Dawn: A Short Story

My feet pounded on the concrete as I sprinted through the crowd, dodging strangers and shooting frantic glances behind me. Were they still following me? I darted around a corner and paused just long enough to catch my breath. Then I peeked back around the corner.

“Gotcha!” A man grabbed me from my neck. No one was noticing anything as the sound of me choking was faint and silent. “What the — !”

The man let go of me and I dropped to the ground as I transformed into a little girl.

“Help!” I screamed. “This man won’t leave me alone!”

People drew their attention to me and looked at the man in anger and concern. The man froze in fear.

“Leave that girl alone!” a man yelled, approaching the man.

I got up and took a step back. People came closer and closer to observe the man. The man was looking down at his hand, which was in his pocket.

“Are you some sort of freak or something?” a woman yelled at him.

The man continued to look down at his hand. Slowly, his hand came halfway out of his pocket and a metal ball with a glowing, white ring around it was in his hand. My eyes widened and I ran away. Behind me, a white light ignited and people gasped and screamed. The ball that was in his hand makes people forget the last sixteen minutes of whatever happened. You have to throw the ball to the ground to break it and all of that glowing, white energy inside of it will blind people and fade away instantly. That’s the perks of being part of the DA52, the Department of Area 52. When you’re an agent in the DA52, you get access to their advanced weapons and equipment.

I turned a corner and blended in with a crowd of New Yorkers who were concerned as well by the sound of the ball exploding and people screaming. But, it died down as soon as I got into the crowd. The people minded their business while some investigated through the alley I came from. I looked forward and put on my hoodie to hide part of my identity. My heart stopped after my hoodie was on. More DA52 agents were a few feet ahead of me coming in my direction. They noticed me. A man in a suit shouldered an agent next to him and gestured to my direction. They sped walked over to me. I turned around and began shoving people out of my way.

“Watch it, little girl!” a man said as I pushed through.

I can’t shift into that many people. I can only shift to people that I have physical contact with. My skin technically syncs with others.

I quickly turned another corner and transformed into the agent that held me by my neck as he was the only one who touched me. They know how my powers work. So, they keep clear to not touch me. He was just dumb not to carry gloves.

As the agent, I began to run as if I was chasing after myself. The agents behind me caught up to me.

“She’s getting away!” I said, posing to be one of them. “She’s heading to the station!”

The agents nodded and pushed through the crowd to get down to the subway. I made sure I was behind them so that I can transform again. The New York pedestrians were too busy to focus on anyone to even notice me shifting. My transformations happen fast. I changed to a businessman. Just like that, I was out of site.

“Where is she?” Dad roared at my mom and big sister.

“I don’t know,” Mom cried as dad paced back and forward across the room.

“How? How?” Dad yelled, then he took a deep breath and relaxed. “How did Dawn just leave? We are supposed to be in hiding! The world is searching for Abnormals constantly and somehow she leaves the base!”

“Sh-She felt s-so isolated here-”

“Not an excuse!” Dad yelled at my sister. “Who did she shift to? Huh? Who did she transform into to get out of here?”

“A-An Orca guard,” mom said.

Orca guards are from Orca Corp, an underground corporation that keeps Abnormals in hiding. They take care of us because they are Abnormal. This base is untraceable. Burham Smith is the head leader of Ocra Corp. He, unlike everyone here, has no powers. His daughter was an Abnormal because his wife was one. He started this to protect everyone else just like he did for his daughter. But, she died because she phased through the earth, trying to leave Orca Corp. She went through the metal structure of its base, the Earth’s dirt, soil, rock, and then into the core of the Earth where lava was. She couldn’t control it. It’s one of the most dangerous powers along with teleportation as you can phase into objects and self-crush yourself if you teleport into a mountain, for example.

“We have to find her!” Dad’s voice grew.

“We can’t,” my sister said. “Burham sent two shifters after her and one invisible. He’s already upset, dad. They need to find her and bring her here safely. The DA52 won’t catch her. They just won’t. Like, what was she thinking?”

“Calm down,” Dad said.

“Easy for you to say.”

“Chrisalis! Enough!” Mom said.

“Why couldn’t you go find her? You’re a shifter,” Chrisalis asked Mom.

“I think we have enough attention on our hands. People are saying that they might throw us out for endangering the corporation,” Mom said.

“But they won’t. I know many things about Burham and a traitor is not one of them,” Dad said.

“Than what will happen to us? What will he do to Dawn?” Mom asked.

“I don’t know!” Dad yelled, then he took another deep breath. “We’ll know when she’s back with us. Only time will tell.”

The skies grew darker and the city glowed with lights. The streets were still busy with pedestrians. I shifted to a homeless person as I am sure no one will touch me or confront me this way. No matter how rude or blunt that might seem, it is true. I turned a corner and there was some sort of checkpoint. A checkpoint in the middle of the city? I got closer and see pedestrians being examined by officers and a few DA52 agents. My heart stopped. I noticed Marlena Olsen there. Marlena is the overseer of the Department of Area 52. What is she doing there? She can’t be there just to hunt for me. How did this all get so bad? I crouched by the side of a bench and watched ahead. Marlena was talking to a sheriff. For minutes passed and a DA52 agent started talking to Marlena. She nodded and then the agent took something out of his coat pocket. He tossed something up above him and a small, flying object was in the sky. No! A drone scanned through the checkpoint. It came in my direction to scan the traffic in the back. I got up and backed up.

Beep. Beep. Beep. The drone began to sound some sort of alarm as it noticed my disguise.

“No!” I began to run. I didn’t have time to transform, especially when I was scared and being chased by multiple agents and a drone. I could already hear the agents on my tail.

“Do not kill her!” Marlena said from behind me.

I turned around while running and noticed that Marlena was in a DA52 cart, following me. I sped faster through crowds of people. I entered an apartment building and started running up its stairs. The pounding footsteps of the agents were so menacing as they ran up the stairs after me. I remained two floors above them.

“Ngh!” I barged through the rooftop exit.

No. No. No. No. No. I wasn’t thinking right away. There’s no way I can make it out of this. I ran to the ledge and saw how far up I was.

“Go! Go! Go! Go!” I heard agents shouting up the stairs.

The agents made it to the rooftop and they examined me at a distance, watching my every move.

“Step away from the ledge!” an agent commanded.

“Leave me alone!” I yelled.

“You know we can’t do that,” another agent said.

I turned around due to the sound of the drone flying above the rooftop, in front of me. I’m literally surrounded.

“Agh!” I bent my knee as the drone stabbed a metal spike that was attached to a rope through it. The metal spike went through my leg and through the roof. I was stuck.

The drone reloaded another spike and I dodged to the left and it stabbed an agent.

“Ah!” the agent cried.

Quickly, I grabbed the rope that was through my leg and yanked it down. The drone lunged into the roof and broke.

“Get her!” an agent yelled.

I stepped a few steps back and then ran towards the ledge. I jumped off the roof and quickly transformed into a bodybuilder I knew from Orca Corporation that worked out his legs. As I hit the ground for a millisecond, I felt my legs break. Quickly before my whole body can hit the ground, I shifted to the little girl again. As I transformed into the girl, my legs were not broken, but aching. As I ran, I was limping.

“Stop right there!” Marlena drove her car in front of me. Many agents and carts surrounded me. “Look at all the commotion and hassle that you have caused in the city. Shame.”

“I just want to live a normal life for once,” I said. “Please. J-Just let me go. I haven’t started any issues until they surprised me and tried to take me.”

“I can’t do that. You know that. You walked out here knowing it was a risk. But, you still did it,” Marlena said. “Detain her.”

“What?” I resisted. “No! Please!”

“Bring her to the base and make sure to flash everyone at the checkpoint, on the streets, and the people outside of their rooms in the apartment complex,” Marlena started up her cart. “No mistakes. Have her there in forty.”

“Please!” I panicked. “I won’t tell anyone or use my power-”

I was cut off by a slight pinch in my neck. Then…I was asleep.

“Huh!” I jumped up from sleeping.

Where am I? The room I was in was white and bright. I was wearing an all-white jumpsuit. I looked across my room and saw a little boy sleeping. He was attached to an IV. Is he in a coma or something? I looked at my arm and noticed that I was attached to an IV. Water was in the bags. We’re being kept hydrated. How long was I out for? The boy had some sort of black symbol on his neck. I felt my neck and had something on it as well. My neck was sore on the same spot as if that symbol was tatted there, previously.

Who is this child and why are we here? Where is here?