Run
Blink
My eyes flicked open. Nudge was still talking, "I wonder what having your DNA messed with feels like," she mused. "They did it to me before I was born, you reckon it would tickle?"
Blink
I screamed in the darkness. It felt like molten lead was flowing though my veins. The sedative relaxed its gip and I started thrashing, desperately trying to escape the fire creeping through my chest and strangling my heart.
Blink
"No," I said softly. "It doesn't tickle."
Blink
The flames reached my lungs and my screams cut out. I slammed my fists into the roof of the tank. I felt the inferno ooze lazily up my neck and redoubled my efforts to escape. The lid didn't even budge.
Blink
"It burns."
An Eraser stepped out onto the path in front of us and then looked at us in shock. He raised a whistle to his lips and blew hard.
Blink
My arms fell limply to my sides as my shoulder muscles blazed.
Blink
Max sprang forwards, running at top speed at the Eraser and delivering a flying kick to his neck.
Blink
The back of my skull burned. I begged it to stop; I couldn't imagine what it would feel like if it reached my brain. Actually I could, that just made me want it to stop more.
Blink
Erasers crashed though the woods. "U and A now!" Max yelled, standing on top of the downed Eraser and unfurling her wings.
'U and A?' I though blearily through a haze of memories, completely detached from reality. The flock leapt into the air and pushed down hard with their wings, rocketing into the sky.
Blink
The burring reached my brain, a searing kiss of agony, a blinding light in the void.
Flash
I started running. One of the Erasers yelled something but I ignored him. I sprinted through the forest. An Eraser burst out of a clump of bushes and I darted left and dodged an outstretched hand. My wings unfurled slightly, offering me a way out. I fought down the urge to fly and ran harder.
A sharp rock tore into my bare foot. I gritted my teeth, ignored it and ran on leaving a trail of blood behind me. My heart pounded in my chest, far too fast but for once I was glad of it. An Eraser ran along side me, a few scraggily bushes separating us, he grinned viciously and I tried to run faster. He made a dive for my legs and I leapt up, keeping my wings in, fighting instinct and kicked down hard at the base of his skull.
I landed and kept running not even bothering to look back, no time to look back. Two Erasers fully morphed and breathing hard through their freaky muzzles where right behind me. I sailed over a fallen log and suddenly darted right. The Erasers skidded in the fallen leaves, almost falling over themselves but kept running gaining ground by the second.
There was a flash of black wings in the corner of my vision and one of the Erasers bellowed in pain as Fang smacked him over the head with a tree branch.
"Down!" Max yelled flying straight at me. I threw myself to the ground as she passed inches above my head and caught the Eraser with her shoulder sending him spinning to the ground. "Sophie fly!" she roared at me, flying back into the canopy, going to fast to land.
I got hurriedly to my feet. There was a bang and the tree next to me thudded as something smashed into it. I looked wildly around and saw an Eraser reloading a long rifle. I swallowed hard and started running. There was another bang and something whistled past my ear. I put down my head and ran faster, not even looking back when I heard a strangled cry of pain.
"Come on Soph, fly!" Max hollered at me, swooping down.
"I can't!" I screamed desperately. Max peeled away as I ran through a clump of trees.
I paused gasping for breath. I couldn't hear anyone chasing me. My eyes caught the barest flicker of movement and I dived to the ground as a rifle roared. Something whizzed over my head closely followed my two more dull thuds as shots imbedded themselves into the ground.
The Erasers rushed towards me and I burst into life, accelerating like a runner out of the blocks, the Erasers hot on my heels. I ducked through a thicket, ignoring the branches lashing at my face and the rocks beneath my feet. My lungs burned as I sprinted out into a small clearing. Suddenly there was an Eraser in front of me, looking in surprise at me and my wings.
Indecision flashed across his face as I tore towards him, not stopping, not slowing down. I dummied left, then dived right and left him standing in the dust. I grinned despite myself. I should be worried that I was partly enjoying this. I turned left, then right, then left again, trying to shake off pursuit. Didn't work, I could hear them a few paces behind me. A dry streambed loomed in front of me and I cleared it in one leap. I heard the footfalls of one of the Erasers stop and I flung myself left as something whistled past me.
I scrambled to my feet as an Eraser locked his hand around my ankle. I kicked back viciously with my free foot and he yelled in pain and let go. I spirited away from them ducking to avoid yet another tree branch. The Erasers caught up easily and ran along side me, trapping me. That seemed familiar, no time to worry about it now though. We burst out into a clearing and one of the Erasers tried to rugby tackle me. I dodged nimbly around him and then gasped as I saw that the clearing was ringed with Erasers, I'd run straight into a trap.
I didn't stop running, my wings opened slightly at my sides, again offering me a way out. The only way out. I took it. My wings snapped open. I felt the air flow gently beneath my feathers, beckoning me to the sky. I speed up, faster than I ever thought I could go, running straight at an Eraser. His eyes widened in shock and he dropped into a combat stance. I jumped into the air, one foot outstretched. I impacted with his skull and leapt from his head catching the air beneath my wings and pushing down with them as hard as I could.
I flew away with tears in my eyes, trying to escape the alien feel of my flight muscles rippling across my chest and the beautiful song of the wind in my wings. It was awful and it was wonderful. Flying free in the sky, no one could catch me, no one could hurt me. The wind whispered in my ears urging me to fly faster, higher, to soar in thermals, to see the ground rush towards me as I dove. To live.
It would have been beautiful.
It wouldn't have been me.
I was Sophie. I couldn't fly. I'd be what they made me, a genetic freak. I'd be Fly. I could never be Fly. I just wanted to be me. Though I wasn't sure who that was anymore.
The flock found me an hour later, a half mile from the town, curled into a ball high in a tree, wrapped in my wings and not caring.