Day 109:
My head hurt terribly and my body trembled as I regained composure. I squeezed my eyes closed and then opened a few times before the room came to life. Dr. Nickels was speaking with a frantic Silas.
“She is a traitor Silas. She can’t be trusted. She tried to kill me,” Dr. Nickels explained dryly.
“It doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t hurt anyone here or betray us,” Silas replied.
I tried to open my mouth but discovered it was covered with tape. I yelled out but it was muffled.
Silas heard me and ran over to me. He pulled the tape off my mouth which hurt like a son of a bitch.
“Dr. Nickels is the bad guy,” I yelled.
Silas and I turned in time to see Dr. Nickels standing rod straight and Mabel by his side.
“I guess you spoke with Dr. Mills?” Dr. Nickels sneered. Each word laced with venom.
“You made the humans into screamers,” I accused.
Dr. Nickels merely nodded his head.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I had a vision of the future and what the future humans would look like. I wasn’t going to wipe out everyone. I was going to start a new race,” he explained, “I was successful in creating the hybrid gene but it was only successful on a small percentage of the population. Unfortunately things have gotten out of hand but I am going to fix everything. I created a cure and have injected the female screamer.”
“No,” I yelled.
“Yes, she is in the process of healing. Wes and Addy have kindly volunteered to release the female and male screamers so they can spread the cure.”
The two screamers lay still on the beds, I thought they were dead. Wes and Addy lifted the male and put him in a wheelchair. They did the same thing with my sister.
“Addy. Wes. Stop. She is my sister,” I begged.
They both stopped and stared in surprise.
“She is lying. She doesn’t have any sisters,” Dr. Nickels stated.
Addy and Wes hesitated but pushed the screamers out of the room.
I yelled after them to no avail.
“Silas let me go. I’m not the bad one here. I haven’t betrayed anyone. It’s Dr. Nickels.”
Quinn entered the room and approached us.
“What in the hell is going on in here?”
“Quinn, Dr. Nickels is bad. Please untie me.”
Quinn looked puzzled but started to untie me.
“You don’t want to let her go,” Dr. Nickels stated.
“We don’t treat people this way,” Quinn said.
Dr. Nickels stepped forward and pointed a gun at Quinn’s chest. Mabel also held a gun in her hands.
“What the hell are you doing?” Quinn barked.
“I need Wes and Addy to release the screamers and then I will lower my gun,” Dr. Nickels explained.
“Why?” Quinn asked.
“I have injected the male and female screamers and the sun is setting. Other screamers will be out anytime now and they will attack and consume the male and female. I will have fixed the small error I made. Why don’t we all go out front and watch. It will be an excellent show,” Dr. Nickels smiled.
We made our way to the front parking lot in time to see Wes and Addy close the gate with the two screamers outside. I tried to warn them but it was too late. Screams filled the night air and the screamers came from every direction. I held my breath and watched the screamers close in on my sister and the male screamer. The two lay on the ground unmoving. I desperately prayed to a god I didn’t even believe in to save her. I begged and pleaded. I needed her to jump up and run away but it would not be. The screamers pounced and attacked the still bodies with extreme force. It was gruesome but quick. They pulled my sister apart like she was string cheese. They greedily ate her. She didn’t scream, cry or even whimper. The screamers stood up after consuming the male but moments later fell and started to convulse. One at first and then more joined in the convulsing dance. More screamers came in and attacked the convulsing screamers. This process continued for hour upon hour. Each screamer consuming screamer. We stood and watched the massacre go on until a voice broke through the screams.
“My god, they are killing each other,” Quinn said.
“I thought you had a cure?” Silas quivered.
“A cure? Why would I want to cure humans when I have you? Dr. Nickels smirked, “I have created a new breed of super humans. You and the others will take over the world and fix the mess the humans made,” Dr. Nickels continued, “The screamers are spreading the death virus as we speak. It will be airborne by morning and the world will be completely wiped clean.”
“There are humans here that are not gifted and there are more out there. You haven’t wiped the earth clean,” I snapped out.
“That’s ok. Due time Layla. Due time. Mabel our work here is complete. We are no longer part of the future. I would like to thank you for your years of service,” Dr. Nickels announced.
Everything happened quickly after that. Dr. Nickels turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger. The gun made a loud bang sound and I watched in horror as Dr. Nickel’s fell to the ground. Blood exited from a hole in his head. Screamers went wild and pounced at the fence. The night screams intensified at the scent of blood. Another gun sounded and I saw Mabel also fall to the pavement. More screams filled the night air but these were screams from the warehouse. The gate slid open and I watched in horror as screamers ran towards us. Silas shot out his light and it momentarily sent dozens of screamers falling back. We darted into the warehouse. I glanced over my shoulder to see who had opened the gate and was shocked to see Hannah's dad standing there in the guard station. Tears fell down his face, two male screamers broke through the glass windows and attacked him. His raspy screams filled my ears as we made it into the warehouse in time to close and lock the doors. I knew we wouldn’t be able to keep them out for long. People were already in action and heading into the fallout shelter. I glanced around the warehouse and found all twelve of the gifted were there.
“What is happening?” Hannah asked.
“We don’t have time to explain,” I said.
“We need to get into the shelter,” Silas ordered.
We ran down the hallways. Screamers banged and smashed against the outside walls of the warehouse. The fallout shelter door was locked. We knocked and banged on the door.
“Let us in!” Lucy yelled.
Quinn ran down the stairs behind us. We need to get out of here now. The screamers are in the building. He covered his bleeding ears. Lucy placed a gentle hand on his face. Screams echoed throughout the hallways and closed in around us. We banged on the door and called out but no one opened the it.
“We have to teleport,” I yelled.
“Gabe I can teleport us but I will need your help.”
Gabe took my hand and the group all locked hands. I knew we had less than a minute before the screamers closed in. I felt heated electrical pulls from the group. Something felt different; I saw Julia standing at the top of the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder and then proceeded to dash down the stairs towards us. Silas raised his hand to stop her but I warned him it was ok.
She stopped in front of me.
“Take me with you, please,” she begged.
“Ok,” I replied and took her hand.
A strong power surged through me and I knew without a doubt this was my sister. The connection was instantaneous. She focused her eyes on mine and a powerful surge of energy shot deep inside my chest. I felt myself falling back into darkness. I watched my sister disappear, my hands reached out to grab hold of her but she was gone. Darkness ever so sweetly moved in and enclosed me in a cool embrace. My eyes closed and everything went still.