The Degenerate

Karson glared towards the back. “No, you’re not a wizard. You’re a degenerate.”

“A degenerate?” I squinted. That didn’t sound cool. “So I’m not a vampire?”

“What? No.”

“Then what the hell is a degenerate?”  I’d heard my Great Aunt Gert call the teenagers that knocked over her mailbox and teepeed her house at Halloween every year ‘degenerate scumbags’ who ‘didn’t even have their pubes yet’.

“We’re all genetically altered. We were born…different.”

I blinked multiple times and shook my head, smiling. “No. No. This-that’s...what?”

She didn't look me in the eyes. "You’re maturing. That’s why you drank his blood.”

I frowned. “Now hold up- so I’m…holy shit I’m like Bruce Banner!”

Karson smiled thinly. “Yeah. Like Bruce Banner- but without the green skin and ripping clothes off and stuff.”

“But…how? I mean, who did this?”

"The blades. They started back in World War II, been experimenting for years,” A better voice spoke.  “There was a breakout some years back. Now they’re hunting us down, calling us ‘a danger to society’. We've all lived most of our lives in science labs strapped metal tables you usually see at the vet's.” It was Honey-Eyes. I'd heard of Joseph Mengele in my History class before and read a few books over the Holocaust.

"Do I have super-powers or something?" I murmured mostly to myself. If I ended up with telekinesis like Jean Gray, I mean, that would be pretty awesome.

Honey-Eye's lips twitched in an attempted smile, ending up crooked and revealing half a mouth of pearly whites.  “Super powers? I wouldn't say that. It's more like.... a few extended abilities. Occasionally, pair of retractable gills or claws- night vision, or something like that. Whenever I was in captivity, there was someone next to my cell with a salamander head. It died a few days after it was born."

“So…basically my entire life so far has been a lie,” I concluded, letting out a short, humorless laugh.

“Why didn't you ever tell me about this before? And, let me guess- my parents aren’t my real parents, right?” Karson nodded and hung her head slightly.

Wait- maybe it was all a prank, a joke....A fake scenario- anything but real. I could be on one of those shows with hidden cameras everywhere, and in an hour or so a guy would pop out of a giant teddy bear suit screaming, "GOTCHA!" But everyone thinks that in extreme situations, right?

 “You really almost had me going there for a sec,” I laughed. “Look, I don’t know who you guys are,” I gestured to the other three (four) in the van, “but take me home now. Joke’s over.”

“Banner-“

“Look, I don’t know what happened with that guy-“I pointed to the dying/almost dying man in the back- “but you must’ve paid a butt-load of money for that helicopter. Super realistic.” I laughed again.

“Kid, this isn’t a joke. Honest to God, you’re a freak just like the rest of us.

Karson glared at the man again, "Banner, I'm so sorry," she apologized. Her sky-blue eyes were filled with sorrow.

My smile dropped. “Take me home.”

Karson placed her hand on my forearm. “Banner, we’re not going home.”

I scooted away from her. “This isn’t funny anymore, Karson.”

“If you go ape shit on us we will sedate you,” Honey-Eyes warned.

"Then why didn't you ever tell me about this? You've kept my entire history from me-why not just let me in the know, so I wouldn't kill anyone like I almost did tonight?"

My eyes misted up and throat thickened. I palmed my forehead, looking away from my best friend and glaring at the small light above, small specks made known against the opaque surface: dead insects. “No,” I said, desperate. There was a tear in the fabric of the universe. I was in the Twilight Zone. I was dreaming. “No,” I moaned this time.

"If I would’ve told you before, you wouldn’t have believed me,” Karson whispered desperately, “you had to have a normal life for as long as possible. I couldn’t just take that away from you.”

“Go away,” I said softly.

“Banner-“

“Leave me alone!” I screamed, making the car swerve a little.