As soon as the screen door slammed behind her Marissa took off. The backyard slowly started to slope down into a hill as she ran, to the point where she had to lean back to keep her momentum from tripping her up. She was about a mile away from the perimeter gate when she heard sirens wailing in the distance. Trying to ignore the panic welling inside her, she ran faster. Engines rumbled through the forest behind her as she entered a clearing half a mile from the perimeter gate. Please, I’m so close, I have to make it, don’t stop me, not now, please-

Marissa yelped as the hill made a sudden drop, and she fell on her hands and knees. She heard the slam of car doors above her and the boots of security following her path down the hill. She froze in fear, waiting with bated breath and beating heart to be taken back to the facility and locked up. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the first security guard coming for her, reaching to pull her up by the arm when someone suddenly yelled, “STOP!”

Marissa first looked up to see Brian Wallace above her, then back at the man who had reached for her. He was frozen. As she scrambled to her feet, Brian Wallace jumped down next to her and hissed, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going back home.”  Marissa replied obstinately.

“We can’t let you do that. You’re putting everyone down there in a whole lot of danger.”

“And you’re not?” Marissa yelled, infuriated by his calm, condescending tone. “Right now there are people down there unaware of the epidemic your lab’s experiments have caused. How many children have to be taken from their families before they find out what’s really going on?”

“You think this isn’t a concern? The scientific community is trying their best to find a cure and at the same time adjust the chemical balance of the food. If Tiernsdale knew of what we were doing, we would have a social epidemic on our hands! And then there would be no going home. The people in Tiernesdale would flee, and the rest of us would still be here, alone. And if the people aren’t in Tiernesdale, we won’t be able to figure out what genetic strand is causing the mutations. Without them, we’ll never find a cure. Isolation is what’s best for people like us until we can.”

“But you could help me warn them! You’ve been in the facility longer, you know everything about it, more than me I’m sure. You could come with me and help spread the news! Don’t you have family down there that you would want to protect from this?” Brian Wallace tilted his head with a wistful inclination. It was obvious that he heard what she was saying, the truth in it, but some hidden loyalty kept him stubborn.

“Even if I were to go with you, they wouldn’t accept us. They wouldn’t take us with them. They’re not ready for the truth Marissa, not anytime soon. What’s best for everyone down there is for us to stay up here. They don’t need us.”

Marissa considered Brian’s words for a moment, staring at him shrewdly all the while. Coming to a conclusion, she shook her head and started to back away.

“I’d like to believe you, but I don’t. There are people I love down there who could avoid what’s happened to me, what’s happened to us. It could all be avoided by giving them the truth, and I have it. They need me.”

“If you could just listen to reason-” Mr. Wallace snapped, reaching out and grabbing her firmly by the arm. Panic shot through Marissa’s system as she tried to pull away, making Mr. Wallace cry out in pain as her thorns pierced his skin. As he let go Marissa raced away. She dove into some underbrush and lay as still as she could as the security guards unfroze and continued their search. Only after the trampling of boots had long past her and the shouts of confusion faded away did Marissa get up and make her way to the fence.

It was dark now, dark enough for her to be easily camouflaged by the background of the forest. She climbed the perimeter fence as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her cold, stiff fingers. On the other side of the fence, she ran straight into the forest before looking back at the facility. Glimmers of light could be seen from the wooded area where the men were still looking for her. The sirens were still screaming, though they had started to sound like high pitched birds to her. She turned and walked farther into the forest before turning on her flashlight, making sure she was going the right way and proceeding with caution. It wasn’t until the ringing in her ears had stopped and her breathing slowed to normal that she saw the warm city lights of Tiernesdale welcoming her back home, awaiting the news she had brought from the facility above.

The silence between Marissa and Mr. Wallace made the tension as thick as the clouds overhead as they exited the building. In an attempt to break the tension, Marissa said,

“Mr. Wallace?”

“Hmm?” He replied, slightly turning to acknowledge her.

“W-why are you here?” She asked, starting to lose her nerve. He was so quiet, and so hard to read. It made him seem unpredictable and intimidating. Marissa waited tensely for his answer, holding her breath as he contemplated her question.

“I’m just like you. That’s why I’m here. Because I’m older than the other inhabitants here though, the scientific community has placed me in charge of the mutant community until they figure out how to fix us.”

“But how are you like us?” Brian Wallace thought hard about answering Marissa, trying to determine the motives behind her questions. Finding none, he replied,

“My mutation is mental, not physical. It’s abnormal, but I’m not seen as a threat because I trust that the scientific community is doing the right thing.” Marissa raised an eyebrow with confusion, not quite sure she understood what he meant.

“So what is your mutation?”

“I prefer not to discuss it. And I would prefer that you stopped asking, please,” Brian Wallace replied tersely, his eyes meeting Marissa’s sternly. Her look of confusion became startled at his abrupt change of tone, but said nothing else, leaving the topic alone. After a few more minutes of tension, Marissa decided she couldn’t take it anymore. Meekly, quietly, she said,

“Mr. Wallace?”

“Yes, Marissa?” He replied with an irritated sigh.

“Where are we going?” Marissa watched with bated breath as he sighed again, visibly relaxing. As he did, she let out a sigh of her own, relaxing a little herself.

“You’ll be staying at house thirteen.”

Upon their arrival at house thirteen, Marissa took stock of her location, knowing it was going to be important later. House thirteen was one of a few houses that lined a cul-de-sac. The cul-de-sac lay on the top of a hill overlooking the city in the valley below, giving Marissa a good idea of how far away her next destination was.

Brian Wallace knocked sharply on the front door before entering. Marissa walked inside, following Mr. Wallace down a short, white hallway before the room opened up into a large, open concept kitchen. On the island countertop sat a girl with short, black hair and bright blue eyes that pierced from beneath thick, black bangs.

“Marissa, this is Nicolette. She’ll be your roommate for the time being.” The girl set aside the Chinese container she’d been eating out of, slid off the countertop, and approached Marissa, holding out her hand to shake.

“Nice to meet you.” She said. Marissa swallowed hard as she realized how tall Nicolette was. Though Nicolette was intimidating, Marissa had been through enough intimidating situations to be able to ignore the anxiety buzzing in the back of her mind.

“Same to you.” She replied, shaking Nicolette’s hand. Brian Wallace clapped his hands together with satisfaction. Neither girl turned to look at him.

“I’ll leave you two to become acquainted. Nicolette, I trust that you’ll show Marissa where things are and how things run?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Great. I’ll see you two later, I’m sure. Have a goodnight.” Marissa turned to watch him leave before turning her attention back to Nicolette. Wringing her fingers anxiously, she said,

“Do you um, have a backpack I could use?” Nicolette raised an eyebrow skeptically, but replied,

“Yeah, I think so. I can go get it for you real quick.”

“Thanks, that’d be nice.” Marissa chuckled nervously, managing to smile a little as Nicolette whisked past her and disappeared down a hallway. A couple of minutes later, she returned with a small, worn-looking leather backpack.

“Will this work?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Marissa replied as she took the backpack. It was perfect. All she had to do now was fill it. As she thought this, she pulled the moleskine notebook out of her back pocket. After giving it a quick glance, she started to put it in the backpack when Nicolette gave a shrill shriek.

“Where’d you get that?” Nicolette asked, panic creeping into her voice. Marissa suddenly realized that she maybe should have packed her bag privately. After all, Levi had warned her to be careful about showing the notebook to anyone.

“Levi...” she replied hesitantly, not wanting to lie to Nicolette and risk upsetting her further.

“That-that-that idiot!” Nicolette sputtered, stomping her foot with rage. “We risked our necks for that book, and he just goes and gives it to you?”

“Well to be fair, he didn’t exactly give it to me,” Marissa said with a stunned expression on her face. Nicolette’s glare snapped towards Marissa, her face contorted with fury.

“You took it? You just went and took it from him? Do you even know how dangerous that thing is?” Marissa sensed that the truth was only making the situation worse, but it was too late to turn back now. She just needed to get out of the facility before sundown, before anyone looking for the notebook noticed it was missing.

“Well, yeah, I mean  - I took it because I need it. To warn everyone.”

“What, to warn everyone of their impending doom? Newsflash! Life is full of impending doom, whether it’s the chemicals they’re pumping into our food, a nuclear strike from Korea, or the inevitability of old age coming for us all.” Nicolette huffed, crossing her arms angrily. As she shouted at Marissa, smoke had started to cloud around her, coming from her arms and the curls around her face. “I did not leave that book behind to have it follow me around and make matters worse.”

“I’m sorry,” Marissa said painfully. Nicolette just huffed again, as if  trying to decide what to do. Finally making a decision, she took a deep breath and spoke with newfound composure.

“I forgive you. But you need to leave. I can give you a flashlight, some leftovers, and water, but that’s the most I can do.” Marissa smiled with relief, though she knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“Thank you, that would be wonderful. I just need those things-”

Marissa woke up in a curtained off hospital room, surrounded by the soft hum of machines and a warmer glow of fluorescent lighting. As she sat up her hair tickled the back of her neck, making her squirm uncomfortably. Going to fix her hair, she reached up and realized that a finger monitor was attached to her right index finger, her pulse causing the low beep in the background. She was about to take it off when someone to her left said, “Don’t do that.”

Marissa's head swiveled around to see a dark haired boy grinning at her from the hospital bed he was laying in.

“Why not?” Marissa asked snappishly. All the surprises were starting to become tiresome, and at this point she didn’t know who she could trust.

“Because then they’ll come check on you, and you don’t want that. Not yet anyway.”

“Who are you?” She asked suspiciously, her tone a little harsher than she meant it to.

“I’m Levi Evans. How do you do?” He grinned, holding out a hand with an identical finger monitor. She returned his gesture with a skeptical scowl. Levi just shrugged and said,

“So what are you in for?”

“Pardon?”

“You must be new. What I meant was, what brought you to Brookside?” Marissa thought to herself for a moment, trying her best to remember the events between blackouts.

“I passed out during my exam…” She pondered before shuddering as she remembered.“The thorns.”

“Oooh, so you’ve got a defensive mutation,” Levi said knowingly. “Not as impressive as some, but hey, who am I to judge?”

“Defensive mutation?”

“Yeah, there are about three different types of mutation. There are dangerous and unstable mutations, abnormal but harmless ones, and then there’s your defensive mutations. Roses have thorns so other animals won’t eat them, so in your case, the thorns are a defense mechanism against stress or danger.”

“How do you know all this?” Marissa asked shrewdly, squinting at him hard. Levi just shrugged.

“When you live here long enough you begin to see the patterns. It also helps me keep track of who’s who, and it staves away boredom.”

“Right… so why are you in Brookside then?” She asked, trying to change the topic. Levi squirmed uncomfortably.

“I caused a major blackout that had nothing to do with power,” he replied quickly. Marissa sensed that something else was bothering him, and it made her curious. She pressed him further, wanting as many of her questions answered as possible.

“Okay, why are you in the hospital?” She asked. Levi looked at her out of the corner of his eye, a look that said he may have mistrusted her company.

“I went somewhere I wasn’t supposed to go. Got into a bit of a scrape helping someone out. They needed to check my vitals and all that. No big deal.” Levi said testily. A thin tension had filled the air as both teenagers regarded each other differently. It was obvious to Marissa that the incident was a big deal. As she angled her posture so she was facing towards him, Levi could tell that she wasn’t gonna let it go either.

“Where did you go?” She asked quickly.

“The wrong floor.”

“Why?”

“I was just curious.”

“About what?”

“About what they were doing, okay?” Levi snapped, raising his voice at her. Marissa gave him a small smile of satisfaction, while he just scowled darkly at her.

“Look, a friend and I just got sick of being in the dark. We wanted to know where our treatment was going, so we snuck onto one of the restricted floors and found something we shouldn’t have. We got caught soon after, and I got hurt helping my friend escape. I was able to convince the doctors that I had just gotten lost, that I was the only one, but Wallace didn’t believe me. I know he still doesn’t.”

Marissa’s smile faded as Levi brooded, not looking at her anymore. She felt bad now for pressing him for information, but she couldn’t stop now. She had to know more.

“What happened? What did you find?” She asked in a whisper. Levi stared at her for a moment, judging whether or not he could trust her, before he reached into his sweatshirt and carefully pulled out a small, leatherbound, moleskine notebook, handing it to her carefully. As she went to open it, he made a strangled hissing sound.

“Be careful! You don’t know when someone could walk into a room. The only reason I handed it to you is because the security cameras are still out from my break in.”

“Sorry,” Marissa whispered with annoyance, rolling her eyes. Hiking her legs up to her chest, she hid the notebook behind the sheets and opened it, beginning to read. Scrawled notes of formulas, agricultural statistics, and talk of genetic mutation to enhance food quality and quantity swam before Marissa’s eyes. One particular entry caught her eye, saying:

Day 11

Tiernesdale’s crop production is prospering, but as the quality of food has gone up the consequences have begun to grow. People have started to gain superhuman abilities as they consume more of the genetically enhanced food. Our studies have shown that slight, seemingly harmless mutations in the enhanced produce has reacted with the genetic structure of the people who consumed it. Our studies show that the change most often occurs in teenagers, which leads us to believe that the chemical imbalance between the consumed substance and a teenager’s fluctuating endocrine system is the main cause of the mutations. To prevent mass chaos and still have the ability to continue our research, We have created a small suburban area above Tiernesdale’s view to store mutated people and keep the populace below safe until we figure out how to reverse the effects. Until then, we will continue experimentation as-

Marissa slammed the book shut, having read enough. Her hands shook and her heart fluttered with rage and fear as scenarios played out in her head.

“That’s horrible!” She whispered loudly.

“Yeah it is,” Levi replied, his face solemn.

Marissa thought of all the people she’d left behind in Tiernesdale and what might happen to them if they were left to the devices of the facility.

“I’m taking this,” she said firmly, her mind already made up.

“What? You can’t! Do you know what I went through to get that? You could get locked up for stealing their property or not keeping your mouth shut! It’s too dangerous!” Levi exclaimed angrily, almost lunging out of bed to reach for the notebook. Marissa just took off her finger monitor and climbed out of the bed, making sure to stay away from his reach.

“I’m sorry, but if they expect me to sit here and stand by while my family and friends are being used as unwitting lab rats, they need to think again.”

Just then, the hospital curtains were flung open, making both kids jump. Despite her beating heart, Marissa tried her best to look innocent as she guiltily hid the notebook behind her back.

“Feeling better?” Brian Wallace asked as he entered the curtained enclosure. He nodded at Levi, acknowledging his presence.

“Mr. Travers.”

“Mr. Wallace,” Levi replied obstinately. Brian Wallace turned back to Marissa, giving her a small smile.

“I’m here to take you to your house. You’ll stay there until further notice.”

Marissa nodded vigorously, already forming a plan in her head. Once she got to the house, she could hide the notebook. Once she got there she could plan her escape.

Levi coughed behind her, making her jump. She turned to glare at him only to see that he was holding out his sweatshirt to her.

“It’s cold outside. You’ll want something to keep you warm,” he said, staring at her emotionlessly. Marissa slid the notebook into her back pocket before reaching out and taking the sweatshirt. It was obviously too big for her when she put it on, but it perfectly hid the bulge in her back pocket.

“Thanks,” she said, realizing what Levi had just done to help her.

“Good luck.” He replied. Mr. Wallace cleared his throat to let Marissa know he was waiting for her.