"I swear I need a baby carrier to fly you around."
The following day we were flying again. Not far, just enough to see where we were. I was holding Speck as tight as I could in my arms as she stared around the area below us. It was tough, since she wasn't holding onto me either. I squeezed her again as we flew into another thermal.
"You're not going to drop me," she called to me over the wind, squinting at the ground below us.
"Right, and you're definitely not butter."
She laughed and continued looking. I squinted as well, looking around and only seeing rolling hills of trees. There were some patches of clearings, but not enough to tell us where we were. I felt her sigh in my arms.
"This isn't working, we need to find a town," she crossed her arms and locked her fingers around my wrists.
"Isn't that what we're doing?" I looked to the right of me and only saw clouds rolling in the distance.
"Sure, but a map would be better. I wish they would've given me a GPS or something."
I sighed as well, feeling hopeless until I sniffed something that didn't smell like water crystallizing. I looked ahead, sniffing again what appeared to be:
"Smoke?"
"Huh?" Speck glanced up, which made me have to grip her tighter.
"I smell smoke," I stared ahead, but only saw more clouds. Dipping my wings a little bit lower, I got under the cloud banking and cruised through a small lake of white. Once we broke through the cloud, the ground was closer to us, much closer, and I could see a road. Heck, I could even see what looked like a town up ahead. I snickered as Speck squinted to try and see.
"What? What is it?" she stared around, not seeing anything. "What do you see?"
"A town," I nodded. "Up ahead. It looks like a little village." I grinned and looked down at her, lowering my altitude ever so slightly. "Looks like I win," I taunted.
"I hate bird mutants," she mumbled, making me scoff and playfully loosen my grip. She let out a short scream which just made me laugh. I angled myself towards the town, hoping to get a glimpse of where I was on this planet.
It was a very pretty town, or ski resort, I should say. Speck and I were cautiously walking along the main road, me keeping my wings as tight to my back as possible and shoving my tail down my pants. I couldn't do much for my ears or my scales, so I was staring around at the local businesses like an Eraser was going to jump out at any minute. But it seemed like the town was deserted.
"Angel..." Speck paused while reading the welcome sign. "Fire? That's an interesting name." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, and I could see her breath a little. It was colder here, and about eight-thousand feet above sea level. I could feel it in my lungs; it was a little tough to breathe.
I crossed my arms and bounced around on my feet to stay warm. I didn't even think to grab a jacket back at the lake. Well, I wasn't even thinking, I was just fleeing. I stared at the sign some more and something clicked inside my head.
"We're in New Mexico?" I asked aloud.
Speck furrowed her eyebrows, "Then wouldn't the sign be in Spanish?"
I shook my head and chuckled a little bit, "No. New Mexico. It's the state between Texas and Phoenix. It's always overlooked. I didn't know it was mountainous." I looked up at mountain ahead of us. There was a large slice of the trees gone, making a large green hill and swaying ski lift look barren. But I could also see a snow machine nearby the run. Maybe they have trouble making snow?
"Well, wherever we are we should get some food," Speck grumbled, holding her stomach. I nodded in response as we walked along the road. There were a few cute shops just by looking through the windows, but it looked like none of them were open. The only thing that seemed open was a slightly out-of-place grocery store. The only thing that made it somewhat fit in with the rest of its surroundings was the green roof. We walked towards it but then I stopped.
"What is it?" Speck asked, turning to look at me.
I stared blankly at the front doors, where the OPEN sign hung. "I can't go in there."
"Why not?" Speck seemed confused, until she realized what I meant. I was more of a freak than her. She could probably go in there and blow it off like she just had a very rare skin condition that doesn't spread. But me? How do I explain very realistic cat ears, scales, a lump in my pants, and feathers plastered to my back? It was impossible. Plus, it was a building that could easily corner us in if Erasers were nearby.
I shook my head, "I can't go in there." My stomach rumbled in protest.
Speck's face dropped, obviously feeling pity for me but I could see the hunger in her eyes. We stood there in the barely naked parking lot for a while, until her demeanor changed.
"Go hide behind a building somewhere, I'll find you," she then turned on her heel and walked right into the store. I stared after her, wanting to call out to her but she was already inside. She had the most determined look in her eyes. I wondered what she was planning to do. At first I wanted to go in to make sure she was safe, but hey, this girl planned an escape plan for me.
So I jogged behind the nearest building, squatted down by the trash bins, holding my nose, and waited.
It wasn't long until I heard the bells go off. I jumped up, ready to go run in and grab her, but then I heard, "You come back with those! We need those for the season!" I stared around the corner, seeing the parking lot and an angry older woman standing over a fallen grocery bag. She huffed in annoyance at the shoplifter, grabbed the bag, and walked back in. I peered around, hoping to see Speck not too far off, but I couldn't see her. My heart skipped a beat. Did she get hit by a car? Or captured? Or worse? Where did she-
"GAH!" I let out a startled shout as a certain somebody poked me in the side. Speck keeled over in laughter, her arms coated with grocery bags. I had to clutch my heart to keep it from racing into a heart attack. That little...
"Don't ever do that again!" I seethed, trying to keep my voice down but also to make a point. She just grinned and held up a bag that smelled of beautifulness.
"Hungry?"
My mouth watered at the smell and I just nodded, still trying to calm my heartbeat down. We sat down behind the large, log building. It wafted of other wonderful smells, which made me even hungrier. We tore into some chips and other wonderful things she grabbed. Once I reached for the sliced bread though, she slapped my hand.
"What?" I growled, wanting to make a sandwich.
"Save those for our trips, we'll need them," she grabbed the loaf and the peanut butter as well.
I just rolled my eyes, "And how do you think we'll be able to carry them?"
She pulled out what looked like a small camping backpack. We matched eyes and I shut up.
"Right, I forgot you were so smart," I licked my fingers.
"Well," she teased. "I did crash a van full of sick criminals to rescue you."
I playfully shoved her shoulder and she did it back to me, missing and almost high-fiving the jelly jar. I laughed and leaned back against the wall.
"So how did you do it? I doubt you just ran in there and ran back out just like that," I looked at her little proud face as she wiped her hands against her legs.
"You're right," she spoke through a mouthful. Once she swallowed, she continued, "I went in, grabbed a basket, and started putting food in it. There was only one lady in there, and she was stocking towards the back." She let out a small smile. "Once she saw me with all the stuff, she asked me if I was going camping or something. So she basically planted the idea in my head."
I smirked at the idea. We technically were camping, just add the running in from animal-mutants being chased by insane-lab-scientists and their dogs and you got the entire picture.
"So I told her, 'You read my mind.' And then asked her where the backpacks were. She helped me through the entire thing! It was great. Once I got to the checkout line, she was blabbing on and on about the town and everything. Did you know that they get the majority of their business sales during the winter? Apparently this town gets busy when it's snowy!
Anyways, I then asked her where all the people go afterword, and she said Texas. Apparently they get a lot of people from Texas here, and sometimes people from Germany! Isn't that crazy?"
"Germany?" my eyes widened. "Little Angel Fire is pretty popular!"
"Yeah! So I continued chatting up a storm with her, and then I asked her if she happened to have a map, and she gave it to me for free! She pointed out the best hiking places in town, and once she asked me how old I was and why I was going hiking in this weather, I snatched it and took off!" Speck grinned heavily and I laughed in reply.
"Oh man, you were so great!" I wiped a little tear from my eye and exchanged a high-five with her.
"Eeyup, the great and powerful Speck," she proudly grinned.
"Now that sounds like a good line for a soap commercial."
She scoffed and tried to tackle me to the ground. All she did was tip me over. I couldn't help myself, so I tickled her back, making her squeal. This was it. This was the life I was going to have. It felt scary at first, but now that Speck is here, I felt actually happy.