Children of the Plague [NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE]
Chapter 8

Colonel Baxter left, so the assembly was over and were all herded back to the rooms. The other boys started up conversations, but I just went to my bunk and sat down. They all started talking about the things they enjoyed doing in their lives before we got here. I knew that we had only been there a week or so, but it was only our second day being awake and it seemed so dumb to be talking about those things. Who knew if we would ever get back to our other lives? Worst of all, our parents might be dead. So even if we did get out, nothing would be the same. It wasn’t too long after that the door to our room opened. The metallic parts inside the door clanking and the bolts moving to highlight the perception that we were in prison. Sergeant Michael walked in with the girls from our group in tow. As soon as he passed the threshold, he paused and looked around.

“Alright, what are you supposed to do when I enter the room?” He said.

“Attention.” One boy yelled. He was the one with skin only slightly darker than mine. He was taller than me too, but skinnier. I couldn’t remember his name at first, but then remembered it was Randy. The yelling from this morning must be doing its job because right after Randy yelled the command, I jumped to my feet with my heart pounding. It seemed that he was at least marginally happy with us since he didn’t yell. Sergeant Michel instructed us all to line up outside the door in the hallway just as we had earlier and we did as he instructed. After we were all lined up, we followed him down the hall. Right before we entered the gym, we turned down a side hallway.

After walking for quite some time and the sergeant telling us about our schedule and responsibilities, such as what we need to do every morning and night, he led us down a long and damp hallway. At the end of the hallway, we entered a large room with tall walls made of stone hewn into squares on every side. However, as different as this room was compared to the rest of the camp, the most significant difference between this room and others is that there were intermittent breaks in the ceiling that let sunlight shine down. For some reason, I felt like it had been forever since I had seen the sky and I longed to feel its breeze. As I looked through one of the breaks in the ceiling, I could see the blue sky with small white clouds drifting in the air.

“We are simply calling this place the garden.” Sergeant Michel said after giving us all a moment to gawk and soak up the light. “With your specific abilities, your group will tend to this area and help supplement the food stores we have. Furthermore, we hope that this area will give you purpose, allow you to use your abilities and keep you occupied. After all other duties and details are accomplished, your group will report here. Of course, here and everywhere else, you will be monitored. As I mentioned throughout the tour of the base, we have numerous cameras and guards, who you will refer to as cadre. I will be your primary liaison and the final decision maker for anything that happens with your group specifically. I have much less authority when it comes to the other groups. That also means that I am in charge of you, so if you fail at something, I fail too. I don’t like to fail.” He said the last part very matter-of-factly and with a hint of the personality that we saw in the cafeteria.

Sergeant Michel gave us about thirty minutes to wander around, no one used their powers, I don’t know if they couldn’t or if they were scared, but I could sense the sergeant watching us all closely. After the time was up, he called us all back over toward his position.

“Everyone, come back over here in a horseshoe formation around me,” he said.

Personally, I didn’t know what he meant, but I did know what a horseshoe was, so I figured he meant the shape. Once we were gathered around him, he said, “Sit down. Get comfortable. We might be here a few minutes.

“As it was mentioned yesterday by myself,” he said. “You have all contracted the Auto-genome disease. With that comes side effects that manifest in abilities. So, who wants to show off what they can do with their abilities?” He asked, changing the subject.

Sarah immediately raised her hand. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised. While I didn’t know her well, from the short interactions with her in the past couple of days, she did give off the impression of an over-achiever. However, I really wanted to see what she could do and what everyone else could as well. Everything Sergeant Michel said was still hard to believe, and this all seemed like a bad dream.

“Go ahead,” Sergeant Michel said, simultaneously breaking me from my reverie and motioning to Sarah.

“Could we go over to one of the trees?” She asked.

Sergeant Michel nodded and we all got up and followed Sarah to the nearest sapling. Sarah didn’t say a thing, she just walked up to the tree, gently laid her hand on it, and closed her eyes. After a moment, the tree began to become taller, greener, and a few buds sprouted. Once her actions became apparent, a couple kids gasped and Sergeant Michel seemed happy. Sarah let out a breath and her hand dropped away. She was breathing deeply like she had been exercising and she took a moment to return to normal.

“Are you able to explain how you did that, so everyone can know and then try?” Sergeant Michel asked.

Sarah looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m not sure if I can explain. When I touch the tree or other plants, it’s like I can feel their vibrations, but I can also tell how different vibrations can cause it to do different things. When I decide to get it to do different things, I just concentrate on the vibration and then it changes in the plant.”

“So, the vibrational patterns are in your head once you touch the tree?” Sergeant Michel asked. While she was using her abilities, Sergeant Michel must have pulled a notebook out, because he was now writing furiously in one.

“No,” she answered. “It’s not in my head, I feel it like I feel the vibrations of the plant, and it’s just there.

“Interesting,” he said without lifting his head from the paper.

After a moment more of writing, he looked up and asked, “Does anyone else want to volunteer?”

No one else raised their hands, so Sergeant Michel decided to pick someone. He pointed at me, “How about you Aidren, why don’t you give it a try?”

I didn’t want to, but I’m sure he knew that. I walked up to the tree, unsure of what to do. I would just try to do the same thing as Sarah. As I thought this, a question struck me and I blurted it out before I could stop myself. “Was that the first time you’ve done that?”

“No,” she admitted, looking down as if guilty. “I’ve been able to do it for a while before I came here.”

“How did you end up here?” I asked.

“That is none of your concern at the moment, Mr. Alson,” Sergeant Michel said before Sarah could comment. “Everyone is here for different reasons and if you want to know, then ask in private. Unless you also want everyone to know why you are here?” I didn’t answer. “I didn’t think so, now, let’s see what you can do.”

I went over to the tree and placed my hand against the rough bark. Just as Sarah did, I closed my eyes and waited to feel vibrations. Nothing happened. I stayed like that for a few moments until Sergeant Michel’s voice broke my concentration as he was asking me if I could do it. I opened my eyes and was startled. My vision had turned blurry and colors danced around every object. The tree, my hands, all the kids and even the ground were all exuding their own hue. I was still hoping that the events from the night were just a dream. The colors on the tree were green and brown. They moved like liquid and often overlapped each other. I thought I must have clenched my eyes too tightly. I closed my eyes again and shook my head and as I reopened my eyes, the world looked normal again.

“I guess I can’t do it,” I said.

“What happened?” Sergeant Michel asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t feel any vibrations or anything,” I said and shrugged.

“Well, why did you look surprised?”

“I think I just closed my eyes too tightly, and I was lightheaded when I opened them back up.” I could have sworn that I heard the sergeant growl slightly after I said this last part.

The sergeant made a few more notes on his paper then once again called for volunteers. Again, no one came forward, so he picked someone else. We stayed huddled around the tree for about an hour and by the time we were done, the once small tree was close to double in size with bright red apples hanging from the branches. Sergeant Michel had our whole group go through the drill of trying to use their powers to manipulate the tree. To my dismay, everyone was able to manipulate the tree just as Sarah had done, everyone of course, but me.