RACE TO THE HAVEN

DISCOVERED

Blowing out the candle, silence engulfs the room. The flashing lights of EEP come through the thin cotton sheet held up by nails; blocking the view into our shack of a home. The Emphagelic Extermination program hunts what is left of us. The war between humans and emphagelics led to us being banned against all countries in the world. A failed human experiment they called us artificial angels yet we still had human DNA. They had finally found us dread our face. All of us are frozen in place scared of what will happen next.
My father is the first to take action, slowly he brings his fingers to his lips. Then letting his finger fall he points towards the exit of makeshift home.
Slowly he inches over to the door, ever so slightly lifting the door and putting it on the side.
"Don't move" he says, mouthing it slowly with no audio.
He doesn't break his gaze with us as he lifts the door back into place and is gone.
The air stands still as minutes feel like hours.
Suddenly gunfire goes off as a shockwave of sound & wind break through the thin curtain. As the curtain lifts I see my father weaving through the crowd of men punching faster than the men can see. Bending down he leaps into the sky creating another shockwave knocking anyone close to him into the air.
The street in front of us is silent, as men begin to scream.
Fire! Guns begin firing as a descending ringing begins to sound louder and louder, filling our ears a loud crash breaks into the ground causing an earthquake. Fire takes to the sky.
Coming around the corner he runs towards us covered in soot. His stern face melts as he smiles into my eyes as a bullet goes through his head. My mother screams as men turn the other corner shooting at us. My sister & I fly backwards towards the wall as small lights begin flickering around my mothers body, she yells as her physical energy is pushed out of her fingers creating a wall blocking alleyway. She looks back at me fiercely.
"I love you , go to the safe house. I will meet you there," she says with such repose.
I crook my head almost as if I don't believe her but I have no time to question her, I grab my sister's wrist and break into a full sprint.
Dodging and weaving through boxes, boards, and whatever we could fill to create our labyrinth we move seamlessly. Stopping I hear footsteps, peaking past the corner men turn going down the other way.
I whisper to my little sister, "They are already here." Her face fills with frustration and worry. Pulling certain pillars holding the weight up, the junk falls behind us closing the trail.
Making it out of the labyrinth we run through the bombed ridden city.
Crossing the street, we run into another alley with our handmade tunnels made of wood, trash,and concrete. My fathers genius way to move between this city was unseen. I think back to the stories I was told growing up. My father grew up in this city alone until he met my mom. Both were on the run to survive. My mom was badly injured and he took her to our safe house and the rest was history. My fathers smile rips through my head as tears run down my face.
I look at my sister, blurred vision from the tears in my eye, I shake them away.
The safe house just outside the city is full of our no-return reserves.
We slipped past the Great Wall, it used to be the boundary that kept us in the seven cities. Parts of it stand while other parts have been completely obliterated from the war between emphagelics and humans. Past the Great Wall lies a desert waste land of destroyed cars, sand and rubble.
I turn in the direction of our hut, my eyes scan the horizon, the sky is clear.
"Come on, i say out loud
Is mommy going to be there? Ask my eight year old sister.
"I do not know, hop on my back I say aloud. She jumps on my back as we begin to move through the beige terrain. We duck and hide from the planes that fly above us as they search the ground.
Turning a giant boulder hides our entrance to the safe house.
A lock on a small wooden door leads to a basement.
Pulling on the necklace a small key pops out from under my shirt.
I fumble with the key anxiously looking over my back and checking the sky.
Unlocking the door, we run down the steps, my sister flips on the small switch turning on the generator and the lights flicker on inside of the bunker.
Slamming the doors closed i lock it from the inside, standard protocol is now in effect.
If we were ever to be separated we were to remain here for twenty four hours before locating our kind.
I go through our resources making sure everything is there.
Food, Water, Matches, and first aid.
My father was one to prepare, he was noticing the helicarriers starting to come around. how they found us I have no idea. But human technology is far more advanced than we know. Maybe a new sonar? My father was a speedwing, the fastest of our kind that could fly. We are broken down into our different kinds of emphagelics. Speedwings, Nightwings, Shieldwings, Firewings, Sickwings, Sensewing & Chargewings. Anything outside of that was considered very rare and high value emphagelic, there's only been a few in the existence of our 400 years that have ever fallen out of category seven.
Speedwings have the ability to move as fast as the speed of sound or faster. Nightwings were created as spies, cunning and sharp; they are aerial assassins from the sky having the ability to turn invisible. Shieldwings can pulsate a shield from their wings to cover small distances. Firewings were based on the fiction of dragons having the ability to shoot fire from their mouths and fire from their wings. Sickwings were created by atomic frequencies, just being near them radiation emitted from the body. Sensewings are like hounds, with enhanced reflexes able to project sonar, can smell from miles away, and dodge bullets by hearing them cut through the air. Last are Chargewings able to shoot emp blast or different types of blast by charging their wings. We were bred for war but also made for so much more. Once we started asking for our rights, humanity decided to eradicate their decision on our birth.

It's been twenty-four hours, and my parents have not returned. My fingers twitch from the fear of leaving without them. I grab the backpacks full of supplies we need, I hand one to Munie, I search the bag for the compass. Moving the non perishables a small pebble lies at the bottom of the bag. Taking it out, I place it in my palm, I leave it in the middle of my palm and focus on the energy within it. I feel the tug of the rock move towards my index finger. A confirmation,I look at my sister, "i know where we are going. how ?" she asks.
Dad said he laid out markers where to go. We are supposed to trust this rock as it will lead us to where we will be safe.
It's dark out now, best to go while under the cover of the night.
Opening the shed doors, stars shine as the night sky is clear.
A silent night, nothing moves as I listen for commotion of any sort.
Let's go, I whisper.
I stare at my sister, unsure if she is ready for the hardship we are about to face, the responsibility of protecting her weighs heavy on my shoulders.
I help her into her bag and pull it tight, I rub her head and smile confidently.
We'll make it, I promise.
We head in the direction of my index finger northeast.