Flawed Genetics

Chapter Four

About four miles in, I take a quick hydration break and chug down half a bottle of water. I've made it to the woods, but I still have a mile left until I get to my hideout. I put the water back in my bag and get ready to start the next mile before something catches my eye.

I crouch down and pull out my bowie knife.

A few years after the Presidents took over, they called for Martial Law. In that, they stripped the citizens of America of their second amendment. They took all of our weapons away, whether they were guns or army issued knives such as my bowie.

I call it Bo.

I grip Bo in my hand and hide behind a thick tree. I take a deep breath, and allow my genes to kick in.

My heartbeat steadies and I feel calm. I close my eyes, forcing all of my senses to dull to hype up my hearing.

The birds chirp in the trees, some squirrels are running up tree trunks a few dozen yards away, their small claws scrape against the thick bark.

Then I hear it. The snap of a branch on the ground.

Someone is out here with me.

I inhale deeply but silently and decide to sneak a quick glance behind the tree. "Okay, you can do this, Brooklyn. Whoever it is probably is lost and isn't planning on killing some random girl in the middle of the woods." Finally with one last lame attempt to reassure myself, I grip Bo and snap my head around the tree.

Nothing.

"What the–" I don't even get a full sentence out before there is a hand on my shoulder and I'm twisting around with Bo, ready to slice the neck of whoever is trying to kill me.

"Woah. Woah!" Hands up in defense, his brown eyes wide in alarm. "Brooklyn, it's just me!"

I exhale loudly and put Bo down. "Jesus, Stephan! I almost sliced your throat open!"

He nods quickly. "Yeah, I got that." He smiles, his teeth perfectly straight and perfectly white, like all GC's. "Why aren't you at the EF?"

I roll my eyes. "Because if I was there, I wouldn't be here." I put Bo back in his home and stand up, pushing past Stephan. "The real question is, why aren't you at work?"

He isn't wearing his garbageman uniform, instead, his strong body is dressed in a casual sunset colored flannel and ripped jeans. He is wearing his hiking boots, which he rarely wears anymore, even though I'm the one who bought them for him. His big hands are slightly twitching, his genetic OCD acting up. I notice his dirty blonde hair is just that, dirty, and he's sweating, as if he's been running for a long time, but he isn't out of breath.

He rolls his eyes. "What? And pick up everyone's trash?"

"It's your genes, Stephan," I say feeling like a hypocrite.

"Well, they're stupid genes, and I don't seem to have the urge to pick up every littered trash on the ground, so maybe they got it wrong."

I give him a look and I feel a grin growing on my face. "Stephan, you have a bag of trash inyour backpack, I can see it."

He glares at me. "Shut up."

I laugh and throw my arm around his waist. "So, why aren't you at the EF?"

"I probably would have been kicked out if I had stayed," I tell him. "Which would have been fine for me. I wasn't learning anything anyways."

"You can't be bringing attention to yourself, Brooklyn, you know that." His eyes search mine and I avert my eyes away. "It's the law, you have to graduate."

"What's the point? My genes aren't useful to anyone but myself, so why would they care?"

He stops and pulls me to a halt. "The minute you start trailing off their plan is the minute they find out the truth. And I don't want you to die, Brooklyn."

"If I knew you were going to act like my grandfather, I would have never told you."

He grabs my elbows and stares at me. "We're worried about you. You know what they'll do to you if they find out your mind isn't fixed."

"Actually, I don't know what they'd do. All we have are assumptions. They might not even care. What danger could I be to them?"

"It isn't as much as a danger as a flaw. They're scientists. Scientists like their experiments flawless, and that's all we are to them. An experiment."

I sigh. "I hate it when you're right."

Stephan laughs. "I know. You tell me every day."