My toes waded in the cool waters of the cove. I breathed in the scents that could only be experienced in this small part of the world. The moss on the rocks behind me. The upturned soil in the field where creatures burrowed about looking for their next meal. The droplets of dew that fell from the brightly green leaves of various giant plants jutting forth from the ground like some victors of a desert race, for in fact that was what they were. Strange, lonely winners unknown to the barren world around them. I was their guardian. Their keeper. Their gardener. I alone knew of this hidden oasis, buried beneath the sands of time, neglect, and radiation. It was always funny to me the way the others of this dying world would fight over land and wares until there was nothing left for which to wage war. My entire existence, I have always chosen peace over violence. This left me with nothing, so it made no difference if I scrabbled and clawed in defiance like my
Every step was an earthquake. Every breath was a hurricane. The gong of her heartbeat reverberated through the empty corridor. Security lights flashed, but she couldn’t hear the sirens blaring throughout the laboratory. All she could hear was the whimpering of the boy she was leading by the wrist. He buried his face in her white lab coat as she leaned back against the wall, sidling around the corner to inspect the next long hall before crossing it in long, swift strides. She kept her head focused on the cameras and pulled the child behind her when it finally reached its maximum rotation. They were hidden, though not safe. She had memorized the schematics for weeks; she had rehearsed this day a thousand times. What she didn’t expect was the boy. She knew the laboratory had taken a sinister turn toward the dark arts of fringe science, performing genetic testing without the federal approval, but she didn’t realize they had actually fostered a center of genetically altered children. Her fi