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I
flew. I didn't much like it.
Edmond
had dug deeper into my jacket, which was good, despite the claws holding on to
my shirt and skin. We were moving
through the air and I couldn't begin to tell how far we had gone already, but
there was no lessening of the wind. I
went too close by walls that rose up into the sky, scraping a foot along one
and losing a shoe.
And
sometimes I could see a pair of huge, glowing eyes in the cloud, watching me.
Down. I needed down.
The
thing was coming closer. A huge claw
swept out and would have had us if I hadn't suddenly twisted and pushed
downward, as though in water. Swim --
one arm holding to Edmond, but still swim.
Dangerous -- I was soon down amid more of the buildings, but the wind
had less strength here. I swept down
lower and aimed for a breach between two walls, and then swept to the
right. The wall blocked most of the
wind.
We
dropped.
It
was only a few feet, but I landed hard on his side against a pile of
bricks. I hadn't the breath left to even
moan. Edmond didn't move and we laid
their, silent and still, while something swept over head, yowling in anger and
frustration. Edmond shivered. So did I.
Gradually
the night came, cold and dark. The wind
had gone. I listened, hoping for the
sound of others. Small things moved
around them, but nothing large enough to be human.
"Safe,"
I whispered.
"There
is no where safe," Edmond mumbled into my shirt. "This place is insane. None of it makes sense."
I
gave a nod of agreement and finally started to sit up. Edmond popped his head
out and looked around. Then he pulled
his head back in and made sounds that were probably cat curses.
"I
have no idea where we are," I said.
"We're
lost in hell."
"We
need to get back to the others." I
started to stand, but everything ached.
"Not
tonight, Mark," Edmond said.
"Wait until light. Even I
wouldn't go wandering around in the dark tonight. We need light to see if we can spot
anything. And we need sleep. Flying was
very tiring."
"We
need to move at least a little away from here in case whatever that was comes
back looking for us," I said. I did
manage to stand this time. The loss of
the shoe was going to be a problem. The
rocks everywhere hurt. I cursed, too --
but I took us back through the breach in the walls and then off to the left a
little. I thought that had been the way
we came.
I did
not look up at the city, though I was grateful for the little bit of light it
cast. I concentrated on my footing, on
the shadows, and kept thoughts of what hung over us to a minimum. It was impossible not to have some thoughts
-- Don't think about a pink elephant! -- because the mind just doesn't work
that way. I had to give myself other
things to consider.
And
those were enough to worry me.
Lost. Injured, though not so much
that I couldn't move. Something out
there, maybe hunting me.
"Is
this far enough?" Edmond asked. He
was limping as well.
I
would have kept walking, but that wasn't what we needed. I grunted agreement and sat down on a fallen
boulder. "Sleep for a while,
Edmond. I'll stay awake."
He
jumped up into my lap and made himself comfortable. "This way I'll know if you fall
asleep," he said.
I
wanted to complain, but it was entirely reasonable. Edmond, being a cat, had no trouble falling
asleep, either.
I
wasn't certain I would ever sleep again.
Everything, from the moment I had killed the monster Tommy Creston had
become and all the way to this flying lesson.
I was
angry. I was furious. I had done the right thing by taking care of
the monster at home and all it had gotten me was a hellish amount of walking
punctuated by things knocking me around.
Everything I knew about myself had changed. I was a Protector, but so far that hadn't
done us a lot of good. It sure hadn't
gotten me anything better and I was tired of it all.
"If
you start growling, I'm going to go find somewhere else to sleep," Edmond
said. "Sit still."
I
almost snapped at him, but I held that anger inside.
"That's
better."
He
went back to sleep.
The
night stayed quiet, which I supposed was good.
I didn't hear so much as a breeze now.
I imagined nothing willingly moved out there tonight. We each kept our silent vigils.
The
world calmed. I calmed. Edmond slept.
And
then I heard things coming. Little
things that grew louder, like the clicking of tiny metal teeth against
stone. The sound grated and I stood, my
hands in fists.
"Leave
me the hell alone!"
The
clicking went silent.
"Well,
okay," a woman said somewhere close by.
"I can leave. But I really
thought you might like to get to cover before the biters get here."
I
spun. The woman was standing by a
window, faintly outlined by the light.
Dressed in black an gray, her face lost behind a huge cowl . . . She
could have been there all along.
Edmond
had backed up to me, but he didn't seem particularly upset.
"I'm
sorry. I didn't see you there," I
said. Friend? Foe?
The
clicking noise started up again.
Closer. I automatically picked
Edmond up.
"I
think we better go," the woman said.
"Fast. They're going to be
hunting."
That
didn't sound good at all. I looked at
Edmond. He gave a little nod. So I bowed my head to this stranger and
followed her, limping over the stone.
Another adventure, I told myself.
Another adventure to survive.
To Be Continued. . . .
993 Words
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