The Marked Ones

(1)

"I swear Scott you will be the death of me!", Caleb shouts as he jumps over a gate to keep up with me.

I smile in acknowledgment at what he's saying but keep running. The men are gaining on us and my feet are pumping over time to carry me away from them. Caleb comes from behind and overtakes me while making a sharp left into an alley way. I curse under my breathe because I know that's exactly where they'll be waiting for us.

And sure enough I see two men in waiting at the end of the alley. Caleb sees them too because he abruptly stops and turns around to face me. The guys behind stopped running too because they know they have us trapped. When I see the smirk on one of the guys faces one thought comes into my mind... not today buddy.

I take in my surroundings and see a locked door on my left.

"Caleb", I whisper to get his attention and he turns to face me. I nod the door subtly and he smiles when he understands.

"1..."

The guys start closing in on us from both directions.

"2..."

Their so close to us now that I can smell the cheese and onion sandwich one guy had from here.

"...3!"

We both kick the door down at the same time and whizz through the stalls of the flea market we just entered. We pass countless stands with angry looking owners and fascinated kids.

I see an exit and pull Caleb after me. I look behind me to see if any of the guys are still there and thankfully they aren't. I also see Caleb munching on a piece of pound cake. When I give me a weird look he just shrugs and continues eating and running at the same time.
When is this kid not eating?

We get closer and closer to the exit. We're almost home free. Caleb lets out a whoop and runs pass me to the exit. I guess the cake gave him a burst of energy. He's just a few meters ahead of me and disappears through the tent.

I'm just about about to follow him when-

"Got ya. Seriously Adeline. It's the third time this week.", Gus says exasperatingly while shaking his head.

He managed to come up from behind me and snag me by my bag pack.

Well I almost got away with it.

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"Honestly Arden, do you never learn?", my mom Megan shouts.

"We has talked about this. We do not steal from people Arden. If you want something you trade for it. That's how things work. You keep getting yourself into all this trouble and I just..."

I start tuning off my mom lecture. I've heard it so many times now. It's not that I don't care, it's just that the stuff I steal isn't small worthless junk. It's metals and technology and stuff I could really use. I make gadgets and sell them so I can support my mom.

My dad was a marked, like me, except he didn't stick around long enough for me to ever meet him.

My mom however  is amazing. She puts up with me and my sister which is talent not many have. She's supported us when my dad left before I was even born and she's always done managed to keep a roof over our heads and food the table despite how tough things get.

We come from a small community compared to others. We barter and trade for whatever we need and come of the larger communities try and help us out but there's only so much they can do.

My dream is to be a maker. Those are the people that create what little technology we have and they get to live in the largest community we have. Alsmeer.

It was the first community to form after the wars when the Eldermense first came together. They knew humans were stronger together and needed to stand as one to survive the new world they faced. 

If I could become a maker then I could look after my family and do something I loved. My grandmothers grew up in Alsmeer and the stories she told me made me long to be part of the Alsmeer people.

"Are you even listening to me?", my mother snaps.

Her hands are on her hips and I know I need to diffuse the situation before she goes nuclear.

"Mom I wasn't stealing. I was requiring the equipment I needed to save the human race from extinction. In fact I am the victim here. Gus and his men are preventing me from going to Alsmeer and creating my mutagen absorber which is a crime to society.", I reply matter-of-factly.

My mom just sighs in defeat and drops her angry stance.

"Addie there is not a doubt in my mind that you will be the greatest maker this generation has ever seen but in order to win the cake fairly you cannot cheat. Those people you are stealing from need those things to survive and you are not making their lives better by preventing them from putting food on the table.", she explains.

Leave it to Megan Scott to make you feel this small.

I take a slump down onto a chair beside the kitchen table and pull my lips into a pout.

"I'll return everything in the morning.", I reply mulishly.

My mom gives me an approving smile and glides around the kitchen table to plant a kiss on my forehead.

"That's my girl.", she remarks smugly before leaving the kitchen.

I let out a hmmpfff and internally kick myself. Now what am I going to do? I needed the stuff I got today to build my absorber.

I've been working on it for years and I've finally cracked the code I needed to make it work.

When the animals were exposed to those harsh chemicals, their genes were altered and their proteins were synthesized a lot differently than what they were supposed. The amount of gene mutations were almost tripled and in a short amount of time macroevolution occurred in dozens of species, namely carnivores. The species got more and more aggressive and maybe that was because their mutations were spontaneous and not due to natural selection. I used this theory from a scientist my grandmother spoke about named something Darwin and created a device to physically harmful mutagens in an organisms gene sequence. If my hypothesis worked out then I would secure a spot as an maker in Alsmeer.

But my plan was definitely facing some bumps now. And I knew exactly who to call.