Trees and Spiders

"Come on, Wolfe!" Jordan whispered, shaking me by the shoulder.

I groaned and pulled away from the light touch of her fingertips. She sighed and tried to shake me again.

"Seriously, I need to talk to you, Wolfe. I don't want to wake up the others."

"Wha?" I asked groggily, rolling over on the branch I had been sleeping on. I slid off, falling through the leaves of the tall tree. Quickly, I unfurled my jet black wings and caught myself, wincing as one hit yet another branch. I flew smoothly back up to the top and landed next to Jordan. "Nothing wakes you up better than falling from a tree," I said with a grin.

She rolled her chestnut eyes, but nonetheless smiled. "Smooth." She frowned at me for a moment. "You might want to cut your hair. It's starting to make you look emo."

My hands flew self consciously towards my dark brown hair. "What's wrong with it. You know I'm not emo, and it's not like we're gonna be looking for attention anyways."

Jordan put her hands up in front of her in a gesture of self defense. "Hey, I like it like that. I'm just saying."

"Look, I know you didn't wake me up to tell me to cut my hair. What's this about?"

"I think we need to find a place to settle down. All this running is making the kids tired, and we haven't seen any Erasers around for months."

"Maybe they've found some other mutant freaks to chase," I said. "They'll come back. They always do. I don't want any of us getting hurt again."

Jordan bit her lip, then comfortingly put an arm on my shoulder. "Zeke wasn't your fault."

I glanced over at the redheaded boy, sleeping soundly in the tree. Because it was me who had made the decision to settle down, Zeke had gotten mauled by an Eraser and had lost all use of his right arm. That was nearly a year ago, and even though everyone told me I wasn't to blame, I still held myself responsible. Only Jordan knew that.

There's five of us by the way, all of varying ages. There's me, I'm sixteen, Jordan, who's fifteen, Stormy, who's thirteen, Jack is eleven, and Zeke, who's eight. Anyways, back to me and Jordan.

"We can't," I said. "It's too risky."

Jordan nodded. "I guess so. Looks like dawn's come. Should we head out?"

I looked at the dimly lit, grey Massachusetts sky. "Yeah."

She and I proceeded to wake the others, who were strung across several branches and trees. When everyone was up, we sat perched on a bough, preparing to take off into the morning. "I'm hungry," Stormy complained. "What's for breakfast?"

Jack grinned at her, then picked a bug up from a branch. "Spiders!" he said.

Stormy's face twisted into one of pure disgust. "Oh, gross, Jack. He's not serious, is he, Wolfe?"

"Afraid so, Stormy," I said, keeping a straight face.

Jordan laughed. "Okay, that's enough. We're not eating bugs, Stormy."

I checked our wallet, which was unsurprisingly light. "Anybody want breakfast off the dollar menu at McDonalds?"

Zeke summed up all the others' answers up in one word. "Yes."

I grinned and leapt off the thick branch, letting my wings catch the wind. I flapped down hard, and rose into the air. Moments later, I could see Jordan's maroon wings in my peripheral vision. That meant that the other kids had taken off smoothly.

I slowed down, and Jordan coasted up next to me. "We really have enough money for McDonald's?"

I grimaced. "We have thirty bucks."

"Thirty? Wolfe, you know that we need to keep some money at had at all times. This is barely going to feed us, even if it is off the dollar menu!"

"We can make some more," I said. "Don't worry."

"It would be better if we could just stay in one place and get jobs as normal teenagers!"

"Guess what, Jordan. We're not normal teenagers!" I snapped. I regretted it once I saw the hurt look on her face. But I needed to get my frustration out, and I had my opportunity. "I'm freaking part bird! I have wings! I've been on the run since I was nine! Part wolf mutants are out to kill me when I'm just a freaking kid!! And what's worse, my parents let this happen. They didn't care! They sold me to science!"

Jordan was silent. I glanced back at her, her blonde hair whipping her in the face. I felt sorry, but I said nothing. I was afraid I'd blow up at her again. "I'm sorry, Wolfe," she said. "I know life is hard. But we're all in the same boat here. We've come together because of all those things that happened, and we've become stronger for it."

She was sorry? Well, that made me feel like a total jerk. I sighed and shook my head. "Look, Jordan. I'm the one who should be apologizing," I said. "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that. It's not your fault we have wings. You're not to blame for us being on the run. You're my best friend, my right hand in leading this crazy group of kids. You know as well as I do that I couldn't get on without your help. You're right, we have become stronger. And one day… One day the odds will work out in our favor."

She smiled. "You can't know that."

"It'll happen. I promise."