SINs of our Fathers: Prologue

Summary: 2112. Lisa Miller hated her boring life, her boring school, her racist community. She wanted to become a SIN, one of those things that looked human, acted human but ultimately wasn't human. But after failing to save a man from his car wreck, she starts seeing things and discovers a silent underground war hidden by the discrimination against SINs. 




Lisa sat on the steps.

They were talking about her again. As if she didn't exist. As if her little brother was an only child. It irritated her. It irritated her to no end. Perfect little Tony Miller could do no wrong, could never be blamed. Or at least, to her parents he was like that.

They couldn't blame her for acting out if they were just going to ignore her all the time. She hated her life. She hated the boringness of going to a public school. She hated the community that pretended that people that weren't like them didn't exist. She hated everything about pretending to be normal. Nothing was normal anymore. You couldn't just, ignore the things that happened outside the little town. At least, she couldn't.

Wellington, population 5823 and rising, well known only for their non-existent number of SINs. It was the pride of the town, the little number that said '0' in the mayor's office.

Lisa didn't think it was that great. She had to watch the TV and see people from other towns, other cities and states and what not get interesting news coverage. SINs flying all over the place, destroying things, rebuilding things, being amazing in general. She wanted to be one of them.

But she never would.

"-concerned about her mental well being-"

Lisa could hear her school counselor say in the living room. This time, it really wasn't her fault. Really, it wasn't. She had done what anyone else would do.

"-she pulled the man from the car-"

Well, what else was she supposed to do? Let the poor guy die in flames? He might have been just passing through but that wasn't an excuse.

"-witnessed a death-"

So the man had croaked in front of her, at least she tried. It wasn't her fault that he bled out before the ambulance Peggy called had arrived.

"-form of trauma-"

Okay, so she was a little affected. She couldn't look at her hands without seeing the poor man's blood all over them. She kept seeing his face, mouth working furiously as he tried to tell her something.

"-counseling provided by the school counselor-"

No one could freaking counsel that image out of her brain. He had said something. Something about a gate. Something about a key. Something about... she couldn't remember. She had been pressing her brand new sweater to his head while trying to keep Peggy's hand-knitted scarf on his leg.

There had been so much blood.

So much blood.

"-screened for HIV and other diseases-"

It would suck so much if she tried to help and ended up with some sucky disease. Not that there wasn't a cure for it. They invented cures for those back in 2036 but the regimen took a full year and a half to complete.

A year and a half of injections and medicine administered by a registered nurse or doctor. That would suck big time. Not to mention most people had a slight reaction to the medication, generally dizziness and fatigue which would cut into her time hanging out with Peggy. Peggy wasn't one to hang around doing nothing after all.

"-Iwasclean"

Lisa perked up. She glanced around but only heard the principal of her school, still talking to her parents.

"-proud of her for trying to do the right thing."

She was hearing things. Probably just the wind.

"-take a week off from school if she wants"

Hell. No. Lisa did not take days off from school. At least, in school she could watch the drama between guys and the girls and laugh at their popularity contest. Home was even more boring than school. The same old shows, the same plots, the same thing over and over again.

She wondered if Peggy had gotten the same offer. After all, the two of them had been together at the car crash. Peggy wasn't squeamish about blood. Peggy's older sister was one of those science types that brought home all sorts of experiments so Peggy had seen a lot of things. She was probably fine.

"-oh Lisa-"

Mother was always so emotional. Lisa would be fine. After a couple of days maybe. After she stopped seeing blood on her hands. After she stopped seeing the poor man take his last breath on the asphalt.

Damn.

She could still see it as clear as ever. He had a scar on his right brow but it wasn't that visible because of all the blood. She only felt it when she tried to wipe away some of the red liquid. He had hazel eyes. Hazel, not black. He was pasty white but she couldn't tell if that was because of the blood loss or if he was naturally like that. His nose, rounded, flat, one of those Asian types. Hair messier than Tony's on a good day. He had coughed up blood but his teeth had been pearly white. Pearly white like he had them done at the dentist.

She could even remember his shirt. Purple with a pocket and a tiny 'Penguin' embroidered on the sleeve. His pants were knock offs from a new brand called Panther. His shoes were the kind guys wore to posh parties, sleek black shiny ones.

There was blood over everything.

He had grabbed at her, getting blood all over her.

He had groaned in pain, red bubbles at the corner of his mouth as he muttered words in another language, splattering Lisa with red droplets as he coughed.

Lisa had burned her clothes. Even the new sweater.

"-thank you for your time."

The door opened and Ms Smith stepped out. She gave Lisa an encouraging smile. Lisa didn't smile back. Ms Smith may have been great at running the school but she was shit at telling the students emotions.

"Keep an eye on her in school, please." Lisa's mother said.

"I will."
"Iwill"


Lisa blinked. She was hearing things. She was going crazy. She waved at Ms. Smith as the woman got into her car and drove off. Her parents stood in the doorway, not knowing what to say. Her brother was probably in school wondering what had happened and why Lisa hadn't gone to pick him up yet.

"I'll go get Tony." Mother said tremulously, obviously holding back tears. She grabbed the keys and left.

"Can I go see Peggy?" Lisa asked. She didn't want to stay in the house.

"I'll drive you-" her father began.

"No, I'll walk." Lisa interjected. She didn't want to get in a car now. Her father seemed to understand. He nodded and handed her the house keys.

"Stay safe" He said.

Lisa nodded and started down the driveway.