Jack unhooked his seatbelt and carefully climbed down each limb of the tree that his car had landed in. Most of the branches had snapped during the crash, so he picked up an awful lot of splinters on the way down. By the time he reached ground, his built-in pain sensors were starting to respond.

“It isn’t real,” Alice said with disappointment in her voice as she stood amongst the trees.

“I thought everyone knew that,” Jack stated as he pulled each splinter out individually.

“I didn’t. Tell me about this forest, Jack.”

“The humans exhausted the earth’s supply of timber for the use of paper, construction, etc, so they also lost the tree’s main purpose of carbon dioxide to oxygen recycling. Thus, they built this forest to replace the loss of oxygen in the air. These trees are basically just used to convert carbon dioxide in the air to usable oxygen.”

“So the trees are machines?”

“Basically, yes.”

“Then they are like your brothers and sisters.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way.”

Alice walked up to one of the trees and placed her small hand on its old mechanical trunk. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before speaking again.

“I don’t have any brothers or sisters. Thereare others, but they aren't exactly like me.”

“And what are you like?” Jack asked her.

“Nobody else.”

Helicopter wings could be heard in the distance. Each rumble of the machines sounded vaguely like a heartbeat, and they were getting closer. Jack grabbed Alice and began to walk in the opposite direction from where they were positioned.

“Helicopters already,” Alice whispered wonderingly.

“This forest is usually a haven for criminals and the like due to its secluded nature. They are always out patrolling.”

“But this time they don’t hunt criminals. They hunt robots,” Alice said, mechanically.

Alice was dragging her feet as Jack tugged on her wrist. The helicopters were swiftly approaching, and he could see their spotlights in the tops of the trees. He yelled at her to speed up, but she continued to lag behind.

“They are pretty aren’t they. The men inside aren’t, but the light is so beautiful. Don’t you agree?”

He ignored her comments and dived behind a tree. Alice remained in the middle of a clearing in the forest. The helicopters flew over, but she remained standing there immersed in their light.

Then, the light was gone, and the helicopters flew over without noticing the little girl.

“They won’t hurt me, Jack. You shouldn’t be so scared of the light either.”

“You must have a lot of faith to just stand there as helicopters with guns go flying overhead.”

“Don’t you have any faith, Jack?”

“They say that faith doesn’t pertain to my kind.”

Alice clumsily fell to the ground again. Weak hands were the only thing keeping her from completely falling flat. Her lungs heaved in and out as she coughed a strange fluid out of her body. Jack rushed over to help the sick girl.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked.

“They had me on some heavy medications that were supposed to help me from seeing things.”

“What were you seeing?”

“The truth.”

With one more weak cough, she spit up the last of the blue liquid. It ran down the slight incline into a messy pile of leaves and branches where it was quickly absorbed into the compost. The leaves turned a bright green before completely shriveling up into dust.

“Alice, please, just tell me what you are,” Jack pleaded as the girl laid down in the dirt to rest.

“I am the product of a drug called Truon. Have you ever heard of it?” she whispered

“Yes, the government declared it illegal fifteen years ago.”

“My parents were addicts, and thus, I am a Truon baby. There were not many of us because the drug was only in circulation for a short amount of time. That, however, can not stop the drug from circulating in our own bodies.”

“So, that is why you look so different from everyone else?”

Delilah took a long strand of blue hair in her fingertips. She twirled it until it formed a permanent curl and spiraled down upon her shoulders.

“My appearance is not the only thing that the drug caused to be different in me. My senses operate slightly different, and I am also equipped with a few that you are not programmed to have and humans don’t possess.”

“What do you mean?”

“I hear and feel colors. I see sounds. I can touch feelings. I can do everything that you can plus some. I can also pick up on your thoughts and memories through your movements and brain waves. That’s how I knew about Emily if you were wondering.”

“So, what about the butterflies? What are they?”

“I am the only of the small group that has ever seen them. They have been with me since I was born. I don’t know what they mean, but I intend to follow them.”

“Why doesn’t the public know about your kind?”

“Because they are jealous of our powers. The humans wish to harness the extra senses that we are able to use. They drug us up to make us think that we are normal. They use computer generated images to make us think that we are living a school, but really, it is just a cold medical center. It worked on the others, but the butterflies wouldn‘t let me fall for their illusion.”

“How did you escape?”

“My technician helped me out of there. I told him that I would die if I continued to stay locked up in a cell while they took multiple tests on me. I hope he is alright. He was always so nice to me.”

“You had a technician?”

“Yes. See, Jack, we really aren’t so different, are we?”

Jack stopped his questioning for the moment. The purple eyes that were staring at him looked a little red and the dark circles surrounding them continued to grow. He told her to lie down, and she didn’t hesitate before making the forest floor into a bed.

Jack didn’t have to sleep if he didn’t want to. It was in his program that he could go without sleep due to his job. That way they could work him for however many hours they needed. Alice was quietly murmuring in her sleep.

“Could you do it, Jack?” she muttered. “Could you really do it to Emily? She misses you already.”

He fought off the feelings to wake her up to stop her talking. Sure, she claimed that she could pick up others’ thoughts, but Jack was still slightly skeptical of her claims. Could someone really possess that type of power? Could a girl as small and weak as her be that powerful?

Drug babies happened all the time, but they never came out with blue hair and purple eyes. They were usually just hyper active or had learning disabilities. It was enough to make a parent regret ever taking up the disgusting habit. Alice, however, was enough to make someone want to put the child out of its misery.

How could Alice ever operate in the real world in the state she was now?

Jack debated on whether it was right to just let Alice run about in the wilderness when she obviously should be locked away back in the medical clinic. Attention obviously needed to be administered to her. She was spitting up blue junk earlier. Blue junk that was formerly her medicine to help with hallucinations.

But if he had to turn her in, he would have to turn himself in.

She sat up suddenly but looked as though she was still in a dream. Her eyes didn’t focus on anything as she stared straight ahead.

“Someone is coming,” she warned.

Jack stood up expecting another roar of helicopters overhead but was greeted with a group of six people walking out from the thick trees in front of Alice. They all carried weapons of various makes and models. One stood at the front of the group and pointed his machine gun right at Jack who could only hold his arms up in surrender.

“Are you mecha?” the leader of the group asked.

“I prefer to be called an engineered being.”

The leader lifted a walkie-talkie up to his mouth and spoke into to it:

“Base. This is Red 5. I’ve found two more.”