A/N: So...not the most exciting chapter, yet necessary. I promise i'll make up for it in the next chapter. Enjoy!
Nari Streeter
Chapter Three: Refugee Angels
The lab was in total chaos. White-coats scattered around the too-small observation deck, their faces pallid and white. Several groups of wolf-men, some still in half morph, spotted the floor; their faces twisted with rage and disappointment. The helicopter pad where the group of bird kids had been standing moments before was empty, the only existence of a struggle being the blood stains on the pure white walls.
"I don't understand," a tall white-coat with thin lips growled, his fingers flying over a keypad in search of an answer, "this helicopter pad has been condemned for weeks. The landing operative shouldn't even be functional."
A bulky wolf-man shoved his way to the front of the gathered group, his mouth still bulging with fangs, "What happened!"
The tall white-coat's face flushed, his fingers shaking over the keyboard, "Someone activated the landing pad. They opened the ceiling hatch and put the entire operation on lockdown. We had no choice but to let the hatch open!"
The wolf-man curled his hairy fingers into tight fists, his claws biting into the palm of his hand, "Who did this?" he growled, his dark eyes flashing across the white-coat's faces. A blanket of silence settled over the room.
"I said," the wolf-man snarled, his voice dangerously low, "who. Did. This."
At the far end of the observation deck, an elevator door slid open, and Jeb Batchelder slid inside, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Wolf?"
Nari drew Pandora in closer to her side, laying a protective arm across her skinny shoulders, "What kind of name is that?"
Wolf shrugged, "What kind of name is Nari? I made it up. Just like you."
A sliver of brilliant lighting shot across the sky, followed by an ear-shattering blast of thunder. In the brief flash of light, Nari could just barely make out the shaggy outlines of three wolf-men rushing through the evergreens, their backs hunched by the sheer weight of their own bodies.
"Damn," Wolf growled, baring his own fangs and turning to face the onslaught, "Erasers really do make me itch." He tensed, as if preparing to take off, and then hesitated, turning back around to face Nari.
A slick grin slid across his pale face and he winked, "Stay here, love. I'll be back in a second."
Pandora's grip around Nari's waist tightened as Wolf spread his wings and took off, the ground below him swirling with stirred up pine needles. Nari hitched Pandora onto her waist and backed into a part of the forest behind her where the trees were thicker. She pressed herself against a gnarled tree trunk and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the brush of needles on her face.
Another bolt of lightning split the sky and rain began to fall in sheets, soaking them in seconds.
"Pandora, huh?" Nari said through clenched teeth, trying to take the little girl's mind off of the recent events, "that's a pretty name…where'd you hear it from?"
Pandora shrugged, "My twin sister, Natalie, she gave it to me," her tiny fists tightened around Nari's neck, "did you see her? My sister…she looks a lot like me, only her wings are darker…her hairs longer, too. I didn't see her…"
Nari chewed thoughtfully on her lip. So Pandora wasn't the girl that had been in the crate next to her. It must have been Natalie. They did look a lot alike, but now that she looked closer, Pandora's wings were more of a mousy brown and her hair was chopped off raggedly around her shoulders.
"I hope she's okay," Pandora muttered, burying her face into Nari's shirt.
"She'll be fine," Nari said reassuringly. She didn't have the heart to tell the little girl that her sister was probably dead by now. The white-coats had taken Natalie days before they'd come back for the other bird-kids; it was highly unlikely that she had survived.
The branches above them cracked and shook, raining green needles around their shoulders. Wolf dropped from the sky like a snowflake from the storm, his hair plastered against the back of his neck and forehead. A smear of watered-down blood curled up from the side of his mouth like a sinister grin.
"Miss me?" he shouted over the din of the storm, extending his hand like a gentlemen asking a lady for a dance instead of a freak bird-kid helping another freak bird-kid from an impossible tangle of evergreen pine braches. Nari struggled through the mess, the branches tearing at her clothes like tiny hands.
Wolf shouted something she didn't catch, his voice drowned out by another roll of bone-rattling thunder.
"What?" Nari shouted.
Wolf grinned, sliding an arm around Nari's waist and pulling her closer. "We've got to get out of the storm," he whispered, his breathe hot against her neck. Nari tensed, uncomfortable with his closeness.
"Where can we go?"
Still grinning, Wolf pulled back, his wings flaring out on either side of him. "You feel up for flying?" he asked, the wind tearing at his feathers.
Nari frowned, glancing nervously at Pandora. The little girl smiled and slid down from her hip, still keeping a tight grip on her hand, "I can fly," she said confidently, unfurling her smaller set of wings.
It was harder to fly with all the wind. Plums of cold air pummeled Nari from all sides, tossing her around the storm like a leaf in a rain gutter. The forest below seemed never-ending. A vast ocean of green and black, roaring its ugly head as if to snatch them up.
Stubbornly, Nari pounded her wings against the gale, Wolf's white feathers above her guiding through the darkness. Pandora straggled behind them, her smaller body more maneuverable in the strong winds. Just when it seemed like the laborious flight would never end, Wolf banked into a tight spiral against a cliff-face, catching himself perfectly on an outcropping of rock.
Silently grateful for the flight to end, Nari cropped her wings in a way she hoped would set her lightly down on the outcropping. The cliff-face came up way too fast, her feet pounding down on the rock in a not-so-graceful landing that sent her to her knees. A shot of hot pain lanced up her calf, making her suck in a sharp breath.
Her pant leg was soaking with dark blood.
Pandora managed a rather shaky landing, her face a mask of worry as Nari staggered to her feet. Wolf glanced back at them, eyeing Nari's leg curiously.
"I'm fine," Nari said curtly, folding her steaming wings against her back.
"Sure," Wolf muttered, stepping closer to her and opening his arms.
"What are you…" Nari felt her voice trail off, the pain in her leg throbbed like a set of drums. Wolf's arms rushed up to meet her and in seconds the world went black.
When Nari opened her eyes she was met with absolute dark.
A steady pulse vibrated behind her temples, reminding her of a nail being driven into her skull. Her entire leg had gone numb, causing her stomach to boil unpleasantly. She could still hear the distant pounding of the rain against rocks and treetops.
Her vision slowly shifted into focus, revealing the stony ceiling of a sandstone cave lit by an open fire shoved up next to the wall. Pandora's small body rocked back and forth next to the flame, her eyes fixated on the shadows cast by the fire. She glanced up when Nari stirred, a wide grin splitting across her starved face.
A cold hand traced its way up Nari's exposed leg, making her jump and try to pull back. Wolf locked his steely hand around her ankle, "Hold still!" he ordered, his voice muffled as he spoke around the needle clamped between his teeth.
Nari took a shuddering breath and looked down at her calf. The pant leg had been rolled up to reveal four jagged lines carved red against her skin. Three of the gashes had all ready been sewed up with thick black line, the skin knotted and bruised around the stitches.
"Where'd you learn that?" Nari asked through clenched teeth.
Wolf shrugged, tying another line of black thread through the needle. "I guess you could describe it as a higher calling," he said casually, plunging the needle back into Nari's numb leg.
Nari's stomach rolled and she forced herself to look away, "Higher calling?"
"Yeah," Wolf muttered, running his slightly bloodstained fingers through his hair, "you know…for the mission and all that jazz."
"What mission?"
Wolf glanced up, his lips pulled back over his fangs in an excited smirk, "The mission to help Maximum Ride save the world."