Hegemon

Aero

The bird flew low over the field; it’s red and brown feathers nearly brushing up against the long, golden grains. A low caw escaped its lungs as it swooped high again, almost directly upwards toward the sky like a space shuttle leaving the atmosphere.

It stopped, hovering above the long, waving ocean of wheat. Across the middle of the field was a road. A dark red truck with rust stains passed through, and as the falcon watched, it crossed through without any disturbance. 

He watched as it passed. It looked as if it was going at the pace of a snail, but in reality the road was practically a highway. The only things drivers had to look out for were deer and ice, neither of which were around at that time anyway.

It flapped its wings, traveling over the field and off to the north, in the direction of the forests. There were large clusters of evergreens, but the rest of it was all leafless trees and broken, ice covered branches.

It landed on one of these branches, claws snapping and scratching against the branch. It cawed lightly again, ruffling its feathers and stretching its wings. Something black streaked underneath it and it shot up into the air, making a distinguishable swoosh against the cold air. It looked down.

More of the black creatures streaked beneath it, screeching and growling like animals, but they looked like humans. There were other creatures with them, and as it watched, there were huge, red and black dog-like creatures and pale white animals that were thin as a twig but fast like foxes.

The longer he hovered in the air, the more of these things there were, until fleets of hundreds, maybe thousands were streaking past. They weren’t in any order, running like packs of wild dogs. The forest was filled with their screeches, and the remaining birds that had stayed the winter were flying up out of the trees.

A sense of dread engulfed the falcon’s senses and it around the forest, making a wide circle to avoid the creatures, and over the vast hills. Despite the creatures’ speed, it easily reached home before they’d even left the forest.