Drake and the Fliers

by Allison Maruska

  ****

  Everyone regrouped for breakfast the next morning. Drake wasn’t accustomed to eating this early, but he didn’t want to appear unfriendly. He poured a bowl of dry cereal and looked for a place to sit.

  He found Preston at a center table and sat next to him. Scopes sat across from Preston, and she appeared to be interrogating him.

  “You’re nineteen?” She picked at her food. “When’s your birthday?”

  “What difference does that make?” Preston’s tone was more curious than combative.

  “I thought I was the oldest.” She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and fidgeted in her seat. “What do you shift to?”

  “Are you wondering which one of us would be the dominant species?” Preston took a bite of toaster strudel.

  She glared at him.

  “Look, Scopes, I know you’re kind of in charge here. I don’t want your job. Okay?”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  Preston leaned towards her. “My birthday’s in February.”

  She slumped. “Crap. Mine’s in June.”

  Preston laughed. “Why are you in charge, anyway? Because you’re the oldest?”

  She scoffed. “No. I’m the one who started finding survivors and bringing them together. I grew up here and knew there was power. I thought the others might want to know too.” She took a bite of her breakfast sandwich and stared at the table.

  Drake cleared his throat. “Why can’t we shift in the neighborhood?”

  She finally seemed to notice Drake was there. “This is our safe place.” She glanced at Terry. “Some of us are pretty large when we shift, so there’s a safety concern there. The main reason is this is the place where we can be wholly human, like we were before the virus. I want us to be more than the animals we become on the outside. We need to know each other as people.”

  “Hey, Phoenix!” Sonar called as he approached their table. He claimed an empty seat next to her.

  Drake faced Preston and leaned back a bit. “Phoenix? You couldn’t be more creative?”

  “You’re a Phoenix?” Scopes sighed, stood, and walked to another table, sitting with her back to them.

  Sonar laughed. “I’ve never seen Scopes so nervous.” His Boston accent seemed thicker as a human. “She must think a Phoenix outranks a hawk.”

  Preston shrugged. “I hope this works out.”

  “You hope what works out?” Drake asked.

  “Staying here.”

  Chapter Six

  Drake paced up and down the street, trying to keep his mind off the incessant burning in his chest. What had been a periodic annoyance the past few months had become a daily occurrence, and today, nothing made it stop. He winced, tapped his chest with his fist, and burped.

  Talon left her house and approached him. “Are you okay?”

  He winced again. “Yeah, once I get rid of this heartburn. The stuff I took isn’t helping.”

  “Wanna fly around for a while? Maybe it’ll distract you.”

  “It’s worth a shot.”

  After shifting, he met Talon outside the neighborhood. The sunlight made her feathers glow, taking Drake’s mind off the burning for a moment.

  They kept a low altitude as they flew over the desert, towards Lake Mead. Drake groaned as the pain became more insistent. “Gah, this sucks.” He turned away from Talon, gathered his energy in his core, and released a roar that echoed around the desert. Something else accompanied it this time, completely relieving his heartburn.

  “Holy crap.” He dropped to the ground and examined the shrub he’d set aflame.

  Talon landed next to him. “I didn’t know you breathed fire.”

  “Neither did I.” He approached another shrub and roared again. It ignited, and he laughed. “Well, this will come in handy if we end up somewhere cold.”

  “Or when we have to cook after the power stops.”

  He smiled. “Yeah. Let’s keep going.”

  They landed on Hoover Dam and leaned over the wall, facing the river. The wind rushed over Drake’s scales and ruffled Talon’s feathers.

  “What do you know about the virus?” Drake asked as he tried to see the bottom of the concrete. He could easily fly down there if he wanted to, but he enjoyed the dizzy feeling the depth gave him.

  “Ezekiel and I figured out that it killed everyone over twenty and younger than puberty. But we didn’t know why.”

  Drake shrugged. “Maybe our DNA or the age of our cells has something to do with it.” He faced her. “There are others out there besides your brother. He’s probably not alone.”

  She nodded. “I keep wondering if he’ll change his mind and show up one day, like you and Phoenix did.”

  “Sonar said survivors arrive every day.”

  She shook her head. “You guys are the newest ones. I don’t think anyone else has been scouting. I suppose I should volunteer. Sonar’s been doing most of it, but I guess he’s taking a break. Another owl arrived last week, a couple days before you did. She looks like a barn owl. Beautiful white feathers.”

  He smiled. “I bet she’s not as pretty as you are.”

  She leaned towards him. “You’re a charmer, aren’t you?”

  “I have my moments.”

  She laughed. “Have you seen any other dragons?”

  He peered over the rocky landscape. “Not yet.”

  “Do you want to?”

  “It would be nice not to be alone.”

  He watched clouds drift across the sky before she broke the silence. “Have you gone fishing?”

  “Fishing?” He studied the lake behind them. “Fishing is really boring.”

  She giggled. “No, as a dragon, silly. Come on. It’s easy. I’ll show you.” She flew over the dam and hovered above the water.

  Drake settled onto his belly and wrapped his tail around his side, admiring her. Even if she didn’t catch anything, at least he had a nice view.

  She scanned the water, then dropped to the surface; her talons and lower half sank for a second before she lifted, holding a large fish in her claws.

  “Whoa.” Drake laughed, amazed at how simple she’d made it look.

  She carried the fish to the dam and dropped it next to him. It flip-flopped noisily on the pavement. “See? Easy.” She landed next to him. “Now you try.”

  He flew over the lake and scanned the water the same way she had done. Fish swam underneath him; some stayed near the surface. As an especially large one approached, he dunked his claws and curled them around the fish. He lifted up at the same moment the fish wriggled from his grasp and landed back in the water.

  Talon laughed.

  Drake glared at her, then raised his dragon brow. Keeping his eyes on her, he plunged into the lake.

  He moved through the water smoothly and to his surprise, he didn’t need to surface for air as soon as he expected. The water didn’t burn his eyes. In fact, he could see as clearly as he would in human form, if he wore goggles.

  A large trout swam near him, and he darted for it. It bolted away as he approached, but he reached it in seconds and caught it in his mouth, careful not to pierce the scales with his teeth.

  Looking at the surface, he propelled himself forward. He launched from the water and hovered above it as his wings sent a spray that reached both lake shores at once.

  “Wow.” Talon’s voice came from the dam, where she’d perched on the wall.

  He flew to her and dropped the fish on the cement next to hers. It flopped on the surface. “You’re right. It’s not too hard.”

  She smacked him with her wing. “Well, if I knew you could do that, I would have let you figure it out.”

  He laughed, and she stared at him. His eyes connected with hers and stayed there.

  She stepped closer, not moving her gaze, and Drake’s nerves rushed to his stomach. Her eyes pierced through him, as if reading his thoughts, and she continued to close the distance between them. He wished they were in human form, as this connection would like
ly end in a kiss. Maybe they could shift, just for a minute…

  “We should get back.” She glanced at the fish.

  He sighed. “Yeah.”

  Drake followed Talon into her back yard and dropped his catch. “Can you take this inside with yours? I haven’t seen Preston since yesterday. I’m gonna go find him.”

  She bobbed her head, and he took off for his own yard. After shifting and dressing, he checked the house he shared with Preston and found it empty. When he went back outside, voices carried from the neighboring yard. One was Preston’s. The other was decidedly Boston.

  He wandered around the house. Preston and Sonar sat together on a bench overlooking a dead flower garden, facing away from the gate where Drake stood. Preston’s arm rested around Sonar’s back, his hand stroking Sonar’s arm. Sonar rested his head on Preston’s shoulder. The resident beagle slept by Preston’s feet. They looked like a happy little family.

  That couldn’t be right. Preston hadn’t given any indication he preferred guys in the months since they’d met; of course, he hadn’t indicated he preferred girls either. Back in Denver, whenever Drake talked about girls he’d liked, Preston said he wasn’t interested in dating and let Drake do all the talking.

  Now it made sense.

  Since they didn’t seem concerned about anyone seeing them, Drake stepped into the yard. “Hey, guys.”

  Sonar snapped around, his eyes wide. He stood and backed away from the bench, looking from Preston to Drake with his hand on the back of his neck. The beagle lifted her head and glared at Sonar, as if irritated with having her sleep disrupted.

  Preston glanced at Drake, stood, and put a hand on Sonar’s shoulder. He leaned close to Sonar’s ear and muttered something. Sonar nodded and walked to the gate.

  Preston walked to Drake but faced Sonar. “I’ll catch up with you later, all right?”

  “Yeah. For sure.” Sonar waved and walked to the cul-de-sac but looked back to Drake before quickening his pace. The beagle followed him.

  Preston gestured to the street. “Let’s go for a walk.” He led Drake away from the cul-de-sac. “So, I’m thinking you have a hunch about what you saw.”

  Drake scraped his shoe on the street. “Are you gonna make me guess? Because it’ll be really embarrassing if I’m wrong.”

  “You’re not wrong.” Preston pursed his lips.

  “Why didn’t you say anything before? We were in Denver for months. I don’t care if you like guys.” He leaned towards Preston. “I’m from San Francisco.”

  Preston laughed. “You like girls, and since it was just the two of us, I didn’t want to…” He sighed. “I didn’t want to risk it being awkward, I guess. My family freaked when they found out.” He put his hands in his pockets and stared at his shoes.

  Drake tilted his head towards the cul-de-sac. “What about Sonar?”

  “He planned to come out right before the virus hit. After everyone died, he worried he’d be the only one like us – that he’d be alone.” He grinned. “I guess I did too.”

  Drake remembered his conversation with Talon about him being the only dragon. “Yeah, I get that.”

  When they reached the end of the street, they turned around. A group had gathered in the circle, and more teens rushed from houses and joined it. They talked, pointed, and a few cried.

  Drake sped up, and Preston followed.

  “What’s going on?” Drake asked Terry upon reaching the group.

  “Power’s out. We’ve gotta move.” He clenched his jaw. “You guys wanna come with me? I’m gonna look for a new place.”

  Drake and Preston nodded. Drake started walking to his house but stopped when Terry jumped up and shifted, allowing the shredded remains of his clothes to fall to the ground. Drake gasped.

  Terry’s pterodactyl form overshadowed everyone in the group. While Drake had knocked over furniture and barely squeezed through the door when he first shifted, Terry would have been trapped in the office.

  “Come on, we have to hurry,” Terry said. “We need to get the perishable food moved before it spoils.”

  Not wanting to ruin his clothes, Drake hustled to the yard and met Preston and Terry outside the neighborhood.

  They looped over the houses while Terry scanned the area, his pointed beak moving from side to side as the sun glistened off his silver skin.

  “What are you thinking?” Preston asked.

  Terry shook his head. “We were in this area before. Let’s head to the north end.”

  Drake laughed at their current grouping. What would Kelsey say if she saw a pterodactyl, a Phoenix, and a dragon flying together? None of them were supposed to exist.

  They landed in another neighborhood, and Terry shifted to human form. He walked to a house, apparently unfazed with being naked in front of other guys.

  No different than a locker room, Drake supposed. But he wasn’t about to go parading naked in front of the others any time soon.

  Terry left the house, shifted, and took off again.

  They spent the following hours flying around the city and checking for power. In every case, flipping switches yielded no light.

  “Damn.” After leaving the last house, Terry stayed in human form and paced around a street with his hands on his hips.

  Drake tried not to look directly at him. Preston must have noticed, because he laughed.

  Terry put his hand on the back of his neck. “Hoover must have quit. I thought we’d have more time.”

  Drake pretended something in the sky caught his attention. “Why don’t we gather up as much ice as we can and take it back? If we pack the food in it, it’ll keep for a little while, until we figure out what to do.”

  Preston shook out his wings and lifted off the ground. “Or we could find some generators. The gas in the Camaro is still good. We could at least run the refrigerators that way.”

  Terry nodded. “It’s worth a shot. We’ll have to figure out how to get generators back to the neighborhood, if we don’t find any there.” He jumped off the ground and shifted. “For now, let’s go back to the main roads and check the gas stations for ice.”

  Drake glanced at Preston as they followed Terry. “You know what this means, right?”

  “What?”

  “If we can’t get generators, the cold food will last a couple weeks, tops, and we’ll run out of the other food eventually. We’ll have to start hunting.” Drake worried Preston’s affinity for animals could be a problem.

  “I assumed we would have to at some point.” Preston stared straight ahead. “We have canned food stocked up from the houses. We should go through all the stores and warehouses and collect what’s left.”

  “I know how to fish. You wanna learn?”

  Terry landed at a gas station as Preston answered. “Sure. We should grab some lighters and matches while we’re here. We’ll need a way to cook whatever we catch. The propane for the grills won’t last forever.”

  Drake grinned, thinking about his new gift. He decided to keep it a secret for now; it would be more fun to surprise Preston when it mattered.

  They flew back to the neighborhood with as many bags of ice as they could carry. When they arrived, the rest of the group appeared ready to move, holding backpacks and setting coolers in the middle of the street, probably to be picked up by the claws of large birds. The dogs ran around, as if they knew something drastic was happening.

  Terry dropped his bags. “Settle down. We’re not leaving. There’s nowhere else to go.” He explained the lack of power throughout the city and the purpose of the ice.

  “It’s out everywhere?” Scopes craned her neck to look up at Terry. “We need to figure out what to do.”

  “We’ll start by getting more ice.” Terry recruited several others to accompany him, including Sonar, Talon, and Screech, the other girl who shifted to an owl.

  Drake and Preston dropped their ice and rejoined the group after they shifted. Scopes carried a cooler and walked towards a house, talking to herself. “W
e’ll have to leave eventually.”

  Preston ran up behind her. “Not for a while. We’re gonna find generators, and even if that doesn’t work, it’s only October. It won’t get hot until spring.” The neighborhood beagle ran by his side. “Eventually, we can find a place with solar power. There are at least a few ranches in Oregon where we’ll have power and be able to grow food. We can’t do that here.”

  Drake jogged to keep up with them. “There would be lots of hunting in that area.”

  “Yeah, we’re gonna have to hunt. Hope you’re ready for that, Phoenix,” she said with a hint of disdain in her voice.

  Preston put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Do you know what to do with game? After you kill it?”

  She huffed. “No. Do you?”

  Drake laughed. Everyone seemed to assume they’d know how to survive once the power stopped and their canned and processed food ran out. “Isn’t there a library around here?”

  “Yeah. Why?” Scopes asked.

  “We should get some hunting and survival books.”

  Preston smiled. “Now why didn’t I think of that?” He tilted his head towards a house. “Come on. Let’s get this ice into the freezers.”

  Scopes’ voice stopped them as they walked up the path. “We’ll need to leave the dogs here. You’d better prepare for that, too.”

  Preston tromped back to her, the beagle quick on his heels. “We can’t do that. They won’t survive.”

  “We don’t have a choice. You’ll be lucky to find a car that works. We’d injure them if we carried them in our claws. And we fly too quickly for them to run behind.”

  “So we should leave them to die?” He shook his head.

  Scopes leaned towards him. “Why do you think we didn’t name them? We knew we couldn’t keep them. They’re animals. They’ll either figure out how to survive, or they won’t. It’s not our responsibility.”

  “We have to give them a shot!” Preston turned and stormed into the house, talking along the way. “There’s no water here. They’ll be dead in days.”