Chapter 13: Deserted

Fang POV

…just the intense perpetual darkness. Surrounding me, like a shadow in the night, blocking out everything around it. I try to move, but nothing reacts. I can't even look down at my body to make sure its still there. It doesn't feel like its there. It just feels numb, like I have no body, that I'm just a soul floating around in nothingness.

The possibility that I'm dead enters my mind again, but it is soon quenched by the pressure which starts to build around me. Pushing in on me from all directions, pushing into my heart, my very being. Although it doesn't hurt as such, it's just extremely uncomfortable.

I begin to count the seconds in my head, waiting for the signal which will tell me that it will soon be over, for now. As I get to 82 I start to feel the pressure subsiding. It's ending earlier than usual. Then the noise begins. Like a dial-up modem connecting to the internet, except it goes on for so much longer, and is so much more irritating.

After what seemed like hours, but as far as I know it could have been anything from seconds to years, it ended, and the darkness began to fade out. In its place was the usual basic landscape I had become accustomed to. The same forest to the left, the trees flowing in the same fluid motion in the wind as they always did. Mountains all around the horizon, long expansive fields in all directions, a large gushing river, jutting through the land ahead.

I was flying as usual, along with the rest of the flock. The real flock. Just the 6 of us. No Will. We were all in the same basic clothes as we always were. Trainers, jeans, white t-shirts. I didn't know how we got here, why we were here, why we all had matching clothes or where we were flying. I had just learnt not to question it.

The rest of the flock were looking straight ahead as if transfixed by something, not talking, or doing anything apart from flying towards this unseen wonder. But I have learnt it is better not to question what is going on, and just get on with it in the hope that this will end soon.

We fly across the river, but it makes no sound. The water is splashing and gushing, but no noise comes from it whatsoever. I look up towards the sun, which is high in the sky, knowing what will come next. I try with all my might to keep my eyes open in the glare of the sun, but after a few seconds, I blink, and then they appear. All around us, at least 50 of them. Their thin layer of scraggly fur, blowing in the wind, the bright glare of the sun shining through it, so we could see the metal shell underneath, the fearsome red glowing eyes, all of them staring right at us.

They form a sphere around us, blocking out the sun to make it seem like its late evening. Then they all shoot towards us. Well this was a new tactic. 5 of them came towards me from different directions, and I had to judge carefully when to quickly dart out of the way, so they all crashed into each other, and so I didn't hit into anyone, or thing, else. 4 of the 5 did what I intended them to do, and ended up crashing into the river below, whilst one pulled was able to fly shakily away, too damaged to continue fighting.

I heard the screams and shouts of Gazzy and Angel, they had obviously been taken, so it was too late to save them, and I could see Max dispatching of two of the Robots by grabbing their heads and smashing them together. I flew over to her, kicking and punching at as many robots as I could on my way.

When I reached her, I tried to protect her as best I could. Although I probably doomed Iggy and Nudge, I had come to terms with the fact we had a much better chance of getting through the fight with her than the two of them. She was my biggest asset at the moment, and I had to do all I could to stop the Robots getting her. Being in fight after fight after fight will teach you this.

After destroying a few more Robots, they all seemed to converge on me and Max. This meant they had taken care of Iggy and Nudge. There were about 30 of them left. This wasn't good. The only time I had ever gotten through a fight with just me and Max, there had only been 15 of them.

I managed to knock 2 of them down, before Max became overwhelmed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her fall into the river below. With that I stopped fighting, and resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to win this time. When 3 of them came at me, I didn't defend myself, and let them pummel me with a barrage of fist, before falling into the river below and blacking out. And then there it was again. Darkness... ...Just the intense perpetual darkness.

Gazzy POV

My eyes snapped open. I was lying on my back in the dirt. Only it was bumpy and gravelly. I was staring up at what appeared to be rock or concrete, and it was fairly dark.
I tilt my head to the left and right, and see the same grey smooth concrete on either side. I tilt my head forward and see what I can only describe as light at the end of a tunnel.

Turning over and looking the other way, I see the same thing, only further away. Where on earth was I? How the hell did I get here? I attempt to stand, but my legs are like jelly and after 5 seconds I'm back on my back. What was going on?

Suddenly, my brain caught up with me and I remembered what had happened. My mind flashed to the fight, trying to protect Angel, getting caught, taken away from the rest of the flock, a sharp pain in my neck, and then, nothing. My mind was blank after that.

My mind came to only one conclusion. We had been caught. We had been caught and this was one of the Whitecoats strange experiments. There could be no other explanation. If the rest of the flock had somehow saved me, at least one of them would be here, they wouldn't leave me alone.

I tried to get up again, this time supporting myself against the wall of this 'cave'. I managed to stand up, although I wobbled a lot. I thought I should make my way to the light. Although I could stay here, it was very hot, and I would soon need to find some water. Better to go now, while I still had the energy.

It took 10 minutes of wobbling and stumbling through the 'cave' for my legs to return to normal, and by that time I had reached the end and what I saw stunned me completely. The desert. The same desert we were in when the fight happened. I wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand, I wasn't captured. I didn't have to endure the terrible things the school would probably do to me. On the other hand, I would have to endure the fact that they are doing those terrible things to the flock.

Also, a question I had to ask was how on earth did I get in the cave? I turned around to examine it, and I realised what it was. It was a tunnel, the type used by trains. There must have been a train line here once. Still, it didn't explain how I got in there. I could only think of 2 explanations. Someone put me there, or this was some kind of simulation, and I had been captured, and was currently in the school.

If that was so, then there wasn't much I could do about it, except live it out till someone rescued me or they take me out of it themselves. I'd been in one before a few years ago just reliving the same point over and over again. It was terrible and was so relieved when they told me they'd done all he study they needed.

I remembered that I had come out for water, and remembered there was a stream not too far east from where the cave where the fight took place, was. If I could find the cave, I could find he stream. I flew up into the air, to see if any of the surrounding area was at all familiar. But before I got 25 feet into the air, I saw a small speck in the distance, flying towards me. I quickly darted back down, and behind a boulder to the right of the tunnel for cover.

I wanted to poke my head over the boulder, to see if I could tell whether it was one of the flock, an eraser or something else, but my hair would be clearly visible to anything on this red landscape, so I resisted the urge. I sat with my back against the rock, listening intently to the noise the wings were making. There was no creak or mechanical sound coming from it, so my mind ruled out the robots. But it still didn't mean it was good.

As the sounds of the wing beats got closer, my body tensed. It must have seen me when I was in the air, and was heading towards me. I heard the sound of it landing, and it started to walk towards the tunnel. I shifted myself round the side of the rock, so I wouldn't be seen, when its footsteps stopped. I froze. Had it heard me? The footsteps got a lot quieter, and I had to strain to hear that it was now coming towards me. I tensed my body, ready to strike should they get to close.

I prayed in my mind that whoever it was, they moved on. With my back still to the rock, I tilted my head back as far it would go, and saw their ginger hair poking over the top of the rock. Then the person said sarcastically, "It's bad enough I wouldn't be able to see you anyway, but now you're hiding from me? That's just uncalled for dude."

My body relaxed and my eyes widened with joy. I jumped out from the rock and wrapped my arms around Iggy and hugged him tightly. He jumped back in surprise and then laughed as he threw me off him. "Yeah, I'm glad to see you too, well; I say see, but next time, not so eagerly OK?"

"Sorry Ig', just glad to see you." I said, hurt.
"I'm only joking you idiot!" He said as he grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and hugged me back.

"You haven't got any water have you?" I asked, stepping back from him.

"Sorry, I went down to the stream, and would have bought some back, but I had nothing to carry it in." He replied.

"Well, do you think we should go back to the cave, see if anyone else is there?" I queried.

"Well I went back there on my way to the stream, but couldn't hear anyone. I tried to find some supplies, but some working eyes would have helped." he said sagely.

"Then it's a good thing you got me to keep an eye out for you!" I laughed. "Shall we go?"

Iggy POV

I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The robots were everywhere as far as I could tell. I could hear them bumping and clanking together as they squeezed themselves into the cave. I had kept back mostly, kicking or punching wherever I thought one of them was if I felt them get to close. After a few minutes, I realised this wasn't going to work, so I lashed out.

This, however, only lasted a few seconds before I was knocked to the floor by one of them. They started to walk over and around me, as if the flock were backing away. I tried to get up but I just hit my head hard on the metal of one of the robots. I tried to turn around, to see if I could hear the others more easily, but there wasn't any room in all the legs of the machines and I doubted I would be able to anyway, over the noise of the clanking and stomping of their feet.

I thought I heard Max's voice call out over all the noise, although barely. I could just make out her calling, "Nudge, where ar-" before she was abruptly cut off.

I had no idea where the sound of her voice was coming from, and decided there wouldn't be much I could do anyway, so I just started crawling. As fast as I could, I just kept going, banging my head against metal and rock a lot along the way, until I felt wind on my face. The wind gave me fresh hope. If I could feel wind, then I was near the entrance, which meant I could fly away. I crawled faster, but soon realised, I didn't need to crawl anymore. There were no more metal legs around me. I could feel the wind and rain blowing on my face. I lay down for a few seconds to catch my breath, and figure out which direction it was coming from. I could still hear the clanking and banging behind me, and knew it was only a matter of time before they saw me lying here.

With that I stood up, and ran into the rain as fast as I could. After exactly 8 steps, the ground beneath me vanished as I unfurled my wings and took off. I could hear the mechanical sounds of the robots above, below, all around me. If I was going to get out, it would require all the luck in the world.

I kept flying, if I stayed still, I'd be a sitting duck, they may already have seen me, all I had was to keep flying. Suddenly I crashed into something hard, at the same time as an almighty crashing rumble took place overhead. They both took me by complete surprise, and along with whatever I had hit, plummeted to the earth below.

However, it was further down than I expected, and, rather than fall to my likely demise, I thought it might be a better idea to start flapping again. As I did, my hand brushed a soft, silky surface. Instantly, I dropped down again, trying to catch it up. I had no idea how much further it was to the ground, but it seemed that that luck was on my side, as I felt the soft silkiness again, and pushed myself forward and grabbed Gazzy under his arms.

Then, as fast as I could with the added weight, I flew out of one storm, and into another.

"So you flew into the robot which was carrying me?" Gazzy asked me.

"Yep!" I replied happily. "Talk about luck!" We were in the cave where the fight had taken place the night before. From what Gazzy had told me, the floor was littered with parts of the robots. A head here, a body there, a few legs and arms thrown into the mix. As I had told him how I found him, he had collected what he could from the left behind supplies.

"That's more than luck!" Gazzy said thoughtfully. "So how'd you find the tunnel?"

"I heard the wind whistling through it." I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"And you have no idea what happened to any of the others?" he asked worried.

"No." I said sorrowfully. We were both silent for a while after that, and I knew that Gazzy was thinking the same thing as me. It was a slow, hesitational race to say it, but he got there first.

"So?" Gazzy began. "What do we do now?"