Chapter Two- The almost human lie detector
Fang stared at me looking shocked.
"I don't believe you." He said simply and lunged at me. I swooped down to dodge him.
"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled avoiding his next attack gripping the files tightly as they were my only proof. "Read the files. I have proof!"
"If you're my sister, where have you been the last fourteen years?"
"I was in isolation; my DNA was supposedly the strongest. I was tested on more than you. It was also a test to see if Avian-Human hybrids worked best on their own or in a flock. Believe me I would have been with you if I could." He slowed to a stop. I took advantage of this and moved a couple of feet back. Fang looked confused.
"Err, can I have the files?" he mumbled. I hesitated slightly.
"I won't attack you." He said. He was telling the truth. Yeah along with the wings and the photographic memory I'm also an almost human lie detector. Whenever the white-coats said "this won't hurt a bit" or "this won't affect you in any way at all" the lie detector part of me would tell me it was a massive fib. I flew over to Fang and handed him the files. I flew backwards a little just in case he changed his mind on the whole attacking me thing. He opened them and an awkward silence fell on us as he flipped through the pages.
"I don't believe this. How can it be possible? I've never seen you or even heard of you." He said.
"I was always close when we were in the school. Only ever a few rooms away." I knew I was starting get through to him when he said 'I don't believe this' it wasn't as much of the truth as before.
"Maybe you could possibly be my sister. I just don't know what to believe. It seems too strange."
"And having wings is not. Face it, our whole lives are strange."
"Come back to the flock with me, I'll let them be the judges." He turned around and flew off I followed him. The trip was silent and awkward. What exactly do you say to your recently found twin-brother? After about an hour of uncomfortable flying we reached a house that I recognised from aerial photos, that belongs to Dr Valencia Martinez. Maximum Ride was waiting with her flock on the porch staring at me like I was some sort of zoo attraction. The rest of the flock, except a strawberry blond boy, were staring too. It made me edgy. I wanted to turn around and fly away. But I knew I had to stay. How much longer would I have lasted on my own anyway?
"She claims to be my sister who was separated from me at the school. It's very far-fetched but she does have evidence. I thought I'd bring her back for the rest of you to judge."
"She could be from the school!" Maximum said.
"The school is closed. I was there and it's empty!" I protested my temper flaring up.
"Likely story!" she snarled back.
"Why don't we just give her a chance? There's only one of her." The strawberry blond said. I felt shocked. That was really only the second time in my life someone had been kind to me. I wasn't used to it.
"She's not from the school. She truly is Fang's sister." Piped up a little blonde girl. I recognised her to be the mind reader. Figures.
"See, Angel can see it her mind. You must be hungry. I'll make us some dinner." The strawberry blond said to me. He was telling the truth. I flew down to him and followed him inside.
"I'm Iggy." He introduced himself. The blind one.
"I'm Violet. Why did you stand up for me?" he looked slightly confused.
"Uh I'm not sure. I guess I just think we should give you the benefit of the doubt. You've obviously been through as much, if not more, than we have." We reached a little kitchen. Iggy started pulling out pots and pans.
"Well, I'm grateful." I admitted. It amazed me how he could find everything without sight "Do you need a hand?"
"Don't you mean an eye... or two?" he laughed. "Can you cook?"
"A little bit just survival 101. I had to teach myself. I've been on the run for three months. Mostly over fires."
"I know how that feels, char grilled rat. Yuck."
"I had that a few nights ago. I couldn't find much else"
"I feel your pain. Can you cook pasta?"
"Sure."
"Make sure you do heaps." I found a large pot and started boiling up water. I could hear hushed voices coming from outside.
"I bet they're talking about me." I said sadly watching the water.
"You'd win that bet." Iggy said sound slightly annoyed. I added the pasta to the water.
"So why exactly were you separated from us?" Iggy asked.
"It was some kind of test, to see if we worked better in a flock or solo. I didn't really understand the technicalities."
"Pity, it would have been cool to have you in the flock. I mean you're around my age and you don't spend the whole day making out with someone like Max and Fang do."
"What?!" I shrieked. Iggy looked taken aback. "Maximum and Fang are a couple!" I thought back to all the time I had felt jealous towards Maximum because of the fact she got to grow up having Fang as her brother when I, his biological sister, had never even met him. Now I knew it wasn't all brother-sister between them. Far from it. I cringed at what I had really been jealous of. Ew.
*~*~*~*
After an excruciatingly awkward dinner, Angel, the mind reader had offered me the spare bed in the room she was staying in for the night. I hadn't been sure what I would do after talking to Fang so I accepted. Maximum shot daggers at Angel, Fang looked confused but Iggy smiled. After Angel had fallen asleep I sat under the covers with a flashlight and read my old journal entries. When I turned eight I decided that I should start keeping some sort of log so that whenever I escaped I could turn it into a book and expose the school. Now that I thought about it, it was sort of useless. Who would ever want to publish something written by a mutant but I had gotten into the habit of writing it so I kept going.
I read an entry from the day the flock returned to the school three and a half months ago.
Life sucks right now. Even more than usual. Why you, my non-existent readers, ask. Well besides the normal, there is the fact that
The flock is back in the school; therefore I am confined to one room.
Ter Borcht, my favourite person in the world, came to visit me.
Today I found out about the by-half plan, a holocaust that will get rid of most of the world's population.
I and all the other bird kids are first on the list to be 'retired' within the next day or so.
I have a clone and no I'm not talking about my estranged twin brother.
That's right folks Marian Jansen the director of I tex is a wannabe Hitler. No it's worse than that, she only wants to leave about a billion people alive. It's a super holocaust. Only a super race consisting of the world's strongest and smartest people will be left. This begs the question as to why I'm going to be killed, sorry retired. I don't mean to brag or anything but I along with all the other bird kids am stronger than fully grown men and highly intelligent despite very little education. I guess it's because I'm from crack addict trash and have no proven life span. So tomorrow I'm slated for execution. Ter Borcht being the homicidal maniac he is came and told me gleefully earlier this morning. I had been locked in my dog cage since very early and hadn't had breakfast yet so I already wasn't in the best mood. He strode in to my room/prison.
"You are going to be terminated." He said.
"When you speak like that it's definitely not going to stop the Arnold Schwarzenegger jokes." I sniggered. He scowled but then twisted his mouth into a cruel, diabolical smile.
"Ve vill see who has ze last laugh you insolent little experiment."
"I think I will if you're the one who's killing me. Especially if you're dressed like that."
"You haf many flaws. Ze director has decided for all of your kind to be destroyed."
"What flaws? You mean the fact I can never keep my dog cage tidy or that I don't have much of a fashion sense. I mean my fashion sense is way better than yours and I'm not horrendously overweight. Too much McDonalds eh Borshy." A vein started to pop out on his forehead.
"All ze obsolete life forms are being terminated and replaced. Zere is somebody I vuld like you to meet." The door opened and an exact replica of me walked through the door except she was a little more muscular and looked heavier. Kind of how I pictured myself without the bird DNA
"Aw jeez, not a clone. What will you crazy scientists come up with next? Time travel? Zombies? You need to stop taking ideas out of movies. You'll get sued." I said. Ter Borcht ignored that.
"Meet Violet 2.0. She's you're superior in every way. Alzough she has no Avian DNA she retains your photographic memory and ability to detect lies. She can run longer and faster zan you do and can lift heavier weights. She has a 224 IQ. She is styled in the form of our super boy Omega. She along with Omega vill lead the new super-race into the post by-half plan world."
"And yet I bet she doesn't have my sparkling wit."
"She is much more obedient zan you and performs every task perfectly ven she is asked. I vill leave you two alone to get acquainted ville I go interview the other failures like you." Ter Borcht smirked and left the room.
"Prepare to die. You are obsolete. I will rule the world some day."
"What, you expect you and perfect boy can rule together as king and queen genetically modified." Violet 2.0 looked down at her feet. "Oh my god that's actually what you think is going to happen. That's hilarious. You love super-boy. You clones crack me up."
"What have you got to laugh about? You're going to die tomorrow. As of tomorrow I will be the only one of us alive. You winged freak."
"That's the best insult you've got. I laugh because one of the little pleasures left in my miserable life is annoying ter Borcht and now you. Plus you both react so well. One final thing before I start to ignore you, I will always be the original Violet and I hope you never forget that."
That entry always made me smile. I admired who I was back then, able to laugh in the face of death. Things had changed since then. I switched off my flashlight and let myself drift off into a confusing dream where I was trapped in a fax machine factory.