I sighed and looked down at her; she was excited looking from thing to thing. I sighed again. As I landed I only thought one thing when I saw her and her sister shouting, 'I don't think I can but I'm sure WE can.'
"So Chip, Would you rather, eat a burger made of boogers or kiss a rabid raccoon?" Malley asked. EW, where did she come up with this stuff?
"Uh, is the raccoon tranquilized?" Chip asked uncertainly. Malley thought about it for a while.
"Hmm, no, it's awake," she replied with that signature smile on her face. Chip was lost in thought for a while, which trust me rarely happens.
"I guess I'd kiss the raccoon, I don't think I could stomach a booger burger," he laughed. Ziggy laughed too, while Angel and Mint exchanged grossed-out looks, and then ended up giggling. I felt my mouth twitch up into a smile but then quickly return to back into just a line on my face.
For the past hour Sky's and Malley's questions had just been 'would you rather do this or that?', occasionally there'd be a 'if you could, would you…?'. We eventually just turned it into a game, no longer caring how many questions where asked. It passed the time and kept the Flock preoccupied as we flew towards Maine. I stole a glance at Sky and her wrapped up wing. She had fast a recovering time but it was sore. I felt a smidge guilty, a smidge.
Earlier that day:
Before we left we had to go get breakfast, since Sky's wing was sore Ziggy and I went instead. I was a bit worried about leaving the Flock with some girls who I hardly knew and who seemed a bit off their rockers, but Ziggy convinced me it was the only way.
Apparently Malley was a slow flyer, well slower, due to her short wingspan. I looked back at her. She had to beat her wings rapidly to keep herself up. She reminded me of a green hummingbird. It fit her.
When we got into town no was out yet and the sun was just then coming up. We quickly went to the 'Burger Monster' with its oh-so appealing sign. We tried to find stuff that looked edible. We weren't that lucky since we cleared it up pretty much yesterday. We looked for another place. We found a quaint little house restaurant that had a small dumpster on the side. We didn't find a whole lot there but the Flock could manage.
When Zig and I returned to our little rest area we saw that Sky had her wing wrapped (with a bandage that she got out of her big invisible purse again) and she and her sister were showing the kids how to play some word game.
"Breakfast is served," I said and held our food in the bags for yesterday. They didn't attack me like they did Sky last night, these kids aren't morning people. I passed out the pastries that we got from the picturesque restaurant. They of course gobbled them up. I handed one to Sky.
"Where'd the bandage come from?" I asked knowing I wouldn't get a straight answer. Sky took a bite of her pastry and smiled at me.
"If you were random then you'd know," she answered still smiling. She took another bite of her pastry getting icing and dough flakes all on herself. I left it at that though and ate my own breakfast.
"Okay guys we're headed for Maine," I announced after we were all done eating. They didn't seem all to thrilled to be going father up north when it was getting closer to winter. Though two certain girls had giant, icing-covered smiles on their faces.
"If we go to Maine can we eat some lobster?" I hear they have great lobster up there," Malley said. She's always Miss Glass is half-full or as Ziggy told me, completely full, whatever that meant. "I think lobster would be great! What about you Sky?"
"I don't like shellfish," Sky responded, her face filled with disgust. So I guess the girl-wonder had a weakness in the form of crustaceans, who knew. Malley though couldn't be chipper. She kept on smiling, it almost made me want to sing and dance about happiness. But that'll happen about as soon as Ziggy becomes a girl and the Twins aren't twins anymore and Kitten is suddenly dumb and un-cute. Yeah, never gonna happen.
Now
"Hmm, I'd have to say I would go for the purple butter, I couldn't stand being a jellyfish for the rest my life," Ziggy said. Chip had just asked him if he'd rather eat purple radioactive butter or be a jellyfish for the rest of his life. I rolled my eyes at the weird questions, this was so pointless.
"If you were random then you'd know." Sky's words just popped into my head. I didn't get it at all. What did being random have to do with anything? I glanced back at her. She was just laughing her head off at Kitten's answer to Ziggy's question. Her blue wings kinda melded into the sky, I wonder if that was why Malley named her that. Suddenly a thought occurred to me. I swooped closer to her.
"Hey, Sky why'd you name Malley, well Malley?" I asked. She looked a little surprised at first then just smiled (wow, didn't see that coming(that's sarcasm for all you bright people)).
"Well first off her name is Mallet, not Malley, that's just a nickname," she answered. The rest of the Flock was listening now too. "And she is called Mallet because she likes to smash things." I looked over at Malley; she had a dark grin on her face. I gulped, the girl looked insanely evil.
"Its true, I do like to smash things," she reiterated. I drifted slowly away from her. "Don't nonchalantly fly away from me!" she yelled. That just made me get further away. I chuckled to myself, knowing she couldn't catch me, when I noticed something up ahead.
"Shoot!" I yelled. I stopped and almost crashed into Malley. Even if they were far off I could tell what they were, Shredders. "Everyone, get ready Shredders coming up fast, Or-fit-oman!" I yelled at them using a code we made up ourselves. Sky and Malley didn't know what it meant, but they did know what Shredders meant and got ready.
"How many?" I asked Ziggy who was flying up ahead. I saw him focus on the cloud of them coming in fast.
"I count roughly 30, maybe more, they're clumping," he answered. For the son of a blind kid he had the best vision of us all. That's irony for you.
"Alright, Mint, you got any scream, in you?" I asked her smirking. She smirked back and nodded. She flew in front of me; she filled her lungs with loads of air. I covered my ears and braced myself. The Shredders were getting closer, to their doom that is. She opened her mouth.
Now would be a good time to interject on the amazing similarities and differences between twins. Mint and Chip looked almost the same; you could hardly tell them apart as babies. Chip inherited, what my mom said was his fathers bad digestive system. For Chip though and thankfully for us it came out his mouth and not his, yeah that. Mint got the same thing only a little different, most importantly she didn't need a carbonated beverage to make her deadly screech come out.
The Shredders stopped and covered their ears trying to block it out. Little did they know was that the scream would reverberate in your brain once you heard it. Some of them screeched themselves in pain and dropped like flies. That was our cue to move in.
I swooped in and chopped one in its neck then kicked it in its gut. It dropped a few feet then came back at me. I quickly dodged it then kicked it in its back, square between the wings. It immediately crumpled out of the sky. Another came up and I landed a kick on its chest, around its heart (if it had a heart that is). I heard something crack and its eyes widen and it fell.
I checked on the Flock quickly. Ziggy was helping Chip fight off about 5 Shredders and Mint and Kitten were doing the same. Our Flock always stuck together in fights, more protection that way. I glanced another way to find the Crazy Crew. Malley had just punched one in the beak and it shattered. Let me reiterate that for your benefit, shattered. That girl was freaky strong, 2nd note to self: stay on her good side. Her sister on the other hand was nowhere to be seen. I whirled around looking for her, getting punched in the gut in the process. I kicked the Shredder in the neck, then in its back, still looking for the random girl.
I saw her, up away from the fight. What was she doing? Could she not fight? Even Kitten, an eight year-old, could fight! I was little tick at her till one flew up at her. I wanted to watch to see what would happen but two Shredders came up either side of me, trying to sandwich me. I quickly dove away. By the time I got to look up the Shredder was no where near her. How did she do it? It wasn't Malley; she was fighting some others at the time. I glared up at her, I hate being confused and curious.
The Shredders started to retreat as their numbers dwindled swiftly. Only ten of them where still able to fly and they flew away fast. We watched them and jeered at them.
"Status report!" I yelled.
"I'm okay over here, though Chip's nose is all bloody," said Ziggy pointing at the youngster holding his head back and pinching his nose.
"Just a little beaten and winded," said Mint referring to both her and Kitten. I turned to Sky and Malley. They were oblivious, Malley was picking at her jeans and Sky was staring straight ahead. I cleared my throat to get their attention. Sky's head snapped in my direction.
"I'm sorry, what?" she asked as if coming out of a daze. I slapped my hand on my forehead and sighed.
"Are you guys alright?" I asked through clenched teeth.
"Well now that you ask, I've always felt like I was a bit off in my mind…"
"I meant physically!"
"Oh, my bad! Sorry, um…well besides being a tad on the famished side, I'm solid," she replied. I just rolled my eyes and looked over at Malley. She had tears in her eyes.
"I'm not alright! Look!" she showed me her finger. I just looked at it questioningly.
"I don't see anything," I said. She put her finger right up next to me eye, nearly poking it.
"Look! How can you not see it?! It's huge!" she cried. I finally saw it, a tiny splinter in her index finger. I mentally slapped my forehead.
"Here let me take it out…" I said, she snatched her finger away.
"NO!" she cried, cradling her hand, "it'll hurt!" She whimpered, sounding just like a puppy with an expression to match. I sighed and put on a trusting face.
"I promise it won't hurt," I said with a tone of sincerity. I, of course was lying, it was in all aspects going to hurt, but she didn't have to know that, now did she. I smirked on the inside as her trusting eyes gave me the once-over and she held out her hand once again. I examined the miniscule yet horrific sliver of wood. It was no longer than the white part of my nail and certainly no thicker. I looked over at Sky, who gave me an inquiring look.
"I don't suppose you have a pair of tweezers in your bottomless supply of random?" I said her knowing full well by now that she would. She grinned like the Cheshire cat and handed me a pair of small silver tweezers. They seemed to have just appeared immediately in her hand. I took them and tested them out before focusing on the task at hand. I glared at the tiny perpetrator and closed the tweezers on it and pulled. It came out in less than a second.
"OW!" cried Malley. She blew on her finger and stuck it in her mouth. She glared at me, I however ignored this and threw the tweezers back to Sky, and they disappeared before even reaching her.
"You lied," Malley accused still glaring.
"Malley, no. He got it out, so no," said Sky, giving her sister a forewarn look. Malley gave her sister a suspicious look and she smiled. Evilly, though still a smile. She kind of danced, more like floated from side to side.
"Wouldn't dream of it Sky," she said ever-to-sweetly. Sky kept up her look, now appearing more like a mother daring her child to take a cookie out of the jar when she had already caught them with their hand in it. Malley just kept up her act. I decided we had been airborne long enough.
"Come on, we need to land and get far away from here. Those Shredders are sure to come with more of them," I said and we all dropped into the foliage below. I dusted myself off and looked over the Flock once more. They were holding up.
I looked up at the sky and saw the sun going down a bit, shoot we had lost a whole day already. We would have to camp soon and find food; I could tell they were all hungry. They never said anything though, they were trying to be strong, not for me, but for our parents. The ones who had saved the world and had gone without food longer than we had. The ones who had fought bravely against a tyrannical society of sociopaths. The ones forced into a life they didn't ask for, born normally, raised neglectfully, hunted like prey and probably would be until they died. Life was unfair.
I snapped back into reality when Ziggy asked me if he should start a fire. I had a lump in my throat so I merely just nodded my head. I tried to swallow the lump; it finally disappeared after a minute or two. I asked Sky to come scavenge food with me. She nodded and followed me up into the now dark sky. Neither of us talked as we flew around looking for a nearby town. I wanted to say anything, anything to stop the unsettling silence, but no idea came to me or was wiped from my thoughts before I could get it out. We finally spotted a small clump of houses. We dove down landing only 20 feet from the village. We were still silent, couldn't she say something, anything!?
We crept up to the closest house and dug through the trash for some goodies. We really didn't find much; we had the same luck with the next 4 houses. The whole time not a word was spoken, why? The fifth and last house had a few non-moldy treasures so we quickly scooped them up. That's when I noticed a newspaper in the recycling bin next to the trash can. The date was today's and on the front page was the picture of me and Sky from the other night. The headline read:
BIRD KIDS FINALLY SPOTTED AFTER TWO MONTHS OF ABSENCE
I quickly glanced over the article. It told how two of us were spotted in a small town in Montana, that's probably how the guy who controlled the Shredders found us. I stole a glance at Sky; she didn't notice the article and was still digging in the trash. I stealthily grabbed the paper and stuffed it at the bottom of bin. I couldn't risk her reading it. She finally surfaced from the garbage. She gave me an expectant look, not a word, not one. I just launched myself into the air, without an answer. I knew I wouldn't be able to take another silent trip. So I turned in the air to face her and stopped. She looked a little puzzled, but something in her eyes made me think that she had known this was coming.
"Why are you so silent?" I asked her barely keeping my annoyance concealed. She looked down guiltily at first, and then looked at me.
"I guess I'm just a little tired," she answered weakly. I knew she was lying.
"You're lying, I know you are," I growled. She looked down again.
"I was thinking," she said her voice trailing off.
"About what?" I asked genuinely curious, glad the silence was over.
"Why are you being so nosy?" was her reply, she sounded just as annoyed as me. I was taken aback, I wasn't being nosy, I just didn't want silence.
"Why are you being so defensive?" I retorted with my own annoyance.
"Because this kid I hardly know is trying to get every little bit of information about my life out of me," she answered glaring at me.
"Oh! My bad, because I'm just the guy who helped you and your sister. My bad if I'm trying to protect my family as best I can and this one girl is being suspicious." I growled.
"We didn't ask for you to help us!" she yelled. I nearly dropped the food in my arms. Could she be anymore senseless?
"Well if you really feel that way why don't you leave?" I asked her through clenched teeth. She looked a little off-set by my reaction.
"I-I" she paused; she looked a little defeated then agitated, "Because I don't want to leave." She whispered that last part. I rolled my eyes again, this girl was hopeless..
"Well that makes you a hypocrite," I replied. She furrowed her brow and looked over at me with eyes of deep emotional hatred. Like I hadn't gotten that look before.
"And what does that make you? You keep secrets and expect me and my sister to spill all ours!" she retorted.
"We gave you a chance to ask and you wasted it on asking us about whether we would want to eat an octopus raw!" I yelled back at her.
"Excuse me and my sister for having a sense of decency and waiting for you to naturally tell us instead of repeatedly asking like a child!" she snapped. That was a blow to my ego.
"Whatever, lets just go," I huffed. I will not admit that I had no good comeback; I merely wanted to end this childish fight. We were almost at the camp anyway. I would defiantly have a private talk with the Flock when I had the chance. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to these girls than we thought, more than they had even told us. They couldn't be trusted. I side-glanced at Sky, she noticed me looking and turned her head away, snubbing me. I did the same. I heard her sigh. I couldn't help myself.
"Would it be a crime if I asked what that was about?" I asked with venom in my tone. She narrowed her eyes at me.
"I was just thinking, of all the bird-kids in the world, I had to crash in to the one the attitude," she answered. I was a little stunned at first, but I silently laughed to myself, unfortunately it wasn't as silent as I wanted it to be. Sky looked at me shocked.
"What?" I asked her.
"Oh my gosh! You have a sense of humor!" she exclaimed. I shook my head in disbelief but I had a smile on my face.
"I'm not the emotionless robot that you seem to believe I am," I replied.
"Well, not emotionless, you obviously have anger issues," she said jokingly. I laughed a little. She smiled, pleased that she uncovered this side of me.
"My dad says I get it from my mom, she says I get it from him. I came to the conclusion it was a combination of both," I told her laughing. She laughed too. It felt good to be able to talk to someone normally. Sky's wing twitched and she dropped a little. I rushed over to her.
"Are you okay?" I asked a little worried.
"Yeah, my wing is just a little stiff from being in a cast," she answered, a second she dropped further. I flew down to her again.
"Land, we're walking," I told her.
"But…" I glared at her and she began her descent. She landed a little ungracefully as her wing folded in too soon. I stopped her from falling. She straightened herself out.
"Why didn't you say your wing was hurting?" I asked her, for a moment it seemed as if I would get a snippy retort, but instead she just sighed.
"I didn't want to hold us back," she admitted. I sighed this time.
"Pain is nothing to hold back," I told her. She just shrugged and put her food in bag (don't ask cause I don't even know) and set it down and rolled her shoulders, getting the kinks out. She picked up the bag and handed me one. I put my food in it. We began to walk.
"So what are they like?" she asked. It took me a second to realize what she was talking about.
"Strong, caring and fun," I answered, "they're the best parents ever." She looked down-trodden.
"Must be nice, having someone who cares," she said. I felt a little uncomfortable, it was like trying to comfort an artist who had just lost their hands. Unbearably awkward. We reached the camp.
"Life is completely unfair at times," she whispered staring blankly at her sister before putting up a façade of cheerfulness as her sister came up to her. I remained silent; it was then that I realized that the two strays were in a league of their own. They were more like our parents, a life thrust upon them. How much had they been through? How much had they suffered? More awkwardness was placed in the atmosphere.
As I handed out the mediocre food to the kids and Ziggy, I stole a glance at Sky. She seemed fine now, but what exactly had happened to her, what exactly she was hiding, I could only guess.
Yes, finally done with this chapter. I am so sorry it took so long, but I haven't really had a free weekend to do some serious writing. And I also had writer's block, thankfully it was wooden so I burned to ashes with the passion of writing and inspiration and some nasty threats from the co-writer. xP Hopefully the next update wont take to long. Anyway, I disclaim all except the plot and my own characters.
~Defiance out~