Of Birds and Wolves

On the ground, Leara decided to take her flock out to lunch. Subs, chips, and sodas sounded better than being stuck in a cramped, fancy restaurant, surrounded by people who stuck out their pinkies as they sipped perfectly at their tea. A couple benches in Central Park proved to be a good resting place as they gorged. Everyone sucked their meal down, except for Leara. She sat on a bench, picking at her sub, and her bag of chips still closed. Her mind was swarmed with all these “leader” thoughts and it was taking a toll on her.

“You gonna finish that?” Bryce brought her back to the present as he asked with a mouthful of chips. Without a second thought, she handed him the half of her sub she didn't touch. But knowing she still had to eat something, she forced herself to finish the sub and most of the chips.

How does Max not go insane by all this? Keeping track of everyone, making sure there's no danger around every corner... This is all just enough to make a hippie turn into an ax murderer!

After lunch, Leara and her new flock began to wander the streets of New York. Every little movement had Leara on edge, adrenaline starting to pump lightly through her veins.

Toronto's small hand suddenly grasped hers as he smiled up at her. “It's okay,” he seemed to coo. “The wolf-men all left. They were too focused on the other flock.”

How he knew that for a fact was still unclear to Leara, but someone grasped her other hand.

Lacey smiled up at her when Leara looked. “Where are we going now?”

Looking at the flock, Leara remembered they needed some new clothes. Down the street was a sign that said “Second-Hand Store: New for You”. “Well, there. You guys seem to be in need of some good clothes. We can probably pick up some back-packs there too, so we can carry things easier.”

“Yes!” Kaylee thrust her fist in the air. “Oh, I'm so sick of these mismatched outfits! Do you think we could each get outfits for like, every day of the week? I wonder if they have pink shirts... And jeans with pink flower decals, like that one girl over there. Should I ask her where she got those? They're so cute!”

Bryce groaned as Leara put a finger to Kaylee's lips. “Let's just get a pair to wear and an extra pair, just in case, and start off with that, okay? A lot of clothes add up and could weigh your pack down.”

Inside the store, Kaylee and Lacey skipped to the little girl's clothes, chatting away as they tore through the racks. Without a word, Bryce slipped off to the men's section. Mumbling under her breath, Kiera began to blandly look through the junior's; it was obvious she wasn't one for clothes too much.

Helping Toronto, Leara only grabbed a random hoodie to slip on. She didn't need much for herself.

An hour later, everyone had some new decent clothes. Kaylee “strutted her stuff” in her new pink shirt and girly jeans, with Lacey nearby in the same jeans and a purple shirt. Kiera found a pair of dark jeans and she stuck to her warm-colored shirts. Bryce just found a nice pair of jeans with a blue sweater that read “Detroit Lions”; he seemed to get many dirty looks for some odd reason. Toronto had found a cute pair of jeans and blue shirt with a bunch of different super heroes on it, with a black sweater to pull over. Pigeon wasn't as picky, and just chose something. He'd dirty it in a couple of days, anyway.

In a nearby alleyway, they pulled out their new shirts, only to realize they had nothing to slit holes with. Until Kiera spoke up and held out a pocket knife. “Where'd you get this?” Leara asked suspiciously.

Kiera shrugged, “Dunno. Just pick pocketed some dude and decided it would come in handy.”

Only rolling her eyes in response, Leara took it and began slitting the back of their new shirts.

After finding a good place to take off, the flock was up in the air and flying away from New York. Leara kept the lead, keeping Toronto in eye sight and having the other oldest two in the back.

But Bryce came closer to Leara, his feathers almost brushing against hers on his down stroke. “Where to next, oh faithful leader?” he asked sarcastically.

Wanting to stick her tongue out at him, she just simply replied, “Well, I don’t really know. I’ve been thinking, though. Max is supposed to be the world-saver, right?” Bryce raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Never mind,” Leara said. “I’ll explain later. But there’s no way her flock is going to be able to save the whole world by themselves. There are other Schools and Institutes all over the world.” Each bird kid had a little shake as they flew. “Those experiments need a savior, like we did. So I say we give Max a little anonymous help.”

“Okay, that was a nice pep talk,” Bryce frowned. “But where are we going?”

Shrugging her shoulders and looking to the sun, Leara stated, “Where ever the wind takes us.”

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Off in the unknown, the flock decided to settle in the woods below them for the night. The younger kids complained of how hungry they were, though they had never made a stop to the grocery store to grab some food.

Bryce took the pocketknife from Kiera and stated he would go and try to find something to eat. Sitting on a log, Lacey rubbed her arms and complained, “It’s so cold. I wish we had a fire or something.”

Already on it, Kiera had some sticks in hand and began to think of ways to create a fire with only the sticks. Though she kept making faces, her last and longest-standing one an odd grin.

“What’s so funny?” Kaylee questioned, more concerned than anything.

“Oh, nothing,” Kiera smiled. “Just wishing I had more stuff so I could make some explosives. How I love fire…”

Pigeon kicked at some dust and said with his head down, “You’re weird Kiera. You know that, right?”

Turning on her heels with a red face, she screamed, “Yes, I am completely aware that I am weird! Do you have a problem with that?” As she was screaming, the sticks in her hand spontaneously combusted. Seeing the burning sticks, Kiera dropped them and instantly put her fingers in her mouth with a pained look.

“How on Earth did that happen?” Leara exclaimed. Surprised by the fire, she had flinched and was leaning backwards.

“I dunno… But I burnt the tips of my fingers.” Kiera’s words were a little jumbled since she was trying to speak with her fingers in her mouth.