Take Flight And Fall

- Flee -

Everything rushed past me as I tore through the thick forest, the wind lashing at my cheeks like angry ice shards. Several dark clouds gathered in the sky, causing the rain to become severe. Despite being a whale mutant, I shivered due to the freezing weather. Behind me, the screeching siren of the Red Hunters’ van became louder, jumbling together with the pounding storm. I tried to tug my hands out of the cuffs binding it but the constraints won’t budge. It made me growl in frustration.

I swerved into another road and I slipped because of the muddy ground. But I regained my balance, dashing through the path. All the roads were barricaded by fat, tall trees; the further I ran, the more the tall trees appeared. There all looked like hungry giants ready to consume me as they tilted haphazardly from side to side, dancing to the tunes of the thunderstorm.

The sky rumbled and thunder lighted the sky, urging the rain to become harder and more severe. My cloths were already melding with my skin. And despite the immense rain, the gills on each side of my neck were burning, squeezing as a result of dehydration. I couldn’t recall the last time I had tasted water. It was all because of the Red Hunters. They hadn’t allowed me near water after they had arrested me and made me unconscious. I had woken up with a scorching throat, surrounded by snickering Red Hunters.

Mutants have lived with the humans for as long as I can remember. The sudden apprehension of mutants by the government is something that is unfathomable. What could cause the government to take such irrational decisions? Surely the Council of Mutants hadn’t agreed to this. It’s madness!

“Oh skies! Where am I?” I gasped sharply, jamming into a tree with my large body. My hands quivered as I struggled to hold myself against it. “Oh skies...” As I saw a red light, I knew immediately that the Red Hunters were nearby. I couldn’t run and I was stuck because of the stinging fatigue. I was also drained by dehydration.

I pressed my back into the tree and slowly slid to the wet ground. Mud squished under my butt, seeping into my trousers as I stiffly sat on the wet ground. I brought my quaking hands to my shivering mouth and cupped them over my mouth. Freezing skin against freezing skin made me shiver in line with my growing fear.

“Spread out and find him,” their leader said, her small, silent voice wispy in the rain. “Subdue him immediately. Don’t let him use that again.”

“Yes Miss!” her subordinates shouted in unison, their voices loud as if they could save a life with it.

As they fanned the area, their heavy boots caused the mud to produce splattering sounds. It made me think that it was my own blood getting squished by their humane hands. I felt like peeing. Tears had already had its time to stain my cheeks and I couldn’t cry anymore.

Oh skies let them not find me, I prayed in my head, my whole body trembling badly.

Strings of red light snaked every nook and cranny of the area as they marched about, searching for me and only me. I couldn’t stay in one place and let myself die. I needed to live to see another day. I needed to fight for myself. I was not their prisoner.

My back brushed the tree’s bark as I slid against it, standing up. Where was that power that had saved me before? Where was that power that had let me slip through their pompous fingers? It was still in me, crawling, tensed, waiting to be released. It was like an itch that had been scratched so many times that it was ready to tear open, to let blood spill. I was ready to spill human blood to save myself.

I shut my eyes, trying to concentrate on the egging power. Please... Please save—

“Agh!”

A bullet grazed my neck as it flew past me. I jumped away from my hiding spot, my eyes wide like a moon. They had found me. All of them had their guns pointed at me, causing their red searchlights to cover my face. They were surrounding me, their hungry snares concealed by a red bandanna. I was like a prey ready to be preyed on.