Max and twilight
MPOVī
Flying for eight days straight is never fun. Even when you have wings. Yes, wings. What else could you fly with? We passed through a few different states, and since I have no fundamental knowledge of geography and all things map-like, I'll just start from where we are now. Well, I'm not entirely sure WHERE we are. Someplace rainy and forest-y. Maybe in Washington. We're flying over a huge pine forest right now, but that's all we know. Man, those leafy branches look so nice and comfy, (yeah, comfy. I've been locked up in a crate most of my life. I think that I have the right to call pine branches "comfy"). Apart from the forest, I'm not too sure where we are, but I know it's not a fun place to fly. Especially when you hear thunder in the clouds. Big, fat, grey, clouds that hover reeeaally close to your head. Creepy, much? We haven't seen a single ray of sunshine the whole dang time we were here. Just when we get sent back from the Arctic, we wind up in the rainiest place known to mankind. And why? Because apparently, I'm supposed to. Stupid Voice. Grrrrrrrrr.
Angel's next to me, lagging behind. She's got dark circles under her eyes, and she's thin and scraggly. Just like the rest of the flock. And me? I look like a plucked CHICKEN. I've been called a hawk before, maybe a falcon. I liked that. The worst was a vulture, and even that was okay. But no, today I'm a chicken. Because that's just one of those happy perks life throws at you. Oh, you're a mutant bird kid? I'll just lock you up in a dog crate for most of your life, have you attacked by insane flying wolves, and to top it all off, you get to visit the coldest, rainiest state on the planet and life will turn you into a plucked chicken.
Anyway, after my little rant re chicken, I noticed that the tops of the trees (you know, the forest?) was barely brushing our toes. Gazzy yawned, and that set us all off, yawning and sighing. Total stuck his head out of Iggy's backpack and sneezed. Iggy told him to shut up, while Angel frowned at him. Total huffed and popped his head back into the backpack. I looked around. Everyone seemed to be cranky, even Angel. That was it. We hadn't slept much more than three hours over the course of a few days, and we hadn't even eaten any more than a burger and a handful of fries in maybe four days. We were all dead tired, and everyone wanted to rest. But we couldn't. It seemed that everywhere we turned, Erasers were coming at us. We couldn't sleep at night because they might try to attack us then. I'm not paranoid. It actually happened, and we were lucky Fang was taking watch. We would've all been dog meat by now, if not for him. I looked over, trying to find Fang. He was at the back of the Flock, looking around for any signs of danger. Even he looked snappish. I better find this Flock someplace to rest, and fast. I flew closer to the center of our little mutant circle. "Kay guys, listen up. I decided that it's time for us to rest a bit, you know, sleep?" The Flock gave a tired cheer. Even Fang smiled a teensy bit. Wow. He must be desperate for some rest. "C'mon, bet there's some comfy branches down in those pine trees." They all nodded with varying levels of enthusiasm, and dived awkwardly down to land on a branch. We all slept on the same tree, not too high up so that the Erasers or anyone else could see us, but not too low so that anyone looking up could make us out from the leaves. These trees were TALL. I picked a huge branch thick with needles to rest on. Not wanting to get pricked, yet needing some coverage from the rain, I spread my jacket out, and sat down on it. I couldn't go to sleep yet. It was my turn to take watch.
A night later, Fang was out scrounging for food, while I sleepily swung my leg back and forth on top of a tree branch. After some decent sleep and four grilled rabbits (we were careful to remove all traces of the fire-on the ground, of course), we had found a tree big enough to hold all of us, and provide shelter. I had tucked everyone in (or just covered them with their jackets). About to go to sleep myself, I lay down and yawned. Making sure Iggy was taking watch, I drifted into darkness.
I opened my eyes. The sun was rising. We had overslept. Getting up was a chore, and I reluctantly left the safety of my branch to shake the rest of the Flock into consciousness. Fang yawned heavily as I kicked gently at his side. Everyone else was already up and grumbling around the fire I made. Waking up sucks. That's why I get annoyed every time someone whines. Or screams. Or does both at exactly the same time. Let's rephrase that. Anyone that complains gets a face full of Max. I'm not exactly a morning person. I had shaken the Flock awake at around five in the morning, but it was still dark from all the rain clouds hovering in the sky. The whole forest was wreathed in early morning mist, and the birds were chittering quietly. The only thing that ruined it was Fang's obnoxious snoring. He had fallen asleep again. Well, well. Guess someone's gonna take watch again tonight, instead of sleeping, like he is now. He might be the only guy I ever kissed, (aside from Sam) but he's not gonna get any sympathy any time soon. I guessed Iggy had forgotten to kick him awake for me, after I specifically told him to, (right Iggy?) so I woke him up instead. "Good morning, starshine. The Earth says hello!" Fang groaned at the sound of my voice, and took a feeble punch in my general direction. "Rise and shine, Fang. I mean it. Get up!" Fang rubbed his eyes and moaned. "I can rise, but I refuse to shine." Rolling my eyes, I dove down to the ground to hunt.
A few minutes later, I proudly supervised the production of the five cooking rabbits, slowly being turned on a stick, by Gazzy. He was sniffing the air, which was tainted with whiffs of "Rabbit a La Mode". Finding some longish sticks, I speared the rabbit, and then cut it up. They didn't taste as great as the jackrabbits down south, but hey, it's food, so I eat it. Iggy, who had been mumbling something about bleach and chlorine, flew down to the ground, (did I mention the fire was on the ground? Because no one can cook on a tree branch.) and tore into a chunk of breakfast. Max, there might be some people that can help you destroy Itex. And I mean destroy. As in, every branch of Itex is dead. Gone up in flames. Just gone. I groaned. The Voice was back. Fang looked up, and I motioned to him that he should continue eating. What do you want? We don't need anyone helping us. In case you didn't notice, during the last Flyboy MASSACRE, Nudge took down ten Flyboys, all at the same time. Fang killed double that amount, and Gazzy and Iggy exploded 40 with just one bomb. Angel and I also did our fair share, so beat it, voice. We don't need help.
The Voice sighed. I warned you, Max. Now you'll pay the consequences. Okay then, Jeb. Bring it.
Oh, I will.
Then it shut off, and I was left standing there, a rabbit drumstick in my hand.
____________________________________a sexy time seperator line thing...yeah..._________________________________________________
I was back up in the air, looking for a suitable place to land. I had quickly lost track of the route I took while hunting, so now I'm paying the price. Is this the consequence the Voice was telling me about? Cuz it's more of an awkward situation.
No Max. THIS is your punishment.
All of a sudden, 50 Flyboys dropped out of thin air, surrounding me.