Please note--this book is still being written. I haven't really edited it yet. I just wanted to post something up to show that I'm actually working on something.
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Andy’s door opened and he stuck his lightly bearded face out into the hall. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing!” yelled Holly. “Leave it alone, Andy!”
“I didn’t do anything!” Andy protested.
Posey suddenly arched backward in pain and crumpled to the ground screaming. “Oh, god! What’s happening to me?”
Holly raced to her side, sliding to a stop. “What? What’s wrong? What hurts?”
“My back! My shoulders! It feels like my skin is tearing apart!”
Doctor Sebbins suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. “Posey? Posey, I’m here!”
Posey was sobbing and twisting in agony. “Oh god! Please help me, Doctor!” Blood stains began to show on the back shoulder area of Posey’s nightshirt, red and wet through the cotton.
“Her back and shoulders hurt, Doctor!” Holly said.
“Hold her still for me, Holly. Andy, I can use you, too.” Doctor Sebbins produced a latex glove from her pocket, ripped it on, and began to palpate Posey’s back while Andy fell to his knees next to Posey and took her by the shoulders.
Posey shrieked in pain again. “Please help me! It’s burning!”
Dr. Sebbins grabbed at the back of Posey’s nightshirt and caught the neckband. She used a pair of scissors from the pocket of her lab coat and made a cut. Then, she jerked the nightshirt open to reveal Posey’s back. “What the hell?” Two bloody lumps had appeared on Posey’s back, jutting out from her shoulder blades. Each of the lumps had a gnarled, bony-looking appendage in the center.
“What?” said Holly. She glanced down and stifled a yelp. “What the hell are those?”
“Oh god, no! What’s wrong with me?” Posey shrieked. “What’s happening?”
“We’ve got to get you to the labs, Posey,” said Dr. Sebbins. “Andy, I need you to carry her down there for me. Gently, now. Holly, I need you to find Doctor Cormair and bring him to the lab. Also, I want you to page Nurse Hathcock and ask her to come in right away.” Holly ran to one of the intercoms on the wall and pressed the numbers that summoned Cormair and Nurse Hathcock to the lab.
“What is wrong with my back?” cried Posey.
Andy lifted her gently. “I don’t know, Posey,” he said. Andy smiled at her reassuringly and headed down to the labs with Doctor Sebbins on his heels.
Holly watched them go. The other doors in the residence hall opened and John, Indigo, and Sarah joined Holly in the hallway. Sarah helped Holly to her feet and wrapped her in a sidelong hug.
“I guess this is it,” said John. “I guess it begins. This is what Cormair has been working toward.”
Sarah looked down at Holly. “Was this her power?”
Holly was in a daze. Her mind was spinning. Was this sort of thing going to happen to her, too? Would it happen to all of them?
“Cormair’s going to keep her away from us, isn’t he?” said Holly.
“He’s finally got his lab rat,” said Indigo. “Posey’s going to be examined, worked, and tested to death.”
“Don’t say that, Indigo,” said Sarah.
“At least he won’t be coming for any of the rest of us for a while,” said Indigo. “We pretty much get a ‘Get out of Being Tested Free card,’ here.”
“That’s a heartless bitch kind of thing to say,” spat Sarah. “Posey is our sister.”
“Maybe your sister, round-eye. But, she ain’t my sister.”
“Indigo, this is a time when we need to stick together more than ever,” said John. “If Posey has begun to show the changes of years of testing, you know that the rest of us will, too.”
“I already have,” said Holly suddenly.
“What?” said John.
“I said I’ve already changed. I have powers.”
“What?”
“I can talk to animals. I can speak to them. I understand their languages.” Holly was so scared she was shaking. She had come to terms with her abilities some time ago, but to actually speak about them out loud—it sounded like the rant of a crazy woman. “I can make animals do things for me. I can hear and smell really well, too.”
“That’s insane,” said John.
“You had a Swiss Cake Roll this morning for breakfast,” said Holly.
“You saw me have it,” said John.
“I slept in this morning. I didn’t have breakfast. I can still smell it on your breath.”
John slumped back against the wall. “That’s messed up.”
“And Indigo—I know you smoked a cigarette this weekend when you snuck out.”
Indigo blushed. “I did.”
“And Sarah—you were in a cave today. A cave that’s usually inhabited by pine martens in the winter.”
“What?” yelped Sarah. “What the hell is a pine marten?”
Andy came back up the stairs. “Sebbins took Posey away from me as soon as we got to the labs. Cormair was already there. They slammed the doors shut and locked them. I don’t even know what they’re going to do. What are we talking about?”
“Powers,” said Sarah.
“I talk to animals,” sighed Holly.
Indigo sighed. “I turned on my stereo today.”
“So?” Holly said. “Big deal. So did I.”
“With my mind. From across the room.”
“Oh,” said Holly.
“I think I’m telekinetic. I don’t know for sure though. That stereo thing was the first time anything like that ever happened.”
“Aw, man,” sighed Andy. “Nothing has happened to me, yet. This sucks.” He and Sarah exchanged a look.
“Me neither,” said John. “Telekinetic! That would be so cool.”
“Are you sure that nothing has happened to you?” asked Indigo.
“I am,” said Andy.
“I wasn’t asking you. John—look at yourself. You have muscles like a weightlifter. How many weights do you lift each day?”
John shrugged. “I don’t. I wish I did, though. This place doesn’t have a weight room.”
Indigo suddenly threw a punch at John. He swiveled to the side and blocked her arm, shooting out his other arm in an elegant counter-punch. His extended fingers stopped millimeters from Indigo’s throat. It had only taken a fraction of an instant. He moved so fast that even he didn’t know what had happened.
Indigo suddenly threw a punch at John. He swiveled to the side and blocked her arm, shooting out his other arm in an elegant counter-punch. His extended fingers stopped millimeters from Indigo’s throat. It had only taken a fraction of an instant. He moved so fast that even he didn’t know what had happened.
“What just happened?” John’s eyes were wide and he pulled his hand back, staring at it incredulously. I didn’t mean to do that. I just sort of did it. It was involuntary, I swear, Indigo! You know I wouldn’t hurt you!”
Indigo swallowed hard and touched her throat with her fingers. “You’re a weapon, John. I’ve been watching you. You never, ever get tired when you run, even when you sprint. You never trip. You’re never clumsy. Everything you do is graceful. What other purpose would you have than to be a living weapon?”
John opened his mouth, and then closed it. He looked at her stupidly.
“We’re all weapons,” said Indigo. “If our powers show up, there’s going to be something weapon-like about them; I’m sure of that. That’s the point, right? They want to make us some kind of superhero soldiers…genetically ‘fix’ us so we’re beyond human…then, send us overseas to kill their enemies.”
“I’m not a weapon,” said Holly.
Indigo slumped against the wall and slid to a squatting position. “Right, Holly…because there’s nothing at all useful about someone being able to tell every bird, bug, and beast in the area to attack and maul a person…Or how about being able to tell a swarm of yellow jackets to maliciously sting a man to death? There’s no weapon potential there.”
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I hope that whets everyone's appetite.
I don't have a publication date yet. I will be moving to Wisconsin shortly, so everything is going to be a bit messed up because of that.
--Sean
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