A/N: Hallo! Before you go on to read I would like to thank my peoples and there is a note. Thank you to Annomynous, pooptowel, and Ms. Sexbang for reviewing. Thanks to Qwerty2245 and YummySparklys for following this. Now! The following chapter has a slight hint in it that I think those of you who find it will enjoy (for the most part). Anyway, as always, thanks to EnderGirl for being. Now go read!
The shudder ran through Sniper, his muscles tensing. Heavy had laid the man stomach-down on the table and Sniper had been shirtless when he walked into the infirmary.
Spy's eyebrow raised in curiosity under his balaclava. The bushman's tan back seemed to ripple, skin shaking like it was going to fall apart.
And then it did.
Two similar holes broke the flesh away on each side of Sniper's spine. The skin melted away, building on the edges of the holes. For a brief second, Spy could see the muscles and tendons and blood moving in the gaping wound.
Sharp bones extended outwards from the empty sockets. The two bones were almost exactly alike, only small grooves on the surface separating them from each other. Each bone moved at the same pace from their respective places, sprouting into the air, blood staining the white structure and dropping down onto Sniper's exposed back.
Spy's cigarette fell from his mouth. He couldn't look away from the horror in front of him, feet stuck to the ground and limbs frozen.
The bones were almost six inches by now. Muscles, pink and red and shining, began to climb the shards. The noise it made was awful, the unnatural squelching echoing in the previously quiet room.
The muscle spread across the bones like moss on a tree and Spy felt bile rising in the back of his throat.
He swallowed thickly, the acidic taste lingering on his tongue. He moved, finally free of his unwanted paralysis, and ran to the chair Scout had been sitting in. Spy moved it, turning it to face the shadowed corner. He sat down heavily and tried to clear his mind of what he had just witnessed. He would have honestly believed it to be a hallucination from lack of sleep but the noises behind him reminded him that it was all real.
Spy couldn't grab or light a new cigarette, hands shaking too bad for it to be possible. He instead tilted his head down and tried to block out all of his surroundings, shutting his eyes and covering his ears like a child to protect himself.
"Und vhen zhe patient voke up, his skeleton vas missing!" Sniper and Medic laughed as the doctor finished his story.
"Ain't that how you lost yer medical license?" Sniper asked, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Ja! No one appreciated my technique." Medic shrugged with a smile on his face.
Sniper opened his mouth to start telling his own story but he froze. A strangled yelp came out his mouth and Medic ran across the few feet that separated them.
"Vhat? Vhat is vrong?" Sniper reached desperately for his back, a pulling sensation ripping through his spine.
Medic felt the feeling hit his own back and he gasped. His head flung around, looking for whatever menace could be attacking his marksman.
The white landscape began to fog and Sniper started to groan in pain. Medic felt the ache in his back and the pressure in his skull. Something was happening, and he wasn't sure how bad it would be.
Lawrence swung his feet happily. He had been trying to shoot with his father's rifle but he got distracted by nature and decided to enjoy it.
He had climbed a tree.
The rifle was held in one hand and his other arm was wrapped around the trunk. He whistled lightly as he saw the forest stretch out in front of him. He was almost fifteen high. It had been hell to get that high, and Lawrence wasn't quite sure how he would scale back to the ground, but he was fine with just relaxing on the sturdy branch until he was due back to his house for dinner.
His dad was the one that ruined the peace.
"Lawrence!" Mr. Mundy was furious, looking around wildly for his son.
"Up here pa!"
"Get down here this instant!"
The twelve year old flinched at the tone of voice his father had gained.
He scooched down the tree as fast as possible as a kid holding a gun could.
"Yes?" Lawrence looked up innocently at his taller parent.
"Why," venom laced the words, "did you take my rifle?"
"I wanted to practice shooting."
"From a tree?"
"No! I just got bored and wanted to survey the land-"
"You always were bad at lying, boy."
"I'm not lyin'!" A desperate note entered the young sniper's high voice.
A snarl grew across Mr. Mundy's face. "You always were a coward - off hidin' in the bushes an' throwing rocks at the other boys instead of actually fightin'. Now yer tyrin' to shoot from a tree… Such a disgrace."
"Dad, I was just lookin' over the trees! I swear I'm not lying!"
A hard smack to the face stopped Lawrence's pleading. His cheek twitched where he had been hit and he could feel the redness beginning to bloom.
"Look here. You are a pathetic little kid. You always have been and you always will be. Don't go denying the troof!"
His words hit home and Lawrence felt his lower lip begin to quiver even though he knew it would add to his punishment.
"See!" Mr. Mundy shoved him. The boy stumbled back but caught himself. The gun flew out of his hand and skittered to a stop a few feet away. His father picked it up and looked it over, seeing the small smudges and scuffs on the metal.
"I told you not to take me gun. And whattya do? You take my gun!" Lawrence was shoved again, falling onto his back when the large hands collided with his chest. He landed with a painful thump on the ground.
"I was practicin' to shoot so I could impress you!" Lawrence cried out the truth while he laid on the ground.
The steel toed boots his dad was wearing connected with his ribs and he yelled out.
"Oh look, the boy can actually be heard! It's a shame no one else is around to hear ya."
Another kick and Lawrence swore he could feel one of his ribs crack.
There was an unnatural silence as Lawrence flipped himself onto his stomach.
He heard a gun cocking.
A bullet landed right next to his face. Lawrence made no noise as his heart pounded in his chest and his father growled at him.
"Next toime, I won't miss."
The world seemed to blur together as Mr. Mundy stalked off.
The trees went back into the ground and the brown soil transformed into hot red sand that burned on Lawrence's skin and covered the land around him.
Lawrence stared blankly into the clear blue sky, not blinking or crying, just contemplating his mistakes.
A vulture appeared out of nowhere and circled the air above the limp boy. It's calls thrummed with the beat of Lawrence's heart and he found himself following the bird's flying patterns with his eyes.
For a second, the vulture hesitated and stopped directly above him, the shadows of its wings matching up perfectly with Lawrence's body.
Then it left and Sniper woke up.
Spy had calmed over the hours that had past. He still sat in the corner, yes, but he was no longer shaking and one of his many cigarettes hung limply in his mouth.
"Spion?" Medic's morning voice was low and gravely, cracking slightly as he unwittingly spoke his native language.
Spy swallowed the lump that grew in his throat from the sheer memory of what had happened. He could feel the flitting rays of weak morning sunlight on his back that came in through the small window mounted in the infirmary's wall.
"Yes?" He asked without turning around.
Medic rose, back cracking as he stretched. His glasses had fallen off in his sleep and he put them on as soon as he found them.
Sniper was slowly waking up. The metal had grown warm from his body heat and he shifted to rouse himself.
His back was numb and heavy. Had Spy put a blanket on him or something? Had he slept wrong?
Something was covering Sniper, Medic noticed. Gray, speckled white, and obviously layered, it couldn't have been one of his blankets he used on the cold patients.
Sniper tried to sit up but whatever was one his back didn't slip off. He grunted. 'Wot the hell…'
"WOT THE HELL?!
Spy instinctively turned to face the source of the scream and he yelled as well. Medic squinted until he realized just what he was looking at.
Sniper had wings.
Two, gray and white feathered bird wings, almost dragging at his feet as he stood, were connected to his body.
"WOT IS THIS?" Sniper continued to shout.
Spy was literally choking on his cigarette, which he had almost swallowed in his shock.
Medic poked curiously at the soft feathers.
"Wot are ya- STOP!" Sniper swatted the man's hand away and tugged at his new appendages.
They didn't pull off, the flesh having melded them to his body. There was no pain as Sniper tried to rip the things off but he could feel the new nerves in his back registering the sensation.
Medic felt strong feelings of confusion, anger, and panic swimming in the room. His mind was still muddled by the trip into Sniper's head but the emotions jolted him out of his stupor.
"Sniper! Stop! If you continue to do zhat, you vill mess up zhe healing process!" Medic looked at Spy. "Vhat happened vhile ve vere asleep?"
Spy spit onto the floor, dark gray saliva splattering on the tiles.
The doctor ignored the rude behavior in favor of actually getting the Frenchman to talk.
And talk he did, explaining to the best of his abilities what had happened with the bones.
"So they… They came outta me?" Sniper was utterly lost.
"Am I going to fast for you bushman? You grew wings. Maybe you'll grow balls next." Spy retorted.
Sniper swung to stare him in the eyes but the sudden motion caused his wings to smash into the surgery table. Although his back and the tops of them were numb, the ends of his wings could feel.
Two dual shots of pain hit Sniper and he growled.
"Why… The FUCK… Do I have wings?!"