Mytaht (moo-tante) by Quinn & Katie (read out loud books txt) 📖

Chapter 1
It was Wednesday, March 23, 2402, at 11:47 when the school nurse pulled me out of Meds class, which I was relieved at first, because we were learning about a water borne disease called ‘Cholera”. Then after that we were going to do experiments on these things called Mytahts. The teacher said that it was fine to use them for tests, because they didn't care, but I and a couple of my friends are against it, we are tried to talk to the robot principal, he would never consent. But looking at the nurse's face, I realized this was nothing to smile about. As I kept walking down the hallway, I was greeted by my stepdad, Harry. He is small wiry scientist with bad facial hair. And I mean REALLY bad. He looked agitated.
“What’s going on?” I exclaimed,
“Addie, your Mother has been in a serious air-PORSCHE collision.” He said dully.
“What? How did it happen?” My voice cracked.
”I don't know, but I do know we will be spending quite a bit of time together.” I had never liked Harry; there was something about him that was shrouded and private.
“Can I see her?” I finally whispered.
“ I’m sorry but she doesn't want you to see her like this. I’ve been. It’s scary, Addie. We should get going.”
“Wait, where are we going?” I said anxiously.
“ I have a lot of work to do at the lab.” I was about to protest when he simply kept walking. We step outside and I see my stepdad’s jet powered Vespa hovering, waiting for us to hop on. He typed in the area code of his lab. The Vespa started up and took off.
We arrive at the lab and I am told to wait on a chair as Harry goes into a room. As I sit, the engineered atoms automatically shift and move, to make the most comfortable seat possible for me. Usually I enjoy these, but not today. I think of the machines that made this and how they were argued for in the Senate. But that was before the new government took over and the Senate was dispersed and the new government changed everyone’s lives. People were put into groups according to their family and how much money they have. Then, the Epidemic came. So many people were killed. The worlds’ population went down by millions. So, the government separated all the people who might have the Epidemic and they were never seen again. But there are rumours that they were taken to a scientists’ lab and are living their lives in isolation. Bored already, I get up and peek through the little window of the door. Harry’s gone. I lean against the door and it slides open and I fall backwards into the room that Harry disappeared, I stand up to get to the door, it closes, I hear the telltale lock and I get trapped inside. I look around and see all of these people in glass domes. On all the domes is the place card that said "MYTAHT". As I walk closer I realize that they look somewhat different. The people were held in domes of all sizes. Big ones for what I guessed were adults. And ones for teens just like me… I was scared, too scared to even think about what was happening. As I wander by each dome I notice subtle changes in how they are built or how they look. Some were different colours, such as vibrant green and electric blue. They stared at me with looks of curiosity and fright. I bet they thought of me as I thought of them, strange. As I walked down the long hallway, dome-by-dome I came across a boy that looked around my age, he had light blue skin and pink eyes, and he was the only one like this.
“What are they doing to you?” I ask the boy. He looks frightened but then he nods toward a desk with a clipboard on it, beside a larger dome. I was relieved that he understood what I was saying.
”Thanks.” I said. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I walk over to the desk and pick up the clipboard, and read: TAKEN FOR MUTANT STUDIES OF DURABILITY. I turn to the next page and there is some sort of schedule. I stop and think to myself ‘Why would he want to…?’ I started to read the schedule I read "1:00PM Test" As I read the next words, an icy chill settles over to me. "Fire" I look at the working clock tattoo on my arm, it’s 12:59. I start to count down, 10…9…8…I felt bad for him, being trapped in this little cylinder. 7…6…5…I see the boy watching me. “How do they test you?” I ask. He looks up at me. I scan the clipboard for more information about this boy. I found his name: Lorne, interesting, next to it was his DURABILITY TESTING: Wind: 8/10, Fire: T.B.D, Earth: 5/10, Water: 10/10.
“Water. 10/10? What does that mean?” I wonder. He doesn’t answer. “ Why can’t you speak?” He nods towards the desk again. I heard footsteps coming towards the door. I drop the clipboard. Feeling worried I think to myself, ‘Where can I hide?’ I look around the room. I see the boy with a panicked expression on his face. He looks towards a long table with a cabinet on the end of it. He mouths the word ‘There’ I smile again.
“I will try getting you out, when he leaves again.” I don’t stop to think and run. I duck behind the cabinet just as the door swooshes open and Harry strides into the room. Looking from behind the cabinet I see Harry notice his clipboard on the ground, and frowns. ‘Uh Oh’ I think he knows that I was here. But he just dismisses it and takes out a metal wand with a luminous glow at the end. He does a motion in the air and the glow at the end leaves a trail of light in the air for a second. Then, fire roars inside of Lorne’s' dome.

Chapter 2

As I sat, I watched Lorne struggle in his dome with the fire. I couldn’t take it anymore, I wanted to scream, but there was nothing I could do. Burns start developing on his arms and through his shirt onto his chest. I closed my eyes, afraid that in any second now, Lorne would disintegrate into a pile of ash. I didn’t hear a sound. I opened my eyes just a peek and I see Lorne, still standing there with burns all over his body, but his face is a mask of boredom. Sighing, my stepdad produces the wand again. He does a different motion in the air with the stick and the glow leaves the same trail of light in the air and the fire distinguishes. He jots something down on the clipboard and he leaves the room looking disappointed. I crawl out from behind the cabinet with dust on the knees of my black pants. I walk over to the clipboard and read what Harry just wrote, “LESS VULNERABLE TO ELEMENTS THAN OTHERS”. I look at past entries. Then one catches my eye, “SIBLING LESS IMMUNE TO ELEMENTS”. It said. I look at the name next to that entry and it said, “NAME: ANYA”. There was a note next to her name. "GOING TO TRANSFER TO GREENWOOD SR. SCHOOL". I look at Lorne, who is still looking quite unaltered, but grim.“ Do you know about…?” He shrugged. I really wanted to hear him, but I cant through the glass. But somehow he can hear me. “ I really want to hear you!” I said. “Look in the desk, a key might be there, “ he mouths. “Um, okay.” I rummage around the messy desk, and find a box that has a bunch of cards. I open the box and take all the cards out. One of these will open Lorne’s dome. I try all the cards until one beeps, turns green and the glass that was surrounding Lorne slides open and he jumps out. Relieved he said, "Let's go find Anya's room.”
“Keep your voice down! We don’t know where Harry is.”
“Who’s Harry?” He said equally loud.
“Um… I mean, who’s Harry?” He said in a softer voice.
“ He’s my stepdad.” Lorne still looks confused.
“ The guy with the bad facial hair?”
“OHH!”
“SHH!”
“Sorry!”
“Just keep it down.” I whisper. “Come on lets go!” We creep to the door leading to another room.
“ It looks like on the clipboard that she hasn't been tested on for a long time. Do you think something is wrong?" I ask him
“ I don’t know,” He said.
I touch the door with an orange card and it slides up. We walk in and look around at many domes.
The Mytahts have the colour sucked out of their body. The domes that they were in were mucky and the glass was dusty.
“Where’s your sister?” I ask.
“I’m not sure, lets look around. Anya was red with blue eyes.” He sets off into one of the rows of domes. I go the other way; I look around, These Mytaht domes are dirtier than Lorne’s dome. The bottoms of the domes were grey and brown with dirt and dust, probably from the disintegrating Mytahts. Then Lorne shouts, “Here!” I run over to where Lorne is standing. The dome that he is facing has a little girl, maybe six years old. Her skin is pale and her eyes, once bright, were now a dull muddy red. When she sees Lorne, she perks up and starts tapping on the glass. He turns around and I think I saw a tear in his eye.
“She looks sick. If she is sick why are they sending her to the school?” he said. He looks at me because I am deep thought.
“Lorne! I think I know what Anya has!” I knew exactly what she had.
***
Lorne and I snuck out of the room, and left the building. I pressed a button and spoke into my phone, “Bring my hover Vespa.” Then my pale blue Vespa spun around a corner in front of us. “Oh! I forgot to tell Harry I was going out. Okay I will call him now, get on my Vespa.” He was hesitant. “Come on, don’t be shy, it won’t hurt you, it’s just a motor bike.”
“Um, okay.” He stepped on and sat down in a huff. The whole Vespa shook. It almost looked like it would fall and crash to the ground. “Um, just a question...Where are we going?”
Ignoring Lorne, I open my phone and call Harry. Surprisingly, he doesn't answer his phone. I grumble to myself, "He's probably disintegrating more Mytahts." I think of running into the lab, finding Harry, and punching him in the nose. But, then I think of poor Anya and all the other Mytahts suffering in the airtight domes. I decide that punching Harry is not a priority right now. I scoot onto the seat of the Vespa, tell Lorne to hold on, and we take off to the school.