Chapter 2

I was a peregrine falcon, same a s Jake. Cassie and Marco were identical ospreys. Rachel was a Bald eagle and Whitney was a Golden eagle. Tobias was a red-tail hawk. We were all flying around with nothing on our heads but the clouds. Being a falcon was incredibly fin and seemed to have no boundaries, at least when you were as quick and agile as a falcon.

{Isn't this great?} I yelled to the others as I swooped down to the side.

{Yeah, this is quite possibly the best thing in the world!} Marco yelled back. I couldn't tell which osprey he was so I couldn't tell you anything about what he was doing.

I started flapping as high as I could. {Anyone up for a dive race?} I challenged.

{Come on Gordon, you know you have the fastest morph of us all, why do you even bother? You have won the last ten times.} Whitney stated.

{I know, but it is still fun.} I went into a dive and then noticed that Jake was alongside me until I flared to a stop. Jake also had a peregrine falcon morph, so he was just as fast as me.

{This is great!} Jake yelled. {Whoo-hoo!}

{Yeah, this is great.} I added. Snowboarding, rollerblading, no extreme sport could compare to this. Maybe skydiving or something, but not even close.} I said.

Then there was Cassie, {Can't anyone stop and appreciate the way this body works. So small and delicate, but strong and agile.}

{You can't tell me that even now you are thinking about that. Can't you just sit back, relax, and have fun?} Whitney asked.

{Good point, this is by far the most fun I have ever had.} Cassie answered. {But doesn't it just eat you inside that people's lives are figuratively ending as we speak, we are the only ones who can help them, and we are having fun?}

I thought about it for a minute. {Nope, not really.} I answered.

{That's heartless!} Whitney spat.

{I don't see how, people die all the time, and I am not there to save them all. Even while we fight, people are being enslaved. You have to take it into perspective. At least we are fighting. It would be different if we were just ignoring it. There is nothing we can do. If we had a better lead, then we could do something.}

{We have Melissa, she is at least something.} Rachel said.

{I know, but we can't do anything in plain day. It would be suicide, well, not really.} I said.

BOOM!

Suddenly I felt an incredibly sharp pain in my wing. Before I knew it, I was falling to the ground and I couldn't stop myself from falling faster and faster.

{Who was that? Jake, are you all right?} Cassie screamed.

{I'm fine, I think it was Gordon.} he said.

THUD! I hit the ground as another shot was fired. BOOM!

I was incredibly dazed and could barely move. Thank god I wasn't to far up or I would have died. I started to demorph slowly, because I was not thinking well. Slowly the feathers were sucked up and my bones were shifting to their own positions.

{When we hear the next shot, everybody crank hard to the right.} Whitney instructed.

{How do we know where the shooting is coming from?} Rachel asked.

{Simple,} Marco answered. {Just look to the ground to see where the flash comes from. That's where it's coming from.}

I continued to demorph and my bones became thicker. In a total of five long minutes, I was human in my tight little bodysuit. I was still kind of dazed, and I was surprised.
BOOM!

I estimated the direction to the blast.

{Everybody move!} I heard Jake instruct everyone in the air. But I wasn't worried about that, I was pissed. Someone was shooting at me and they were going to pay. They could have killed me. Damn it! I don't go down easily.

{It's a bunch of guys in a jeep. Drunk, by the looks of it.} Rachel said.

{We're endangered species.} Cassie exclaimed. {Why would they shoot at us?}

{Who cares.} Whitney said, {We need to teach them a lesson.}

{Whitney, where are you going?} Jake asked.

{What did I say? I am teaching a couple of scumbags a lesson.}

{I am in for that.} I heard Rachel agree. I didn't care, I was going to get them first.

{Gordon!} I heard Tobias yell at me. He was obviously looking for me. {Come on, I need you to answer.}

{Yeah, come on, no jokes.} I heard Marco add. I still didn't care.

I saw the Jeep, and I began to run. Suddenly a couple of birds came shooting out of the bush. One grabbed one of the guys' hat. The other took a can of beer. These guys were obviously drunk.

I jumped onto a cooler in time to see the surprised look on one of their faces. I went from cooler to floor of open door into a dropkick of one sitting on the other door. He fell off the side. The other two guys were on the hood of the car. They stared at me for a minute then tried to grab me. Too late, I was up and over into the back seat out of their way. I jumped onto the backrest of the front seat and landed a quick kick to the side of one guys head. He fell off the side of the truck holding his ear.

"Damn, Man!" He whined.

The other guy was up and tried to punch me he missed and started to stumble off the hood of the truck. I grabbed his hair and kneed him in the face. I let go and kicked him in the chest. He fell off the hood and hit the ground hard. The other guy was still holding his ear. I jumped off the hood of the jeep and onto the guy's back.

"Teaches you guys to shoot at the birds. Rotten little bastards." With that I turned and ran.