To Cheat Death

Chapter two

That night was the worst of my life.

Da grabbed ma's arm and pulled her up.
"We're leaving. Use your bat it a getting dark. We'll be lost in the chaos."

"But Sebastian... He is our friend, we can not just leave him here."
She said in a daze.

"Something killed him here, next to our house. He couldn't fly far with that in him."
He peered suspiciously at the forest.
"Whoever killed him is probably still out there."

We all always carried bags at our sides with the basic forms, and we used them now.

My heart quivered in terror.

I did not stop to think about the things I was leaving behind. My books, my carvings, my home, the only other person I had ever seen.

My only thought was away. Away from the death and terror.

We flew high and very close together as if I we were afraid we would lose each other in the dark, even though we could really see everything around with echo location.

The small fruit bats were already awake and flying every which way as they always did at dusk. Their clicks mixed with mine and aided my efforts to paint a complete picture around me and help me avoid crashing into another bat.

Even though I couldn't see the stars above me I knew they were there and that reassurance calmed me. Some parts of the world remained unchanged.

The bats suddenly spiraled away from beside me. A lone brown bat fell to the ground with a faint thud.

Danger! Danger! The fleeing bats said.

I cocked my head in confusion and sent out a bunch of high pitched clicks.
The vision came back.
Long narrow sticks with metal heads slicing through the air all around me.

In a frenzied panic, I beat my wings harder. Shouting higher!

A few bats heard me and flew up. I hoped my parents heard me as small bats plummeted to the ground all around me.

Why would anyone start randomly shooting into a crowd of bats? I thought as I flew higher finally spotting my parents not far behind.
Unless someone knew we were up here and were just hoping for a lucky shot. They would check the bats below to see if there Changing. And be looking for something unusual. Like bats fleeing the the rest of the group. Especially in groups of three.

"Wait!" I shouted but it was too late. We were out of the main swarm and flying in close parallel formation.
"Spit up!"

A black arrow flew up wooshed past the tip of my tail and slammed into ma's wing close to her body.
She started to plummet.
Da and I both dove for her.

With a twang an arrow sliced through the air towards da. At the last second he dodged and we hit the tree tops.

Finding ma amongst the broken bleeding bats was easy, echo location shows the exact shape of the face and body, no two are the same, but seeing so much death made me want to Change back and weep. So much loss. So much waste.

Then a great wave of fury for whoever shot my ma and slaughtered animals in my forest!
Yes, me and my parents had killed animals. But only for our needs, not this great senseless death.

The dead bats faded from my mind, becoming insignificant next to what I saw before me. My ma's form was flickering. A sure sign she needed to Change back before her bat died of blood loss.

My da said,
"To the cave." Then Changed back, picked up ma's broken bat, and ran.
My da had taught me how to step so quiet the very animals didn't notice you. And now years of experience made him far superior of finding his way and melting into the shadows than I ever was.