Dark Fangs: Forbidden Fugitives

Chapter Forty-Five

Drake's body convulsed with terror as a head-pounding blast of a sound jounced against the confined space of the cavern, ripping him out of sleep with a stabbing gasp like a bullet through the lungs. 

     WHAT--

     WAS--

     THAT.

     He bolted upright, eyes popping out of their sockets. "...was that a jet engine?" he rasped, the words barely coherent. Everything hurt, but now the pain in his ears and skull surpassed the agony of every other wound. 

     Awoken by his gasp, Swifty and Coco both jumped erect. Tall, graceful Swifty had to duck in the low-roofed tunnel that cut straight through the compact island butte they sheltered in. The two eyed their owner with a deep concern circulating in their wide gazes, then began surveying the herbs and pitcher plants, as well as Drake's shirt, scattered all over the floor of the shallow cave. They seemed collectively unbothered by the racking explosion of a sound that had just shaken the earth over their heads, which made Drake doubt if the sound had even occured.

     What if I was dreaming...? That would make sense. Yeah...

     He pushed himself up higher, moaning in agony as his spine scraped against the ledge he was propped up against. Swifty yipped nervously at him, almost as if to scold him for moving and abrading his bludgeoned body further, which prompted Coco to join in. The Cockatiel scooted up to Drake, giving him one of his best chiding shrieks right in the face, his big glassy eyes staring into Drake's soul, almost like a mini dragon. 

     Coco could be as demanding as a dragon sometimes, Drake deemed wryly. 

     "Stop..." Drake slurred, batting at his bird with a dust-crusted hand. The motion held no force of any kind, as Drake could barely sit up to begin with. He tried shifting onto his hip to push himself up, gripping the ledge, and his body gave away with a blast of pain through his skin.

     "ARRRRHHH--"

     A screeching bark rebound against the walls from Swifty's jaws the moment she watched her boy fall again to the ground in pain. With the exertion of lightning, she darted to his rescue, her left ear, and the knotted nub where her right audit should have been, both pricked forward with attentiveness. She dove towards the ground, throwing her lean body between Drake and the floor. When she felt him curl around her body, she gave him a frustrated growl, gently prodding him back into place to lay on his back, head against a bundle of soft banana tree leaves. 

     I really need food...I can't even stand...I haven't eaten in two days straight. As he succumbed to Swifty's reprimand, Drake's face rumpled into a moue displaying his exhaustion and pain. "I can't do this anymore," he whimpered, but his voice was an awful abrasion of what it once was. "I'm in so much pain..." Tears trickled through his closed lashes, burning slowly down his cheeks and neck. A tender lick against his neck made his nerves tingle unpleasantly, until he realized it was Swifty trying to comfort him by lapping the tears away.  

     I can't live anymore. With a shudder that racked his body and filled his head with nausea, echoing his pain through each wound's nerve system with new intensity, Drake released the piercing cries in his raw throat, no longer harboring the strength to hold them down in his heart. His entire salt-chafed, maimed frame trembled with the pressure those cries and tears put on his body's axons, as if this was the vocal departure of the already expiring life left in him. 

     Now wild with dismay and anxiety, Swifty whined and bark desperately in Drake's face, pressing her body to his in an attempt to physically shove him out of this funk. Coco shrieked in pain that was clearly not physical, waving his wings in the air in front of Drake's face and picking at his dark matted tresses with his grey beak. 

     Was this really the end for their precious keeper? 

     But no matter Swifty and Coco's efforts, Drake wouldn't get up. He physically couldn't anymore. Swifty swung her head agitatedly, eyes searching for something of use in the cave, and all she saw were the herbs, pitcher plants half-full of water, and the firewood. 

     But Drake couldn't use any of that. He couldn't so much as lift a finger. 

     The whimpers of agony and hopelessness seeping through Drake's voice drove Swifty and Coco alike deeper and deeper into a hysteric state. They yowled and shrieked, and suddenly, Swifty rocketed out of the tunnel past Coco, darting into the jungle and leaving the Cockatiel with their human.

     Her compact paws beat down the terrain while branches and vines clawed and whipped her silky sides while she swerved and dashed through the mini jungle island, panic digging into every hair on her sleek body, every inch of skin beneath that silky hide, and every pound of her heart echoing through her insides. Her vision was a blur of swimming shades of green, shadows, and light rays, until she was blinded by a sudden flash of sunlight.

     FLASH.

     Swifty's throat reverberated with a yowl of surprise and hurt as she skidded to a stop on the islet's beach, staring in open-mouthed shock at the scene unfurling before her paws. 

     In the middle of the blinding mirror of an ocean, the great white rex stood, nearly submerged in the tropical waters. She wasn't too far off from their little island, and her jaws were filled with something--small, glittering things.

     Swifty whined with concern and heavy curiosity, unmoved and unable to turn her gaze from the incident. She watched the white monster rear as tall as she was able in the deep ocean waters, throwing her head back before releasing it with wide-open jaws, to catapult the glittering silver things at the island.

     And then the scent hit her nostrils.

     There, on the sandy ground, four fish lay, slightly crushed, but intact and fresh. A few more that hadn't quite made it onto the island ground were bobbing in the water, merely a few tail-lengths out.

     Slap. Slap. Slap.

     Something smacked Swifty's paws, making her startle and lurch sideways. She snorted in incredulity, her eyes glued to the massive fish at her paws.

     The white rex was helping them.

     Only a moment later, a notifying screech announced Coco's arrival just before he perched on Swifty's wiry, silken shoulders. The black and white dame twisted to give Coco a happy look, her long tail beginning to wag high in the air as she began relaxing. The Cockatiel inclined his silver-white head sideways, those glassy black orbs looking through Swifty's skull.

     Then he hopped right off her to inspect the fish on the sand.

     This was it. A miracle from God Almighty--He had sent shelter, food and water, and now Drake would survive. Swifty was as sure as she could possibly be. This was the sign she and Coco knew their master needed. The murderous creature that had chased Drake to his death on this small, insignificant island was now feeding him. 

     What a farcical circumstance.

     No matter the insanity of it all, Swifty grabbed the biggest fish she could find, skipping with joy and a bark of beckoning to Coco as she zoomed back for the cave, her heart thumping excitedly in her ears. 

     Their boy was saved.