Haines, confusion, and blinding light make him squint his eyes. “ where…where am I” Howard says looking at the bed he is in, trying to lift his head when a tug stops him from fully lifting. But nothing, his head was so tight in the contraption that he could barely tilt his head let alone leave. As he lays there he tilts his head left then right noticing Frank lying in the bed next to him. * what’s he doing here?* he thought, he swallowed before calling his name but nothing, Frank just lay still.
“Franklin!” he shouts this time to which he gets a slight twitch before Frank jumps up in panic, clinching his chest. The piercing of the overwhelming alarms sounding made Howard grip his ears in pain, too distracted to notice the cluster of nurses and doctors rushing into the room. “ put him back on restraints” a voice said with much force and dominance, Howard lay there watching Frank beyond the device blocking his eyes.
He couldn’t quite make out who was who really beside the visible basic underlying genitalia but he could see a vague blue hue a slight difference from his normal bright white flayer he normally sees in x-ray vision.
Sitting back down and taking a deep breath. Each nurse whispering to the other, reattached tubes and needles, Frank seemed unfazed by their poking and prodding he just sat there. The dullness in his face as if he had once again lost space of where he was a time was of no bother.
He turns his head seeing Howard lying there, “You’re that kid, the transfers from the baseball field.” Frank says with strangled disinterest, “ Howard” he replies “ can someone please take this off me? You lady.” The nurse was shocked to realize he noticed her so easily.” How did you….”, “ I can see you, you know? Well, maybe not completely but I know you’re standing there with a towel in your hand” Doctor Znits gleeful at Howard “ Tell me, what else can you see child”, “well I can see you referring to me as “child” as pretty odd” making Frank chuckle “Yeah it’s pretty weird for a doc to be calling patients child in such a direct way” Howard laughs and continues “ like grandpa pa will you take us to the zoo if I show you my talent?”, “Enough!” doctor Znits intervenes; he grips his gloves hard enough to hear the friction between them. Then he sighs “Boys, I’m trying to figure things out”…..” Well good to see they both are awake”, “Agent Kane?”,” That little power display you guys had back in the neighborhood was breaching on a level orange event, so someone needs to talk and see your three other friends are out of it…talk” Kane’s strong tone does nothing for Frank who is still lying there in the bed distant.
“Hey! I’m talking to you”, “ Please agent “ Znits tries to talk to Kane “Stop badgering my patient, he won’t give you the answers you want, please follow me to the back office for a more…” he glances over to Howard “private conversation”. Kane grits his teeth “Sure, Luke watch Colt and behavior” As Kane walks behind the solid grey door with the Doctor Luke turns his attention to Frank.
“So….what did you guys do?” He asks as Frank just lays there staring at him. cold, blank, and awkward causing Luke to turtle up into his chest. “Luke is it? How…many elements can you conjure?” Luke looks up, eyes wide and dry in tongue “Wha…do you mean?”, “The baseball field I saw you. Little arrogant…but I saw you. Impressive”, “I mean…” Luke scratches the back of his head “It’s only the basic four. Earth, wind, fire, and water” Frank’s lips spread to show his bright teeth “You’re…basically avatar”. Lukes’ face turns red “Uh, I never thought it like that, but you misunderstand. I can’t conjure, and at least not that I’m aware of but I can only transfer the elements into objects” Frank grins quickly fade “Oh” he rubs in chin. “ Have you tried?”, “dude, I was a street kid” He folds his arms “You think I had time to “practice? no, we….” Luke stops for a minute looking at Colt and then the gray door”
Meanwhile behind the door…
“Please, Agent Kane sit,” Dr.Znits says with his fingers missling to the chair. Kane looks at him and leans against the wall, Dr.Znits sighs “Is Agent Finn not joining us?”, “Agent Finn is busy with the Director. Now about what happened”, “Yes about that, we are still researching actually” Kane’s eyebrow raises “Researching..what?”, “Well here is the thing, have you seen the way these mutations work?”, “You mean at the cellular level? No. All I know is the surface level …basically either you’re born with it or you’re not much like race or sexuality; sometimes one can have a dominant M gene while their sibling can have a recessive M gene”. Dr.Znits smiles “Good good, well this is the thing once someone’s powers bloom like a flower it doesn’t change, but whatever these kids did completely mutated their mutation” Kane waves his hand in a continuing gesture “okay Znits, enough with this cryptic nonsense just say it”, “ To be straight forward with you Kane, It appears the kids in the direct radius of the energy field Mr. Franklin Doubleday, my patient you were just harassing. Do you understand what we do here Mr.Kane?”, “ I know you poke and prod kids, I know you built this whole secret town out in the middle of nowhere with government grants; anything other than that is above my pay grade” Dr.Znits eyes sink deepen as he stared at Kane, lacing his fingers “I’m a doctor like any other and I pity the fact you believe such nonsense that I would merely “poke and prod” children” Dr.Znit takes a breath “you’ll understand better after I show you these” his creeky wheels begin to turn as he slides across the slick ugly lime colored floor.
He stops in front of a cabinet, his hand landing on the center drawer and sliding it open quickly running his fingers across hundreds of folders picking up three in the process. Putting them on the table, “What is this Kane says leaning over the familiar name of Franklin Doubleday caught his eye”, “ so Franklin’s powers developed when he was six, his father was a soldier who passed in the Iraq war and his mother has withered away since.”, “So she is dead?” Kane asked “ Did I say she passed? No, just merely mentioned that she is whithering way in the old broken-down house at the edge of town and the field lands. What caught our eye about Franklin was him being caught on camera running to save some child that had fallen into the road not paying attention chasing a butterfly, Do you know that kid took a full hit and didn’t budge. “, “and the trunk?”, “Crushed by its own momentum”, “Jesus and the driver”, “silly question, there, of course, was no driver in that vehicle.”
Kane grits his teeth, letting his tongue move freely in his mouth “Get to the point, Znits” his face turning red and his foot tapping the floor, “ homo sapiens and what we have referred to as the Persona iluminada species have very identical DNA but there is one gene, one particular gene that they have and in each child we have watched be born, grown in the young gentlemen and ladies they are today, but these few they are…. let us call it the M-gene to keep it simple has for some reason or another evolved. Which means we will have to watch them further to see how this develops, this means a tighten-up around town.” He pushes back from the chair walks past Kane and opens the door, “About Howard, when can I take him”, “ ah yes young Howard needs to stay overnight he is stable but we will make sure he is in school with the other students tomorrow morning, now if you would please. I have work I must get to before the evening ends.
His foot stops tapping the floor, He gives a look to Dr. Znits then pulls out a cigarette and lights it before exiting the room. Walking along the hallway he noticed the dull white walls and disgusting lime green floor with the annoying overhead buzzing lights as he peeked into one of the rooms thinking it was empty a girl was sitting at a desk, hunched over. Her arm raced moving faster than he could comprehend “Hello, Agent Kane” she said in a soft voice “Sorry” Kane said stuttering and shaky, confused about how she could know he was there “Don’t be too worried, everyone freaks out when they first meet me” she laughs he curl and uneven afro suited her perfectly as she turned around, her smile as innocent as her tone. As she stared at him he couldn’t help but be freaked out by her pure black eyes and as he looked closer he noticed little beetle-like insects coming from behind her covering her back and forming what could’ve only been a pseudo cloak. But even still she reminds him so much of Clovefield, she walks up to Kane with her hand out.
He pauses then reciprocates “Well since you already know my name, how about doing me a favor”, “ oh sorry,” she says as she laughs “ My name is Debbie Mol”, “ Well Ms. Mol sorry to disrupt you from your artwork,” he said looking down at their connecting hands and seeing a bug about to crawl on his hand caused him to snatch his arm away to which he plays it off by giving her a wave before moving backward. “Oh, please don’t go” Kane takes a moment almost freezing in place looking at her deep in her eyes, tears were filling up in the corners of her eyes “You…you alright, “ he says swallowing his uncomfortableness and moving back into the room. “ Ye…” she jolts back around walks back to her chair and sits back down with the bugs scatting around her”, Kane’s eyebrow raises as looks sharp out the corner of his eye “ Please Kane, don’t bother any of the other patiences”, Kane grits his teeth even harder this time even grinding them but taking a deep breath; turning and walking out noticing as he walked out how quickly Znits locks the girl’s room door behind them. “If you would please,” Znits says with haste in his voice, pointing his fingers in a strong gesture back to where the exit is.
“ Luke, Colt come on we are leaving”, “Okay, just give us a second” Colt says as Kane stands at a distance nodding his head, Colt jumps up and runs over to Howard’s bed while Luke slowly walked behind as Colt bounces around Howard poking at the sphere encasing his head. “Hey Howard, bro! I don’t know if you can hear me but I wanna say bye before we leave. I hope you’re okay” he says touching his hand but he doesn’t move a finger, Howard turns to Luke “I guess he is sleeping…”Howard begins to smirk while Colt skips past Luke who takes a moment to just look at Howard all cabled up. He takes a step forward before stopping again, he exhales before taking another step reaching down and touching Howard’s hand “Fist bump?” he says below his breath, Howard’s arms slightly lift and his fingers slowly close which makes Luke chuckle as he softly touches knuckles “ see you, tomorrow bro. Luke runs off before taking a look back at Howard, “Luke!” He heard Kane say from down the hallway.
As they head towards the exit they walk past Clovefield’s room but notice two figures with her. He stopped and stares at them, one of them was tall had to be close to if not over six feet and the other was short no more than five foot something, may be he was staring too long as the shorter one caught his glaze and he instantly felt stuck. “ Hey, Luke!” Kane shouts before walking up to him and seeing what he is looking at he proceeds to walk up to the door and open it “No Kane, don’t” Luke tries to say quietly “ Hello guys…”, “I’m a girl” the shorter one says in a sluggish monotone “Yes…well, My son here is a friend of yours…eh, Ms.Clovefield and I was wondering if you didn’t mind. Can he say bye before we leave?” Kanes smile more shaky by the second, the pair look at each other then Kane “Sure.” The short one says unnervingly slow. Kane pulls his head outside the room and looks at Luke “Make it fast, kid.”, Luke slowly paces into the room and immediately looks a Clovefield, she doesn’t look like she is in any pain. Even while asleep and hunged up to wires and her puffy afro fluffed by the pillow, he took a step closer to the edge of her bed “ How is she?” he finally mustered up the nerve to ask “And who at you exactly” the shorter of the two ask? “Miriam!” the taller of the two barks at her, she scuffs back “Wha? Don’t you think we should know who the stranger in the room is Hampton?” Luke looked on as the two continued their stare down at each other.
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