Alouette

27 (Claire pov)

Land! I see land.

I've been swimming for hours. All that training in high finally is paying off. Although not the way I thought it would, in the end of the world search for land. I was supposed to get a scholarship for college but that is not happening anytime soon.

I swim towards the shore and stand up to catch my breath. I only stopped every half hour. There was no way I was going to let anybody else find land before me. There is too much at stake.

They are all going to wish they hadn't doubted me, because now I have fair rights to whatever I want and need for my family.

I walk through overgrown bushes and push past the trees branches that hang low enough to scratch my uncovered knees.

My skin is all pruney and I just want to rest. And so when I finally find a clearing I don't wait two seconds before finding a rock and some leaves and napping.

When I wake up it's hard to tell how long I'd been sleeping. It feels like days. Hell, it kind of feels like it's been a week. However long it's been, it has been long enough for my clothes to dry and the leaves that were covering my scratched legs, to blow away. Never the less that was the best sleep I've had since, well since the world ended.

I should probably scout for supplies and maybe start a fire, who knows how long I'll be here. Supply hunting usually takes up to two weeks with a crew, alone, well no one knows. I'm the only one of the group to go alone.

Some dry grass and stones, and sticks. That I'd all I had to bring back to my base. There has to be something more here. My eyes wander. Nothing. There is nothing here.

Whatever. It's getting dark and I need to head back. I'll look again tomorrow.

It is good to be back. To a place I've been once and will never see again in two weeks. Home sweet home.

I scream louder than my lungs can handle.

People with wings. Wings. People are fighting. And flying. Fighting in flight.

I must be still asleep on my rock. Yeah, that's it. I'm asleep. This is just a messed up dream.

Screaming doesn't make it end.

This is real.

And they saw me.

One of the older ones flies towards me and I feel like I can't breath.

"I'm Max, that is Fang my husband, and the girl is Alouette, my daughter. And you are?"

She holds her hand out and that is all I can take.