Phoebe

It was the start of another semester and the school was having an assembly.

Phoebe groaned.

It was about the differently biotic kids and though she was friends with them, it was hard. They were always made fun of and she was made fun of as well for hanging out with them.

It was truly amazing how stupid people could be. But then again, it was human nature. Or so Tommy said.

Phoebe shook her hair out of her eyes and looked to the assembly.

There were two scientists in pristine white lab coats and two young teenagers in trendy clothes. Phoebe couldn't tell if they were alive or not but they looked energetic. The principal tapped at the microphone and the buzzing chatter died down.

He then said, "Today we have two scientists from a research facility called Reliving Hope from Southern Texas. They have some things to say to us about tolerance and respect."

Phoebe mentally scoffed.

There was no way that anyone else was listening. She looked to her zombie friends sitting around her and she smiled. They were all paying attention to the female scientist who was speaking. That was good enough for her.

Phoebe tuned her ears into the conversation to amuse herself with what she could possibly be saying.

The female scientist said in an excited voice, "We at Reliving Hope have dedicated our time to proving that differently biotic teenagers can live as normal lives in our living world. Bethany and Lazarus are examples of this. Guys, stand please."

The two teenagers stood up and waved stiffly.

The woman continued, "Before they died, they were extremely successful young teens. Bethany was a professional gymnast and was on her way to the Olympics and Lazarus was an ice and field hockey player as well as a basketball and baseball enthusiast. Though they may be differently biotic now, they are still able to do the same things they used to. Bethany, your routine."

The girl swept her hair into a quick ponytail and shed her jacket. She gave a quick nod and catchy pop music started. She stepped into the center and she started with a simple cartwheel.

Phoebe heard scoffs and buzzes of conversation but she saw a devilish smile play on Bethany's lips.

Bethany then launched into a series of flips, rolls, jumps and spins that were definitely worthy of the Olympics. When the music ended, she landed a flip with a full spilt. The crowd clapped loudly yet nervously and the boy helped her to her feet.

The principal stepped up to the microphone and asked, "Bethany, how have you been able to achieve this level of motion?"

Bethany stepped up to the microphone and laughed, "A lot of practice. I was lucky that I hadn't lost it all but Lazarus has had to work even harder than me."

Phoebe looked to se Lazarus strapping up skates to his feet slowly. He stood up without a wobble and he started off onto a small agility course that had been set up. He occasionally glanced a few cones but he was good. I leaned over to Tommy and asked, "You think that's possible?"

He shrugged in his awkward way and said, "They… may have had… different… deaths."

With that, he raised his hand and asked, "How… did they…die?"

Bethany and Lazarus looked to each other and Bethany spoke. "I was related to the first differently biotic teen, Dallas. He was a close cousin and friend. Everyone in my town knew and I was kidnapped along with Lazarus and beaten by a group of extremists. We both died because of it. After it all went down, I got Lazarus to wake up and we ran away. We saw the Reliving Hope flyers and we joined them in trying to get our lives back."

A loud snickering drew everyone's attention to Pete and his dunderheads.

Bethany's lips pursed and she asked sassily him through the microphone, "Hey, Mr. Funny Guy. Mind sharing the joke? 'Cause if you don't, I can come up there and beat it out of you."

Lazarus shook her shoulder and she made an odd movement with her arms. Lazarus responded in the same way and the male scientist explained. "This is their form of private communication. Do you mind if I translate?"

Bethany shrugged and she made a large amount of signs that the man translated to say, "Fine. If you must. But we were talking about how useless it is to come here when we have…"

He trailed off for a moment and scolded her. "Bethany, don't do that. They don't hate you and they aren't retards."

Bethany made another sign and the man sighed, "No, they would not do the same to you."

Bethany raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes and started addressing Lazarus again.

The man translated, "The nerve of living man is unspeakable. We are the slightest bit different and we are shunned to the ends of the earth. I can't believe that we must tolerate such idiocy. If people just respected each other, we wouldn't be on the verge of…"

He trailed off again and said, "Bethany, that isn't going to happen."

She threw her arms up in frustration and he translated, "If we were peaceful, there wouldn't have been either of our deaths. There wouldn't be the second deaths of our brothers and sisters stuck in living purgatory. There would be laws against killing us again. We would have real, legal rights. There wouldn't be these zombie haters ending our second lives. But no, you have people like that laughing riot zombie hater killing us just because we don't have a pulse. It's the way it has been for centuries and it's not going to change if we let people like him trample over us."

She then said verbally, "Mr. Funny Guy, come down here right now. I want to show you what it would be like if we were allowed to act on our emotions."

When he didn't move, she added. "I solemnly promise I won't kill you."

He sheepishly walked down and she said, "Throw a hit. Hard as you can."

His eyes widened and he pulled back his arm for a powerful punch but it never connected. The next second, he was face down on the floor, crying.

Phoebe stood up with the differently biotic kids and thought to herself, "This is great. World War Zombie, here we come."