The Last Alive

Chapter 3: Nickie

"Why do we have to go to the telescope before breakfast? It's stupid," Lego had been complaining like this since I told them we were going and he was starting to really get on my nerves.

"I told you why," I said through gritted teeth.

"Saying we just have to, I'll tell you later isn't an answer," Lego shot back.

I glared over at him,"It's the only answer you're going to get at the moment. So if you would please stop complaining, it would be much appreciated."

Lego mumbled something under his breath, but didn't complain anymore.

"Nickie, I need help with my hair!" Star yelled from the bathroom.

"Just pull it back into a pony tail!" I told her.

"But then it'll whip me in the face," she whined.

Of course. "I'll cut off all your hair and it won't be a problem anymore!"

"NO!"

"Well then don't complain about it!"

I looked at the clock. Five minutes had already gone by and so far the only people who were ready were me, Kindel, and Moon. We didn't have anymore time to spare.

"Come on you guys or I'll leave you here and Ms. Pine can take care of you!" I yelled up the stairs.

Lego, Star, and Bear came running down the stairs. None of them liked being left with Ms. Pine. It wasn't that she wasn't nice. She just had a hundred little barbs that she could shoot at you if she got aggravated.

I hurried everyone out the door and led them to the field in the side of the house that the younger ones had to use as a sort of launching pad.

Bear went first, taking a running start then jumping into the air and then unfurling his wings, flapping them as fast as he could. Next came Star and Moon going through the same take off as Bear. Once all three of them were up in the air Kindel and Lego took off by unfurling their wings, bringing them as far back as they could, and then forcing them down which launched them up into the air like rockets. I followed soon after.

Once we were all in the air we headed to our destination. The telescope.

The telescope was what we used to scout the forest. It was in a tree house in the tallest tree in the forest. It had several little sets of stairs going down to other tree houses in lower trees that Lego had added. There was a large landing pad that stretched out over one of the lower trees and the telescope was in a little house at the end of it. As we flew towards it I could see the telescope peaking out of the little square hole that was cut into the wall looking over the most of the forest.

Through that telescope I would be able to see how close the wolf-men were to the house. And hopefully we wouldn't be too late.

But my hopes were for nothing.

We were almost there and I just looked down through habit. My stomach dropped.

Running through the last of the trees were five huge shapes. And sitting right in their path was a spikey form that could only be one person. Ms. Pine.

I dropped back so that I was flying next to Kindel,"We have to turn back."

He gave me a strange look,"Why?"

"Look down," I said quietly.

His gaze dropped and when he saw the shapes running toward the house and Ms. Pine standing in front of the house waiting for them. His eyesbrows furrowed and he looked back at me.

"Twitter told me about them this morning. They're wolf-men. Apparently they're looking for us but, according to Twitter, they aren't here to hurt us. But I doubt that."

"And why is Ms. Pine waiting for them?"

"Twitter told me that she said that she would take care of them and that we should just stay inside."

"What!?! That's crazy!!! How could Ms. Pine hold off wolf-men?"

"That's why I wanted to go to the telescope. I wanted to be ready."

"Well we have to turn around now," he pointed at the shapes moving closer and closer to the house.

This was bad. I looked around for the little dot that was Ms. Pine and couldn't find her. At least she was gone. That was good. I didn't want her getting hurt. I looked back at the larger shapes. They would be there soon.

I flew up ahead of everyone and led the landing. Once we all landed I turned to face them.

"Ok, there are...people that are coming to our house. They say they don't want to hurt us but I'm not going to believe that until I hear it from them. Me and Kindel are going to go talk to them. The wrest of you are going to stay here. And I mean it. Lego, I don't want you to leave. No matter what. And if me and Kindel get taken I want you guys to wait here for a day and if the coast is clear go to Ms. Pine."

I turned to go but before I could Lego said,"Be careful you guys. You need to come back. I mean, I can't raise three kids. The only thing I can cook is cold cereal."

I sighed. For a moment there I thought Lego was being sincere but I don't think he's capable of voicing his concerns seriously. He didn't like to show weekness.

 I took off with Kindel at my heels.

Looking down I saw that the wolf-men were practically at the front door. And, thankfully, Ms. Pine was nowhere to be seen.

As I cleared the last of the trees I folded my wings part-way and started to dive towards the ground at a 45 degree angle. Kindel did the same. As we sped toward the ground, wind ripping through my hair and plucking at my clothes, I tried to form a plan in my mind. We would try to talk to them first and if that didn't work then we'd fight and fly. 

I was getting closer and closer to the ground. I glanced over and saw that we were about mid-way down the tallest tree. I had to pull up. I slowly opened my wings and my body slowly tipped up as they filled with air and Kindel mirrored me. I continued opening my wings until my body was practically parallel with the ground. Then I quickly brought my wings up which made me swing up. I brought my legs under me. As me feet touched the ground I folded my wings in and hit the ground running. My target: the five huge wolf-men standing in front of my house.