Chapter Three: Complacency

Death. It had been miraculously averted due to his quick thinking and expertise in genetic research. The very next day Gar's appearance became normal. Except for one thing, his skin remained green. This puzzled both Mark and Marie as her son resumed his normal human form. Running into her arms, she hugged him tightly.

She looked at him. "Mark, the boy's skin—It's still green!" Marie turned to her husband for an explanation.

"I don't know Marie," Mark replied, confused by the fact that his skin did not revert to its normal color. "Some imperfection of the system. But be glad that he's alive!" This puzzled him greatly and he would make note of it that when the time came to visit Logan Estate Genetic Research Facilities, the company he had created, he would have to ask Dr. Finlay about the strange side effect of the experiment.

"Listen Marie, I have some work to do, can you make sure that Gar doesn't go in my lab?" he asked his wife. Gar was a mischievous sort; before he was sick he would often go into the labs and break beakers full of a week's worth of work. Often he frustrated Mark to no end, but he got used to it, and life went on as usual.

Entering the lab, he found the holograph recorder and pushed the button to record. He began, "Today, October 27, 1995, my patient son has made a complete recovery from Skultia. The experimental medicine was a success. One major side effect is that the DNA for his skin genes has been permanently altered. I do not know what changes have occurred in his body, but research on it using his DNA samples will continue. Apparently, the monkey's genetic structure has completely eradicated Skultia. So far, he has returned to a normal state of health time will tell what will become of his new skin color and what the aftereffects of it might be. End transmission.

Shutting off the recorder, Mark Logan began examining the sample DNA that he had taken from Gar when he had diagnosed the disease, then; he compared them to the new DNA taken from Gar after the medicine had been administered to him. There didn't seem to be that much of a mutation until he noticed that some of the genes had turned a light shad3 of green.

When he compared them to the normal DNA he realized that the genes that had turned green were normal on the normal sample but green on the other. For some reason, Gar's body had caused them to mutate somehow. Making note of it, he pushed the recorder. He erased the previous end transmission and began rerecording the end of his holograph diary.

It seems that the genes of the patient have mutated so that some of the DNA has permanently changed to a green tint. I will research it further to discover the source of this mutation. End Transmission. He shut the recorder off again.

Mark's ambition in life was to ease the suffering of humanity, to give them a long, healthy life and keep death at bay for as long as science and humanity could. But death was never far away, just the same. It was always out there, waiting for mankind like a wild animal: Hungry yet never satisfied.

But death was also disturbed him greatly. How many forms it came in, how it was always awaiting those who least expected it. It was something that Mark Logan had seen too often when he visited the tribal villages in Upper Lamumba. He was paying a visit to a man named King Tawaba.

The tribal leader was sick with a fever. And, much to the dismay of the local witchdoctor, Mobu, Mark was able to cure him of his illness. Due to the fact that these events had transpired, Mark gained Tawaba's trust and they had become friends.

It was on one such trip to the village that something transpired that Mark Logan would never forget….

It was a bright, warm, comfortable day out in the open air of the small, remote village in Upper Lamumba. People were milling about, perhaps off to one of the primitive markets setup on the outskirts of town. The small village was modernizing, thanks to the Logan family being there. Not that Mark wanted them to completely forget their traditions, he just wanted to help them become more technologically and scientifically advanced. Curing King Tawaba had shown them that modern technology could help make their lives easier, but not everyone in the village agreed with him.

Mobu was the tribe's witchdoctor and he resented the fact that Mark had been able to cure King Tawaba with modern medicine. Though Mark had tried to befriend the man, he found that he couldn't because the man was just too strange for his taste. He didn't want to upset the man, not that he was afraid of being hexed or that he believed in magic, Mobu was very influential in the tribe and they might not be welcome if they offended him any more than Mark had already done on accident.

Mark Logan looked up from where he had been standing, jotting down some notes about something he needed to ask Tawaba about when Zanta, his daughter came running up to him. She was about Gar's age and she had been taught both English and Swahili, and already at her young age, she was fluent in both.

"Mr. Logan, Ms. Marie is being chased by a Mamba snake!" she shouted frantically. Mark ran full tilt following Zanta as fast as his feet could carry him. Mamba snakes were very deadly, and being bitten by one was very unfortunate for the victim.

He came to an abrupt halt. Gar was there too, trying to get to his mother. Gar was running as fast as his little legs could carry him. The look of fear and desperation that was on his face broke Mark's heart, he tried to move to help, but felt frozen in place as if he was in a dream.

Suddenly, he saw Gar running, but it appeared that he wasn't human anymore. He saw his human features morphing into that of an animal. He was a green mongoose. He didn't know how it happened, but something inside him had mutated, brought about by his desire to save his mother. Mark didn't understand it, but this discovery something incredible. He could only watch, unable to move, as Gar moved with amazing speed to attack the Mamba snake.

Hurling himself at the snake with reckless abandon, clawing and biting with fury; the snake writhed on the ground moving into a better position to counterattack this new threat. The snake sunk his teeth into Gar, but being a mongoose, it made him immune to the snake's venom. Rolling away from where Marie was cowering, they stirred up dust in the street as a crowd of onlookers began to gather around the scene in mute fascination.

Coiling around Gar, the snake tried to get him to loosen his grip on him, but Gar just kept fighting back as the snake tried to crush him to death. He managed to wriggle out of its hold and took the snakes slithery throat in his deadly jaws and bit down as hard as he could, snakes blood squirted out onto the ground as it went into it's final death throws, writhing for a few more seconds, it stopped and lay sill, unmoving as Gar suddenly changed back into his normal human form.

The stunned crowd began to move away from them, leaving an astonished Marie to pull her son into a desperate hug as he ran into her arms. "Shh, it's okay Gar. I'm fine. Its' okay, it's okay. I'm so proud of you, I don't know how you did it but whatever happened to you, it saved my life. I love you Gar." All Gar could do was cry and stay wrapped in his mother's arms.

Mark ran over to the boy and his mother. "Marie, are you alright? I thought I'd lost you!"

"I'm fine Mark, thanks to him." She held her son smiling. "I always knew he was a special boy."

"I know he is, but we can't tell anyone else about this and hopefully, the villagers who saw what happened won't talk about it."

"Well something like this doesn't happen here every day. Of course they'll talk!"

"Not if I convince them to be quiet. They're really suspicious of strange occurrences around here. If I can convince them that it was a one time thing, they won't think about it anymore."

Mark walked over to Gar. "Now you understand Gar, you can't tell anyone about you being able to turn into animals okay?"

"Why?" Gar asked. "Mom said I was special! Is it wrong to be special?"

"No. It's just…the people here in the village would be frightened if you suddenly turn into an animal. They don't understand how you do it and that scares them," Mark explained. Gar nodded, understanding.

Mark Logan led his family to their small home in Upper Lamumba. It wasn't a large house; it was small and quaint, simple and welcoming. Marie kept Gar entertained with stories and songs while Mark went into his lab to work.

He had become complacent, he decided. Life was too short to waste on research and development. He'd cut back on his hours in the lab and he'd spend more time with Marie and Gar. Seeing how close his wife had come to death made him realize how short life was. He wouldn't waste time anymore. Time was too precious to be wasted.

He began rummaging through his papers and noticed that his holograph recorder was missing. He must have lost it somewhere in all his mess of papers. He sighed, he'd find it tomorrow.

Over the next few days, that's exactly what he told the various villagers who came up to him and asked him what happened to Gar. He told them that it was a one time thing and that it was something that had happened because of his desire to save his mother and that he didn't know what it meant. People just shook their heads and accepted that as fact.

Of course when Mobu heard the story, he was infuriated that something had happened and that one of the Logan's had been able to save another life. And the fact that it was rumored that the boy could change into animals made him hate Mark Logan all the more. What more could this 'magician' with his 'science' and 'modern technology' do to gain the respect of King Tawaba? He would put an end to it now.

He pushed record on one of the holograph recorder that he had stolen from the Logan house. Though he hated technology, he would use this 'technology' to get his message across. He went up to one of the high mountains. High up where no one usually went. From on top of the mountain, pushing the record button, he pronounced a curse on Mark Logan. "May your life be miserable as the ones you love perish before your eyes; may the one that saves lives destroy them; and the one who believes he destroys save them; and Mark Logan, if you yourself survive, may your house be divided!"

Mobu turned away and walked back down the mountain. No one heard him, no one, save one: Zanta, she had seen him walking about, which was strange, because he rarely went out of the village. His words frightened her, though she had no real comprehension of what these hate filled words would to her friends. She turned and made her way down the mountain as quickly and silently as she could. She had to warn them. It was rare that Mobu cursed anyone. She didn't know what it meant and she wanted to warn them so that they could leave. She knew one thing: if what he said came to pass the lives of the Logan family would be torn apart by tragedy…

Author's Note: I'm currently writing Chapter Ten: Final Conflict for AFTERMATH CHRONICLES: TO SAVE AND SACRIFICE. It'll be up soon so enjoy this one in the meantime!