As the Crow Flies

Chapter 2

The rancid smell of the room overwhelmed my senses and the chains binding me to the floor were heavy on my arms. I looked to the three men and began thinking about the dreams I’d had this morning of my new found freedom. I was going to get a job and have a place to call my own. I’d have been able to make friends and maybe even find love. Real love. The kind of love that was unexpected and worthwhile; love that wouldn’t be taken away when it became inconvenient. My parents never showed me what love would look like but I had an idea of what I wanted it to be and always thought that once I turned eighteen I’d be able to find it in time.

“Shall we begin?” The low rumbling tone pulled me from my thoughts and I realized the larger of the men had approached me. Dark skin and a shiny, bald head, he stood at least a foot over me. My stature was small in comparison to most, I was only 5’2”, but I felt like a child in front of him. He began to pull something from a pack on his waist, and I closed my eyes, expecting a knife or gun to touch my skin. I heard a small beep and opened my eyes in surprise. He was holding a no-contact thermometer and reading the temperature to his counterparts.

“98.3 Fahrenheit” He said calmly. The beak-nosed man handed him a tape measure and he began taking my measurements. “Don’t move.” He barked, and I stayed still, and silent.

An almost normal physical exam took place, they used a small light to check my eyes, ears, and nose, listened to my heart and lungs, and weighed me with a scale someone brought in.

“Who are you people?” I finally asked as they began filling out forms. None of them looked at me or responded. All of a sudden, Miss Freilin walked back through the door. The men handed her their papers and left her and I alone.

“What are your specialties?” She inquired.

“What specialties?” I responded in what was becoming a normal state of confusion.

She rolled her eyes. “What makes you different? What are your powers?”

“I don’t have any, I told you all before, I’m a normal person! I don’t know what you want from me!” I exasperated.

She approached me, “Don’t make me do this the hard way.” Her voice and the way she said that sent chills down my spine.

Holding back tears of desperation, I yelled back “I don’t know what you want!”

She stood back, and responded “The hard way it is.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly raising her arms in front of her with her palms facing me. At first I thought I was seeing things when light began coming from her fingertips, but as the light grew brighter, I knew this was really happening. I felt a tingling sensation in my skin like the room was filled with static and I began feeling warm. Very warm. It was fine at first and became uncomfortable, then painful. I began to cry out as the pain increased.

“Stop! Please stop, whatever you’re doing stop, it hurts!” I begged and cried, tears finally falling for the first time today. She didn't stop and the burning pain became unbearable. I felt like my skin was peeling off and my legs became weak. I fell to the floor and felt darkness threatening to overcome me. I couldn’t pass out, not here, not now. I’d most certainly die here on this disgusting floor.

I could no longer stop the cascade of tears rolling down my cheeks as the burning feeling was overcome by my body shutting down. I closed my eyes and let it take me, wondering if I was even afraid to die.

…

My eyes fluttered open, staring up at a bright, fluorescent light above me. I felt a bed underneath me and a light sheet was draped over my body. I slowly turned my head to look around. No longer was I chained to the floor in a concrete room but I was in what looked like a hospital bed, a white curtain shielding me from the rest of the room. I could hear machines beeping and humming, and I began to wonder if I’d experienced some horrible accident, and everything that had happened was just a dream.

The curtain flung open and revealed Miss Freilin in all her chilling glory. Nope, not a dream. Someone really did magic (or whatever the hell that was) and I really was a prisoner of some mysterious people who wanted god knows what to do with me.

“What the hell are you!?” I cried, fearful she came to give me another painful, nightmarish experience.

“I’m a Malum.” She responded dryly. “And so are you. But something is wrong with you, your powers won’t reveal themselves to me. This has never happened before, and we need to know what’s going on with you.”

Malum. There’s that word again. That’s what they keep calling me, this..thing...with special abilities. I have no idea what they thought I possessed, but I was sure I’d know if I had powers like what I saw with Miss Freilin.

“You could offer the answer to our problem here. You could have something in you that suppresses those mutated genes,and if we can figure out what that something is, we can use it to suppress all Malum genes and protect the human species.” She continued on. “You’ll stay here in the medical wing until either your powers reveal themselves or we find the cure for the Malum gene mutation.” She spoke so matter of factly, like this was a normal, boring conversation for her.

I stayed silent and watched her walk away. I didn’t know what to think, my whole understanding of the world just got ripped to pieces and I still didn’t know why. There was nothing special about me, my life story proved that.

I noticed a small sink and mirror against the wall, and raised myself up to see my reflection. My long dark hair was tangled and frizzy, tight knots on the side of my head where I must’ve laid against the floor of the van. My pale skin looked sickly in this light and my brown eyes had dark circles of exhaustion around them, even more pronounced with my exaggerated bone structure drawing attention to my cheekbone area. The red tank top I had on was dirty and I looked down to see I’d managed to tear my black leggings at some point in the day. I wanted nothing more than a hot shower and to go to sleep.

I looked around the medical room and noticed a second bed against the far wall, nearer the door Miss Freilin had left through. I could tell there was someone in it, but their face was hidden by the half drawn curtain.

All of a sudden , machines started beeping loudly, and a voice over some sort of loud speaker announced “Code 1, Code 1” People in lab coats rushed through the door and surrounded the other bed, none of them even looking at me. I heard a lot of commotion and a pain-filled scream erupt from the person laying over there. I could tell from the yell that it was a young man, and it sounded like he was experiencing something excruciating.

I began to hear a strange sounds and the doctors voices began to raise in volume as they ordered each other around and talked over the yelling and machines. Without warning, one of the doctors flew backwards, slamming to the floor from some unknown force.

What in the world was happening!? Am I in danger!

Once again I found myself desperate for an exit I didn't have. All I could do was watch as three more doctors flew away from the bedside. The curtain was torn down and I could finally see the face of my roommate. His head was thrown back and his face twisted in a grimace of pain. A doctor rushed to his side with a syringe filled with some sort of clear liquid, and as he went to inject it, the man looked at him and he just flew backwards, same as the others.

I couldn’t help but gasp. His eyes were the brightest blue I’d ever seen, and his blonde hair only made them more dramatic. If he hadn’t noticed me before, he certainly noticed me now as he looked over in response to my sudden reaction. His expression softened when he saw me and he locked eyes with me for a moment before he once again threw back his head and cried out in pain.

Finally, one of the doctors managed to get the injection in, and the man’s heavy breathing slowly became less labored, his eyes fluttering before staying closed. Whatever it was, the liquid must have been some sort of tranquilizer, as he seemed to pass out quickly and deeply. As the doctors straightened themselves and reattached monitors that had disconnected, I continued to stare in awe. He had thrown full grown men back without even touching them. Are these the kinds of powers they are expecting me to have? Is he a Malum, like me?