Animorphs: The Prey
Re-written and re-edited for your reading pleasure. This was one of the first stories I uploaded to this website almost a whole year ago. I took the opportunity to re-read it a short time ago and I realized just how much my writing has improved over that time. So, I decided to go back and fix it up a bit.
Insert normal disclaimer here
Thought-speak in italics
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Rachel
Just kill me now, David repeated for the thousandth time. All I could do was sit there and cry. I wanted to so much, especially after what he'd just put me through, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
I mean, he had tried to kill all of us before, and all of us even thought that he'd actually killed Tobias for a short time. I had vowed right there and then to kill him no matter what for that, but that was a long time ago. And, as it turns out, he didn't even kill Tobias anyway. Sure, he killed the hawk that was following him, thinking it was Tobias the whole time, without as much as a second thought. That could've been any one of us in reality, but what we had done to him seemed cruel enough. No one wanted human, or former human, blood on their hands including me.
My name is Rachel. I was supposed to be the ruthless, fearless lunatic that would start a fight just because it was fun. That might be what everyone else saw in me, but that's not who I really was. I was just doing the things that no one else wanted to do. I just ended up taking the heat for everyone else's lack of action. I knew what had to be done, and I was usually the one who ended up doing it.
I knew what I had to do right now, but I just couldn't bring myself to actually do it this time. I just sat there and continued crying like a five-year-old. I couldn't... I couldn't…
Just kill me already, David said yet again, make it quick. I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to get away from him. Still sobbing I stood up and began to slowly walk away. I half expected him to follow me, but he didn't. He just stood there in that alley on his hind legs as he watched me turn the corner. I just wanted to get away from him. I needed some time alone to figure everything out...
Tobias
My name is Tobias, and I was one hungry hawk. This drought had ruined any regular food supply that I possibly had and I was down to picking at garbage and roadkill. It's wasn't the most dignified thing in the world, but hey, I was still alive and that's always a plus. Every now and then Rachel would bring me something to eat which always helped too. Those were the times that I really loved. It wasn't just the food, it was the fact that she cared enough about me to give me a part of her dinner or go out to McDonalds and fly the food all the way to my meadow. It was nice to have someone around who actually cares for you for a change…
That's why I was flying above the city today. Rachel had been missing for most of the day along with Cassie. Everyone was beginning to get worried about them by now. Jake wanted to have a meeting today to discuss some new information we'd gotten from Erek, but when he called Rachel's and Cassie's houses their parents said they hadn't seen them the whole day. It could be as simple as the mall having some huge sale that Rachel had dragged Cassie to and they lost track of time, but being an Animorph for the better part of three years will make you more paranoid then you can imagine.
I was flying along constantly scanning for something out of the ordinary when my hunger kicked in again. This isn't the time Tobias, I said to myself, but it was almost impossible to ignore it. Lucky for me I had just spotted this little white rat in the middle of an alleyway. It wasn't my usual style, but hell, these days just about anything goes. I quickly swooped down while adjusting every feather by microscopic increments until I was perfectly aligned. Twenty feet. Ten feet. Five feet. I reached out with my talons and hit the rat dead on.
As soon as I pierced it's flesh I swore I heard a loud AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I almost dropped the rat in shock. Who was that? I wondered to myself. The voice sounded sort of familiar, but then again it could've been just my mind playing tricks on me. I quickly gave a hard squeezed to the flailing rat in order to finish the kill and then I quickly flew up to the top of a nearby building. I landed just past the edge on the roof in order to stay out of sight and I started to chow down on my first meal of the day. It was actually one of the best meals I've had in quite a while. I don't know if I was just really hungry or it really just was that good of a rat, but it was absolutely delicious!
Once I finished my meal I fluttered up onto the edge of the roof and took a look around. Most of the people that had come running after they heard the scream had already left after not finding anything, but I'm sure that some of the Yeerks must have known something was up and were still searching around. I was about to take off when I saw her. Rachel! I yelled. Her head instantly jerked up and began looking for me. I'm on the edge of the roof on the building to your right, I said as she finally spotted me. We've been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been?
