A/N: Finally some action! This chapter is not as long as the others, but that's mostly because I got to skip past alot of the indepth descriptions. Still not a whole lot of dialogue, but that's mostly because not all of the characters have come into play yet. Enjoy!
Nari Streeter
Chapter Two: The Great Escape
The men lunged forward in a wave of rippling skin and shifting bones. Their bodies cracked and snapped into place, creating a gut wrenching sound similar to thin ice cracking beneath your feet. Tiny rivulets of blood streamed from where the skin ripped to make room for new muscles; hands were reduced to bloody stumps tipped with razor-like claws.
The girl who had screamed made a beeline toward the door, her under-sized wings fluttering uselessly as the wolf-men closed in. Her scream was cut short as one of the wolves sank his teeth into her shoulder; shaking his head in such a way that her neck cracked and she fell limp.
The group of bird-kids froze, their bodies packed so tightly together that Nari feared the little ones in the center of the circle would suffocate. She plunged her arm into the midst of the group, her gaze still riveted on the wolf-men who had formed a rough circle around the bird-kids.
"Try it again," one of the wolf-men growled, his voice warped and low, inhuman in so many ways, "I just love the sound your bones make when they snap!"
Nari's fingers snatched around behind her until she made contact with skin. Not caring whom she had latched on to, Nari pulled the body out of the mass and hugged it close to her side. She almost let out a cry of relief when she glanced down into the eyes of the red-haired girl that had been in the crate next to her.
The girl looked startled, yanking half-heartedly on Nari's grip.
A red light flared to life near the ceiling, casting haunting shadows across the wolf-men's faces. They jostled and shoved, lashing fangs the size of Nari's fist as they slowly closed in. The little girl's eyes widened and she began to scream loudly.
Nari crouched down to her size, holding the little girl's face between her scarred hands, "Hey," she croaked, her voice breaking from lack of use, "hey, calm down. You'll be okay. What's your name?"
The wolf-men were so close; Nari could feel their hot breath on the back of her neck. A cold sweat broke out over her back as she positioned herself in such a way that the little girl couldn't see the wolf-men's horrible teeth. Right now, in the face of certain death, nothing was more important to Nari than the little girl; her tear streaked face, her gnarled hair and tattered clothes. The siren began to wail louder.
"What's your name," Nari repeated, slower this time, wiping dirty tears from her cheeks. The little girl hiccupped and latched her arms around Nari's neck.
"Pan," she gasped, "my name is Pandora…" her voice melted into a scream.
Nari screwed her eyes shut and waited for the burn of needle-like claws ripping into her back. The wolf-men howled with laughter, their gravelly voices breaking into snarls of excitement.
Nari gasped as a rush of cold air pummeled down from the ceiling. She tilted her head back and found herself staring up into a black sky dotted with stars. Boiling purple storm clouds rolled down from the mountains towering in the distance, lightning spilling from their black depths.
The ceiling had disappeared.
Without hesitation, Nari fastened her arms around Pandora's thin body and let her wings snap free from her back. The cold mountain air rushed under them, soothing her hot prickly skin. Nari pounded downward, feeling her feet lift from the floor. Pandora clung tighter, her scream gaining an extra pitch as they lifted away from the still frozen group of bird-kids on the floor.
One of the wolf-men leaped after her, his heavy claws shredding four thin lines down Nari's calf. Nari kicked at him with her other foot, hardly feeling the burn of her cuts as she rushed into the sky.
Below her, the group of bird-kids had scattered; some scrambling madly at the white walls in an attempt to find a doorway, others spreading their wings and lifting off the floor. The wolf-men's claws dug into their skin, pulling them back to the floor, or ripping them away from the walls.
Nari turned away from the horrible sight, hitching Pandora around her waist and pounding her wings harder. She caught the faint flicker of feathers as several other bird-kids burst free from the building. A swell of hope bloomed in her chest.
They were getting out.
"Look out!" Pandora screamed, unfurling her own wings in panic.
The wolf-man came out of nowhere, dropping down onto Nari's back with the force of a boulder. His fangs snapped next to Pandora's face as he knotted his claws through Nari's hair and yanked back.
"Give up!" he roared, lunging for Nari's exposed throat.
A bolt of white rammed into the wolf-man's side, sending his deformed body spiraling through the air. He snapped open his giant black wings and snarled furiously. Nari let herself drop several feet away before spinning around to watch.
A bird-kid, his pure white wings beating firmly at the wind, spun circles around the wolf-man's head. He was muscular, yet held a thin shape, the tendons standing out in his arms as he snapped a punch at the wolf-man's jaw.
"Come on!" he shouted, pulling back to brush the shaggy white hair from his face, "Is this the best you got?" A streak of black in his hair flopped over his face as he dodged the wolf-man's sweeping claws.
The bird-kid twisted around in the air, folding his wings shut against his back and pounding his feet into the wolf-mans back. He cupped his hands over the wolf-man's ears and pounded down hard.
The wolf-man screamed, his wings falling limply to his sides. In seconds, the evergreen trees below had swallowed his body up.
Nari could feel herself loosing altitude. The muscles in her back burned from the strain of holding up two bodies. She gasped and gave in to gravity, spreading her wings out the widest they would go to slow her fall the best she could.
Evergreen pine needles bit into her arms as she dropped below the tree line. Pandora buried her face against Nari's shoulder to ward off the snapping branches and twisting limbs. Nari fell the last eight feet, her legs giving out beneath her, sending both of them crashing to the forest floor.
Pandora rolled away from Nari's heaving body, scrambling to her hands and knees. Nari sucked in several breaths, the cold air burning her lungs as she hugged her shaking arms closer to herself. The wind around her stirred slightly as the white-winged boy landed softly next to her, his wings folding snuggly against his back.
"You all right?" he asked, crouching to his knees and rubbing his hand across Nari's back. Shaken, Nari nodded, the pine needles cold and spiky against her face, she tilted her head to look up at him. A bulge of suspicion rising in her throat. Freak bird-kids with near-perfect fighting skills didn't drop out of the sky every day. Who was this kid?
"Calm down," he grinned, rocking back on his heels, "the mountain isn't going to run out of air. If you keep sucking it down like that you're going to throw up."
Nari tried to calm her breathing, flinching when Pandora laid her small hand across her forehead. "You're really hot," she said in a small voice, "are you going to be okay?"
"I'm fine," Nari said in what she hoped was a firm voice. Brushing Pandora's hand away, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her knees. The pine trees tilted crazily as a wave of nausea rolled over her.
The white-haired boy smiled wirily, "Told you."
Nari wiped her mouth and coughed, the taste of bile searing her throat.
The white-haired boy stood up, needles cracking beneath his sneakers, "What's your name kid? How old are you?" he asked, extending a hand.
Nari swallowed hard, "Nari Streeter," she coughed, grudgingly letting him help her to his feet, "I'm fourteen and a half."
"Fourteen, huh? Three years younger than me," he brushed a strand of hair out of her face and grinned, revealing a pair of sharp fangs jutting down from his gums, "You can call me Wolf."