Chapter 2
I was awakened from my sleep by being bounced around. I felt my body laying on some type of material and it felt like I was being carried. I cracked open my eyes just a bit and looked around me and found that I was on a makeshift litter and that I was being carried by the lion and crocodile that I ran from earlier. As I was about to speak a jet came in view and I saw the bird-girl sitting in the cockpit, with the canopy open. My transporters started to pick up the pace and before I knew it, they were setting me down in the jet. I heard them talking but could not make out any part of their exchange. I tried to sit up but the pain in my abdomen kept my body on the ground. I let out a small groan and I could barely make out her turning her head to acknowledge me. The pain in my body started to expand to the point where my vision was starting to become filled with tears before they were filled with darkness and my mind went blank.
/Break/
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* the rhythmic beeping of a machine broke through the silence of my mind and was the cause of my awakening. I opened my eyes and was immediately blinded by lights beaming down on me. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the light I looked around and found myself in a white room. I looked over to my left and found the culprit that woke me up, a heartbeat monitor that was continually beeping. I found wires leading up onto my body and tore them off, hearing the monitor flatline. As I did that, I got off the bed that I was laying down on and started to walk around my room, albeit very unsteady. I was careful not to make too much noise, to not arouse any suspicion. I made my way over to the door and put my ear up against it too see if I could hear anything on the other side. Silence, that was all that reigned on the other side of the door, no talking, walking or anything. I contemplated opening the door, but I decided to look underneath the door frame first, to see if the coast was clear. I did not see any shadows from my position, so I got up turned the golden knob and opened the door just a crack. I opened the door all the way, after seeing that the hallway was empty. I stepped out and looked left, which lead to another hall, and right, which was a dead end with some carts. I saw a window in front of me and walked over towards it. What I saw was breathtaking, I had a view of the whole land I was thrown in, and it was beautiful. That was until I saw one of those jets fall from the sky, looking like it was shot down. I started to feel the earth rumble and heard loud bangs from somewhere else on the tower, or whatever I was in. I made my way down the hall and turned left, finding more rooms. One especially caught my eye, the sign said, "Personal Belongings". "Hopefully, I find my clothes in there and get out of this gown." I said, while opening the door. What I found in there surprised me, though. While, yes, there was lockers of belongings, there were also workers in there, cowering in fear. They all looked at me with fear in their eyes and some even started to cry. "Hey, hey, I'm not here to hurt anyone, I'm just looking for my belongings. I was thinking they would be in here." I said, trying to calm the ten, or so, bird-people down enough so they could give me some direction to my stuff. They all looked at each other until I heard one of them speak up, "You're that big wolf that Eris found, right? Your stuff should be stored in that wall locker over there" One of the nurses, I'm guessing, said. I walked over to the locker and, opening it, found all my stuff stored in there. I quickly dropped the gown, hearing multiple gasps from behind me. I looked behind me and found all of them either looking away or staring at my body. "Sorry." I told them, sheepishly. After putting on my uniform I put on my flak and making sure it was strapped properly. I needed to figure out what was going on as another bang went off somewhere on the spire, which I found out was bombing raids by the wolves and ravens. "Come with me, I'll help get you guys off of here and to a safer area." I said, hoping they would follow. They huddled into a little group and started to discuss my proposal. The room was filled with hushed whispers until a loud crashing came from out in the hall, silencing the whole room and making us turn our heads towards the door. "Come on, Wellen, there has to be some cowering here." I heard a high-pitched voice say. "I know they're here somewhere, just waiting to be found by us." A deep, and intimidating, voice said. I stood behind the door as I heard their footsteps come closer and prepared myself for when they would open the door. I saw their shadows pass by the door before suddenly stopping. That was when the door was kicked open and I saw a huge wolf, with a scrawny sidekick at his side. "Found you~." The smaller one taunted. They both started to walk towards me but not before I took a huge swing and hooked the small one right in the face, stumbling him a bit. The bigger guy did not hesitate to react as I braced for his hit, which sent me flying into a wall. I got up off the ground, grabbing my knife while doing so and starting to charge at them, sliding underneath tubby and stabbing the one that was rocked right in the abdomen, causing a shriek of pain to cry out and ending with him collapsing to the ground. I turned around just in time to dodge an axe being chopped downwards to embed itself in my skull. I stabbed his wrist causing him to lose grip on it just a little bit. He tried back handing me, but I just ended up stabbing him again, and again, until I went for the kill shot and tried to force the blade into his neck. It bounced off harmlessly, causing him to chuckle at my ignorance. "It seems you thought you could get past my armor with that puny weapon." He stood up and turned around, easily towering over me and the others that I was protecting. He charged at me at a speed I did not know anyone his size could run at and ended up uppercutting me, knocking me back. He did not let up there, as he followed up with a stomp right on my abdomen, which was not in the best condition already, causing me to cough up blood. I tried stabbing him, but he ended up just grabbing my wrist, twisting it, and making me stab myself, causing me to scream in pain at the foreign intrusion. Suddenly, a blur came out of nowhere and he was knocked off me and onto the ground, with a familiar bird-girl standing over him. He retaliated with a punch, which she easily dodged and tried stabbing him. He caught the spear and punched her in the face, sending her into the wall, knocked unconscious. As he was about to go finish off the job, I thought of only one way to make it out of this alive. I gripped the handle of the knife and started to pull it out, with difficulty. He was standing over her by the time I got the knife out and looked like he was going to go for the killing blow. To avoid this, I twirled the knife in my hands and whistled out catching his attention. Once I made eye contact with him, I threw my knife with enough force that it was able to penetrate hi skull, killing him instantly. I noticed that she was stirring awake, and I started to walk-stumble my way over to her, to see if she was ok. By the time she noticed me I was basically crawling, leaving a blood trail on the floor. She flew over to me with fear in her eyes and looked at my wound before giving me quite a charming smile. Her smile was the last thing I saw before my mind went blank.