Chapter 3 • Max

Three shots whizzed by my head and my immediate instinct was to shout "Evasive maneuvers!" But this Miri girl didn't know anything about that sort of flying. Heck, she barely knew anything about any kind of flying. So, in this case, it would probably be best to get out of the sky and hide out somewhere.

"Aim down, but not too fast!" I shouted to her. "Got it?" She nodded, determined, and shot towards the ground at a semi-controlled speed. I followed as quickly as I could while looking over my shoulder to see our attacker.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a helicopter hovering a good bit behind us in the air. The rotors spun silently, which is how they'd been able to get close enough to shoot without me noticing. I took a moment to wonder how they'd managed that little improvement, then decided there would be a better time later to wonder. I folded my wings closer to my body and rocketed downward at free-fall speed, my only goal to get away from this mess and manage to get Miri away with me. She was an experiment, so we were more or less in the same boat. I felt as if I had some sort of civil duty to protect one of my own messed-up kind.

I caught up to Miri and pointed into a dense area of tall pines, altering my course to get there and watching as she copied my movements. The helicopter followed our movements, but I knew it would have to find a place to land before they could catch us and this was dense forestland. No chopper landing pads for miles around. Of course, if they had zip lines to get out of the chopper, we were in trouble, but I'd deal with that issue if it came up.

I'd lost Miri as soon as we entered the trees, but, since I didn't hear a crash or a scream, I assumed she was either still airborne or had already landed and was fine. A volley of shots sliced through the air around me, but hit only trees, thankfully. A similar thing happened off to my left and, when I turned, I saw a shadow maneuvering between the trees at the same speed as I was flying. That girl was learning fast. I briefly considered that she'd been lying about never having flown before, but then let it drop. I could be suspicious after I was sure I wasn't about to get shot.

I swerved, ducked, and doubled around until the shooting had been silent for ten minutes. That had to have been enough time for them to give up. Well, there was that, plus the fact that I might fall out of the air in the next few minutes. I'd used what Gazzy called my super-sonic speed earlier and then stayed in the air for about four hours since. I was beyond tired, so Miri must be even worse off, never having flown before today.

I looked around for Miri, but I hadn't been able to see her flying near me in a few minutes, so I took a guess and turned left, flying until I hit what I thought was about the middle of this pine forest. She might come by in a minute or so, looking for me.

I'd just landed when a set of auburn wings glided out of the trees above me and hovered quietly to my right. "Hey there." I said casually. "I take it you managed to avoid getting shot?"

Miri managed to touch down in front of me, landing on her feet rather than her face. "Seems so." she said, matching my tone. "What do we do now?"

I crossed my arms and tapped my chin for show. "We should probably head to Arizona," I said finally. "That's where the white-coats managed to shoot me down with one of those lovely little tranquilizers."

She asked the obvious question. "Where are we now?"

"A little north of Death Valley, California." I answered, looking up at the darkened sky.

Miri was quiet for a moment. "Well. . .that's ominous." She stated eventually.

"That it is." I nodded. "We need to be moving, but I really don't know how long it'll take for me to drop outta the sky, so we can stay here for the night. That okay with you?"

Miri stretched her arms up over her head. I gave her a quick once-over: too skinny, black hair, nearly-black eyes, auburn-colored wings, and a good bit of courage to be able to just go along with me without a second thought. She answered my question after her arms lowered back to her sides. "Fine by me. I'm ready to pass out."

I smiled, just a little, at how she'd copied my tone perfectly, once more. I thought I was going to like this girl. "Perfect. Pick a tree and we'll conk out for the night and get moving at first light."

Less than five minutes later, I was up a tree, watching Miri's already even breaths as she slept. I had to remind myself that, even though she seemed to be on my side, she could definitely be in league with the School.

I really hoped she wasn't though, because she was the only non-flock person/mutant I'd ever met that I could honestly say I wouldn't mind having for a friend. I remember crossing my fingers before I fell asleep.

Yes, it was short. This isn't my best work, but it'll have to do b'cause I'm not feeling so hot this week. Pollen kills me and I live in scenic Georgia where pollen targets every living creature in the vicinity from February to September. I promise I'll write a better and longer chapter next week, kaykay?

~N~