My dream from the night before hadn't been too far from reality, unfortunately. The six of us, my family and I, we were created in a lab in a place called the School by scientists we called the whitecoats. They had altered us, changed us, made us part person and part bird. Jeb Garmadon had been one of the whitecoats, but he'd had a change of heart, a real moral awakening, and had snuck us out and away, never to return to the whitecoats and the School.
Or so we had hoped we would never return. Now Zane was on his way back to those horrible people and that horrible place.
I couldn't let that happen.
My wings beat strongly, up and down, up and down, and I swooped forward, flying toward the van. Peeking back at the cliff's edge briefly, I saw that Jay had jumped after me, then Cole, then Kai, then Nya. They followed me forward. We flew together as the flock of birdkids we were, close enough together to look after each other but far enough apart to have room for our wings.
I began to move down toward the van, and they all followed. Thinking quickly, Nya hovered for a moment by a dying tree and grabbed a large branch off of it. She rejoined us, speeding past me to swerve to the van's front and bang the branch into the van's windshield.
The windshield gave a loud cracking sound and the van veered to the left. The passenger window rolled down and to my horror, the barrel of a gun emerged. Nya didn't seem to see it. She was too busy hauling her branch back and banging it against the windshield again.
"Nya!" I screamed. "Watch out!"
Nya banged the branch against the windshield a third time as she looked around. I could see the moment she spotted the gun barrel turning to aim at her. Her eyes went wide and she dropped the branch, flying up and away just as the gun starting spraying bullets. Nya came up to fly beside me.
"Guns," she called out, making sure everyone knew what had just happened. "That's a bit of a problem."
I managed a wry half-smile at her under-exaggeration before I had to swerve as the gun barrel turned to aim at us. "Everyone, move! Up, now!"
We shot up into the sky, hopefully out of shooting range or at least decent aiming range.
"There!" I yelled, looking forward and spotting a clearing. Between the thick lining of trees, I could just make out a massive helicopter. "They'll have to move Zane from the van to the helicopter. That'll be our chance!"
When the van screeched to a stop in the clearing, we dropped from the sky and stood between it and the helicopter. Serpentine after Serpentine jumped out from the van, and more of them vaulted into the clearing from inside the helicopter. We were outnumbered and surrounded.
We still would never quit.
The Serpentine from the van raced forward, bowling us over, not even trying to fight but just forcing us aside as they ran for the helicopter. The helicopter Serpentine fought some, but they also tried to push us aside to the edges of the clearing.
"Don't let them distract you!" I called. "Know why we're here!"
"Zane!" Jay screamed, trying to get close to the van but being forced back. "It's us! We'll get you out! We'll save you!"
A Serpentine shoved him back, sending him sprawling to the ground.
All around me, the other birdkids were trying to get to the van, but the Serpentine were pushing them away. I was also being forced away from the van. There wasn't anything I could do.
Or was there?
I let the Serpentine in front of me push back from the van, but as soon as he did so, I ran for the helicopter. Dodging Serpentine after Serpentine to make it there, I pivoted and looked toward the van.
At that moment, Skylor rushed out from the van, a big sack over her shoulder. Zane!
Skylor ran for the helicopter, but I stood in her way. She scowled at me, hollering, "Move!"
"Not a chance," I said breathlessly, putting up my fists.
Skylor laughed and stated, "Then we'll have to make you."
Someone grabbed me from behind by the waist and heaved me up and away. I went crashing across almost the whole clearing, but I scrambled to my feet and headed for the helicopter again.
In the time it had taken me to get up and get going, Skylor had leapt into the helicopter, taking the sack with Zane in it with her. The helicopter blades were spinning, getting ready to take off, and the Serpentine were clambering in.
Nya, Cole, Jay, and Kai were shouting from behind me, yelling threats to the Serpentine and encouragement to me as they came running now that the Serpentine were no longer forcing them back. The four of them joined me, and together we ran in a rough line toward the helicopter with me leading the charge.
All the Serpentine on board and the doors starting to close, the helicopter's blades went faster as it prepared to take off. If it got in the air, there would be no stopping it. Its blades would spin so fast we wouldn't be able to fly up to it, and it would move so quickly and steadily we wouldn't be able to keep up. This was our last chance.
I reached the helicopter as it started to lift off the ground. Prying at the closing door, I managed to hold it open, jumping onto the skids and trying to get on board as the helicopter slowly rose.
But there was Skylor, and she was no longer holding the sack with Zane in it, although I could see it slumped against the wall. Instead, she was holding a gun.
I froze.
"Go ahead, Lloyd," Skylor mocked, tilting the gun at me. "Come on in. Try your luck. But do it knowing thisss: you're fighting for the wrong ssside. Me? I'm one of the good guysss. But that won't ssstop me from shooting you."
Her tone was firm, and her words left no doubt. She wouldn't hesitate. And a dead Lloyd was a useless Lloyd, unable to save anyone.
Tears spilling from my eyes, I jumped back from the helicopter, still watching its inhabitants as I fell away. My last glimpse was of the sack against the wall shaking and Zane's small head popping out of it, his eyes wide in fear.
There he went, flying not under his own power but in the clutches of the bad guys. There he went, on his way and not by his choice. There he went, toward all of our worst nightmare.
I only wished this was a nightmare as well.