Chapter Four
Planning To Have a Better Plan
I woke up the following morning to the smells of food being cooked. Specifically, I was smelling coffee and bacon as I can hear someone puttering around the kitchen and the sizzling of cooking food which had to be bacon. I had been wearing a worn t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants which had cargo pockets sewn into the legs. It was what I'd always worn to bed during the colder seasons. With a yawn, I crawled out from under the covers, feeling as though my brain was still in the process of booting up and the synapses were still booting up as I walked out of my room, heading in the general direction of the kitchen, expecting to see my dad cooking in the kitchen.
"It can't be the ninth already," I muttered as I was almost to the kitchen, which was obscured from my view by walls.
"It's actually the seventeenth of December," said a voice which I recognized as belonging to the time traveling alien who had introduced himself as the Doctor.
"Why exactly are you cooking breakfast in my kitchen?" I asked, knowing that by asking what he was doing there was one of those questions that had an obvious answer since he was cooking breakfast.
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, fueling everyone for the coming day. Did you know that there have been studies that shows that those who don't eat breakfast tend to overcompensate their eating habits?" he replied.
"So you decided to cook breakfast while I was sleeping," I stated, my brain still booting up as I walked around him to grab one of my tall travel cups and filled it with some of the coffee from the coffee maker.
"I could leave if you want me to," he stated.
"Nah. I appreciate it." I stated, grabbing the canister of hot cocoa mix.
"So what did you find out?" he asked, finishing the bacon.
"Something interesting," I replied, dropping several spoonfuls of the mix into my cup of coffee before mixing the contents.
"Which is?" he asked, sounding almost excited.
"Wouldn't you know it, but every person on that list you gave me actually have a few details that they all share. One being that they have at least one child and that they have a common ancestor from around 200 years or so ago. It sounds far too specific for it to be just a random cause. Which clearly means that this is being done by someone who can hide in plain sight," I stated, looking straight at Mr. Alien-Time-Traveler.
"You think it's my doing?" he asked.
"No. If anything, I think it's your turn to talk about what you've figured out from my dad's blood sample," I stated.
"Well..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck, looking bothered by something while managing to look reproachful and a little said, frowning at me before breaking eye contact.
"What?" I asked, not liking the reaction he had.
"It definitely looks like someone is messing with human DNA. I don't know who or what yet, but it's clearly someone who doesn't fully understand human DNA. It's like they're treating human DNA like it's some toy," he stated with a frown, sounding annoyed.
"Then we better find out who's doing it and make them reverse the process and then get lost," I stated.
I must have used a tone of voice I didn't catch or I probably revealed just how ticked off I was at that moment. I truly wanted to hunt down whoever it was and... my thoughts ended there. Not because I didn't finish the thought. I stopped the thought because in my mind's eye, I saw something that both scared me and reviled me. I was actually contemplating murdering someone. That made me become scared of myself. When did I start thinking such things?
I took a gulp of the coffee, hoping that the coffee and hot chocolate drink would chase away the bitterness within myself. I glanced up at the only other person in the apartment, seeing the look he was giving me. It was an expression of clear disapproval, almost as if he had been able to look into my own thoughts. Or perhaps, he had felt the same way at one point and he didn't want me to go down that path.
"I'll take care of finding who's behind it and get them to reverse the process for those who are still alive," he stated, "it will get too dangerous for you to be involved any longer."
"My father's life is on the line, Doctor. I'm not going to sit by. Not when I could lose the only family I've ever had in my life," I stated with a frown, perhaps a little too forcefully.
"I understand the feeling, but you can't be involved any longer," he stated with a tone that clearly meant that he wasn't going to budge.
"I have a little something called free will. Ever heard of it?" I asked.
"And I'm not going to let anyone's blood get spilled," he stated with a frown.
"Blood has already been spilled. Worse, it was innocent blood," I stated with a frown, "they've been murdering people for who knows how long. They need to be stopped."
"Violence is never the answer! Even more so, is it never the first answer! There are always other options," he stated, becoming angry at me.
"Violence always starts a chain of violence," I stated, agreeing with his words, "but sometimes to end the chain of violence, violence itself is required."
"Not where I'm concerned," he stated, giving me a glare, making me avert his gaze.
There were times when he would make me feel like a child who had been caught and had been sent to the principal's office. It was exactly how I felt in that one moment. That I was being given the riot act by the principal and I was guilty as sin for something. I almost flinched under his glare.
"Listen," he started, his voice quiet and low, almost sounding guilty, "I've been there. I've killed for the same reason you have for killing those who have been slowly killing your father. You don't want to be there. Trust me on that. You don't want to have that burden."
I looked at him with a frown, seeing his frown deepen. It was probably the look in my eyes that caught him off-guard. "I already have a metric ton of regrets. What's another ton if I can save my dad's life on top of who knows how many lives about to end because of who knows what using humans as lab rats? It's more than just personal revenge. It's about saving lives at this point. Probably my own. Given a decade or two, I could be a victim. If it could be solved with words, that would be nice. But be realistic, Doctor. Would someone who sees humans as lab rats care what you'd tell them? They could be beyond diplomacy. Then what? If simple words don't work, there's only one way to stop them."
"Which is not your choice to make," he stated.
"Consider it self defense then."
"I'm not letting you be involved further in this issue, and that's final," he stated, walking towards the door.
I frowned, downing as much of my drink as I could. I hoped it could push away the mess of emotions I felt. I never was able to do anything when my emotions got the best of me, which meant that they were always bottled up to be released later in a way which didn't involve any explosive methods or nervous breakdowns. Or bloodshed.
I heard the door close quietly as I regarded the food on the kitchen counter. I wasn't hungry anymore. I felt like a weight was breaking my back. Guilt? Sadness? Regret? I don't know. This was a point when I didn't know anything anymore. What I did know was that I wanted to be at the hospital. That I needed to be there. If not to keep my dad company, then to poke at the incident on my own with a stick. If he didn't want me to follow him into what could be a bad situation, then I'd have to get into the mess on my own. I could do that.
It's what I've always done when people push me away. I find ways around being pushed away. I either find my own fun without the person or I found ways of getting the person back in a small way. What better way than to get myself involved on my own. After all, whoever was behind it already involved me long before I'd met the Doctor. They had involved me by targeting my dad. And I knew I had to show them that it had been their one biggest mistake.
Which meant I'd have to get dressed, grab things that I could use and get going.
I almost ran into my bedroom and grabbed a pair of cargo pants that I had managed to find in my size the month before, a green Legend of Zelda t-shirt, and proceeded to dress myself. After that, I pulled my long hair into a ponytail so it could not go into my eyes. Sliding my feet into the sneakers I had lying on the living room floor, I grabbed a banana. Running back into my room, I pocketed an old yo-yo I had lying around, a handful of marbles I had lying around, and my wallet. Feeling like I was prepared to fight a battle on my own, I shrugged into my black trench coat I had lying around.
I was ready.