Turncoat

Chapter Nineteen:

She stood up to welcome me, "Charlotte Rowell. I don't quite believe it." She paused, examining me, "Come sit."

Miss Angelique was much younger than I expected her to be, she appeared only a few years older than myself. As I wandered over to the seat I noted her floral sundress, and unbelievably fair skin. Her long sun-kissed brown hair fell down her back in elegant waves. She held an unforgettable beauty, appearing so carefully crafted like a rose.

"Now, Charlotte," She began, "I'm going to get straight to the point because that's all you really care about."

She spoke in a way that commanded your attention, it was majestic and intriguing.

I nodded, and she got straight to the point, as promised.

"Where you live, lived," She corrected, "Is a containment compound. It was created at the conclusion of the war. Placed inside were a collection of all the soldiers, and their families, that deserted our cause and fought alongside the opposing forces.

"After our team of psychologists and scientists ran some, uh, rather questionable tests, it was discovered that the cause of the troop’s desertion was a genetic mutation.”

I sat there speechless, it all sounded like the plot line of a bad sci-fi movie. I must have looked as bewildered as I felt because she began to elaborate.

"We discovered that adrenaline, the hormone released in dangerous and intense situations contains an element called fidelitatis that influences how you regard those involved in the situation. In other words, your loyalty. During the aforementioned questionable tests on those who switched allegiance throughout the course of the war, we discovered that all the traitors, the turncoats, had a common trait. Their brains did not secrete adequate amounts of fidelitatis. This flaw was found to be hereditary. Therefore, after our victory we traced through the family lines of all the turncoats and contained them. Keeping them away from our society."

"Why?" I blurted, before my brain could tell me not to.

"I believe you've seen firsthand what the gene can do. Rob was taken too young, I am deeply sorry for your loss."

Tears gathered in my eyes as I finally understood. Rob seemed like a completely different person. He wasn’t himself. I tried to say something but no words came out. Different thoughts swirled through my head and I couldn't grasp onto any of them.

After a few moments I managed, "How does everyone know who I am?"

"Your father was a powerful man. He was our leader. Michael was gallant, and he led us all into the war assuring everyone that we wouldn't lose– we couldn't lose. And dare I say it, without him we would've lost." She paused for a moment, as if hesitant to continue. "Then, he betrayed us. He turned around and started massacring his own battalion. He murdered 18 men before someone had the guts to put him down. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before."

"You were there?" I interrupted.

"Yes, everyone fought. There was no home front, no line of safety behind which we could hide. Only a battlefield, and places to capture.

"Earlier during the day that your father slaughtered his own people, he seemed fine, completely normal. Even as he walked into a fight, he fought on our side. Then in an instant, something changed. A switch flicked in his brain and he just-"

She looked out into space. Abandoning her point before she continued,

"Anyway, Charlotte, we're hoping that you won't carry the gene. It is not definitely passed down through each generation, unless you are the product of two people who are both carriers. We have extracted many from the compound after undergoing testing when they reach the age of 18. As it is apparent that they are clean. We send them out on patrols and teams of our troops return them to this compound."