Darwin’s theory is that creatures evolve. He’s right; it’s proven. Charles Darwin used finches on the Galapagos Islands as an example and that one type of bird branched off to adapt to their surroundings. Over millions of years creatures adapt to their environments or to changes in order to survive. I guess there’s not much point in stating this now obvious fact.
Although, what about us? I’m sure many people, more educated than myself theorize that slowly people will change to survive, like the finches and the horses and the bears and so on. I don’t know how they supposed it would happen, I can just tell you how it did happen. I can also tell you when and it wasn’t over millions of years. Or maybe it was, in the wombs of many, slowly changing without appearing to do so. I just know that to us it was sudden. I’ll start where we all believed it to happen- in a sunny hospital room bustling with expectant nurses and doctors and of course, a husband and wife.
Marian Cobble was a beautiful woman. Not in the way that men fantasize about but in a motherly way. She had lively green eyes and chestnut hair curled short to perfection. She could bake delicious cookies and settle down a class of thirty kids with one glance. Her husband, Stephen Cobble, was known as Mr. Cobble at the bank he managed and doted on his wife whenever he wasn’t working. He owned the latest Cadillac sedan and for Marian’s thirty second birthday he bought her a matching one in ivory- pearlized of course.
The one thing they didn’t have but dearly wanted was a child. After a year of trying the ‘traditional way’, they tested a newer method with the best doctor in the city. This time it worked and Marian became pregnant. This was all kept hush hush from the neighbors.
The Cobbles had baby showers and interviews at the best schools and changed their diets and bought things for the baby room; they were very excited. Marian grew respectably large and was the envy of many women in their suburban neighborhood. She had normal contractions and a clean birth, as clean as they get anyway. Until the baby came out, Stephen thought it just needed to be cleaned up a bit. The nurses knew something was wrong. Marian was resting from exhaustion.
The baby was cleaned and nothing changed. The doctor had no idea since he hadn’t seen anything like it. He wanted to run tests but that was where Mr. Cobble stepped in. They had their dignity to maintain of course. Mrs. Cobble hadn’t a clue; she wanted to see her baby. She expected something a little squashed, maybe off-colour but not what her husband hesitantly offered her. It was little, like any other baby and had the normal list of body parts expected in a human. It certainly wasn’t missing anything or had anything extra. That was where the similarities ended. What was most prominent, it was hard to say. To Stephen it was the eyes, oh so large and fully black, slightly off to the side. To Marian, the ears, comically donkey-like. They flicked every which way, catching the noises of the nurses who were doing their best to look busy and not stare. His nose bridge (for it was a boy) ran wide between his eyes and somewhat flat, ending in flared nostrils. What Mrs. Cobble would later call his most beautiful feature. It reminded her of Michael’s nose during his Jackson 5 days, she would reminisce. His feet were flat and his fingers abnormally strong and over time they grew claws which he could fortunately retract. Un-retractable claws on a baby were as dangerous as unprotected coffee table corners in Marian’s mind.
The Cobbles were speechless, Stephen was disgraced and they didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t long, even before they named him, that a nurse went to the local newspaper and told of the peculiar baby. The press was all over it and by the time he was named Tobias Montgomery Cobble, the press had smuggled photos in their papers. It seemed the entire country knew about him and at first they enjoyed the limelight then they grew to distaste it for the disrespect that grew around their name. The boy they had dreamed of was born a mutant. Although his mother, who adored him, taught him to be kind and giving, couldn’t fail to notice the increasing differences between him and the world. He was extraordinary but frighteningly so. He was so agile it put the local cats to shame and he could outrun and out jump any of the best creatures out there. He had few friends growing up but they were of the truest sort. Most people thought he was a dangerous thing bound to become a weapon. He never gave them reason to believe so but people were blind. He was smart and he was lucky to have teachers who excepted him. He made his mother proud until the age of seventeen when he ran away.
As he had grown up, his father had learned to ignore his monstrous son by staying late at work. Although he loved his wife and to some degree Tobias, his pride was hurt. He wanted a boy to play ball with but Tobias was so fast he could play all positions himself. He tried to plead to his wife for another child but she was happy with what she had. Eventually, by chance, she did get pregnant again and then Tobias ran. His mother, Marian, grew sick at first and almost lost the baby until Tobias snuck into her hospital room late one night. He told her he was fine and that he’d keep in touch and that he loved her. She understood and helped him in every way possible in the following years. He would come late at night to visit her and his new sister, who was born normal but he loved her anyway.
The government tried tracking him, they were persistent on running tests but he always got away.
Tobias wasn’t alone in the world from the age of two onward. Soon another like him was born, and then another and soon there were several. When he was older and on the run, he would find them, give them hope. There was always followers as well. They were a kind of cult who believed the new breed were saviors, or aliens, or gods. They helped and they had connections. Soon, ‘The Breed’ gathered and began living together, slowly growing, much to the alarm of the government. They were watched for signs of hostility but they didn’t mind and they kept quiet. Tobias was known as ‘The First’, a living god among The Breed.
It didn’t end there.
Another kind came, they just weren’t as noticeable.
Babies were born. They looked like any other, but they were different. They could do things.
Out of fear, most of them kept quiet. They felt alone and didn’t realize at first that there were more. As they began to use their powers more, which they usually gained control of after their hormones kicked it, their eyes changed. They became their ‘true’ colour, almost like their powers brought them out. Whitish blues, deep purples, rich burgundies and vibrant yellows; hues not meant for eyes.
Their powers were more fantastic than their eyes. Each was different or had some variation. Comic book powers came to life with people who could fly, morph, move things, become invisible and read minds. There were others, things that people could imagine, even just little things. Others could shape things, like wood, metal and water. One man, Richard Tillings, could turn anything into nickel. Some powers were more helpful than others.
It would seem that when the two breeds became of aware of each other they would band together. Unfortunately that is not how it happened. Tobias was loved as he grew up and therefore learned to care in return. Others were not so lucky and although they respected The First, they began to not believe in his way of living. Those who did not trust humans or The Others moved away to form their own community. A small group of both breeds stayed with Tobias to live in harmony.
Soon the government realized that Tobias was not a threat but the newer communities were becoming hostile towards each other. Raids began on one another and lone wolfs of each breed had to be careful of getting picked off. The humans were getting restless, wanting action taken against them but no one knew how to proceed. They didn’t know if the laws applied to them or not.
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