Sue had been busy since the new arrivals showed up. The young girls, Beth and Brianne, took the longest to settle in. They were different and they knew it. For such young ones it was very hard for them to accept. As she took a break she turned on the TV. She watched in horror what someone had caught on a cell phone while taping a family event in their back yard that looked out onto the interstate.
Since the state of emergency had been declared and most, if not all, non-citizens had been deported, things started to move forward rather well in the United States. Factories began to produce again and those who had to travel further than ten miles but less than sixty were given special passes that allowed them to go from home to work and back. So at four thirty on a Friday the interstate was busy. Cars were veering in every direction trying to avoid others.
As Emily walked by the family room where Sue was watching TV she heard Sue say, “Please God, help us.”
“Are you okay?” Emily asked.
“Yes dear, come sit with me. This is just horrible.”
Emily sat next to Sue on the couch and watched the grisly sight.
Cars slammed into each other. A tractor-trailer pulled off the side of the road trying to avoid crushing the car in front of him. As he came to a stop, the driver sat watching the horrific scene unfold. A blue Honda was hit on the passenger side and buckled in like a sheet of aluminum foil. Liquid began to spill out.
The truck driver jumped out of the passenger door and began to run. He had barely taken three steps before the explosion. The media arrived quickly and TV camera’s showed the carnage. Vehicles were upside-down and crushed into an unrecognizable mass of color.
“This is Ann Miner with Global TV. We’re at the site of a horrible multi-car accident. As you can see…” The cameraman panned to show a scene that looked as though it came from a movie. Smoke was pouring from cars and three were on fire. “It’s hard to determine how many cars are involved, but I have counted at least thirty-two.”
Miranda walked into the room and Emily said, “Sit with us, this is terrible.”
The sirens from ambulances, fire trucks, and police could be heard and people were trying to get out of their cars but were unable. Some were injured, some had doors that wouldn’t open, but others seemed to be in a panic. They were beating on windows screaming for help. The cameraman panned to a man in the back seat of a vehicle. He was kicking at the back window trying to break it.
An officer saw the man kicking and got on top of a car to make his way over to help him. The officer had to climb over cars mangled into one piece before he got to where he wanted to be. He motioned for the man to move back, but the man just kept kicking. After a few moments of what looked like the officer yelling at the man to move back, one saw the man in the car move to the side. The officer slammed his baton into the window shattering it, tiny pieces rained on the man in the car. The officer held his hand out to help the trapped man out of the car. The two crawled to a place where others were waiting to help the man to an ambulance. Once the officer had help for him, he yelled for others to help get those who were trapped to safety.
Ann Minor and the cameraman watched all this happen. While filming the cameraman asked, “Should we help?”
“No! We help by showing others what is happening.”
At that moment, there was another explosion with smoke and fire billowing from a pile of cars. “Show the cars that just blew up.”
As he panned over the mass burning, he noticed people in a car right next to the pile on fire. On the ground was a puddle of liquid that encompasses the burning vehicles and was traveling towards the car with people still in it. The people in the car were kicking and beating on the windows trying to break free.
“I should help them—” They heard the cameraman say.
“No! Keep that camera running!”
“You take it.” The picture on the TV spun as the man handed the camera to Ann.
“It’s still on,” he said as he took off in the direction of those in the car.
“I’ll have you fired.”
The cameraman ran towards the car as the fire began to follow the fuel. He bolted up to the car, jumped onto the bumper and then the back of the car hitting the window with both feet. The window crumpled and he fell backward, hitting the ground. Two women exited the car followed by a young boy. A man who had come to help pulled the last person out. As they tried to crawl away from the mangled mess, others came over and helped them to their feet and safety.
By this time, the cameraman had gotten up. He took the person being pulled out of the car, threw him over his shoulder, and began running. They were only forty feet away when the car they had just exited exploded. The two men were airborne. They landed a few feet from where their last step had been. Ann Miner caught all this on camera.
As Sue and Emily sat and watched, Emily began to cry. “They don’t even know what’s in store for them. They think our physical characteristics are all the flux is about. What is going to happen when the real truth is known?”
“It’s okay, Emily.” Sue put her arm tightly around her daughter-in-law. “The human race is resilient.”
Emily cried even harder.
***
As Sue and Daniel watched the news the next day they had an update on the multi-car pileup. A doctor at the hospital was giving a statement. Standing next to him stood a mixture of people in police and firemen uniforms.
“I’m Doctor Johnson. I’m authorized to give a statement on the accident that happened yesterday. The driver that started the multi-car accident was found to have a rare eye disease. This disease isn’t found in his family and he’s never been diagnosed with it until now. It’s hereditary and was passed onto him by the genetic flux.”
“What eye disease does he have?” asked one of the reporters.
“He has Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis or LCA, a rare inherited eye disease that appears at birth or the first few months of life. Once it was passed onto this man, it took only a few hours to affect him.”
Daniel stood up and paced the floor. “This is never going to stop. Look at the girls and Emily. What will happen when everyone finds out what is really happening, Mom?”
“We can’t worry about that Daniel. All we can do is make sure those here are being taken care of. Other than that we have to let this all play out like everyone else.”
“But everyone else doesn’t know what is in store for them, we do.”
“We will just wait and see.”
Sue walked to where Daniel was standing. Looking at him she added, “No one can change the past. All we can do is try to make the future a better place.”
“Mom, are you crazy? A better place? How can we even delude ourselves in thinking there is even a future?”
“We are still alive. With life there is hope, we must hang onto that.”
Daniel shook his head as he watched his mom leave the room. He thought his mom, and the rest of the world, was living in an illusion and when the truth was found out, what would happen? If things got this bad with the flux changing their physical bodies what will happen when the whole truth comes out?
He walked to the window and watched Emily sitting in a lawn chair. His heart broke for the woman he loved. I did this to her, I did this to the whole world! He stepped outside to join her.
Hearing Daniel on the porch Emily got up and gave him a hug. Turning to where the girls were playing she let out a small sigh. “My heart breaks for them.”
“They’ll be okay. Kids are resilient.”
“They don’t like their changes. They don’t understand.”
“It’ll be fine.” Daniel turned and walked back inside.
Miranda joined Emily on the porch steps and hugged her. “The girls are happy to be here.”
“It must have been a difficult trip for them.”
“Yes, especially after we lost Lexi. Poor Beth was inconsolable for weeks.”
“The poor girl. At least you’re here now.”
“Yes, it’s nice to be in a safe place.”
“Yes.” Emily’s voice cracked a bit.
“You don’t like it here?”
“Oh yes, I’m grateful to be here, it’s just hard not being able to go anywhere.”
“That would be hard. How about we take the girls for a ride later?”
“That would be great, but I don’t know if Daniel would want to risk letting the girls off the property.”
“He’s taken you out.”
“Well, how about we look on the internet to see how others are making themselves stand out? Maybe we can do something elaborate so no one would ever suspect something is going on.”
“That’s a great idea!”
The two women went inside, leaving Sue to watch the children.
Miranda and Emily went to the office, connected to the internet and searched styles to show who you are.
“Let’s look at that one.” Miranda pointed to a site that said ‘Styles to make you stand out.’ Once on the site Miranda said, “Looks like most want to make sure their family can find them.”
Emily chuckled as she looked at a picture of a family getting out of a car. There was a woman, man, two boys, and a girl. The two boys and dad had black pants on and the mom and girl had black skirts. Their shirts were all bright yellow with a bright blue collar. The boys and dad’s hair was spiked, colored bright blue with bright yellow tips. The mom and girls hair was dyed bright blue with the part and ends dyed bright yellow.
“There’s no missing them is there?” Emily gawked.
Miranda laughed. “No. Oh wow, keep scrolling.”
The next picture was of a young man with his face air brushed orange. He had both eye brows pierced using a barbell. From the end of the barbell was a chain that went over to his ear where he had his cartilage pierced. From the cartilage piercing a chain went to his septum. From the septum a chain went to his ear lobe and from there a chain to a dimple piercing. Both sides of his face were done this way, only connected together at the septum.
“I wonder if his whole family is doing that.” Emily gasped.
“I bet he’s single. Look,” Miranda said as she pointed to another picture.
The next picture showed a family that had a patch of sparkly cloth right above their right eye. The ad said the cloth came in many colors and could be attached either by glue or tape.
“Would tape hold the cloth in place for very long?” Miranda looked at Emily.
“I don’t know, but I bet they come up with tape or glue that works great in a very short time if they don’t have it yet. There’s too many parents out there that want, need, to let their children know it’s them. I couldn’t imagine going to an elementary school and trying to find a child with all of us looking the same. It has to be hard. I know everyone has the chip and watch, but it’s just not the same as being able to look at your loved ones and know it’s them.”
“Yes, in some ways the girls having to stay here is much better. I know they’d love playing with other kids, but until this settles down—“
“You know this isn’t going to settle down. Miranda, you of all people know this.”
“I know, but I mean, I don’t know what I mean. Emily, I haven’t really thought about what is going to happen. I’ve tried to just take care of things now. But when everyone knows the whole truth I guess all this isn’t really going to matter.”
“No, it won’t. It won’t be hard to stand out then either.”
“That’s for sure.” After a quiet moment Miranda asked as gently as she could, “Does it bother you?”
Emily looked at Miranda, she was becoming a good friend and she could see that the question wasn’t to make her upset, but to give her a chance to talk if she needed to.
“Well, sometimes I fear how others will react when they find out what is really going on. But other times I forget, I don’t even give it a thought. It’s such a small change, in the scheme of things, but I haven’t had any trouble from it so… I guess, other than not being able to go in public, it’s not so bad.”
“Why don’t you just out yourself? Why don’t we take the girls and go to the TV station and tell everyone?”
“No, Miranda! We can’t do that. They would take me and the girls and treat us like lab rats. Do you want them to take Brianne and test on her?”
“No! I didn’t think of that.”
“I guess we will just hide for now. I have to say I think there are other people that have these unusual changes too. I can’t see how just the girls and I are the only ones.”
Emily had always thought she was the only one until the girls showed up, she understood how she changed, but the girls. That was a frightening thing to see.
“I wondered that, too. There’s nothing on TV or the internet about any of these types of changes. I think the few that are having these changes are hiding like we are. They must be frightened of what would happen to them or their loved one.”
***
While Sue was watching the girls her cell phone rang. “Hello.”
“Hi, Sue.”
“Paula?”
“I know it’s been a while. I was wondering if Mom, Carla, and I could come over for a visit today.”
Sue panicked. No one, not even her nieces and sister could stop by. “Oh Paula, I’d love a visit but I won’t be home. I have to go out later, how about I stop by your place?”
“Mom would love that.”
“Okay, see you around two.”
“That sounds great. See you then.”
That was a close one. Her sister was a great woman, but if she knew the truth about the flux she might think others should know. She herself sometimes thought that at least Austin should know everything, he was the one that Daniel put in danger and doesn’t even know it. She shook her head as though trying to shake the thoughts away and called to the girls. “Come on I have to get ready to leave.”
“Can we go grandma?” Beth asked.
Looking at the girls she knew there was no way, but then a thought came to her. Maybe there was a way to let the girls at least go to the park to play. While out she would have to look into it.
“I’m sorry, but I have some errands to run and I won’t be able to take you with me.” Seeing the disappointment on their faces she added, “Let me see what I can do. Maybe tomorrow we can go somewhere.”
“Oh, Grandma that would be wonderful!” Beth said as they walked into the house.
Chapter Eighteen
Transitioning Maggots into Army Rangers
“Captain Munez, report to the Colonel’s office.”
The loud speaker repeated the announcement two more times. Five minutes later, Captain Munez was seated in Bill’s office.
“Captain, I received a phone call this morning and your detail has changed.”
“Okay.”
“I know your orders were to come in, get these folks trained, and then move on to another location.”
“Yes, sir, that’s correct.”
“Well, our commanding officer received word that people were trying to snoop around some of the other immunity compounds. At this time we’re not sure if they saw anything or not. We all know the technology that the military possesses, but they can’t watch everything every second of the day. Also, with the state of emergency being activated our manpower is low. So you have been given new orders, you will stay here and select six people who you feel could handle being trained for Army Rangers. Once you’ve selected the six people; you will train them and then stay with the group as the squad leader.”
“Colonel, that’s a hell of a change.”
“Yes, Captain, it is, but our commanding officers feel it is necessary to keep everyone here safe.”
“Alright, I will figure it out and make it work. All I ask of you is too let me do this my way. The six people I select will need Army Rangers training, you know what that means right?”
“Yes, Captain, I do.”
“Colonel, as you know I will
have to push them harder than they have ever been pushed before. When I enlisted I knew what choices I was making, these guys have no clue at what’s coming at them. So to be fair, I will let the six people I select, and who agree to volunteer for this, know exactly what they’re getting into. I’ll have to break them down and then build them back up. If I’m going to trust these folks with my life out there I am going to damn well make sure they can handle it.”
“I understand and I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Alright, just as long as we’re both on the same page I won’t allow my soldiers to come to you boo-hooin and whining that I’m being too tough on them. Just like in Army Rangers training you adapt and overcome or you quit, that’s it.”
“Captain, you have my word that I will not interfere. This is a whole different deal than basic training. I understand whoever you select will have to count on one another to do their job to come home alive.”
“I will get started immediately.”
As he left the Colonel’s office he was already deciding on who he would ask to be in his squad. He was fortunate enough to have been working with these folks so he already had a pretty good idea of who could hack it and who couldn’t. He went to his top pick and knocked on the door. About ten seconds later the door opened.
“Captain Munez what can I do for you?”
“May I come in?”
“Yes, sir, come on in.”
Captain Munez entered the apartment and walked to the dining room table and sat down. “Have a seat son.”
As the young man sat down he asked, “Captain, am I in trouble for something?”
“No, Ben, you are not, actually quite the opposite.”
The captain could see a sigh of relief come over the young man. “Listen, what I am about to tell you, no matter what you choose, must stay between us do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ve come here today to invite you to be a part of an Army Rangers unit.”
“Wow, I’m honored you thought of me, sir.”
Genetic Flux (Phase One Book 1) Page 18