Finding Nathan [Rough Draft]

Finding Nathan

Prologue

A RED LIGHT flashed in the corner of the screen before the word “broadcasting” filled up the black, empty space. I took a deep breath and began speaking into the mic.

    “Life. It’s such a simple word, really. Just used in our everyday lives to describe one’s existence on this planet we call Earth. And yet, no two are exactly the same. Have you ever stopped to wonder why? Why don’t you have two lives that are the exact same? What could possibly happen if everyone had the same life, whether it was sheltered or not?

    “I’m not exactly sure on that, though, I can tell you this: My life isn’t normal. Never has been, really. See, while I was growing up, we’d already found cures for things like cancer and AIDS or HIV. Actually, that was fixed a long time ago. By the time my brother and I were born, we’d already found a way to genetically enhance our DNA and immune systems. Which strengthened some things in the genetic make-ups of particular families.

    “Like mine, for instance, are Psychics. The title basically explains itself, but my family isn’t even supposed to have 'powers.' See, my parents were scientists assigned to the Genetic Enhancements project. With this assignment they were specifically told not to test things out on themselves or other scientists, which means that all the scientists and their families don’t have supernatural abilities now. Excluding mine, of course.

    “I don’t know how every breed of Supernaturals came to be, but they’re out there. Psychics were one of the easiest to genetically alter, so they’re the most common human Supernatural. The least common would be vampires or werewolves, because they weren’t very common to begin with and it wasn’t a simple fact of changing brain cells to work the way we wanted. But the most common 'Supernatural' out there aren’t really Supernaturals at all.

    “My pet name for them is ‘Retches,’ but I’m sure the Government has a scientific-y name for them. Either way, they aren’t exactly human anymore. Being the Government’s creations, Retches are something between vampire and zombie. Most aren’t the brightest things, but there are some that you really have to watch out for; and those are the ones that my family and I run into a lot.

    “We first started noticing that Retches weren’t the people we once knew when my next door neighbor was caught sucking/eating the life out of someone. Kacee had been gone for the past week before that, apparently on some family reunion trip or something like that. When she returned, she was somewhat normal, but she hardly came outside ever. When she finally did, though, it was to eat someone’s face off and suck their blood.

    “Least to say, I was scarred for life.”

    I paused and took another deep breath. “After that, life grew hectic. Right now, my parents are gone. I don’t know where they are or if they’re even alive, if that’s even possible with all the Retches running around. They’ve been gone for two years now, leaving my older brother Nathan and I to fend for ourselves, and two other people. So far, we’ve done pretty good, but I have an extremely bad feeling that that’s going to change all too soon.

    “Hopefully, it’s not that soon because I honestly don’t know how we’re going to survive if anything gets any worse. For those of you listening, I’m Morgan-Lynn Tracie, I’m seventeen, and I’m a survivor of the Government’s apocalypse. If you’re a survivor and you’ve managed to get ahold of equipment to help keep you alive, good luck. Out here, you’re going to need much more than that, but it’s all I can give you as a farewell for now. I can promise you, though, the Government will be stopped. Tracie out.”

    The red light stopped flashing and the words “end broadcasting” flashed across the screen. I sighed and turned to face Nathan, sending him a small smile as we walked out of the old radio station together. We could only hope that other people heard our radio broadcast, it was the only thing we had left besides each other.