Tremble

Chapter 12: Aftershock

"Hey guys, calm down I just didn't know how to explain it!"

Squirts voice rang in my ears, but I felt so tired and weak I kept my eyes closed in order to eavesdrop.

"Squirt, this is serious no one has had that magnitude of power, and plus you probably let it slip she had powers, and that's why the government is already on her tail, isn't it!" Margret spoke in a bitter tone.

"Well no, but yes.." Margret cut him off.

"You just blunder around expecting to become like one of us, like your brother, well I'm sorry but you're not, and you should just accept that. You just want to reek havoc on our lives don't you, first Melinda is captured, second Andy just disappears, and now you almost got Elizabeth killed!" Margret thumped her fist on some hard surface.

Ouch this kid screwed up, bad.

Although I now felt sympathetic towards Squirt, I could tell Margret's words hurt him, just from the tension in the room. I felt like I needed to get up to defend him, so I began to inch up. My body felt not only weak, but spent, like I spent ages moving non-stop.

I was sitting in the room I had slept in the previous night, I glanced at Margret, Squirt, and John sitting opposite of me on old cracked stools.

"Hey, slow down don't exert yourself." Margret said extending her hand.

"Those were quite harsh words there Margret." I mumbled looking between Squirt and her.

Squirts avoided my gaze, he sat with his hands in his lap, as if he were being scolded. I tried to forgive him, my anger from before ebbed away; I didn't understand, I never acted like that. And the "Earthquake" or whatever it is considered, I caused was uncontrollable I didn't know how to stop it. I also remembered my feet felt like they were burning through the concrete.

Margret turned to Squirt then me, "Sorry I just don't like those who make foolish.." She paused and shot a side glance at Squirt. ", But forgivable mistakes." Her forced diplomacy wasn't very convincing."Although I would like Squirt to tell us all that he found out." She said nudging him in the side.

"Sorry." He mumbled. "I dug through data of strange vaccines administered to infants, hard information to find, and found that the DNA you have is genetically modified to provide shaking of the body, a natural reaction to various emotions." He said the sentence as if he were rehearsing it. " If these vibrations became strong enough they will shake a small section of the tectonic plate beneath you, even though it's miles underground. The section is of course the size of a building, barely spanning the whole plate. Also I found vibrations of such speed can generate heat, damaging whatever it is you are touching." He stopped abruptly wanting not to disclose more. His voice was wheezy and cracked here and there, but still the information captivated me.

I had to say, I was impressed with the facts he had, although he seemed as if he was still holding something back. He didn't look like he had any more to share.

Vibrations, it made sense, but how come I've never done such a thing before recently? Before I could inquire about this John spoke up.

"Kart wanted to talk to me, I should get going. " he got up and turned toward me, "Feel better." His voice was normally monotone, but he tried to convey emotion with that statement.

Without speaking Squirt left, leaving me and Margret. Despite the previous events she looked at me as if I were no different.

"I didn't get to ask, what's your power?" I said, desperate to change the subject.

She explained gladly. " There is a parasite that can control plants, make them destroy themselves so some one thought it would be a good idea to put that parasite in a gene."