Brokenly, Restored

Chapter #7

(Choco's POV)

     I'm not sure what woke me. It's almost completely dark outside, and I can just make out the dying embers of the fire. I try and stay as still as I can to make sure the leaves don't rustle. The forest is silent. It's not the normal type of quiet, but all the bugs have stopped chirping and there's no distant rustling from the nighttime animals. I almost dismiss it and go back to sleep, but then I hear a stick crack. It makes my feathers stand on end.

      "Pete. Pete, wake up", I whisper, reaching over and shaking his arm a little. He rolls over, groggy and confused. "There's something outside. We have to leave". I'm not sure what it is, but something is screaming at me to run. Something's not right.

      "But it's the middle of the night. We won't even see where we're going", Pete looks scared. He glances out of the shelter nervously.

     "It's fine. Matt will know the way". I sit up, wincing at the noise, and try to wake him up. He's a lot harder to wake up. I shake him a bit, and when that doesn't work, I loop my arms underneath his and pull him over a few inches. Lord, he's heavy. Matt will hopefully reactivate himself if I mess with him enough.

     I tap his face a bit, trying to get a response, and I have to nudge him for another minute until he opens his eyes. His robotic eye is a light blue instead of the normal deep color. He must be trying to conserve power for whatever reason. Matt sits up and looks at us both with a blank expression.

     "It is not dawn". It's not a question, but Matt obviously wasn't to know why I woke him up.

     "Change of plans. We have to leave this place. There's something wrong", I try and explain the best I can, still whispering. "You know the way, right? To the coordinates?". Matt nods, crawling out of the shelter without further comment. I cringe at the noise he makes. All my instincts want is for me to bolt. I crawl out after him with Pete close behind. The forest looks even darker from outside.

     "Matt? Could you light up the way somehow? I can barley see the ground", Pete asks him.

     "I can not. My primary battery is low on energy", Matt replies, starting to walk forwards. I grab his arm and then grabs Pete's hand that way we won't lose each other.

     "Don't you have two batteries? Just use the other one!", I whimper yell at him.

     "That is not an option. My secondary battery will remain in storage mode". That doesn't make sense. He's used that battery before at night. Why is keeping it stored so important? If there's some sort of bug in his system, I have no idea how we would ever fix it.

     Matt doesn't trip or stumble in the dark. Pete and I, on the other hand, seem to find every tree root and hole in the entire forest. I would've gone down a few different times if my grip on Matt hadn't held me up. There are still no nighttime bugs chirping in the brush. The silence is following us like a cloud. I still can't get my feathers to flatten. There's something there just out of sight. Something dangerous. I can feel it.

     My suspicions are confirmed when I hear a low growling sound. Matt stops, and I can only assume that he can see it. Or rather, them. Another growl echos the first to my right, and then to the left. I don't know if they're wolves or coyotes. Either of those is still bad news.

     "Choco.......", Pete trails off. He's practically pushed his back up against me.

     "Now would be a good time to whip out some sort of weapon, Matt", I nudge him with my elbow, barely able to see his shadowy silhouette.

     "Not possible. My primary battery is low on energy", Matt still refuses to budge. "You're abilities are sufficient to solve the delay".

     "Do you think he means your sense feeling thing?", Pete asks in confusion.

     "I don't know if that'll work. I've never tried it with something like this", I admit. At this point, the three of us are back to back in a loose circle. It's dark enough that I don't bother closing my eyes to concentrate. My wildly beating heart doesn't help any, but I slowly open up my senses to our surroundings. I can almost feel the smaller nighttime creatures fleeing from the area. My instincts urge me to do the same. Grass and small patches of vegetation are being disturbed all around us. I can hear the plant's discomfort.

     "I can see them", I mumble, "They're trying to surround us before they close in. We need to move to the right to get out of the circle". Matt and Pete both stay quiet, but do as I say. I keep changing our direction as the wolves try to block our way forwards. Matt keeps us heading in the General direction of the coordinations. The wolves are probably scared of the three of us together. That's why that want a sure kill before they strike. Matt's height and muscular build is the only thing keeping us safe.

     The next hour is the longest of my entire life. When I can't feel the wolves following us anymore, and I begin to panic, but then I see the first gray light of dawn appearing. They gave up. Matt leads in a straight line again, and I can only wearily plod along after Pete. Next time, we stay on a well used road. I never want to do that again.....