I smashed my phone against the pavement with the heel of my shoe. We took its pieces and scattered them about the lot, throwing some in other areas.
"That should do it," I brushed my hands together.
Speck adjusted her bag on her shoulders then clipped the straps together. Her face hung with a mixture of emotions while I rolled up my sleeves. It felt... weird to be on the run again, having to cut all ties from the life we imagined and scavenge for ourselves. I was going to miss eating a full meal at a table each night. Not to mention a fluffy, splinter-ridden bed.
"You ready?"
"Yeah," Speck glanced up at me then down at her feet. She was getting better, but knowing her, I doubted it was going to go away anytime soon. She was resilient, as always.
My ear turned towards the bus down the road and I hiked up my bag onto my shoulders as well, feeling my muscles pull under the bandages. It annoyed the heck out of me that I was still healing, but one more day, then I would be flying again. We walked towards the bus stop and handed the driver our tickets. We were headed north-west, from what we heard about through Fang's blog. Once we sat down, I rubbed the back of my neck while pulling out the laptop. I reread my message:
'Hi Fang, I was wondering if you could help me with something? I'm trying to find my brother, we were separated at birth, and I'm pretty sure he's like me, like us. I don't know what to do. Speck, my best friend, and I have been travelling everywhere to find him, but we keep getting caught up by ITex. Can you help us? – Amber Skyy.'
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, she needs our help," he narrowed his eyes.
"Your help," she crossed her arms.
"Well I can't say no," he bit back. The empty message box stared back from his laptop, waiting for him to type.
"Seriously," she closed the laptop with one hand, staring at him. "We have enough to deal with the Doomsday Group, now you want to help some random girl with finding her lost brother? That's a one in a million chance."
He narrowed her eyes at her, "I sent out that notice to help people like us."
"But you can't help all of them," she crossed her arms, reminding him of her. The stubborn look on her face meant there was no way to fight it. Even with the magenta stripe in her hair, it was hard for him to think otherwise. But she wasn't like her. Max always helped the underdog, Maya was way different. He stared off into nothing.
"Fang."
He didn't glance at her.
"Fang, I know you want to help them, but didn't you say that a lot of them are helping each other? I've seen the comment section, they know how to take care of themselves," she leaned down in front of him.
"This one's different," he muttered. Something about those words, something about using just ITex and not the School or anybody else... it was like Amber was like him. Literally. Not like the Gen77 kids. Fang glanced over at Ratchet on the bed furthest from him, eyes closed and either sleeping or eavesdropping. It didn't matter. "She said 'like us'," he stated.
"Well duh, she's genetically enhanced," she quizzed.
He just had to look at her for it to click in her mind. "Wait, you mean-"
"Our generation. She must have wings too."
The faint ding of the laptop peeled me from resting my head against the chair. Blinking, I bent down to discreetly pull it out while Speck continued snoring against the window. She slept the majority of the day, only saying a few words to me as we stopped for food and bathrooms. I was thankful for not talking about it so much, but I did want to go through Plan Bs and Cs and all the way down to Z if need be. I was tired of flying by the seat of my pants. I carefully opened it up and my heart skipped a beat.
"Hm?" Speck mumbled and turned her head towards me.
"Look," I pushed it towards her as she yawned. She peered down at it with some sleep still left in her. Her eyes widened and quickly matched mine and I nodded back.
"Seriously? Really?" she gaped, clicking the screen to make sure it was real.
"Yeah, he wants to meet with us," I breathed.
"Where?"
"Somewhere near Wisconsin, see? WI," I pointed at the initials in the message. At first I thought I was seeing things, but his words were clear. He said he would help, but we had to meet him. I hoped we could meet halfway, but he didn't say anything that would even suggest that. Does he have a permanent residence or something? Or am I really walking into a trap?
The shock got to me so much I didn't realize Speck was scrolling through his blog again. I watched as she gazed through the comments and questions he received, when I saw- "Wait stop, what's that?"
NEEDED: GEN 77 and/or HUMAN-ANIMAL HYBRIDS
We exchanged a glance of confusion. What on earth was he doing? Putting that out there? Was I missing something? I clicked on the link and read through it, my heart racing at every word there. He was calling for mutants, for freaks, for non-human beings. He already called people up, rallying them. Was I really that blind? The more I thought of it, it made sense. It's normal, hearing and seeing kids with wings. Seeing it on the news made sense. True, I thought that the world was going crazy with all these stories that came up, but they were all fueled by one company's actions: ITex.
My heart lurched as I continued scrolling through the blog. More people were rallying against ITex and the monsters that put us in there. More posts about Fang and his so-called flock. Even parts on where they visited freaking Africa. At least it wasn't Antarctica. Now he was forming his own group, away and on his own, apart from the flock. What happened? How did they split? Did they mean it? Did he want to leave? Meeting the flock, meeting people with wings like me, that was out the window. All I got was Fang... but what if he's not like them? He left them, he must be different from them. He did make this blog, and he was seeking out mutants, and he just messaged me back saying to meet him somewhere. But...
What if? What if, when I meet him, he won't help me? What if he has no idea how to find my brother and pushes me out? What if he sees me as a threat, or turns me in? What if he doesn't believe me, despite everything that I went through? What if he's working for them secretly? What if-
"Amber?"
I didn't realize my hand was gripping the seat so hard my knuckles went white. I breathed short breaths and slowly opened my fist, stretching the ligaments. Speck's hand quickly moved to mine and she looked at the laptop again. The Calling All Mutants headline stared back at us and I wanted to hurl. We were stuck in a time loop staying at Mom and Dad's, not seeing the world moving faster around us. So much happened in such little time, and I wanted to puke my guts out.
It happened again. I was locked away while everybody else lived their lives. But this time, I felt happy. I didn't have to worry about everybody else. I just had to be back in time for dinner and not stay up too late. I was happy there, but the world didn't forget about us. It came crashing in and nearly killed me and destroyed my one true home. Was I really that dim? Not seeing any of this? I remember watching the news with Mom while making dinner and glancing at the newspaper Dad read in the morning, but the happiness of just being there overwhelmed me. What, can I not be happy anymore? Can I not just focus on me and forget everything else?
"Last stop."
The squeak of the bus door jolted me from my thoughts. The gal turned and jabbed her finger towards the door, "Sorry kids, there's a hotel not too far though."
"Thank you," Speck grabbed her bag as did I. We shuffled off the bus and thanked her again before she headed off. I glanced at the sky, guessing it was about eleven and wondered where we could crash for the night. But seeing that I already snapped my credit card in half and destroyed my phone, we were resorted to old-fashioned homelessness.
"Park?" Speck suggested as we started walking aimlessly.
I shrugged, "Maybe we should stick to the woods." I saw a stretch of dark trees not far ahead.
Speck squirmed a bit but nodded. This adjustment was tough, especially for her, but we had to step forward. She knew that, I knew that, but we both didn't want to. It shaped us and our future, and maybe even forever.
We hiked up the road towards the little grove and started hunting for a good oak or fir to nap in. But seeing as they were fairly skinny trees and not much to climb, we had to make camp. I unraveled two large blankets for us while Speck collected some branches for a small fire. I sat down and propped myself against a tree while Speck curled up on her side and stared at the flickering pile of wood. Her eyes drooped a little bit and I chuckled. I guess I was taking first watch. Once her eyes closed I watched her for a little bit before pulling out the laptop again.
"Another one?"
"Actually two," Fang narrowed his eyes.
"And I thought having three chicks was enough," Ratchet scoffed.
"Well excuse me for existing," Star barked.
"Who is she? Or them, I mean," Holden questioned.
"Amber and Speck," Fang stated.
"They're like us," Maya chimed in.
"Duh, why else would they be joining?" Star pointed out.
"It could be a trap," Ratchet suggested, jabbing Star's arm.
"I'll cut you," she sneered back at him. Kate took a step forwards.
"Are they staying here? Why them and not somebody else?" Holden prodded.
"Not sure, we'll see once they reply," Maya spoke up. She glanced at Fang from the bed with a concerned face. Fang just stared at his gang, wondering if it really was possible to welcome a new kid now. But he already sent the message, there was no backing out. He still didn't know if this was a fake or not, that's why he waited to confirm, like he did with everybody else here.
Everybody froze when the laptop beeped again. He wondered if it could be just some kid sending fan-mail again, as instances like these weren't quick in replying. Eager, he clicked the message, reading:
'Yes, I'm a mutant. I wasn't born with wings, a tail, or scales, but I have them now. I'm a lot to look at. You might not believe me but you're my last hope. I heard of winged kids a while back and couldn't believe it. I wasn't alone. I need your help, I lost everything I knew, and ITex did all of it. If you really don't believe me, watch the news. – AS'
"Turn on the news," he said and Holden quickly grabbed the remote. After a minute or two of commercials, one which made Star laugh because it was her favorite, the late-night news came on. Fang cursed under his breath, remembering it was nighttime. A comedian was chatting away and not paying attention until the camera guy cued him. Whoever it was, made a joke or two before talking about the current situation with the Doomsday group. Both Star and Kate whispered to each other while Ratchet leaned back on the bed, eyes closed again and trying to focus. Holden glanced back at Fang with a raised eyebrow.
"What's up?" Maya asked just as the comedian started welcoming a guest onto the show.
Fang turned to his laptop again, searching for anything that might be related to ITex. Several more Doomsday links popped up, and he had to search back through the queue until one stood out. It said something about a Wanted teenager and kid and he clicked on it, seeing those two faces he saw on the tv the other day. The older girl had strawberry blonde hair and, for some weird reason, looked a lot like Iggy. Well, if Iggy was a girl and had more muscle on him of course. They had very similar noses. Just below her chin he saw what looked like a bruise, but it was greener and defined in shape. The quality was bad, but he swore that there was a light reflecting off that patch of skin. The other girl had smaller green like spots scattered around, some even on her face, also having that weird sheen affect. They definitely looked different, and for a second he didn't want to believe these were them, but he knew it was. He could tell with the look in the older girl's eyes. The same look he knew way back in his early days at the School.