Mutation

Chapter 18: Dr. Baker's Speech

Hazel

The next morning, everyone gathered in the City Hall building at 7 AM sharp. Well, not everyone. When the building was full, many mutants went elsewhere to enjoy their breakfast. I don't even know who made the food. Maxine told me this morning that all the cafeteria workers died in the building collapse. That was five people. In all, we lost about 12 people yesterday. This afternoon, some mutants would be giving a small memorial service to those who died.

Those of us eating in the conference room at City Hall all ate our homemade oatmeal in silence. (At least what I thought was oatmeal. But it was decent.) Leo wouldn't even look at anyone and hasn't said a word. I wondered why. My gut kept telling me it was because of me. I hope that wasn't the case.

"Hey, you alright, Leo?" I had asked him before we entered City Hall.

He stared at his feet. "Not really. Just don't worry about it, okay?"

I watched him walk off and go into the building. Maybe he was having a bad day. He's Leo. He would be back to his usual happy and cocky self by the time I got in there. He was always moody when he was hungry. I kept telling myself that was the problem, even though I knew something was deeply bothering him. I'm sure he would tell me about it eventually.

Leo wasn't back to normal when I walked into the conference room to sit by him. He was staring into his bowl of oatmeal, as if he were having a telepathic conversation with it. I took the seat in front of him and ate in silence, wishing I could help him. Then I remembered I was a telepath for goodness sake. I mentally slap myself across the head for being so clueless.

I gently press my index finger to my temple, for better accuracy, and focus on getting into Leo's mind. Luckily, Leo had his head down, so he couldn't see what I was doing. It took a moment, but my mind finally got access to Leo's thoughts. I closed my eyes so I could actually see what he was thinking instead of just hearing it in my head. I found this cooler than just listening. Suddenly, a dark image popped into my head, which was apparently one of Leo's recent memories.

I was able to creep into Leo's mind. He was experiencing a lot fear and anger for some reason. Then I realized why. Flashes of an evil face, Leo screaming in pain, and my dead body replayed over in his mind. Why in the world was he seeing those things? The image of my dead body struck me the most, and made me shudder.

Before I could see more, I was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. I came back to reality to see Leo staring at me. Great, he probably thinks I'm a creeper for staring at him. And I was reading his mind, searching for his darkest thoughts, to make the matter worse. I felt my face turn hot, and I quickly looked down at my bowl of oatmeal. He knows what I just did.

"You alright, Hazel?" Leo said quietly, barely loud enough for me to hear him. I forced myself to look at him. Luckily, he didn't look mad.

"Mmhmm, why wouldn't I be?" I tried to play it off as casually as I could. But even Leo knew I was a bad actor.

"Because you were staring at me for 5 minutes straight, with a lost look in your eyes." Leo chuckled, obviously forced. I forced a chuckle too, even though I was embarrassed. Was I really looking at him for that long?

"Sorry," I fake laughed. "I guess I was just lost in thought."

Leo stared at me for a moment, with a look of suspicion. Finally he said, while swirling his spoon around in his oatmeal, "I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see you reading my mind-," He stopped suddenly, midway in his sentence. His eyes were locked on something on the other side of the room. I slowly turned my head to see what he was looking at, and saw Linus staring back in our direction. He glared coldly at us, with a slight smirk growing on his lips. I quickly turned back around to face Leo again. Leo didn't say anything to me for the rest of breakfast.

After eating, everyone was asked to stay in the meeting hall for a brief announcement from Dr. Baker. The tiny room was packed with every mutant in the colony, and the chairs were arranged in sloppy rows for everyone to sit in. Leo and I couldn't find any extra seats, so we stood over to the side with Maxine, Linus, and other members of the Mutant Army. Leo kept his distance from Linus, occasionally glancing in his direction as if he were expecting a sneak attack from him. There was no telling what happened between them.

The room echoed with anxious voices for a long time until Dr. Baker and Sergeant Hammond walked in. Instantly, people hushed each other and paid close attention to their leader. Dr. Baker looked exhausted, with her hair sticking out at random ways and had dark circles under her eyes. Her tired appearance made her look much older, and made me realize that she was really 45 years old. Most of the time, she seemed a lot younger.

Dr. Baker cleared her throat. When she spoke, a hoarse rasp came out instead of a clear, confident voice. "Thank you for coming to this meeting in such an inconvenience. I know you all have work to do, so I'll be brief. As you all know, there's been rumors about war and conflict going around." Whispers and murmurs went around the room as she said this. I saw Maxine glance nervously to me, like she was worried about what Dr. Baker would say next.

"I'm going to be honest with you," Dr. Baker continued slowly, making sure the voices around the room had stopped completely. "Yes, we are technically at war with our enemy, Dr. Charles Evansby. He has contacted us and made threats to our colony numerous times, and the incident yesterday showed he was capable of destroying our home. And- wait! No need to panic about it!" She tried to shout over everyone talking, who were now panicky.

"HEY!" a booming voice yelled, silencing everyone immediately. It was the Sergeant Hammond, who's face was red from yelling. "Listen and shut your mouths!"

Dr. Baker smiled nervously, then continued speaking. "Alright, yes, this may seem scary. But we don't have to worry. We have a very powerful army of mutants who are determined and willing to fight for our colony! We will stop Dr. Evansby and whatever he's planning!" Everyone erupted in cheers and claps. There were even squawks that sounded like birds and other excited animals noises from unique mutants. Even I started to smile and clap along with Maxine, who looked like she was about to explode with enthusiasm.

"Mutants are blessed people, yes. But we must understand that we were given these abilities, not for fighting and violence. I believe we were given our powers to help make our world a better place and help others. Even though we are discriminated now because of what has happened to the world today, we need to keep fighting it. Someday we will be free to walk around without being killed. But for now, we have to fight to keep our reputations good, and not let Dr. Evansby show others that we are only seeking power. So are we gonna fight for our freedom?"

The whole crowd screamed yes, and cheered happily. I thought she had a great point. If we were ever going to be free to walk around in the world today, we had to show the non-mutants that we were still good. And that we don't want power and destruction. One day, we'd accomplish this. The only thing I was wondering was how we'd do this. I didn't feel like shouting at Dr. Baker to ask, so I sent her a telepathic message. She seemed to get it, since she looked at me and had a look of realization on her face.

"Oh! I almost forgot to mention something! Everyone in the Mutant Army needs to meet me in the fields at 9:00 tonight. We'll discuss our training schedule and other business. You all may go now."

When Dr. Baker dismissed everyone, the entire room fled out of the room quickly. I stayed behind with the others, who were discussing the meeting. I couldn't help but think of the meeting the mutants would be having tonight in the fields. Also, we'd be starting our training soon. A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed it quickly. Hopefully the amount of training they'd make us do wouldn't kill my small, non-athletic body.