eunoia ; malum

20

"HAVE WE KILLED HIM?"

Calum opened his eyes. He looked at his hands and legs. They were so small, why was he so small? Next to him, a small Ashton laid, a tube in his mouth and a guy in a white lab-coat standing over him. The guy in the coat wrote a few things in a manila folder, and put it in a shelf that was labelled '1996I'.

"No, no; he's alive. He's a strong one." A lady that was starting to grey stood in front of Calum. "Hello, experiment one-three-four, how are you?"

"I – I . . . " Calum wanted to speak. Calum knew how to speak. Why couldn't he speak now?

"You're a part of our super-breed. We made you from a tiny egg made from many strands of DNA. This is your brother, Ash." She gestured to the boy laid out next to him. "Now, what should we call you?"

She touched his face, liking how soft and pure it was. She had made this. She – Susan Elizabeth Riley – had made this.

"He's so beautiful." One of the scientists behind her marvelled. "So pure, so peaceful; like a dove."

Susan raised her eyebrows. "Dove." She edged away from her olive-skinned experiment and went over to her plethora of names that hid inside a book. "Calum." She said finally. "We will call you Calum."

Calum could feel himself smiling, but he didn't want to. What was this? Was this a dream?

"Your brother here seems to have a very fiery temper, so we called him Ash."

Calum giggled, and closed his eyes.

He could feel his muscles grow bigger, and his whole body do the same. He remained small, but bigger than he was before. He had himself tucked into Ashton's chest as he listened.

"They're growing irritable with this." The man who stood over Ashton before said, a name-tag presented proudly on the top. 'JAMES ZYGOTE.' "They want to be let out – to be human – "

"Well, they aren't, James! We made them for the war, and war is what they will do!"

"One of them tried to kill your daughter – our daughter, Susan!"

"Fine," Susan said, quietly. "Kill them all."

Ashton got up suddenly, Susan and James gone. "We have to go, Calum, come on." He whispered, breaking the wire of the cage they were in.

He punched a hole in the wall, and they ran out. They were only ten at the time. A few other diploids ran past them, avoiding the bullets being shot at them.

Calum – all of a sudden – hugged Ashton, and the bullets and the screaming faded away.

"Calum," Ashton said, shaking him awake. "Calum, wake up."

Calum sat up, seeing that him and Ashton were laid on a mattress in a warehouse. Ashton was bigger now – visibly stronger. His hair hung longer, and a smile graced his face.

"I met someone, Cal. He's so pretty."

"Ashton, it's dangerous to meet people. They might kill us!" The dark-haired boy said, afraid.

The boy laughed it off. "I'm letting him know as little as possible. All we do is kiss."

"Okay." Calum said, still a little unsure. "What's his name?"

"Luke."

"Okay, let me sleep." The boy said, laying down.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a dark room. He stood up, the walls padded. He was in tracksuit pants, and shoes without laces. He looked around, banging on the walls. The door opened, and the silhouette of a woman stood in view.