Budding Hope

Chapter Thirty Two - Epilogue

Epilogue

A cool wind blows across the desert planes picking up embers from the collapsed buildings and spreading ash throughout the air. Fires still burn strongly in the darkness and the murmured chatter of their surviving masters' echoes across the flat, barren land. They creep out of the demolished buildings silently, the furry pads on their feet making little or no noise as they walk across the uneven rubble. For years they had laid waiting, suffering and in pain but ever waiting, ever patient. Their thick cages and chains had been crushed by the falling concrete but their hollow bones, though light and flexible as a feather, were as unbreakable as the universe itself. Scars cover their thick furry hides from a decade of battle and torment but still their magnificence is evident. A sense of freedom overcomes the group as they step from the concrete and steel rubble onto the red Australian dirt. A tinkle of bells emanates through every beast as they each feel the cool red soil between their claws for the first time in many years. A tall metal fence towers above them but they know it is no match for their strength and intelligence, trained by ten years in the care of their brutal red faced reptilian masters. The many beasts lift their heads in unison and sniff the air, taking in the thousand aromas floating and swirling on the cool breeze. Several scout ahead instinctively, their muzzles pressed to the dirt, taking in a many more scents and relaying them back to the group.

They stop before a hole in the mesh fence and one by one shrink in size and squeeze through before regrowing once on the other side. As soon as each beast is through the narrow hole they bound off into the darkness, their sharp eyes and nose penetrating every shadow. Unseen creatures, snakes, mice and scorpions alike burrow deeper into their hollows knowing all too well that their scent had been caught by the strange runners in the night. The beasts launch themselves into the air, not concerning themselves with the smaller prey. Large wings unfurl from their backs and beat against the air with a power beyond what any animal on earth could muster. The gravity on this planet is far less than that of their home, giving them great strength and making it easier to take flight. More lights appear below, held by several creatures gathered around a cold and silent hulking object with a large propeller on its roof. Their scents float up to the passing shadows and are regarded with cool interest and respect, for the earthbound creatures were from their home planet and had always treated their kin with kindness and merit. As the creatures fly further and further from their prison a new emotion, a dark emotion, worms its way into their large, beating hearts. An emotion some had never experienced before but many others, in their pain and suffering, had succumbed to long ago. A need for revenge arose within the flock, revenge and a cold animal hunger