Brium popped open a bottled water (that he found in his room's refrigerator, knowing he'd be charged for it) and took a sip, savoring the clean tastelessness.
It was time to begin his self-assigned tasks.
He moved quickly to the motel bed where he had placed his newly acquired backpack, and he dug the contents out.
The bullets first, the clothing second. He left the snack foods where they were.
First, he had to be rearmed.
Brium removed his pistol from his right pocket and placed it on the bed. Next, he pulled the three extra magazines (one loaded) out of his left pocket, and placed those next to the pistol.
He opened the box of 9MM bullets and smiled.
They came packaged in twenty or fifty round boxes mostly, and he had used exactly twenty rounds the previous night.
Sometimes life works out.
He picked up an empty magazine, and began thumbing the 9MM bullets on by one to fill it. It only took about twenty seconds to do, and that was at a very relaxed, slow pace.
He loaded the other empty magazine and threw the now empty box away in the room's small garbage can. Reaching to his shopping bag, he pulled out his new camo shorts and tore the tags of of them. He then emptied his pockets.
The gun and magazines were already on the bed, so that left his black leather wallet and his new harpy knife.
Brium removed his old shorts, pulled his black leather belt off of them, and put on the news ones, fitting the belt back on. He gathered his wallet and placed it in the right back pocket, and then picked up the extra magazines and put them in his front left one.
He extracted the fourth magazine from the pistol and locked the slide back, holding the gun to the light to check for any obstructions.
There weren't any.
He relocked the slide, and reloaded the pistol, placing it with care in his front right pocket of his new shorts.
It occurred to him (for the many thousandth time) that the pistol was perhaps the only thing that could be considered a friend that he had ever had.
The gun was a Millennium Taurus PT111 obviously chambered in the 9MM cartridges that Brium had bought. It was quite a small gun, used for it's concealability.
Brium had acquired it fifteen days after his escape from the school.
One of the first things that came after him after his escape was perhaps even worse than an Eraser: it was a Private Contractor. A human bounty hunter working for the school.
The man had been armed with the pistol, and the man hadtried to pull it out, forcing Brium to brake his arm, knock him unconscious and relieved him of the firearm and it's three extra magazines. He had then escaped when Erasers had joined in.
The man was still alive somewhere; at least Brium hadn't killed him. Brium wondered what he had been up to all this time.
Brium pulled off his jacket, leaving only his black T-shirt and new shorts on. His wings were now obviously there.
He picked up the harpy knife and flicked it open.
The harpy knife has a serrated blade, and it's curved like a talon, thus giving it it's name. Brium had lost his old one the previous night when the Erasers had first jumped him. The first one to him had jumped the gun and attacked him too soon. The Eraser had surprised Brium enough, that the brute had knocked the pistol right out of Brium's hand (he was extremely annoyed at this) Brium had, in response to this attack, then flicked out his harpy knife, sliced the Eraser's chest, and embedded it to the handle in the Eraser's skull. Brium had then been presented with several options: One, leave the knife, retrieve the gun and book it, or two, try to get both items back. The rest of the Erasers had been so close, that Brium went with the latter choice, had abandoned his blade his backpack and everything in it (which wasn't much) and had sprinted into the forest.
The rest was history.
Brium picked up his new jacket, and skillfully cut the a slit on either side for his wings. He had done this procedure so many times, that he had gotten quite good at it, and his new jacket was ready for wear in only a couple minutes.
His old jacket and shorts were thrown away on top of the empty 9MM box. He didn't need them anymore.
He then did the double-slit on the new sweatshirt, and placed in in the backpack. He folded the harpy knife, and put it in his left thigh pocket.
Brium was done.
He looked around the motel room; one more night he would spend here. It was a nice enough place, Denver. He decided then to order that CD.
He left the room, making sure it was locked, and had asked the front desk manager (to his relief, not the same person who had checked him in in the first place) and had asked if there were any music stores nearby. There was one, a healthy walk away, and the manager had provided moderately accurate instructions.
The walk had taken Brium a good hour, and it was an hour of bliss. Traffic noise, some birds; he passed a park, and had been slightly upset that there were no children playing there; they were all still in school.
Brium liked children. He was happy that the vast majority of them hadn't had childhoods remotely like his. They looked happy, most of the time. It was always nice to see that the world could indeed be a good place.
It was also nice to be reminded every now and again of what he had been robbed of.
He approached the music store, and was happy that it was pretty big. The selection would be good, though he didn't believe for a moment that they would have what he was looking for.
He walked into the store and bee lined directly for the main desk, operated by a guy a little older than he, who was of the emo persuasion.
"Hey," the music guy said, "Can I help you?"
"You may," Brium answered cheerfully, "I was wondering if you had a copy of L'Apocalypse Des Animaux, by Vangelis?" he said, his French pronunciation flawless.
"The what of the what?" the music emo guy asked.
Brium smiled, "L'Apocalypse Des Animaux," he repeated. "It's French."
"Uh huh... Never heard of it. Could you spell that, please?"
Brium did, and the music guy typed it into his inventory computer.
"No, we don't got that," he said, "We could order it if you'd like."
Brium had already expected this, "Please do."
He had just confirmed that he would be returning to Denver.
"Wow... It's a European import," the music guy said.
"Sounds about right," Brium responded, glancing around the store, spotting what else he was looking for.
"I'll be right back," Brium reported.
"Kay, dude," the music guy said, too enthralled in ordering the CD to look up.
Brium meandered over the CD player section, and had picked one out that had fit all his criteria (small-ish, good battery life, was black and had radio capabilities)
It had been one of the more expensive ones, though Brium cared very little about price.
He approached the main counter once again, and placed the CD player on it, swiping a pack of eight double A batteries from a nearby aisle as he did so.
"Alright, got it. Should be here in one to two weeks. I'll need your name to put on the order," the music guy said.
Brium gave the name on his I.D.
"Your number so we can get a hold of you?"
"I'll just be back in two weeks."
The music guy nodded, "Kay, dude. This all for ya today?"
"Yes. Thank you."
The music guy racked up the cost of the CD player and batteries and Brium paid.
"Is there a library nearby?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah. There's one just a few blocks that way," the music guy pointed.
Brium smiled, "Thank you."
He left the music store headed to the library, memorizing easily the locations of everything to be sure he remebered where he was. He would be back here in two weeks.
After a few minutes of only his thought concerning certain other bird kids, Brium arrived at the library.
He decided to read the new Smithsonian magazine cover to cover, read a biography on George Henry Thomas then one on Ayn Rand. He had been delighted when he had found a biography for each person.
Brium checked the time on his dull silver Swiss Army watch; it was 1:27 PM. He had a little while to kill, deciding to skip lunch and have a large dinner later.
He took his three books to the reading section which had several armchairs.
Brium sat down, and began to read.
Author's Note:
Go to Youtube, type in "L'Apocalypse Des Animaux" and listen to any of the songs. Or all of them. They're by Vangelis.
It's the music that Brium listens to, and you should too. It'll help get inside his head more.
Thanks for reading!