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I felt the shock form on my face as I listened to the reporter on CNN.

“Recently, from unknown sources, it seems that some evidence has risen that has turned the world upside down. It seems that about seventeen and a half years ago, a group of scientists met together and planned to test an experiment on unborn babies. But, as no children were allowed to be tested on, the scientists followed through on the experiment without anyone aware of the practice. When pregnant mothers came for a check-up, those performing the experiment gave them shots that affected the baby in strange ways. What the scientists did, we’re not exactly sure, but to best explain what we know is that they took genes from unborn baby animals and mixed it with the human babies. What has this resulted in? Three percent of the teenagers from the ages of fourteen to seventeen are a mixed breed of human and animals. Thankfully, most of the babies were mixed with genes from smaller animals, such as turtles and house cats. A very small percent was mixed with more dangerous animals, such as lions and venomous snakes. We estimate only one-tenth of a percent were mixed with a somewhat dangerous breed like that, though. At the moment that is all we know, but if you are from the ages of fourteen to seventeen, or you have a child of that age, you are encouraged to go immediately to the health clinic closest to you to get checked out and find out if you are one of the five percent. Hopefully we’ll have more information soon.”

It was then that I heard my phone ring. I looked at the caller ID. It was Sarah. “Hey.” I answered, my voice cracking. “Did you hear?”

“About the animal children?” I heard Sarah frantically answer. “Yes! Can you believe it?! We could be like, part butterfly or something!”

“I hope I’m part squirrel.” Rose said. I guess they were hanging out at the moment.

“Ro-ose. Be real. You’re not an animal child.” I heard Sarah playfully whine.

“You never know. Maybe I’m one of the dangerous ones. Like an eagle or something. One day you won’t be looking, and I’ll spread my wings, and whoosh, you’ll be gone.” You could practically hear Rose grinning.

“Wait, they’re called animal children?” I cut in, laughing.

“As far as we know.” Sarah answered. “At least that’s what my mom’s been calling them all day. She’s terrified of them. But, anyways, that’s not why we called you. We called you to see if you wanted to go to the health clinic with us, Cody, and Josh.”

I grimaced. “Josh?” Josh had been in my classes since kindergarten, and had always been a jerk to me, but that wasn’t the thing that bothered me the most. The thing that bothered me the most was that I’m the only one he’s a jerk to. He’s nice to everyone else.

“Yes, Josh. Don’t worry; we’ll make sure he plays nice.” Rose answered.

I rolled my eyes. Josh being nice to me. That was a joke in itself. “But why do you want to go get checked out?” I asked.

“We don’t. We just want to see if anyone is an animal child. We wanna know what they look like and stuff. Plus, it would be kinda cool if we knew them.” Sarah replied.

“So, you in?” Rose asked.

“In.” I answered. “When should I meet you at the health clinic?”

“Twenty minutes.” Sarah answered, and then we hung up.

~~~

We’d be waiting in line for practically forever.

Well, actually only an hour, but still.

I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right foot, waiting for something to happen. Out of the hundreds of teenagers there, so far none had been an animal child. It was disappointing.

Cody, Josh, Sarah, Rose, and I had fallen silent about ten minutes ago. There wasn’t really anything to talk about, so instead we all anxiously awaited someone to turn up as an animal child. We had been sure at least one person would have been labeled as an animal child by now, to no avail.

Josh hadn’t been that bad so far. But then again, he’d only said one thing to me so far.

I had walked up to everyone when I arrived at the clinic and was greeted with hugs and hellos from Sarah and Rose, a nod from Cody, and from Josh I got a, “Figured you’d come. But I can save you some time. You’re an animal child. You’re probably like a gopher or something.”

“Nice to see you, too, Josh.” I said, gritting my teeth. At least that was the last thing he’d said to me the entire day. The rest of the day he just ignored me.

At the moment I was glaring at him. He had on some dark blue jeans and a black shirt that read ‘Three Days Grace’ on it. I loved that band. His black hair done in a kind of scene look today with some red streaks in it. I momentarily I wondered why he hated me so much. It’s not like I had ever done anything to him, and we actually had a lot in common. But with Josh, who knows. He had always been a mystery to me. I shook my head and turned my attention back to the line. We were almost at the front.

When we got to the front of the line Rose went first, of course. A lady used a large needle to take a sample of her blood. She winced a bit from the pain, but was fine. I averted my eyes from the blood. I had never liked looking at blood. Not that I would faint or anything, it just made me feel weird. The lady studied the blood for a couple minutes, and then put it through a machine to see if it was purely human blood. The test results came up and the lady sighed. “You’re fine, honey.”

“Aw, man. I thought I’d be something really cool,” Rose pouted.

The lady shook her head and mumbled, “Crazy teens,” then said louder, “Next!”

Josh let Sarah and Cody go in front of him, but didn’t offer to let me go ahead of him. Jerk.

Sarah nervously eyed the needle, as she didn’t like pain in the least bit. “It’ll be fine.” Cody mumbled holding her hand. She nodded and closed her eyes, biting her lip at the pain. After a couple more minutes of looking at her blood, the lady ran it through the machine and nodded.

“You’re clear.”

Sarah grinned. “Yes! Your turn Cody.” Cody nodded and let the lady give take some of his blood. If he felt any pain, he didn’t show it. The trend continued, he was clear. Next Josh.

I smirked. Wouldn’t it be funny if he was like, part sloth or something? I snickered to myself as Josh got his blood tested. The scent of blood drifted towards me. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the smell.

The lady stared at the blood for a little longer, then inconspicuously pressed a button under the table and a police officer near her came up to Josh.

“Son, you’re going to have to come with me.” The officer said.

Josh looked at him with surprise in his eyes. “Am I-“

“Please come with me immediately.” He interrupted, dragging him into the back rooms. Josh just had a stunned look on his face as the door closed after them. Everyone in the room was now staring at the door Josh had been taken through. Then, the entire crowd erupted in talking.

“Did you see that?”

“I can’t believe it!”

“What animal was he? A dangerous one? Or a nice one?”

Sarah just stared off in space, stunned. Same with Cody. Rose mouthed to me, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I nodded back, in a half daze. Suddenly, police officers were everywhere telling people to calm down. Eventually everyone quieted down to whispers, but it was still pretty loud. The lady who had checked Josh nervously looked around. “Umm…” She cleared her throat. “Next, please.”

My mind came back to reality and I stepped up. I gazed at the ceiling as the lady took some of my blood and started studying it. After almost double the time she gave everyone else, I looked down at her to see what was taking her so long. She stared at me with a strange look on her face and her eyes glazed over.

“What?” I asked suddenly self conscious. “Did Josh do something in my hair?” I shook my head, my hair going crazy as I tried to get it out. If there was anything.

Suddenly the lady was in panic. She hit the button repeatedly about eight times, a look of terror on her face. I was stunned. I was an animal child? I shuddered at the name. The lady seemed to take this as a threat and ran off in hysterics. And then there were about four police officers grabbing me by the arms and escorting me to the back rooms. They threw me in a small, empty white room. Well, empty except for Josh, who was just staring off in space. I landed on the floor hard, crying out in pain. The door slammed and, suddenly we were alone in the small, now dark room. I took a deep breath as my brain flew into panic.

Description
I felt the shock form on my face as I listened to the reporter on CNN.

“Recently, from unknown sources, it seems that some evidence has risen that has turned the world upside down. It seems that about seventeen and a half years ago, a group of scientists met together and planned to test an experiment on unborn babies. But, as no children were allowed to be tested on, the scientists followed through on the experiment without anyone aware of the practice. When pregnant mothers came for a check-up, those performing the experiment gave them shots that affected the baby in strange ways. What the scientists did, we’re not exactly sure, but to best explain what we know is that they took genes from unborn baby animals and mixed it with the human babies. What has this resulted in? Three percent of the teenagers from the ages of fourteen to seventeen are a mixed breed of human and animals. Thankfully, most of the babies were mixed with genes from smaller animals, such as turtles and house cats. A very small percent was mixed with more dangerous animals, such as lions and venomous snakes. We estimate only one-tenth of a percent were mixed with a somewhat dangerous breed like that, though. At the moment that is all we know, but if you are from the ages of fourteen to seventeen, or you have a child of that age, you are encouraged to go immediately to the health clinic closest to you to get checked out and find out if you are one of the five percent. Hopefully we’ll have more information soon.”

It was then that I heard my phone ring. I looked at the caller ID. It was Sarah. “Hey.” I answered, my voice cracking. “Did you hear?”

“About the animal children?” I heard Sarah frantically answer. “Yes! Can you believe it?! We could be like, part butterfly or something!”

“I hope I’m part squirrel.” Rose said. I guess they were hanging out at the moment.

“Ro-ose. Be real. You’re not an animal child.” I heard Sarah playfully whine.

“You never know. Maybe I’m one of the dangerous ones. Like an eagle or something. One day you won’t be looking, and I’ll spread my wings, and whoosh, you’ll be gone.” You could practically hear Rose grinning.

“Wait, they’re called animal children?” I cut in, laughing.

“As far as we know.” Sarah answered. “At least that’s what my mom’s been calling them all day. She’s terrified of them. But, anyways, that’s not why we called you. We called you to see if you wanted to go to the health clinic with us, Cody, and Josh.”

I grimaced. “Josh?” Josh had been in my classes since kindergarten, and had always been a jerk to me, but that wasn’t the thing that bothered me the most. The thing that bothered me the most was that I’m the only one he’s a jerk to. He’s nice to everyone else.

“Yes, Josh. Don’t worry; we’ll make sure he plays nice.” Rose answered.

I rolled my eyes. Josh being nice to me. That was a joke in itself. “But why do you want to go get checked out?” I asked.

“We don’t. We just want to see if anyone is an animal child. We wanna know what they look like and stuff. Plus, it would be kinda cool if we knew them.” Sarah replied.

“So, you in?” Rose asked.

“In.” I answered. “When should I meet you at the health clinic?”

“Twenty minutes.” Sarah answered, and then we hung up.

~~~

We’d be waiting in line for practically forever.

Well, actually only an hour, but still.

I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right foot, waiting for something to happen. Out of the hundreds of teenagers there, so far none had been an animal child. It was disappointing.

Cody, Josh, Sarah, Rose, and I had fallen silent about ten minutes ago. There wasn’t really anything to talk about, so instead we all anxiously awaited someone to turn up as an animal child. We had been sure at least one person would have been labeled as an animal child by now, to no avail.

Josh hadn’t been that bad so far. But then again, he’d only said one thing to me so far.

I had walked up to everyone when I arrived at the clinic and was greeted with hugs and hellos from Sarah and Rose, a nod from Cody, and from Josh I got a, “Figured you’d come. But I can save you some time. You’re an animal child. You’re probably like a gopher or something.”

“Nice to see you, too, Josh.” I said, gritting my teeth. At least that was the last thing he’d said to me the entire day. The rest of the day he just ignored me.

At the moment I was glaring at him. He had on some dark blue jeans and a black shirt that read ‘Three Days Grace’ on it. I loved that band. His black hair done in a kind of scene look today with some red streaks in it. I momentarily I wondered why he hated me so much. It’s not like I had ever done anything to him, and we actually had a lot in common. But with Josh, who knows. He had always been a mystery to me. I shook my head and turned my attention back to the line. We were almost at the front.

When we got to the front of the line Rose went first, of course. A lady used a large needle to take a sample of her blood. She winced a bit from the pain, but was fine. I averted my eyes from the blood. I had never liked looking at blood. Not that I would faint or anything, it just made me feel weird. The lady studied the blood for a couple minutes, and then put it through a machine to see if it was purely human blood. The test results came up and the lady sighed. “You’re fine, honey.”

“Aw, man. I thought I’d be something really cool,” Rose pouted.

The lady shook her head and mumbled, “Crazy teens,” then said louder, “Next!”

Josh let Sarah and Cody go in front of him, but didn’t offer to let me go ahead of him. Jerk.

Sarah nervously eyed the needle, as she didn’t like pain in the least bit. “It’ll be fine.” Cody mumbled holding her hand. She nodded and closed her eyes, biting her lip at the pain. After a couple more minutes of looking at her blood, the lady ran it through the machine and nodded.

“You’re clear.”

Sarah grinned. “Yes! Your turn Cody.” Cody nodded and let the lady give take some of his blood. If he felt any pain, he didn’t show it. The trend continued, he was clear. Next Josh.

I smirked. Wouldn’t it be funny if he was like, part sloth or something? I snickered to myself as Josh got his blood tested. The scent of blood drifted towards me. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the smell.

The lady stared at the blood for a little longer, then inconspicuously pressed a button under the table and a police officer near her came up to Josh.

“Son, you’re going to have to come with me.” The officer said.

Josh looked at him with surprise in his eyes. “Am I-“

“Please come with me immediately.” He interrupted, dragging him into the back rooms. Josh just had a stunned look on his face as the door closed after them. Everyone in the room was now staring at the door Josh had been taken through. Then, the entire crowd erupted in talking.

“Did you see that?”

“I can’t believe it!”

“What animal was he? A dangerous one? Or a nice one?”

Sarah just stared off in space, stunned. Same with Cody. Rose mouthed to me, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I nodded back, in a half daze. Suddenly, police officers were everywhere telling people to calm down. Eventually everyone quieted down to whispers, but it was still pretty loud. The lady who had checked Josh nervously looked around. “Umm…” She cleared her throat. “Next, please.”

My mind came back to reality and I stepped up. I gazed at the ceiling as the lady took some of my blood and started studying it. After almost double the time she gave everyone else, I looked down at her to see what was taking her so long. She stared at me with a strange look on her face and her eyes glazed over.

“What?” I asked suddenly self conscious. “Did Josh do something in my hair?” I shook my head, my hair going crazy as I tried to get it out. If there was anything.

Suddenly the lady was in panic. She hit the button repeatedly about eight times, a look of terror on her face. I was stunned. I was an animal child? I shuddered at the name. The lady seemed to take this as a threat and ran off in hysterics. And then there were about four police officers grabbing me by the arms and escorting me to the back rooms. They threw me in a small, empty white room. Well, empty except for Josh, who was just staring off in space. I landed on the floor hard, crying out in pain. The door slammed and, suddenly we were alone in the small, now dark room. I took a deep breath as my brain flew into panic.