The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 9

"Austin!" Ellie cried in anguish. Horrified by what had just happened, Rain retreated to the far corner of the nest, her dark brown eyes round in terror. Grief and anger building up inside of him, Thunder dug his talons into the nest while his fluffy feathers puffed up. Hearing cheers down below, curiosity got the better of him as he headed over to the edge. He peered over and squinted his eyes.

All the way down on the forest floor, there were three weird looking creatures. They only had hair on their heads and faces. They walked on two legs like Thunder and his family did. However, they didn't have wings and their legs bent the wrong way from his own. They held long black sticks that shone in the late afternoon sun. One was crouched on the ground beside Thunder's dad, who wasn't moving at all, and putting him in something. Growling, Thunder let out an angry hiss.

"Thunder, get away from there!" Ellie called out. Pulling his gaze away from the weird creatures on the ground, Thunder gazed up at his mother as she came over to him. "What about Dad?" he asked, still standing near the edge. Nuzzling her son as tears rolled down her face, his mother whispered, "Come on, just stay back with your sister Thunder." Mother and son gazed into each other's eyes for a brief moment though, lingering a little longer near the edge of the nest.

Focused on his mother's face while he nuzzled her in return, Thunder didn't have time to react when another loud bang went off. A second later, Ellie collapsed in front of him with a horrible wound in the side of her head...