Human Genome Project

Chapter 3

Several people went on stage before they finally called my name. I could feel my heart beating in my chest. I went through the faces of the people who were there for me until I stopped in Daivat's face; his was the most friendly of all. I took a paper out of my pocket where my poem was written. I took a deep breath and then read:
"Oh, is one of a kind the person that is not affected by the cruel treatment of life. Oh, is one of a kind who doesn't cry when the odds are not in their favor anymore, or instead never were. Oh, I'm one of a kind..."
There was a sepulchral silence in the audience that was followed by a round of clapping. I smiled timidly and walked away. Once I was backstage I drop on the floor. My heart was beating so fast that I could barely breath.
"That was a great poem" Travis said with excitement. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know." I manage to replied. I wasn't feeling very well, but it didn't feel like stage fright. There was something else. I took a deep breath to discard the feeling. "Don't worry about me" Travis' face was contracted with preoccupation. His name was called to get on stage. "I'm okay. Go and impress everyone with your story."
He walked away uncertain if to leave me alone. I smile at him and stood up to show him that I was fine. Deep inside me there was something wrong though, like something was pulling on my lugs. Travis returned after several minutes on stage. His short story was an well received by the audience.
"Good Job" I gave him a little pad in the back.
"I wouldn't have pick the right one without you... and Daivat" I turned to him with an expression of surprised; he rolled his eyes.
"It was our pleasure." I answered for both of us with a high hierarchy tone.
I left Travis behind to meet with my family and friends. They were all waiting for me near the food section.
"Hello" I waved my hand in front of them.
"Nice job, Darling" My mom reached to me and hugged me. "I don't understand why you refuse to recite your poems; they are beautiful."
"We've talked about this mom." I set myself free from her arms, gently.
"I think your mom is right. Your words are very deep and touching." Mrs Saxena said while putting one or her hands on my cheek.
"Thank you, Mrs. Saxena" I blushed for such compliment.
Mrs. Saxena was a very elegant woman. She respected her traditions by wearing sarees everyday. Her hair had a beautiful black color, it was down to her waist, and neatly arranged on a braid. Mr. Saxena was also elegant, and his black hair was always brush to the side, but his wife emanated certain glow that he didn't have.
"You are a very polite young lady. Your mother raised you well." My mother gave Mrs. Saxena a pleasant smile. "Adrian, would you like to have dinner with us tonight? If your mom is okay with it, of course."
"I have no problem with it." My mom rushed to say.
"Mmm" Five pairs of eyes were looking at me waiting for an answer. I suddenly realized that that was Daivat's plan from the beginning, but I still didn't know why. "I would love to." I had have dinner at Daivat's house several times, but this was the first time his mother invited me over.
After some conversation the Saxenas left, leaving me, mom, and Tristan behind. I took a deep breath and drop my smile.
"So, what is going on?" I asked my mom.
"I told you honey, it was Daivat's idea. I don't know what he is planning." She smiled at me with roguery.
"Lier" I used my coldest tone and then started walking towards the car. Mom and Tristan followed.
None of us said a word on our way home. Every now and then Tristan would sing along with any song playing on the radio. Once we arrived I went up to my room to pick some clothes. I honestly felt like a spoilt little brat ignoring my mother and cousin that way, but I was angry. I never liked to be kept in the dark about anything.
"You are being an ass." Tristan was standing at my door frame.
"I know." I didn't bother to turn around to face him.
"You should go and apologize to aunt Rita." He was like the big brother I never had. His parent never took well care of him, so my mom was like his mom. We were not race together, but we ended up being close.
"I will" I took a deep breath and turn around. "I hate you." my voice was monotonous.
"For being right?" He smiled from ear to ear; he was teasing me.
"Well, that and for not telling me you were coming." I stuck my tongue out.
"It was supposed to be a surprise, so I wasn't allow to tell you." He walked into my room and sat on the bed. "I would tell you Daivat's plans if I knew them, but aunt Rita only told me that it was going to be an special day. She never said why."
"Mom always had this thing about surprises. She thinks it is more special if people are not expecting certain things" I sight and let my shoulders drop. "Stay right here, I will go apologize to mom."
"You don't have to." Mom was gazing my way while standing in front of my door. Her arms were cross around her chest. "I know you are sorry, but I also know that you have the right to be angry. I promise you that I would not plan any more surprises for you and I kept my promise. However, Daivat did not promise such a thing." She smiled with some kind of satisfaction.
"I didn't even remember about that promise. Well, I'm sorry for being a pain. I will get dressed and see what is left for me tonight." Mom gave me a malicious smile and walk away.
"I don't think you will like your surprise that much."
"Hush." I took a pillow and threw it at him. "I am pretty sure is not a bad surprise, but I will probably be speechless for a while."
"Relax, I'm sure is nothing to be worry about." Tristan's words helped me calm down. He did not know what the surprise was, however, he had an idea.
I tooked a shower leaving Tristan on my mother's care. While in the shower I couldn't stop thinking about what was awaiting for me at Daivat's place. It could not be related to the major secret he had showed me, but then what could it be about? My birthday wasn't near either. Turning my brain into juice wasn't going to help me figured it out any quicker. I got out of the shower and put my nicest casual dress; it was a blue fabric with a lacy designed. I put on matching blue shoes, and a simple necklace that my mom gave me when I was younger.
"Wow, you look like a lady." Tristan was at the door making fun of me.
"Oh be quiet. You look beautiful honey." My mom hit Tristan on the back of his head.
"That's exactly what he said." Mom rolled her eyes and Tristan gave me thumbs up. "Relax mom."
"I am very relax. Do you want me to drive you over there?" I shook my head as I puted my hair on a ponytail.
"I will drive. You should spend time with Tristan, I am sure you guys have a lot to talk about behind my back."
"Yes!" Mom and Tristan said at once. For some reason I was more afraid of that, than the surprise that was yet to come.
I took my car keys and left. Daivat's house was only 35 minutes away. I always assumed that our parents decided to move near to each other on purpose, though I knew that was not the real reason. However, I liked how it ended up working out that way.
When I got to his house, his mother received me at the front door. She was wearing a beautiful, pink and orange saree.
"Adrian, you look beautiful tonight." Her voice was alway pleasant.
"Thank you. You look absolutely beautiful too." She smiled and gave me a hug.
"Follow me to the dinner table darling. The boys are waiting for us." I couldn't help feeling uneasy. I had been in that house before, but something felt different.
"I wasn't expecting to be having dinner right after I arrived. Am I late?" She posed one of her hands on my cheek and smiled. She didn't need to say a word to calm me down. The peace in her eyes was enough.
"You are never late darling. We just decided to have dinner right away."
I tried to brush away the fear that was starting to grow inside of me. Once I sat on the tablet I fixed my eyes on Daivat's. He smiled, it was the same kind of smiled as his mother's. Maybe that was why I was so comfortable with his mother, she reminded me of him.
"You are late." Daivat mocked me.
"No, I'm not." He look confused for a second. "I asked your mom if I was, so you are a minute too late." I tilted my head and stuck my tongue out.
The rest of the evening when as smooth as the beginning. My fear faded throughout the night. At about 8:00 pm somebody rang the bell. I should have guess something bad was going to happen when I felt all my body hair go up. I remembered it in slow motion; Mrs. Saxena standing up to open the door, then I heard her shutting the door and running towards us. I do not remember what she was saying. Next, all I could see was a bullet drilling through Mr. Saxena's head. My heart dropped.
Fera starting taking over ,y body. Mrs. Saxena rushed us off the table to hide. She didn't say a word for a while due to the adrenaline of the moment.
"Mom, what is going on!?" By that moment we were hiding behind the counter. Daivat was shouting.
"Hush dear. There is no time for questions." She opened a trap door right below her. "You guys need to follow this passage and get out of here.Oh Rita what did you got me into?"
"Mr. Saxena was shot." I was in some kind of shock. I could heard the voices of two men, their footstep. They were getting closer as the time passed. Water started dripping from the kitchen sink. I couldn't feel my body but I knew it was moving; it was like it followed DAivat's movements.
"There they are." One of the men said as he walked our direction. My eyes widen and my breathing accelerated. If we didn't moved we were going to end up like Mr. Saxena. "Remember what the boss said, we can't kill the young ones, only the adults." Well, that was an instant relief that didn't last long. It was even more terrifying knowing that they wanted us alive. What were they planning to do with us?
"Run!" Mrs. Saxena pushed us inside the trap door. "Go to Rita. She will tell you what to do." That was the second time Mrs. Saxena had mentioned my mom. I had a bad feeling that there was a lot more on the story than a bad adoption process.
Daivat started dragging me into a dark cave located right underneath his kitchen. He errant steps gave away his lack of knowledge about the place. I was running as fast as I could when I heard the sound of another bullet. The noise made me stop for a second. My vision suddenly became blurry and it took me a while to figure out that my tears were the reason why. Daivat stopped half way through the cave.
"What are you doing? They are probably following us." I was not an athlete, so if I stopped running then I was not going to be able to keep going. My heart was beating really fast, and I was out of breath.
"I'm sorry, but I just lost both of my parents in the matter of minutes." His face was covered in tears. I wanted to argued that, though it was useless.
"Daivat, I'm scared. Those were two guys with guns! You will have time to grieve later, but I really don't want to die." I was on the edge of being hysterical.
"I have an idea." He stood up straight and held one hand up.
"What are you doing?" I understood a second too late; a homogenous mass started coming out of his hand. It opened his skin making a small puddle of blood right in front of him. A bone structure attached to the wall of the cave and cover it around creating a shield like structure. When he was done, there was a layer of bone covering one side of the cave, preventing anybody on the other side to reach us.
His hand was bleeding badly after he broke the bone attached to his hand. There was still bone sticking out of his hand, like when people break their bones in such a bad way that it breaks their skin. I heard footsteps coming from the other side of the cave; Daivat was still froze in place. He was is great pain; the lost of blood was making him dizzy.
"Daivat." I put my hands on his face and made him looked me in the eye. "We have to go. If we don't we might loose each other." He blinked a few times to wipe the tears that were still inside his eyes. After, he grabbed my hand with his non bleeding hand and we started running again.
The cave ended a few minutes after we started running. We were in a dead end; there was a door above our heads. Daivat picked me up so I could opened it. Once we were out of the cave we looked around; we were in his backyard. We looked at each other for a second and then went inside the house to get the car keys. He watched my back as I snuck into the house to grab the keys; Mr. Saxena's body was laying on the floor next to the table, I found Mrs. Saxena's body lying in front of the front door. There was a trail of blood from her body to the back of the counter. They probably moved her to get her out of the way. I found my car keys inside my pursed; a pretty small pursed, ideal for dinner time. At least that's what my mom told me before she gave it to me. Now it was stained with blood from Mr. Saxena.
After getting out of the house Daivat and I reached my car. I wasn't capable of driving due to the tremors that where taking control of my body. Daivat wasn't doing better, but at least he was capable of driving.
"Andy." I looked his way. "What the fuck just happened?" His voice was calm, but his eyes gave him away. There was fear, sadness, and anger in his eyes.
"We were having dinner at your house, and then two men knocked on your door and killed your mother and father. After, you used your bone growth power to blocked the way, so we could escape." I tried to keep my voice steady.
"Okay, I thought so." He kept his eyes fix on the road.
Once we arrived at my house, I locked the door in all the possible ways it could be lock. I even placed a chair underneath the door knot like in the movies.
"Rita!" Daivat started screaming.
"Dude, you don't have to shout." Tristan came out of the kitchen.
"Shut up, Tristan." My voice was barely a whisper. I was turned to the door, breathing fast. I felt on the verge of hyperventilation.
"Andy, are you okay?" Tristan's voice was full of concern. "Is that blood on your dress?"
"Rita!" Daivat couldn't stop moving around as he screamed. Daivat's hands were trembling so badly that he put them into fists.
"Calm your horses. I'm coming." Mom took her time to finally come out of her room. "How did it go?" Her voice had a flirty tone. It did not took her long to figure out that we were cover in blood. "What the fuck happened to you two? Daivat, you promise not to do anything extreme."
"Oh, I'm sorry, next time I get attack on my own house I will make sure to let the guys with guns know that killing is too extreme for you." Daivat snapped at her. " By the way, my mom told us to ask you for answers before a bullet drilled her skull!"
I was still attached to the door, but facing them. Tristan was glaring at the floor while my mom just stood there quiet. I couldn't read their faces to know what they were thinking. My mind was blasting with as thousand ideas at once.
"Where is Anjushri?" A single tear went through my cheek. Mom's voice was barely audible.
"She is dead, and so is my dad. What part of a bullet drill her skull didn't you understand?" Daivat was enrage. The lost of his family in such a short period of time was messing with his brain. "Rita, what the fuck is going on? Why the hell did mom told us to ask you?"
"Hey, Daivat calm down." Tristan got closer to Daivat to put his hands on his shoulders in a intent to calm him down, but he just pushed him away. "Listen, we cannot explain to you what is going on if you are not willing to let us explain. You have to take a deep breath and try to calm down."
"What do you mean by "we"? Did you know about this?" I finally found my voice under a pile of terrifying thoughts and life traumatic images.
"Yes, he knows and so do I." There was a lot of tension in the air. I felt like if my whole life was a complete lie. "I will assume that either of you already found out your powers and used them in public."
"You know about that too?" I tried to stay calm, but as my mom talked I got more frustrated. "Either of us? Does that mean that I will also be able to grow my bones out of my body?"
"So it was Daivat. No dear, you have different kind of abilities." Mom was surprisingly calm. She walked towards the book shell on the living room, and got a folder hidden inside an encyclopedia. "Here is all you need to know."
Daivat took the folder out of her hands, but before he opened it he stopped.
"How do you know about my "powers"?" As intrigue as I was about that, the content of the folder was driving my curiosity crazy.
Mom took a kitchen knife and without hesitation she stabbed herself in the abdomen.
"Mom! What the hell do you think you are doing?" I watched my mom race her blouse; a 5 cm long wound was visible when she removed the knife. One minute the wound was wide open, and the next it started closing till in turn into a pink line on her abdomen.
Daivat and I exchanged a look. The silence was broken by the sound of knocking. The panic grew in the room at once. I grabbed Daivat's wrist stabbing him with my nails. Mom didn't waste time and opened a trapdoor that was underneath our living room carpet.
"Another trapdoor?" There was a sense of pain drown in Daivat's words.
The knocking was becoming more intense and loud. Before we were all through the trap door, the guys from before broke into the house. My mom closed the trap door and hide it from the two men. The barely notice was she was doing, so we were temporarily safe. Tristan was urging me to keep going, but I couldn't turn my back on my mom. The two men and her were talking; I wasn't able to listen to anything, until one of them race his gun and shot, The bullet drilled through her sculp. Daivat's hand held mine, but I could barely feel it. My heart just stop. After a minute that felt like hours my mom sat up. She said something and then smiled with victory. The men then tied her up and took her out of the house with them. She was gone, alive, but gone.
Tristan urged me once more. As I moved, the trap door made a loud sound, I was holding it slightly open without noticing. We heard footsteps from above, and then we saw a light coming from the trapdoor.
"Run!" was the only word Tristan manage to say.
We all started running down another cave. It was poorly illuminated, so I hit things several times. The man that was following us was only a few feet away from us. I started panicking. All I could think about was that I was going to die, or worst. Splash sounds were made by our feet as we advanced; the cave had water infiltration, and as we went on the water started rising. Before I knew, the water overflowed the cave and dragged us to the end of the it. Unlike the one in Daivat's house, this one took us to what it seem a lake, the only problem was that the lake was a few feet below the end of the cave. Suddenly, as we were falling the water from the cave turned into solid ice. My right hand was trap in the ice, while Daivat was holding my other hand; Tristan was a little bit below Daivat holding onto him. From far, we looked like a chain coming out of a hole. I felt like we were moving down. I thought the ice was breaking but instead it was just stretching until each one of us reach the water savetetly.
"The folder is ruined." Daivat declared once we were out of the water.
"Is okay. I know everything that it said. I read it long ago." Tristan seemed to know a lot about what was happening.
"Start talking. What the hell was that?" I pointed at the cave. "How did you do that with the water?"
"Mmm, Andy that wasn't me." Tristan looked right into my eyes. "That was you."
I fell silent. I put everything that happened to a dark corner in my brain and started putting the pieces about that evening together. Those guys arrived at Daivat's, mom mentioned that one of us had use their power in public. Mom having healing powers. The water and me.
"Tristan, what are we exactly?" I was glaring at the ground. With the corner of my eye I saw Daivat staring at Tristan with all his attention.
"Hehe." He laughed ironically."We are genetically engineered humans. We were made in a lab. Not like clones though. Our parents actually mate to have us, however, they didn't have a choice." There was bitterness in his words.
"What... What do you mean?" A knot created at the bottom of my throat.
"It means that they were so drug up that they didn't even know what they were doing, right?" I managed to say with tears in my eyes.
"Right." Tristan ended the conversation.
I could only imagine the bizarre scene of scientist making human beings have intercorse so they could make babies.
"You are like us too." Daivat wasn't asking but Tristan confirmed it anyway. " How? Why?"
"It all started with the human genome project. They found a gene that had a high rate of mutation which did not cause a disease, instead it caused all this weird kind of abilities; those were the "symptoms" of this genetic condition. Everybody the genetically manipulated had a different set of symptoms." he pause for a while. "In the first group with the mutated genes, there was a couple that had a baby; their baby inherited the mutated version of the gene, and developed his abilities in a stronger manner that his parents. That is how the F1 generation started. People who agree to be genetically change were actually in disagreement to procreate for science; they said that it was unethical. That's when they started to drug them up and make them... you know. After having a lot of the F1 generation, someone decided that it was a good idea to do a F2 generation. That was a terrible idea. Most of us died, only 5 of us actually survived." There was a darkness growing within Tristan that I had never seen before.
"What happened then?" There was a deep wound developing in my heart. I did not remember all that, but it felt like if I did.
"Rita hid her medication for a while when in the lab facility. She wasn't as drugged up as the doctors thought. There was this one doctor though. He was sort of crazy, and helped us escape for his own benefit. He... Never mind, you don't need to know that. The bottom line is that Rita took us out. She ran out with 5 kids on her own." He started breathing fast. "She saved us and now we let her behind. She is back with those idiots who will..." He seem more hurt than the rest of us.
"Where are the other two?" I didn't want to heard what the were going to do to my mom. I wasn't going to be able to take it. Daivat walked away after that.
"Well, Alula lives in Montana. She knows me, Rita made me responsible to keep an eye on her." Tristan started walking in circles. "Amia though, she died."
I was afraid to asked what happened to her. I had ever seen Tristan so taciturn, her death was probably a big deal to him.
I left Tristan alone with his thoughts and went to help Daivat with whatever he was doing. He was actually collecting wood to start a fire. He seem to be dealing with the situation fairly well. I was still freaking out inside.
"Do you need some help?" He stopped abruptly.
"Remember the message I was writing on the snow?" I recall the conversation we had a few days ago.
"What about it?" He started collecting pieces of wood again.
"I was writing "deviant pair" You know, like we use to call ourselves." He smiled half way.
"How offensive." He glare at me with confusion. "We are not a "deviant pair", we are "The Deviant Pair""
This time his smiled showed all his teeth. I wasn't sure if we were going to get through our situation, but I was damn sure that we were going to try. After getting enough wood, Daivat and I went back to the "camp" spot. Technically we just randomly picked a place warm enough to sleep at. We were planning to leave in the morning to our hideout.
"I think we should take turns to stay awake. You know, to keep an eye around." Tristan didn't object to that.
"I will be the first one. I don't even think we will have the need to do it several times. It is 3am after all, the sun will be out soon. You guys should go to sleep." Tristan was gentle. He will make himself starve it that meant that other people could eat.
"Okay, but wake us up if something happens." He nodded a little as an answer.
The fire was on. The temperature around us started to get a little warmer. It was a shame that we did not have any blankets to keep us warmer. Our clothes were still slightly wet. I took my dress off and stayed with tan top and some shorts.
"You are going to freeze. We are still in winter you know." Daivat was obviously concerned.
"I will sleep next to the fire."
I lay next to the fire as I said I was going to. Daivat lay next to me. We looked at the sky for a while and then he move closer and lay his head on my chest. He placed one of his hands on my belly.
"I just..."
"I know. Don't worry, that's what I'm here for."
He cry himself to sleep; there were no sobs, or any sounds, just tears.