Eight

  Howdy Do Fellow Kids

  My eyes snapped open.

  I bolted up with a yelp, pressing my hands over my ears as my eyes adjusted to early morning light. Whipping my head back, I saw three black machines with bulbous bodies and thin tails held aloft by whirling blades on their backs. They hovered over the rooftop, kicking up swirls of dust and debris. Then their sides opened and long ropes were tossed out, followed by men in dark uniforms sliding down toward me.

  “Pahla!” I spat and scrambled to my feet.

  I dodged through the ropes and sprinted for the edge of the roof, leaping into the air. That wonderful exhilaration hit my outstretched wings, but I didn’t have the time to enjoy it. Flapping hard, I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw two of the flying machines had rotated, chasing after me, and the third wasn’t far behind. My hearts thudded so hard that they might as well have been having a boxing match in my chest. I shot through the sky, flying faster and harder than ever. Still, I could hear the machines gaining, their ominous thrum seeming to be right on my heels and growing louder with each passing second. All of a sudden, the thunderous noise was on top of me. The trifecta of terror moved in, one on each side, and the last cutting off escape from behind. Their open sides were just a few feet from my wingtips. One of the men crouching inside aimed his weapon at me and fired. I dodged and heard the projectile ping against the side of the other machine with a loud, sharp sound.

  That wasn’t like what they shot at me before!

  I stared at my attacker in horror and shock.

  That wasn’t meant to put me to sleep, that was supposed to knock me out of the sky!

  I swerved frantically when I saw the man in the flying machine take aim again. I was already flying as fast as I could. If I went up, I’d be shredded by the roaring blades. Going back was not an option. The only way out was down. Clenching my teeth, I braced as I tensed my shoulders and pulled my wings tight. A second bang resounded in my ears as I plummeted out of the sky like a stone.

  Gasping, I hurtled towards the ground, desperately scanning for somewhere to hide. Another, slightly larger, town materialized from the landscape, and I aimed my body towards it. Diving like mad, I practically hurled myself at the buildings and plunged into a dark, narrow gap between a row of them. I haphazardly grabbed onto a metal latticework affixed to the side of one structure. The brittle railing snapped under my weight and sent me yelping and flailing to the damp, dirty ground below. I was sure I’d hit every possible obstacle on the way down. My aching body seemed to agree. I pushed myself up with a groan to peek up at the sliver of sky high above as my pursuers rumbled overhead. Their black forms glided past, but didn’t reappear, and I listened in relief as the sound of the thrumming blades grew distant. For a good few minutes, I lay where I’d fallen, trying to calm down before attempting to pick myself up off the ground.

  Ow, ow, ow! Everything hurts. I winced, leaning against the closest wall for balance.

  My bare legs were already starting to develop some dark, tender splotches, as were my arms. I could feel more everywhere else. Brushing the sharp flakes of crumbly metal off my hands, I looked around for somewhere or something I could use to hide. A large piece of blue material caught my eye, and I dragged it out from the pile of rubbish it had been dumped in. It had been folded up, so the outside was dirty, but the rest was intact and fairly clean. I wrapped myself in it like a trash wizard and just curled up against an outcropping of rotting boxes, too scared to move. Feeling tears trickling down my hot cheeks, I pulled my wings tight around my body, rocking gently back and forth as I buried my face in my feathers.

  “Sair’dak beniki … sair’dak beniki … ahlla tombe … sair’dak beniki …,” I whimpered softly, over and over. (You’re okay … you’re okay … calm down … you’re okay…)

  I rocked myself into a trance, muttering my little mantra of self-reassurance. So focused was I on the simple phrase that I didn’t even hear the small group of people approaching. That was until one kicked a discarded bottle and clocked me squarely on the side of my head.

  “AAAH!”

  I let out an involuntary yelp of surprise and pain, scrunching myself up even tighter under the tarp. Somewhere to my left, I heard the faint scuffle of feet and hushed voices. Squeezing my eyes shut, I waited for the inevitable sting of a needle, at that point assuming all the weird wingless people just casually carried around syringes of sedatives. After a moment, I did feel something, but not what I’d been expecting. A gentle tug at the tip of my largest left wing. Someone was pulling at one of my primary feathers.

  Whipping my head around with a gasp, my eyes shot open to see a hand grabbing my golden plumage as it stuck out a bit from under my covering. Then I saw another pair of fingers curling under the edge and begin to lift it up. I flexed my wing, yanking my feather out of the intruder’s grasp. The voices gasped and feet shuffled again, a moment of silence held taught in the air before warily curious whispers reached my ears. I sensed a presence drawing closer. Trying to control my breathing, I prepared to reach out with my telepathy, remembering how it seemed to hurt the other wingless. However, before I could unleash my defense, my covering crackled loudly and lifted from around my head instead. Yelping, I jerked around and came face to face with an equally as startled teenage girl.

  “… ah! ...”

  “… aye yah! ...”

  We stared at each other for a double heartbeat, as though bewildered by one another’s expression of surprise. Her green eyes were wide, not in horror or fear, but instead … mesmerized. Our gaze held for what seemed like several minutes as my hearts pounded thickly, their beats drumming in my ears. The inevitable awkwardness slowly began creeping in but fortunately, we were both distracted by one of the other voices piping up. I peeked out from behind the flap of tarp the teenager was still holding. Behind her was another girl and three boys. They also took on the same look of awe when they locked eyes with me. Coming to my senses, I quickly retreated back into the lengthy folds of my rubbish wrap.

  “Ua topte! Sohermu … hale ua topte,” I whimpered. (Go away! Please … just go away.)

  A moment later, someone started pulling at the material again, this time very gently. My body was screaming to bolt into the air, but my mind held me back with an odd feeling. Something that made me realize I felt no hint of ill intent in the actions of the young wingless people. As my meager shelter was once again lifted, I let the edges slip from my clenched fingers. Still wary though, I hid my face behind my hands, just catching glimpses through the cracks between my fingers.

  The girl holding the tarp was only holding it with one hand.

  Her other was held back, palm up, nonthreatening.

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  She was smiling softly and saying something.

  My eyes widened as I remembered. I’d done the very same thing when I’d encountered the first wingless I'd ever seen. The man in the long white coat in the halls of the tent I’d woken up in. I stared at the girl and even though I didn’t understand the words she was using, I knew exactly what she meant to say.

  “Don’t worry. It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.”

  I slowly lowered my hands from my face. She crouched down to my level, pushing more of the tarp away. Feeling self-conscious all of a sudden, I pulled myself into a tighter ball, letting my wings arch up, providing a greater sense of comfort than my robe of refuse did. One of the boys audibly gasped. The others quietly echoed his expression of wonder, as though they’d just realized the golden feathers surrounding me were actually attached to me. The girl spoke again, but all it sounded like to me was a bunch of weird syllables I couldn’t put together.

  I sighed and scowled, frustratedly gesturing from her lips to myself and my ears and head, shaking my head to try to convey my point. I had to repeat the motions several times in various different combinations before I saw the lightbulb click on, at which point the teen turned to the others and relayed the message in a single sentence.

  Groaning inwardly, I resisted the urge to facepalm. Aye yah, pahla. Father, why didn’t you tell me I’d have to learn a whole new language before you put me on this weird planet?!

  As I sat there, silently raising my complaints to the sky, a growing rumble made my instinctual gear box do a hard shift into fight-or-flight. Starting to panic again, I dove into the folds of my trash cape as another whirling-blade machine beat the air overhead. I squeezed my eyes shut and stuck my fingers in my ears until it passed. Only when my shabby shelter was lifted did my eyes snap open to meet those of the teenage girl again. I must have looked utterly terrified because she paused in a worried way before reaching out and hesitantly touching my arm. She glanced back at her friends and the group nodded at each other as though exchanging a telepathic message, though I felt no energy from them. The girl patted my arm, then motioned to herself and the others, made an upside-down cup with her hands, and pointed at me. The intended meaning clicked in my head pretty quickly.

  “We’ll protect you.”

  There it was again.

  That weird, invisible, nearly intangible presence beside me.

  I felt it drawing me to the five teens, as though it had put them there just to help me. Why? What was this extra sense? Did the others have it too? Without going too deep, I telepathically searched them out. I felt amazement and excitement from them, and an oddly strong urge to protect me from whatever I was afraid of. They clearly had no connection to the men with guns and flying machines.

  I don’t know why, but I trust them. They’re like the men in the forest. For some reason, I need to go with them. I thought.

  The girl held out her hand and I let her pull me to my feet. A four-wheeled vehicle whooshed past on the street a few yards away, making me flinch. Every feather on my body was pressed flat in an attempt to make me look as small and inconspicuous as possible. The teenager still holding my hand was giving instructions to the others and I watched curiously as the boys and remaining girl picked up my covering and made a tent around us. They then began guiding me towards the other end of the space between buildings. Both girls kept murmuring what sounded like reassurances and the guys had lapsed into lighthearted conversation. Surrounded by their emotions, I started to relax, still nervous and confused, but much less panicked than before.

  Alright, this is happening now. I sighed to myself. Guess I’ll just go with the flow. Maybe Agoka’ta’jai and momma Ma’hy want me to learn about these wingless? Study them somehow?

  Continuing to ponder, I walked with my new protectors all the way to the other end of the pass and across a narrow side path into the bottom of a big multi-leveled grey building. It was all open inside with only thick columns holding up the floors above. Dozens of the four wheeled metal machines sat silent in spaces marked by white lines on the ground. The teens lead me around to the back of a greenish-brown one with a squarish front and long, low rear. One boy tugged on a latch on one of its metal panels, lowering the whole thing like a sideways door. Then he and the others lifted the material over the vehicle’s open bed. Feeling suddenly exposed and vulnerable, I didn’t waste another second, and quickly crawled to the back of my new mobile hiding place. The second girl scooched in beside me and the others closed the vehicle’s rear panel. I listened to their footsteps and voices move up to the front and more doors opened and closed before there was the sound of an engine and everything began to vibrate. There was a gentle lurch, then I felt us begin to move. The teen hunkered next to me patted my arm and kept up a reassuring smile.

  We rumbled and bumped along for what felt like hours until I realized I couldn’t hear any other machines around us like I had before. After another few minutes, we slowly glided to a stop and the engine ceased its noise. The doors creaked and slammed, and the rear hatch opened again. I was ushered out amidst hurried chatter, catching a glimpse of seemingly endless rows of different sized structures surrounded by trees and grass, before I was herded through a door into the interior of one of them. The boys closed everything behind us, and a layer of tension seemed to release.

  So, this is where the wingless live. I stared around in total curiosity.

  Completely forgetting I wasn’t alone, I began poking around, exploring the space in my immediate vicinity. There was furniture and knickknacks and the different flooring under my feet was fun and new, all squishy and soft. Hallways branched off to other intriguing places. On the walls were pictures of one of the boys with other wingless. A girl that looked older than him and an even older man and woman. Their smiling faces made me pause, my memories reaching back for my parents, their expressions, their voices. Agoka’ta’jai had a warm voice with a particular tone that was like anything he said would be right with the world. I remembered mama Ma’hy’s laugh was fun and bouncy and musical. How long it would be before I’d hear those voices again?

  A touch on my arm almost made me jump clean out of my feathers.

  The girl beside me was once again equally as startled.

  “Aye-yah pahla,” I breathed with a flustered half smile.

  She muttered something similar and lightly patted my arm in apology. The boy whose pictures I’d been staring at came up beside me, talking in a friendly tone and looking awkward but welcoming. More embarrassed than anything, I just smiled and waited till he seemed to realize his words were still nothing but gibberish to me. Seeing this too, the girl still standing next to us laughed before again beckoning me to follow. I shuffled after her up a flight of stairs and to a back room. She sat me down on a big comfy thing covered in thick fabric and standing on squat, wooden legs while bossing orders to her friends. Soon several more oddities were acquired that the girls began to run through my hair, untangling it, and I was handed a large, damp cloth. When I saw myself in the mirror on the opposite wall, I gladly accepted it. I was bruised and covered in silt and grime. There were smudges all over my dress.

  The boys disappeared while the girls helped me clean myself up. They kept talking and giggling, making gestures to me as though trying to include me in their conversation, and I followed along as best I could. Their excited, lighthearted emotions were about the only thing I could understand, but I was thrilled. I’d never gotten to interact with girls my age before. Wings or no wings, in that moment there were no differences between them and me.

  I just really wish I could actually understand what they’re saying! I mentally lamented.

  After a few minutes the three of us had managed to degrease me and tame my mane into a thick braid. At that point our guy friends returned with a few stacks of clothes. Bottoms were sorted out quickly, but tops were a little more complicated given my extra appendages. A bit of puzzling, arguing, and cutting later, I had a shirt to wear. I twisted and turned in front of the mirror in delight before throwing my arms around my two girlfriends and wrapping the boys up under my wings.

  Then I yawned and slouched back, letting my wings stretch out and feathers fluff up. For the first time since arriving on this strange, new world, I started feeling content and happy. My companions got up and stood just outside the door, talking amongst themselves. I watched them for a bit, gradually sinking lower and lower on the cushy fabric. Unlike the squishy, putty-like texture of my bio-pod’s gel, the blankets were soft and plush. I shifted my wings over and flopped against the smaller, cloth-covered things piled near the wall, smiling as I snuggled into them. The voices of my rescuers in the background further deepened my newfound sense of security and my eyelids drooped. After everything I’d been through that day, I was exhausted. Was it even still the same day? It felt like I’d been awake for weeks.

  But I don’t wanna be rude and fall asleep now! I thought as I yawned again. These wingless have been so nice to me. And I … I don’t wanna … so …… tired…

  I was out like a light before I knew it.