Me

Chapter 3

"There's something wrong with Carolyn." I run into Zack and Dillon's room, slamming the door behind me.

"What do you mean?" Dillon looks at me, a concerned look on his face.

"I mean, something is wrong. Her hand was twitching."

Zack hides a smirk. "That's nothing important."

"But it's involuntary. She doesn't even realize she's doing it. and I think it's been spreading."

"What do you mean?" Zack's smirk is slowly fading.

"I mean, it started in her right hand. It first shook around four days ago, the day before we were tested. Now it's her full right arm. People came and took her away"

"Was it jerking suddenly? Does she feel any kind of pain before that? How fast is it spreading? Did it spread gradually or did it just all of a sudden take over her arm? Did it--"

"Slow down Dillon. Give Jaz a chance to answer," Zack says. He rolls his eyes.

Dillon is a naturally curious person. He thinks what the scientists do is interesting, and that it could really help people. He's always trying to find answers, and when answers are unclear, he freaks out.

"All I know is that it's jerking suddenly and it spread through her arm. I do think that it was just her forearm for a day or two," I answer Dillon's questions to the best of my ability.

The door suddenly opens, revealing two people, a man and a woman. "Zack, Dillon, you are being brought in for emergency--" the woman stops, looking up from her clipboard, her eyes trained on me. "Jasmine. What are you doing here?" She doesn't give me a chance to answer and continues on to what she was saying before. "You are being brought in for emergency testing, due to unexplained problems in other experiments." The woman pauses for a second. "Jasmine, you might as well come along."

"But we just had tests three days ago. What could have changed since then?" Dillon stands, looking at the woman. Her lab coat is on inside out, like she put it on hurridly.

"So much can change in three days. So much can change in an hour," the woman replies. "Follow me." She turns her back on the door but the man waits for us to exit before bringing up the rear.

We walk through the metal halls, the woman's high heels clinking on the polished tile floors. I look behind me and see Dillon's eyes scanning the doors as we go past. They're all similar. Big metal blocks with hinges. A black square is next to each door, waiting for a scientist to hold a keycard against it. The woman turns down a hallway and pulls out a keycard. She scans it against the black box and the door swings open. Behind the metal door is a large room with a number of scientists standing alert. One of them is Dr. Falkman.

"I asked for just those two, Eliza," Dr. Falkman says sternly. He glances at Zack and Dillon.

"I'm sorry sir, she was in the room with them, I figured she should come along." The woman, Eliza, looks down at the ground.

"Oh, you have already brought her here. No point in sending her back." The man directs his attention to us. "You three, come in here." He turns his back on us and unlocks a door. The room we are lead into is dark.

"What's in here?" I hear Dillon ask.

"Emergency equipment," Dr. Falkman answers.

"What--"

"Shut up. I need to show you something." Dillon instantly becomes quiet. "Dillon, you are bing tested for adaptability. We have been inserting genes that can and will mutate when exposed to certain enviroments. They will help you survive specific enviroments. Your genes are permanently altered, and cannot be turned back. Your friend Reyna is the same."