Lord of Cages - Vessel

Chapter 10 - The Cruel Awakening

Chapter Ten

The Cruel Awakening

She woke up with the aggravating sound of urgent, rushed movements throughout the house – agitated, rushed voices, quick steps going down the stairs, heavy steps walking fast in the living room. Naya couldn't detect any type of panic, but she could feel the nerves and anxiety.

It immediately sent her on edge. Her heart was racing and she was restless, borrowing from the tension that lingered around the place. It was impossible to stay in bed, she had to get up and find out what was wrong.

She searched for Luke, quickly finding him looking out the window of their bedroom. He was gazing outside, contemplating the skies, tense, obviously nervous and stressed – he knew something that she didn't, it was like he felt something was coming.

It only helped in making her feel worse.

The sun wasn't even close to coming up yet, but the night wasn't deep anymore and the city looked completely peaceful and in calm slumber. But Naya could feel it – the heavy atmosphere outside, like impending disaster about to happen.

"What is going on?" she whispered. Luke looked at her, intense, but unable to communicate what he already knew. He climbed up her body and settled in his usual spot on her shoulder.

She got out of the room just in time to see Nicole, Matt and Adam leaving the house in a hurry, all of them dressed with the same black uniform.

Before closing the door, Adam still found enough time to say, towards the stairs, "Kayla, don't you dare leave this house, you hear me?"

"Stop worrying about me," Kayla replied from upstairs, "just be careful and come back safe, please." The heavy note of concern in her voice was scary.

Adam smirked. "I always do." He winked at her and quickly left, closing the door behind him.

Naya couldn't possibly stay behind, she had to know what was going on. She waited until she heard Kayla's bedroom door closing and, ignoring Adam's advice, followed the Hunters outside.

It was cold and humid and there was no wind, no draft, nothing moved, almost as if Aurora had stopped in time. There was no noise, no birds singing or flying, no cats running – nothing. The sleepy city already knew something was about to happen.

Naya had no idea where Adam and the others had gone, but she knew they had gone there fast – there was no sign of them anywhere. She ran to the end of the street, turned right, ran ahead some more and faced a usually busier part of the city, with a lot more movement and action than their quiet street.

For the first time that night, she saw a few people outside, walking around, their pace hastened, as if they also knew something was wrong by instinct alone.

Suddenly, an alarm rang and it was so loud, Naya had no problem believing it could be heard throughout the whole city. It was painfully loud, urgent and pierced the skies with unforgiving, fierce power, spreading fear and doubt. It was also getting louder and louder, growing, feeding off of anxiety and looming danger. It was a warning.

The few people that were once walking were now running, hiding and it didn't took longer than a couple of stressed moments for the whole area to become completely deserted.

The alarm stopped echoing. The silence was heavy, almost palpable and the deathly stillness left her feeling vulnerable, paranoid, unprotected. It was deeply unnerving. She frantically searched for a sign of peril anywhere, resting against a wall, heart pumping so fast she could almost hear it and feel the blood racing.