FEAR

Chapter Six

            When I first took off, with Alena in my arms, she looked absolutely petrified, she had both arms circled around my neck, and gripping into my hair hard – it almost hurt but I had to remind myself that this was probably the first time she'd flown – and it wasn't like there was a safety belt to stop her from falling.

            "Oh my god!" she screamed, she closed her eyes tightly and pressed her face to my neck, "don't drop me, don't drop me!" she screamed.

            "Relax, I won't drop you!" I promised, I kind of laughed, she'd said she trusted me but now I doubted it.  "I'm stronger than I look, Gargoyles are twice as strong as humans," I stated.

            Alena kept her face still pressed against my neck, I was sure she'd be able to feel the pulsing from my heart, I held on a little more tightly to her, "I should have forked out for a cab…" she screeched.

            "It's alright, don't worry.  I won't let anything happen, just look down, you need to see this view…"

            Alena eventually moved slightly and looked down, "does this not scare you?" she demanded, "look how high up we are," she grabbed on tighter to me.

            "I've never been scared of heights since I was a hatchling…but that was long ago…and times have changed so much," I stated, "Think of it…as going hand-gliding."

            "Can't we suddenly fall?" Alena worried.

            "No…not unless the wind suddenly changes or something happens to one of my wings, I can't fly on one wing," I stated softly.

            "Brooklyn…I'm really scared, can we hurry and get to my apartment?" she begged.

            "Okay, okay," I laughed, "sorry, look, we're almost there."

            "I don't want to look, just tell me when it's over," she closed her eyes and pressed her face back to my neck.

            I have to admit, it felt good, to be this close to a female – even if she was a human.  The soft breath against my flesh, the arms around my neck, hand buried in my hair.  I didn't really want it to end, but she was terrified, and I had to get her out of the sky if this was the case.

            I landed us on the roof of her building, and put her down slowly, she held onto my neck as I let her down, I was a lot taller than her, and it felt good, suddenly I didn't feel so inadequate of my height as usual – it was hard to not feel small when you were near Goliath, even if I was taller than average men.

            Alena opened her eyes and looked at me, she was silent, "wow…" she whispered.

            "Sorry I scared you," I murmured, "I…uhm…" I took my hands off of her waist, I don't know how they had gotten there in the first place, I felt nervous, my heart thudded in my chest, and I was afraid she'd notice how afraid I was.  All these stupid thoughts kept running through my head, I guess it was that outfit she had on, it was making me think of other things.

            I removed her hands from around my neck, "its really late, and you're probably tired," I said softly.

            "I'm not tired, Brooklyn.  I'm an insomniac, I barely sleep…" Alena looked at me through the bangs of her purple wig.  "I'd like it very much if you came inside…" She admitted, "and we could talk?"

            My phone began ringing, and I unclipped it from the place it usually rested on my belt and glanced at the screen, it indicated that Lexington was trying to contact me.  "Excuse me for just one second," I looked at her helplessly and answered the phone, "Hello?"

            "Brook…it's Lex, Broadway and me just stopped this fight between these gangs…but Broadway got shot…" Lexington sounded frantic.

            "What?!" I cried, suddenly distressed, "where are you guys?"

            "Times Square…Brook, I can't glide him out…he's too heavy – and my wings aren't separate from my arms like yours…"

            "I know, I know," I sighed, "which alley?"

            "It's near a big Men and Black poster," Lex responded.

            "Fine, wait there, try and stop the bleeding as much as you can – I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?"

            "Okay…" Lex sounded panicked, I hoped he'd stay calm enough in order to tend to Broadway until I could get there.  I hung up the phone and clipped it back into my pocket.

            "Something wrong?" Alena asked of me.

            "Yes, one of my clan has been shot, I must go help…" I sighed, I climbed up onto the edge of the building and spread my wings wide.

            "Do you need anything?" Alena asked quickly.

            "No…I'll be fine," I said, "bye…" I added, and then leapt from the building top, desperate to get to Times Square before my Rookery brother would bleed to death. 

            Lexington was right of course, there was no way he'd really be able to glide Broadway out, for one thing, Broadway was four times larger than Lexington, Lexington could only carry twice his own bodyweight, and Broadway liked to eat a lot so of course he had a little bit of extra weight – not that this was a bad thing always, although when it came to situations like this it could be a pain.  Secondly, Lexington's wings are not like the rest of the clans.  Most Gargoyles have wings that are like a second pair of arms, limbs that could be moved and manoeuvred to suit our flying style.  Lexington's wing-style is slightly similar to that of a flying squirrel, adjoined to both his thighs and his arms, he needs to spread both arms and legs out widely to glide, and there'd be no way he could carry Broadway in this style of gliding.

By the time I got there, the sun was almost an hour away from setting, I slipped into the Alley quietly, Broadway was propped up against some crates, there was blood all over his chest, and a bullet hole through his wing, blood tinged the wing as well.  I sighed, "How long as he been bleeding like this?"

            "Twenty minutes," Lexington responded, "at first there was barely any blood, but then it just started getting really bad…the bullet is still lodged in his chest as far as I can tell…" he stated to me, "what do we do?"

            "We need to get him back to the castle and tend to the wound as best we can until sunrise – I only hope he can make it for another hour or so – then he'll be fine."

            I reached down and touched Broadway's face, "Broadway…you okay?"

            "It hurts…" Broadway groaned.

            "It'll be fixed soon enough, Bro," I said, "C'mon…I pulled his arm around my neck "Hold onto me as much as you can, we'll fly you back and get you fixed up in no time."

            Broadway was heavier than I remembered him ever being before, and it strained my wings greatly gliding with my much larger Rookery brother in my arms, sometimes I almost dropped right out of the sky, but I kept concentrating and letting my wings take the strain.  I knew I would feel it much later – even days after stone sleep had rejuvenated me, pain like that did not ease away unfortunately. 

            Lexington had already called Hudson and advised to get some medical supplies on the ready, as we finally were gliding over the  courtyard of the castle, I heard something snap, and pain shot up the bone of my right wing and I felt it give way and fold back involuntarily, throwing us both down to the ground as if the sky were spitting us to the grass.  We both landed with a thud, and I winced.

            Angela was to us in seconds, "Broadway!?" she gasped, she seen the blood, and began to fret, Owen was there, ready with a stretcher to move Broadway into the sick bay of the castle, where he could be tended to medically.

            Pain was teeming through my right wing, and it seemed to be right on a nerve, each movement caused my whole body to twitch in agony, and Hudson, Angela, Lexington and Owen had to carry the stretcher with Broadway to the sickbay, I slowly followed, trying to ignore the pain in my wing.

            The sickbay had never been in the Castle up until we moved back in – Xanatos had realised that we came in almost every night with some sort of bump or bruise or wound, and that we always needed medical attention – he'd taken a room that had once been housing a private collection of armour and had stacked it full of bandages, painkillers, surgical equipment and even some major prescription drugs – in the case of excruciating pain.  Those drugs were locked up tight of course, and could only be accessed if it were a real emergency, although it had never really come to that.

            Xanatos had called in a private doctor to deal with Broadway – someone who'd dealt with us occasionally before.  The bullet had to be removed, and Broadway needed to have the bleeding stopped until he could heal at sunrise.  The doctor confirmed Broadway would be alright, but I was still worried, until the sun was seconds from rising, only would I be reassured of this.

            I settled on the floor in the corridor outside the sickbay and I hugged my knees, just resting, I'd gotten a fright when I thought Broadway may die, but I was used to this kind of situation – It had to be expected.  I kept trying to ignore my pain, reminding that it would probably heal itself mostly through the stone sleep.

            "Are you alright?" Angela asked of me as she sat beside me, she'd just come out of the sickbay, and she knelt before me, never had she looked so concerned about me before.

            "Yes, I'm fine," I sighed, I hugged my knees tighter, still wincing from the pain.

            "Brooklyn…have you even seen your own wing?" Angela asked of me curiously, I looked up at her, unsure of what she was speaking, it wasn't until I turned to my right wing to look at it to see that the bone had snapped completely, and was hanging off in an odd way, the bone had actually broken through the skin, and there was blood and raw skin showing, I winced.

            "Ouch," I muttered, "sorry, I didn't see…" I shrugged. 

            "Brooklyn, the bone is completely broken…" Angela stated, "it's almost sunrise, and if you do not get a spint on the wing to hold it up throughout your stone sleep, then it may never heal…"
            "You're probably right…" I sighed, I wandered into the sickbay, the doctor had finished tending to Broadway, and was ready to deal with my broken wing, every touch was agony.  The doctor splinted my wing up and told me that it would probably hurt for a few days and that I would more than likely need to try and not fly – that he doubted even stone sleep would really heal the bone well enough to fly.

            I headed up to the tower where we stayed during stone sleep, Hudson was standing looking out over the city, as he heard me approach he murmured, "Goliath has still not returned, Brooklyn…"

            "Shit," I muttered foully.

            "No need for that language," Hudson sighed, "Brooklyn, tomorrow we need to conduct a search."

            "I can't search for Goliath…I can't fly…the doctor told me to stay off of my wing for the next few days…" I motioned to the broken wing – it had betrayed me when I had needed it the most.

            Hudson gave a disgusted frown, "How'd ye do that?"

            "Carrying Broadway…he really needs a diet…" I made a face and climbed up onto the parapet, "Doctor Schisodia told me not to fly for the next few days as even stone sleep will probably not heal it well enough over night…I will have to lead the search party from here."

            "Then that is what you will have to do," Hudson stated, these were his last words before the sun rose and turned us both into stone.