Derailed - 1. Preface

I don't exactly know when we started running, all I remember was my mom getting a phone call and gathering all our things in a bag. I can remember her telling me, “Cameron, sweetie, we’re just going on a trip for a while and soon everything will be fine you'll see. Mama’s gonna make everything better.” Even then I think I could tell she was lying. Somehow I knew, even at 4 years old, that this was the last time I’d ever see my home.

I still remember the first night in the subway tunnels, the ones long forgotten by the city of New York years ago when the sky tram was built. It now provided a much needed shelter to one of the largest human trafficking and smuggling rings ever known, and the only salvation for millions. It was during this time that I first heard of the Holmen Virus, a virus that affected people about 50 years ago and spread like wildfire. The entire world was on alert. People were spontaneously bursting into flames and living through it, disappearing into thin air and being found hundreds of miles away with no clue as to how it happened. More and more people began to have countless and unpredictable reactions to it. So a vaccine was developed and administered in a world wide effort to eradicate it once and for all. It took almost 12 years, but it seemed that we had won and people could go back to their normal lives, as though nothing had ever happened. But something they hadn’t counted on was the virus changing. As the people who were infected went on to have children, they began to see remnants of the virus show up in their sons and daughters. So once again, governments began to treat the virus, but it wouldn't be that simple this time. The vaccine could only disable the virus for a few hours at a time, and the virus was now part of their very genetic code.

Something was different this time though. Unlike their parents, the children seemed to have a much better control of the effects of the virus. This intrigued a lot of top brass in the military. Imagine an army of unstoppable power. It was really only a matter of time before someone got the idea. So it was decided that as long as the children had control over the power, then the government, as well, could control it for themselves. They were very secret about it at first. They didn't want to start riots over the idea of kidnapping young children and turning them into super solders, but that soon changed, too. About 20 years ago, a 16 year old student who was being bullied couldn't take it anymore. He lost it and turned half his town into a crater the size of the Grand Canyon. After that people were practically begging for anyone infected to be taken and locked away. It was exactly what the military wanted. The infected were given two options, become a solider and a slave to the military, or be terminated as a danger to society. Some found a third option though, one that many of us take; run and hide.

So from that night when my mom got the phone call telling her that our cover was blown and we were no longer protected, we, like thousands of others, began running from a world that viewed us as walking WOMDs. And for 10 years now that's been my life. But something has got to change; I can’t keep running, nor will I continue to run for the rest of my life.

Copyright © 2010 LemonFresh; All Rights Reserved.