"I'm not leaving without him," a distant voice echoed. "He's part of my flock."
"If they find you you'll be killed," a woman's voice said.
Sander's head pounded and his chest was aching. What happened to him? He remembered that sludge and that he...punched it? How? Where was he now? He slowly opened his eyes. Sander's vision was extremely blurry; all he could see was blurry colors, nothing more. He closed his eyes again and tried to sit up.
"I'll risk it, flocks don't leave members behind." It was Breecan.
The woman let out a tisk of frustration. "You've known this boy for, what, four or five hours now? What do you owe him?"
Breecan laughed. "He's a teleporter," the woman inhaled sharply, "and his wings are white. Something's off about that and I want to know what! The Firsts will know and that's where I'm taking him."
"Just because you were able to join the Firsts Flock does not mean they'll allow you to bring in a strange, odd boy."
Sander's hand slipped and he fell back down onto his stomach. He was laying on wood and his arms thrummed with warmth. The room grew quiet as he breathed in.
"Well, look who's finally awake!" Breecan said, walking over to Sander and pulling him up to a sitting position. His legs swung over a side of something, so he thought he must've been on a table. Sander's back was stiff since he'd been laying on his stomach.
"What happened to me?"
Breecan laughed. "Well, you have another power besides teleporting."
"And that is?" Sander asked, getting dizzy from his vision.
"Strength, which is a strange combination to be paired with teleporting."
Sander felt extremely dizzy and would've fallen forward if Breecan hadn't caught him. His stomach wasn't happy either, and he felt vomit rising in him. Apparently Breecan knew it.
"Aspen!" Breecan yelled.
Suddenly Sander vomited and it all went into a bucket that the woman was holding. It didn't smell, but Sander didn't even know what it looked like.
"That's disgusting," Aspen said.
Once Sander was all done, Breecan caefully let him go to sit on his own.
"Feel better?"
"Why can't I see anything?" Sander asked quietly.
Breecan made a strange noise. "You should be able to see. You mean your vision is completely black?"
"No, all I can see is blurry colors."
"It must be your powers," Aspen said, walking back into the room after leaving with the bucket. "Sometimes vision can go blurry for an hour or so after the power is discovered."
"That didn't happen when I first teleported."
"I never said it was for every power," she said sounding annoyed.
Breecan informed Sander on what happened. After he passed out he brought him into the house and had Aspen inspect him since she was a doctor, and a very good one. Sander was out for about two hours after he passed out and it was the middle of the night now. Breecan sounded upset when he said that Society agents were coming after them now that their whereabouts were known.
"The Society?" Sander asked, beginning to see a little more than blurs.
"Yeah, they're the ones that started this whole business with bird-people. They took genes from the Original a long time ago and placed them into humans, creating the Firsts. And now that we all have just about vanished from the world, they'll do anything to capture us and take our genes. It was the most amazing thing discovered in scientific history and they used it all on the humans, so they want it back by any means necessary."
Sander blinked his eyes rapidly, water leaving them and then he looked aorund. He could see clearly and got a good look at the house. He was in the small kitchen sitting on the table, and it connected right into the living room. It had two couches and a small TV and a coffee table. There was a hallway off to the side and it had three closed doors and two open doorways. It was a nice little home, smaller than Sander's old home. The thought of his old home twinged in his stomach.
"Alright, so we need to leave," Sander said, standing up from the table.
"Woah there!" Breecan said. "You need to rest, bud."
"No, if there are Society people coming for us, then we need to leave, like, now!" Sander countered.
Breecan smiled at him. "Are you sure? We'll have to fly there."
Fly? "Um, can you teach me on the way?"
Breecan laughed heartily and Aspen smiled. "He'd love to," she said.
——
This isn't a good idea, Sander thought.
He and Breecan were at the top of a very large tree and looking down. The moon was bright and the stars were shinning over the world. Why did Sander agree to this?
"Ready?" Breecan asked.
"No."
"Open your wings," Breecan instructed, showing Sander how. "Then jump!"
Breecan leaped up into the air and flew up higher, catching a breeze and looked down at Sander, who watched in awe. Easy for him to say. Sander tried moving his wings to get used to flapping them first, and when he was alright with the movements, he jumped into the air. He began to fly up into the air, higher and higher. He laughed.
"See? You're a natural!"
——
There was now five altogether. No more was out there, and she was happy. She had them all with her, and they trusted her. It had been three weeks since she and Hamish gathered them all, and they told her everything about themselves and all five of them were now a family, except her. She was always keeping her distance from them, allowing them to trust one another instead of her.
They were all in a clearing in a forest to the north. The night was chilly, but because everyone had feathers no one took notice. The Original was sitting on boulder while the five were standing in front of a large fallen log talking to each other. Their names seemed strange to the Original, but she didn't mind. There was Hamish, Isaiah, Zoey, Toshi, Artur, and Viviana.
Suddenly a pang of guilt passed into her, and she knew instantly it came from Zoey, the third person she found. Her head snapped up and stared directly at the red headed woman. She was easily in her late teens early twenties, and the Original didn't care. Zoey felt eyes looking at her and looked at the Original, and she became paler than she already was; she almost matched her white wings. Her new pointed nose and white hair made her look very much like a bird, and her fearful eyes made her look like someone's prey.
The Original hardened her gaze at Zoey until she burst into tears and fell to her knees, causing everyone to gather around her. The Original slowly stood up and the people stood back and watched her walk toward the crying woman. The Original felt hate toward Zoey because she refused to tell her secret.
"I'm sorry!" Zoey sobbed. "I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!"
The Original stayed silent as she frowned at the sobbing woman.
"I should've told you, but I was afraid of what would happen to me!"
"Zoey, what's wrong?" Hamish asked. He had grown very close to Zoey since she joined them.
She sniffed and wiped her face, looking up at the Original who stood before her. Zoey slowly stood and stared at the terrifying girl before she took in a deep breath. The Orginal felt regret and fear growing inside Zoey, but she refused to break her glare.
"I'm pregnant."
The Original stayed put as the others gasped. They knew that the Original didn't want anyone to bear children so that the genes wouldn't be passed on, and they all became afraid for Zoey. No one moved as the two women had a stare down, and Zoey was growing more and more afraid of the Original.
"How long?" she asked Zoey.
The question caught Zoey off guard that she dropped her mouth in surprise.
"T-two weeks," she said.
It's been three weeks since the gene entered everyone. The Original looked at her face and then looked down to her belly. She stared at it until she felt something flutter in her gut. She looked back up to a surprised Zoey who also felt the flutter. The Original scowled.
"It'll have wings," the Original stated, confirming what everyone was thinking.
Zoey began to cry again and Hamish comforted her while the Original stared at them both.
"What'll you do to them?" Hamsih questioned.
The Original said nothing. She turned around and walked away from them all. She brought her wings forth and was about to take off.
"Avery!"
The Original stopped. She never wanted to hear her name, and slowly she turned around to see everyone. Her face was angry, and everyone looked afraid, except for Hamish, who challenged her with a stare.
"What will you do to them?" Hamish asked again.
She only looked at him with anger, not wanting to speak to him. She told him her name because he was the one she mostly trusted, but she never wanted the others to know who she really was, no one would ever know who she really was.
"It's a birth," she slowly said with acid. "Be happy." Everyone was surprised by her words and they all smiled and Hamish huged Zoey. "But..."
Everyone stopped and stared at the Original. "If any others are to have children, it better be with a human...or else I will not be merciful."
The Firsts watched in disbelief as their leader flew off without another word. Hamish hugged Zoey and the others knew that they would only see the Original again when they need saving from the humans.
——
Hey everyone! Mainly just some drama in this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it!
Please vote and comment on spelling errors I make. Cya guys!