Pestilence Plagues | ONC 2021

06 | Mutant Extinction Movement

THUMP!

Cracks crept along the reflective surface of the glass plane, originating from the point of contact with Lukas' fists. Lukas pulled his hand back and gave it a good shake as he prepared to give the window a second punch, a determined look on his face.

SMASH!

This time, Lukas' hands went through the window as it burst into smithereens under the tremendous impact of his fist. I instinctively lifted my hands up to shield myself against the glass shards spewing from the plane, feeling slight stinging sensations along my arms.

"I'm down!" Lukas yelled out, his voice sounding much further than it was moments ago. A quick glance out of the window confirmed that Lukas was indeed downstairs and waving his hands frantically. "Send them down!"

"Jelani!" I called out to the youngest boy, who was frozen and facing the door encased in vines. The boy whipped his head around in surprise as I tilted my head towards the window. He gave a sharp nod and dashed towards the window. Without hesitation, Jelani pushed himself up onto the desk and leapt out of the window in one swift motion. I stuck my head out of the window and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Jelani was caught by Lukas.

"Thomas!" I yelled out. Thomas gave a quick nod. Tablet gripped tightly to his body, he sprinted towards the window and dove head first out of the building. After a quick check to ensure that Thomas did not land on his head, I did a quick grabbing and pushing motion with my hand. The water from the surrounding atmosphere gathered to form a giant water ball before shooting towards the vine enclosed door and freezing to form a thin layer of ice.

"Let's go!" With a grab of Ellen's arm, I pulled her away from the door, the green vines quickly turning brown. I gave her a slight shove towards the shattered window. She took the cue and jumped through the window. Noting that she got down safely, I took a final sweeping glance around the room, my eyes landing on the still unconscious driver.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, guilt gnawing at my insides. Impulsively, I drew water from the air yet again and formed the phrase 'He's not a mutant' and froze it into ice at the foot of the bed. He didn't deserve to suffer from the consequences of our actions.

The sound of another gunshot, followed by ice shattering caused me to whip my head towards the door fearfully. The door fell to the ground with a loud thud, revealing the same group of people from the motel lobby. The only difference was that they were now armed with an assortment of weapons. From shotguns to long thick poles and even pitchforks. My heart pounded wildly against my chest as one of the men with a dark red fedora pulled his rifle up and pointed at me. I'm going to die. They're going to kill me. Oh my god. This was the end.

"Clarke! Hayley Clarke!" The sound of my name broke me out of my trance as I instinctively lifted my quaking hands, pulling more water to form a wall of ice. Ignoring the angry shouts compounded upon the sound of guns cocking, I spun around and dove out of the window.

Large arms enveloped me, putting a stop to my descent into the floor. "You alright?" A deep voice asked as I was gently lowered to the ground.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, my voice shaky. I pushed myself up and off the concrete floor and forcefully took a deep breath, willing myself to focus on the task at hand. We needed to get to safety.

"I'm fine." This time I met everyone's concerned gaze with a more determined look. "Let's go."

Just as we were about to leave the vicinity of the motel, a mob of armed humans ran in to block our path. My heart skipped a beat. There were loud laughs and cackles as the crowd grew in size and circled around us, closing in on us. Like a well-oiled machine, the five of us quickly moved to form our own circle, our backs against each other as we stood with our arms raised, ready to defend ourselves.