Wings | Fleeting Feathers Book 1

Chapter 1 | Of Eagles Wings

That had happened about three months ago, and it was what had bound them together, a family of sorts in a world that given the chance would eat them up, quite literally. Buzzard had been elected the leader of their little group (Flock, Canary had called it), Falcon was the only one who had any formal medical training (although Owl could do the basics if needed), Peafowl it turned out was quite good at knitting and sewing, Owl and Falcon were the only ones who could hunt and Canary seemed to be just about the only one who could make them all smile.

Hilariously Owl and Falcon were the shortest of the group, both standing at 4 '11 compared to Peafowl at 5' 4 and Buzzard at 5 '8 while Canary was 4' 5 (but she was only ten, so it didn't count). And Owl and Falcon seemed to be as different as night and day, Owl was all sarcasm and wit while Falcon was laid back and cheery, in fact, the only way you could tell they were twins was by their brown hair and blonde bangs along with their eerily similar golden eyes.

Of course, becoming a group didn't come without its ups and downs. Owl and Buzzard had a habit of hiding wounds (no matter how many times Falcon told them it was no trouble), Peafowl had a bad habit of getting snappy when she was tired and not to mention Canary was a little kid, and little kids got bored quickly and tired even faster. She also had a habit of refusing to eat if it wasn't cut as her mother did. They hadn't the heart to tell her that she'd most likely never see her mother again.

But they got over it quickly, it took Canary barely a month to realize that they would not be cutting her sandwiches into squares and that no, they would not be eating chicken nuggets for dinner that evening (the or ever again was implied but never spoken).

In those three months, they learned how to work as a team and as fall faded into winter they quickly realized that although the zombies were frozen so too were the animals they had been hunting, and soon they wished for the warmer months because they hadn't time to scavenge near enough for five growing kids nor their three pets, Roadkill; Buzzard's pet lizard, Hestia; a fox kit Owl had rescued from a group of Walkers and Oizus; a very small snake that had found its way into their camp one evening and wrapped itself around the warmest human there who happened to be Falcon.

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In Buzzard's opinion, today could not get any worse. Roadkill was not made for constant cold temperatures and that hadn't been a problem in the old world when heaters were regularly available, but in the New World, where even having a single light bulb turned on was considered a miracle? Yeah, that wasn't possible, in fact, both Roadkill and Oizus were wrapped around Hestia wrapped in blankets in Owl's bag. He'd had to concede to her that his bag was too full and small for the three pets despite their small size they wouldn't have been comfortable in his small school backpack, unlike Owl's backpack, its small size was made for hiking and camping, and stored her extra clothes, water, weapons, and food rations along with the three pets with no problem. They would have easily been stored in Falcon's bag if not for the small books he kept inside which they read a chapter every day before bed, since Canary's mother read to her before bed too. Currently, they were making their way through The Hunger Games, which they were enjoying a lot, and had Catching Fire, Mockingjay, Lord of The Flies, and The Narnia Chronicles to read next.

To get into the city they decided it was best to go by the rooftop to give Owl and Falcon better views of which they could aim from. Despite the Flocks' apparent immunity from being bitten, none of the Flock was willing to risk losing it and turning, which meant their best bet was Owl and Falcon's range. Luckily for them, the cold had affected the zombies here too, and with the grocery store on the outskirts of town, there were few zombies to deal with. Before the rest of the Flock entered Owl and Falcon did a quick scan from the rooftop across from the store before declaring it mostly safe but to be on guard just in case. So it was the general routine, Buzzard at the front with his hatchet with Owl and Falcon at his sides, Falcon with his hatchet and Owl with her multitude of knives with Canary in the center with a single dagger gifted to her by Owl and Peafowl behind her with a very nice taser.