Fatal Beginning

This story was written for an 8th grade science class vocab story last year, and as you can see, I kind of went above and beyond with it... But I also tied the homework in with a story challenge I couldn't--wouldn't say nno to...It was a zombie challenge, so I had a bit of fun tweaking that in here...

Enjoy!!!

“Just a little more biometric fluid…” Dr. Ahab mused, as he poured a bit of his chemicals and liquids together. “…and just a bit of gelatin…” He scooped up a jello-like substance which I could only assume was the gelatin he’d just thought aloud about.

“Uhm, Ahab?” I stepped warily into the room, feeling like an intruder.

Ahab looked over his spectacles in surprise. “Yes Jen?”

“It’s time for dinner,”

“Oh, well…Tell your mother I’ll be ready in a minute, okay? I’m almost done.” Giving me a warm smile, he returned his concentration back to mixing his potions. Heaving a sigh, I left the lab, shutting the door quietly behind me, and walked into the kitchen.

“Is he coming?” Mom asked.

I shook my head and returned to helping her cut the asparagus. “No, he’s too busy devouring his work right now.”

“Gotcha,” Mom said, trying to hide her disappointment. “Then I guess it’s just you and me tonight, huh?”

“It would appear so.”

My older brother Lucifer had abandoned me and mom about two years ago; when Ahab had only begun absorbing all his time into his latest ‘experiment’. It had been “almost done” for about three months now, and me and mom had given up all hope on him in the first three weeks.

Lucifer had stopped confiding in Ahab long before that, and left the house without a trace. Leaving me and mom by ourselves.

After cutting the last of the asparagus, I grabbed the pot of steamed rice and set it onto the table, followed by mom placing the plates and silverware. Two seats remained vacant.

“It looks empty,” I said, realizing my hand was touching the seat where Ahab sat.

“It almost always is,” Mom responded softly, and she seated herself directly across from where I was standing.

I sat beside her, and began to spoon the rice onto the plates.

“When do you think we’ll all be a family again?” I asked, not really looking for an answer.

Silence.

I stared at my plate, knowing that I’d just hit a nerve. Mom had stopped eating, and stared down at her plate as well.

“As soon as your father’s finished with that project of his, I guess.” She finally answered.

As if that would happen.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
It was late into midnight when I finally saw the last light go out from the crack of my door.

Knowing Ahab would be checking in on me before he went to bed, I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Ahab yet. Not now…

The floor creaked as he neared, and I heard the familiar squeak the door normally made when it was opened. I concentrated deeply on taking long, even breaths.

Once I heard my door close, and was confident that Ahab had gone, I opened my eyes again, and pulled my covers up to my neck to keep me warm. I heard mom and Ahab talking in the room next to me. Though their voices were soft, and mumbled due to the wall that separated us, I could hear every word.

“Is she asleep?” Mom asked quietly,

“Yeah, she is,” Ahab confirmed. “As quiet as mouse, that girl…”

“It’s not just Jen who’s been unusually quiet lately,” Mom hinted, her tone just the slightest bit icy.

“Look, about that, I—“

“What are you even working on to make you have to inch away from your family like this, Ahab? You were never that way before this.”

“Vanessa, I’m not trying to…” Ahab sounded taken aback at her remark.

“Just hear me out, will you?” Mom asked her voice rose just above a whisper; her tone remaining icy, but strong with a sense of authority. Even though it was through a wall, I don’t think I’ve ever heard my mom talk in such a way. She was always pretty soft-spoken.

“It’s like you don’t even know who we are anymore. Lucifer’s gone and walked out on us, and you didn’t do anything, let alone notice, and Jen’s been loitering around the house with hardly a hint of emotion on her face. And all you can think about is that damn project of yours? I’m almost considering leaving like Lucifer did, just to see if you’d react to that.”

There was a silence, and for a moment, I thought that I had merely imagined the argument. Then I heard the bed groan as someone—I assumed Ahab—was sitting down on it.

“I’m sorry, Van. Truly I am.” Ahab’s voice was husky.

“That’s what you say every night we have this discussion, Ahab, which proves that you still don’t fully get it.” Mom’s voice was softer now. “Jen doesn’t even think to call you ‘dad’ anymore. It’s always ‘Ahab’ to her.”

“I’ll try and do better,” Ahab said after a brief silence.

“No, Ahab. I’m not agreeing with your word on that anymore. Either you will, or you won’t. Otherwise, I’m leaving this place—with Jen right behind me.”

Silence interrupted their conversation once more.

Then Ahab said, “But, I’m literally so close to being done! I could alter the ways of human life as we know it! If you could put up with me for just one more—“

“No, Ahab.” Mom repeated. “Do, or don’t. Those are your only options.”

Ahab heaved a sigh before replying. “I guess I do need a break from this…All right, I’ll do it.”

I heard them turn off their lamps and the moan of the bed as they settled down.

“I love you,” Ahab said softly.

Mom didn’t respond.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The sounds of loud clattering awoke me from sleep. Looking drowsily at my alarm clock, I saw that it was 4:00 AM. Who would be awake at this hour? My mind took a minute before it was functioning properly again. Then I realized, no one would be awake at this hour. Not here. Ahab always had this policy of his to wake up strictly at 7:00 in the morning and I was always up before mom was.

I grabbed my Lacrosse stick from the floor of my open closet, and dared to go to the door, my heartbeat beginning to race a little. Someone was here when they weren’t supposed to be, and it frightened me that I had to wake up to this. I had never dealt with the experience of a break-in before. But I had to stop them from doing…whatever, and phone the police before something too drastic happened.

My fingers were shaking as they wrapped around the door handle, and my breath was going in short bursts. Then, after finally managing to open the door, I peeked on either side, and saw the kitchen light was on. Raising my Lacrosse stick, I crept down the stairs as silently as I could. I could only see the silhouette of a gang of people against the living room wall. My hands were sweating as they gripped the stick even harder.

How would I get all of them? What did they want? We certainly didn’t have anything of value. Except…Ahab’s experiment! My ‘weapon’ was at ready, and I heard lots of whispered bickering among the intruders.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,”

“Are you sure he won’t mind?”

“What if they wake up?”

“Would you guys just…”

“Quiet down! They’ll hear you!”

“What compelled you to even do this…?”

Not able to hold the suspense any longer, I shouted at the top of my lungs and leapt from the stairway, my stick held right up behind my head. “All right, get OUT of my house before I…”

I stopped my threat once I saw the shocked look of my brother, Lucifer, and his band of friends…

“Jen?” Lucifer asked, shocked. He walked toward me, carefully considering the stick I had in my hand. “Wow, you’ve grown!”

I dropped my Lacrosse stick in horror. “I’m fourteen,” I said, my voice cracking a little. I did a quick calculation. He was fifteen when he left, and he was three years older than me, so he was about seventeen now.

Lucifer smiled happily, and grabbed a lock of my dirty-blonde hair, examining it. “You’re no longer light-haired and curly, huh?” He asked. I shuddered at his sudden, bold approach. Why wasn’t he reacting the way I was?

“A lot happens in two years.” I said glaring at the tanned, bearded man who used to be my brother. He stepped back at my cold response. “Where have you been!?” I asked, my tension boiling up to a heated rage. “Didn’t you know how CRITICAL you were to mom and me when Dad started shrinking away from us? How much we NEEDED you??!”

Lucifer’s eyes widened in surprise and had a glint of, maybe fear? I couldn’t tell, but It felt good to release all that pressure I’d felt for so many years. I hated having such a brittle personality. Most normally, I could hold my feelings back until I couldn’t hold any more. Then before I knew it, I was yelling at someone who probably had nothing to do with my earlier misfortunes, and I seemed almost evil. Fortunately, Lucifer wasn’t innocent in my current viewpoint.

I made sure to keep my expression stone hard. I didn’t want him to go soft on me like he had in the past. I wanted answers.

All his friends whom I now recognized as Samuel, Eli, Mark, Sheba, James, and Dinah, were looking at me with dumbfounded and slightly guilty expressions.

“All right,” Lucifer rubbed the nape of his neck, and his black hair fell in front of his face, blocking his eyes a bit. “You deserve to know this, I guess…”

I listened, my face still indignant. Lucifer leaned in a little closer, and brushed his bangs from his face. I could distinctly smell mint in his breath as he softly whispered to me. I inched away from him, disgusted by his close approach.

“We’re going to get dad’s attention.”
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
At first, I was confused by what Lucifer meant. But, as he explained it to me, and I began to make sense of it, I decided that their idea wasn’t all that bad. It would not only get Ahab’s attention, but it would help him realize how much we actually needed him as a father, not a scientist. We were going to steal his creation.

Lucifer looked genuinely surprised when I said that I wanted to help. But I think it was me who felt more surprised than he. Hadn’t I threatened Lucifer with a stick in my hand just moments before?

The bigger shock was that Ahab and mom hadn’t woken up yet. I was practically screaming at the top of my lungs when I went downstairs. They probably can’t wake up to anything at all, what with their altogether lack of sleep, I thought. This was true. It was rare that Ahab went to bed at a reasonable hour, and mom was always up late, waiting for him to exit his lab.

Only two of Lucifer’s friends seemed most hesitant about his decision. Well, everyone was hesitant about it. I could see it in their eyes, but only two of them were really putting a foot down.

“I don’t think this is the best solution to grab your dad’s attention,” Samuel said. “After all the effort he put into it…”

“Seriously,” Dinah agreed, “You do know that the police will be all over this when they discover it’s gone. Your entire life could be at stake.”

“At least dad’ll realize the mistake he made of ignoring us all this time.” Lucifer retorted. “Besides, the only way I’d get in trouble is if I got caught,” He gave a roguish smile while saying this.

“And what about Jen?” Samuel pointed. “She’s fourteen years old! And you’re willing to ruin her future just to taste some sweet revenge?”

I saw the others nod in agreement and felt my cheeks flush a little.

“It’s not revenge I’m after,” Lucifer countered.

“Then what is it?” Eli spoke up.

Lucifer said nothing, and simply made his way to the lab. I followed close behind, because even though part of me knew it was wrong, I would rather have my dad back and live in a juvenile prison than suffer the rest of my life being alone and feeling unloved.

“So you’re just going to grab the potion and make a run for it?” Sheba asked, a little skeptically. “That’s it?”

“Yep,” And with that, Lucifer opened the door, and walked in.

I was about to follow, but James grabbed my shoulder to keep me from moving forward. I began to protest, but he shook his head, his curly hair wagging to and from as he did so.

“If there’s going to be anyone who gets arrested, it’s most normally the one people find fingerprints on. The last thing you want is to be found. We’d all prefer it was Lucifer doing the dirty work than you.”

“Then what are you all doing here if you don’t want to get caught?” I pointed out.

No one said anything. I couldn’t help smiling in victory as I turned my head back in the direction of the lab.

Lucifer exited the room, holding the potion carefully in his hands, to keep it from spilling.

“I got it,” He said, “Let’s go.”

I prepared to bid them farewell as I lead them to the front door, when something unexpected happened…

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Mom was standing between us and Lucifer’s way out, her arms crossed, and a frown wrinkled her face. Ahab was standing at the bottom of the stairwell, his brow furrowing even deeper than mom’s.

Not a word was said. Everyone just looked at each other in either remorse, or anger. The angered faces were just between Mom, Ahab and Lucifer, while the rest of us looked to and fro in shame. Then,

“‘Getting my attention,’ eh?” Ahab remarked. “Well, you’re certainly off to a good start, Lucifer,” His voice was low and even, which I knew was not how he sounded unless he was indeed, really mad.

Lucifer didn’t reply, he simply glared right on back at Ahab, and held tight to Ahab’s project.

“You gonna give that back to me, son? Or should I retrieve it myself?”

Lucifer clearly had no ambition to cooperate with Ahab, because no sooner had Ahab said this, when Lucifer turned back and bolted for the back door.

“I’m not your ‘son’!” He screamed angrily as he escaped.

The house was silent no more, and everyone began darting through the dim-lit house, and followed, or chased Lucifer.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
I could barely remember what happened after that, everything happened so fast. Lucifer had made it as far as the back door, when Ahab, accompanied by Samuel, had tackled him to retrieve the vial. Everyone gathered around, and something very strange happened. The goo in the container managed to transform in molecular density. It became thick goo, to a thin, watery substance. But it gets weirder: The substance began to reach out to all of us and snag us by the legs, toppling us over.

By this time, I was really scared. Dad’s experiment had gone haywire! It just wasn’t physically possible for this to happen! I began to feel the experiment make its way inside me, but I didn’t feel any pain like I thought I should have. It actually…tickled. Dinah had fainted, Eli looked more curious than scared, and everyone else was panicking. The liquid was still floating all around and into each of us, and was getting smaller in size as it continued.

“…Ahab…?” My voice was rising in a panic when I saw him. He was on the ground like the rest of us, but he looked almost as if he was having a seizure. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body shook with tremendous power and uneven twitching.

“DAD!” I screeched, completely scared now. I hadn’t called him ‘dad’ since….when? I couldn’t remember, but I didn’t care. I was terrified. But I couldn’t move while his potion had me locked in a firm grip. Angrily, I spat at the floating substance, and wriggled as much as I could, as I tried to get to Ahab. My strength didn’t prevail, but only weakened me all the more, while the bizarrely strong liquid continued to hold the rest of us at a bind.

Ahab had finally stopped his extreme shaking which was now erupting in tiny quivers here and there. But, he seemed different. He managed to stand up, and jaggedly walked away from us. His hair had suddenly grayed, and his body looked as though it didn’t have enough fat to support him. There were huge bags under his eyes, which now seemed to cross and still roll up to the back of his head.

I froze, unable to scream at the horror that was in front of me, and unable to cry at the sudden change my father was.

Picking up the glass vial, Ahab unsteadily walked away into the cold, foggy night.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Somehow, we all managed to make it into Ahab’s lab. Shaken and confused as we were, it didn’t stop us from trying to figure out what had happened back there. Somehow, we even managed to log into his computer and find his document overview of his project.

Eli pushed his thin-rimmed glasses up to his nose as he read—and translated—Ahab’s document to us. His vocabulary was higher than even mine, which was pretty big to begin with. We were fortunate to have someone who understood what my dad was talking about.

“Mr. Schantz was originally trying to make some sort of device that could change in molecular structure to help people like engineers, get their work done faster and easier.” Eli explained, after reading through the overview.

“You mean, have an object transform?” Lucifer asked a little skeptically.

“Exactly,” Eli nodded. “Ahab’s listed some of the physical Properties of Matter he needed to accomplish his task. He even wrote a list of what he could use to create those properties. He has Viscosity, Surface tension, Tensile Strength, Crystalline Solids, the whole bit.” He continued. Eli’s face was elongated with an awed expression as he read on.

I remembered learning about Properties of Matter in school not too long ago. They were characteristics found in both physical and chemical properties, used to help identify objects of matter. At least I was able to comprehend some of what Eli was talking about.

“But that still doesn’t explain what happened outside.” I said, crossing my arms impatiently. Mom gave me a ‘watch your mouth, and be patient’ look while Eli continued.

“What we saw outside was the basis of the potion’s conductivity. Its ever-changing form and density, was pretty much what you’re father was trying to accomplish. And, since its final phase was viscosity, the potion managed to seep into our skin. And you all know perfectly well, that our skin isn’t like a wall. Our pores are what managed to let the potion enter our bodies.”

“That explains why we don’t feel exactly normal anymore.” Sheba connected.

“But there was a flaw in Mr. Schantz’s experiment. The acids he used in which to pertain the experiment’s conductivity were dangerous—fatal, moreover. The acid’s fume alone could slowly kill someone. It almost works like a drug. Once you have too much, it eventually kills you. But you’re not addicted to it like a person would be via cigarette.

“I think that being overwhelmed with the acid is what triggered Mr. Schantz’s seizure. And regrettably, a part of him appears to have died.”

My heart lurched to my throat. Died? Before I could interrupt, Eli was talking, again.

“He’s not completely dead,” Eli assured. “But his brain cannot function normally now. The closest I could relate his disposition right now would be almost like…well…”

“Like what?” I prompted.

“A Zombie,” Eli’s voice was a soft murmur, I almost couldn’t hear him.

I let the word sink in, and could barely stand any more. I took a step toward Eli, my eyes swimming in hot tears. “Can he be cured? What’s wrong with us? Are we zombies too? How can we fix this?” Lucifer grabbed me gently by the shoulder and shushed me softly.

Eli eluded my eye contact, aware of my grief. He slowly continued what he was saying before, desperate to finish what he’d started.

“I’m not sure if he can be cured, but I do know that we need to find him before civilians, doctors, and the Press find him mindlessly wandering in the streets.”

I wasn’t sure how accurate stories were about zombies, but the stories did say that they were evil, and their food source was brains. Preferably, live human brains. I could see that this thought hadn’t occurred only to me. Everyone else had a look of fear on their eyes.

“And,” Eli continued, trying to answer each of my questions, “We weren’t exposed to the potion as much as Ahab was, so we should be considerably safe. If I’m looking at this right, I would think that we’d all have at least one part of the physical Properties within each of us.”

“You mean we’re like superheroes now?” Dinah asked, her eyes growing wide.

“It would seem so, though I don’t know what we each would have, and that would be a good thing to know, since some of these properties could kill us.”

Eli brought up a good point and I wished I knew the answer to that…

I looked around the room, hoping to find something—if, anything—that would be of some use to us.

I spied Ahab’s mini CAT Scan he’d invented a long time ago that he claimed ‘wasn’t a big deal’, which I could contradict him to any day.

It was like a little hand mirror that could see into our innermost organs and veins just by waving it across say, your chest. It’d look right through your clothes, skin and bones, and even look inside your organs by the push of a button. I was certain that any hospital would give huge amounts of money just to get their hands on one of those.

I grabbed it and handed it to Eli. “Maybe this’ll help.” I said.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
To my great surprise, the CAT scan did help. Eli managed to pinpoint which Property was in us. And, as he suspected, we were each different. But, our only problem was, we didn’t know how to trigger the new abilities, so we therefore didn’t know how dangerous they could be. And a few of us had a huge risk of dying. Some of our newfound ‘gifts’ weren’t all that reassuring.

“Lucifer’s made of Viscosity,” Eli said, his excitement rising a little.

“Which would be…?” Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

Eli gave a snide look of disbelief. “Oh, Come on! Didn’t any of you guys pay attention in 8th grade Science?” Eli, seeming to just remember that I was in 8th grade, tried to avoid making eye contact with me after his remark. I didn’t mind the comment too much, because, in truth, I didn’t pay attention in school. My mind was always elsewhere.

Eli heaved a sigh, “okay, if I have to translate everything for you…Viscosity is pretty much a liquid that has different amounts to flow. The only difference with you, Lucifer, is you can be ANY density, whether you be so thick, you’re a solid like you are now, to the thinnest of liquids that can let you easily flow through a net, or fall through a grated floor.”

Lucifer gave Eli a blank look and settled with a simple “oh,” to keep Eli from droning about it further.

“ Samuel, has Surface Tension which is—”

“Spare us the definition, and just tell us how useful it is and what it can do,” Sheba reproached.

Eli gave her the evil eye and continued. “Congrats, Samuel, You can now walk on water.”

“I’m made of adhesion. Hey, cool! I can walk on walls! Or rather, anything…I work like adhesive tape, or a sticker.”

“Shall we nickname you Band-Aid Boy from now on, then?” Dinah fluttered her eyelashes to show she was kidding. Eli didn’t find this very funny, he read on.

“Mark, you’re made of Crystalline Solids now.”

“Which is?”

“Don’t you know the word “solid” when you hear it? Call yourself ‘The Thing’, or ‘Mr. Incredible’. You’re practically invincible!”

I had to admit, Eli’s rude gestures and arrogant elucidations were beginning to bug me a bit. Why did I ever think of him as wimpy in years past?

“Get on with it please,” I said, not willing to waste anymore time. I was slightly anxious, for I still didn’t know what power I possessed and if it would do me damage…

“Right. Well, anyway…” Eli coughed and looked back to the screen “Sheba, you’re an Amorphous, so you’re the exact opposite as Mark. You, in fact, work like clay able to take the shape of anything. No boundaries whatsoever.

“James, you have the structure of Malleability. That’s—”

“works something like a pop can, I know,” James said with a small smile. “if I get flattened, I’d be able to survive it, but I’d still be, well…flat.” His face paled a bit. “See, some of us pay attention in school. And I’m fine with this ability so long as people are willing to stretch me out again, IF—heaven forbid!—I should be flattened.”

Everyone had to chuckle nervously at this. Though the idea of picturing James flattened like a pop can wasn’t a very pretty picture…

Eli scrolled down some more. I braced myself, expecting the worst. “I’m gonna be next, I’m gonna be next…” I thought anxiously. I knew what few were left, and I felt scared, because I knew their dangers. Turned out, Dinah was next.

“Elasticity. You, Dinah are now a human shaped rubber band.”

“Will I break?” She asked tensly,

Eli shook his head. “Only if you stretch too far, and I’m sure you’d be able to feel it when you’re force is stressing. You should be fine.

“Jen,”

I crossed my fingers. “please please please please…” I thought feverishly.

“You’re brittle.”

I sighed in relief. I already had a pretty brittle persona anyway. I couldn’t be THAT different…could I?

As if reading my mind, Eli gave me the answer. “Yours is pretty dangerous, actually. If you’re not careful, you will literally break.”

I nearly fell backward. “calm yourself, girl,” I told myself. “Just don’t stress about it…”
But I knew that my power wasn’t as bad as…

“Vanessa, you’re Tensile Strength.”

Everyone was quiet for different reasons. Some didn’t understand what Tensile strength was, and were waiting for a description, while others, knew how bad this one was. I knew I did, and I knew Eli did as well.

“If you get stretched even a hair more than physically necessary, you will break apart…completely in half…”

Mom lowered her eyes, and a small smile spread across her face. “But who hasn’t been one to break in half once stretched to far, eh?” Everyone laughed lightly at this because it was true. But I could see a glimmer of fear behind those usually emotionless eyes.

“On the upside,” Eli spoke up, trying to lighten the sudden gloom, “We all seem to have a trace of cohesion bound somewhere within us. It’s like this bond we have…It’s hard to explain, but it can gather us together when need be. We can never be too far from one another.”

“So what do we do now?” I asked, “How are we gonna get Ahab back to normal? And how are we even going to FIND him?”

Eli gave me a smirk. “We hunt him down, before it’s too late.”