Wayward

CHAPTER ONE

Jim turned off the screen and stuffed it into his bag before the flickering drew too much attention. He felt stares boring into him and he blocked them out. He breathed. It was over. He was just like everyone else again.

"And so life must change to survive." Mr. Schreiber pointed to the two bears in the photograph. Jim had never seen a photo of a bear before. They were strange creatures with hunched shoulders and wooly, massive paws. "Which of these bears is more advantaged in this environment?"

The answer was obvious. The bear on the right with the white coat stood a better chance of blending in with the snow. The entire class chimed in with a dull murmur meant to signify the correct answer. There were so many students in the lecture hall that the voices just blended together. It was an academic choir.

"These genetic mutations - accidents, really - offer advantages that give this bear a better chance of survival."

Someone raised a hand. It was Lynn. Lynn, who knew the answers to everything. Lynn, who raised her hand to show the class what she knew - not to learn. Lynn, who was devastating and beautiful and destined for failure.

"So, why didn't they survive? The bears."

Schreiber paused a moment. He paced to the side of the auditorium sized room where Lynn was sitting. (Front row, of course.) He'd probably never been asked that question before.

"It's a great question. There are numerous environmental factors involved, but I suppose I can answer in the context of this lesson. The bears didn't adapt to the changing world."

Everyone seemed to chew on the thought. Jim drew a doodle of a bear on his screen. A hand shot up in the sea of students. Lynn again.

"Yes, Lynn."

"But isn't that partially our fault? Aren't there conditions that change so quickly that no animal could adapt in time?"

Schreiber scratched his head. "Well, it isn't that -"

"Adaptations don't occur in a life. They occur over the course of generations."

Everyone rolled their eyes. Someone groaned. Schreiber wasn't fazed.

"That's right. Let me show you something."

He waved his hand in the air and the screen changed slides. Then a series of hundreds of images scattered through the air, bending and moving so that the students could get a better view. Jim almost gasped. There were animals that he had never seen before, never imagined.

"Each and every one of these creatures is no longer with us." There was an unplanned moment of silence. Jim read the labels attached to each image. Giraffe. Tiger. Elephant. Polar Bear. Leopard. Blue Jay. Orangutan. They were like creatures from a storybook. "They are no longer with us because they did not have the favorable mutated traits that would allow them to survive."

Lynn didn't raise her hand when she spoke this time. Her face was bright red and she was talking louder and louder.

"But this is avoidable. What animal can adapt to being drenched in oil? What animal can adapt to barely breathable air?"

It seemed the more flustered Lynn became, the more Schreiber relaxed. He gave her a soft smile. The skin around his eyes crinkled.

"I understand your frustration. And you're right. But this world is harsh." He swept his hand through the air and all images of extinct animals vanished. He lifted his hand again and one image materialized in the air. "Meet the Crute." Soft laughter spread throughout the room. It was the mammal equivalent of a cockroach. One pearly, bug eye slapped on either side of it's skull. Four spindly legs and two ratty bat wings.