The Life & Times of Qindeo Greybeck

Chapter 2

Qin froze when he heard the voice.  Against his neck, he felt the cold metal of a gun barrel being pressed against it.

"I said, drop it." The voice said again.  This time Qin obeyed, letting the Deagle clatter to the floor.  "Good." The voice said.  Qin felt the pressure of the barrel on his neck lesson, and that is when he made his move.

Qin dropped to the floor, shoving his feet out behind him, feeling them make contact with the other person's legs.  The other person dropped their gun and fell on top of Qin with a grunt, Qin rolling over so he was on top. He snatched up his Deagle from the floor, shoving it into their chest. "Who the hell are you?" he snarled.

"I should be asking the same of you." The person replied.  Only then did Qin realize that there was a second gun pointed at his gut.

"Well played." Qin said, standing up and holstering his Deagle.  He offered his hand out to the person, who was a girl.  She took it and he pulled her to her feet.

"Since you jumped me first I'll introduce myself. I'm Qindeo, but you can call me Qin." He said.

"It's nice to meet you Qin." The girl said. "I'm Cassandra, but you can call me Cass." Cass told him. "By any chance are you a flyer?" she asked.

Qin nodded "Indeed I am." He said, spreading his jet black wings out a little.

Cass smiled "It's glad to know that there's others out there who are free." She said.

Qin nodded "I actually just escaped about an hour ago." He said, glancing nervously around the warehouse.

"I escaped a week ago." Cass said, also glancing around the warehouse quickly.  "I ran into another flyer a couple days ago that said he had heard of a flock of bird kids that were hiding out somewhere in this region." She said.

Qin nodded "I think it would be a good idea to try and find them.  Being in a flock would definitely offer us more protection." He said.

Cass nodded her head in agreement. "I would say that we should try and find them tomorrow, but for now we should get some sleep." She said.

"I agree." Qin replied. "I'll take first watch." He said.

"Thanks." Cass told him, and then found a somewhat comfortable spot on the warehouse floor and laid down in it.  Within minutes, she was asleep, leaving Qin alone with his thoughts.

Qin had drifted off during his watch, and woke with a start the next morning as the sunlight began filtering in through the dirt stained windows.  He shook Cass awake. "We should get going." He said to her.

Cass was awake in a flash "Yes, yes we should." She said, locating her Colt 1911 and slipping it into a holster on her waist.

Qin, who already had his Desert Eagle and sniper rifle ready to go, stepped outside.  He took a quick look around, and once he had determined that there were no other people nearby, he motioned to Cass to follow him.

He and Cass took running leaps into the air, snapping their wings out and down in a powerful down stroke.

The two rose through the air quickly, soon reaching a comfortable altitude.

"How do you think we'll spot them?" Qin asked Cass.

Cass shrugged her shoulders "I have no idea. I guess we could look for a fire or something in a place that's really only reachable from the air." She said.

"That sounds like a plan." Qin said in agreement.

The two searched for a good two hours, scouring a huge area for the flock, but they could not seem to find any trace of them.

"Maybe they left already." Cass said.

"Maybe…" Qin trailed off.  He saw what appeared to be a V formation flying directly underneath them.

He pointed it out to Cass, and then pulled his sniper rifle off his back. He sighted in on the formation until six bird kids came into focus.

"That's them." He said, singing the sniper back onto his back. He glanced over at Cass "Let's go." He said.

Cass nodded and both her and Qin folded their wings and dived down towards the formation.