The character is mine, the concept, not so much. Well, the bat, yes. But everything else, not my own. I must give credit to where it's due. James Patterson, I salute you! Oh yeah! I forgot to mention... this is my first fanfiction. Woah, I just rhymed big time! ... That last one was totally unintentional, I swear!

Chapter 2: Foiled Plans

I was flying—no—gliding in the air for about a half hour before I felt myself growing tired and even hungrier. I was already about a good maybe 50 miles away from wherever that place was and I needed a place where I could at least get a shower. Looking down towards the ground I realized that I actually had quite nice distance vision, it was only close-up things that apparently blurred my vision. But down at the ground, I saw lots of little fires and a lot of tents and cabins and campers. Perfect! A campground! I thought to myself. I began losing altitude as I made my descent to the dark campground below.

Luckily the time was gaining on midnight, and nobody would be in the washrooms and I could get the entire area to myself. As I approached the door to the Ladies' bathroom though, I found a keypad by the door. Stupid fancy shmancy campgrounds, I thought. Then I got the idea of the little claw on my wing. I remember watching something on Animal Planet about how those little 'toes' are actually the bat's fingers and how they used them as fingers. I ducked down into the night against the door and began to work. I heard a click sound come from the doorknob and I turned it with success.

"Yes! I'm in!" As I stepped inside the room I looked around and made sure I was in here alone. Once the coast was clear, I looked in the shower stalls. Hello? What's this? I looked in one stall and found an entire make-up kit complete with shampoo, conditioner, and soap. Jackpot! But then I realized I was still wearing the clothes from whenever those idiots had brought me to that horrible place. I guess I would just have to wash them the old fashioned way; take a shower with them on, scrub them, and then sit underneath the blow-dryer.

As I began my shower, my thoughts raced. So many questions popped into my head. It was like my thoughts were popcorn or something! Pop! How long was I in that place? Pop! Why did they choose me of all people? Pop! What happened to my family? Pop! Will I ever see them again?

Then it came to me; I was going to have to start life over. Entirely. Name change and everything. But who would I become? I began thinking of various names I could become. My old name didn't matter, I couldn't keep that anymore. Melissa? No. Alyssa? Ew. No. No offense to any Alyssa's out there. That name just… isn't for me. Max? Hah. I had a dog named Max once. Yeah, that one's out.

I ran through several names in my head before I finally settled on one; Jennifer Love Hewitt. Okay, so that one was a joke. Really, I hadn't decided on a name. It's hard. I mean, I'll have that name for the rest of my life, or… I have the possibility of having that name for the rest of my life.

I began scrubbing around my neck when I felt it. It was big, bulky, and I couldn't tell what it was, but it was like some kind of choker… or collar.

I finished my shower con mi clothes and stepped out to go underneath the dryer and look at the mirror. That's when I realized what it was. Of course, I had to be about 9 feet from the mirror in order to see it properly, but I could instantly tell what it was from the little blinking red LED light.

A tracking device.

That means they were following me. Probably right now! I had to get out of this place as soon as possible, but I was still so hungry, and the muscles in my wings aren't developed enough for more flying. It seemed like I was stuck. No, don't even THINK that. They haven't shown up YET. Besides, they can't fly. Or so I thought at the time. I rushed out the door only to run into something soft, hard, and fuzzy. Yes, both soft AND hard. Strange, I thought bats had better night vision, you know, being nocturnal and all that jazz. Maybe it was the change from the light of the bathroom to the darkness outside that—Oh never mind!

I backed up into the bathroom again. Great, I'm getting pushed back into a corner, literally! It was then that I heard the rustling of feathers. No way! These guys had wings! I strictly remember the other creature-dude-things I fought did NOT have wings. Nu uh, no way! Aw man, I'm so totally screwed.

"Come here little batty batty bat," one of the guys taunted me. His voice sounded like a calm little creek. No! I can't get caught in their traps. I had to think of some way to escape. "If you come back with us willingly, we won't hurt you, you little freak of nature, you."

"HAH. Me, a freak of nature? Look at yourself, DUDE. You walk about like men, but I can smell your putrid breath, hear your feathers, and I can even sense your urge to rip me to shreds. Yeah, like you're Mr. I'm-so-normal," I jeered. Apparently that made him mad, though. I mean, the fact that he jumped at me and had to be restrained by his "teammates" kind of gave that fact away. I took a startled step backwards and I could feel his pleasure at having scared me a little. "I'm not scared!" I yelled on impulse. Everybody laughed at that.

I thought I heard an opening, you know, with my SONAR and crap. Yeah, that's right, SONAR. Sorry, it's a fun word. I pressed my wings against me and sprinted through the opening and into the night sky where I jumped off the ground and tried my hardest to stay in the air. It's amazing what adrenaline does in fight or flight situations. Oh wow, I totally just made an unintentional pun. I had to get this do-hicky off my neck, NOW. I had to stop those freaks from ever catching me again. Oh great, I heard their heavy bodies kick off from the ground and into the air after me.

They were gaining after me. "Stop following me, you jerks!" I yelled back at them as they were catching up to me. I continued to rise up into the night sky and they continued after me, continually gaining. Crap crap crap crap crap, I continually thought. I just wasn't as practiced at flying as they were. They were going to catch me. Then I felt something rising in my throat. No, I wasn't going to barf. No, I had nothing left in my stomach to heave. But that feeling kept rising and rising until I couldn't hold it in anymore. I screamed at the top of my lungs, but it didn't sound like a human scream. Nope. Not a human scream at all. I screamed and what came out was a loud screech, a bat's voice that echoed. You know echolocation.

Well apparently that helped me. Those dudes clutched their ears and they dropped to the ground like dead flies. I smelled their blood and I heard the crashes into the brush beneath. I both winced at the clarity of the sound and laughed at their misfortune. Now all I need to do is come up with a new name, find a place to stay, and most importantly, get this stupid tracking device OFF my neck before I get attacked again.

Man, I needed to learn how to fight.