“Lucas will give us a signal when the coast is clear,” Alex said, sensing how anxious I was about waiting outside.

“Don't we need to help though?” I asked, feeling for the shirt tied around my arm to see if the bleeding was still bad.

“No, Isabelle said most of the soldiers would be out front defending the door, so it should just be a few stragglers now, and she has the advantage when she can go invisible and pick them off like this. Leaving you alone out here isn’t safe, and you do not need to be fighting,” Alex said sternly.

I groaned in protest and slouched against the wall, grinding my teeth as the movement reignited the pain in my arm.

“You’re just proving my point. You can’t even move,” he whispered softly.

“You win, I'll wait for the signal,” I sighed and gently touched the shirt wrapped around my arm. It felt wet already. I brought the hand up, and it was covered in blood.

At this point I wasn’t even scared, I was just angry at the men trying to kill us like we were animals. I was embarrassed that I'd let myself get hurt. But I wasn’t scared. Any remorse I had for the soldiers was gone. The way the man had approached me, talked to me, he wanted nothing more than to see the light leave my eyes. Now I wanted the same. I would cut down all who would try to kill us.

Suddenly the floodlights cut off, and the sirens faded, until we were left in silent darkness again. That must be our signal to head inside. I looked at Alex and extended a hand. I needed help to stand without using my arm. He took my hand and carefully pulled me up, apologizing as I gasped at the pain. I shook my head to dismiss the apology and together we walked towards the door. We carefully made our way through the pile of bodies. Some were missing heads, some were full of holes caused by the irregular ice, but all were still now.

Upon entering the building I scanned my surroundings. There were a few more soldiers lying dead, and a few bodies with lab coats instead of a soldier's attire. My gaze lingered over them. Were the scientists forced to be here? Or were they just as twisted? Lucas appeared around the corner. He’d acquired a military vest, and a few new guns. He held up more gear and Alex walked over to him.

“How is she?” Lucas asked as Alex slipped on the vest and took a large gun from him.

“I’m fine,” I interrupted. “Think you can find an extra shirt to go under that vest?” I laughed.

Lucas nodded and motioned for us to follow him, “You’re both going to want to see a few things. We cleared the facility of hostiles.”

Lucas led us through a few rooms. The first was a massive store room, with all the military gear one could want. Alex grabbed a white undershirt from the room and slipped it on before putting the vest back on. I looked around at the walls full of guns, ammo, grenades, handcuffs, and military clothing. It was sickening. We were just people, not some rival military that warranted this type of resistance. We just wanted to live. Was that so hard to accept?

The next room was a kitchen stocked to the brim with MRE’s and years worth of unprepared food. It looked like some grand doomsday prepper’s bunker. I found myself wondering just how many people they intended to feed. There were maybe twenty dead total I’d seen so far, counting the ones outside. It hardly warranted the stockpile in front of us.

“Here comes the really fucked up part. Ready?” Lucas asked as he led us down the hallway.

Alex and I followed in silence. I steeled myself for whatever was waiting up ahead. Lucas turned towards a room with a large steel door. He whipped out a bloody access card from his belt. It likely came from one of the men wearing lab coats. The door beeped and clicked, then Lucas pushed it open and stepped to the side, allowing us to enter. It was a lab. Cold, steel, clinical. There were six large metal tables, with restraint straps for arms and legs. There was a fridge with a glass door, and inside sat a large stock of blood samples, all carefully labeled and lined up. There was a large filing cabinet behind a desk, and sitting at the desk was Isabelle. She was completely focused flipping through the materials. I doubt if she even noticed us.

“Isa,” Lucas shouted, breaking her concentration. Isabelle’s head shot up in response. “Have you found anything interesting yet?” he asked.

She shook her head in affirmative, “Ya but there’s a lot here. Let me get the full story, and I’ll brief everyone all at once. Besides, they really need to see the cells if you haven’t taken them down to June yet.” I turned to look at Lucas. I raised my eyebrow, intrigued by Isabelle’s words.

“Ya ya I was saving the best for last. You’re no fun,” Lucas teased as he led us out of the room.

“Stop by the infirmary on the way back and patch her up!” Isabelle yelled after us as we walked further down the hall.

Lucas yelled back that we would, and then continued on towards a set of stairs that led down. So there was a basement, and a second floor based on the stairs I saw earlier. “Just try to be calm, everyone is freaked out right now,” Lucas whispered as we neared the bottom of the stairs.

My heart rose to my throat as I got a glimpse through the window in the door. Lucas used the keycard and opened the door at the click. Inside was an entirely different type of space than upstairs. It was a prison. Cells stretched as far as I could see in the expansive room. June was struggling with a large keychain. She had only opened the first few cells. Strangers sat in a small waiting space having a conversation with grim looks painted on their faces, and handcuffs on their wrists. It was two people to a cell, and they were all dressed in black sweatpants with white T-shirts. They were all handcuffed even inside the cells. There had to be nearly a hundred people in here, and I suspected they were all Oddities.

“Angel! Is that you?” A familiar voice called out from a few cells past June.

“Jake?” I screamed.

I held back the rush of emotions threatening to spill out and hurried to the source of the voice. I tried to run to him but my injury prevented it. Alex kept close to my side as I made my way past the cells. Each person I passed had a look of relief mixed with pain and anger. I couldn’t imagine what they’d been through, what he’d been through. I reached the cell I was looking for and found Jake. He was dressed like the others. He had bruises on his wrists from the handcuffs, and dark spots on the insides of his elbows from multiple blood draws. His light blonde hair had turned darker than mine from the layers of dirt and grease, but it was him.

“You’re alive,” I choked out, desperately trying not to cry. I pulled at the lock on the door fruitlessly trying to free my brother.

“You’re okay,” he responded, sounding relieved. “I heard you screaming outside. I was worried,” he said with a sigh.

“You heard me?” I questioned in disbelief.

“I guess the tests were right. I didn’t have an Oddity when they took me, but my senses are inhuman now. Sight, sound, smell, touch, everything. It goes beyond what you could imagine. I heard you two talking when you were injured outside too. The gunfire hurts my head though,” Jake rambled on about his newfound abilities as I desperately willed the lock to break. I’d slice it off with my wings if I weren’t in so much pain, but I didn’t dare pull the wings out in my current state.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Lucas approached us and gently touched my shoulder, asking me to take a step back. I reluctantly stepped away from the lock and watched. Lucas opened a bottle of water and poured it on the floor. He then turned it to ice and brought it up to the lock, he felt around and shaped the ice until the lock clicked, freeing Jake at last. He used the rest of the water to make three more keys and passed them to us.

“This should make things go a bit faster,” Lucas grinned as he waved the key in the air and walked to the next cell.

Jake ran to me and tried to extend his arms to hug me, but the handcuffs still restrained him. I put my uninjured arm around him tightly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you that day,” my voice cracked as I desperately tried to keep from crying.

“Don’t be, I saw you fly off from the transport truck, and I saw how many people closed in seconds later. You’d be dead if you tried,” he said bitterly. “They’re monsters, Angel.”

I nodded and lingered in the half hug for a moment longer. “Alright let’s free everyone. Take a key,” I said, handing Alex one of the spares Lucas made for us.

Lucas pulled Alex aside to talk while I joined June and started to unlock the cells. The ice wasn’t normal, but it would still melt eventually, so we had to be quick. After the two finished whatever talk they were having there were four of us working on freeing everyone, and the process moved faster. Everyone began to congregate near the front of the room. It was set up like a breakroom, just outside of the cells. It must’ve been torturous for those locked inside to watch the scientists and soldiers rest just feet away. The group of people waited anxiously, still bound by handcuffs.

Once we freed all of them from the cells Lucas asked everyone to come back to the front of the room. Lucas used his loud voice and intimidating presence to gain everyone’s attention, and then he motioned for Alex, who quickly left my side and stood in front of everyone. Alex looked around the room at everyone, he seemed sad and angry. He hopped on a table so everyone could see him and then cleared his throat to speak.

“We’re taking this place as our base. Anyone who wants to stay is welcome. One of the Oddities in our group will be working on a large barrier made from trees, anyone with abilities that can be used for a similar purpose is welcome to meet up with her and discuss planning for the barrier,” Alex looked at June for a moment and paused until she nodded, then he continued.

“We have one person already working on intel, and if anyone would like to help her understand what happened here you’ll find her upstairs in the lab,” Alex said and pointed at the door. Several people flinched at the mention of the lab and my heart sunk at the sight. They’d been through awful things without a doubt.

“Some of you may already know Jake, he’s been here with you. He will alert us if anyone approaches. Again, if anyone has abilities that can be used similarly you can meet with him to discuss,” Alex paused again and looked at Jake who nodded solemnly. He didn’t even need to ask. Of course Jake would help us.

“Lucas and I will work on getting all the handcuffs off you. After that you’re free to stay and help, rest up for a while, or leave. You owe us nothing and we will not force you to be a part of this effort, but, if the rest of you want to fight for our freedom and get revenge on the bastards who did this to us we’ll be happy to have you. We’re sorry this happened to you. Find me or Angel if you need anything,” Alex finished talking and pointed me out before stepping off the table.

I took a deep breath. The blood loss and pain was catching up with me and I started to feel weak. Jake escorted me to a table and told me to sit down for a bit. He caught up with Alex and the three boys worked tirelessly to free everyone from their chains. After that was done people broke into groups. The doors were all propped open so we wouldn’t have to rely on the keycards, and a small group of people went upstairs. Some wanted to speak with Isabelle, others had some skills in cooking and volunteered to cook for everyone. Two of the people were in Med school and went to set up in the infirmary. A few others went to tour and map the rest of the rooms in the facility to see about sleeping arrangements. There were eighty-two people, plus our group of five, making eighty-seven. Of those, not one chose to leave.

Those that stayed in the basement either wanted to rest, or talk defense with June and Jake. A few came to Alex and I with questions about safety, and how the outside world was now. We told everyone who asked all we knew about the quarantine and the news coverage. It wasn’t pleasant for anyone to hear but lying would get us nowhere.

After things settled down a bit a group of self-appointed organizers came back down and let us know how many rooms there were. The first floor was mostly storage and functional rooms, the basement was prison cells, and the second floor was staff bedrooms. There were around forty rooms on the second floor, and they each held one queen sized bed. Then there were the small prison beds. Several of the younger kids, around fourteen, decided to split rooms. A few older men, (none more than twenty-five years old just as Isabelle theorized) took it upon themselves to stay in the prison beds. Once everything was totaled up there were enough beds for everyone that way, and no one had to stay in the basement if they didn’t want to. Everyone seemed more than willing to share beds. Jake would be sharing with another boy around his age, and the same went for Isabelle. June and Lucas would have a room, and Alex and I would split one.

People slowly trickled upstairs to a small cafeteria and got food from those who went to cook earlier. Alex escorted me to the infirmary to see the two people who were manning it. There was a girl and a boy in their early twenties. They didn’t know each other but they were both studying to go into the medical field before their capture. The girl carefully removed the bullet after attempting to numb the area and giving me a hefty dose of pain meds. The boy took over and sewed the wound shut. Neither was completely comfortable with the task, they hadn’t reached the point in their studies where they'd worked on actual people yet. They were just running on textbook knowledge and doing the best they could to ensure I wouldn’t get an infection.

The makeshift operation hurt like a bitch without anesthesia. I squeezed Alex’s hand as hard as I could during the process and focused on keeping my wings securely tucked away. The last thing I wanted to do was accidentally hurt the people trying to help me. They kept saying I was lucky the bullet just nicked my arm. It didn’t hit anything vital. If it had they would’ve been woefully under qualified to help me. Each time I yelped in pain they apologized sincerely. They tried to ease tensions by joking about their unexpected inpatient experience. They laughed about asking their schools for credit for their time manning the infirmary, if things ever went back to normal.

The whole time my eyes were locked on Alex’s. He was looking at me with guilt and worry in his eyes. He kept murmuring apologies for allowing me to get hurt again. He wouldn’t say it but I knew he was reliving the incident with Drew. It seemed like it was hell for him to see me laid out on a hospital bed again. I tried my best to just hold on for the ordeal to end, and keep looking at him. By the time they were done patching me up most of the others had already turned in for the night. I thanked them for helping me and we left the infirmary.

Lucas was waiting outside with a big grin on his face, “We really turned this shitshow around. We have a real shot at fighting back now. We couldn’t have done it without you two. You knew where to find this place, and forget angel, you’re a demon out there fighting. It was incredible,” Lucas praised.

Alex thanked him on my behalf. I was in pain, tired, and a little disoriented from the pain meds the girl gave me. Alex had to carry me as we followed Lucas upstairs to our room. He was careful not to touch the newly dressed wound on my arm. He kept glancing down at me, but I was slowly losing my ability to stay awake. I heard Alex thank Lucas as I faded in and out of sleep. Alex stepped inside our room and placed me gently on the bed before turning to close the door.

The people who had been organizing earlier must’ve found clothes in a store room and distributed them because several sets of the comfortable looking sweats all the prisoners were wearing were folded nicely on the bed. Next to them laid a pile of military fatigues. It was probably the only non-prisoner attire in the building other than the lab coats worn by the two future doctors manning the infirmary.

“Do you need my help to change?” Alex asked softly.

I was still wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a tank top. My jeans and top were thoroughly coated with now-dried blood, and not all of it was mine. The shirt was torn from my wings, and better off in the trash. I nodded and mumbled something about throwing the shirt away. Alex stepped over to me and carefully helped me raise my arms and change shirts. A few tears rolled down my cheeks from the pain as my arms were raised and he quickly wiped them away. He took off my socks and shoes and helped me slip out of the tight jeans. He replaced the jeans with sweatpants. The whole time he tried not to look more than necessary but I was past the point of caring. I was too in pain and too tired to even think of it as inappropriate. He laid me in bed and quickly changed for himself before joining me. There was so much I wanted to say but I was far too tired to form any words. Within moments I slipped off into a deep, dreamless sleep.