Mutation

Chapter 21: Morning Walk to Another Attack

Leo

It's not fun when you get ditched by your friends, and you're stuck sitting alone at a filthy, almost broken cafeteria table. That's me right now. Hazel's off at God knows where, Maxine was still sobbing by Zoe's grave, and the younger kids we usually sat with were probably off at training or something. Yup, I was sitting there all alone, eating a gross peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And when I say gross, I mean so gross that I found a pickle inside of it.

After scarfing down the pickle-juice-drenched sandwich, I decided to go on a walk. I've noticed after awhile of being down here in the colony, you start missing how predictable things used to be. Back in New York with Hazel, every day was the same, which I hated at that time. But now we're on this crazy schedule where we don't even know if we'll survive the next day. Our lives have become this unpredictable mess that seemed unreal if you thought about it. Now, I can run faster than the blink of an eye and I had the strength to lift up buildings.

A group of kids ran in front of me, playing freeze-tag. Well, a new version of Mutant Freeze-Tag. One kid was blasting ice particles out of his hands at the other three kids, trying to freeze them. Then another kid would run over to the frozen kid, and they thawed them out with their heat breath. The other two kids were laughing and bouncing around in the air, which was caused by one of them turning off gravity. I thought this was a neat way to play. I couldn't help but chuckle, knowing I'd dominate them at the game with my speed.

As I kept walking, I came across a tiny chipmunk on the walkway. It was like it knew who I was, judging by the way it stared at me. Then it scurried over to my foot, and climbed up me leg. At first I was freaked out, because of the odd sensation I felt of it running up my leg, but I instantly relaxed when the chipmunk found it's way to my hand. I petted it's tiny, furry head, and I swore I heard it chuckling like a little boy.

Wait, a chipmunk was chuckling like a boy...

All of a sudden, a huge, blonde-haired monster covered with fur all over it's body came out of the trees and was running straight towards me. A high pitched scream escaped my throat, you know, like one of those really girly screams. Before the monster could lunge at me and eat me, it toppled over like it was laughing. Why was it laughing? Maybe it sensed how scared I was of being eaten.

Then, right before my eyes, the monster started to shrink down to the size of a small child. The fur disappeared, and it started to take the form of a human. I stared stupidly at it as it transformed back into Jazz, who had the power to change into a man-eating monster. She was giggling hysterically at me, and then I heard more laughter from behind me. The chipmunk had transformed back into Sonni, who could change into different animals.

Dana, the goth girl who could turn invisible and run through objects, appeared out of nowhere, laughing hysterically along with Jazz and Sonni. I must have looked pretty dumb, because I was in complete shock. They pranked me, and succeeded successfully. My heart was still pounding in my chest, before I finally joined their laughter.

"We got you so good!" Jazz squealed, pointing at me.

"You should have seen your face, Leo! And you didn't even realize that chipmunk was me?" Sonni said in his thick Indian accent. His laugh sounded very familiar to a chipmunk's.

"Aren't I the best babysitter ever, Leo?" Dana said, smirking in satisfaction. She was pretty clever. Then again, she was seventeen.

After the laughter died down, I said to Dana, "So, babysitting, huh?"

She scowled and rolled her eyes. "Sadly, yes. Because I'm one of the oldest here, I'm always on babysitting duty."

Jazz glared at Dana. "You're not babysitting, Dana. You're just watching us. I hate when you say you babysit us!"

"Fine, I was watching you. Happy, runt?" Dana said.

Clearly Jazz was satisfied with that answer, because she smiled and ran off to chase Sonni around, who had transformed into a panther.

"Quit using your powers when you're not training!" Dana yelled after them. She sighed, obviously realizing Jazz and Sonni weren't listening.

I chuckled. "They're a handful, aren't they?"

"Just a bit," Dana said, as we started walking to keep up with the rambunctious children.

I'd never talked to Dana before, which made it kind of hard to start a conversation with her. I mean, yeah, she was really pretty. But her edginess and personality intimidated me. I was surprised Dr. Baker was letting her be responsible for two kids today. Dana didn't look like a children person.

"So, how are you liking the colony?" Dana asked, watching her feet as she kicked the dirt with them.

I shrugged, then realized that I'd forgotten just how long me and Hazel have been members of the Mutant Colony. People rarely kept up with time, which I hated.

"Oh, it's great," I replied, partially lying. All I felt like doing most days was sleeping, not training or doing jobs. "Me and Hazel were lucky to find this place."

Dana pursed her black lipstick-stained lips. "You sure do talk about Hazel a lot, don't you? I can tell you care about her."

I immediately blushed. Crap. "Well, uh, of course I care about her. She's my best friend. Is there something wrong with that?"

Dana laughed, which came out as more of a tiny cackle. "No, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying, you obviously have feelings for her."

I tried my best not to look her in the eyes, because I felt myself blushing more. Of course I'd always been teased at school for constantly being around Hazel all the time. Kids always picked on us and said we were in love with each other. At the time, I thought that was a horrible idea. Now, at my fourteen year old, hormone-crazed self, my thoughts might have changed a bit.

"You definitely know how to make a guy feel awkward, Dana." I tried playing casual while my blushing subsided. My cheeks still felt hot.

"Of course I do. It's fun to watch you get flustered." Dana grinned mischievously. This girl was something else.

The two of us kept walking along the trail while Jazz and Sonni chased each other ahead. The nature down here was pretty amazing. The trees were green and luscious, flowers were blooming all the time, and it seemed every day was a sunny one. The technology Dr. Baker created to make all this happen was unreal. I mentally slapped myself, because I was sounding pretty girly admiring all this nature.

The scenery suddenly wasn't the big sight anymore. Everything happened so fast. First, ahead of us, the wall to apartment building Z, where I happened to live, exploded. Flames immediately roared to life in the building, and mutants screamed as they evacuated it. Then, the sky turned gray, and the once beautiful blue sky was gone. The only light came from the burning building and some emergency streetlights that came on when the colony turned dark. I looked at Dana, who had already sprinted ahead of me to locate Jazz and Sonni in the darkness.

I wondered what was going on. Were we under another attack? My mind instantly thought of Dr. Evansby. He probably had had enough of waiting for me or Hazel to surrender ourselves, so he's come to collect us. And he was going to destroy the colony.

Suddenly, I heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from the burning Z building. Somebody was inside. And judging by the chunks of wall that were floating in the air, soaring into unknown projectiles, I had a feeling who that person was. So I used my super speed to zoom towards the burning building.