surprising. She might be softer than she seems.
“Like I said before, an unfortunate mishap.”, Phoebe said apathetically, leaning back in her chair again. “So, what exactly are you? You’re obviously not only humans, none of you are. You, for instance-”
She swung her onyx eyes to Sasha, who subconsciously recoiled away from her. She wasn’t a physically imposing woman, but something about her face made me never want to cross her. “I have no idea what you could be, you look human enough...but not quite enough.”
Sasha swallowed roughly and I prayed that her voice would hold steady.
“I have a ‘genetic’ mutation.”, she answered, her voice rougher than I would’ve liked.
“And when did your… ‘symptoms’ kick in?”
“I first noticed the changes a week or so after I woke up, I’m not sure how long I was out.”
“Really...? Those who have had a mutation like yours rarely live for long.”, she gave her a sinister smile, “What are you spliced with then?”
Her pen was held expectantly above the paper, and Sasha gave me a tense glance before answering.
“Deer.” It seemed easier for her to stick to monosyllabic answers like her throat was too dry to give up much volume. Phoebe raised an eyebrow as if commanding her to continue. She swallowed the lump of nerves in her throat, and I felt a slight flare of annoyance. Sasha is too nervous to deal with this line of questioning right now, and Phoebe should be questioning me and not her anyways.
“And how exactly did you develop this mutation?”
“I was starving before the blast. All I could eat the week before was a bag of venison jerky I packed for my hiking trip.”
Phoebe seemed to be contemplating the circumstances of Sasha’s mutation when a loud clang rang out, almost like a large coin dropping on the ground from a great height. We whipped our heads around to see a crumpled bullet bounce out from under the tarp that was covering Allana’s body and roll across the cold floor. Phoebe stared at it with open revulsion, but Emilie stepped closer to the body, one hand edging towards her lower back as if she had a weapon hidden. So she was Phoebe’s protection then. Makes sense. A pregnant silence filled the room as we stared unblinkingly at her unmoving body before Phoebe gave a galant shrug and resumed writing like nothing just happened and Emilie returned to her casual stance. Matthias made a soft gagging noise beside me and I saw Clint lean forward to give him a pitiful look.
“It doesn’t seem like any of you have any actual useful mutations, other than shocky over here.”, her patronizing smile falling to James now, who squirmed in his chair as if her stare made him physically uncomfortable. At least he was aware enough to notice someone saying something to him finally.
“We’re not here to be useful.”, Clint interjected angrily, indignation rising with every word, “We’re here to find my sister then get the hell out of this shithole.”
“Hmmmm…”, she began to click her pen rhythmically on the desk while sizing him up slowly. Emilie was completely unmoving behind her but she kept sending wary side glances towards Allana every few seconds. Where their silence was putting me more on edge, it seemed to just infuriate Clint, who kept grinding his teeth together. I could only keep my mouth shut and hope he’d see the wisdom of doing the same. He made the idiotic idea of dragging her attention to him, he better not mess this up. Phoebe inspected Clint for an endless second more.
“Her name?”
“Abby.”, he said, never breaking his eyes from her staredown, “She is ten years old, small for her age, curly blonde hair, green eyes like mine, has a bit of a temper. Just tell me if she’s here, if she’s not then we’ll leave without any problems.”
For the first time it seemed like her casual exterior crack for just a moment. I couldn’t tell if it was glee or surprise that flashed across her face, but it made me uneasy. Why would someone who seemed power-hungry be happy about losing one of her numbers? Especially if it was a little girl with abilities I couldn’t even begin to understand? Phoebe opened her mouth, but whatever she was about to say was drowned out by an eardrum shattering scream.
I whipped my head to the corner of the room, and I couldn’t do anything except stare in shock. Allana was sitting up on the gurney, holding her head while the fine mirrors like sand poured out from in between her fingers. She lifted her head to stare at us with wide, bewildered eyes as we watched her mirrors slowly overlap over the open crater in her forehead. Sand was swiftly pouring out of the rapidly closing wound until it slowly trickled to a stop. The only way to tell where the bullet went through her skull was a large, round patch of her face that had a finer texture and seemed almost cloudy compared to the rest of her mirrors.
“Am I dead…?”, she questioned us, hysterical panic rising in her voice. She pulled her hand back from where the bullet entered and looked at it shocked that it wasn’t covered in blood, her breathing sped up again. “I was dead… why am I not dead?”
We could only openly gape at her while Phoebe and Emilie simply stared at her in alarm with wide eyes. I knew she was virtually indestructible but immortal…? For the first time since I realized that I was mutating, I felt a deep blot of paralyzing fear about what was happening to our bodies. What did they do to us?
“Lana… Lana, are you okay?”, Matthias asked, his eyes round with tear tracks dying on his face. She looked up to meet his desperate eyes, then surrendered to another choking sob and let her head drop back into her hands. “Let me go!” Matthias started thrashing against the ropes violently, “Let me go! Let me go!”
“Fine, fine! Emilie, untie him!”, Phoebe shouted back to Emilie as she quickly ran around the desk and deftly untied the knot. Matthias shot up out of his chair and without hesitation ran over to the beige couch against the back wall and quickly began ripping apart the couch cushions to pull the foam out from the inside. The entire time he just kept saying encouraging phrases to her in his state of shock. He couldn’t know that she was going to be okay or that she’s safe, yet he just kept repeating it. He rushed over to Allana and wrapped her in the fabric before holding her as close as he could while still not touching any of her mirror shards.
“You know what?”, Phoebe exclaimed, flabbergasted, “Take Abby. Hell, take both of the devil twins and their friends. They are too much to deal with, and I already have a lot of people to take care of.”
“Devil twins?”, Clint questioned her, dragging his eyes from the sad sight of Matthias attempting to calm down Allana.
“Yes, Abby and her little friend Caroline.”, Phoebe explained quickly, still eyeing Allana as if she expected the hysterical woman to suddenly lunge at her, “Those two have caused a lot of havoc here, especially after the flux. Take them, and be sure to take their friends. They’re the only ones that can keep them under some kind of control.”
“We’ll take them, but we have some demands.”, I cut in before Clint could open his mouth to pester Phoebe with more questions. I had to get everyone out of here safely, and this was my opening. I couldn’t risk him ruining this with his big mouth.
“You’re not really in a position for leverage here.”, Phoebe warned me, her pride outweighing her fear, even though she couldn’t pull her eyes from Allana. Pride I could easily recognize and respect, now we were on even footing—negotiation time.
“I think we are, actually.” I smiled as I leaned forward, “Let me guess, all you want is to be able to stay here without detection and be the big, bad boss, right? And I’ll bet the idea of having an untouchable immortal running around here is already making your head spin. So, here’s what's going to happen. We’ll take them and go in peace, but you’re going to tell us everything about this place and answer any question we ask.”
I leaned back in my chair, with a smug look on my face. I had her trapped and she knew it. I could unpack Allana’s resurrection later, right now the fear was my best weapon. Phoebe’s gaze bounced from person to person until it landed back on me, her eyes only tightening a fraction in anger.
“Fine, but I have one more stipulation.”, Phoebe strode around the desk slowly to stand in front of me, her eyes never breaking contact. “We make an alliance.”
“An alliance?” Sasha asked her, her curiosity winning out. Damnit, Sasha.
“Yes. An alliance.”, she replied solemnly, eyes never shifting away from mine. “I assume you live close by because there wasn’t any form of transportation where you were camping. Yes, we checked. In these uncertain times, if we can agree to be a safe house for each other it will be mutually beneficial. That way, if anything happens, we’ll have a safe place to go and vice versa.”
She gave me a bright smile. Another crocodile smile.
“What do you think?” she asked me, a false generosity in her voice. I didn’t respond to Phoebe’s question, instead I spoke to Emilie.
“Get these off of us will you?”
When we were all free, I stood face to face with Phoebe for a silent moment.
