Chapter 12
Tally didn't bother letting go of Iggy's hand when they returned, in fact, she made a point of watching over there bomb making while the girls giggled about something while playing a little game with rocks.
"Hey, guys?" Iggy called. Talon spared him another glance, setting down small bottle of bleach that was in her hand. "How about a little test flight? A little wheedling around like the hawks showed us. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay," said Angel.
Talon tapped Iggy's hand twice before pulling herself up, brushing off any dirt from her cargos and following in Nudge's steps (letting go of Iggy's hand) and standing at the edge of the puny canyon.
The black haired (with one stubborn streak of white) bird girl shook out her wings from the slits in the back of her sleeveless black shirt before throwing herself into the air, falling a few feet before rising powerfully through the blue, cloud speckled sky. Angel, Gazzy and Iggy followed one by one.
Feeling a bout of exhilaration, Tally stopped beating her wings and let herself fall through the air, angling out and turning upward before she went splat, loving how the wind felt on her and against her feathers. The awesome non-Eraser induced adrenaline…
She turned around and darted back to everyone, a big grin on her face.
I thought too soon…
Then of course, it was wiped off.
Her face morphed from the flying-stimulated bliss to one of cold determination. The Erasers.
"I knew it was too good to be true," Gazzy yelled. "The Erasers' all being dead!"
"I didn't feel them coming," Angel said, confused. And Fang's sister felt the same confusion, weren't these oafs supposed to be "taking dirt naps"? I don't see them pushing up daisies.
Tally's hands clenched together, pointing them in front of her, ready to blow everything in sight up, before something rammed right into her wings, nearly knocking her out of the sky. "Haff," was the only sound she emitted. Just air rushing through her mouth.
She whirled around in a spin kick, slamming it into it's strangely metal-y chest before opening her fist and effectively freezing the Eraser. And she didn't even have the time to watch it smash against the ground before she threw herself at more and more, exploding and freezing left and right, making sure they were all relatively far away from her and the flock before she forced their molecules to speed up and combust into an artistic array of metal slices, fur and clothing. Metal? This is beyond weird, this is bizarre…
A weary glance to the left told her that she had strayed a good bit away from the main fight.
Good thing, too, because with a flash and BOOM the bomb Iggy and Gazzy were working on exploded. Similar to her ability…but on a much much bigger and thrilling scale—she just didn't get that type of rush when she used her power.
The Erasers fell away and Tally made a beeline to them, barely within range when she heard Iggy breathe, "Robots!"
Tally shook her head as robot and eraser-y bits plopped onto the canyon floor with little poofs of dust being the only thing that told her they had made an impact.
"Well, that was different," Iggy finally said.
"And so gross!" Nudge said, brushing eraser bits off of her person.
Talon simply shook her head and headed back for the canyon. First Aide first, then food, then…ah, watch. I'll take first watch tonight since I barely ever sleep.
Man, Max makes this look far too easy than it really is…Tally thought, landing and already shuffling through her pack for the medical doo-dads. Geez…I will never ever doubt Max, like, ever.
And she patched everyone up, being sure to be gentle and all, but her face remained blank. Iggy made a point of attacking her with bandages, him brushing his fingers over the fresh wounds, bandaging them up with ease, anger flickering in his sightless eyes.
She felt the intense urge, the need to say, "Everything's alright now," but couldn't. Instead, she opted to stroking his hair lightly as he bandaged up a burn she had on her forearm. The anger disappeared and something about him softened, "I know."
…Talon offered a grin, one he couldn't see and she couldn't show him unless a mirror was provided.
Other than that, she was on edge for the rest of the day, nearly melting into the shadows while keeping her eyes scanning everything, straining her bird kid eyes and ears to catch anything abnormal.
"I'm going to cook some food, okay Tally?" Nudge addressed her. Tally blinked once before nodding her head and watching her walk off to the fire.
She supposed she was the leader while both Max and her brother were gone, being the next oldest. And I guess that I already automatically recognized that, barking out orders…except, you know, I can't talk.
And then Tally tensed, looking up again when she felt something wrong.
Her eyes widened as buzzing hit her ears, and the sun just blinked out like a dying firefly.
She jumped to her feet, her wings already snapping out, partially hiding the rest of the Flock, she just barely heard Angel say something about the Flock being dinner.
"Up and away?" Iggy asked, and Gazzy answered, "No! They're above us too! Everywhere!"
Tally clenched her hands and snapped them open at the robots, quickly regretting it when scalding hot shards of robot-thingies went flying everywhere and burned her forearms from her protecting her face.
Okay, plan A to blow them to bits work out so well, she drawled mentally. Now, plan B? Kick some tin cans to high heck, and hopefully fly the heck out of here with out feathers still intact.
Got it, Angel relayed her plan to the rest.
And that was when Tally chose to start sprinting.
And she did.
Right into a swarm of the robots.
She quickly slammed her fist into one's chin, snapping out her leg with the momentum and spin kicking. Dang! She winced. Stupid metal 'bots!
"Tally! Try blowing them up again!" Iggy's voice called from behind her.
She grimaced, feeling a metal foot slamming against her leg. What the heck is it with any enemy and hitting me in the same exact spot!
Then she twisted around. And blowing them up would be a great idea. But my exploding power doesn't work like a bomb. There is no three seconds to get out of the way. It just goes boom and I'll be burnt to a crisp as well if I'm to close to what I want to go BOOM!
If only I could actually tell him that!
She ducked and rolled out of the way of a robot's kick, tears springing to her eyes when she felt a snap from her arm and then something metal-y being pulled over her eyes, her hair being yanked back forcefully.
Sad thing was, she heard the flock protesting as they were brought down, she assumed taped was being put on their mouths when they all the swears were cut off. Tally just squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the 'bots' attempts at trying to tie her up.
She gritted her teeth and slammed her elbow into one's stomach area (she assumed), fully intent on getting free but felt a sting across her face, and something wet go down it.
Dang, they cut me…just don't think about being blind Tally, she grunted as they threw her over their shoulders after putting what Nudge cried out were black hoods. Couldn't they have put, like, seat cushions on these things?
Don't worry, Angel's mental voice. Don't worry. Max and Fang will come back. They'll find us. They'll be really mad too.
Tally felt herself spiraling out of consciousness. Chloroform; killing doses for normal humans… simply… knock out …bird…kids…
Shi—
And then she was out for the count.
-
Tally awoke to her hog tied body slamming against the floor of a semi again…and again...and again!
She bit the inside of her cheek, curling herself up, noticing how her wings were bound to her back by something.
"Tally?" she heard a silent voice calling her name.
She bit her lip harder before opening her mouth and clicking her tongue twice. Good thing there are other ways to tell him that I am here other than speaking.
"Oof," she heard Iggy huff, a foot probably colliding with his chest.
She winced at his pain. Gosh, Iggy, don't speak if it means getting hurt. We're all beat up enough as is.
She closed her blindfolded eyes, leaning her head against the semi's floor before rocketing back up from having it bang when they hit another pothole.
Talon gave a start when she felt to small hands enclose in hers. Nudge and Gazzy…that's right, I have to be strong for them…she thought drowsily, squeezing their hands comfortingly. But…to be strong for them I have to believe that Max and Fang will come get us without getting captured. Dang it! I wish I could just blow these things up, but I have my eyes covered! I won't know what to hit, or what to visualize!!!!
She strained her ears, Some temporary leader I am. Getting us a one way ticket to the School. Can anyone say, "Crappy leadership skills, much?" Max, I swear when you get back, I am going to convince you to not leave the mute and the blind bird kid to leadership duty. Somehow. But that would require us ever getting out of here.
"When we get out of this, every one of those robots is gonna have fang marks on 'em," muttered Total from somewhere on Tally's right. The flyboys must've left them because he didn't get kicked.
"We'll never get out of this one," said Iggy. "I have a really bad feeling."
Here, here, Tally thought lamely. But I can't show the kids that. They look up to us, the older kids, even if Iggy can't actually see that.
"We'll get out," Nudge said.
Talon nodded, even if she wasn't completely sure of that. She honestly wanted to leave, but she had a sinking feeling in her stomach, like someone had dropped a couple of rocks in it.
Iggy didn't respond to Nudge.
"We have to find Angel," Gazzy whispered. "We can't let them do…all the stuff they did to her last time."
Tally was out of the loop there. She never liked to question anyone about their pasts since it was awkward and painful, so she opted to stay blissfully ignorant. But the mere thought of what whitecoats could do to a little girl like Angel cause Tally to want to shudder.
"We need a plan," Nudge said under her breath. "Max and Fang would make a plan. Let's think."
"Why don't we ask Santa Claus?" Iggy was bitter, that was clear to Talon. "Or the Easter Bunny?"
Talon resisted the urge to nod in approval, so she instead resorted to leaning her head against the metal.
"I say we bite 'em," Total said. "They open the doors, we're on 'em, snarling and fangs and everything. Or I could rush there legs, trip 'em, and then you guys attack them."
"We don't have fangs," Gazzy explained, his voice sounded tired to her.
"No, but we have teeth," said Nudge. "We should have been chewing off the tape all this time! Come on! Total will chew mine, I'll try to get Gazzy's off, and Gazzy, you work on Iggy's, and Iggy on Tally's. Then we'll kick some Flyboy butt!"
Won't work, Talon thought glumly. We're all beat up, tired, me and Iggy and Total are famished, not to mention that two of us are currently blind. Not to chuck a wrench in the fan, or anything.
And, unfortunately, she was right. Because she heard the Flyboys tromping back into the semi seconds later.
She shook her head before rolling into a sitting position, giving a breathless gasp when her broken arm touched the floor. I must've forgotten what broken bones feel like.
-
When Nudge woke up, she saw Iggy and Gazzy lying on their sides. She blinked at the dark blotch looking at the doors. FANG?!
But then she shook her head and saw the hair was far too long and didn't have any sleeves. No, Tally. She must be listening for anything. Total was lying in her lap, her arm swollen to twice its normal size.
Then the truck shuddered to a halt, the screech of brakes hurting Nudge's ears. Iggy, Gazzy and Total groggily awoke.
"I hope this is a potty break," Total muttered.
"What's happening?" Iggy's whisper was barely audible, but a Flyboy still kicked him.
Tally, having heard his voice, scooted her self to be in between the door and the rest of the flock.
-
Tally sat in anticipation, tensing her body to be rammed around. What's happening?! She thought anxiously.
She heard Gazzy, Total and Nudge gasp before Gazzy said happily, "Angel!"
Angel?
"Angel?" Nudge was scared. That meant something was wrong.
"Time to die," Angel said.
Tally froze before letting the bored mask back on her face.
"Iggy?" Max! Thank whatever god there is!
"Max!" Iggy's voice sounded strangled.
"You guys okay—," Max began. "Angel! Are you okay? I'm gonna take these guys apa—"
"I told you I should be the leader, Max," she said flatly. "Now it's your time to die. The last life forms from the labs are being exterminated, and you will be too. Right?"
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A/n: Just felt like updating. No review response, got to go work on project now!!!! Thanks to all who reviewed, both old reviewers and newcomers!