Tremble

Chapter 10: Finally Some Information!

"Hey wakey, wakey."

I heard Margret's voice but I elected to ignore it, as I do with my alarm on school days.

"You're not trying hard enough!" I heard John grumble.

CRASH

I shot up out of the covers.

"That's the third lamp this week." Margret said disgruntled and annoyed.

"Third?" My voice cracked.

"Yes, now get up and get dressed, clothes are in the dresser." Margret said while she pinned her dirty blonde hair into a bun.

I was reluctant to get up, the bed was so soft and my legs were sore from yesterday. John and Margret left and I now became interested as to what the heck is going on. Now that I got a closer look at it the dresser was quite elaborate, chiseled sides with beautiful plant designs, more than what you'd see in the average home. The clothes inside fit perfectly, and I mean exactly how I want them to fit, apparently Gabriel Brothers needs to step up their game. A soft black shirt and jeans, simple yet precisely what I need.

Underground the chill in the air was endless and made me want to curl up and go back to sleep, but then I heard voices.

" So how do you expect your mom to react when she finds out where you were Tuesday?" Margret's voice traveled through the thin wall.

"I dunno, whatever I do she'll punish me so what does it matter!" John grumbled in a dark tone.

"Lighten up she's not that bad." Margret said surprisingly cheerful.

"See what she did to Squirt for failing that assignment, it would be so much worse if that had been me!" He retorted sharply.

"Well Squirts different he's not..." Margret stopped. "Hey are you done yet?"

"Almost." I hollered.

I checked my phone, but I had no service so I just stuck it in my pocket. I opened the door to see a grumpy John and an excited Margret.

"I suppose you've been wanting some answers?" Margret said.

I nodded my head vigorously.

Margret and John lead me down more unstable hallways until we came upon a chamber. Unlike the rest of the place the area was a big open space with metal walls, computers, and gadgets everywhere, my jaw dropped. The ceiling was roughly twenty feet high and along with computers there was a great number of scientific equipment. Being the nerd I am I immediately began to examine everything, and there was just about everything. The mix was strange though, items that didn't fall into the same category. Spectrometers, seismographs, barometers, microscopes, and for some odd reason an old record player. This was only a small section of the whole area.

Margret and John began to pull me toward the computer area.

"So I'm guessing you want details on everything, right?" Margret said.

"Um, yes, everything, why I'm here, who has been following me, who's Squirt, and what happened at the top of that hill along with the library incident." I said counting off on my fingers.

" First of all everyone here has something in common, I'm guessing you're aware of how genes and DNA work, correct?" Margret replied, suddenly very superior.

"Of course." I am a huge science geek if you haven't noticed already.

"Back in two thousand, the year you were born, the government made a huge mistake." She paused collecting her thoughts. "A guy working for government labs had become fascinated with the nature of genes and DNA. This is after the whole human genome had been discovered and the science industry was booming. As far as we know this man proposed an idea to the government officials, and they declined his idea, marking it off as some crazy ramble. His idea was nuts, ludicrous, but it worked. He wanted to enhance genes and DNA and create a species of skilled, powered humans. To test this theory, without government approval, he gathered a team of people to insert these 'Super' Genes into the vaccines that are administered to infants almost immediately after they are born. Each gene or section of DNA was different and roughly a few hundred people were affected ,until the government discovered this and tried to fix the problem ASAP. You are in this batch of those affected and there is a small community here, for the reason that small or unnoticeable states were the targets for the testing. Although this is all we know, and questions?"

As Margret took a long breath, I sat there practically gaping at her. My mind was not grasping the concept of this knowledge very easily. So the hill, the library, the creeps following us, all because of this. I didn't believe her, just as I didn't believe anyone who said someone had a crush on me, normally they had to have been playing a practical joke. Yet this seemed far from a joke, what happened on the hill and in the library was all too real. The shaking, the anger, the fear, and all the destruction around me. Even if I didn't believe I had these abilities I wondered if Margret and John had them too. I naturally asked an out of context question.

"If this outbreak was in two thousand then how are John, Kart, and all those other people here?"

"Simple" Margret seemed enthusiastic to explain. "The work on the genes wasn't new, in fact even before gene sequencing DNA research was a thing. In 1968 another similar outbreak occurred, Kart was within those affected. Because they also tested genes it only made sense that her son, John, to be affected as well."

I contemplated this for a moment, it made complete sense all these people could be offspring of others affected.

"Also some really small slip ups would happen and people were affected at random." Margret continued.

"So John, you're Karts son?"

"Me and Squirt." John remarked in a monotone voice.

"Does Squirt have powers?"

"No, he has no abilities, sometimes the specific gene doesn't get to the child." Margret chimed in.

I sat down on a nearby rolling chair and thought of this all. This place was like one big complex of genetically powered people hiding from government agents, and I was one of them. Before I could ask any questions, a guy with orange hair, green eyes, and a scrawny body walked in.

"Hey Mark come over and meet the new girl!" Margret hollered across the room."

"Mark?" I said

Mark crossed the room. "Why yes, I'm Mark Preston." He said extending his hand, "You look familiar, whats your name?" He asked while smiling.