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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Unnatural Selection by Victoria Escobar

"Summed up, this story takes a great twist in the questions of genetic engineering and the moral boundaries, while throwing it into an adventurous and fast-paced YA adventure. It's worth a read. "- Goodreads

Description:

I had no name. My assignment was M001/A5. Marpesia Project Test One, Fifth Embryo. I wasn’t considered human. I was a thing to be owned.

I just wanted freedom. I wanted out of the lab and away from being the guinea pig for hundreds of scientists. I wanted to see the world with my eyes not through a computer monitor.

Instead I took two bullets, fell from twenty stories and ran to save my life. From who and what I had no idea and that wasn’t important at the time. Life was important.

I had my freedom but no idea what to do with it. There’s no way to out run the past, and I had to face it. There were too many strings loose and too many people that would be more than happy to lock me in a cage again.

Life was an evolution of natural selection but thanks to human intervention I was Unnatural. I would be deciding who to allow living, and who needed to die.

EXCERPT


Around noon, I reached Sioux Falls in South Dakota and stopped for gas, food, and to stretch my legs. The novelty of driving sixty miles an hour was fading fast. I was growing tired of being in the car.

Five hours down the road, I saw a sign. Buffalo Gap National Grassland. I had never seen a buffalo in person before. Wouldn’t that be cool? And I had my camping gear in the back just in case.

I debated a moment as the exit approached and took it. I was still ten hours away from the prep school, but who knew if I’d get the chance to see buffalo again? And even if I didn’t see buffalo, there were probably other really neat animals out here too.

Thrilled with the prospect of new pictures, I followed the sign for the campground. Setting up camp was much easier in the early evening light than it had been in the mountains of Montana in the near dark.

I ignored the staring and whispering couple–though I could hear the woman clearly enough. If “freak” was the best term she could come up with;she certainly wasn’t worth any of my attention. Freak was kind compared to just being a thing by the lab.

I was so excited to get started on pictures–I saw some deer looking creatures in the distance–I had almost mistaken my ringing phone for someone else’s. I fumbled for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer it.

“Hello?” I answered and continued digging for my camera. I didn’t want to miss the window for the deer creatures.

“Hello,” a cheery voice replied, “my name is Darlene. I’m calling from Saint Rita’s to speak to Mrs. or Mr. Williams about Charlotte Williams.”

I stopped what I was doing and stared at the phone a moment.

“Hello?” Darlene’s voice was hesitant and I realized she thought I hung up on her.

“I’m sorry. This is Charlotte.” The name sounded foreign coming from my mouth but not in a bad way. More in an unused way. “There is no mister or missus.”

“I beg your pardon?” Her response was stuttered and a little incredulous. Was it uncommon for children to not have parents? I’d have to look it up later.

“I’m an orphan,” I told her, which wasn’t a lie, but not exactly the truth either, “I have no parents for you to speak to.”

“Oh, well, okay,” she cleared her throat, “can I place you on a brief hold?”

“Sure.” I continued to look for my camera as some airy music played over the line. I probably just ruined my chances of getting into the school. They probably had an unspoken rule about orphans or something.

“Charlotte,” a man’s voice boomed over the line.

“Yes, sir?” I replied automatically as I would for Dr. Hiroto or Mr. Branson Senior. The man sounded imposing and important.

“My name is Abner Donahue; I’m the Dean at the school. How are you doing this evening?”



“Decent. I’m about to take pictures of some elk-ish looking creature,” I replied, finally pulling my camera out of my cross over.

About the author:
Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but with the ability to claim eight states as home; Victoria Escobar writes fiction from her current home in New York. She writes whatever comes to mind and because of such has a variety of genres written including Young Adult, New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, and Contemporary Fiction.

In spare time if not with family, and friends Victoria enjoys curling up with a book from a favorite author with music playing. If not reading or writing she spends time drawing, sketching, crocheting, or some other random art project. She enjoys staying busy, but most of all enjoys staying creative.


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