13_Captured

Everyone kept staring at me with flickers of emotion. I told them my decision to be used as a lab rat. I made up my mind and there is no going back.

I leaned against the wall gauging their reactions. John was the least surprised of all, Carlos looked so conflicted, he looked like he didn't want to hold me back and also like he didn't want me to go. Stacey's expression was unreadable.

"My Ma needs my help and I also need her help. What if this antidote is the one we've been waiting for and I get cured?"

"What if it's not and you get killed?" Stacey said suddenly. A look of horror was etched on her face.

"Are you sure this is what you really want to do? We can find another way to get her out"

Stacey added reaching out to me and placing her hand on my shoulder.

"There is no other way. She was taken away to produce an antidote and they won't let her go until the antidote is made. I can go there and help her with the antidote and I can also get there and be cured" I looked Stacey in the eyes; her brown orbs were glistening with unshed tears.

"What if everything goes wrong?" Carlos spoke his first few words after hearing the news.

"That is a risk I am willing to take"

It was midafternoon when I got dressed and started my journey to the city where I would be easily spotted by 'the kidnappers', as Ashley always called them.

Ashley didn't take the news very well, she balled her eyes out on my shoulders and I cried a little bit with her.

"I can't lose you too"

She kept on repeating those words even as I walked out of her room.

All I had to do was promise her I would be back, even if I had no idea of the possibility of that.

Carlos offered to drive me but I declined, this was something I have to do on my own, I did not want to get him or his family entangled into my mess.

I dressed up in black jeans and a plain black shirt; I decided to let my mid-back length dark-brown hair down.

Before I took the short cut through the woods, I took a quick detour to the Ocean and filled a tiny bottle with the water; I put the bottle securely into my jean pocket.

The woods became denser as I walked deeper into it. John had given me a map which I pulled out on intervals to make sure I was still on the right path. The trees were dying gradually, no rain for more than eleven years, which was rough.

Even the innocent trees are being affected by something they can't even comprehend.

I was already giving up the walk when I heard the sound of vehicles nearby.

I smiled; my spirits were lifted. I must be very close to the road, so I picked up my pace.

I could see the road from here; I hid behind a tree and observed people moving around doing their daily activities as if everything was normal. Everyone had a nose mask on. An ignorant person would think the world was still normal, they won't know that traces of a poisonous gas was in the atmosphere where it keeps on multiplying daily and that if care was not taken to bring it under control or clear it completely, it will become so strong that even the mask they were wearing would be ineffective.

I stood for a while watching people walk up and down the street, I came out and walked up to a café opposite the trees, I walked in, the bell on the door rang indicating my presence, I froze expecting everyone to look at me with horrorbut they were all busy with their cup of coffee.

I walked to a sit at a discrete corner of the café and sat down. It was time to wait.

John was so sure that they would come to get me. I looked around observing everything around me. My eyes landed on a woman who had a large plate of pancakes in front of her and was talking animatedly with a younger girl, who looked just like her.

My mind went back to Ma, this used to be us before the gas took over our lives.

"The power indicator is blinking, someone here is a mutant. I should report immediately"

I heard those words in my head; I look around to know who it was coming from.

Recently, I gained the ability to hear peoples' inner thoughts. My powers were just spiraling out of control, and when they become so unstable, my body could self-destruct.

I felt eyes boring holes at the back of my head, I turned slowly and my eyes met icy-blue ones staring so intently at me. The girl looked around my age. We kept on staring at each other, after few seconds she walked up to me.

"Hey. Would you like anything?"

Her hair was dyed pink, it cropped around her shoulders. She had a piercing on her left eyebrows, on her nose and on her lip, her ears had no piercings. She wore a white tank top and jean shorts; an apron was wrapped around her.

"Would you like anything?"

She repeated sounding a little impatient.

"I would like a glass of water please?"

She hesitated for a while then she leaned closer to me.

"You need to leave now. They are coming for you"

I looked up at her. I feigned a confused look.

She sighed impatiently then whispered.

"I know you're a mutant and so does everyone back there and they are putting a call right now to the S-Firm to come and get you"

"S-Firm? What's that?"

"They are a group of scientists who go around collecting mutants for tests and they never return. You look like a really nice person so you should go now before they come for you"

I smiled to myself.

That was not as hard as I thought it would be. I just have to relax and wait for them to come to me, so easy.

"Can I have a cup of water?"

I looked up at her smiling sweetly.

She looked at me as if I was crazy. Then she shook her head, hesitated a little then walked back into what I assumed was the kitchen.

After a while she stormed out of the kitchen with a tall glass of water.

She placed it down in front of me.

"They are on their way here now. Don't say you were not warned"

She whispered and walked away.

I sipped my water slowly; my heart beating faster in my chest, the anxiety was killing me.

My glass of water was almost empty when I saw a white car pull up in front of the café, men with gas mask filed out of the car and stormed inside. They surrounded me aiming their guns at me. They were three of them.

I raised a finger up, finished my glass of water, and then I got up slowly with my hand above my head. The man closer to me immediately walked up to me and put my hands behind my back snapping a hand cuff over them.

I was dragged out and a device was put around my neck; I guess it was to suppress my powers, then a bag was put over my head and I was pushed into the car.

Just like Ma, I was taken away.

==========

The call about a mutant being spotted in town came in as we were having the usual meeting about were to go to this time to fish out mutants, like they were some sort of animals we were going to hunt down.

Kate was the happiest because it meant less work for her brain.

Cathy looked up at me, I smiled back at her reassuring her that we had to do this if we must get that document and make an actual antidote that would save the world.

As I watched the men drive out, I smiled within myself, my conscience was dead. The guilt that always comes with days like this was gone. The world needs me, my daughter needs me and I will not fail them.

Dear mutant, it's time to be sacrificed.