Undetectables

2. Wednesdays

There was no response and my stomach was instantly nauseous. Ignoring the discomfort of my cold, wet clothes, I ran down the hallway, bursting through the closed door of my sister’s room.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her sitting on the bed with her earbuds tucked tightly in her ears. The music blaring from them was loud enough for me to hear from where I stood in the doorway.

She glanced up from her phone, nodding, before returning to whatever she was looking at.

I walked over, frustrated, and pulled the cord, making the buds fall from her ears.

“The f**k, Brielle. Can’t you see I’m busy?” she growled.

“Watch your mouth, Bailey. You scared me. If I call out to you, you have to answer me.”

Bailey rolled her eyes, continuing to scroll on her phone, “Kind of hard to do when I can’t hear you.”

“If you can’t hear me, you wouldn’t hear if someone else came in here.”

She sighed, nodding in understanding.

We’ve had a strained relationship for the past two years. She was only fourteen when our mother was murdered.

I knew that she blamed me for the events that happened that day and honestly, I blamed myself. Bailey had never said it out loud, but I could see the hatred in her eyes every time she looked at me. There was a fire behind her steel grey orbs and she’d burn me at the stake if she could.

Sighing, I left the room without another word. I needed to get dinner on the table.

I threw something together quickly, calling her down to eat.

“Not hungry,” she called back.

“You have to eat tonight. It’s Wednesday.”

She hated Wednesdays almost as much as she hated me. I was born undetectable, but Bailey wasn’t so lucky. She’d taken after our father. He was the Beta of Crimson River, though he was born an Alpha, but was not interested in leading. My father unfortunately died at the hands of rogue hunters. Before the Eradication, there were groups of men that went around and took the law into their own hands. . When the hunters found him, they used him as an example as to why we needed to eliminate werewolves as a whole.

He was captured and tortured, both in his human and wolf form. This was broadcast and used to enlist fear in humans. They saw how dangerous he was, feral is what they called it, but he had only acted the way that he did because he was separated from us and tortured. They used any means necessary to prove their point at my father’s expense. An alpha male would do anything for his family, and he fought long and hard.

My mother never allowed us to actually see what happened, but she used it as a reminder to never trust a human. Every day I wish that I had listened.

I heard Bailey stomp down the hallway, angrily grabbing a plate, and sitting down to eat.

The silence that filled the room was suffocating, as it was most nights. I wanted so badly for her to feel the guilt that I felt, only if it was only for a mere second, so she knew that she didn’t have to hate me. I could do that all on my own.

‘He was supposed to be the one.’

I had to fight the tiny voice in my head. My wolf. We had barely gotten the chance to know each other before the world started going to s**t. Her name was Aspen. She was pure white, just like all of the undetectables. You couldn’t scent us, but the pure white of our fur was so bright, it almost glowed under the light of the moon. That was one of the reasons that we lived in Colorado. It was the perfect place, full of bright white snow. Almost like a shield.

She’s been locked away for the last two years. The first year of the eradication, we took risks. Too many risks, but I refused to make that mistake again.

“I will get everything ready,” I whispered, preparing myself for the transfusion.

Grabbing a small box hidden away in my closet, I pulled out the needles and bags as well as the small vile of wolfsbane.

Bailey was sitting on the couch waiting for me to return. I sat down, grabbing the rubber tourniquet and wrapping it tightly around my arm. The rhythmic pumping of my heart pulsated through my arm. I’d gotten quite good at sticking myself on the first try and blood quickly began filling the pint-sized bag.

My blood was the key to keeping Bailey hidden. It temporarily masked her scent, so every Wednesday, we go through this routine.

I fill a bag with my blood and Bailey receives the transfusion. We have also been drinking liquid wolfsbane to build immunity in the event of a gas attack.

The government has started using wolfsbane in gas form to track down undetectables. They will toss a bomb into a heavily populated area and those who show symptoms are eliminated.

While my blood continues filling the tiny bag, I have Bailey bring us both glasses of orange juice. It masks the taste of liquified wolfsbane the best.

“Cheers,” I whispered, holding up my glass. She rolled her eyes once more, downing her whole cup in seconds. I’d recently begun increasing the amount that I put in our drinks to try and increase our tolerance. I always take mine one step further than Bailey’s. I needed to be strong enough for the both of us.

“Are you ready?” I questioned.

“Ready as I will ever be,” Bailey muttered.

It’s hard going from a carefree teenager to being the mother figure to my sister during what was basically an apocalypse. That’s exactly what I was. Carefree. I lived my life as if every day were my last. I had a bright personality mixed with being an optimist. I’ve almost forgotten what that’s like. What I was like.

I transferred the bag and needle to her arm, squeezing it gently so that it flowed backwards. We had to be sparing of our supplies now that almost everything was monitored. It would be flagged as suspicious if we were buying medical supplies on a regular basis without medical need.

Her transfusion was finished and she quickly wrapped her arm, heading back up to her room without another word.

I walked to the sink, cleaned all of the supplies and returned them to the box.

I took the remainder of my orange juice like a shot. The wolfsbane burned my throat and stomach. My body tried to fight it, bile rising in my throat, but I swallowed it down.

I closed my eyes, counting down from ten. It usually worked to fight the pain, but tonight, the intensity was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I’d only added an extra drop tonight.

My body felt cold but I felt like I had been set on fire from the inside. A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead. Stumbling through the apartment, I felt my vision tunneling. Black spots appeared, making it hard to get down the hallway.

Finally, I made it to the bathroom, gripping the countertop.

In the mirror, I didn’t recognize the woman staring back at me. My eyes had sunken in and around my normally bright blue iris', were streaks of red. In my right eye, it looked as if I’d burst a blood vessel, the white slowly filling with crimson red. I blinked, trying to focus, but my vision was streaked red and blurry.

A dull throbbing pounded in my head and I began feeling so incredibly tired.

I can’t close my eyes. If I close my eyes, I know what will happen.

Looking down at my hands, I noticed that my claws had begun to elongate.

Shit. This can’t happen. I can’t shift. It’s been two years.

‘Hold on Aspen. We can’t do this here,’ I whispered weakly. I could feel her fighting the wolfsbane, but she’d grown weak from being locked away for so long. Shifting now would make this ordeal less painful.

Falling to my knees, I felt the first snap. No. No no no no. We’ve worked too hard to have this all taken away now.

“Bailey,” I croaked out, my claws cracking the floor beneath my hands.

I could faintly hear the sound of footsteps before my face hit the cold tile.