Tremble

Chapter 13: The Chain of Command

Me and Mark came toward her until she extended her hand, halting us.

"Just Elizabeth, please." Her please didn't sound very sincere.

Mark gave me a look, one I failed to decipher, and stepped out of the room, but stayed in the hall. I was almost positive he aimed to eavesdrop.

I turned toward Kart. She was tall, like her eldest son, and had his light grey eyes and dark hair. She still wore a uniform, unlike the one before it displayed her last name with no metals or ribbons. I regarded her with respect, after all that is what you're supposed to do with those older than you, yet I found this difficult. I wanted to apologize, but she spoke before I even had the chance.

"Come sit with me, it would be most beneficial if you were to answer some questions of mine."

"Beneficial to whom exactly, you or me?" I said attempting to sound official, diplomatic.

She laughed and strong, loud laugh, one that didn't normally belong to women.

"Both of us." She said as she moved across the room to her throne like chair.

I pulled up a seat opposite her end of the table and folded my arms. I had to act like I wasn't scared of her, which I was.

"You've drawn some attention to yourself here, many people found it unnerving that such a phenomenon, such as a small earthquake, happened in the back woods of West Virginia." Her tone was now soft, but her words were accusing.

I had to think of something to say, something good. Of course I chose something off topic.

"Why is Squirt scared of me?" I asked my voice suddenly childlike and meek.

"To put it simply, while most people here are 'special', you seem to have at greater magnitude than them." She paused. "That is a rare occurrence. The genes in us all are designed with the same level of power."

"But, with great diversity, and that in itself is powerful, is it not?" I asked.

She looked at me with great intrigue, and mulled over this for a few moments.

"Well put, and well thought."

Her compliment helped my confidence, but very little.

"Yet I don't believe you quite understand your strength, compared to the others, and how uncontrollable it is."

She was right, I couldn't argue.

She changed the topic. "I'm sorry for my youngest sons recklessness, it is both alarming and pathetic. He does love to make assignments into games, he fails to understand how important they are."

"I don't blame him, maybe he just wants to make his life more interesting, he must be jealous of his brother." I pointed out in defense. It must be rough being the runt in a litter of eight hundred.

"Will you stay here, be part of our mission?" Kart said.

"And what is our 'mission'?"

" To help as many genetically modified people as possible, keep them out of government hands. See the government wants to discover the genes we have, and use them. What they don't understand is that these abilities can cause chaos at the hands of an enemy. So as of now, they are the enemy."

"Seeing as I have no choice, sure I'll stay."

"Good, you may be dismissed, the others will be happy to help you here." Kart said this as if I was part of some glorified summer camp.

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I sat, twirling my dark auburn hair as Margret and Mark explained the lay of the land. Mark had in fact eavesdropped, and he believed I made a good impression on Kart, despite the short confrontation.

"So overall, no pillaging, no murder, or attracting the FBI, got that Liz?" Margret had recently begun to call me 'Liz', not only to save time, but because I kind of liked it. Naturally Mark caught onto this as well.

The rules were simple enough, basically a condensed Ten Commandments, but with the whole FBI thing.

I sat on a plush leather couch behind an oak table.

Man the furniture here was nice!

Mark and Margret had explained to me that while the big outbreak was in two thousand, very few teen aged kids had been found and sent here. The place consisted of those either older or younger than us. I decided if I were to stay here I should befriend Mark, Margret, Squirt, and John; they were all closest my age.

"So regarding power, do you have to train or something to control it?" I asked.

Margret gave Mark a worried look.

"Well no, everyone who's come here already knows how to control their power, you're kind of a first."

That's comforting.

I changed the subject, I tend to do that a lot but it helps me avoid awkward situations.

"How do you guys eat?" I asked.

Mark spoke up this time. "As I said earlier we sometimes hunt, and if you've noticed we are the so called 'Food robbers'.

"So whoever broke into my house earlier this summer was some one from here?" I asked.

"Yup I'm pretty sure it was John." Margret put in.

"They really could have given us a better name, the Food Fetcher's, Feasting Thieves, Vegetarian Villains!" Mark said tossing his hands in the air.

In response me and Margret both snickered. I began to feel at home, or tried to at least. I wasn't normal, I wasn't under the radar, I was stuck being hunted. I guess I'll just have to deal with it, but with people like Mark and Margret I could suffer gladly.