Of Birds and Wolves

Leara eyed Lacey curiously. “So, where did you hide?”

Pointing into the forest, Lacey simply replied, “Under the big oak. The same one Bryce was in and fell out of.”

“But,” Bryce said, “how? I would’ve seen you at some point on my way down.”

Putting her hands in front of her face, Lacey giggled, “Like this.” If I can’t see them, they can’t see me...

Slowly but surely, Lacey literally disappeared into thin air. “Toronto, can you feel her?” Leara asked warily, raising an eyebrow at this new skill.

“No…” Toronto gasped. “It’s like… she’s gone.”

Suddenly, Lacey popped back into reality with a big grin. “See? I win!” she giggled.

“Yeah, you won…” Leara muttered as she nodded, but her face was taken over with complete astonishment. “How did you end up finding your way back?”

Lacey held up her pointer finger, telling them to wait. She turned to the bush behind her and began to whisper. “Great, now she talks to bushes…” Kiera whispered as she rolled her eyes. Pigeon covered his mouth to hide his giggling.

Leara turned back in time to see Lacey drag a couple kids out of the bushes. They were twins, a girl and a boy. The girl had longer brown hair while the boy’s hair was hidden by a hat. Though they were both wearing hats, like cute little snow caps with the fuzzy tops that looked like bunny tails. Strangely, their pinkish noses twitched every few seconds.

“This is December and Malachi,” Lacey introduced the girl, then the boy. “They helped me find my way back. I recognized them from the Institution.”

After sharing a look to each other, the girl spoke first. “We helped sniff you guys out. Our way of repaying our debt from when you helped us escape.”

“Sniff us out?” Kiera repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Again, the twins exchanged glances and Leara swore that they were somehow communicating with each other by the look in their eyes. Together, the twins removed their hats. “We’re rabbits,” they said, as ears dropped down from the side of their heads. December’s ears were blackish-brown and Malachi’s were white.

“So, do you guys have tails, too?” Kaylee joked with a big grin. The twins shook their head, making the flock think they were seeing double.

A whump whump whump started to sound over the mutants' heads, making them look up. A helicopter came into view over head. Shadows were dropping out of the sky from the huge aircraft and landed all around the clearing. Erasers surrounded the mutants, all with a cruel snarling smile on their lips.

Drawing the flock in closer, Leara whispered, “Be prepared to throw a few punches, guys...”

December and Malachi joined the huddle, for their escape route was now blocked by the huge wolf-men.

A familiar face took the first steps towards the flock and caused Leara's jaw to drop. It was Ari, Jeb's son. She remembered Ari always following mutants around when he was a little human boy. Now, he was a full grown Eraser, the meanest looking of them all. And Ari was only seven years old.

“I was looking for one flock, but found another one,” Ari sneered like the predator he was.

Leara frowned and warned, “Don't even think about it, Ari. We've done nothing to you. I also have no clue where Max and her flock went.”

Ari looked to the Erasers all around and said, “Well, since they don't know anything, I guess that still gives us a reason to beat the tar out of them.” The other Erasers smiled and were jumping on top of the flock within a split second.

Silently, Leara thanked Max for being strict about daily training, even if it was only for a couple minutes. Her new flock would definitely need the same.

Within a few minutes, Kaylee and Lacey were already knocked out and Pigeon was struggling to see straight with a black eye. Toronto was trying to control the Erasers to go back into their helicopter, but he could only control one mind at a time. Bryce was fairing well until two Erasers came up behind him with a sneak attack. Kiera was holding her hand to her chest as she kicked an Eraser in the face; another Eraser was rolling on the ground, trying to stop the flames that engulfed him. December and Malachi were trying their best by kicking the Erasers and ended up even breaking some bones.

The fight had been going on for quite some time. Leara had focused on Ari, since he seemed to be the strongest. It also gave the others a better chance of making it through the fight.

Wiping the blood off his chin after Leara had kicked him in the face, Ari snarled. “Forget this. We don’t have to waste our time here. Let’s go find Max.”

As the Erasers gave a second glance to the bird kids lying around, Ari commanded, “Come on. Let them try to survive. I find this hilarious that they think they can make it out here. We’ll come back for you mutants after we find Max.” And just like that, the copter lifted into the sky and was gone.

Bryce was clutching his sides in pain as Leara took count of all the younger ones lying unconscious around the camp. She cursed under her breath, took some water, and splashed it on the kids’ faces to wake them up. Bryce and Leara began to check for broken bones or any serious injuries.

Thankfully, there were none. There were just feathers and patches of fur and blood scattered everywhere. “Now we know we definitely need to start some training.”

December and Malachi were still sitting with the flock as the sun started to climb over the horizon. The younger kids were complaining of how sore and tired they were.

Unsure of where they were going next, the flock started to pack up their things anyway. “Do you want us to go with you?” December asked Leara, following her as she was picking up.

Leara had forgotten they were part rabbit, not bird. “It would be too difficult for you to keep up with us as we're in the air. Maybe you two should just go into hiding and keep yourselves out of trouble. I'm sure we'll find a way to get to you if we need to.”

The twins were both looking at her with sad eyes, but nodded and said their good-byes. As they walked off together, Leara hoped they would be a lot safer if they weren't with the flock.