The Unthinkable

Day 210 of year 4020

Lilie’s POV

‘What I am about to tell you, is the truth. It is not a trick nor a fantasy nor a sick joke to rub in your faces. It’s the truth.’

The woman in front of us in almost in tears as her quivering hands clutch her clipboard. She tries to cross her legs slightly to stop them from shaking but its no use. She is absolutely terrified and juts by looking at her, I know the news is bad.

It’s been a day since I met my father and since then we have all come to grips of normal life. Charly has been taken away even though I pleaded them not to. The remaining scientists are trying to sort his brain out but it is apparently more difficult then what they figured. They took a few tests on us to make sure we were healthy but other than that they kept us clear from the science stuff. I spent my time in the gym to distract my thoughts and surprisingly Josh didn’t join me. Anna, Elena, Xander and Leon spent time together in the library. Ryo, Bess, Maddyson and Josh went off doing who knows what whilst the rest of the kids stayed in their room to chat.

Tanya acted suspiciously quiet. I guess anyone would if all of their friends were dead including their parents, but Tanya was never that sentimental. I spent the whole of yesterday avoiding her like I usually do, but I can’t help feeling worried about her.

Anyway, they called us all here today for a meeting. They haven’t put us with the rest fo the Skylanders yet, which I am grateful for, so I guess they are just trying to keep us up to date. Well, that accusation changed as soon as I laid eyes on this lady. This news was not going to be good.

‘I-I am one of the scientists that observed and helped in making and researching in your experiment.’ We all tensed up at that but we knew better than to attack her.

‘They kept me alive because they know that I never intended for this. I helped to stop it. Sarah was...out of control.’ She pauses as if remembering some horrid memories.

’But we know why she was like how she was. Her ancestors were the creators of plastic. They mixed the chemicals together and became rich off of the worldwide used material. But, when the disease came and it started polluting...they backed away.

Sarah’s father was working on a way to cure the disease, to make up for the families mistakes so they wouldn’t be so humiliated or cowardly anymore. He, however, stopped his research after the disease killed him in his own experiment. Sarah was determined to work it out and now she is like this-′

‘Where does Charly fit into this?’ I ask interrupting her.

She jumps back a bit, slowly looking up to me. Her lip trembled as she takes in my expression. I soften my face a bit giving her a reassuring smile. It helps as she takes a deep breath.

‘I nursed and taught Charly. He has always been such a bright boy. So kind and understanding.’

She smiled at me and I returned it.

’Sarah married a year before her father’s death and was pregnant when he died. Since then she made Charly and her husband have medical tests so they would know exactly when the illness hit. It was nothing much at first but...when Eric’s results changed. She-she...flipped. Eric passed when Charly was 3 and since then I was assigned to him as a personal teacher and nurse. Sarah spent all day in the lab.

It was one day when Charly was maybe 6 or 7 when she noticed the difference in his blood to the normal human. That is when you immunes were found.′

There was silence for a bit as we all let the information sink in. Then Ryo speaks up.

‘Well...what makes us immune?’

The lady smiles as if excited at his question. She seemed for at ease.

‘That’s the crazy part. Your blood is something that makes no scientific sense at all. In fact, each and every one of you has a different style of the blood type which makes it even more interesting.’

She turns around and taps some commands on the wall behind her. I look over at Ryo who stands next to me and we give each other a confused look.

The doors open wide to reveal a small desk with pots of red liquids.

‘Okay, so if you look here-’

She turns around to show one of the pots in her hand along with a black pill in the other.

’This is the blood of an animal that no longer exists. We can use this blood to create many more of them but we can also use it to identify why your blood is different.′

We all nod for her to continue.

‘This pill basically picks out the elements of DNA in the blood and shines a certain colour to identify which organism it comes from. For example-’

She drops the black pill in the pot and shakes it lightly. The red slowly formes into a bright pastel yellow and my eyes widen. I have to admit, that was cool. She seems to be happy with our reactions as she laughs lightly reaching to a sheet of paper behind her.

‘This sheet is for all of the yellows and this one is showing up like a human which makes sense because it’s my blood.’

She turns back around and slides a moving trolley in front of her. On it is a syringe, another pot, and a black pill.

‘I need a volunteer if that's okay’ She says in a quieter voice now.

Everyone freezes not daring to move. It was a risky move to make. What would she do to us? Well by the looks of that table, she wants to inject us with something. No thanks! It sort of pisses me off that she’s asking us to do this but it also makes me curious.

I’m too busy in my own thoughts to notice the figure slowly creep towards the table.

Bess.

She starts to walk towards the lady but is pulled back slightly by Josh. He’s holding her hand tightly shaking his head but she just smiles continuing. Josh lets go reluctantly and Bess procedes.

‘Thank you...’ The lady says.

‘Bess, and you are?’ She asks and the lady smiles.

‘Mildred’

I shift my gaze over to Josh who is clutching his fists tightly, his eyes glued to Bess. It was obvious that he had developed feelings for her and weirdly, I was okay with that. In fact, I am overjoyed that he and Bess are together. The only thing that's bothering me is...Zenon. Will it come in the way? Surely not...but it could.

‘Okay Bess, I’m going to slowly take a bit of your blood. The rest of you can come closer if you prefer.’

Josh doesn’t hesitate to stand by Bess and hold her hand whilst she rolls up her other sleeve. I move closer as well and hold Ryo’s hand for support.

The needle goes in and I look away. Everything about them now makes me feel sick to the core. Ryo rubs my back comfortingly and I give him a smile.

‘Okay,’ Mildred removes the needle and patches up Bess’ arm.′ now we are going to put it in here and watch the result’

She pours the blood into the pot and drops the pill inside. She mixes it slowly. Everyone is silent. The red starts to change.

Not into a pale, sweet, pastel yellow. But a deep jade, luscious green.

‘Ah, yours is one of my favourites’ Mildred says as she turns around. When she returns she places a new sheet on the table, this time with green shades, and points to the deep green colour.

Equus caballus

More Latin. I look over to Anna and Xander who have screwed their eyebrows up in confusion.

'What does it say Anna?' Leon asks her and she looks up to the very nervous Bess with wide eyes.

'Horse. It says horse'

What?!

'Correct Anna. Absolutely correct'

Mildred smiles brightly at us and before I can ask the question, she answers it.

'Now you see some of the animals on earth were, in fact, immune to the disease but got killed off purely by us humans. You children have for some reason picked up their genetics and we have guessed it has probably come from a gene that was produced millions of years ago. A gene that has slowly grown away because it wasn't needed. But now...now it is needed. And you have started it all over again.'

There is silence again and I almost feel like I might faint. Wow. Mildred sees this so leaves us to think but I just can't.

The only thought that comes to mind is...what genetic do I have? She said we were all different right?

'Okay, everyone. Harry said that you don't have to know this but we are giving you the choice. If you would like to know about your genetics just raise your hand now.'

And just like that, there is a room of bright smiling children raising their hands. All waiting to find out. All except one. Tanya. She turned around and walked out of the room when nobody noticed. Nobody did notice. Nobody but me.