Finch- Chapter 11

The following morning, six o’clock, someone knocks on the door. No pause was given before a guard opened the door and turned on the lights, which woke up both the boys, Rachael paid no mind as she had gotten used to sleeping with her pillow over her face.

“Get up Mark. Your training starts now.”

Mark slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, he had slept in his gym uniform and slid out of bed to put on his shoes, “I’ll be out in a second.”

The guard nodded, as he closed the door, Sam yelled out, “Wait! Can I come with him?”

“Hmm… Samuel?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

He glanced down at his notes, “Yes, come with him. Get ready, you two have five minutes to meet General MacNeil at the back gate near the busses.”

The door shut and Sam excitedly jumped out of bed. He was dressed and ready to go so fast that they were out the door within a minute. The walk down to the bus ramp was full of Sam’s plans to impress the General. Mark was too caught up in his preconceptions for the day to pay attention.

“… Just you watch, the General will have me as his go-to guy before you know it.”

Mark pushed the door open and started walking down the stairs, “Maybe. He didn’t tell you anything though.”

“He probably didn’t get the chance to. A busy guy I bet. I bested most of these guys in the hallways so why not have me? Plus, I think with some training my skin can get even stronger!”

“Your skin?”

“The doctor explained that my skin hardens on impact, such that I can absorb blows better. I bet with the right training I could take a knife and bullets no problem.”

Mark shook his head, realizing the conversation, “Please don’t try that.”

“It’ll happen. He saw my potential and I will work to gain his favor.”

“You watch too many movies.”

As they walked along the fence, they saw the gathering crowd of students and quickened their pace.

With it being six in the morning, they had to largely rely on the lights from the watchtowers to see the group. The horizon just barely had the sun’s rays shining through it, with only the tops of the trees in the forest being able to graze the sun’s light. The boys walked through the gate and close to the bus ramp to get to the group.

The Bus ramp typically had dozens of school buses to take the students home at the end of the day, but the buses had been replaced with tents that acted as quarters for the soldiers. The General and the students were standing far off to the side in the grass. The General stood next to a gate that led to the forest behind the school.

About twenty or so students clustered together, all chattering amongst themselves while the General talked to a few of his subordinates. Sam excitedly continued his plans to impress the General up until the time limit. Mark scanned the crowd, looking at each of the students for recognizable faces. Clara was upfront, not talking to anyone, but standing firm with her arms at her side waiting for instruction. Much to his horror, Griffin stood tall with a sneer on his face near the front as well. Mark shrank a little in his shirt and hoped that he wouldn’t be noticed.

“Sharp! Sanchez! Front and center!”, The General hollered. He had stepped forward and confronted the crowd of kids, they all stopped talking on a dime as soon as he started yelling.

Clara stepped in front of the crowd, “Here!”

Mark quickly ran around the group of kids and stopped next to Clara, “Here, sir!”

“Excellent. You two will be training with me today, the rest of you will be completing exercises with my men over here. I may ask some of you to assist me as I see fit.”, the General opened the gate into the woods before walking and motioned for the two kids to follow him. Both obliged, without a word.

Mark glanced behind at the group receiving instructions. Sam’s excitement had died down and his eyes fell to his feet as he stepped forward to receive the orders for the day. Mark’s eyes drifted and he locked eyes with Griffin, who stared right through him. Mark jerked his head back forward and kept his eyes focused on the General.

The path they were walking down was somewhat illuminated by the sky as well as lights set up every couple dozen feet. As they walked, stations were set up in small, cleared areas with some having pads down while others had pull-up bars. Some areas seemed to exist for checkpoints more than anything.

MacNeil, without looking back, pulled a small-cap out of his back pocket and tossed it towards Mark who caught it. It was dark green with ‘army’ in yellow wording. There was a small battery pack on the back. He ran his fingers along the inside and felt the wires and sensors inside. A couple of electrodes stuck out from the front.

“Portable brain scanner. Not as accurate as an MRI machine but will help Doctor Chen get a general idea of how your brain works when you do that speedy thing.”

“Speedy thing?”

“You described the world as slowing down when you fought, I’m not going to name your ability for you.”

Mark looked over at Clara who offered little more than an eyebrow raise and a shrug as she kept her head forward. He slid the hat on his head and popped the electrodes to his forehead as they walked

“Sir, why are we going into the woods? I kind of need electricity for my ability to work.”, Clara asked.

“We have battery packs for you to use. They store a little more energy than you can currently keep in your body safely.”

“Why not use the outlets?”

“Do you want another seizure?”

“That one ONE TIME.”

Mark raised an eyebrow, “seizure?”

Clara ignored him but the General clarified, “While her power is amazing, overuse has some downsides. We found out the hard way, didn’t we?”

Clara sighed and he continued, “That’s also why we gave you that hat. If using your speedy thing causes you to have a stroke or some other medical issue with extreme usage, we have to be careful.”

Mark secured the hat a little more tightly on his head, “Good to know that’s a possibility.”

“You’ll be fine. Clara, to start you will be warming up your body with those battery packs I mentioned. Slowly take in as much energy as you can, and then release it back into the battery full charge. Do not rely on your gloves. You can build up voltage without it.”

He stopped at a wide clearing with large structures for power lines. The lines cut a line through the entire forest, allowing for the structures to be seen beyond a mile in either direction. Lights were set up along the concrete base of the nearest structure with a table full of electrical equipment. Clara stepped forward and looked at the table and began her warmups.

“Sanchez, you’re going to warm up as you would for any workout, light jog, stretch, but do what you did in your fight with Griffin.”

Mark’s face went pale, “The speedy thing?”

“Yes, your speedy thing. What’s wrong?”

He bit his lip, “I don’t know-how. When I did it the first time it just kind of happened during the fight.”

The General rubbed his chin, “It wasn’t like a conscious thought?”

Mark shook his head, and the General threw his hands down, “That’s disappointing. You can-”

Those words were all he heard. Mark’s stomach sank at their sound, and he desperately thought back to how it was that he used his ability. How did it work? But remembering the thought processes you had in a fight like that is… difficult.

Before he knew it he was completing a run to the abandoned water treatment plant half a mile away and back. It wasn’t until he made it to the fence of the water treatment plant that he shook his head and thought about the situation. But with no idea on how to get his abilities to work, his mind began to wonder. Most notably, why were they here?

The fresh air, the wind, it was nice to be sure. Not that Mark was ever one to appreciate the outside. But why would the kids be let out like this? The General was oddly trusting that he wouldn’t run away.

The hat was uncomfortable, the stickers on his forehead were itchy, and had trouble staying on as he began to sweat. There was a light beeping sound that it emitted every so often, with no clues as to what caused it. His hair uncomfortably rubbed across his skin.

He stopped to catch his breath. Why wasn’t he running away? The other side of the forest was right there, in less than a mile the forest ended and went straight into a nearby neighborhood. From there, it was a ten-minute walk to his neighborhood, another five minutes to get to his house. His eyes skimmed the other side. No, leaving wasn’t an option. Not yet anyway.

When he got back to where The General and Clara were, she was working on making arcs of electricity between each of her hands and under the General’s careful instruction. His speed died down as he stared at the pure energy jumping between the palms of her hands. Her eyes were focused solely on the task at hand.

“Break!”

She let out a large sigh and took a deep breath, “How was that?”

“Excellent, Clara. Are you feeling alright?”

“I feel great, sir.”

He pointed at her blackened and calloused hands, “those say otherwise. Apply the crème and then go on a run, same as Sanchez here.”

Disgruntled, but compliant, she stepped off and did as she was told.

Mark stood alone with the General, who pulled out a small notepad, “You should be warmed up now, I was thinking about the circumstances around what happened last time. You do remember well, don’t you?”

“I, I think I know what you mean.”, Mark clenched his fist and lined it up with his jaw.

“NO! Sanchez. I meant, think about how you were feeling. Your mindset. You were focused on that boy, right?”

“Right.”

“Focus now, on my pen.” The General twiddled the small piece of metal between his fingers. He moved it back and forth and presented it to the boy. “Think about its dimensions, the shape, more importantly, how it moves.”

“Okay, I’m focused. Now what?”

The General nodded and quickly launched the pen towards Mark’s face.

Time slowed to a crawl. The pen stopped in mid-air with its point directed between his eyes. In this state, Mark tried to move. He jerked his head to the side and shifted his body, feeling each muscle respond as he did so. Every slight adjustment his body made was instinct.

But the air, moving through it felt much more difficult. He was moving through jelly at this state, the body not fast enough to keep up with the mind it carried.

As the pen soared, it reached where Mark’s head was a just split-second before. He reached out with his arm, feeling the air’s resistance as he did so. He pinched the pen between his two fingers, and time sped up to normal.

His body was now in an awkward position, dramatically to the side, accounted from the speed at which he moved. He stumbled before falling flat on his back, keeping the pen up above his head.

“Heh. Good work, landing wasn’t well done. But I’ve never seen a normal human go that fast before. So, you may improve. How did it feel?”

“Amazing, but a lot. I felt every muscle, every movement. Even though things felt slower, there was too much to take in at once.”, he looked at the pen, “everything feels stiff.”

“That’ll happen, muscle strands can contract and stiffen in response to kinds of stress. Your body will adjust to these kinds of stress in time.”

He went over to the table and opened a chest on the floor to pull out a ball, “I’ll throw this and I want you to catch it. Understand?”

Mark nodded, “Alright, I’m ready.”

The General gave Mark a moment before gently tossing the ball in his direction. He was unresponsive until the last second it was going to pass his body and within the blink of an eye, his arm extended to his side and caught it. His arm seized and he let the ball fall.

“Okay, I think I pulled my arm that time.”

The General pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “I meant that you catch it normally. You’re moving faster than you did yesterday. Calm down. Try again.”

Mark picked up the ball and tossed it back, only to have the General throw it back again. This time, as Mark caught the ball his movements ceased any sign of their incredible speed.

“Did you do it?”

Mark nodded and the General continued, “Good, I want you to continue doing simple tasks while in that state. Think like walking, talking, maybe some simple exercises in the next few minutes. I’ll work with you to get your body up to par, sound good?”

“Yeah, That sounds great. I-“, in the background, Mark saw some rustling in the bushes. Mark peered over the General’s shoulder to get a look at the cause. From behind a far-off tree, Mark saw Sam peer his head from around the corner.

“-I need to use the restroom really quick. If that’s okay.”

“Go on, but when we get into more intense training you won’t be able to be as free with your bathroom breaks. You don’t need to run to the buildings, right?”

“I’ll just find some isolated bushes don’t worry.”, he awkwardly laughed before dashing off towards the direction he saw Sam in. He discretely walked around bushes and past a couple of dozen trees before Sam revealed himself with a huge smile on his face.

Mark kept his voice low, “Why aren’t you with your assigned guard?”

“I told him I had to use the can. I wanted to see what the big bad General was teaching you, didn’t know what I was expecting. But it sure wasn’t a game of catch.”

“It’s more than that.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Sam, what’re you doing here? The guards will be looking for you once they realize you’re not in the bathroom.”

“We can go Mark, right now. I was in these woods as a kid. My neighborhood is less than a mile away. Once we run past the clearing, we’re basically home free.”

“No, we’re not. There’s-“

Sam cupped his hands over Mark’s mouth, “Mark, shut up. This isn’t the time to think. This isn’t time to debate. It’s time to act. Are you in or out?”

Mark yanked Sam’s hand off his face, “Out. The guards will see you. They are literally waiting for us to try something.”

“You’re being paranoid. I’m running, with or without you.”

He took one step towards the fields, but Mark grabbed his arm, “I’m warning you. They’re waiting for you to try something.”

Sam tried to swat Mark’s hand away, and within a blink of an eye, Mark had his entire hand wrapped around Sam’s thumb and yanked him downwards, all the pressure put on the small bone. Before Sam could yelp in pain Mark wrapped his other hand over his mouth.

“This grip is something I learned from my older brother. I may not be stronger than you, but you try anything, and the bone will break in half. I’m telling you-“

The General called out, “Sanchez! Where are you?”

Mark motioned for Sam to be quiet as he yelled back,” I just need a minute!” He turned back to Sam, “Do not try anything. Go back to your group. I’ll explain everything back in our room. Understand”

With Mark’s hand still over his mouth, he nodded. Mark let go and he scowled as he rubbed his thumb and walked off.

A couple of moments later Mark emerged from behind the bushes and apologized to the General. He paid no attention as he moved on and explained what Mark would be doing for the remainder of their session. It was around this time that Clara returned from her run and met up with the two.

“Clara, good. I just finished explaining to Mark what he needs to do. I want you to work on the exercises we put together the other day. You remember them all?”

“Yes, I do General.”

“Good, I’m going to check in on the other stations and see how those kids are holding up. I’ll be back to check in on each of y’all’s progress in a few minutes.”

Mark and Clara watched as he walked off down the path and out of sight. The two exchanged glances before quietly going about their movements. After a couple of minutes, Clara broke the silence.

“Why don’t you leave right now?”

“Excuse me?”

“We’re out in the open. I know you’ve thought about it. Especially with your little… nighttime activities.”

He shook his head and tried to regain his focus, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re going to pretend like I didn’t hear you talk to Katie the other night?”

“Can we talk about this later?”, he snapped.

Clara shrugged as she stepped off to continue her exercises. The wires connected her hands as she carried batteries in each hand. Out of the corner of his eye, Mark noticed the redness around her hands from the electrical burns.

“Can I ask about your ability?”

She kept her eyes steady on the wire, “So you do want to talk?”

“I do, just not about that thing.”

She grits her teeth, “So you just get to pick what we talk about? MacNeil isn’t here you know.”

“Clara”, she kept her eyes focused on the wire, “Clara.”

She looked at him, “What!?”

“You’re right, HE isn’t here.”, as he spoke, Mark’s eyes darted across to the other side of the forest. Clara’s head jerked in the direction he was looking and as she did, the bushes rustled ever so slightly.

“I see what you mean. Either way, why do you want to know about my ability? Do you want to fight me next? That didn’t work out so well for your friend.”

“No! I’m just curious. And a little concerned.”, he motioned towards her hands.

She tightened her grip, “Ignore that.”

“Alright, you know Katie?”

“Her bed is next to mine.”

“Gotcha, so since she does heat and you do electricity are your powers similar or...?”

“I’m going to focus on my wire from here on out.”

“Okay, sorry to distract you. You just seem familiar for some reason.”

When she didn’t respond he returned to his exercises. Push-ups, squats, movements that when done too fast, caused him to come off the ground. Even when the execution of the movements felt painfully slow, it was still possible that he ended up jumping or his arms jumping up from the ground.

Eventually, as he kept his focus up, a quiet rumbling permeated through his ears, a weird, low noise that seemed to persist and break in frequency. Ignoring it, a few minutes later it returned and his focus broke. The noise was coming from Clara.

“Is that your stomach?”

She was focusing on a battery, “Please stop talking.”

“Do you want some gummies? They’re kind of gross but they help me deal with some of the effects of using my ability. Like my body can’t handle-“

“I don’t care. It won’t work on me, plus, my ability works better on an empty stomach.”

Gentle rustling was heard and the two stopped their speaking immediately to return to what they were doing. General MacNeil appeared from beyond the path. Clara was focusing on her exercises while Mark was using a jump rope.

Without a word, he stepped forward and watched the kids with approval. Clara was instructed to do various physical activities related to her ability and physical strength, while Mark was instructed to keep his ability active while doing various menial tasks. After an hour of exercise, the two kids were exhausted.

Clara’s skin grew from irritated to burned, with her fingertips growing puffy and painful. Every so often her muscles began to twitch.

Mark’s head became light, and he struggled to maintain his balance as time went on. Eventually, a small pain in the back of his head came front and center, and he had to stop using his ability for a while.

The General worked with Clara during this time, Mark sat down against the tree and watched as the two worked through more exercises. Eventually, he laid his head back and closed his eyes for a moment.

“Sanchez!”

His head jerked up, “I’m awake!” He jumped to his feet to meet face-to-face with the General.

“You stay awake while we’re out here. Understood?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good, we’re about done for the day. But before we leave, I want to show you something.”

The General pulled a small book out of the side of his pocket, it was slightly bigger than his hand but very thick and dense. “These are the memoirs of soldiers. It tells their stories; includes leadership strategies, training regimens, etc. I thought you might enjoy this as a read.”

He took the book from the General’s hand and looked it over, a smile grew across his face, “I think I would. My dad likes to send me books like these every so often. Interesting reads about the Army. Learning about tactics, approaches, personal development. Did you know that in training-“, he looked up and remembered who he was talking to, “Thank you, sir. I’ll get to reading it right away.”

The General nodded and proceeded to lead Clara and Mark down the path to get back to the school. Mark walked beside the General and the two talked about previous reads while Clara trailed behind. Unable to join in on the conversation, she was only able to trail behind. Her discontent only grew as she caught Mark’s occasional glance behind them.

Title: Finch

Genre: Science Fiction

Age range: 15+

word count: Approx. 85,000 words

Author Name: Nicholas Verastegui

Why my project is a good fit: I believe my project is a good fit due to the unique premise mixed with a strong coming-of-age story

Hook: While being very character-driven, my story also provides an interesting magic system (what I'll call the virus) where the abilities the characters get are examined through a realistic lens

Synopsis: A virus with the ability to improve the people it infects is accidentally released into a high school. The changes it induces in people vary, but a small portion of those infected gained notable abilities, an even smaller portion gained superpowers. The story follows Mark, a timid teenager who learns how to use his new abilities and how to navigate a new life under military mandated quarantine.

Target audience: Young Adults

My bio: I am a 20-year-old college student. I was born in Texas, raised in Florida, and study at Purdue in Indiana. I was always interested in creative writing from a young age. But I had a strong fascination with the sciences as well. I stuck to engineering and decided to major in Computer Engineering when I went off to University. Once the pandemic hit, I rekindled my love for creative writing and began writing Finch. Since then, I have rewritten the story three times and work on it alongside my engineering coursework.

Experience: No professional experience beyond writing research papers and abstracts

Personality/writing style: I'm a very reserved character in real life, so I like to reflect that in the characters I write, while also throwing in fun and quirky dialogue.