Hannah smiled and said excitedly, “Another one! You are like us!”
Greg laughed, “I felt it the second they drove up to the gate. You are gifted, right?”
“I can make light emerge from me. At first I didn’t have control over it. Layla has been helping me. I’ve actually gotten halfway decent,” Silas said.
“Show us!” Greg pushed.
“I don’t know, it is really bright and I don’t know how it will effect everyone in here,” Silas added.
Hannah interrupted, “Yeah, that may not be a good idea right now. Especially with cranky pants over there.”
She nodded her head in the direction of a young man sitting by himself at a table. We all turned and glanced at him. As if sensing the glares, he got up from the table and potters away; completely ignoring us.
“That was Gabe. He is super powerful but a real jerk,” Hannah said.
“What is his gift?” Silas asked.
“He can disappear and reappear anywhere. It is an awesome gift,” Hannah explained.
“Not so cool when you end up surrounded by the others with only seconds to disappear to somewhere else,” Greg added.
“The last time Gabe used his power something happened. He hasn’t been the same since. He is even more of a jerk now.”
“What is your gift Layla?” Hannah asked.
“I’m not sure I have one,” I murmured kind of embarrassed.
“Oh you have a gift, I can feel it. You are strong like Gabe,” Greg stated matter of factly.
“I don’t know what it is,” I replied.
Sara and Wes stood up and said their goodbyes while Hannah continued on.
“My gift is kind of boring, I can make people sleep, I know super lame. Although there are some people here that like my gift. Especially at night with all the, you know crazies out there.”
“What about you Greg, what is your gift?” Silas asked, curiously.
“I have a strong ability to sense others like us. I can call out to them if danger is near. Things like that, it’s an ok gift I guess. I can sense the others or as I heard you call them night screamers,” Greg said.
Our conversation was cut short when a few men quietly ran into the cafeteria. They approached table after table, finally reaching ours.
“We all need to head underground now,” One of the men whispered firmly.
“There are “Others” on the fence and a lot of them, hurry downstairs.”
We followed the line of people down a few hallways. Everyone moved quickly to safety. I was amazed at how quiet everyone was. We reached a staircase that descended into darkness. I felt my chest tighten at the thought of going underground once again. We started to retreat down the stairs but were stopped by Quinn.
“I need Gabe, Olyvia, Jacob, Wes, Silas and Layla to come with me, please hurry,” Quinn requested.
“I’ll go find the others. I believe I saw them head down in front of us,” Gabe reported.
“Thank you,” Quinn replied.
We ambulated behind Quinn as he hurried back through hallways and up four flights of stairs, finally exiting onto the roof of the warehouse. The roof was lit up with spotlights making it extremely bright on the roof. I squinted my eyes and saw a half dozen men and women scattered to different corners. Some were a bit too close to the edge for comfort. I felt exposed standing outside on the roof at night. I was quickly distracted by screams and gunfire that filled my ears. Quinn guided Silas and me to the edge of the roof where I peered down and saw an unsettling sight. Night screamers were lined against the fence, pressing in hard as more and more approached.They all seemed to gather at the gate or close to it. I watched the screamers, a few at a time curled their lips and let out a severe scream. The other screamers seemed too focused on getting through the gate. One of the screamers leapt up and tried to jump the fence. This did not end well for the screamer because it became entangled in the barbed wire. It screamed out in obvious distress but this seemed to agitate the other screams. I continued to watch in horror as another screamer jumped up and grabbed the leg of the entangled one. Ripping it down they closed in and proceeded to consume the injured one. Other screamers joined in the frenzy and devoured it within minutes. I felt sick watching the shocking sight unfold in front of me. The memory of my mother surfacing for the briefest moment before Quinn interrupted my gloomy thoughts.
“Silas! I need you to use your light hopefully it will break up the screamers at the gate. At this rate the gate won’t hold and if they get in…”
Quinn didn’t finish his sentence because a young woman went running by us with incredible speed. Followed by a young man that flew by us and yes, I mean literally flew past us. I watched the pair plummet off the roof and land on their feet inside the gate.
“Come on!” The young man yelled up to us.
The screamers became agitated when they saw food close at hand. I stood in stunned amazement as more joined the two at ground level. I recognized Greg, Sara, Hannah and Wes. The others were unknown to me. I felt Silas grab my hand and pull me off the roof. I screamed in utter alarm, we too fell to the earth. I felt a spark of energy come over me as we descended, followed by pure energy that spread through my body like wildfire. The wind from falling sent cool chills up my arms. We too landed on our feet with no pain. I felt mirthful, even though I was pulled off a roof and thought I was going to die. I couldn’t help but slap Silas in the arm for bringing me down with him.
“Damn you. You could have killed us. Don’t you ever do something like that again without asking me first,” I spit the words at him.
“I’m sorry, I thought you felt the same energy I did,” he replied, looking hurt by my outburst.
We didn’t have time to argue further because the energy was back only this time it wasn’t inside me, it was around me. I fell to my knees and tried with all my might not to grab it and take it all for myself. My eyes flashed to the young man that had jumped off the roof before us. He stood within feet of the gate. I watched a ball of fire emerge from first his right hand and then his left. He threw it in the direction of the screamers. The fireball made contact with two of them. He continued to make the fire in his hands. I watched Hannah stand a few feet away next to him, she pushed her ability towards the gate. A few screamers fell to the ground and closed their eyes, other screamers approached and started to eat the sleeping ones. I swallowed hard and fought the desire to grab a hold of all the energy floating around the parking lot. Another young man and lady stood in the line forming close to the gate and fence. They fired round after round at the screamers. Silas joined in and illuminated his light, dim at first but soon the screamers were falling back. They screamed out but strangely it wasn’t unbearable. The energy that surrounded us seemed to muffle the screams. I did a quick headcount of the group at the gate. There were twelve total standing side by side, a few feet apart. I could barely keep myself up on my knees. Electric energy filled my entire being. I was falling to the pavement and I watched the twelve fall to the earth with me. The energy shooting out of me and sending me away into nothingness. The light Silas cast was bright and it was the last thing I saw before the familiar darkness consumed me.