The New Ones

By Elise Janss

Felicia felt the pull to leave the city and go into the beyond. Her people needed her to find the original DNA of long ago; their future is hanging in the balance. Together with her closest friend Jiah, they will venture out with their superior and find the people that had not been altered. The dreams Felicia has are too real not to be heeded. She feels an undeniable pull and longing. When things go wrong while out with their superior they discover their new abilities and Felicia sees her dreams come to life.
Rey and his tribe have lived on their own and in the wilderness since the separation of the genetic alterations of the population. Their nomad existence being all they know. He is aware there are those out there that are hunting them and he has a mission to keep his people safe. Having accepted Kent into his tribe, he knew one day the man's past would catch up with them. Together they will work and find a way to avoid the hunters of their world, and more importantly, the New Ones of today while finding there is still love to be found.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543945126

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1

Felicia handed Grolf the paperwork, looking him in the face with confidence. He seemed to always look for the holes in it, and this time was no exception. But she knew her work was accurate. She was created for accuracy. She was intelligent and unusually pretty for her class. Women in her class tended to be plain and nondescript, nothing out of the ordinary. They were there for their ability to complete the genetic workings and improve the DNA sequences, removal of anything that could be negative. She knew her people were continuously looking for improvements. The main problem was that with this improving, it was harming them drastically. She had the proof on the table in front of her. She knew what needed to happen: they needed to find the original DNA they came from. Are there any even out there anymore? she wondered to herself.

Felicia knew she was different from the rest of her class. She wasn’t interested in the things the other women were: go to work, get home, change, back outside to the town center to meet with the rest of their people from their class (for you didn’t meet with other classes) and just let the bodies meet with abandon. She had this need inside to find someone or something different to herself. She had this incessant need to explore, to go beyond the outside of the city. She would catch herself staring out into the beyond while taking the train to her office. She almost missed her stop a few times recently doing this. That would have brought her straight to the superiors for explanation. No one ran late anymore; it was unheard of today. That part of the DNA that caused distraction had been found and altered already. Knowing the eyebrows of the superiors were already raised enough when it came to her, she kept her head down and tried to stay out of the spotlight.

Felicia stood there, her dark blonde hair pulled back in a low bun, her shoulders back and straight, while Grolf looked over her report. She had a slightly full figure, not a large frame but curvy. She blended in the majority of the time with the other women of her class. It was only when someone from a higher class looked at her did they see that she was different. The higher class had the eagle eyes of yellow, while the lower classes had a browner hue. When the classes were being divided, the engineers said that those who did any scouting or leading should have the better eyesight. So the DNA was altered to accommodate this. The lower classes still had great eyesight; no one needed to have what they used to call glasses anymore. Felicia’s eyes had flecks of green instead of brown, so when looking at her you could see her eyes were closer to the eagle’s but not in that same class.

Over the decades from when the DNA first started being altered and the classes were being created, the different levels of classes had changed. There were the Superiors: they oversaw the city. Their work and positions were passed down from generation to generation. There were the Engineers: they changed the actual DNA sequence of the new generations. Then there were the Alters: they would change any DNA that needed to be changed in the adults, making sure that the illnesses of before weren’t coming back and that the older ones remained healthy until they died of just old age in the Older Homes. They also oversaw Research, and going to Research was never looked at as a positive. There were the Scouts: they were the ones that used to go out and look for the Runaways, the people that had run from the change in the world, those that felt that changing the DNA would be wrong. The Scouts stopped looking at least ten years before. Felicia somehow knew they still looked for the Runaways, but it was done differently. She was trying to find that out on her own time but had to be careful to not get caught in doing so. She could get into major trouble that way.

Then there was her class, the Researchers: they reported on everything. Anything that could possibly be checked on—traffic or commuting, food consumption—there was someone to report it. Most of their food was synthetic now with all the DNA alterations. They could eat almost anything and survive, getting the bare nutrients out of whatever was given them. The list of reports went on and on. She was researching why the population was not increasing. There was the usual rate of death with the elderly, and with accidents in the work environments. The lack of new births was getting concerning. She had found the reason, and it was in her report. With all the alterations, they had stretched too thin the strand of DNA that assisted in creating fertility. All the drugs that had been given generations ago for this same issue had since been used or destroyed. Even the original DNA structures had been lost over time. She knew this must be why the Superiors were starting to look for the Runaways again. They needed to get hold of the original DNA sequence to bring some of it back to their people. She overheard it a couple weeks ago in the hallway near her office. They needed to see if they could recreate the sequence, or maybe even start mating with them to bring in fresh genes. Knowing this would take much time, time that the Superiors knew they didn’t have. She would need to speak with her only friend Jiah about that.

Jiah was a lot like Felicia. She was also looked at differently, built the same as Felicia, and she had the browner hue in her eyes. But she had a face that was different. To Felicia, she was beautiful, clever and had a quick wit. Jiah worked on the reporting of New Gene Issues. She knew what the Superiors were worried about with time. It wasn’t so much that they were falling apart, but that the alterations were beginning to make them lose their minds. They were beginning to become more aggressive, more physically violent, hallucinate with a tendency toward a paranoia that the Runaways were going to come to the city and take over. The Superiors were a class that tended to be more on the Totalitarian side, but they hid it well. You knew your class and where you belonged, and it was fine and well. If you stepped out of class and created trouble, you were taken to the Alters in Research and tests were run to see where your gene sequence went wrong. Jiah and Felicia both knew this and kept what they found between them.

Over the years, Felicia and Jiah had discovered their differences from the others in their class and had begun to confide in each other. Finding comfort in this, they grew closer. Instead of going with the rest of their class into the town center in the evenings after work, they would meet at their lofts and be together. They would talk of adventures of going into the beyond, what they would encounter out there. They would laugh about the other classes that thought they were better but were beginning to fail. They both understood what was needed in the civilized world: they needed new blood. There were too many alterations of the DNA and too much inbreeding to be able to continue this way. When they would talk too long about the negative side of what their world was coming to, they would lay themselves down on the bed and just hold each other, falling asleep in each other’s arms.

Felicia grew up as most did in her world, hearing about the positives of what they were. Always one to question things, she was brought to the Alters in Research a couple times by her parents. They didn’t understand why she would ask so many things—they never did. Things were this way, and that was it. The Alters couldn’t find an answer, and Felicia, seeing this as a warning for getting in trouble and not wanting to be brought to the Superiors, stopped asking questions. She would instead look for answers elsewhere. When confiding about this to Jiah years ago, she found that Jiah had the same experience. Feeling relieved, they both grew immensely close. Soon, when the option arose that those in their class that had not been arranged with a mate could co-habitat with another of the same gender, they jumped at it. No one was interested in either of them, and they had not put in to be in the mating selection. They then moved into the same loft and had been roommates since.

Jiah would talk some evenings of wanting someone that she could create a life with. Felicia, understanding what she meant, agreed she would also like this for herself, but didn’t see herself ever finding someone from their class. Jiah had replied with Oh I know, we’ll find them when we go into the beyond. We’ll find real original DNA men That’s what Jiah would call them, Original DNA Men, and the way her eyes would light up would make Felicia swoon to the idea. They would then talk for hours what one would look like, would they look the same as their class or how different would they be. Felicia would lay there on the bed and dream of what her man would look like. He’d be taller than her and built larger. Unlike her class here, they would all be about the same size there. She just had curves; the men didn’t. He would be darker skinned since he would be outdoors all the time. Did they live in buildings out there? She would then drift off to sleep and dream of meeting this man, waking up feeling a need she didn’t know how to fill.

Snapping Felicia back to reality, Grolf stood up. She realized he had been watching her for a short while. Her mind wandering over to her roommate, she really needed to get back to reality here and quickly. So now that you are back in the office Felicia, what exactly are you saying I am to go to the Superiors with? Grolf asked. Felicia looked at him. From my findings sir, we will need to look for the original DNA sequence.

Grolf looked around his office. Nothing personal hanging on the walls. He liked things orderly, no surprises. He was average height, about two inches taller than Felicia and he liked to show it when talking to her. Her differentness bothered him, but her intelligence was needed in her field. He was a higher class to her and his eyes had the eagle yellow, but his eyesight was not as strong as it should have been. Not wanting to let on that he was not the best of the DNA, he kept it to himself. He didn’t have to go looking for the Runaways, and not having to go out into the Beyond, his lack of vision was easily hidden with.

Grolf put his hand through his light brown hair and brushed it back. He understood what the report meant. They would need to go out and find the Runaways faster. Their race was dying out, and they probably only had another few generations left to create before it would be gone. The Superiors will be even more paranoid than they already were.

Looking at Felicia, Grolf could see her mind was elsewhere again and let his eyes wander over her. Lingering on her eyes and then her mouth, he wondered why she didn’t put her name into the mating selection. She lived with Jiah, in the same class as her. Not that that was unusual; there were others that did that but they were more on the plainer side. Jiah and Felicia were two of the few that looked out of place when you compared them to other women in their class. Grolf’s mind lingered on the women in his own class and the exploits he had with them. His class didn’t need to be paired up to mating selections. They could choose their mates. Rarely were there issues with unwanted mates. You knew who was looking to settle and who was still looking to fulfill needs. He didn’t see settling in the future anytime soon. He enjoyed his urges. Oddly, he kept coming back to Felicia’s eyes and the green in them and that mouth—he liked to linger on that mouth. Realizing time was passing, Grolf cleared his throat and Felicia looked at him, blushing. What was on her mind? Knowing asking her would bring the awkwardness too close for both of their comfort zones, he moved on with his questioning.

So, I will pass this information onto the Superiors. I may need to find some Scouts to head out into the Beyond. Felicia lit up. Is there a possibility to bring a lower class on something like this? I know there hasn’t been an actual scouting in many years, Felicia said. Grolf sat back down and pointed to the chair on the other side of his desk. Felicia looked at it and sat down. Rubbing his chin and feeling the lack of stubble—they hadn’t grown facial hair in a very long time—he wondered what that must look like, all hairy in the face. He sat up and looked Felicia in the eyes. I would need to ask the Superiors regarding a request like that. It’s an odd suggestion coming from you, and I am safe to assume you were meaning yourself? Felicia nodded her head slowly realizing she could have just sealed her doom. If this went wrong, she could end up in the Alters and never come home. Oh my goodness, what have I done? How could I have just let something so large slip from my mouth? she thought to herself. Seeing the seriousness in her eyes, Grolf saw what she realized as well. This could be something in his corner on Felicia. A sly smile spread across his face. His mind worked quickly. He could bring the idea to the Superiors that they needed to send him out there and he could say he needed an assistant. He would then have Felicia and maybe even Jiah go with him. Both experts on what was needed for their race, but also the two odd women that he couldn’t get out of his mind. The two that he knew the Superiors didn’t know what to do with but just swept them under the proverbial rug. They were different, yet there was nothing in their DNA to point out what needed to be changed. Grolf nodded his head and said, I’ll see what they tell me and go from there. I can’t guarantee that they will send anyone else out or if they will continue what they have been doing. Grolf sat back and looked at Felicia and then at his door. Taking the hint, Felicia stood, thanked him and left his office. She walked woodenly back to her own desk and sat down, looking at the desk itself, not seeing it and wondering if she had just dug her own grave. What am I going to do? Wait and see what happens and hope it works out? She sat there thinking to herself.

Jiah walked by her door and looked in. Seeing Felicia zoned out at her desk, she walked into the office. What happened? Felicia looked up and relaxed slightly. I just asked Grolf if the Superiors send out scouts would they consider sending an assistant from a lower class along with one. Jiah’s eyes went large. You asked that? That was brave. I doubt anyone would have ever thought to ask something like that, at least not in the Scouting class. Felicia smiled faintly, and said, That’s what I am worried about. Did I just get myself in trouble? Jiah looked at the clock. Well it’s time to leave, which is why I am here. Let’s go home and ponder on this a little longer. Felicia loved the way she would say let’s ponder on this a little longer on anything that would make for a good discussion. Looking around her office, Felicia stood up and nodded to Jiah. Yeah let’s go before I get called back in and sent off. They then walked out of the office to the elevators that would bring them directly to the train to take them to their building four stops later.

While on the train, they stood there like everyone else heading home. Others were chatting quietly about getting home to change and where they were meeting in the town central that evening. Jiah and Felicia looked out the windows to the Beyond as they usually did when on the train. It might come sooner than I thought it would, Felicia thought to herself. She looked harder than she had before, and her eyes did something they had never done—they zoomed in. She jumped back and bumped into a man behind her. He turned and looked at her. Seeing her eyes, he looked puzzled and stepped away, drawing attention from the rest of the travelers. Felicia muttered, Sorry, and turned back to the windows. Jiah looked at her questioningly, raising her eyebrows. Felicia shook her head almost unnoticeably. Jiah took the hint and looked outside again. Their stop came, and they both got off. Chatter had resumed back to normal as they exited the train car. Opening the door to their loft on the eighteenth floor, Jiah walked in, put her jacket down and sat on the couch. Looking at Felicia who still had a stunned look on her face, Jiah asked, What the hell happened there? What is with you today? First you ask a question to your supervisor that could get you into serious trouble. You know he already is wary of both of us. Then you go and bounce off someone on the train. What did you see out there? Are you hallucinating? Felicia looked around and sat across from Jiah on the big pillow armchair. I was looking out to the Beyond like always Jiah, and suddenly my eyes zoomed in! she said in a loud whisper. Staring at her wide eyed, Felicia continued, I could see further than I have ever seen before. It was the strangest feeling, almost as though something was pulling me out there, saying ‘Go, just go out there.’ I almost felt a safe calm come over me at the same time. Jiah shook her head at hearing this. What could that possibly mean? You want to go out into the Beyond alone? Felicia shook her head and looked down. No, I don’t think that’s what it meant. Maybe if we were to go together, we could make it. Or if we were to get the chance to go with a scout, we could separate and be away from all of this around us that doesn’t or has never felt right.

Jiah looked at her closest friend. She could see the fear in her face, the strength that she hid from those in their world. She could see the struggle that she was going through just telling her these things. She had an incredible day today, and she wanted to ease her mind, even if just a little. She wasn’t sure what tomorrow would bring from what happened today. She worried for her friend and knew, if anything should happen to Felicia, she would expect the same fate. Jiah thought of what to say. She knew something like this could happen, having been on this side of the research for the gene sequence. She had expected something like this to happen to a higher class, but this could be for their benefit. She knew that the higher classes were losing their heightened abilities but not admitting to it. She could see it in Grolf when he wasn’t paying attention to her looking at him when he read her reports. He could see fine for the most part, but he didn’t have the vision that he should have. She could see he thought he hid it well. If she could help him see that what Felicia had brought up was a good idea, this could work out. Jiah would need to come along. Looking at Felicia again, she got up and walked up to her. Felicia looked up at Jiah. She straddled Felicia facing her with both her legs on the sides of Felicia’s thighs. Jiah held Felicia’s face in her hands, her thumb stroking her lips. Felicia looked on the verge of tears; she was so scared. Jiah said quietly, We’ll figure this out baby. I’m going to talk to Grolf tomorrow and see if my input will push him in the direction to request to be the scout that goes out into the beyond. He is still in that class. He isn’t able to see as well as he acts. I know this; we’ll make this work in our favor. Okay? Felicia nodding in agreement and continued to look up at Jiah. As she leaned in to kiss Felicia gently, Felicia put her arms around Jiah’s waist. Their kiss broke off, and they sat there holding each other, knowing the dangerous slope they were perched on. This was something so precarious, it could go either very well to their benefit or very wrong and end everything they knew.

2

As he looked up into the sky and saw the incoming clouds, his mind wandered to the times that he didn’t know personally. Through the years he and his people had been told of the days past that had brought them to where they were now, separated from the rest of what the world called civilization. He knew there were others like him and his people. They hadn’t crossed paths with them yet; that day could yet come. Until then, he would continue to lead his people away from the New Ones and keep them safe.

Surveying the horizon from the overhang he was standing on, he could see in the vastness a small outcropping of skyscrapers. He knew they were still too close for comfort. If he could see the tips of those buildings, then he knew the capabilities were stronger on the other side to see him. He raised his face to the sun and stretched his back and neck. Turning back toward the layers of trees he emerged from, he stated, Must keep moving . . . today is a good day to move on.

Hiking down from the overhang, he considered how much more difficult it used to be for the elders when they first began. All they had were their campers and cars with trailers and an idea of where they needed to go. They called it a Caravan of DNAers, referring to a longer time ago where people travelled in caravans across the deserts in Africa and the Asia. The elders saw what was coming in the world and knew they needed to leave before it was too late and save their people. Over the decades, the homes evolved from the cars and campers to little structures on trailers that they would hitch to a truck and move on. The terrain wasn’t too difficult. Fortunately, there were quite a few back roads and fire roads that had not been overused when people still wandered outside of the city.

City—that word would strike fear into the hearts of his people now. He had heard stories of thousands to a million people living in these places, being different from each other and yet getting along. Crazy how being different changed to a negative through lifetimes. He shook his head to rid the thoughts that plagued him when he was alone too long. One of the traits his grandfather had said could help him keep everyone safe or bring them all down to nothing. Be strong Rey. Catch your mind before you wander too far from the goal. Remember you are the one to keep our people moving and safe from the New Ones. You have learned all our old stories. Don’t forget them. They will help you when the time comes. He really loved that man. He was strong in mind and body, and he really knew how to get their people to listen, really listen and understand. He had eyes that when you looked in them and listened to what he was saying you could almost see it. They were a deep brown, almost black, close to what Rey’s eyes were. He was proud to have come from such a man.

As Rey came into view of the group, he noticed the children running around and laughing. It brought a smile to his face with a sense of melancholy. He longed to find the one to stand by him and be his equal that could make his heart race thinking about. Damn those stories of the elders. They set some high standards that he wasn’t able to get around now.

Rey’s right-hand man Kent walked up and lifted his chin in acknowledgment to his arrival back to camp. How’d it go? What did you see? Is it time to move on or are we good for a couple more weeks? Man, he really disliked it when Kent rattled off several questions right when he came back from the vastness. His mind was still getting back into the swing of his people and not what needed to be done or the wandering that would happen. He understood the need for questions from Kent, but he just wanted to enjoy a moment back at camp before answering all of them. Yes, yes Kent. I saw what was needed to be seen. I do think we should start moving on again. I don’t want them seeing just how close we have been. I can feel them looking harder for us now. Nodding in agreement, Kent said, Yeah, I feel something in the air, a change of sorts. Hey, when do I get to go with you to look out into the vastness? Putting a hand on Kent’s shoulder, Rey walked with him to his home and thought how to answer that. I’ve been thinking about that. As of right now, I still need you to remain here with everyone when I go. Let’s see how everyone settles at the new stop, and if everything feels right, then you come with me and I’ll show what I am looking at when I go out to see the vastness. Kent’s face lit up with pride, his chest slightly puffed up for his slight frame. They were built the same, with only about a decade between them and Kent’s high energy, but he was still considered on the skinny side. Rey could see the intelligence in his face, behind the lighter brown eyes than his own that had seen what life could be if they don’t take care of their people. He knew he chose well when he took him under his wing and began to show him what needed to be taught to lead their people. Kent knew the stories that were told to all the people. He knew there were more stories that needed to be more closely guarded.

Kent sat there, understanding what Rey was telling him, seeing the promise of what would happen at the next stop. For all his short years being here, he knew how wrong things could go and how quickly. He had seen it with his own eyes. He saw the evilness that can happen to those in charge, the corruption that occurs when you don’t hold true to your values. He saw none of this in Rey’s eyes. It made him very proud to be by this man’s side day in and day out. Rey was a strong man. He stood tall, no stoop in his shoulders, even with the amount of responsibility he had on them. He wore his