The Renegade

Chapter 13

Truence was jolted awake by the rushing sensation of falling. He let out a short yell as his wings stopped his fall; pain shooting up his spine from his nearly dislocated wings. He sat there for a moment letting the pain subside and nearly passed out from the lack of blood. As he blacked out he heard a scraping sound and felt his wings come free.

What? No it sounded so far away… was his only thought as his body refused to obey the reflexes his mind ordered it. He shouted and thrashed violently as he fell thirty feet to the ground. His body slammed to the ground with full force. His head felt heavy as he tried to raise it. For a moment he could only comprehend the pain but then his memory came back. He was out of the lab, in a tree, and he just fell out of it. He tensed as he remembered another detail about his fall. He had heard a scream besides his own.

"What the f-" a voice had shouted as he fell. Even as he thought of it another voice came to his ears. He had fallen right on a hiking trail.

"Dude, what the hell is that?" A teenage boy's voice said. Truence opened his eyes and saw only the shadows of two boys about his age standing about ten feet from him, edging closer every second. He forced himself to at least sit up and the boys backed off slightly. He tried to stretch out his wings and could with a considerable amount of pain.

There's no way I'm gonna be able to fly… I can't…He thought, trying to stand up. He felt one of his knees give out beneath him as he put his weight on it, causing him to fall onto them. The boys looked from each other to Truence with confused, slightly frightened faces. He tried again with his other leg, the one he hadn't fallen on and he stood up. He still felt wobbly but sent a deathly glare to the boys anyway. They both stopped moving, mid-breath and their eyes widened. The one closest to him started to speak and Truence tensed, making both of them jump.

Truence didn't blame them for being scared; seeing him was the equivalent of having a man-eating tiger, covered in blood, fall from a tree right in front of you. He fell himself tilt and struggle to keep his balance. He headed toward the tree he had just fallen from and leaned on it heavily.

"Do… do you need help?" One of the boys asked him timidly. Truence sighed. I could still probably kill both of them if they got close enough. They already had seen him, which is bad enough, but they had seen him at his weakest moment, which meant they cannot live. He listened the other boy sifted through his pack. He heard the slosh of a water bottle and the sound of a plastic bag full of food. They set them both down on the rock and turned to go.

"Thank you." He said almost silently without looking at them. He heard them stop and look at him once more before leaving with quick steps. He just hoped they didn't have a camera. He guess the boys knew that they were pretty lucky not to get hurt, they were really lucky to get away alive. If they had gotten any closer Truence knew he would have killed them. Even if he didn't want to, he would have had to kill them. He never really wanted to kill anyone except the demons at the lab. He just had to. After he was sure the boys were far away, he slowly wobbled unsteadily over to the rock and inspected everything they had given him with his hands. There was a water bottle, a bag of trail mix, and, something he hadn't heard them leave, a sweater. He knew he would never wear it; it interfered with whatever he did, he could make it into bandages for his wrist, though.

He felt his wrists, he had landed on his right side when he fell and now the wrist on that side was bleeding again. He pulled the hood off the sweatshirt and wetted it with the water. He gently dabbed at his wrists and the rest of him that was covered in blood then started with the bandages. He ripped off the bottom of the torso and tore it into one long strip. Doing as best he could with one hand, he wound it around his right wrist and tied it, doing the same with the other. Afterward, his cuts stung slightly but he was glad he got to clean and bandage them.

Now what to do…He couldn't fly, or see for that matter. So he couldn't go to Aven, he couldn't hide in a tree, he was too weak to do anything. He probably couldn't even walk in the direction toward the cave, not without being able to see. He circled around the tree and inspected the back of it. There wasn't enough coverage for him to hide behind it. He ventured into the woods, going slowly, inspecting everything with his hands and seeing only their shadows. Finally, he found an upturned tree and sat in the small crevice between its roots and the ground. He curled up to make himself as invisible as possible, though, he doubted he would be seen. His restless mind was soon shut down by the pain that filled his body.

A rustle in the leaves soon brought him out of sleep again. He shot up and put all his senses to work. A coyote…He smelled the blood, He sighed as he heard it creep closer to him. He looked up, tracing the coyote's path with his sightless eyes, then let out a loud shriek that was half human scream, half the cry of an angered animal. The coyote was gone before his scream was done echoing through the woods. He slumped back down against the knotted roots and ate some of the trail mix the boys had given them. He tried stretching out his wings again and could with some pain but it wasn't as bad as the night before. He still doubted he could fly; he'd have to stay here and rest for another day.

He couldn't pull himself into sleep any longer; worry and frantic planning had replaced his exhaustion. He thought of what could happen to him; anyone could find him, a hiker, an animal, an eraser. He was at a loss of what to do if anything happened. He could move now but probably not fly for more that a few hundred feet, not near far enough to get away from anything that would make him want to run.

Near dusk he heard something in the woods. He concentrated on his hearing and recognized the timid footsteps of the two boys he had seen before. Now that his vision was starting to come back, he considered talking to them. He crept silently in their direction, being careful to keep himself hidden, and saw them both for the first time. The first one was taller and had a fairly strong build that could have actually stood a chance against Truence yesterday in the condition he was in. The second one was slimmer, shorter, and seeming smarter, looking to not like the idea of creeping up on a bloody killer mutant.

Well, they came to see a monster… lets give them a show…Truence thought a smile pulling at his face. He waited as the boys neared the fallen tree where he had hidden and as soon as they were close enough started at a dead silent run straight for the end of the tree. He flung himself in the air as he passed directly in front of the first boy and landed squatting on the balled roots of the tree, facing the boys. They both froze, their widened eyes staying on Truence as he let out a loud, fierce screech. Truence made sure to show off his elongated canines to them, but kept as much of his face covered by his shoulder-length black hair, stretching his deep brown wings out as far as he could. To his surprise the boys didn't run, though the second one looked like he could pass out any second.

"What do you want?" Truence demanded, masking his voice with an animal-like scratch to his voice. The first boy just stood there slightly paler than when he had first entered the woods, the other pale as a ghost and clinging to a tree for support.

"We… wanted to see if you were still here… alive…" The first one squeaked. Truence hopped off the end of the tree and stood up taller that the first one by almost three inches. Whether by bravery or by being to terrified to move the boy stood his ground as Truence approached him.

"Thanks, but I'm fine." Truence said letting the animal's part in his voice fade to a normal person's. He turned his back to them, still listening to any move they made. They were too small to be erasers but Truence found it hard to trust anyone, even himself.

"What… who are you?" The boy asked, his voice quivering. Truence stopped where he was and stood for a moment before quickly flicking his unfurled wings. He almost smiled as he heard the first boy jump back, knocking the other one down with a yelp.

"What does it matter to you two?" He said turning around quickly, letting a hint of rage flow into his voice. The boys looked at each other.

Humans…He sighed. Why is it that they cared about you when you want to be left alone but when you really need help they could care less about what pain your in, they just want to find out statistics about it.

"What do you want?" Truence asked again, his voice now full of rage, his canines on full display. "Did you want to see a beast?" He yelled his animal scream entering his already fierce voice. "Do you want to see a killer? An animal? A monster?" Truence screamed now, his words ending in a horrible scream of an injured animal. He rushed the first boy and grabbed him by the neck, hauling him up to Truence's level. "You see these hands, this blood. I've killed before." He whispered to the first boy, staring him directly in the eye.

"Please… no!" The boy coughed between guttural gasps and gurgles. The second boy, if possible, was even paler than before and just watched in horror.

"You've come to see power. I could've killed you before your brain could have even run the picture of me through your head." He whispered in a hard, raspy voice. He then threw the boy into the trunk of a small tree next to the other one. "A life for a life, you save mine, I spare yours." He said and turned to fly off. A quiet beep stopped him in his tracks. He turned back to see the smaller boy with a small walky-talky, frantically pushing the buttons and fumbling around with it while passing glances between it, his friend, and Truence. Truence flew just above the ground to the boy and slammed him against a tree, grabbing the device as he held the boy to the tree by the neck.

"What is this?"

"Please, don't hurt me! Let me go! Please!" The boy screamed, thrashing violently.

"What is this?" Truence demanded again, pushing hard on the boy's throat. He gasped slightly and tried to speak; Truence loosened his grip.

"A transmitter. A walky-talky." He stuttered. Truence let him fall to the ground and crushed the walk-talky in his hand. He jumped up into flight and flew as quickly as his sore wings could take him.

"This is why I don't like humans." Truence mumbled to himself as he flew away. He only got about five hundred feet before having to land in another tall tree. He'd climb down before he went to sleep this time.

Author's Note: Wow, this is a long chapter with lots of action so I hope you like it! Leave a review and let me know!