"Where did those guys come from, Lillian?" Cedar asked me in a small voice. I looked over to see both he and Apple's skin were pale, their eyes wide.
"I'm not sure, kid," I said, rubbing the end of my wing against his. "But we're safe for now. Let's…let's just get somewhere safe, okay? Then we can figure things out."
"But Lillian…how did they find us?" Willow asked. She also looked shaken. Part of me felt almost guilty. I should have prepared them for this. Taught them something about fighting, not that I knew much myself. Instead they were afraid and unsure what to do. Of course, I couldn't blame them for that. Erasers had always been a hint for experiments and torture for us back at the school. If we saw an Eraser, we knew to expect the worst.
"I don't know, Willow," I admitted. "But it's okay. We're going to be okay." She gave a slight nod, trying hard to be tough. That was my flock. They were troopers.
I led the five of them through the sky, not quite sure where we were going. I knew we wouldn't be able to go long, the kids weren't used to long and exhausting flights. But another part of me never wanted to stop. We could never be far enough away from those Erasers. There had to be somewhere to go. But where? Obviously the city was out of the question. If the Erasers could find us out in the forest, hiding, how could we even think we'd stay hidden out in the open?
"What do you think?" I asked Ash. He considered, then shrugged slightly. "Big help," I told him and he smiled.
"That's why you're in charge," he said. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help smile. Scanning the ground, I finally decided on a dense piece of forestry.
"Come on, guys," I said. "We're going down." The kids followed me as we descended into the trees, hitting a few of them, before landing clumsily on the forest floor. We really had to work on that.
"Now what, Lil?" Flint asked, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. I hesitated for a moment, not quite sure. But I had to be sure. I was the leader. So, thinking on my toes, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"We're going to find a city and try to hide out there," I told them. So much for my previous plans of keeping away. But didn't make sense? To some amounts, anyway. I mean, there were tons of people in the city. We would totally blend in. And if we saw any Erasers we'd just fall into a crowd and lose them. Plus, there was no way an Eraser could morph in front of everyone. It totally made sense. Right?
If it did, then why was my flock looking at me like I'd grown an extra ear?
"A…a city?" Cedar asked.
"Are you sure, Lil?" Willow asked. I shifted to my other foot and folded my arms. Why were they doubting me? Now I was unsure.
"Of course I'm sure." I explained to them my thought process and, to my relief, they started to seem more on board with the idea. Good. That made my job easier.
"Sounds good," Ash smiled, walking over and put his hand on my shoulder. "You guys in?" he asked the others. They nodded, giving their small smiles.
"Of course we're in," Cedar smiled.
"Not like we'd let you go all alone." Flint grinned, giving Ash a slight punch in the arm. Ash smiled and grabbed him, putting him in a headlock. Flint laughed, trying to get out. Soon all of them were piling on top of Ash, going to help Flint. I stood by, leaning on a tree and watching them laugh and play. Finally I went over and scooped Apple up out of the mess of kids.
"Alright, guys. Let's take off," I said. The kids gave me big smiles before running off and jumping into the air. Lifting Apple up, I let her jump off of my hand and snap her wings open above my head. She laughed slightly, looking down at me, and I smiled. Then I took my own running start before jumping into the air and leading my flock East.
Don't ask me how I knew we were going East. To be honest, I had no idea. Yet I always seemed to know which direction we were going. Some weird thing the scientists programmed into us, I suppose. Either way, it didn't help much when I wasn't sure whether or not a city would be in this direction. But I decided to try my luck. And sure enough, a city started coming into view a few minutes later.