Mutation

Chapter 17: "A bad one..."

It was morning. The sun peeking over the mountains and one side of the tent an orange-red color. The outside of my sleeping bag felt cold.

I tried to feel Adams hand, but it wasn't there. I opened my eyes. The air was cool, and the tent door was open. I looked down to where Adam had slept. His sleeping bag was open, and he wasn't there. I called out to him. No answer. And again. Still no answer. I reached for the opening of my sleeping bag and flipped it to the opposite side of my tent.

I attempted to stand by getting my right leg underneath me and straightening it slowly, careful to not hurt myself even more. Getting my leg under me was the easy part, getting up was the hard part. I knew it would take a lot of strength to push myself up and get out of my tent. I managed to stand up and hop over to the door with my left leg out in front of me. I looked outside at Sofia's old tent where Adam is now staying. Adam's tent was opened which concerned me. I looked towards the sun. There was a shadow in the far distance. It looked like the ship that took Peter and the others. I got down to the level of the tent to stay hidden. I inserted myself into my tent. My leg hung out of the tent door as I waited to see what is was. I got curious and looked over the top of my tent.

A lonely bird flew closer and closer as the sun rose higher and higher. I felt relief, for one, and stupidity. I stood up and stared at the big, shiny, bird while I rolled my eyes because of my overly cautioned self. I noticed it had something in its talons. It looked back and cocked its head at me. It flew around me in a coil. As it passed through the space between me and Peters tent, it dropped 2 crutches. It had red glowing eyes and as big as a full-grown dog. It wasn't a real bird, though, it was a machine. Someone must have made it. It looked at me then the sun and squawked as it spread it's wings and leaned forward. I looked back to the sun. Something else made another shadow in the sun. As it got closer, I put my finger on what it was. It was also a machine, like the bird, but it was a larger one - a magnificent, beautiful Pegasus. It had a blue rug on its back for sitting on, or that's what it looked like from the ground. It landed and continued to run at me.

"Whoa, whoa!" I howled, smiling as it got closer. It slowed down and walked over to me. It nudged my shoulder, signaling me to give it attention.

"You're magnificent," I said in awe. It crouched and lied down in front of me. The bird squawked at me to get on. I picked up my crutches. I looked at the Pegasus and hopped over to its right side, careful not to startle it. I put my hand on its neck to stay balanced. I sat down and Pegasus stood up. I had to keep both legs on one side of the creature, making sure not to hurt my leg more. I clenched myself, with a hold of my crutches, on as Pegasus ran toward the sun. I felt us lift off the ground as Pegasus flapped its wings. I shut my eyes and held even harder to Pegasus. I peeked out of one eye and looked behind us. The bird followed us back to where they came from. I looked into the sun rise and then down. All I was, was terrified. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes again. After a while of flying, I began to feel drowsy and sleepy. My crutches slipped out of my hands and I attempted to grab them but fell with them instead. I looked down and all I could see was desert. My body felt weightless and I felt light-headed. I closed my eyes as I thought 'This is it. My life is over.' I opened my eyes as my body splat on the ground.

I sat up quickly in my bed, breathing heavily and slightly sweating. Adam woke up and asked what was wrong.

"I had a dream!" I exclaimed with a terrified look on my face.

"What kind of dream?" He asked in worry.

"A bad one," I stared back at him.

I felt the warmth of his arms around me as it flashed through my head. "I dreamed that I fell off of a mechanical Pegasus and no one was at camp and you were gone and a bird came and gave me crutches..." The words just fell out of my mouth.

"Hey, shhhhhh. It's okay. Shhhhhh," Adam whispered, stroking my hair. "Speaking of crutches, I spent all night making you a pair with someone." He let go of me as I wiped my cheeks and under my nose. He walked out of the tent and came back with 2 pieces of long wood that will help me balance.

"Thank you so much," My face lite up with joy and surprise. But it wasn't surprising. These are the exact crutches from my dream. Yet, I wasn't concerned that much.

"And we have another visitor. He's really good at making things. In fact, he helped me make these for you," Adam said with excitement. "His name is Felix. Please don't be mad at me."

"I won't. I promise." I threw my left arm around his neck then quickly let go to go off on my journey with crutches. Adam helped me from the ground as I threw my crutches under my arms. I had forgotten that my fingers were gone. I did my best to use my thumb and the palm of my hand, and the rest of my remaining fingers to move the crutch. I got out of my tent, expecting to see our new-comer, Felix, but I didn't. I wobbled away from my tent to the right of Peter's and looked behind it. He wasn't there. I looked beyond behind the tent and saw something in the forest. I saw someone sitting on the ground in the darkness carving something out of, what i assumed was wood because of all the shavings in the dirt below the person. I slowly went closer and as I did, I could see black, small, pointed ears and a black, thin, agile tail. It's back was turned towards the camp-site so I couldn't see it's face. It sniffed the air and then turned around suddenly with a curious face.

It startled me a bit as I stopped instantly.

"Hi! My name is Felix. What's your's?" He said, standing up, happy and cheerful to greet me. "Wait, I know what your name is. Don't tell me," he tried to think tapping his head. "It's ummm..... ummm... Courtnee, right?" He asked pointing at me.

"Yes, but how did you know that?" I mumbled.

"Your friend, Adam, told me," he responded with a smile. He looked down at my hand and looked scared. I turned so he couldn't see it anymore. We stood there in silence for a moment. He broke the silence with a question.

"Hey, what do you think?" He pointed to the 2 pieces of wood that were under my arms.

"Yeah... um... they're great," I responded quietly as I turned away in concern.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked in worry.

"It's nothing," I turned my head. "Are you planning on building anything that contains metal?"

"Yep," he nodded his head.