Chapter 2: Marco´s past

Marco headed back to his provisional home hidden in a tree. He took a sip of water to refresh himself from his previous fight. Once his thirst was satisfied, he headed to his spotting tower to rest a bit. Using his beak and talons, he climbed to the highest branch on his tree, where his spotting tower was located. He had a quite a lot of ground under his watch now. Marco told Blu that he lived far away from the colony, that wasn´t entirely true. His current home was located only minutes from the colony. Marco once again thanked his hiding skills and environmental architecture. His thoughts took over his mind and he once again relived that doom day. Tears started to roll out of his eyes. It was few moments until noon and Marco just stood there, drowning in memories.

It was just another boring morning. Amazon just started to wake into the new day. Small drips of water were falling from the sky, so no one left their home just yet, including Marco, Judy and their son Nick.

Marco slowly opened his eyes just to meet eyes of his beloved wife Judy.

"Did you sleep well my love?" asked Marco lovingly.

"I did indeed, but what is even better than sleeping? Waking up by your side." responded Judy with warm smile.

"That is sweet. Anyway, what do you want for breakfast?" asked hungry Marco.

"I don´t know. Is there something left from yesterday?" asked Judy rubbing her belly.

"Well, I wouldn´t be so sure about that. Nick spent quite a lot time in the pantry last night. Heh, I might even have to go into rain." resigned Marco.

"Oh don´t be like that. We had supplies for weeks. He couldn´t possibly eat it all. Or could he?" said Judy with worried face.

Marco got up and headed into main room of their treehouse, leaving Judy behind. He then peeked outside to find out state of weather.

"Don´t make any plans, that is quite a rain there." said Marco with disappointment.

"Can´t you be a little quieter when getting up dad?" said little Nick, leaving his room and rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Oh, we slept now didn´t we?" asked Marco with a small chuckle.

"Slept? I never sleep. I wait in the shadows until the lights of dawn." said Nick and laughed.

"Oh come on, are you actually going to argue this early in the morning?" said Judy, who left the bedroom as well.

Judy´s feathers were colored into bright blue. On her face she had slightly brighter feathers and dark blue feathers coming from her forehead down to her wings. She was a bit smaller than Marco. Their son, Nick, had dark blue feathers and a tiny spot of bright blue feathers located on his belly.

"Why were you at pantry yesterday for so long?" asked Marco with suspicion in his voice.

"Well I got a little hungry, so went for a little snack." replied Nick with innocent eyes and bright smile.

"Oh would you stop it you two?! Sit down, I will make something for breakfast." Grounded them both Judy.

Both Marco and Nick did as she said and waited.

"Daddy, what is that sound?" asked Nick.

Marco got up and looked out of treehouse entrance. Terror expanded before his eyes.

"WOODCUTTERS!" shouted Marco. "Quickly! Judy prepare some supplies; Nick go to your room and take only necessary things! And HURRY!" ordered Marco.

Morning rain turned into ruthless storm that hurt everything that came into its way.

"Everything ready?" Marco´s worried eyes looked at his family.

Judy only nodded and the family was on their way. They headed deeper into the jungle. Judy carried a basket full of food that should last them for couple of days, while nick carried wooden bottle with water. Nick´s grip loosened and his water bottle started descending down to the ground. Nick didn´t want to lose it so he went after it.

"Watch out!" shouted Marco as he saw that Nick was going to hit one of trees.

Nick didn´t heard his father so he continued to chase his bottle. He managed to catch it, but when he turned his sight back on his track, he saw the incoming danger. It was too late for him to do anything, he just closed his eyes and waited for an impact. It was at last moment that Marco came out of nowhere and grabbed his son into his talons, shielding with his wings. Marco´s body slammed into a tree strain at high speed.

"Marco! Nick!" shouted Judy as she approached his husband moveless body.

First impact kicked air out of Marco´s lungs, but that wasn´t the worst part. Their bodies started to fall towards the ground. Marco´s mind went into dark. He then heard Judy´s voice, pulling him out of darkness as an angelic light.

Marco opened his eyes filled with pain. He saw his wife and son crying beside him.

"Why the long faces? Someone dead?" said Marco with humor, covering his pain.

"Well…you almost did" said sobbing Judy.

"Ah come one. You really think that was enough to ground ME?!" laughed Marco.

Due to strong wind, one of tree branches broke and was falling on Judy and Nick. Marco saw the branch and pushed Judy with Nick away. But his body allowed him only that one last move. The branch landed on Marco´s wing, hurting it badly.

Wave of massive pain started to spread from Marco´s wing into his entire body. Judy needed Nick´s help in order to free Marco.

"That doesn´t look good." said Nick and small tears started to roll out of his eyes.

"Don´t worry, it will heal, but you have to listen to me now. I want you to take your mother and fly as fast and far away from here as you can. Get deep into jungle and hide there. I will take my route on the ground. After few days, I am sure that I will find you." pleaded Marco.

"You want to get rid of us already? Leave your stupid comets for later, we need to go. NOW!" grounded him Judy and with Nick´s help, she helped Marco back on his feet.

They started to move again. Few meters pasted and strange noise appeared behind them.

"You think it´s someone who is running from the woodcutters as well?" asked Nick.

"I don´t think so…" replied Marco.

Terrified screams spreaded from the direction that Nick pointed at. Victims of bloodthirsty hawk weren´t lucky enough to escape from this raging beast.

"HIDE!HURRY!" ordered Marco.

Their movement wasn´t fast enough. Hawk caught a glimpse of his new prey and went after it. He spreaded his talons which had their target locked on. Nick was first on the list. Judy´s body offered protection for her son. Hawk had his prey. He tossed Judy on the ground, leaving bloody marks on her body. His new target was Nick. His movement was then stopped by Marco, who was willing to die for his family.

"NICK, TAKE YOUR MOTHER AND RUN!" shouted Marco as he tried to fight hawk´s brute strength.

"But…But what about you?" sobbed Nick.

"FORGET ABOUT ME! RUN!" ordered Marco, who´s powers were fading out.

Nick made his way to his mother´s body and helped her up. They can make it. They WILL make it. But storm wasn´t going to let that happen. Lightning struck one of tree strains, which started to fall. This giant piece of nature fell down on their helpless bodies, sucking their life out of their veins.

Marco could only helplessly watch as his family left the world of the living.

"NOOOO….NOOOO! WHY?!" cried Marco over the loss of his family.

Hawk´s talons made their way to Marco´s neck and started to squeeze. Marco just lied there, without any will to fight anymore. He had nothing to fight for. Not anymore.

"Yes. That's it. Just give up and you will meet your family in no time.

Marco´s vision started to fade. As fast as a flash of light was coordinated attack of a group of Amazons blue-fronted. Their attack made hawk retreat. Marco´s mind went blank.

A few weeks later

"Where…am I?" asked Marco as his eyes started to open.

"You are recovering at bird controlled military base. One of our rescue parties saved you from woodcutters a few weeks back." explained Amazon who was taking care of him. On his right wing, he had a red cross painted with red color – suggesting that he is a medical specialist.

"My…my family…What happened to them?" asked Marco with fear, that he knows the answer.

"I am sorry to inform you, that both your wife and son, didn´t survive. They died few hours after you got here. My condolences." said Amazon sadly.

"Thank you. But I guess I have more things that I should thank you for. Including saving my life."

"Your wounds weren´t fatal, but just to be sure, I got you under narcosis. It helped you recover."

"Where did you say I am? You said something about military base."

"That is correct. This military base specialized for training birds in many ways of combat, survival and protecting others. Name of base is ´Tria Atlantis´. Don´t ask me why I am new here." answered Amazon with little humor.

Marco set down and tried to get on his feet. But after the narcosis, his legs and brain forgot how to work together and he fell on a floor.

"If you´d let me finish, I would warn you, that your limbs might be numb from the narcosis." explained Amazon.

"Yeah I kind off figured it out myself." said Marco as he sat back on his bed. It wasn´t body pain that he was fighting with. He tried to hold his straight face in front of his doctor. But if he´d be alone, he would cry for a long time.

"Anyways, your wounds should be completely healed in a few more days. Mr…"

"Oh sorry, my name is Marco."

"Well I am pleased to meet you, Marco, my name is Eric. But everyone here calls me ´Doc. Ouch Ouch´ or just Doc. for short." said Eric with small chuckle.

"Same here Eric. So, want to show me around?" asked Marco, because he wanted to stretch his numb legs.

"But of course. Can you walk on your own?" replied Eric.

"Sure. Lead the way." said Marco and they both left the tent.

The size of the base took Marco´s breath away. It was huge, but still well hidden. Marco saw another building, but a much bigger one. He then realized that it was a human military base.

"And this is lieutenant Clarenc. He led the group that found you. He is also commanding officer of this base." introduced Eric his supreme officer.

"It is an honor, sir. I don´t think I can thank you enough for saving my life. If you arrived moments later, I might have already been with my family again." said Marco.

"Don´t worry about it. I am sorry for your loss." said Lt. Clarenc.

"Thank you, sir. I am sorry, but I have to ask. That hawk. He was like three times bigger than you. How did you manage to take him out?" asked Marco.

"Well as you can see, our base is located close to a human military base. So, our tactics in the fight, gathering intel, and medical skills are harvested from very firm source. Because of that, it wasn´t that hard to drive that hawk away." replied Lt. Clarenc.

"Wait a moment…drive away? Are you telling me, that he is still alive? Not only alive but also free?" asked Marco with rage in his eyes.

"Sadly yes. He managed to get away as way as his human accomplices. He took his chance when we started treating your wounds. But don´ t worry. He will be punished, as well as all humans who are to blame." said Lt. Clarenc firmly.

"Sure, assuming that he is still somewhere near…" said Marco sarcastically but calmly.

"Well, the base is opened to you as long as you need. If you want to stay, you can, but if you prefer leaving, no one will blame you." said Lt. Clarenc and wanted to leave.

"Sir wait, please. I have a request." exclaimed Marco.

"Yes?" Lt. turned back to Marco.

"I would like to stay here and train with you. When I saw how easy is to beat me…no…I don´t want that to happen ever again." said Marco with courage.

"Well, there is only one thing I can say to that: Welcome to Bird Military Base Tria Atlantis, private Marco…"

A small tear rolled down from Marco´s eyes while remembering all his good friends from Tria Atlantis.

Nexh chapter: Say your goodbyes…