WE KEPT WALKING for what felt like hours. It was well past dark now, and I could barely see an arm's length ahead of me.
By this point, Elias had caught up to me. His broad frame followed closely beside my own as we made our way through the forest. His wings were slightly prickled from his unease at our situation, but he remained alert, his wide eyes continuously glancing anxiously between the trees surrounding us.
The forest was chillingly silent. As far as I could tell, the crunch of dead leaves beneath our feet was the only audible sign of movement. There were no rustling bushes, no chirping birds, no howling wolves, nothing. With each careful step disturbing the eerie silence, the doubtful thoughts swirling in my mind grew louder.
Why is the forest so damn silent?
Did I misread the map?
Maybe we should have stayed by the car?
My head spun as my mind kept conjuring up more thoughts that made me question my decision. We had been walking for hours and it was clear that we weren't getting anywhere. It didn't help that my body was still sore from the crash. It seemed like all we were doing was drawing attention, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
Pain and exhaustion was wearing me down, and I found myself walking slower. With each passing tree, I wondered how much longer I could keep going. Perhaps it might be best if we just found a place to stop for the night.
I turned to tell Elias my thoughts, but before I could open my mouth to speak, he froze. I stayed silent, simply watching the sharp line of his jaw clench as he surveyed the forest ahead of us.
Talking careful steps, he positioned himself in front of me, spreading his wings to shield me from whatever threat was ahead of us.
All of the sudden, a sharp metallic click echoed from the trees just beyond where we stood.
Looking over his shoulder, I watched in awe and horror as Elias reacted immediately, his face morphing into a scowl. He let out a guttural sound unlike anything I had ever heard as his hands clenched and unclenched, elongating his fingers into long black talons, ready to attack.
As if in response, I saw a flash of light followed by a loud bang. I jumped when the tree we stood beside exploded with a crack, sending a spray of bark in the air.
Quickly, I whipped my head back towards the sound of the bang. Amidst the dark line of trees, I could see what looked to be a floating yellowish light illuminating a wide set figure. As the figure approached, I could make out what looked to be an old fashioned gas lantern that swayed in one hand, and the silhouette of a gun pointed right at us in the other.
"Take one more step and I'll put a bullet between your eyes!" The voice shouted from up ahead. It sounded gravelly, but it had a hint of something else I recognized.
I didn't have time to figure out what because, before I could take my next breath, Elias launched himself forward.
"Elias no!" I cried, barely missing his arm as I attempted to stop him. I watched helplessly as the figure raised the gun to aim at their quickly advancing attacker.
I shut my eyes, awaiting the sound of another bang. Instead, I all heard a weak yelp.
I opened my eyes to see that Elias had reached them first. With one taloned hand, he held the figure up by the arm, digging his talons into their wrist until they were forced to drop the gun. I watched as it hit the forest floor with a soft thud.
Immediately, I rushed over to them. With the lantern still clutched in their hand, I could now barely make out the figures face illuminated by the light.
"Let me go you oversized pigeon!" The gravelly, yet distinctly feminine voice growled.
Our attacker was an elderly woman. Her long long silver hair cascaded down her slightly hunched back as she started down her attacker. Her strangely familiar brown eyes were unfazed by Elias, who looked down at her weak frame with enough contempt to send any sane man running.
Without warning, my mothers words echoed in my mind again.
She will find you.
"Grandmother?" I said suddenly, eyeing the woman.
At the sound of my voice, the old woman startled and glanced over at me as if just noticing I was there. Still unaffected by the large winged man who clutched her arm, she raised the lantern to get a better look at my face. It could have been the light, but I swear I saw her hard eyes soften as they regarded me.
"Well I'll be damned. You're lucky you look just like your mother," She spoke finally, and I froze.
The look of pure relief on my face must have been obvious because the next thing I knew, my grandmother was laughing.
"You two look like you've been through hell," She teased as her laughter ebbed.
Elias was watching the exchange with narrowed eyes, still wary of the stranger who, moments ago, was firing bullets at us.
My grandmother noticed Elias's lack of amusement and waved her hand. "Oh calm down child, I'm not going to hurt you. Not anymore at least."
Still unconvinced, Elias glanced over at me. I could see the inner turmoil of doubt and fear swirling in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to him, putting my hand on the arm that still clutched the woman who I hoped was my grandmother. I let out a breath when I felt his muscles relax under my touch.
"It's alright Elias, I think she's telling the truth," I said, gently guiding Elias to reluctantly release her.
Once free, my grandmother eyed Elias as she rubbed her arm that was now red and bruised from his iron grip.
"Well then, my guess is you kids are out here for a reason," She began, grunting as she bent over to pick up the gun she dropped.
Elias tensed beside me, but I put my hand on his chest. When we made eye contact, I pleaded with my eyes for him to calm down. This woman had to be my grandmother, and she was perhaps our only hope for a safe haven. He had to trust me. After a few moments, I felt his chest decompress as he exhaled, nodding at me in reluctant agreement.
I turned my gaze back to my grandmother, who watched our display with curiosity. "Yes, actually we need a place to hide for a while. My mother said you would be able to help," I responded quickly, trying to play along while being as vague as possible. She may be my grandmother, but I never really knew her. In my eyes, she was still a stranger.
In response to my words, Grandmother huffed. "I told your mother not to involve herself with them and yet here you are, gotten yourself into trouble and now you have to hide them from," She chided, putting her hands on her hips.
Them? My eyes widened.
Grandmother rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look. I'm old, not stupid. You've messed around with C.R.O.S.S. haven't you?"
Elias and I both stiffened. "Uh...I don't kn-" I began to stutter before she cut me off.
"No offense or anything but it's kinda obvious don't you think?" She said glancing over at Elias. "I haven't seen a lady pop out one that looks like that out here," She added, letting out another untamed laugh.
My face flamed. Of course. Not like he has very obvious wings or anything. Still, I couldn't decide what surprised me more. The fact she knew about C.R.O.S.S. or the fact that she didn't seem surprised at all to see a meta human.
I decided to question the latter, "Well you seem pretty comfortable with it," I stated, ready to gauge her reaction.
She simply smiled. "At my age, not much surprises you anymore." Not bothering to elaborate, she simply turned and began to walk off into the woods.
Guess I'm not the only one trying to be vague. I thought to myself.
After a few steps, she realized we weren't following and she turned back to look at us.
"Well, are you coming or not?" She called before turning back to continue walking. This time apparently having no intention to stop to wait for us again.
Elias and I glanced at each other. He still seemed fairly uncertain about the whole situation, but it appeared as though he was comforted slightly by the fact that she wasn't afraid of him. I could see that he didn't trust her, and I didn't blame him.
Suddenly, a disturbing thought made its way into my thoughts. Considering his upbringing, family was probably not a concept known to Elias. He didn't see her as my grandmother. He simply saw a stranger that tried to hurt us and doesn't understand how I could simply put that aside and trust them.
I pushed the depressing thoughts out of my mind as I reached for his hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. His hand was surprisingly cold, and I realized that a place to stay for the night might be for the best anyway. Besides, I wanted to know more about my grandmother. How she knew about C.R.O.S.S Labs, why she left the city, everything.
With my decision made, I gave his hand a comforting squeeze which he returned almost immediately.
Taking the first step, I began following my grandmother, staying few paces behind as we let her lead us deeper into the forest.