Human Genome Project

Chapter 4

I woke up by the feeling of water droplets on my face. Tristan was splashing water on my face.
"Jerk." I mumbled.
"You guys are disgusting." Tristan made an unpleasant face.
"Nah, you are just angry because you didn't get to cuddle with us." I heard Daivat's voice from my chest.
"You are very heavy, did you know that?" I pushed Daivat off my chest.
"I have been told that once or twice." Daivat rolled on his back and sat up.
"Hey Tristan, I was thinking... Those guys may still be around. We could try to break mom out using our... you know "abilities."
"Ha!" Tristan couldn't be more amused. "Only one problem, you have no clue of how to control your "abilities"."
"But, Daivat kind of does, and I assumed you too." I was hoping Tristan agree, but he didn't seem eager to do so.
"My abilities are useless. I suggest we stay away from those guy."
"But..."
"Adrian I like to be alive as much as the next person."
I couldn't argued that, or at least I just didn't want to. I knew the guys from before were waiting for us to show up sooner or later. But, I wanted my mom back.
"Keep pressuring her like that and she will snap at you." Daivat told Tristan out of the blue.
"As if." Tristan didn't seem much concern about what I had to say.
"Whatever man. Don't say I didn't warn you. By the way, I want to go back home."
"I just said I would like to stay alive didn't I?" Tristan wasn't very pleasant without sleep.
"I'm not asking. You don't live here, you have stuff, but we..." Daivat pointed at me and him. "We have no clothes or money. Besides, I'm pretty sure those bastards haven't taken their time to call the police so my parents can have a decent burial."
"If we call the police to find your parent's bodies they will accuse you for murder because you are no where to be found. And putting that aside, those guys are expecting us to go back there. They want you to be sentimental and visit your dead parents."
"Tristan you will watch our backs as we go in." I exchanged a look with Tristan. For a moment he evaluated the idea to object, but for some reason he just gave in.
"Fine, we'll go back to your house so you can get stuff and call the police. Do you want to go back to your house too?" He glare at me with anger.
"She has stuff at my house. I will just take those." Daivat interfered.
"Of course she does."
I didn't want to start an argument with neither of them, but the testosterone around them was firing. Tristan and Daivat were usually this way towards each other; considering the situation they should take a breath and calm down a little. However, due to Tristan's lack of sleep, and Daivat's recent lost neither of them wanted to settle.
I was fairly calm considering everything that was going on. My mom was gone, the couple I admired was dead, I was on the run with two guys that could kill each other at any given moment, but I was fine. I think I just was in my off mode, I was taking it all in without complaining. That is when a wild idea popped into my mind; we were made in a lab, so was my mother really my mother? Was Tristan really my cousin? I saved those questions for another moment. Tristan need to have at least 6 hours of sleep before answering me without eating me alive.
I was freezing when we finally decided to get going. The guys didn't seem to be affected by their lacks of winter coats, but I was wearing a dress which pretty much made me expose. Oregon in the middle of March was very cold.
Daivat's house wasn't far when driving, but walking towards there having to first get out of the forest took us a good couple of hours. Tristan scanned the perimeter (as he said). Gladly, there was no one there. Daivat and I snuck in the house; Mrs. and Mr. Saxena's bodies were still in the same places we left them. Daivat stopped for a second.
"Do you mind if I pray for them?" He wasn't looking at me when he asked. He wasn't big on religion, but his parents were. He wanted to pray for their souls.
"I will get the clothes." I walked towards the stares and then turned around. "I don't really have any clothes in here, you know?"
"Take some of my moms clothes. You and her are the same sizes after all." I didn't know how to feel about that.
I let him be and went upstairs. The second floor look so peaceful, like if nothing had happened there, spotless. I went to Daivat's room and took a sports bag. I put some of his clothes in, two winter jackets (One for me and one for him), and a gold bracelet his mother gave him. I proceed to go to the Saxena's room. Their room had a asian style; red carpets, light orange walks, and handmade Indian stuff. Mrs. Saxena's closet was impregnated with her smell. It almost felt like a sin to take the clothes out of there to wear it myself. I got over those feelings and picked as many sarees as the bag allowed me.
I got back down and found Daivat on his knees in praying position. After a few more seconds he stood up and held out his hand to take the bag. It wasn't specially heavy, but I guess it looked like it was huge compared to my body sizes. I didn't dare asking him how he was feeling; I couldn't imagine that kind of pain.
As soon as we got out I called the police. Daivat wasn't up to the task. The police insisted a couple of times to know my name, but I kept telling them that is was an anonymous call. We didn't have to wait long until two police cars, one local news van, one firemen truck, and two ambulances arrived. Tristan recommended us to get out of there before any of them figured out we were there.
"They will have your picture all around the state from now on. Probably all across the country." Tristan said after we were miles away from the crime scene.
"I know. At least they will have a decent burial. I know it's not going to be a Hindu one, but its something." Daivat took both winter jackets out of the sport bag. "Here, take the heavy one." I was definitely dancing underneath his jacket, but I was finally warm.
"What are we doing now Tristan?" I finally asked.
"I have some money, but it is all back at your house."
"I thought you didn't want to go back there."
"Due to the circumstances, I don't think we have a choice." He passed his finger through his hair. "We will have to camp near your house for a while. Those guys are not going to be easy to evade, so we will have to learn their schedule."
"It sounds like you have done this before." I made fun of him.
"I was 7 when we got out of the lab. I was pretty much aware of what we were doing."
Tristan was scary whenever we mentioned the lab breakout. I assumed he was scarred for life. For a few days we camp near my house during the day, and at night we went to the hideout near the school to sleep. We got food by pledging Daivat's gold bracelet. He wasn't too happy about it, but it was that or starvation. We also pledge the silver necklace that mom gave me. We were all making sacrifices for the better good of the group.
One day we were at a cafeteria outside our city to avoid the risk of being recognized by people in the city. The cafeteria always had the TV on the local news channel.
"The murder of Mrs. and Mr. Saxena still a mystery to us. The police officers tag their one and only son Daivat Saxena is the principal suspect,.Until today he still missing."
We all stopped eating for a while and pay attention to the news. As we thought, Daivat was the first and only suspect.
"The police also found out signs of a female individual in the house at the time of the murder. She has been Identified as Adrian ... The Saxena's son best friend. The police investigated her house and neither Rita ... (the mother, nor Adrian... were found. The assumption is that they had something to do with the Saxena's murder. Though, this assumption has been obfuscated by the fact that when the police gut to the .... house, there were signs of a fight. Police will need more evidence to solve this case."
We didn't bothered to even talk about the matter. Daivat look very sad about the news, but it was clear he didn't want to talk. I made an effort not to remind him much of his mother when using the sarees by putting on his massive jacket that covered most of my body.
we had gotten good at sneaking into the forest and spying on the men in suits. During this time we found out that they didn't have my mother anymore; they had sent her to the lab facilities that she came from. During our last sneak out there was not much happening. We knew the schedule of the guys in suits, there was always one present. We also noticed that some reporters came around the area asking questions about me and my mother, but the guys always sent the people away.
It was around 3:00 pm when we saw someone walking towards my house. It was a tall and skinny guy, whose red hair shine with the sun. It was Travis. He was carrying a bucket of flowers as he tried to get close to the house.
"Can I help you?" one of the men in suit asked.
"Yes, I would like to leave this flowers in the front of my friend's house. I just heard what happened and I felt that this is the least I can do." He seem very uneasy.
"I'm sorry, but the house is out of limits."
"I thought you would make an exception for me." Travis looked down like if he were ashamed of something.
"What do you mean with that?" By that time both men in suit were questioning Travis.
"Well, I was the anonymous call that made you come all the way over here. I thought I at least will have the right to know where my friend Adrian is." A partial smile crossed Travis' face. A deja vu crossed my mind; there was a time back in the school a few days ago when he had the same smile, that didn't reached his eyes. A fake smile.
My world stopped. I could only see Travis. I couldn't hear any kind of sound beside the beating of my heart. I could feel the beating throughout my body, as if it were palpitating all at once. I felt something wet coming up my hand. I looked down and found water going from my hand to my back. I took a look around and saw that every living thing that I was stepping on was losing water and dying. Through adhesion the water was attached to my body, and through hydrogen bonding it was staying attached to each other. I didn't understand how it was possible.
I felt everything moving again, but in slow motion. I stood up and walked towards Travis. Tristan and Daivat were the first to tried to stop me, but I sent them away with the huge water tentacles attached to my back. The men in suits tried to stopped me as well, but my water tentacles made sure they were incapable to. I wasn't aware of what the water was doing to those around me, my mind could only think about how to destroy Travis painfully.
Once I was close enough he smiled at me, but he soon noticed the water tentacles. Fear filled his eyes. One of the tentacles pinched him to the wall by turning into something similar to an ice cage around his neck. Another tentacle turn into pointy and sharp icicle. Travis tried to escaped by breaking parts of the ice cage but as soon as the pieces of ice hit the ground they turn into water and came through my leg and joined the rest. His face was distorted by fear. Some tears were coming out of his eyes.
"Adrian!" Daivat's voice was coming from my right. It was full of pain. I didn't bothered looking his way, I was too busy looking at Travis in the eye. "Andy." This time his voice broke.
I heard him standing up and coming towards me. Once his footsteps were close he stopped. I felt his breath right on my neck. He wasn't touching me, he wouldn't dare.
"You don't want to do this. This is not going to help your mom, or bring my parents back." I tilted my head to listen to him better, but I didn't took my eyes out of Travis. I felt like if I did he would be gone. "Killing him would only haunt you for the rest of your life. He made a mistake." Travis looked at Daivat. He looked surprise, but there was something different from before. "If you were to kill him he gets free of his deed, and you would be attached to guilt."
The sound of water against the ground brought me to my senses. There was nothing restraining Travis besides my stare.
"I will not forgive you, what you did was wrong in so many levels, but you don't get to be free either." I got a little closer to him. "You will stay with us. If we have to go through this, so do you. Whatever happens to us, will happen to you." I grabbed him by his shirt and through him to Tristan. "Please, make sure he doesn't leave." Tristan barely nodded.
Daivat was still behind me. We stood like that for a bit, without saying a word. Then, he wrapped his arms around me from the back for a little bit longer.
"Thank you." He smiled ironically. I turned around and saw the mess I caused. The men in suit were bleeding on the ground. "Let's get Tristan's money and go."
"They are alive if you are wondering. I checked." That gave me a huge relieve.
.....
"So, that is what you meant when you said she would snap at me?" Tristan asked once we were on the train towards Washington.
"Yeah. It is not the first time I have seen her angry. It is not very common, but when it happens is kind of scary." Daivat winked at me.
"I'm sorry for being an angry monster." I looked at Travis with disgust.
"Did she hurt anyone last time?" I felt like if Tristan was making fun of me to ease the mood.
"Yes, she broke somebody's nose." Daivat smiled with the memory.
"Elizabeth Carper. She never went near you again. No one really knows what happened." Travis said in between his teeth.
"She was talking about something that didn't concern her. I asked her to stop and she didn't and we ended up in a fight."
An awkward silence started filling the air. My emotions were still too sensitive for me to try to start a normal conversation. I thought that is was very possible for me to snap again.
"Now that we are in awkward themes, may I asked how did you found out about their abilities and why did you turn them in?" Tristan wasn't really paying attention to any of us. He was looking outside the window while he was asking the question.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Travis was trembling.
"Try me." Tristan looked at him.
"A few days ago I went to talk to these two at the cafeteria. Adrian started a conversation with me when all the sudden Daivat told her that they had to go. That made me a little angry, so I decided to follow them. Once they were in their hideout, I heard Daivat getting a little personal with Adrian; I thought he was going to confess so I decided to call the police just to scared them. Nothing serious or so I thought." He looked at me like apologizing. " I dialed the number when Daivat started doing weird things with his bones. I panic and told the person who answered me what happened. The person at the other end of the line asked me where I was and what was the name of the person who was manipulating his bones (as they asked). I hanged up right away, but it was too late. they called me back several times until I told them everything I knew."
"So, you are saying it was just a big misunderstanding?" I said sarcastically.
"Andy." Tristan reproached me.
"No. I refused to believe his story. He gave us away and now we are running away. You don't get off the hook so easily." I was beyond upset.
"Andy, people make mistakes. you know?" Daivat was trying to appeal to my softer side.
"But everyday mistakes don't cause the death of two innocent people."
"She is right Daivat. I would expect you to be angry at me as well. What I did was wrong and I'm very sorry about it."
"She is not right." Tristan stared at Daivat. "This is Daivat's fault for not protecting his secret well enough."
"Sure, blame it on me. You know what? Tristan, is right about Andy being wrong. Yes, you called the police, but you never intended for this to happen. I am angry at you, beyond compare, but there is no point on pointing fingers now." he directed that last part to Tristan.
I closed my eyes to rest for a bit. When I opened my eyes again I was on my kitchen table, having breakfast with my mom and Daivat.
"Something interesting happened to me last night." Daivat broke the ice. "A couple of guys went to my house last night, and starting asking all kind of weird questions about me and my adoption."
Mom put the newspaper down as I put my bowl of cereal aside.
"What kind of questions?" Mom was the first to talk.
"Well, they asked how my parents found me. What kind of agency did they used to adopt me? And if the adoption was a contract between them and an individual?" Daivat didn't seem worried at all. Though my mom looked like if she was going to have a meltdown.
"What did your parents say?" The conversation gave me the chills.
"I couldn't hear their answers." Daivat stood up and stretched. "Don't worry guys, I'm turning eighteen in a few days, no one can take me away if that's what you guys are thinking about."
Just like that all my fears were mitigated. I gave a last glance at my mom; she wasn't happy at all. My mom and Daivat's parents were really good friends even before he and I were friends, so she probably knew the real story of his adoption, but the fact that he was turning eighteen was enough for me to calm down.
Daivat tried to calm my mom down, but we were almost late to school so we have to leave her that way. In the middle of the road Daivat stopped the car.
"What happened?" he lay his head on the wheel. I put my hand on his back to make him feel better. As humans we made rituals such as that to show empathy or concern; A sudden cold feeling invaded my body to think about caring for my friend as a mere "ritual".
"Those guys weren't from social services." I felt him trembling under my hand. "They show my parents their badges. I think my parents are in trouble."
"Don't worry; your parents legally adopted you. Those guys can not take you away if there is no negligence."
He turned sideways and hugged me tightly. We sat there for a while and then we went back to school. I could tell that Daivat was still worry; to take his mind out of it I told him that I was going to read one of my poems in the festival that afternoon. The news made him take his mind out his house situation.
"Wait a minute, what was going on? Things did not happen that way." I told Daivat once we were in the festival. "Your parents are dead, and my mom was kidnaped."
"Andy, what are you talking about?" Daivat's face started to become unrecognizable, a bizarre face started to replace it; yellow teeth, white and messy hair, very tall and skinny. "Dear Adrian, you are sounding kind of crazy." He said with his high voice.
"Who are you? Where are Daivat, Tristan, and Travis?" I backed away. My legs were trembling.
"They are right where you left them." He stood his arm to the right; something like a window form in which an image started to form. Five people were laying on the ground in front of my house. Each one of them had a purple-ish skin color; they were dead. "You did this, "Andy". You killed them." there were two people on the ground that I did not quite recognized. I got closer to see who they were, but the bodies degraded.
I opened my eyes at once. My hands were trembling and my forehead was cover in sweat. I looked around. To my relief I found Daivat on my right side, and Tristan and Travis in front of me. We were all still on the train. I looked around one more time to see if I could find any sighn that would tell me how far from Washington DC we were. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything. The dream made me realize what could have happen if Daivat hadn't gotten control of me. To think that I had to be treated like a wild animal made me understand that my anger was dangerous. It was time to start making changes, especially now that I needed to learn how to controlled my abilities.
An hour later I woke up again, we had arrived at Washington. By then, the guys were fully awake.