Murder Genes (15 page)

The teacher rapped the board with her chubby knuckles.
 
It made dull knocks instead of sharp raps.
 
"All right class.
 
Sit down."
 
The kids mumbled and shuffled, it took maybe two minutes for them to sit.
 
The teacher didn't seem to mind.
 
She looked bored and just as uninterested in starting the class as the students.

"Did you all read last week's assignment?"

Some students nodded.
 
Most didn't.

The fat teacher slowly sat in her big, black leather chair.
 
She toed a metal stool out from under her desk and used it to prop her feet, lounging back.
 
"Show me your tablets."

The kids raised rectangular picture frame pads as the teacher pointed a laser at the tablets one by one.
 
When she did, the glass pane center glowed green on some and red on others.
 
When they glowed red, the teacher tapped on the clearboard behind her, leaving a sloppy glowing red dot behind each time she tapped.
 
Kyle hadn't been anything but home-schooled by his dad, and he'd never seen clearboards used in a class before.
 
Pretty cool.
 
He'd seen a lot of things in the city that used lots of technology, not like where he used to live.

The teacher's laser hovered on Kyle's chest.
 
"Where's yours?"

"I don't have one," Kyle said.

There was a unified groan from the kids around him.
 
"Why not?" she asked.

"I'm new.
 
It's my first day."

"And you forgot to bring your tablet."
 
She gave him a dim, corner of the eye look.

"I don't even have one."

"I'm sure you don't.
 
OK, class," she clapped her hands, "extra physical education today."
 
Another groan from the other kids.
 
Kyle didn't understand, it seemed like physical education would be more fun than sitting.
 
Then again, most the kids were fatter than him.
 
Maybe it was hard to move with that extra weight on them.
 
Kyle was lucky to be skinnier, he'd always been able to run faster than most.

Someone threw something wet into the back of Kyle's shirt.
 
There was giggling, but he forced himself not to look back and ignore the other kids.
 
He shook his shirt and felt the wet roll down and off his back.

Del had warned him to be good.
 
She'd knelt down and looked him in the eye and asked him to be on his best behavior.
 
He'd promised.
 
It wouldn't be good for her to keep worrying about him.
 
He'd put her through enough with the accident he'd caused.
 
Plus, with this being a school, Kyle was sure there would be a library where he could find out more information about Murderer City.

The teacher was talking again.
 
She clicked a button on a remote control and the clearscreen began playing a video with images that came out of the screen like they were in front of Kyle.
 
The screen spoke about blobs carrying other blobs to places where they could copy themselves and become little humans inside a dish.
 
It hadn't been nearly as cool on Kyle's computer back home.
 
The video talked about how certain parts of the blobs--DNA--could decide what made a person like they were.
 
From the size of their hands to what they'd best be in their future.
 
The teacher paused the screen and said that her genes and her resulting 'epigenes' made her a good teacher.
 
She seemed proud of this.
 
Someone snorted in the back and more giggling erupted.
 
The video went on for a while, explaining how a guy named C.H. Wadd-something and another guy John Fuller got together and studied a bunch of stuff that made the discovery of The Code possible.
 
Kyle yawned.

The clearscreen stopped and the teacher spoke.
 
"All right, go take your fifteen minute break.
 
Be back on time this time."
 
She said it mutely as if hoping the students wouldn't hear.
 
Then her head rolled back and she was snoring.
 
Kyle looked at the clock.
 
It'd been fifteen minutes since they walked in and they got a fifteen minute break.
 
He shrugged, it was reasonable.

Someone threw a tightly wound ball of toilet paper at the teacher.
 
She roused, shaking her head.
 
"Oh right," she said.
 
"Sorry."
 
She went and unlocked the door with her key, then she was back in her chair.

A boy much shorter than Kyle came to stand in front of Kyle.
 
He wore a t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off.
 
"Hey, new kid," he said, crossing his arms.
 
His muscles bulged like Kyle had only seen in adults.
 
It looked weird.
 
"What's your name?" he asked.

"Kyle," Kyle held a hand out to shake.

The other boy grimaced at it.
 
"I'm El."

"Hi El."

"Hey!
 
Don't cuss!" El punched him in the arm and cackled.
 
He slapped his knee.
 
"I love that one."

Kyle grinned back.
 
"Funny."

"Thanks.
 
It never gets old.
 
I mean, what were my folks thinking?
 
Naming me some cuss word."

"I think that's hell."

"The city people say 'el, they all do it.
 
'El yeah!"
 
El pumped his arm like he was excited for no apparent reason.
 
"So Kyle, where you from?"

"Not far.
 
I've been home-schooled most my life."
 
Most the other kids had left, a few were milling around, chatting in small groups.
 
"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoots," El crossed his arms again.

"Does a girl name Callie go here?"

"Ha ha, already into the girls?
 
Can't blame you, we've lookers in this class.
 
You've caught a few star-eyes already."

Kyle raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Right, I'll tell you.
 
But first, what do you think of my guns?"
 
El flexed, and his muscle seemed to grow three times their normal size.
 
It was even stranger since everyone else in the room was kinda fat.

A hand touched Kyle's arm.
 
"Oooh, I think
his
are better."
 
A red-haired girl wearing too much makeup put her cheek on Kyle's shoulder.
 
Then she hopped away and held out a hand, fingers down.
 
"I'm Jillia, pleased to meet you."

He grabbed her hand awkwardly and shook it.
 
"Kyle," he said again.

"She's just saying that because she wants me to be jealous," El said, cupping Jillia by the shoulders and holding her close.

She pushed him away.
 
"No.
 
I'm saying it because it's true.
 
He's got natural muscles.
 
Not like your epi-gene-etically altered freak show muscles."
 
She looked at him.
 
"They are natural, right?"

Kyle nodded.

"See!
 
I can always tell.
 
Your parents must be really good looking."

"My parents are..."
 
Just say it, it's probably true anyway.
 
"...dead."

Jillia gasped and put a hand to her mouth.
 
"Murdered?"

Kyle didn't answer.

"So you're adopted then?" El said.
 
"Who took you in?"

Kyle didn't answer again.
 
He felt uncomfortable with all the questions.
 
They seemed nice but he just didn't want to know anything but where Callie was right now.
 
"Callie?" he asked again.

El snapped his fingers.
 
"You mean Callie Mollinda, right?"

Kyle nodded because he didn't know.

"Yeah.
 
She goes here.
 
She's in a different class though.
 
And she's skipped grades so she's not where you'd expect."

So Callie was the smart one.
 
Kyle grinned at the thought.
 
"Where's her class?"

"Wait," Jillia chimed.
 
"Didn't Jeff Mollinda just get murdered?"

Kyle's smile fell.

"
Killed
." El said.
 
"It was an accident."

"I heard Callie doesn't think so.
 
She thinks he was murdered."

"You and your 'hearing' things.
 
You're always wrong, you know.
 
I think you just make it all up."

Kyle tried not to listen any more.

"Murderers keep killing innocent people.
 
I wish we could just get rid of them all."
 
Jillia stomped her foot angrily.

And he was listening again.

"They're trying.
 
My neighbor was just taken away.
 
To think I could've been killed, you know?" El replied.

"Oooh, close call."
 
Jillia's eyes were big. "I really wish we'd get done with the testing and ship them all out to that Murderer City, where they could just kill each other instead of us."

"Oh, be nice.
 
I wonder why we didn't just lock them up or just kill all their kids instead of building Murderer City, though," El said.

"We TRIED that, dummy.
 
They got violent, really violent, the GENE War?
 
Don't you remember history class?"
 
Jillian rolled her eyes.

"If they're so dangerous, how'd we win then?"

"Cause we're smarter and we tricked them of course.
 
They're so dumb, it was easy."

Be good.
 
Del...Mom wanted me to be good.
 
Kyle hid how much he hated them right now.
 
"What room?" Kyle asked again.

El shrugged.
 
"Beats me.
 
There's a roster in front of each door.
 
Just look at it and it'll tell you.
 
You'd better hurry though, class starts in a few minutes."

"Thanks," Kyle said.
 
He jogged for the door.

Once he was out, he went looking for a good place to hide.
 
There were still a lot of kids in the hallways, smushed up against each other so that most hardly moved.
 
A lot of the students were high schoolers, and they clearly dominated the hallways.

But Kyle needed a place where he could hide until the next class started.
 
He wouldn't have time to search for Callie's room with only a few minutes left.
 
Kyle doubted that with the hallways so crowded, even with the full fifteen minutes he'd probably never be able to see a roster much less search all of them.
 
So he found a bathroom.
 
And he chose the girl's bathroom.
 
Between the two, he figured there would be less security around the girl's bathrooms since girls didn't get in as much trouble as boys did.

He pushed through the door to the girl's bathroom and kept his head down as he rushed toward a stall.
 
Kyle brushed by a few girls but they must've been taller than him or he must've been too fast for them because they didn't say anything or seem to notice him.
 
He closed the stall door behind him, locked it, and looked around.

Just a toilet and walls.

Kyle took a step onto the toilet bowl.
 
Immediately at the back of the toilet wall, in a black box, a red dot began flashing.
 
He took his foot off and the toilet flushed.
 
That wouldn't work.
 
Kyle put his back to one wall and his feet on the other, stemming himself between the walls.
 
It worked.
 
No blinking light and his feet wouldn't show.
 
He had to lean back a bit, but it was comfortable enough.

The bell rang again and the girls in the bathroom left.

Kyle didn't move.

A few minutes later, the lights flickered off.
 
Kyle could hear his heart beat in his ears.
 
He didn't know how long he should wait.
 
Another minute passed and he thought he heard something.
 
It sounded like mewing or crying.
 
Quiet sobs came from one of the other stalls.
 
He didn't know what he should do, it felt like eavesdropping if he didn't say anything.
 
But he wasn't supposed to be in here in the first place.