CHOSEN: A Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Dystopian Novel (2 page)

Antarctic Research Center
Year 2149

ZURA WHIPPED HER chair around, almost causing herself to fall
out. “
What the hell?!”
A few of the individual twists escaped the black
hair she’d neatly tucked into a bun that morning. What she’d seen was a flash
of bright gold, like a small burst of brilliant sunlight, coming from behind.
It had caught her eye, startling her. The room seemed brighter now as the walls
pushed out ever so slightly from whatever energetic force she’d just seen and
felt. 

She couldn’t imagine what the source of the
disturbance might be. Something else was in there despite the fact that she had
been alone in the research and observation center until that moment. Johan was
leading the engineers and not many people wanted to risk interrupting her these
days, unless they had a good reason.

Zura scanned the room briefly before her
eyes were drawn to the spot. She could see it – the thing that initially
appeared as a flash of gold. Steadying herself to stand up from her seat and she
placed her weight on her swollen feet and ankles. Upon closer inspection, it
was actually a glowing, pulsing ball of golden light. She’d heard of these
strange energetic anomalies before, these orbs, but had never seen one herself.
They came in the form of a sphere - pure energy. The only thing that they could
carry was pure energy and vibration. This light carried sound, a message for
her.

She
waddled quickly across the floor, not wanting it to disappear. As she reached
for the light the orb sensed Zura’s energy approaching, and began to vibrate,
releasing the message.

“The
two are one, daughter and son. Protect and nurture them in their gifts and
abilities. They are special and unique, but do not fear, their purpose will be
clear. You are all here to help save the world.”

As
the words ended, the ball of light immediately vanished into thin air, not a
trace of its glow remaining. Zura stretched her fingers out to touch where it
had been. She could feel intense energy in her fingertips and warmth went
through her hands. The vibration and heat continued to burrow into her hands
and up her arms, sending shivers through her body. 

The
intensity of the pulsations grew stronger and centered around her abdomen
before giving her a tingling sensation and disappearing. Then the remaining
energy in the air was gone, evaporating as the light had. Zura reached down and
felt her stomach. She stood there as time stood still, cradling her womb and
the twins she carried inside of her. Fear and shock continued to resonate
through her body as she grappled with trying to understand what she’d seen,
heard, and felt. 

The
beeping sound from her watch brought Zura back from her daze. She stopped the
beeping and swayed towards her chair. It was Johan but he would have to wait. She
plopped back into her seat with a thud and tried to quickly jot down what she’d
just heard. It had all happened so fast, but she’d gotten the idea. After
scribbling down the message she checked to see if the recording system had
picked up the strange occurrence.

At
the same time, she wondered what it meant, whether to get Johan and tell him,
and if he would believe her even if she did. Silently she watched the playback.
The sound had gone out completely but she could still see the flash of energy. 

What
she’d seen as a bright golden ball showed up like a bright orb on the screen,
looking like something was wrong with the video quality, but that was all. It
wasn’t anything identifiable or provable. It wouldn’t hold up to Johan’s
scientific inquiry. She would have to keep it to herself.

Two Months Later

“
Aaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh
!”
An ear
piercing scream escaped Zura’s
parched chapped lips. Sweat glistened on her forehead and tiny beads slowly
followed the path to her neck. Curled tendrils formed across along her hairline
from the moisture. After hours of labor her tears had all but run out and now
she was just trying to hold on through the next painful contraction. 

She
stared up at the white blocked ceiling, looking for her focus spot. The tiny
greyish colored blemish in the otherwise perfectly smooth white ceiling. Bright
bulbs meant to aid the staff’s sight gave Zura the feeling of an uncomfortable
interrogation room. 

As
she searched for the elusive spot, she faded between being with everyone else
in the room and zoning out. The only other thought running through her head
repetitively was possibly killing Johan for his part in her present condition.
He stood in the corner silently, rocking as if in shock, unsure of what to do
and safely out of her reach. 

She
could smack him right now for shutting down while she endured the last of
humanity’s unjustifiable burdens. Zura felt like she might have been
hallucinating as she looked over at him once again and he was still standing
there. She hadn’t just knocked him down along with that stupid look on his face
like she’d imagined. The trick on her mind pissed her off even more.

As
she screamed in the sanitized room attended by the staff doctor, a small
private white aircraft slowly entered the strangely quiet hangar and stopped,
hovering over the yellow plus sign painted on the grey cement floor. Mave, with
her dark hair pulled into a high pony-tail, waited in the hangar for the craft,
just inside of the small room to the side. She peered out of the tinted window
as the door to the aircraft slowly lowered, dropping stairs to the floor.  

When
the stairs hit the floor, Dr. Claudia Lima jumped out carrying a bulky black
case with a red medical sign. Mave had barely let them off the craft before yelling
at them to hurry. She and the two doctors following her were all running behind
Mave who’d come out of the office when Dr. Lima appeared in the doorway of the
plane. She’d been waiting for more than thirty minutes.

She
wasn’t her usual patient self. Patience wasn’t a luxury any of them could
afford at that moment.

It
was happening and if they didn’t get there fast, there would be death on their
hands. What they were about to do couldn’t be proven to work successfully, not
in humans at least. The official results had always been mixed, causing
skepticism and abandonment.

What
they were using wasn’t part of any official program. It had never been
officially tested or sanctioned and in fact, outside of a small circle, didn’t
exist. Still it was the only chance they had to give the improved treatment to
the two children struggling to be born early.

Mave
sprinted ahead of the group, her boots hitting the smooth concrete floor of the
hangar, light and quick. Dr. Lima and the others struggled to keep up, their
bags jostling beside them. They were soon at the entrance to the building where
everything seemed to stand still, waiting for a miracle. Mave looked back to
make sure she had everyone.

“Hurry!
Only take what you need for the surgery!” she yelled behind her as she pressed
her wrist against the scanner to open the door. The four were through, dropping
their bags on the inside. They didn’t need any extra weight slowing them down
as they made it to the medical center. The door closed behind them trapping the
freezing cold air in the hangar.

Mave
rushed through a confusing labyrinth of intricate honeycomb style tunnels. Different
pastel colors of each honeycomb section blurred together as they went from one
honeycomb to the next through the connecting hallways. Dr. Lima and her team,
lighter without their luggage, followed close as Mave barked at them to keep
up. Sprinting ahead, Mave hoped it wasn’t too late. As they got closer, another
sharp scream pierced the tunnel they were in.

The
stainless steel door with a single rectangular window slammed against the wall
as Mave rushed into the birthing room. Soft meditative music meant to inspire a
Zen-like state played uselessly through the speaker system. Zura lay on the
water supported bed, her head thrown back into the plush down pillow. Her
screams and cries sprayed like knives slicing through the intended peacefulness
of the room, muting the music.

Zura
could taste the beads of sweat that formed above her lip and seeped into the
corners of her mouth. She’d only read of births like this happening before
modern medicine. It was because of her stubbornness that she was living through
what must have been the last original torture of womanhood.

“God
damnit! What the hell took you so long? I am dying here. I am literally… dying…
here!” Zura’s eyes narrowed and then went wide again as she went through
another contraction. After it passed, she had just enough time to spew venom at
Mave and the other three as they slinked into the room behind her.

“Well,
we are here now. So shut up and let us help,” Mave said as she checked Zura’s
vitals on the screen and then felt Zura’s full lumpy abdomen. The babies were restless.
She listened for the heartbeats of the twins inside of her. They were
struggling just as hard as Zura to be freed from the one world they’d known but
they couldn’t come out just yet. 

“Claudia,
your team needs to prep the serum and get it ready to inject. I’ll pull up the
view of the twins. Zura, just lay there as best as you can. Dr. Lima brought a
local anesthetic with her. It’ll help with some of the pain, but you’ll still
have to fight through it. I’m sorry,” Mave said, squeezing Zura’s hand.

Zura
gripping the silicone wrapped support bars on either side of her, stared at the
hand Mave held and the sky blue silicone beneath her hand. She then shot a look
over at Johan and caught a glimpse of his terrified blue eyes looking back at
her.

The
team was working as fast as they could. What had felt like a spacious birthing
room now felt cramped as the half dozen people moved around the equipment and
bed. Mave gave Zura a small red pill and then sprayed Zura’s stomach with the
anesthetic. Tiny pinpricks stung all over her skin as it soaked in. Fifteen
seconds later it turned to a dull sensation covering an eight inch diameter
area on her abdomen. 

“It
takes three minutes for the combination to work. Then we can administer the
serum,” Dr. Lima said trying to reassure an anxious Zura.

She
grabbed Zura’s hand briefly before continuing to prep the double shot of serum.
She’d done the procedure several times before, but never with twins.

Mave
looked across the room at Johan. He was still in the same spot that Zura swore
she’d kicked his behind in, twice. Leaning against the wall in the corner
motionless but conscious, as if he’d been turned into petrified wood. His eyes
were blank and his mouth partly open as he took in what felt like chaos. Zura
couldn’t see straight enough to notice him now.

“Get
over here Johan. Hold your wife’s hand and stop standing in the corner like you
are a used up box of tissues. You aren’t the one about to push out two frickin’
babies, are you!?” Johan snapped out of his trance and rushed over to Zura’s
bedside. He took one of her hands and held it. At that moment her grip
tightened around his, squeezing hard as she let out another blood curdling
scream.

They
were hoping for a miracle with this serum. It was officially designed for
premature infants and it was meant to serve as an intrauterine immune system
booster and metabolizer. The addition to the basic serum was controversial and
some had disagreed that it was necessary or that it should even be used, given
the potential risks. 

However,
Zura and Johan, being stuck in Antarctica, asked for it even with the risks. The
benefits would give their twins the best chance for health and survival. That
and Zura’s faith that what Mave told her was going to be true had convinced
them. The additional modification was added to the serum after it passed
inspection.

The
only people who knew about it were Zura, Johan, Mave and Dr. Claudia Lima. It
was a special chemical that processed through the blood, attached to the body’s
natural antibodies, and was over time fully integrated into their genetic code.
Over time it would restrict the host’s DNA like a mutation. Whenever it learned
how to fight an attacker it would alter the genetics for future use. It was an
internal weapon against illness, disease, and degeneration.

The
more recent testing on mice yielded very promising results after several
modifications to levels of testosterone and the bonding process to the DNA.
This was the last of the doses to be given. After the twins were born, the
eight Chosen children would have received the serum. This time, unlike the
generation before, it had to work. 

The
long-term effects couldn’t be known yet and with only six other humans injected
there wasn’t much empirical evidence. What they had seen from the six who’d
received it had been mostly positive, so far. It had only been a couple of
years, but that was all the data they had to go on. It would have to be enough.

Zura
looked at Mave, her face wrenched in pain and fear. She was second guessing
their decision. She wrestled with whether they were doing the right thing, if
it would even work, or if she was killing her babies with it. She began sobbing,
with no tears and unable to speak, the pain of the contractions had stolen her
voice. She’d put them in this situation and she had to ensure their survival in
any way she could.