eunoia ; malum

10

DIPLOID TRAINING FOR THE HUNTER WAS HARD TO UNDERSTAND. He couldn't really seem to get the hang of it. He was used to making stuff, breaking stuff . . . not 'focusing all his energy' so he could make fire.

"Go on," Ashton laughed, smirking cockily as he looked down at Michael. "Get fired up."

Michael glared at him, thinking about what Mel had told him. Focus on your hands. Only your hands. Think about what you want to do. Now, giving your circumstance, you're going to have to think of something that makes you angry.

What makes him angry?

The fact that his life isn't easy anymore. The fact that his parents didn't kick him out, but, instead kept him to insult him. The fact that now he had to sneak around. The fact that all of the diploids were treating him like shit.

It was enough for him to burn Ashton's skin until the smell of rotting flesh contaminated the air. The tanned boy backed away, ready to punch him straight in the face.

"You motherfucker."

Mel got in between them and sat Ashton down, healing his burn. Jack sat with Michael on the opposite side of the room, explaining that he was going to need to take a few tests and things so he could try to find out where he came from.

"I just want to check everything. I know you have a different number of chromosomes, but I would like to find out what your DNA leads to. Hopefully, it's more successful than the others."

Michael let him take some blood and then went over to Calum, who was attempting to do his homework, although he couldn't read or write. Really, he just wanted an excuse to ignore everyone.

"Why aren't you doing anything?"

"Jack said he didn't want to hurt my wrists any more than they already were."

"They're not bruised."

"My skin doesn't bruise." Calum said bitterly, flipping a page in his book.

Michael stood there awkwardly. He didn't know how to say sorry. He had 'don't be sorry, be better' drilled into his brain ever since he was born. His mother repeated like the words like she was performing a ritual.

"I accept your apology. You can go set yourself on fire, now." Calum said, crossing out a word in his word search.

"Get away from him, hunter," the small eight-year-old girl said, coming up from behind him, "or you'll be toast before you can even say anything."

"What do you do?"

Lilly rolled her eyes, flicking her red hair over her shoulder. "I'll electrify you."

He walked away, huffing and Calum smiled, saying a polite 'thank you' before getting back to his homework. He was about halfway through it, when Nina started to shake. She stood up, starting to yell.

"Get out of here!"

Nina could sense danger. None of them were going to question it.

Mel scooped Derek (the invisible boy that hadn't mastered it just yet) and Lilly into her arms, telling Jack to get Todd who was still spitting into a cup full of toxic saliva. Jack picked him up, yelling at the eighteen diploids to stay hidden.

They weren't going to abandon the institution. It was too late for them to run away. Instead, they hid in the rooms of the asylum, holding their breaths.

Michael's heartbeat was fast, and he finally felt was it what like to be hunted, to feel like there's a fifty-fifty chance you're going to die. To hold on to only hope and just pray everything would turn out okay.

The front doors of the building burst open, and Alex cringed, hearing it ten times more than the others. "It's the hunters," he whispered. "They've found us. They're reading through your homework."

Calum didn't want to hear what the middle-aged man had to say. He just hid himself behind Ashton, not even bothering to pretend he wasn't scared like the rest of them were.

Suddenly, there was a bark.

Rodney.

Rodney was a shapeshifter. He could make himself into anything. And – right now – his best efforts to distract the hunters was coming out of one of the room as a black dog.

The hunter leant over to the dog's height, confused. "What are you doing here, buddy?"

The dog whined and ran away, causing the hunters to follow it. They followed him all the way to where a hole in the back fence was. Rodney picked up his shirt with his mouth – the one he had to take off to shift.

"Looks like they left, boss."

"Tell Dad that we have a four-one-one."

Inside, Alex looked at the ex-hunter, his multi-coloured eyes squeezing in confusion. "Does a four-one-one mean anything to you?"

Oh, fuck –

A shot rang out. They had known it was Rodney the whole time.

Michael closed his eyes and covered his ears when Derek started to cry. He couldn't believe he did this. He had killed these human-like creatures less than a week ago, and the snapped one's neck the day before that.

He murdered them.

"You wanna piece of me?"

The voice could be heard throughout the whole building. It wasn't one of the hunters'. No, it was Rodney with the hunter's gun in his hand, standing over the bodies of the men who tried to kill him.

Derek came running out, tears streaming down his face. He was only six-years-old, and he knew what death sounded like.

He jumped into the African-American's arms, sobbing into his bare chest.

"I'm okay," Rodney smiled gently, "they were never going to get me."

Derek sobbed as the seventeen-year-old carried him inside and set him down on the table. Once he yelled that everything was okay, everybody came out.

"I thought they hurt you, brubby." Derek continued to cry, but Rodney just held him against his chest.

Brubby was another name for brother. Derek wasn't Rodney's brother, but they were found together, and the African-American couldn't tell the six-year-old that they weren't really related, in fear of breaking his heart.

Ashton turned to Michael, "Now do you understand why we hate you?"

And yeah, Michael really did.