The Old Man looked at Elsbeth, noticing that she was becoming frustrated with the story.
“I know, I know... You just want to know about Mat and Trey. But I’m telling you all of this so you can understand the finer motivations behind Mat’s choices and warnings.”
He grinned, “Hang in a little longer, there’s only a little more to tell.
What happens when a group of people form a team? The ones who were the strongest individually, or the most respected, still manage to maintain their power. And one that one was already under someone else’s influence, the whole team comes under their control.
That's what happened. All those Nations came together, but most of them were used to following the lead of the US and its allies, most of whom were already being “run” by “donations” from private source.
That gave some of those corporate sources, new markets, and worse, larger fields in which to run their experiments.
After the formation of the UTH, any mutated humans from the member countries were quarantined, never to be heard from again. It became illegal to eat wild grown foods because the BlueBloom was found to be fatal to humans.
Still, there are people who live completely off the land and with the BlueBloom having spread further than we could even understand, its almost impossible for them to avoid its effects. There were deaths, there were mutates who lived but could not function normally, and others who barely looked human with their mutations.
Some countries, had already had long histories of colonization and exploitation; they weren’t too eager to sign up to the new New World Order. They allowed their communities to deal with their Mutate populations quietly and with dignity, or not. Not every community was kind. Still, there was no government involvement and no record keeping, because secrets cannot be kept in a bureaucracy.
Life went on, and we can only assume that eventually there were adjustments to the mutations, like in the animals…
Like in Mat.
Mataias was born into a traditional Maasai community. His family lived off the land for many generations. It was impossible for them to not be affected. His eye mutation was noted immediately upon his birth, but not recorded or reported. Of course, this was a few years before The Cure became widespread knowledge. At the time there was only the tribe and the SentLions with whom they traveled. From what he’s told me, because it didn't appear that he had any other dangerous mutations to speak of, there was no need to restrict his life. He did seem to be different; not stronger, but more resilient, more capable than his peers. He excelled as a hunter, un-bothered by heat or fatigue or even darkness, so the tribe nurtured his development.
I’m not sure of all his history because he’s chosen to keep much of it from me, but I know that after The Summit when these things were beginning to be understood, he was protected by O’morani family and the Panthera, and he used their power and influence to create a legal identity so he could become a Kull. He enjoyed that work, he had always thrived as a hunter and protector.”
“He was a stereotypical Kull too, when we met.” Elz grumbled. “Arrogant and condescending even though I had just saved his ass.”
Trey perked up at that. “Will you tell me…”
Elz cut her off. “Tonight, you guys are telling ME a story. I’ll tell you about our first meeting another time.” She turned back to Man Xiong.
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The Old Man continued. “Yes from what I’ve heard, he was all of that, and good at his job, but something went wrong at some point during a mission. Some of his blood accidentally ended up mixed in with some animal samples that they had collected. It caught unwanted attention. He came home after that mission and told me that they would always be searching for the source of that blood. Thats when he began making plans to protect you guys, by using his connections to the Panthera and the O’morani Family to buy this land, and to obscure your connections to him. He used them to protect Trey.”
Man Xiong caught and held Elz’s gaze.
“He protected you too.”
Elz looked at The Old Man, slightly puzzled.
“Why did he need to protect me, beyond the obvious?”
The Old Man nodded. “Tell me, When was the last time you felt hungry? Or cold?”
Elz shrugged. “Why would I ever feel hungry? I work hard to keep us well fed, and you have a farm.” She pulled a piece of chocolate from her pocket and popped it into her mouth. “I even have a Hershey’s stash.”
“Yes, but when you go out on jobs, when was the last time you were staked out for hours, running out of energy and your stomach started rumbling?”
“Never I guess,” Elz admitted. “But I don’t get what that has to do with anything.”
Man Xiong shrugged, a perfect impersonation of Elz. “Just think about it. Mat and I had a theory that you haven’t felt cold, tired or weak from fatigue since you were trapped here all those years ago. You ate MutaHare everyday.”
Elz’s eyes widened. “He never told me that.”
“First, it was because he didn't want to scare you, then it didn't seem to matter any more. But when Trey was born he realized that he would need to hide her. So he protected her with the O’Morani name and some falsified genetic records.”
Elz breathing sped up, as her thoughts ran wild. Trey, who had been silent this entire time, reached over and placed a hand on her arm. Elz turned her gaze towards her daughter, focusing as she tried to find something wrong with her, some indication that her daughter was not normal.
Other than Trey’s unusually colored eyes, which she barely remembered from day to day, as they always appeared brown in direct light There was nothing abnormal about her daughter. The Old Man’s story was a little hard to take.
“There’s nothing wrong with Trey.”
“There isn’t anything WRONG, with either of you. But do you really think the rate at which she heals is normal for humans?”
“Trey has never been hurt or sick, so how can you even know how fast she heals?”
“Umm, Mommy…”
Elz turns to her daughter.
“I get cut up all the time during training, I...”
The Old Man interrupts her. “Mat added that fifteen minutes of meditation to her routine after training. That way, by the time she was finished and ready to come downstairs she would be all healed. He didn't want to worry you, but he also wanted to eliminate the possibility of someone seeing her with an injury which would be mysteriously gone the next time they saw her.”
Elz had had enough. The letter from Mat and the changes to the cabin was already too much. They were shaking up her entire life and she wasn't even able to curl up in her own bed so she could process it. She stood up.
“I need a break, guys. Let’s discuss this tomorrow.”
Trey smiled at her mom. “We don’t need to discuss it at all, mommy. We haven’t changed and we can just keep our old plan and go to Norway next.”
Man Xiong shook his head, “Its not the wisest plan of action, but I agree. You already know the important stuff and this doesn’t change anything about what we should do. I know you need time to wrap your head around it all, so we can just leave it at this point.”
Elz sighed. “I want to know everything, but right now… I can’t.” SHe looked at her family, the only people close to her left in the world.
“Just promise me no more secrets, guys.”
Trey grinned. “How about: no NEW secrets. And we’ll get the old ones out bit by bit.”
Elz playfully smacked her daughter in the back of her head. “Yeah, I definitely believe you’re a mutate. Part wise owl, part sneaky rat.”
She walked out of the room and headed up the stairs to the old loft. As soon as she turned the corner, her smile dropped and her face fell. The joke was as normal as any she would make with Trey, but now there was something to it. She couldn’t shake the fear. Sure Trey was fine, but she was still young. What if things began to change? There was so much growing that she still had to do, puberty especially would cause wild hormonal changes. What if the worst was yet to come.
Elz dragged herself into the bed and pulled the blanket over her. She fell asleep to the sounds of her illusions breaking apart.