The next morning came, and Ren and Sophia were trying to hit something with a broom. Neither were tall enough, as they stood on the tips of their feet, whispering curses under their breaths.
"You're taller than me!" Ren whisper shouted, pushing the broom into Sophia's hands. She frowned, but none-the-less took it, and tried to extend as tall as she could. Behind them, Bella slept. She clearly was exhausted, they all were after running for a couple days straight. But, curiosity got the better of the smaller children, it always does. High up in the rafters, there was a rope, and something that looked like a stick. "You're almost there." Ren was nearly vibrating in excitement.
"It's too high up." Sophia whispered back. Jumping in place, trying to snag the rope. "I'm almost there!" And in a huge crash, (in retrospect, it was no more louder than a book falling on carpet, but in the silence, it was deafening.) a rope ladder fell, barely any slack laid on the ground.
In a moment's notice, Bella was on her feet, pointing the gun to the blockaded door. Ren and Sophia cringed, waiting for the eldest to turn back to them.
"Um. Ta-da." Ren giggled a little, and Sophia had to chuckle slightly. Bella's braid was stuck to her cheek, eyes a little disorientated as she spun around. "Look, we found a ladder." The teenager blinked, lowered the gun, and sighed in relief.
"For god's sake you two. Scared me." Sophia took that as a sign to go to the ladder, and did just that. They were just like the ones that were at the park at school. But, at the top of this one there probably wasn't a slide.
"Bella." Ren had a dreamy look on his face, looking to his sister who had sat down, and was opening a can of peaches. "Do you remember our tree house?" First step, one hand, one foot. Reaching for the next rung, Sophia smiled to herself. If only this was at school. All of her friends, the teachers… they were so nice, even the guy teachers… nothing like her father. The place wasn't too tall. Not much ladder to work with. "The one uncle Jet built with us."
"Yes. It was a very pretty place, wasn't it?" Bella sighed longingly. And with only a few more steps, her eyes peaked over the landing. Perhaps no bigger than 6 by 6 feet, a couple blankets were balled up, along with a small box.
"I'm gonna throw down some stuff." Sophia called softly, and grabbed the blankets, only to gasp in surprise. Nested in the blankets, was a bird. It cooed softly, looking at Sophia with big, black eyes. It's face was white and cream colored, beak opening and closing softly. "Oh. Hang on there little guy." It was small, whatever it was. And, the poor thing's wing was angled weird.
"What's up there Sophia?" Bella called a little worried. Not sure how to answer, she tossed the box down first, before scooping the small bird in one hand.
It tried to escape her grasp, chirping worriedly, and trying to fly away, but the one wing wouldn't extend as far as it should. Pulling the poor thing to her stomach, she cupped it carefully. The feathers were very soft, and it was calling out louder.
"Shhh. It's okay." Sophia tried to reason with the bird, and slowly tried to go down the ladder. Careful not to fall, she carried the poor thing in her arms, worried about it. Sooner than expected, her feet touched the ground, she had ditched her shoes last night, and hadn't worn them since.
"Woah. How'd you find it?" Ren asked amazed, he kept his hands to himself, eyes wider than the moon. Bella had a similar expression, before she rolled her eyes.
"No way are we keeping that thing." Bella groaned.
**Sophia**
"Come on little guy." Bella whispered, she held out pieces of worms for the small bird to eat. "You know, maybe your wing will be fixed if you just ate the damn- I mean dang bug." She corrected herself, when Ren and Sophia looked at her with wide eyes. "I thought you two were practicing with the sling shot." It had been two days since Sophia had discovered the bird in the rafters of the abandoned horse stall. And since then, the bird has clung to one of the children's shirts. Cooing, or sleeping.
"I… I kinda suck at it. And, we wanted to make sure Royal was okay." Sophia tried to explain, and also was grinning, looking at the bird.
"You can't name it guys. It's going to have to live wildly after the wing is fixed." Bella tried to explain this, she didn't want them to become too attached to the bird. "It will fly away." As Bella said that, the bird used its talon's to hobble over to Sophia's arms, and clung to her jacket. Cooing softly.
"But look cute it is!" Sophia gasped, and gave Royal another worm chunk. It screeched a little, waving one wing excitedly.
"I really do not need this to turn into some kind of Disney movie. No way are we going to have some sort of animal companion." Bella frowned, but as she watched the bird, she couldn't help but think that now that she said it, everything was going to try and go against it.
Ren laughed happily as he tried to pet the bird, who clacked at him angrily with its beak. Ren looked at the bird, mesmerized, even if the bird hated him. It was a pretty bird, and he thought it kinda looked like an owl. Maybe even sounded like an owl.
The trio plus the bird had moved on. Always moving. They were trying to get away. Trying to get really anywhere but where they were. Bella kept moving them north, and the gun shots behind them were a great reminder, as well as a great motivator.
The gun shots just kept continuing. They seemed to get louder and louder, more and more frequent. Bella continued to smile, and point the kids forward, saying it was nothing. But was it really nothing? All of the people they came across, how many… how many had died? How many were these people killing, or how many zombies were taking down?
"Think we're gonna hit the North Pole by the end of the month?" Ren grinned, laughing before he turned to Royal. "Wanna go to the snow with us?" The bird screeched, flapping its good wing.
"Not that far north Ren." Bella smiled. "But far enough. To get away."