Authors Note: People have been asking if I will be having Maximum Ride in my story. As of yet I am undecided about if I am going to stick her in, but have left a part of the storyline open incase I have decided by the time I have reached it, to include her. I do not commonly use other peoples characters as I feel uncomfortable using them and prefer to use my own unique characters. I will let you know that Laura was origionally based on Max II from SOF, but as a unique character for my own story. Max II was the bases from which I created Laura.
Just letting you know.
Chapter 7
"Are they real?" Jake asked after staring at them in shock for about ten minutes, "Can I touch them?"
"Jake," I replied sharply, annoyed by his lack of manners, "See if you can revive your sister."
I sat down at the table, the disbelief showing on my face. I couldn't believe that people would be as sick and twisted as to experiment on humans, let alone teenage kids.
"How long?" I asked, my voice husky, "How long have you been like that, a… a…"
"A freak?" She asked, "I've been like this all my life. I was born with wings."
"I know they're real," I said, "I have a feather, it feels real. So I take it the wings are real. Who would do such a thing to people, to unborn children? I'm sorry this is so hard to believe, although I know you are telling the truth on some level, I need time to let my brain take it in."
"I understand," She said, "I can leave if you want me to."
"Stay," I replied, "It's not safe out there. Besides, you can't go nameless forever, choose a name. Mind if I take a look at those claw marks?"
"No," She replied, "Go ahead. I'm too tired to even resist any type of attack, let alone wince at my wound as someone cleans them."
So I set to work, to keep my mind busy, by cleaning her wounds and bandaging them. Making sure they were clean well and no infection had set in. Taking care of my daredevil brother had taught me well in the medical area of things. I also saw she had a bite mark on her shoulder, just above her wing. I moved to examine it and my hand brushed her feathers. They were as soft as silk, and were beautiful to behold. But when his hand brushed the feathers, she moved away from his hand so that it wasn't in contact with her wing. I cleaned the bite mark, careful not to brush her wing again. By the time I was finished, Danielle had been roused by Jake pouring ice water on her face and was cooking us some not so great food, but it was edible.
We sat down to eat at the table. The girl was sitting there, looking at the food as if it might be poisoned. When she saw us digging into the food, she realized it wasn't poisoned and dug into it as if she hadn't had a meal in weeks.
"I don't knowwhat to call myself," the girl said, once we had cleared the dishes away, "I was thinking Laura. I like that name, so yeah, it'll be Laura."
"Well, Laura," I replied, "It looks like you haven't eaten in a long time."
"I haven't eaten in almost three days," She replied, "I need to eat more than an average human. My eating habits are out of whack because of the bird DNA."
I smiled at that. A girl with an appetite, not one of these stupid air headed girls that cared about how they looked all the time and were always dieting. A flash of an image raced through my mind and I realized I had dropped my guard. But the flash was all I required to see what was coming, and soon.
"Are all the doors and windows locked and bolted?" I asked suddenly, Danielle and Jake nodded; I then turned to Laura, "Tell me what you know about those wolf creatures, I need to know."
"They are the only other experiment that made it past infancy," She replied, "Part man part wolf; we call them Erasers, because when they finish with you, you will cease to exist in the public eye…"
Chapter 8
"What do you mean we will cease to exist, Laura?" I asked her, "Do they make us disappear?"
"You have two options once an Eraser is sent to hunt you," Laura replied, "The first is to be taken back to the place where you escaped from a lab or something like that, or the second option is to die, be killed by one of those monsters. But some of the other experiments found a third option and they have been on the run, outsmarting the Erasers, staying one step ahead of them to stay free."
"Gee, that's nice to know," Jake replied sarcastically, but fell silent at my stern gaze.
"Jake, pack some bags," I said, "Get spare clothing, food supplies and bottles of water. Life just got more interesting. Laura, what can you tell me of these Erasers? I need to know as much as you do. We don't have long to learn about them."
"I'll tell you what I know," Laura replied, "But first answer this, how do you know we don't have much time?"
"I could say this entire thing is one big dream I'm having," I replied, "And I know what's going on, but that's not the case. I said I could see things before they happen. You asked if you could trust me, so trust me."
Laura looked at me for a moment, searching my face for any lies before she said anything. After a moment of silence she finally answered my question.
"Do you remember the myth of the werewolf?" She asked, "Erasers a similar to them. They are humans that can transform into wolves, although Erasers can transform at will, they also don't have the weakness to silver. They are stronger and faster than normal people, even in their human from. When they are in their wolf forms they are even more deadly. Combine the strength, and hunting skills of a Wolf, with the cunning and intelligence of a human. An Eraser is what you get. But don't forget about a wolf's instinctand the fact that because of the combination, their senses are also heightened. That's all I know about Erasers. I don't tend to get up close and personal unless I have to. Their breath is rancid enough to knock you out."
"Right," I replied, "Make sure to not inhale Eraser breath, Gotcha!"
Laura smiled at that, but that was all. I could tell she was nervous about being around us, not sure who the next person to betray her was. She had no doubt been betrayed in the past. That's much I could sense about her. It was the way she acted around people, not willing to trust them, always keeping to herself.
"Alright, everything has been packed," Jake said, walking back into the room.
"Good," I replied, "Make sure they are light enough to run with. We'll need them sometime in the next two to three days."
"How come?" Danielle replied, "We'll be fine here, won't we?"
"I don't know how long it'll take the Erasers to find out who I am and where I live," I replied, "But once they pick up my scent at the train tracks near the dead body of their comrade, they'll most likely follow it here. Once they do that, we won't be safe here."
"Why not just turn her over?" Jake replied, "It's her they want. They'll leave us alone, won't they?"
"No," Laura said, "They won't. You've already seen my wings. That is one of the biggest secrets they are protecting, anybody who's seen that secret is either bought in to see if they can be experimented on, or they are eliminated."
"The best thing to do now," I replied, "is to get as much rest as you can. Laura, you need to let you wounds heal. It's been a long day and all of us need time to accept all that's happened recently."
I looked at the clock and realized it was just after nine at night. All of us needed to get some sleep. Especially if we would be on the run for a while from the Erasers.
"Laura you can sleep in my room tonight," I said, "I'll sleep in fathers study just down the hall."
"But Nathan," Danielle replied, "Nobody had been in there since dad died."
"I've been in there," I replied, "It's better to remember him, through all the pain of his loss, than to forget him altogether like mother would want us to. I'll stay there tonight. Take one of the bags each and be ready to leave if you have to."
They all nodded to say they understood what I had said then began to walk up the stairs to their rooms. I could tell how much this was weighing on them and begun to wonder if I made the right choice.
Being able to see the future, doesn't mean you have the power to change it. Think about the consequences before you act. My father words ran around in my head that night before I fell asleep. I had forgotten what he had told me until now. I had forgotten about the consequences.