Faceless

I lay in bed unable to sleep. It was as if I could almost hear the deep growls coming from the basement. Besides the quiet noise that came from the people outside who were keeping watch, the whole place was dead silent.
“I wish I wasn’t huddled up in here being completely useless” I said to myself as I got up from the bed and began to pace around the room. There was a faint knock on the door and I quickly responded, “Come in.”
Reed walked in holding a sleeping Alex. I quickly went to the bed and straightened it out as much as I could for him. As Reed placed Alex on the bed and tucked him in, he asked, “what about you? Where will you sleep?”
“I haven’t been able to sleep much. I will probably just sit here and wait till your watch is over.”
“Well if you don’t want to sit in the dark alone you can keep me company on my watch?”
“Could we leave Alex here?”
“We will be just outside the door. Your room is far but no room in this place is far enough to keep me at ease,” assured Reed.
We sat right outside of the door with our backs against the wall of the room. At first it was silent until Reed finally spoke, “I’m sorry if I’ve been rude to you lately. It was just a hard transition for me and, well you know, my feelings for Adelaide.”
“I understand. I can only imagine how you must have felt with all of this,” I responded. Reed smiled widely. “What?” I asked while my cheeks began to burn from embarrassment. Had I said something wrong?
“Nothing. It’s just that you are just very different from Adelaide.”
I was not sure if this statement was meant positively or negatively but I took this as an opportunity to finally ask him what I had been wondering for a while. “If you don’t mind me asking, and you don’t have to answer at all,” I started, “where is Alex’s mother?” I began to regret asking this question when I saw that Reed stiffened.
“She left with the Coalition back when Alex was just a newborn,” he said softly.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered slowly.
“Kayla never loved Alex even before he was born. She hated her pregnancy and how it made her abilities uncontrollable. She was able to control anything metal around her and since the hormones from the pregnancy would change her emotions, she would make metallic things fly all over. Overall, I think she hated Alex because of me. Things started to get bad before we found out she was pregnant. I was relieved when we found out that she was because I had hoped that it would salvage our relationship. Instead, it only made me realize what a horrible person she was. She tried to commit suicide while pregnant multiple times. She ran off to the Coalition just a few months after he was born and I haven’t seen her since.”
I was left shocked and I did not know how to respond. After a while I was able to respond with, “What is the Coalition? I know they are the people that are trying to get rid of us but I honestly don’t know much more than that.”
“The Coalition was created in order to annihilate all those with special abilities. They use people with special abilities because it is easier to fight similar people. We don’t know who the leader is exactly but we know he is ruthless.”
“Why annihilate you guys though? If they also have abilities.”
“We still don’t truly know why. Colden had said that the ones who help to get rid of us do so almost in a sense of killing themselves. They usually consist of vulnerable and angry people, hence why Kayla joined them. They are people who hate their abilities and find it a burden. At least, in this way, they are cleansing the world. They are almost succeeding, I’m afraid. There is not much left of us, from what we have gathered.”
I began to let this new information sink in. If there were few of us, did this mean there wasn’t hope in our survival? Again, I was left with more questions than answers.
“Who started this? In every organization there always seems to be a leader—a voice that they follow almost unconsciously,” I asked.
“We still do not know who it could be. We have tried figuring out who it is when we interrogate one of the captured members of the Coalition but they never give us any responses.”
A minor silence grew between us as we each began to contemplate what the future held for our kind. There was a thunderous clank that came from the metal door at the far end of the building. Reed and I arose from the floor in a panicked state.
“Do you think—,” I began to say before he cut me off.
“No. Impossible,” he said hesitantly.
The ostentatious noise only began to get louder as I sensed he was approaching the metal door. That is when we began to hear the growling and slashing of materials. There were screeching sounds as I knew that the long think nails of the beast cut through the walls that contained it.
“Camila, get Alex and run towards the kitchen and hide in the small pantry located near the end of the wall.”
I stood there motionless for a while until I felt a minor rush of adrenaline run its course through my body. “Let me help Reed. I can let Adelaide out and she can—,”
“Camila!” Reed yelled. I was startled by this sudden rush of emotion. His voice lowered as he said, “Please I need you to protect Alex.”
The expression on his face and the tone on his voice indicated the sudden distress. I quickly opened the door to my room but not before hearing the piercing scratching against the metal door. As I walked out of the room with an awoken Alex in my arms, I briefly saw Reed, Laurie, Ty, Red, and Colden heading towards the outskirts of the metal door. The growls and the pounding intensified as there were noticeable marks on the door. Emily hurried to my side as I pulled her with me.
“Where are we going?” asked Emily tearfully.
“To the pantry. Unless there is a better place to hide?” I asked.
“No, the basement would usually be our safe haven for an attack.”
As we hurried off to the pantry, I could hear the booming sound of the metallic door being ripped off its hinges. The deafening growl that arose made us pause in fear for a moment. I could hear the fight begin to ensue inside the building. Emily tugged my arm as she insisted that we move forward. Once in the kitchen, we hurried to the pantry and unscrewed the latch that kept it look. Emily and I looked at each other once we noticed that the pantry could only hold, at the most, two people. My mind began to trail off as I tried to figure out a way to situate all of us.
“Camila, we can’t,” Emily started to say as if she was reading my mind. “You and Alex go in. I will be outside of the door and I will just use my ability.”
I began to shake my head almost automatically. “No! You’re pregnant. Your abilities are uncontrollable right?”
Emily looked down shamefully. “Yes but I rather take that chance and keep you both safe.”
I continued to shake my head in disagreement. I couldn’t possibly let Emily risk her life, her baby’s life, for me. Without hesitation I looked at Emily sternly, “Either you get in there or Adelaide will make you get in there.”
Emily looked at me, shocked. I took a step toward her and she quickly nodded fearfully. Emily crawled in the small pantry situating herself as best as she could before taking a frightened Alex from my arms. Emily began to tear up once they were situated and I was about to close the pantry door.
“Be safe, please!” Emily said through tears. All I could do was nod.
As I locked the pantry from the outside, I racked my brain searching for Adelaide but could not feel her. “Come on Adelaide. Where are you?” I asked myself. There was a deafening scream that came from the hallway followed by a crashing sound. Instinctively, I ran straight towards the scream.
What I witnessed was indescribable at first. A giant wolf that almost reached the top of the ceiling and that stood up with its hind legs, was towering over Laurie. I could see that the crashing noise had come from Colden and Ty as they were thrown to the farthest end of the wall. They laid motionless on the floor. The monster flung Laurie to the floor carelessly as he began to head over to Colden and Ty. Before he could reach them, Red appeared out of thin air and quickly took hold of Ty before vanishing again. Reed, who was helping Laurie up, noticed this and quickly ran to distract the wolf. The monster’s eyes seared through my brain as he turned his direction to Reed. It was as if the wolf wanted to finish off Colden because he quickly returned his attention to his passed out body. Red reappeared in front of Colden but didn’t have enough time to grab him before the monster flung her to the other wall. This was all happening way too fast and I didn’t know how to help. Was this the end of Colden? It couldn’t be. As the beast’s claws grew closer to him all I could do was hide inside my body.
I was looking at the scene from the inside of my body and right next to me was Adelaide. If we were both in here, who was out there?
“I don’t know but look,” whispered Adelaide amazed and confused at what she was looking at.
A distinct barrier grew in front of Colden before the wolf clawed at him. A barrier so strong that it threw the beast far away from him. All of a sudden I knew why Adelaide stood dumbfounded, my arms where stretched out as if controlling this barrier. Laurie and Reed turned to look in our direction and their eyes widened. Before any of them could say anything else, the beast began making its way towards my body but before it could get any closer, my hands switched direction and once again created a barrier. The beast pounded angrily trying to make its way through it.
“We have to act now Reed!” Laurie said frantically. Reed nodded as he pulled out a small blade. With a quick motion, he hurled the blade making it hit the beast’s spine. “And this won’t kill him?” asked Laurie.
“No, paralyze him which in turn will make him shift back to himself. I could see it.” Laurie nodded as she watched the beast fall to the floor. The wolf gave out a whimper as it fell to the floor. Before I could see what the outcome was, it all became dark.