More Than Human

Chapter 14

June 10

"Hurry up!"

Yep, you guessed it. Training.

"Stop being such weaklings! You have to be strong to survive!"

I was about to explode and tell Daryl that he was being a *beep* and ask what the heck was this for and that we didn't need to bust a hole in our lungs just to get stronger.

Yes, in my mind, swear words are replaced by a beep.

But instead, I pushed through it, gasping for the air my lungs couldn't deliver fast enough. At least, I thought to distract myself from the lack of oxygen, when I get back home, I'll be the best player on my ringette team.

"Who said you were going home?" Dang. I forgot Daryl could read minds. I couldn't see him, (I keep my head down when I run) but I bet he was smirking.

"Hurry up, Fay!" he yelled. I don't get why he was yelling at her when she's the best runner out of all of us.

Finally, I had enough. I collapsed, right in front of Lea. She tripped over me. Now two of us were down. Fay stopped and came to see if we were all right.

"I'm fine," I grunted. "Sorry, Lea."

"S'okay," she grunted back, picking herself up.

Gloria came over to see what the commotion was. Lea started explaining, but Gloria got distracted by something.

"Here comes trouble, " she whispered. I looked and saw Daryl approaching us with an absolutely livid expression on his face.

"What the heck do you think you're doing!" he screamed at me. I flinched back. "You do not stop training!" He slapped me on the cheek. This guys's insane, I thought frantically. "You do not stop, no matter-"

He went flying through the air. "Oh, shut up," said Lea in full murderer mode.

I was too shocked to notice what exactly happened. I guess I just thought that Lea had drop kicked him or something. But then Lea's expression changed from murderous to shocked and she stared at her hands.

Then I remembered Katie, who could move things with her mind.

And joined Lea in the shocked-ness.

Then Fay said, "Let's get out of here!" and we all wearily shuffled out of the training room.

As soon as we left, and even though we were all sweaty, I hugged Lea and said thank you. But instead of pushing me away like she normally does, she seemed oblivious. But why would she ignore me?

So recap: Daryl almost kills us. I collapse. Daryl freaks out. Lea drop kicks Daryl with her mind. We leave. Lea turns into zombie.

Then we go eat some more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After lunch was advanced training. It made me shudder just thinking about it. But where Amanda led us wasn't another gym or anything. It was just a plain, white room with a white table and five white chairs in the middle.

"So... What exactly are we doing here?" asked Gloria.

"The Director will take care of that," Amanda responded swiftly, and turned to leave.

Me and Fay looked at each other. "Director? Is this Maximum Ride?" I wondered.

A man walked into the room. He was wearing a white lab coat just like everyone else, but he the way he held himself made it obvious that he was... 'superior'.

He sat motioned for us to sit and sat down at the table opposite to us. "I'm James Henderson, the leader of this company."

None of us knew what to say. The most important person I'd ever met was my school principal. Yeah.

Finally Fay asked, "What are we here for?"

Henderson raised an eyebrow. "Here in general or here in this room?"

"Both," decided Gloria.

"The reason why you're here in this complex is so that we can monitor the changes- enhancements- in you and compare them to the changes in the V1s. Why you're here in this room, is so that you can practice using those enhancements."

He didn't sound like the evil scientist I'd been expecting. Yes, he sounded like a scientist, but one that had found an interesting specimen and wanted to observe it, not tear it apart. It was almost enough to make me trust him.

Almost.

You see, I have difficulty trusting people, and even talking to people. I think that if I ask them a question, they'll find a way to turn it around on me and make me feel stupid for asking it. Same with confiding. Just thinking this, I'm expecting people to think I'm stupid.

I realized someone was talking. Gloria. "What's the training for?" she asked.

"Once again, to monitor the changes. Also, the fitter the subject is- sorry, you are, the better." So he thinks of us as subjects. I expected as much, although I'd hoped for more.

"And what are we supposed to be doing right now?"

"Well, right now, we're clearing up everything that needs clearing up."

Why, I wanted to say, did you kidnap us instead of taking volunteers?! But I didn't. This guy was the leader. I wanted to stay on his good side.

Either Lea was thinking the same thing, or she accidentally heard me thinking that, but she then asked, "Why did you chose us?"

"Well, you guys all know each other, which would make the process easier." He smiled. "We're not heartless psychopaths here. We value friendships." It didn't sound sincere, though. Kind of the cashier at a fast food restaurant that just kind of drones, 'Have a nice day.' It's something he's supposed to say.

"But also," Henderson continued, "you guys are very diverse with interesting genetics. An Asian, an African, family members, small girls, tall girls... the list goes on. If only there was a boy in your group." He said the last part wishfully. He was being pretty racist, but I was thinking about something else.

"Family members?" questioned Fay.

Oh. Oh no. Me and Jess were cousins. And he might've meant Rose when he said small girls. She's the size of most ten year olds.

But it meant that we weren't going to be the only ones.

The others were at risk.