A walk through the woods always helps me unwind and relax. The fact that I’m dragging a body behind me should be irrelevant.
His nametag reads Beckett, and his softened features show that he is young.
We finally come to the treehouse, and I leave his unconscious body limp against the tree trunk. I climb the ladder, grab the weapon, and when I see Beckett again he has regained consciousness. No, I think. He wasn’t supposed to wake up.
Without a word, I extend my arm so the barrel of the gun is against his forehead. He looks up at me with wide eyes. “Why are you doing this?” The whites of his eyes are blue, the earliest external sign that his body has been harmed.
I can’t tell him. If I do, I don’t think I will be able to shoot.
“I’m sorry.” I squeeze my eyes shut and pull the trigger.
His cold body lies cold on the forest floor. Now that he is gone, I give him the answer. “You had less than a week left to live. And it would have been the worst week of your life.” I wipe my tears away, angry that they are there. Angry that Beck no longer is.

At my office in The Lab, I type Beck’s information into the laptop. Beckett Daniel Anistor – Shot Month 5 Day 4 Year 2279. His name and death are added to a long list of people whom I have killed.
I've been a Chemist for the past year, and as a Chemist I have access to many things. The Lab’s latest achievement is a serum that allows humans to breathe underwater.
But despite how popular it is, the serum only leads to one thing: death.
I find my boss by the shipping doors, surrounded by vials of our ‘Oxygenized Aqua Pura’ serum – or for short, O.A.P.
“Mr. Stopal, we can’t keep giving these to people,” I fume.
He clears his throat. “Is that so?”
I clench my fists. “Yes! You and I both know that after a year of having this,” I pick up a vial, “inside your body, the serum takes a week to fill your lungs–”
“And you die. I’m aware of this. That’s why we have people like you killing them before they have the chance to suffocate to death.”
“But why keep giving people the serum if it leads to that?” My heart races.
Mr. Stopal steps closer to me and lowers his voice. “Are you aware of how much we’re getting paid for this serum?”
“Yes, but–”
“I don’t want to hear it, Amia. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go fill out the paperwork for the doctors.” As soon as he’s around the corner, I grab a laptop off the nearest desk. I swing it over my head and smash an entire case of O.A.P.
Then, I run.

My lean legs carry me all the way to The Dining Hall, where I find my best friend outside on a bench. She studies something in a small bottle.
Her face lights up when she sees me. “Amia!”
I smile and sit down next to her. “What are you looking at, Rayna?”
She twirls a golden piece of hair around her finger. “It’s something I made.”
I’m instantly intrigued. Although Rayna works for The Officials, she’s always been brilliant at chemistry. She continues, “I think this can work as a counter serum for O.A.P.”
I lift a brow. “Counter serum?”
“I mean I think this can stop the whole ‘inevitable death’ thing. The chemicals in it should eat out all of the lethal ones in O.A.P., but keep the original purpose of it in tact.”
“How do you know this works?” I ask.
She pulls back her hair and points out two microscopic figures on her upper neck. A fish and a square. “Two months ago, I took O.A.P.–”
“You what?”
“Let me finish. After I took it, I noticed that these markings had appeared on my neck, at the very sight of injection. My mother, cousin, and neighbor recently took O.A.P. They now have the same markings, too.”
Weird. “So what do you think they mean?”
“I’m going to find out right now. I’m thinking that the fish marking represents the ability to breathe underwater, and the square represents the poison.” She unscrews her small vial and squeezes one amber-colored drop into her mouth. “Now look.”
I examine her neck, and sure enough the square marking has vanished. It works.
Rayna nods. “We need to give this to your brother.”
I take a deep breath. “Rayna, I have to tell you something.”
“But we have to get this to Beckett so he–”
“Rayna,” I interrupt. “He’s gone.”
She scrunches her nose. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s been over a year since he took O.A.P. He was about to die,” I swallow. “I did what I had to do.”
Her mouth hangs open in shock. “But… he’s your brother.”
“I know!” My voice lodges in my throat. “And I couldn’t let him suffer any longer.”
“We could have given him the counter, though,” Rayna shakes her head in disbelief.
“Had I known there was one in existence!” I cry.
Rayna is quiet when she speaks again. “I’m so sorry, Amia.”
My tears are close to spilling over, so I change the subject. “Let’s get this to my boss.”

When we arrive at The Lab, we find Mr. Stopal in a test room. “Hello, Mr. Stopal,” Rayna greets.
“Can I help you ladies?” He straightens his tie, black like the rest of his chemist apparel.
I show him Rayna’s concoction. “Rayna has successfully created a serum to completely dilute the poisonous properties of O.A.P.”
He tilts his head. “I see. And you would like me to give this to our citizens along with O.A.P., I assume?"
"That's right," Rayna nods. "It'll totally get rid of the lethality."
"I'm afraid I can't do that,” he says.
"What?"
"I'm declining your offer."
"But why?" Rayna asks.
Mr. Stopal closes the door and turns to face us. "Why, we still have 2500 citizens to go."
"We... huh?"
"I think it's time you ladies know the truth." He steeples his fingers. "When O.A.P. was first created, there was nothing quite so dangerous about it. Its purpose was simply for citizens to be capable of breathing underwater." He pauses. "However, at the same time that the serum was created, California's population was out of control."
I raise an eyebrow and tuck an auburn piece of hair behind my ear. "Out of control?"
"I was greatly overwhelmed with the amount of people in our society. As CEO of The Lab, I made the decision – the hard decision – of slightly... altering O.A.P."
"What do you mean, altering?" I ask.
Then, it hits me. "You poisoned O.A.P., didn't you?"
He hesitates. "Well, in a sense, yes."
I ball my hands into fists. "In a sense? Do you have any idea what kind of things you've caused in our citizens' lives? In my life?"
He reaches for the doorknob. "Amia, calm down. I'll go get–"
"No." I pull my gun from my holster and aim it at his chest. "You're not going anywhere."
"Whoa!" Rayna steps in front of me and whispers quickly. "Let's not make any rash decisions here."
"Fine," I lower the pistol and instead grab a syringe. "Will this do?" I plunge the device into his neck.
Mr. Stopal tenses in shock. "What are you doing?"
I set it down in satisfaction. "Now, you'll need our counter serum– that is, if you want to live."
He blinks several times. "I–"
"We'll give you the counter serum, Mr. Stopal," I fold my arms across my chest.
Rayna stops. "We will?"
"After," I continue, "all other citizens have been instilled with it."
Mr. Stopal huffs. "I demand that you stop this nonsense or I'll call the authorities."
I raise an eyebrow. "Sir, need I remind you that we have the gun, the syringe, and the information that The Officials would be extremely interested in?"
He closes his mouth.
Rayna smirks. "Looks like you don't have a choice here, Stopal."
We get everyone injected with the counter serum before sundown. As promised, we finish off with a very unnerved Mr. Stopal.

Rayna and I couldn't keep the information we'd received a secret. Consequently, Mr. Stopal and several other high-ranked chemists and doctors lost their work positions.
Before I knew it, I was the new CEO of The Lab, and everything was pretty normal for a while. It wasn't until an autumn day the following year that things changed.
"Bye, Rayna!" I call. She dashes away, off to work.
I finish sliding empty plates into my picnic basket and fix my eyes on the ocean ahead of me. I notice someone emerging from the water, and as they come closer to me I see that this is no ordinary swimmer.
His ruffled hair is seafoam green, and his eyes are the color of the sea. His shorts are made entirely of seaweed, and they twist all the way down to his feet, revealing tanned flesh and... scales.
"Hello?" He makes his way over to me, and his voice hints that he is of Irish descent.
"Um... can I help you?"
"I think I'm a bit lost, yeah." He flashes me a lopsided grin, and I force myself to stay focused.
"What's your name?" I ask.
"The name's Baile. I'm assuming based on your appearance that you're a human?"
"Correct."
"And a quite gorgeous one I might add."
Warmth surges through my body. "And what... um, species are you?"
"Seasprite."
"A seasprite?" I raise an eyebrow in disbelief.
He nods. "You know, a sprite, but born of the water?"
"Hold on... born of the water?"
Baile tilts his head and points out a pair of gills on his neck. "Indeed. Although we're not, er, technically 'born of the water.' You see, many years ago, what we now call seasprites were test subjects for O.A.P. We're basically humans on O.A.P. steroids."
"Oh," I say. "Who did that to you?"
"The Chemists," he scowls.
I laugh. "Well, I'm a Chemist, and I can promise you that I had nothing to do with that."
He shrugs and changes the subject. "Do you have the slightest idea on how to get to California?"
I chuckle. "You're standing on one of its beaches. I'd say you're not as lost as you think you are."
"Oh, good!" He smiles and extends his hand. "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you your name."
"I'm Amia," I say, and shake his hand.
"Well Amia, I'm glad I've met you." He whistles with two fingers, and behind him a dozen more green-headed figures emerge. "But I'm not quite sure I believe in your so-claimed innocence." He smiles, but this time his teeth are bared. "My friends and I have been getting hungry."