Mutation

Chapter 4: Trouble with Telepathy

Leo

The sign ahead of us read, 'Welcome to the Canadian border.' I smiled, not meaning to. I couldn't help it because this was just crazy.

"Alright, we're fixing to cross the border. Get in the back and stay down. I'll handle this," Dr. Baker told us. Hazel and I obeyed her and quickly unbuckled our seat belts, and hopped into the back of the van. We sprawled out flat on the floor, careful not to make any sounds. We tried not to breathe heavily from fear.

"Hazel," I barely whispered. "Let me get situated. Something is poking my back. Hang on." I had to get comfortable so I wouldn't be under too much torture when I really needed to be quiet. I squirmed around, hitting Hazel's head a few times. (And hearing her call me unpleasant names) Eventually I ended up on my side, facing her face. I blushed when I realized I was staring into her eyes. They started glowing purple. Uh oh...

"Leo, what's happening to me?" Hazel winced uncomfortably, holding her head like she was having a strong migraine. Then, her face went completely still, her purple eyes glowing wildly.

Hazel

My mind went into shutdown. Then I was transported into a different point of view, where I saw Dr. Baker and some man in a Canadian military uniform. He was a soldier checking for runaway mutants. I didn't know how I was seeing them, but I could also hear their conversation. This is what I heard and saw:

"May I see your I.D. and passport, please?" The Canadian man asked Dr. Baker. She quickly pulled out her wallet out of her coat pocket, and handed him her driver's license and passport. Her hands were shaking from nerves.

After a moment of him examining her information, he handed it back to her. Then he did the most unexpected thing. He smiled at her and shook her hand in a friendly way. They knew each other. The two of them walked back to the van and got in it. The Canadian man got into the driver's seat and Dr. Baker got in the passenger seat.

"Sharon, are you crazy? I thought you said you weren't going into the States again," the man said.

"David, I had to go back. I found them. The kids we've been looking for in Buffalo, New York. I'm taking them to the Mutant Colony," Dr. Baker explained.

The temporary and blurry world came to an end, snapping me back into reality. My vision turned 20/20 again and I saw Leo, Dr. Baker, and the strange Canadian soldier from my vision were staring down at me. The van was moving, apparently with no driver. I was lying flat on my back on the seat like it was a bed. What I had just experienced wasn't anywhere close to normal.

"Hazel, what the heck was that?" Leo exclaimed, breathing heavily. He looked like he just had a heart attack or something while I was out cold.

"I-I don't know. I just blacked out and I had this...vision," I explained to them.

"A vision? Hazel, explain to me what you saw," Dr. Baker asked. It looked like she had an idea about what happened to me.

"Well, I saw you and this man in a military uniform. I'm pretty sure it was that guy." I pointed to the same guy I saw in my vision, who was sitting silently the whole time we were talking. His face perked up when I pointed to him, like he knew what I was talking about. I continued with, "And you guys were talking about how Dr. Baker came back to the U.S. and found me and Leo. And that you're taking us to the Mutant Colony."

Dr. Baker looked at the military man like they were reading each other's minds. They knew what happened to me by me telling them about the vision.

"Hazel, have you been able to read people's minds recently?" The man asked me. I got a closer look at his badge that said "Sergeant Hammond." I was surprised he said something like that to me so suddenly. He must know about me and Leo. And he must be a rebel against normal humans killing mutants.

"Um, I haven't tried yet. Why?" I asked, curious to know what he thought.

I didn't even know Dr. Baker had her eyes closed, and she had her hand on my shoulder. She opened her eyes and gasped. "David, I think she's 100% telepath."

My heart stopped. Leo's eyes widened. I'm telepathic. That explained the vision and my ability to eavesdrop on conversations.

"Woah, what?! How do you know?" I asked, trying not to sound extremely eager. It wasn't working.

Dr. Baker and Sergeant Hammond chuckled. Then Dr. Baker replied, "Besides my cloning powers, I can also read people's powers and see how strong they are. About a month ago, I invented a scale of power strengths. They range from a 1 to a 5. Hazel, you and Leo both break that scale. You two are 5+."

Leo and I looked at each other, with our eyes practically bulging out of our heads. I was a telepath and telekinetic, and I could create force fields, and Leo was basically the Hulk and Flash mixed together.

"But Hazel is just in her beginning stages of telepathy powers. She's enduring visions and soon, she can read people's minds of literally anything they think of. She could even manipulate their body if she wanted to. That's how powerful she is. And you don't see many telepaths around that haven't been killed," Sergeant Hammond added.

"Wait, so what's up with my eyes turning purple when these things happen to me?" I asked him. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw that my eyes were still a blazing violet.

"It's just part of your mutation, honey. At least you aren't physically mutated like others. Some kids I've seen are different colors." Dr. Baker chuckled. It made me and Leo snicker too, which we desperately needed after what we've been through.

"How many other mutants are there?" Leo asked. I hoped there would be others like us too. Maybe even enough to fill up an entire city.

"Oh, there's hundreds that we've saved. They all live in the Mutant Colony, which is an underground society that Dr. Baker and I founded for runaway mutants around the time of the outbreak. That's where we're headed to, in case you didn't know already. So far, we have saved 537 mutants," Sergeant Hammond said proudly.

I was amazed. It made me wonder why there weren't more people like Dr. Baker and Sergeant Hammond in this world. At that moment, I knew there was hope. We would be able to live with other mutants who knew exactly how we felt. All 537 of them, plus two more inhabitants.