Flight of the Albatross

Chapter One

In his mind, Marcus was running. Running far, far away from any kind of civilization, to a land where no one had ever gone before. He'd hunt wild game with a handmade bow and arrows, he'd breathe the clean, crisp air of the forest, he'd explore caves and bathe in cliffside pools near where wisteria grew.

But he wasn't running. The toll it would take on his family would be huge, especially after his younger brother, Ronan, had died from cancer a few years ago. Instead, he sat on the bench in his boring PE class where half of his class was playing basketball, while the other half watched them, like he was doing.

The gymnasium at Marcus's school was too small for everyone to play at the same time. His school was lucky to even have one- the ministry didn't spend money on school gymnasiums, what with the war going on with the Alatus.
"Why can't we just play already?" his friend, Peter, whined, snapping Marcus back to reality.
The PE instructor, whom they hadn't noticed had walked up to them, replied, "Every time you whine in this class means five extra minutes you get to stay on the bench," he told Peter. "How's that sound to you?"

Peter glared at him. "I'm so gonna get you back for that."

Marcus laughed, earning him narrowed eyes from his friend. "You bitches," Peter grumbled.
He was cut off by the wail of several sirens.
That meant the school was about to get bombed.

"Bombing!" the instructor howled, his voice swept away in the mayhem that had begun to form. "Please leave the building in an orderly manner!" he ordered.

Of course no one listened to him.

"Meet me at the usual place if you make it out of here!" Marcus shouted to Peter.

The redheaded boy nodded. "Gotcha, Mark." And he turned away, hurrying away into the chaos.

"I'll see you later, Pete!" Marcus told him, although he was too far away to hear.

He would see him later. He couldn't bear to think of the alternative.

Marcus ran towards the nearest exit, where everyone was gathering. Students and instructors alike were getting trampled by the horde of people trying to get away from there as fast as possible.

Marcus shoved past several people, and finally managed the reach the door. As he glanced back over his shoulder, he spotted Peter on the opposite side of the gymnasium, helping up a brunette girl who'd been trampled by the crowd. Marcus suppressed a groan. Cassandra. Everyone knew Peter had a crush on her. And that was going to be his downfall.

He wanted to call to his friend, to tell him to get out of there, but someone rammed into him, forcing him forward before he could react.
Marcus dashed through the emergency exit and started to run. And right there, bombs began to rain down. One of them came close enough to knock Marcus off his feet. The shock wave made him lose his footing and land on his face on the gravel.

He winced and forced himself to get up. Dust filled the air, making it incredibly hard to both see and breathe, two things that were important if Marcus wanted to get out of there. He stumbled around, adrenaline pulsing in his veins, and somehow managed to make it out of there alive, despite the bombs raining down on him and all that shit.

If he looked up, he would've seen something that looked vaguely like some kind of huge bird. Those were the Alatus, humanlike figures with huge feathery wings and pointy ears. They had a long-standing rivalry with the humans, and would occasionally bomb their cities, leading the ministry to install alarms in every building to help the population escape on time. It wasn't rare to see people set the alarms off as a joke, though.

Marcus eventually arrived at a stone fountain with a statue in the center shaped like a seal, shooting water into the air. It was his and Peter's special place.

So he waited.

He waited for days, only coming home to sleep and eat, and coming back as soon as he could. He sat on a bench there for hours, hoping to see Peter appear.

But he never showed up.