I waited in the trees as Reilly flew up to the cave entrance. A few minutes later I could hear the sounds of a struggle. There was a sudden bout of cursing, most likely from an Eraser, and then havoc. Reilly sped out of the cave, the pack of Erasers hot on his tail.
I can't believe they fell for it, I thought, I mean they're dumb, but I didn't think they were that dumb.
I flew up to the cave entrance and landed on the shelf outside. I was about to step inside when I smelt a strong pong coming from inside. It looked like not all the Erasers had played 'follow the leader'. I grabbed a stone and climbed up above the entrance to the cave. I threw the stone so that it bounced on the shelf and then fall into the forest below. The Eraser in the cave came rushing out and looked around. He jumped down the rock face and into the forest searching for the stone.
Good doggy, I thought, go fetch and don't come back.
I slipped quietly into the cave and found the others tied up and locked in the portable dog crate cages. I slipped up to the first cage and popped the lock open. I reached inside and grabbed Flacon. At first he struggled against me then, realizing who it was, stopped struggling and let me untie his bonds.
"Go watch the entrance," I ordered as I moved on to the next cage, "tell me if any dog boys show up again."
I popped open the lock and untied Drake then moved on to Terra. I opened her cage and untied her, but she didn't respond. I checked her pulse and it was strong. Then I was the blood on her forehead and realized she had probably been knocked unconscious to stop her from bringing the cave down. A howl rang from the forest below, urging me on.
"Drake," I called quietly, "collect our stuff and prepare to leave in a quick fashion."
Drake nodded and grabbed the bags lying on the floor. I popped open Skye's cage and untied her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Is everyone alright?" I asked.
"Everyone is fine," Drake said, "The only person injured was Terra and she is only unconscious."
It was then that Terra came round. She looked slightly dazed but ok. I helped her get ready to leave quickly and made sure there weren't any major side effects from being hit on the head.
"Looks like the mutts have decided playing follow the leader isn't fun anymore." Flacon shouted, "They're heading back here and they're in a hurry."
"Get going," I ordered, "We need to get out of the cave before Lucas gets back."
A shout of pain came form the entrance.
"It's too late for that." Lucas' voice called from the entrance. "I'm tired of playing games now Alpha. Next time you pull a stunt like that, I will kill one of your friends. The Academy wants you back; they don't care about the others. They can be replaced."
Oh boy, now things are getting serious…
Chapter 57
"Now Alpha, walk out slowly and with you hands where I can see them." Lucas ordered, "I don't want any unexpected surprises."
I looked at the others spread around the cave. We were trapped and they new it. I placed my bag on my back and walked out of the cave and onto the shelf where Lucas waited for me. The others followed me out, bags on backs as well.
"I have told you once," I said, "and I will tell you one more time. My name is Blaze, not Alpha. Use it."
I dove at Lucas, driven by anger and an instinct to protect my flock, my family. But I wasn't the one to hit him. A shadow flew out of the sky and slammed into Lucas. I recognized Reilly's face and screamed at the others to get moving. The pack of Erasers were lost about what to do in the confusion. They didn't know whether to catch us or to help their leader. Suddenly a gunshot rang out through the air. I turned towards the sound to watch Reilly collapse to the ground, a gunshot wound through is right lung. Lucas rose from the ground, pointing the gun at Terra and I, the rest of the flock and managed to escape.
It was then I suddenly lost it. Blackness surrounded me as my power lost control. Terra jumped off the shelf and flew to the others; Lucas occupied by me, and got to safety before I really lost control. My wings turned a pure shade of black, so dark it was like looking into nothing. My hair turned from the normal brown streaked with gold, to a jet black, my clothes followed, turning black. I looked at Lucas and his face showed disbelief. In his eyes I could see my reflection. I looked like an angel of death for lack of a better description. This was not a lucky night... for them.
"Stop him," Lucas shouted to the other Erasers, "get him down before he causes more trouble."
An Eraser leapt at me, aiming to knock me down with his weight. I lifted my arm and hurled a punch at him, decking him in the first punch.
Hmmm, I thought, it seems I'm slightly stronger, I wonder what else I can do.
Another Eraser leaped at me from the side, aiming to knock me against the wall and hopefully daze me. I back flipped onto a nearby pile of rocks as the Eraser struck the wall and knocked himself out. I kicked another Eraser on the side of the head as he tried to swipe my feet out from under me and watched him drop like a stone. Lucas and I were the only ones left.
Finally I get to finish what I started, I thought, Lucas will pay for everything he has done to all the Angelan.
"Blaze," Lucas called, "They would prefer you alive to dead, but my orders were to catch you alive if able. At the moment I am not able to capture you alive, so dead will do."
Lucas raised his gun and pointed it at me. I saw his finger twitch on the trigger and leapt into space as the bullet flew past the spot where I had been standing a few seconds ago. I flapped my wings and gained altitude then dive-bombed Lucas. Shots range out, whizzing past me, the air singing as they flew extremely close to hitting me, but surprisingly none did. I hit Lucas square in the chest and sent him flying to the ground still holding the gun. I lunged at his gun arm and began to use my strength to force him to drop the gun. Lucas struggled against me, trying to loosen my grip. Suddenly a shot went off and a sharp pain dug into my shoulder. I saw drops of blood drip to the ground from the wound and realised he had shot me. Again Lucas struggled trying to bring the gun up for a killing shot.
I release pressure on his arm slightly and he lifted the gun. I then grabbed the gun and began to turn it around and point it towards Lucas. Another shot rang out and shrapnel from the bullet hitting the stone floor stung as they cut us. I continued pressuring the gun, turning it against Lucas. Another shot rang out, this one finding the target I had chosen for it. Lucas stared up at me in shock, the light in his eyes slowly dimming as he died.
Lucas is finally dead, I thought, so why don't I feel any better than before? Is it because I killed someone? Or is it the fact that I was able to kill him so easily? I crawled over to Reilly and saw that he was still alive.
Chapter 58
"Blaze," Reilly coughed as he noticed me, "I … told you… that I had… made a promise. That… promise was to Max… your mother," He paused to let it sink in, "I knew her... after I… became like you. She knew… what they would do. She said… if they create a... second generation… to protect them… no matter if they were… her children or not… She made me promise… and I will keep it until the… last breath I will take."
Reilly shuddered as his body grew cold. Blood stained his clothes, soaking them to be precise. He heaved one last breath and was still. Reilly had kept his promise to my mother, until his dying breath.
I stayed kneeling at Reilly's side; the others slowly came and landed on the shelf. I had returned to my normal self. Skye walked up to me and healed the bullet wound in my shoulder, the bullet falling out onto the ground. Then she knelt beside me and saw me cry, something I didn't do often, not in public anyway. She began to comfort me when she realised the tears were not only of shock, but of grief and confusion as well. I let her. The others got to work moving the bodies of the unconscious Erasers away from the cave and into the forest below the edge, taking the track the Erasers had somehow found. Drake carried off Lucas' body and buried him where not even police dogs would find him.
"Reilly promised Max to look after us," I spoke at last, "he knew my mother and promised her he would look after any second generation kids. Max knew they might try something like this. And Reilly paid with his life to keep that promise."
My voice cracked as I said this. I had always suspected of Reilly having an ulterior motive, I just didn't realize it was a promise he had kept my mother.
After an eternity I finally composed myself. No sign of the emotional breakdown I had just moments ago. It was time for our final flight, our last mission together. We were to free Flame and the others at the installation… or die trying. I ordered Drake, Terra and Falcon to get some dry firewood. I was going to cremate Reilly and scatter his ashes. All Angelan had agreed that once free, if we died free, we would be cremated and have our ashes scattered on the wind we were born to fly on. As we built the pyre the others paid their respects to Reilly. Skye had told them what I had found out and they had taken an entirely different attitude towards him. We moved the body onto the pyre and a few moments of silence occurred, then I lit the pyre and we flew off into the rising sun. On to the Nevada desert and the installation… onto our uncertain future or our certain doom.
Chapter 59
As we flew I told the rest of the group about the location of The Installation and showed them the blueprints of the place on their WP's, which I had managed to find while investigating the bases database.
We had all decided that trying to infiltrate the place using the air ducts was not going to work. Unlike in most novels and movies I had read during my time at the academy, most of the military bases and bunkers did not have air ducts large enough for people to crawl along. And according to the blue prints, there was only two ways into the base, the front door or the back door. The front door to the bunker was the main entry and exit point to the base. Whenever people left, they took the front door and walked to the garage kept in a separate building a few metres away. The back door was more like a huge trapdoor in the side of a desert sand dune. Under the sand dune, was a solid concrete foundation that formed the supply door to the base. Trucks flowed in and out of the door, delivering supplies to the base and for whatever experiments were going on beneath the desert sands.
The back door was the first idea we had, but decided they might have expected us to walk through the biggest door in the base. So we decided to split into two teams, one would stay on the surface and disable the vehicles in the garage, making sure there was no pursuit when we escaped. The second team was going to walk right in the front door and I mean that literally. We were just going to create a diversion with the supply trucks and then, while people were busy with the supply trucks, we were just going to walk right in the front door and act like we belonged. I know, hard to think like three sixteen year old kids could belong at that place.
It's a good thing I had accidentally found out that The Installation used some of the other experiments, other than Erasers, to guard the place. Experiments like the human-tiger hybrids and other human kids that had extra-ordinary abilities. I'm sure they wouldn't notice a few humans with powers walk right in the front door. I mean, they have it happening all day right? And at least we can hide our wings. Now… all me needed was a few ID badges to copy.
Chapter 60
We flew on, heading towards the Nevada desert, making stops along the way only to eat, sleep and shower. Yes we slept in hotels, not exactly smart, Erasers could probably track us, but sleeping in a public building was pretty safe, at least they wouldn't attack us in view of others. Our last stop, on the journey was at a small city near the great basin in the Nevada desert. I had noticed that a few of the employees of The Installation tended to head there while on weekend leave. Hopefully we could get a badge off them when we were in town. The city's name was Carson City.
We dropped out of the sky a few miles short of the city and walked up the main street until we found a motel to sleep in. We had taken almost three maybe four days to get into town and most of us were hungry. I sent Falcon and Terra out to get some food for us, making sure to give them the cash we had withdrawn earlier so the Erasers couldn't find us. While they were away, Drake decided to scout out the town and see when the off-shift employees would arrive in town, leaving Skye and I alone in the room. I sat down on the bed and began to go over the plan once more, making sure I had the map imprinted on my mind, making sure I could remember the map in full detail if I needed to. Skye went into the bathroom and a few minutes later I heard running water as Skye ran the shower.
After a few minutes, I lay back on the bed, thoughts buzzing through my head. There were so many 'what ifs' to deal with, like what if they didn't buy our story? What if they could recognize us?
This is hard to cope with, I thought, planning to go back to one of those places and then breaking all the experiments out of their captivity.
I looked over at Skye as she hopped onto the bed. She crawled over and lay down next tome and snuggled up against me. After a moment of silence she whispered into my ear.
"Blaze," She said, "what if we don't make it out? Before they find us, that is."
Another what if. I sighed, not knowing how to answer. After a few seconds had passed I spoke.
"I don't know," I replied, "I suppose we will have to fight our way out. To be honest Skye, I'm not sure if everyone is going to survive this."
"Then lets make the most of life while we can," Skye said.
She leaned over and kissed me passionately on the lips. I responded by kissing her back. I'll spare you the details, and leave it at the fact that things after that went way beyond our control.
