The Newbloods

The Speech

I stood in front of a crowd, each step as heavy as lead. People waited anxiously as I adjusted my glasses and the microphone. The emcee bestowed upon me an award, gleaming gold with my name encrypted in the polished slate, the picture of a syringe and a blood vial standing out. I took deep breaths and began my speech,

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dr. Susan M. Barrow. I have worked at Science Minds Corp. ever since the day I graduated from college with a major's degree and a master's degree in biology. It shakes me how many years have passed. I began working at 25 years old, and now I'm a figure of 63 years of age. Time flies, am I right?" The audience chuckled and I resumed after it abated,

"My career escalated from there. I found a job, and began to settle myself in my small apartment. A few months later, I am assigned a very crucial task. Finding a discover mankind has never seen before.I had to attend an expedition at the Rambunctious Ruins."

"It was an abandoned village, and my partner, Dr. Markos Ignitus and I, both began to venture into an abandoned building, until I found a basket. It was a basket full of bones and a vial of purple and scarlet blood. There was a note attached, explaining his/her situation. But little did I know that the blood would bring so much despair."

"We both went back to the laboratory, and began to research with my fellow co-worker, Dr. Jacklyn Bellerose. The bones were hundreds of years old and the vial of blood was unknown territory. So, we decided to test them on people. We portioned out the blood and added it along with their own."

"What we didn't know was that the ruins were actually intoxicated. The chemicals were infused in the blood, making it deadly for all human means. It caused a genetic mutation in the human DNA cells, causing them to morph into a whole new species, the Wendigo."

The crowd gasped and some were as pale as the knuckles on my hand. Gripping the podium to keep from falling, I resumed,

"They were out of control. They even slaughtered one of our unsuspecting co-workers. My team of three analyzed the blood, looking for the solutions to each mortal and fatal disease. Luckily, the antidote was finished before they could actually escape the testing room. As I filled the needles, Mark and Jacklyn implanted them into their sides. They eventually morphed back, and we basically saved the human race. This award, the Physical Humanization Ambassador," I pointed to the slate, "Now identifies me as the woman who discovered a new human species, altered the human DNA cells, and the woman who created something mankind has never seen before. Thank you and have a good night."

The host congratulated me with my accomplishment, but my palms were sweaty and clammy. My stomach turned inwards, giving me a painful sensation. Every time I mentioned their names, it twisted the knife in my fresh wounds. I had to hold back on the part that while my two friends were injecting the syringes into the Wendigo, they too died of a slaughter. I remember Mark's head being severed off and rolling to a stop at my feet.

I recall the ear-splitting cries of Jacklyn begging for help.

But I never did anything to help.

I did what I always do when I face a problem.

I ran.

I ran out the building, to the car, and gunned all the way to my apartment. I couldn't stop crying my eyes out as I thought about everything. It was all my fault.

I was going to live with this burden for the rest of my life.

I don't deserve to live. I should've been the one to die.

Yet, here I am.

Telling this story, which has just come to an end.