The Alternates

“Spread out, the enemy is in sight,” the captain commanded. 1

An army of over 500 soldiers got into position, rifles and machine guns hoisted up in front of them, their slick, black and metallic coat shining in the light that was coming from the lone source of a street lamp that hung up above them, almost like a miniature version of the moon itself. Everything else was pitch black. Using special signals designed for covert operations, they managed to stealthily surround the local park where their six opponents were waiting.2

There they stayed for over twenty minutes awaiting their orders, hovering around the park like a pack of hungry predators, patiently waiting for their prey that was their opponents. Through night vision goggles, one of the soldiers observed the six individuals: two men that seemed to be in their early twenties; an older woman who had the build of someone in her late thirties; two slender teenage girls; and a young boy who looked no older than twelve. 3

The soldier stared in disbelief. So this was their mysterious rivals…4

“Move forward, attack the enemy!” their captain commanded through several ear transmitters. At once, the army converged on the six individuals, like ants to a sweet. 5

However, there they stood, determined, and ready for them. Almost as if they had predicted that this would happen…6

But so were the soldiers. Raising their guns in a swift, almost silent motion, they pointed them at their adversaries…7

2010. A year of newfound information. A year full of prosperous cooperation and togetherness. A year… where the entire human race would change- forever.8

A new race had been discovered. Yet, they were not abnormal, inhumane, or even out of this world. They were normal… or so they had believed. A group were found to possess a strange, yet intriguing gene: the metamorphose gene. This had allowed normal people to use ‘powers’ they had never had before… or so they claimed. Their ‘kind’, however, was rapidly increasing, while the government steadily grew in apprehensiveness at these people. They were waiting for their one and only chance where they could strike out at them… just any excuse would do they claimed…9

And it did. 10

Ellana Jacobson, a fifteen year old high school girl, was apprehended after she permanently changed the physical features of her teacher, whom had scolded her after failing her assignment. The government claimed,11

“If she is able to permanently alter someone so that they become disfigured, who is to say that these other ‘people’ will still stay harmless? What if the next report we get is that some man or woman is able to remove the very earth itself? We CANNOT let this happen! We need this to stop right now before something- or someone- gets to us!”12

And thus started the ‘Alternate Holocaust’. People who were ‘Alternate’ were subjected to painful torture, examination, and physically exhausting tests. After that, they were disposed. And so the ‘Alternates’ dwindled down, until less than a dozen remained. Six of those tried to blend in. If they succeeded still remains to be seen. However, the other six are, unknowingly, linked together to stop this holocaust… if they can at all. Will they, too, be slaughtered like pigs? Or will they find the freedom that all ‘Alternates’ deserve?13