The silence unnerves me. It echoes through the air with a stillness that betrays the surroundings. My hand throbs, the scab forming across my palm pulls tight. It feels tender, too warm.
I realise i'm shivering. I'm going to die in here if I don't get out.
The panic sets in, I suppress the urge to scream. Fight the tears and and calm the storm brewing inside. I'm trapped, like an animal my primal instincts fight against reason.
I catch the smallest wisp of air, cutting through the thick atmosphere. It alerts me to its presence, so slight yet so strong. I sit still, and wait. I feel it again, take a deep breath and breathe it in, the is air so sharp sets my lungs on fire.
A whisper uncurls and I hear it calling my name,
"Amber"
My attention is drawn to the vent above the camp bed, the air rushing through the slats, silent and strong. It calls me without words, and suddenly I know what I need to do. I pull at the edge, the screws, now loose, give way easily.
The pipes are narrow, pitch black, thick with grease. The smell is overwhelming, just rot and decay. I don't care, I pull myself up and enter, following the whispers, within seconds I know I'm not alone.
The others, the ones I hear in my sleep, in the workroom, in every waking moment are with me, they can hear this too.
I sense the collective heartbeat as we move closer together, it gets stronger with each beat. The rhythm guiding us, like blood pumping through it's veins.
I pity the ones left behind. Not everyone survives the shadows.
The GENS have no use for them. It's strange how the tables have turned, that they are the minority now. The people who pitied us and our changes, glad they hadn't been left marked and scarred by the explosions. Those who were both repulsed and terrified of what we were becoming. Those clinging onto the hope it could all be fixed are left behind, with no hope of survival once the supplies run out.
They tricked us, rounded us up like criminals. First with promises of a cure. The Safe Houses were pitched as treatment centres, and we were so scared of what was happening to us we clambered to get in.
How foolish we were.
Thousands flocked to Harper Island. Only as the gates closed did we realise it was a trap. Mothers clutched their children as they realised with horror they would be separated. Their screams penetrated us all and we felt their pain course through our veins. The hearts being ripped from our bodies. The panic, terror and fury of the situation was untenable.
They tricked us.
The Safe Houses, no more than quarantined jails. They didn't want to cure us, they simply wanted to contain us. Our strength was growing each day, as we got stronger they grew harsher and we all knew something awful was heading our way.
We waited. In the dark, no food, no air, no contact.
No way out, until the shadows came, calling us, guiding us to freedom.
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Neon Dawn
Teen FictionThe Neon Dawn exploded and took with it the most basic elements of humanity. Only a few survived the explosions, fewer still the mutations and those who did were the privileged few. Undeserving, greedy and corrupt, they created more devastation than...
