Feathers That Won't Fly

Chapter IX The Innocent Beast

"What should we do with him?" Calvin asked.

Lisa didn't answer. Her breaths weren't shaky, but when she breathed out, a gray melancholy feeling came from her brain and her heart, making contact at her nose and mouth, being breathed out together. Her brain could not quite grip the thing that is reality. She was staring hard at the body, but it was fuzzy. Her mind didn't want to connect. Who knows what Azlyn did to him? If he's not dead, he could be in some kind of vegetation, but how could he live without hospital care? How are you supposed to help a guy in vegetation anyway? Goosebumps climbed their way out from underneath her skin and bit her arms and legs like a thousand needles barely grazing each pore. Her eye lids opened and closed, opened and closed, like one of those annoying window blinds that are impossible to get down in one try. But finally, it comes down. Hard. Shutting out all the lights.

"Lisa?"

It's kind of funny that no one except Azlyn had cared to factor in a small little (huge) detail. Where were the beasts? In a nice sized crowded city like DC, there has to be arch-humans. In fact, there were so many people in DC, that there was bound to be hiding survivors. So where was everybody?

Ever get the feeling that you're being watched? (Sorry, cliché, I know, but I've always wanted to say that.)

Finally, someone was picking up on it.

Scurrying. More pattering.

They had no need to be quiet anymore, there was only one left conscious; they could feed quite easily.

Pitter patter. Scurrying.

Calvin hurried over to Tom, tugging the knife out of his pocket. There was more scurrying. A shadow danced across the wall of a building, and Calvin followed it.

He darted into an alley way full of old boxes with worn-out sharpie labels, and common household objects inside. A frowning lamp with a frayed wire slumped against parts of a broken shelf. He was in between old apartment buildings.

The shadow moved faster, Calvin followed just as fast. Where was it going? More importantly, what was it waiting for?

Calvin burst through sheets hanging on a clothes line at the end of the alley way.

"Family! I found a man!" A girl coughed more than said. She would have been gorgeous, but she was too unfortunate. Calvin guessed she had been unfortunate since before the attacks on man-kind.

She was so dirty. He couldn't tell her skin color because her skin was caked in ages of filth. Sure, she was obviously Caucasian (mostly), but her skin tone was impossible to distinguish. Her hair was auburn like Lisa's, but it was matted and dressed with dirt, mud, and grass. Her eyes were a beautiful blue, one of her few features untouched by her misfortune. The girl coughed again, making way for a hacking fit which decided to come with blood. She was so weak.

Calvin caught up with her. He sat her down on the ground.

"What happened?" He asked.

"My...my family. I. We... very sick," she managed to fit in between bloody coughs.

She pointed with a weak and shaky arm in the direction of a man, a woman, and a little boy. They were all as dirty as the girl. They were dressed in rags, blankets, and covered from head to toe, despite the fact that it was no where near winter, and hardly even fall. It was still plenty warm outside.

"What can I do to help? Is there anything you need?" Calvin knew the family would never survive, but he would at least try to comfort them before they finally gave way to their reapers.

"Food," she whispered. "Hungry...need food...live."

"Okay. I think we have some food in the car. I'll be right back."