A Journey- by Mark Andrews

Today felt like any other day; my dad went off to work while I stayed home from

school, without my dad knowing of course. I can learn way more at home with all of my

dad's research and books than I would ever learn at school. You see, my dad is a

radiologist, but he isn't your every day radiologist. My father is very secretive and doesn't

talk about his work much. So, today I'm going to follow him to work.

My dad hopped into his Prius and drove off as he did every morning but this

time, I put one of my home­made GPS’s in his car. I went to the garage and taped my

phone onto my dirt bike so I could follow my dad using the GPS.

When I got to where I assumed my dad worked, it turned out that security was

pretty tight... The strange thing was that the building wasn't labeled. There was no

advertisement for the company whatsoever. I saw a truck pull around the back of the

building and took my chance. While the guards were helping unload, I snuck inside. As I

went through the door I noticed that the crates were full of fish. “That's strange...,” I

thought as I continued into the building. I was walking down a hallway when I saw my

father approaching me with a person in what looked like a radiation suit. I dashed into the

nearest door. Much to my relief, no one had seen me. The room I had entered looked like

a storage room. I walked over to a pile of canisters and instantly recognized the warning

sign for radiation. I then went over to a canister that was connected to a tube on the wall.

Much to my surprise, I noticed a radiation meter on the top of the canister ever so slowly

going up. “How could this place be making radiation?” I asked himself, “and why would

the government let a company be so careless with it?” Right when I was about to leave

the room I noticed a security camera outside. I wasn't too worried about security cameras

because this place looked like it didn't see much action. But, just in case, I took a moment

to deactivate them using a Trojan program I had made last year.

I then followed my father down the hall. I opened up the door that my father went

into and found myself inside of an... aquarium?! To my left there were crates of fish but,

besides that, the room was basically empty. That's if you're not counting the huge glass

floor above a pool full of dark, strangely clear water. I dashed behind a crate of smelly fish

and listened to my dad talking to his co­worker.

“These experiments have paid off, Joe.” stated Rob.

“Oh, I know. Who would've thought that radiation has been affecting dolphins like

this all of these years?” replied my dad.

“Can you imagine how many other animals are being affected this way? Possibly

even humans?”

“Heck, soon we may have talking dolphins!” Joe laughed

“I wouldn't be surprised. Ever since we've kept a steady level of negative 4 rad's

(radiation) in the pool the dolphins brain activity has been steadily increasing.”

“Lets just make sure they don't find a way out of the tank”

Joe and Rob then walked off talking about a tv show that they both loved.

“Negative Radiation? How is that even possible?” I thought to myself. It was then

I realized that I wasn't just standing over a pool, I was surrounded by glass, it was so dark

I hadn't even noticed. As I looked around me, I noticed dolphins swimming in the water.

But these didn't look like regular dolphins, they were, different. They weren't acting as

normal dolphins did ­ they were unified, together, as if they knew what the other dolphins

were going to do without even using their dolphin chirp thingy. My science books had

never really given it a better name.

After being amazed by the dolphins for a minute, I noticed a console. I walked

over to it and booted up the computer. I noticed some pretty intense algorithms that I

thought looked like they might be used for detecting, brain waves? I can't be sure though,

this coder wasn't the best commenter. I built the code and ran it. Instantly lights turned on

in the water and I could see maybe 20 dolphins. From somewhere above me, two hooks

came down with fish on them. One hook looked like a fishing hook with a spike on the

edge that would obviously hurt the dolphin when it went to eat the fish. The other hook

was much smoother and looked harmless. I assumed that the dolphins would rush

towards the food on both hooks and start fighting over it. To my surprise, quite the

opposite happened. One fish after another came forward and ate a little bit of the fish off

of the smooth hook. Likewise, two other dolphins went on either side of the sharp hook

and each grabbed a side of the fish and ripped it off the hook safely and didn't get harmed

in the process. I couldn't believe my eyes! I looked at the gauges on the screen and

noticed that the water level was truly at ­4 rads! Could radiation really be effecting animals

brain waves like that? While I was standing there looking at the computer report and

trying to understand what I was seeing, the dolphins were moving in the background.

Three dolphins went and pulled the sharp hook while a couple more went up and started

chewing on the wire. The next thing I know the room was filled with a horrible screeching

noise. I looked up and saw the dolphins dragging the hook against the glass. Surly they

wouldn't be able to break it. But what I saw next was the most amazing and terrifying

thing of all. The dolphins were scratching a pattern into the glass in just the way that

would leave it vulnerable to a hit. I looked for a fire alarm of some sort but there was

nothing there. The only thing I could do was run and try to find my dad. I booked it out the

door and through the hallway that I had come from. That's when I heard it. A huge bang

and suddenly I thought about the radiation. So I quickly jumped into a room and luckily, I

found one of those unfashionable radiation suits. I realized that my dad was probably

heading towards the tank so, so did I. I was heading towards the aquarium and I saw this

guy ahead of me. He opened the door and was over taken by a couple dolphins. They

were stabbing him with the hooks! I took this moment, while the dolphins were busy, to

throw up in my suit. One dolphin looked up and noticed me. He started charging me. I

have no idea how he was moving so fast. But right before he stabbed me, he stopped. He

must realize I'm the one who set him free. It was then that I realized something strange,

the dolphins skin was moving like a wave across his skin, stretching. The next thing I

knew, this dolphins fin fell off! The normal radiation levels outside the water must be

effecting them. The dolphin whose fin had fallen off suddenly charged at me again and

smacked me across the hall. “Sweet cracker jacks” I groaned. I don't know where those

three words came from but that's all I could say. I lay on the ground with the breath

knocked out of me as the group of dolphins walked past me. Wait? How are they

walking? I looked down and saw the strangest thing. Yes, weirder than dolphins being

smart. They had feet. Well, not feet. Some were walking on flippers others were walking

with things that had popped out of their body due to the radiation. And I just couldn't help

laughing. This was the most stupid thing ever. Dolphins had just murdered someone

before my eyes. After a few minutes of just lying there, I got up and looked around the

office for my dad. The dolphins, they killed so many people! I took a gun from one of the

dead guards and continued searching the facility for my dad. I went outside and there was

no sign of the dolphins, or my dad. I hopped on my bike and drove back to my house. “No

way!” My house, it was completely leveled. But this was the only house that was

destroyed. Everything else was fine. I don't know how but the dolphins must've known

that my father lived here. I waited around the house for an hour, waiting for my dad, but I

realized he wasn't coming, or couldn't come. Either way I had to find him. And I will. With

a gun, my dirt bike, and the clothes on my back, I set out to find my father and stop the

evil dolphins. A journey that would change my life.