It All Started When...

I Hate Your Grass

   "I don't get it."

   Liam was sitting beside me, perched on the edge of a rotting log. The sun was shining brightly at us through the tall trees, and the song birds were singing. It was peaceful.

We had just woken up from where we collapsed early this morning. Exhaustion had felt like it was eating me from the inside out. We had fallen to the hard dirt ground, our legs giving out after miles of use. I was dead to the world within minutes.

   I glanced over and shifted uncomfortably. I didn't like the way Liam was looking at me.  It was like I was a puzzle he wanted to figure out. The blush heated my neck and gave my ears a pinkish tinge.

   "Get what?"

   "Where you came from."

   "What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

   "All known Validi came from the same place. But, I'm guessing you didn't. Otherwise, The General would have already tracked you down and claimed you."

   "What place?" I asked, ignoring the tiny twinge of fear that settled in my gut. Claimed me?

   "It's kind of complicated." He rubbed the back of his neck.

  "Please, tell me." I pleaded. I wanted to know more. Also, I would take any excuse to stay off my feet for a while.

  "Well, to start, it was a medical lab. They were looking to cure cancer, but they were using..." He hesitated. "unorthodox methods. Old chicken pox remedies, Ancient Greek summons, herbal healing, random chemical mixing; stuff like that."

   "Sounds like your stereotypical mad scientist." I joked, nudging him with my elbow.

    He shrugged, picking up a stick and drawing in the ground. A light breeze dusted through the trees and tugged at his hair. I had the strange urge to run my hands through it. Forcing my eyes away, I looked at his shirt. The neon green was faded with dirt, but that was okay. After all, it wasn't exactly the shirt I was looking at.

   Snap out of it, Iris!

    I blinked. Liam had been talking and I completely missed what he was saying. I silently cursed myself.

    "And so, with that disaster of an experiment, the infants became Validi."

    I blushed. I wished I could time travel and slap my past-self in the face.

   "Could- could you start from the beginning. I was distracted by.... by that bee over there."

   "What bee?" Liam peered over his shoulder. "I don't hear one."

    "Oh! Over there!" I said, pointing at absolutely nothing. I drew my finger off behind him, "Well, it's gone now."

    He furrowed his eyebrows at me. "Are you okay?"

   "Yeah. I'm completely fine besides being starved and dehydrated. Now, please tell me what you said."

   He gave me a long look, then relented. "Well, I was saying that this new guy came in. All the pictures of him are... creepy. Dr. Andrew Felix, I think. Anyways, he proposed a new idea, exotic even by our standards."

   Our?

   "The scientists at the lab agreed do to his experiment. It involved a bunch of chemicals and stuff I don't really remember. However, the guy insisted they use infants."

   "Infants?"

   "I know." He said grimly, "It was messed up. Our scientists didn't want to use babies. They didn't even want to use humans. But this guy convinced them somehow."