Maximum Ride Fan Fiction ❯ After Armageddon ❯ Chapter Three: Attack of the Flyboys! ( Chapter 3 )

After Armageddon

 

Chapter Three: Attack of the Flyboys!

 

Charlie

 

“Ow, watch where you're going Aaron.” I told my floppy eared friend for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

“Well then hurry up!” Aaron retorted for also the thousandth time as we crawled on our hands and knees through the unknown contents of the large pipe line. Aaron was faster then me by far, (it came with the whole human/rabbit hybrid package) which was why I was in front. Twisted reasoning, I know, but if he was ahead of me, I'd never be able to catch up, and right now it was probably best if we stuck together.

Not that we had a choice. We were both squashed into a pipe line crawling through mystery muck. The only good thing about the whole thing was that we were headed away from the hell hole called the School. I'm sure you've heard of it. Most people who read this seem to know of my mother's work, which makes explanations not needed, thank goodness. Anyway, back to the problem at hand.

“Owww!” I yelled as Aaron bumped into me again.

“Sorry!” He yelled back as he tried to slow down.

After crawling for what felt like hours, both of our tempers were as sore as our hands and knees. I didn't know how much longer I could take the small space without screaming, my family has a claustrophobia issue, when I finally saw a circular patch of light up ahead.

“About time.” I heard Aaron whisper behind me.

We crawled a little faster, wanting to get into the fresh air and sun as soon as possible. I stopped briefly at the end of the pipe and saw that it stuck out of the cliff face a good ways from the ground.

Fortunately, that wasn't a problem. “Back up a little.” I told Aaron over my shoulder just as I recognized the familiar flash of light that meant he had `changed'. Usually, the flash was more of a glow, but the metal walls of the pipe were reflecting the small light, making it more noticeable.

Once the light was gone, I turned around as best I could in the small space and saw a white rabbit where Aaron had just been.

“Why didn't you do that earlier?” I asked, not really bothering to hide the anger in my voice. If he had been in his rabbit form, then he wouldn't have kept bumping into me.

I turned back around and unfurled my dark wings as much as I could in the limited space, knowing full well that Aaron wouldn't answer me. It wasn't that he wouldn't, but more that he couldn't. I mean, even in me strange life, I haven't heard a rabbit talk, at least not yet.

However, while Aaron might not be able to talk to me, he did understand every word I said. So when I told him to jump in my backpack so we could get out of there, he did so without hesitation. Once he was settled, I jumped out of the pipe opening and opened my wings some more so I wouldn't just outright fall.

When I was far enough away from the cliff face, I extended my near black wings to their full length and soared off into the sky, putting as much distance between us and Hell on Earth.

 

*******

 

It wasn't until later that night that something went wrong. I was amazed actually. Usually, it only took a few hours at the most, but there we were, all afternoon and most of the evening just sitting around going, “That's strange, something should've gone wrong by now.”

But of course, something did. So don't worry, all is right with the world, or at least, as right as it can be with Psycho Woman in charge.

Anyway, back to what happened...

We heard someone crashing around in the bushes; Aaron and I looked at each other and silently agreed with each other. As he changed, I jumped into a nearby tree branch and sat as still as I could as I waited for whatever it was to pass by and, hopefully, leave us alone. Soon, a girl burst through the bushes. She looked like she was running in circles, but then I realized that she was trying to see what was going on around her. She was breathing hard, like she had been running, and her body was covered in small scratches from bushes small tree limbs. Eventually, she tripped in her mad scramble to see everything at once and she landed flat on her back.

She looked straight up and our eyes locked.

“Helf!” She cried in an accent I didn't recognize just as half a dozen Flyboys broke through the underbrush of the forest.

“You are obsolete. You will be exterminated.” They were all repeating in their mechanical voices. I rolled my eyes. Someone seriously needed to consider improving the Flyboys vocab.

“Helf!” The girl screamed again. “Bitte, helf mir!” She screamed as she crawled frantically away from the approaching Flyboys.

I looked over at the bushes that Aaron had disappeared into and saw his reddish eyes glinting back at me. We both moved at once. I dropped down out of the tree, feet first, to land on an unfortunate Flyboy square in the back, shutting him down. At the same time, Aaron kicked out with a half changed foot, shutting down more Flyboys.

Some small, watching, part of my mind saw that the girl was sitting there, watching us in amazement. Then one of the Flyboys started towards her again. Instead of sitting there and shrieking like I expected her to, she lashed out with her legs, kicking the Flyboy. My expectations seemed to be failing me because the Flyboy slumped forward, sparks flying from its chest. Any one who knew anything about Flyboys knows that the only way to shut them down is to either smack them in their one design flaw (which the makers have not fixed for some reason) or shut down the main computer that's controlling them. This girl hadn't done either, yet the Flyboy (boys now) had stopped. Then I saw her secret weapon. Skates. The blades on her shoes were cutting the Flyboys internal wires to ribbons.

I smashed my foot into the last robot's back and our small skirmish was over. The girl staggered to her feet and tiredly looked around her.

“Danke sehr.” She said to us and I realized that she didn't speak English.

“Your welcome.” Aaron said anyway, whether because he understood what she'd said or just because I don't know.

A confused look passed over her tired face, right before pain swept over them and she fell to her knees.

Aaron and I cautiously walked closer. It was never safe to assume that everyone being chased by Flyboys was your friend or that they would be grateful you'd helped then out. But by the time we were close enough to touch her, she was just trying not to scream as she clutched at her back.

At first I thought that one of the Flyboys had gotten in a lucky shot, but then I pulled up the back of her shirt and saw the feathers.

She was growing wings.

She was a mutant like us.

She was a bird kid like me.

I looked up at Aaron, shocked. I could see he was just as weirded out by this as I was. Most, no, all mutants were changed before they were actually born. Otherwise their DNA would fall apart at an alarming rate, usually a few years after it had been tampered with.

Whoever this girl was, she was in for a short life. But then again, we were too.

“Mom's?” Aaron asked, not needing to elaborate. After you know someone for a good ten years, you tend to understand what their saying without them saying it.

“Yeah.” I answered, picking up the girl, noticing how light she was. I also noticed for the first time that she had a backpack slung over one shoulder. I picked it up and gave it to Aaron, who would be running to Mom's house since I had to carry the girl.

“Watch out for more Flyboys. Whoever she is, I think they want her back.” I told him.

He gave me a no duh look. “Gee I hadn't figured that out yet Sherlock.” He shot back at me. “And besides you're the one that's actually carrying her so you watch it.” He said as he finished situating the two backpacks.

I couldn't think of anything smart to say to him so I settled for a, “Sure.” Then I took off into the air after making sure that he was on his way through the forest.

`Right,' I thought to myself as I started to fly. `Let's put that super speed to good use.'

In the blink of an eye, I was miles away.