The Renegade
Chapter 16
After relaxing under the cool water of the shower I forced myself out of it. I cleaned my bloodied clothes and left them hanging over the stall doors to dry while I put on my new ones. I crept out of the door and locked it behind me. I flew silently just bellow the leaves of the trees but high enough to be above the heads of any humans I might encounter. I knew this place by heart and darted between the branches. I wasn't worried about the flock seeing me; even if they found out I was gone they would never be able to find me in this forest. My last secret fueled my mission.
I silenced my thoughts and focused on listening for campers. I landed as I approached one of the easiest campsites to steal from. I stopped behind a tree and listened. It was about noon and the family that inhabited the RV in the clearing was just getting ready for lunch. There were four of them; the mother, father, an almost 18-year-old daughter, and a 16-year-old son… from my estimate. Everyone except the father was in the RV arguing about why they had to come here instead of going to Florida and how they didn't want to go outside.
City slickers… I sighed, rolling my eyes. I listened as the father dug through their cooler and took out a package of steak. I had to cling to the bark of the tree just to keep myself from running out there in plain daylight and taking the meat from him. He started up the small grill that had come cemented to the ground with the small campsite. He opened the plastic wrapping a set it down on the picnic table and cursed at his empty bag of charcoal.
I gasped as he started in my direction. I dug my wings into the highest branch on the tree that I could reach and yanked myself up as he walked past me, picking up sticks and twigs along the way. I let a sharp breath of air out and squatted on the tree branch as I folded in my wings. I really shouldn't be moving this much already, flying alone caused enough pain to make me feel light headed and weak. I lightly traced the stitches on my shoulder to make sure I hadn't ripped any of them open. By some miracle I hadn't. I crawled across the branches of the tree until I was on the opposite side and quietly dropped myself down.
I listened as the man did a circle around the campsite, slowly moving away from me. The mother and kids were still in the RV. I smiled as I slipped closer to the table and in one quick movement raked the steak off the table into my arms with my wings and sprinted off into the woods. I flung myself into a tree with a small flap of my wings and smiled at the cool meat in my hands. I squeezed it and let the blood flow into my mouth. You see Max and the flock had forgotten one thing to ask: what kind of bat-human hybrid both Truence and I were.
Vampire bats. I thought, smiling and letting my bloody canines show. We needed blood and raw meat to survive. Our stomachs couldn't digest other foods without its nutrients. Our entire system would slowly shut down without it and, from what I've experienced in the past few days, it would be a terrible way to die. It's best for us if we have raw meat or blood every day and we needed it at least every two days before our bodies start shutting down one organ at a time. I had gone two and a half days and it certainly felt like it. After finishing my snack I returned to the bathrooms and cleaned all the dried blood off my face and brought my clothes back to the cave where the flock waited for me, seeming very bored. Before I could say anything Fang walked into the cave and tapped Max's shoulder. I listened as she got up, shutting my eyes to concentrate on their voices better.
Either my hearing is going or they're speaking a different language…great…I thought dully. They both came up to me and I felt the slightly heated gaze of the rest of the flock as Max started to speak.
"Only Fang and I are coming. How long will this take?" She asked easily ignoring the flock's stare.
"Not more than half an hour." I said feeling awkward. I never had anyone stare at me like that ever; it felt so weird.
"You here that guys? Iggy you're in charge." Iggy mumbled 'yeah' and turned back to the small fire. I felt relieved as I dived off the cliff out of sight of the flocks gaze. I stayed only feet above the trees as we soared on the air currents. We flew down just above the trees until I reached a small clearing and swiftly dove down through it and hovered just below the canopy. I listened, Max and Fang were still above me. I looked down to their shadows; their wings were too long to fit through to hole in the leaves.
Their bird wings were longer and thinner than mine at around fourteen feet. Mine were about eleven but almost five feet wide when fully stretched. Truence was bigger than all of them by quite a bit. His wings were almost thirteen feet long and he stood two inches taller than Fang and half a foot taller than me. The only reason Truence could dart around below the trees like I could was he could maintain a solid speed while folding his wings in slightly. It was an amazing feat for someone his size. We couldn't go as fast as Max, Fang, or Iggy could but we could turn stop and maneuver faster. I shook out my thoughts and landed on the top branch of a tree where Max and Fang could see me.
"Um… You guys can't fly down here can you?" I asked biting the inside of my cheek.
"Not really." Fang replied with little enthusiasm.
"Okay… fly above me and I'll signal when we have to land." I said spinning around and launching myself out of the tree. I loved flying just under the leaves of the trees. It was always so quiet and calm, yet exciting to dodge and skim through all the branches. I pulled my wings in quickly as I rushed between two branches of a tree then whipped them out and kept flapping. I started to focus less on flying and more on listening for hikers and campers as we approached the paths and campgrounds. I flew over a path and waved my hand through the leaves of the trees to signal for Max and Fang to land. They landed in the middle of the path and I quickly waved them over into a patch of forest between it and some of the campgrounds.
I smiled as I heard the family in the RV now all arguing about why they came here instead of going to Florida. I was really going to mess with these people's minds now… that is, if Max will let me. I stopped about fifty feet from the RV and turned to face Max and Fang who were silent behind me. I had to give them credit; I didn't think they could move as quietly as they had been so far.
"Do you want me to just get lunch or… show you what we can do?" I asked, my voice almost being overridden by the wind against the leaves it was so quiet. Max and Fan looked at each other and without words made a decision.
"Just do what you do normally." Max said in a whisper. I tried to stop the smile that spread across my face as I nodded to them and turned around.
"Okay." I said quietly. The blood and meat had given me my strength and energy back which made me feel bold and almost untouchable to anyone, even the flock.
They came with me to see what we do, so lets give them something to remember. I thought, almost feeling the adrenaline start to pump into my veins as I crouched at the edge of the campsite. This was going to be fun.
Author's Note: Yay! I finally updated! Sorry it took so long but I think this and the next chapter will make up for it! Evilness to come next time!