The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 101

Having had recovered from their near death experience, the search party followed Pops along the rooftops. Trailing behind Gidget and Buddy, Tiberius glanced over to his left to find the jumbotron of Times Square. A video of the incident starring Chloe and the snack table was playing over and over again. Able to read the words on the giant screen, the old hawk was surprised that the video was now the video of the day. Glancing over his shoulder, he could barely keep himself quiet when he saw the look of horror on Chloe's face. Down below on the streets, crowds of people were laughing their heads off.

"Does anyone want to play a game?" Norman squeaked, walking in between Mel and Buddy. A look of delight spread across the pug's face as he yipped, "Okay! How bout I Spy?" He was jumping around a little, almost knocking Sweetpea off his head. Buddy smiled and nodded his head. Her fluffy tail wagging, Gidget decided to join in while Pops kept his mouth shut. Chloe had been accidentally left behind. Having no clue on what game they were talking about, Tiberius watched as Norman piped up, "Alright, I spy with my little eye-"

"MEL, LOOK OUT!" Buddy barked. But it was already too late as Mel took a wrong step. Chirping and whistling in a high pitched voice, Sweetpea took off into flight, getting off the pug's head. However, the pug wasn't so lucky as he fell over the edge of the rooftop. Everyone was either too horrified or too slow to act. Seeing what happened, Tiberius lunged forward and leaned down, grasping Mel's collar in his beak just in the nick of time. The old hawk dug his talons in, not wanting to go over himself. The idiotic dog didn't even realize that he had been saved as he screamed like a little girl. Covering his ears, Pops grumbled, "Someone shut him up!"

Rolling his green eyes, Sweetpea flew down and pecked Mel on the head, making him stop. The pug looked around, wondering what happened. He glanced up while Gidget and Buddy helped Tiberius pull him back up to safety. Sitting down, Mel was trembling all over. Buddy and Norman crowded around him, trying to comfort their friend. Looking over at the hawk, Mel mumbled, "Thank you." Hearing that, Tiberius's light brown eyes widened with surprise as he glanced over at Gidget. She gave him a thumbs up. Before the old red tailed hawk could reply, Chloe came over and asked, "What'd I miss?"

"Mel would've fallen to his death if hadn't been for the bird here-" Buddy was saying. Only half listening, Chloe caught a few words. Anger flashing in her eyes, she put hereslf in between her friends and Tiberius as she hissed, "Hungry for bigger targets, are we?!" The good feeling that was in the hawk a few seconds ago quickly evaporated in the air as he growled in response, "You got a problem or something?!"

"Hey, no fighting. We just need to get over to that balcony," Pops called over his shoulder, pointing across the street at what he was talking about. Raising an eyebrow in question, Buddy pointed out, "Unless you expect us to grow wings and fly, that's not happening." The elderly basset hound didn't reply to the dachshund since he was now making weird noises, causing a few of the others to cringe slightly.

Tweeting quietly, Sweetpea flew over to the balcony. Wanting to get away from Chloe, Tiberius flew after him. They landed on the balcony at the same time. A second later, a shadow passed over them before a flock of pigeons gathered before them. Hunger rising inside of him, Tiberius snatched one as the flock dropped off the rest of the search party. Seeing this, Sweetpea chirped something very harsh at him. Hurt by the little parakeet's words that he could understand as clear as day, the hawk smiled nervously and released his hold on the pigeon.

Glancing down at the others, Tiberius had just witnessed a glare that Chloe sent Gidget. The Pomeranian didn't notice the message the cat was giving but the hawk did. It was quite obvious he wasn't trusted by the tabby.