Harlow's PoV

I sat back, watching my flock, feeling happy and peaceful for the first time in weeks. Savannah, Chase, Andrew, Felix, Ash and I were somewhere in Colorado, in a national park, around a campfire. Andrew was asleep in my lap, and I was gently stroking his fuzzy dark hair. The four year old had immediately crashed almost as soon as we landed, and I was glad for the time he could sleep. We rarely got to sleep any more, and though Andrew wasn't crabby a lot, when he did it wasn't pretty.

Felix and Ash were arguing, but it wasn't aggressive and it was actually kind of funny to see Felix's face grow redder and redder as Ash proclaimed on and on about how "totally wicked cool" Justin Bieber was. I almost felt a little sorry for Felix, because we all knew (except Ash) that Felix had a little crush on Ash. "I mean, seriously, it feels like he's totally singing to you!" Ash said, placing a hand dramatically over her eight year old heart. Felix rolled his eyes. "He's stupid. He sings like a girl."

Ash shook her head. "His voice got deeper. Besides, your just jealous your not as cool as him." She retorted. "Guys, cut it out." Savannah said in a weary voice. "You've been going at this all day. Here, let me settle it: Justin Bieber doesn't have wings, therefore he's not as cool as Felix. Felix can't sing, so he's no cooler than Bieber. See? It works out. Their both equal." Savannah said, but Chase and I both knew that she was just saying this for the sake of Ash. Felix was better than Justin.

Savannah and Chase, both fourteen and somehow both the leaders of our flock, were sitting on a log near the fire we'd built. "Can we change the subject?" Chase groaned.

"That was some battle against the Erasers today." I spoke up softly. Chase nodded. "I wish they'd leave us alone for more than two days, though. These fights are getting way to frequent. How do they keep finding us?"

"Because the School has tabs on us somehow." Felix said, slumping onto the ground and scraping some leaves together for a bed. "Yeah, but how?" Savannah asked, shaking her head. "That's a rhetorical question, meaning it's a question that doesn't need an answer, because we already know the answer!" Ash said, proudly. "I read that."

Chase looked at her weirdly. "Read it where? We've been in wilderness for weeks!" Ash laughed. "Yeah, 'cept for that one time when we went to the library because Andrew wanted a book about a red car, remember? I was reading a dictionary and found out what rhetorical question meant!"
"Where'd you hear that word anyway?" I asked. "Savannah said it. Chase asked her one day if she loved him and Savannah said that was rhetorical."

There was a long, slightly awkward silence and I noticed Chase had stopped stoking Savannah's wing. Savannah stood up quickly. "Guys, we've got to get moving early tomorrow. Let's go to bed." She instructed. I smiled a little, pushing my brown hair behind my shoulder. Savannah and Chase liked each other, a lot, but neither of them were brave enough to give any major hints or tell each other how they felt. It was ironic they weren't brave enough, considering that they were probably two of the best fighters, and two of the bravest people in the flock. Except Andrew, he'd do anything.

I laid down, curling myself around Andrew's warm little body. I closed my eyes and didn't need to wait long before sleep came.

Chase's PoV

I couldn't sleep. Which I hated, because I hadn't had a good night of sleep for a long time, but I couldn't stop thinking about what Ash had blurted out. That conversation between me and Savannah was not meant to be overheard. My cheeks flushed a little as I remembered that day well.

It was about two weeks ago, after we'd fought against flyboys in a meadow in Georgia. I'd just crushed the kneecap of the last flyboy and kicked his chest hard enough for him to go flying backward and crash into a metal heap. Savannah had looked down at me and grinned, fluttering about twenty feet above me in the air. I say fluttering because it looked so graceful, even after she'd demolished a hundred flyboys brutally.

I leaped into the air, wincing a little from my aching shoulder. A flyboy manged to clip me just as I'd ducked out of the way from it's huge fist. "You hurt?" She called down to me as we both started to search for the rest of the flock among the piles of scrap metal in the littered field. "Shoulder. It kills. Got a bruised shin and probably a broken finger, but I'm okay. You?" I called back.

She shrugged. "Not really," but I could see the beginning of a back eye on her face. Then I'd spotted Felix waving hard directly below us. "CHASE! SAVANNAH!" He screamed. "GET DOWN HERE! ANDREW IS HURT!"

My heart pounded as I angled downward, slowing speed so as not to hit the ground. I landed, almost perfectly, stumbling just a bit. Savannah, more rushed, nearly tripped as she half landed, half sprinting through the air, running at Andrew.

If anybody else in the flock had gotten hurt, she wouldn't have been so worried. But Andrew, a four year old, no matter how tough, was a different story. Finally we reached Andrew, who was severely bleeding. My breath caught in my throat when I saw his leg. I looked over at Savannah, who was biting her lip hard, already tearing off her jacket and starting to wrap it tightly around his leg. "What happened?" She asked Harlow, who was cradling him, her looking very calm and collected. I loved that about her-you could always count on her to be non-dramatic.

"Flyboy got him. I'm actually impressed-Andrew destroyed him without making a noise." She said. Ash was stroking his little face. "It's okay, baby. You'll be fine." She whispered to Andrew. His lower lip was trembling and his eyes were full of tears. "I no baby." He said stubbornly. "Harlow tol' me I'm a big boy."

Savannah smiled. "Yeah, I know. You're a big boy, Andrew. I'm proud of you." She said. We stood, Harlow carrying Andrew. "Let's go, guys." I said. "We gotta get out before more flyboys show up."

I motioned for Savannah to hold back a little, fly with me behind the rest of the flock. "He's okay, right?" I asked, meaning Andrew. She managed a tight smile. "He'll be okay, I think. Given our super healing, I'd say two days and he'll be fine."

"Good." I said. "But also what I wanted to know-how much do you love this flock?" Savannah shot me a weird look. "What do you mean? I love all you guys a lot, you know that." She replied. "Yeah, but..." I struggled to say what I was trying to get out. "Do you...uh...like anybody a certain amount in this flock?"

I inwardly groaned. This was going south pretty quick. Why couldn't I just say this normally? Savannah avoided my gaze. "What?" She sounded slightly strangled.

Suddenly I came up with a weird way to put it. "You know how Felix likes Ash?" I said. "Yes. Are you trying to say you feel the same way?" She finally asked my question for me. I breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized how wrong that was, considering I didn't know what she was implying.
"Well yes, I guess I am." I admitted.

Savannah sighed, deeply. "I get it."

This was bad, very, very bad. So, what do I do when all else fails? Make a joke. "So...do you loveeeee me?" I grinned, then brushed her wing to remind her it was a joke. She laughed. "That's a rhetorical question."

Now, laying by the slightly dying fire, I tried to make sense of that. Her last words then could have gone either way-either implied that she did or didn't like me.

We'd dropped the subject, not bringing it up since then. And when I was stroking her wings an hour earlier, I'd done it in a totally friendly way, nothing more than that. And we both knew it. I hoped.

I had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, but dreamed of Andrew dying. I woke up in the middle of the night, heart pounding, while Felix was on guard. He'd fallen asleep, and grudgingly I propped myself up against the tree to keep watch instead. I was haunted by my dream-I couldn't imagine what it meant.

Suddenly my blood ran cold as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jackknifed to my feet and whirled around, hands automatically clenching into fists. It was a flyboy, standing there, pointing a gun at my head. I let out a yell and was ready to punch it out of it's hands when I felt a blow to my head from behind me. I couldn't help but scream, and I remember someone please help me being my final thought before everything went black.

Hey! So there's Chapter 1. And I know there wasn't that much action, but this first chapter was mostly to show what the relationship status's were with everybody, you know? So please tell me—how'd you like it? Am I getting the flock's personalities right? REVIEW!