The Unveiling

Chapter Two

The two suits laid out gently, yet firmly exactly what was expected from me in this camp. Everyone pulled their weight. A food truck did the rounds every Tuesday delivering each home their weekly groceries, with families ordered to have their grocery lists ready for collection and review by the Sunday beforehand. Naturally only three luxury items were allowed on your list per week. Most people grumbled about this, claiming that it was unfair - the harkening back of our capitalist system, but for me it was more than I had access to previously. 

In the center of the compound stood a large grey building, acting as the local gymnasium where activities were organised, extra food was distributed, and laundry was done. Every single member of the community pitched in - with a weekly roster being shared around what tasks were expected of you. Some members patrolled and ran security within the compound, others handled garbage removal  - it appeared to be a pretty well oiled machine. 

It seemed that my adjustment period was up, and according to them I would be on the roster from tomorrow. 

As darkness crept in while I lay in my bed I felt relieved to be tasked with something. Anything to get my mind off of Shay and the rest of the guys. None of us had promised each other anything, and yet my overnight disappearance didn’t rest easy with me. I needed to figure out some way to get a message to Shay, simply to let him know that I was okay. I allowed my thoughts and worries to wash through me late into the night, until sleep eventually dragged me under, and I was once more accosted by the thunderous roar of wings beating. 

He was bronzed and chiselled with dark curls that hung in his face and stark white wings that extended far past the expanse of his broad shoulders. He stood staring over a boulder below a valley. The same valley that I had seen in multiple other dreams. Something was wrong. I knew that simply by looking at him. The dread and panic swept through me so quickly that I woke up thrashing, my legs wrapped up in the sheets, my dim overhead lights flickering furiously. 

I hated these dreams. I hate how they possessed me. I never knew if I was going to wake up in a blind panic, or from the sheer pleasures I had seen them enact. Most of the time they were debaucherous, leaving me to feel queasy. 

I swung my feet over the edge of the bed, resolving to get up, and simply marched to the shower - might as well get the day started. As the water streamed down my back, I mentally calculated how I was going to get in touch with Shay. Upon moving into the compound, my phone had been taken with the promise of an ‘upgrade’, and I was starting to feel a little uneasy about the place, viewing it more as a cage than a sanctuary.

I once watched a documentary all about the Garden of Eden. It essentially argued that we had translated the whole thing incorrectly, and it wasn’t a paradise, but rather an enclosure where humans were looked after on the basis of their behaviour. 

I was starting to think the same thing could be said for this base camp. 

I stepped off my front porch, pulling my jumper tighter towards me, the autumn wind could be brutal, and made my way towards the large grey building that took up a full four blocks in the center of the suburb. I was on laundry duty, and while I didn’t mind manual labour, I was certainly weary of the people here. 

As the the hues of red, orange and brown crunched under my feet I heard the periodic zapping sound that informed you of the large electric fence around the perimeter, Two guards stood at the entrance with a large boom gate, reviewing everyone’s ‘on file’ records to determine if they were allowed access into this place or not. Everyone here was either Fae or a Shifter of high rank, leaving me as the sole person with Angelic blood here. I briefly wondered how many people knew about me. At this point, the fewer the better. 

As I approached the large building, I entered through a side door and found my way to the designated area for laundry. A girl with shiny blonde hair, half-pulled up, aquamarine eyes and soft pink lips looked up at me. I was slightly taller than her, but she was damn pretty and everything about her screamed ‘Fae’. 

“So you’re the one with Angel blood or whatever,” she said rolling her eyes. 

I already knew her type. She was one of those girls that during the time of the Virus she would have been more concerned about getting her nails done during a lockdown, than actual lives. 

“Hi,” I half waved at her in response. 

She shrugged, turned her back towards me and said, “You can start on those baskets,” pointing to a stack of laundry to the side. 

Seemed she wasn’t a big conversationalist, which suited me fine. I walked towards the laundry baskets, squatted down and started reading the labels attached. It looked like each basket had a label reflecting back to the household it came from, along with a checklist of what was required of us. 

We worked in silence. According to the roster that was given to me, laundry duty was for three hours. The time seemed to fly by, and I only really noticed that our time was almost up when I heard the tell-tale sound of someone texting on their phone. I looked up to see Barbie leaning against one of the machines frantically texting someone. She noticed me staring and flat out ignored me while I continued to work whilst she continued texting. I gritted my jaw, resolving to hold in my irritation, when the lights started flickering again. 

“You don’t have to get your panties in a bunch,” she spoke, gesturing towards the flickering lights, “I’ll put my phone away.” 

She had lost her damn mind. 

“Stop looking so confused,” she spoke, “you can drop the act, no one else is here.” 

“I don’t know what youre talking about,” I replied blandly, packing the last of the remaining clothing into a basket. 

“Oh, are you so much better than the rest of us that you can’t even admit when you have power surges?” She spoke, stepping towards me. My body tensed at the sight of her, recognizing an attack.

I laughed. “Me? I’m the one who thinks I’m better than everyone else around here? You’re the one dressed up like a barbie doll to do laundry.” 

So far, my Angel bloodline had caused me countless problems, without providing me with any real, tangible power. 

She reached me, slamming her hand on top of one of the dryers, effectively denting it. 

I looked at her in surprise. 

“That’s right Angel, I’m part shifter, and I don’t think I like you very much.” 

The lights went haywire as she gripped my wrists, causing acute pain to shoot through my arms. I kicked back at her, catching her in her knee and heard her go down with a loud “oof”. 

And then the globes in the ceiling all shattered, and suddenly shards of glass were raining down upon us. 

“Do you seriously have zero control?” she screamed at me. 

I covered my head, dumbfounded that this was even happening. 

“It’s linked to you and your emotions you i***t,” she spoke in annoyance. “You need to sort your s**t out before I’m on duty with you again,” she growled, dusted herself off and stormed out the room. 

What the hell just happened. 

I realised that the laundry and floor were now all covered in small shards of glass. In order to avoid making matters worse than what they already were, I grabbed a broom and defly swept up the floor, shook out the laundry and repacked everything neatly once more. By the time I had finished, another hour had gone by, and all I could think was - I did that. Me. I was responsible for blowing out the lights. 

It felt like I was Carrie, only this wasn’t highschool and the consequences seemed much greater within a government compound. I closed my eyes and sighed. I needed to get my s**t under control, but mostly, I needed to talk to Shay. 

I flickered back to a memory with him, where we were lying on the rooftop of his old, dented car, staring at the stars, smoking a joint. 

“Be honest Reya,” he nudged, “did you have any inkling that something more was going on than just the Virus and lockdown.” 

I took a long drag and watched the smoke spiral out of my mouth and fade up into the nighsky. 

“Sure,” I shrugged, “I mean we all knew the Virus was a farce. No one shuts down their entire economies simply because.” 

He nodded, “Yeah, I get that.” I passed the joint to him and watched him puff on it. 

As he blew out he continued, “You think folks from the otherside of the veil set it all up with our governments this side?” 

I bit my lip and thought. Despite everything our world had been through, there was still minimal contact with the races that ran through our veins. Was the fact that we were all hybrids now something that they hadn’t considered? No one knew, and so as conspiracy theories went, it was argued that the governments of our time had been in allegiance with them all along. 

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” I shrugged, “none of it really makes sense when you look at it. It kind of feels like we had the rug pulled out from under us. I mean, aren’t you worried that there’s more to come? More to play out? How do we even know that this is the endgame?” 

He chuckled, “And they say that I’m one for dramatics.” He sighed, brushing a strand of hair from my face, “the problem Reya, is that you don’t let people get close to you, so no one knows how truly dramatic you are.” 

I laughed outright, repositioning myself on the car. 

“So what do you think you are?” he pushed on. 

I remained silent as I let him play out his game. He enjoyed guessing my genetics, while I simply didn’t care. 

“Okay, so we know that you’re a shifter,” he continued, “because that temper of yours is brutal”. 

He sat bolt up right, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you were like half shifter or half fae.” 

I lay still smiling as I spoke, “That’s crazy rare Shay.” 

“Oh ye of little faith,” he joked, lying back down as we passed the joint between us. 

As I came back to the here and now, I headed out the building and cut through the park, aiming to take the long way home. It seemed that Barbie was indeed a rare mix. 

The park was filled with toddlers and children playing, jumping, swinging and sliding. It looked like a perfectly normal surbuban setting, and if I hadn’t just exeprienced the last two and a half years, I would have easily slipped back into my pre-virus self. 

But, as if in stark contrast to serve as a reminder as to how different things really were, on the opposite side of the park on the large football field stood a group of people doing what looked like military training. 

I ducked my head and walked along the perimeter of the compound, watching the electricity current turn blue occasionlly with a loud ‘tick’ every couple of seconds. The street on the other side of the compound looked no different to where I stood, and I wondered if that wasn’t the epitome of metaphors when it came to life.