A/N: Okay guys, here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long, but you have officially caught up. I now have to write each chapter as you guys follow. Without further ado, read on. Hope you enjoy!
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Fang (2014)
It has been just over a year since the plague began. Already people were starting to worry about the lack of food. People were terrified of eating anything other than food that was canned before the plague. Nobody was planting anything, and even if they had, they would probably be too afraid to eat it. They were afraid the disease was dormant in the soil, just waiting to be released again.
Plus, there were rumors spreading. Rumors of people with special abilities or strange mutations. Kids mostly, though there were few enough that had survived the plague and even less that had survived alone since then.
I had seen the scars the virus had left on the earth. In towns I flew over, I had seen the kids that had joined together in desperation. They were like hundreds of little gangs, running around town and gathering what they could. It was the only way to ensure their survival.
The same way the Flock had banded together when we escaped from the School, confronted with the prospect of the wide world against us.
I always kept an eye on the horizon, half hoping and half dreading to see them. Had they all survived the plague? What if they hadn't? What if only a few of them had survived? What if Max was alone? If she had lost all she loved?
And the one who loved her had left her abandoned.
No. I had promised I would give her twenty years without me, and I would.
Even if the pain of it was killing me.
Since the world seemed beyond saving (or already saved, depending on your view), I decided to give up my educational endeavors. I was going to spend a few months taking stock of the world as it was now, maybe see if I can find some of these people with special abilities.
I hadn't forgotten that in my last few weeks with the Flock it was suggested that I might start a Flock of my own. Maybe, if I found some kids in need of help, I would stop for a while, show them a few pointers for living through mean times. There weren't many dumpsters to eat from anymore, but there were other ways to rough it.
Currently, I was flying over northern Utah. The landscape was beautiful, the towns seemed perfectly tranquil nestled between the mountains- until I landed. More than one town was completely deserted, devoid of all life besides hordes of skittish cats. Once I landed for only a moment before a pack of at least thirty feral dogs surrounded me, a hungry look in their eyes. Needless to say, I made a quick exit. I didn't even have time to check for the food I needed so badly. I would have to wait until the next town I came to with food to spare.
Or an abandoned cabin. I was making my way over a string of mountains when I noticed it, almost hidden amongst the thick pine trees. When I got closer, I could see it was actually much larger than it first appeared.
It looked wonderful, perfectly isolated from the rest of the world. It would have been a perfect home for the Flock, back when we were looking for a permanent place to live.
I quickly refocused on the task at hand.
I circled a few times, scanning the ground cautiously. A few of the people I had approached since the virus had reacted quite violently to a stranger. I preferred the violence to the blank stares that some gave me, or the children who acted as skittish as those abandoned cats.
The cabin seemed empty. The driveway was lined with gray stones. A little pink bicycle with streamers flying from the handlebars was laying on its side in front of the garage, one of its training wheels turning slowly in the wind. I didn't even want to think about where the owner of that bike was now.
I landed at the end of the driveway, slowly making my way up to the house. I watched the windows for any signs of movement.
When I reached the garage, I scanned the ground for footprints leading up to the footpath to the front porch.
Nothing.
I turned to the house, paused, and turned back to the bike. I set it upright and straightened the tangled streamers.
Angel would have loved that bike, once upon a time.
I sighed and continued up to the house.
I kept my wings loosely unfurled but hidden behind me, in case I missed something and someone was watching from the house. A shortage of food there may be, but it seemed it had never been easier to get a gun. I had seen a few of the kids in town carrying a rifle.
At the door, I paused again. It was slightly ajar, with a trail of leaves leading inside.
I slowed my breathing and kept all my limbs perfectly still. I had gotten better at my invisibility. I could feel the difference now. My skin tingled and I knew anyone who might have been watching would be very confused right about now. To all appearances, I had vanished.
Slowly, keeping my breathing quiet and shallow, I pushed the door open with one foot. I stepped inside, setting each foot carefully, the leaves barely stirred as I moved past them.
The front room was a living room with a staircase leading up to another floor, a hallway to my right led to the kitchen. Before I could gather food I had to make sure nobody else was in the house, ready to sneak up behind me.
I went back out to the living room and glanced at the fireplace- cold and full of ashes. The remote to the TV was on a table next to an armchair. The cushion looked depressed, well used. I felt the back cushion.
Still warm.
I quieted my breathing further and felt my wings extend slightly, readying for an escape if necessary. There was a skylight above the stairs. The glass looked like it could be broken if I kicked it hard enough.
With this in mind, I started up the stairs.
The first room I came to was a bathroom, a bedroom was directly across from it. The walls were covered in pastels and flowers, the bed was covered with a pink comforter, it was pulled back and appeared to be slept in recently. Could a little girl have been left here alone?
I kept going down the hallway. I came to the master bedroom. The blankets on the king sized bed were undisturbed, tightly tucked under a pile of pillows perfectly arranged. I closed the door behind me as I left.
I went back towards the stairs, glancing in each room as I went. The girl must have hid when she saw me coming.
I was at the top of the stairs when something hot and heavy slammed into my back. I launched over the banister, the world spinning around me. I lost my concentration and felt myself become visible again. The ground came up to meet me quickly. Instinctively, I tried to open my wings, but something was holding them shut. I landed awkwardly on the sofa, and the heavy thing around me landed on top of me. I tried again to shove my wings open, but they were pinched down between my shoulder blades.
"None of that," a voice growled in my ear. Definitely not a little girl's voice. It was snarled as though through a mouth full of cotton. That and the smell was enough to tell me what I was dealing with.
Eraser.
I hadn't seen one since the virus, but I knew that smell from my earliest memories.
With all my strength I shrugged my shoulders and tried to open my wings, and for a moment I thought I had overpowered him.
Then a clawed hand grabbed my wings where they met my shoulders and twisted. I cried out in pain and had to hold still or risk my wings being dislocated.
"That's better," he said smugly. One arm wrapped around my throat and the smell almost gagged me, the fingers of his other hand remained firmly dug into my wings.
He pulled me up by my wings and I struggled to find my balance without moving my wings excessively.
Whoever this Eraser was, he was much taller than me. My feet hardly touched the ground. Which would give me an advantage if I could just get my wings free.
As if sensing my thoughts, he twisted at my wings again and my breath hissed out between my teeth.
He spun me around so we were facing the stairs. At the top stood a little girl, no more than seven. She was watching us with fear in her eyes, hugging something fuzzy and blue tight against her chest.
The Eraser half walked, half dragged me to the kitchen. I wondered why he didn't simply rip my wings off and be done with it. Every Eraser I've met wouldn't have cared about a little girl seeing the blood and gore of my demise. In fact, they probably would have killed the girl too, just for fun.
The kitchen was just as I had left it, although my view was somewhat obscured by the beast's furry arm.
"So," a normal voice somewhere behind us said, "Come back for more, have you?"
The Eraser growled a laugh and twisted my wings again. I yelled, trying to bend backward to lessen the pain. He kept twisting. I heard a loud pop and then blacked out.
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A/N: Alright, so here's the thing. I probably won't be able to update again until Sunday because I have a family function tomorrow. I'm really, really sorry! So in the meantime, if you guys could review your little hearts out, I would love it! Try to get up to 35. I know you guys can do it, you're the best!
