Drake and the Fliers

by Allison Maruska

  Drake ran around. Brody lay across the back seat – at least Drake thought it was Brody. Burns covered his face and head, and thankfully, he was unconscious. Injuries this severe would be agonizing.

  “What happened to him?” Drake leaned over to support Brody’s back as Terry pulled him out of the car. His hand touched something tacky, and when he moved it, he realized it was Brody’s charred flesh.

  Terry supported Brody’s upper body in his arms, allowing Drake to let go. “Something flew around the city. It kind of looked like a dragon, but it wasn’t. More like a lizard thing. Grab his legs.”

  Drake did, and Terry walked backwards as they carried Brody to the house. Seth followed, running a hand through his hair.

  Talon opened the door for them as Terry continued the explanation. “The lizard thing shot an acid ball through the window of the truck we found. Brody was waiting for us there while we checked the store. We ran out when he screamed.” Terry faced a couple of teens sitting on the couch. “Move.”

  They set Brody on the couch, and the full light of the living room showed the extent of his injuries. His face, head, neck, and half of his chest were a mess of burned skin and thick boils. Parts of his scalp had burned away completely, revealing sections of his skull among occasional patches of his buzz cut hair. An acrid smell filled the room, and Drake’s stomach turned. The smell was the burnt flesh of their friend.

  At the same moment Miguel bolted through the door, Drake leaned towards Brody’s mouth and placed his fingers over it. “I don’t think he’s breathing.”

  Seth cried out and grabbed his hair with both hands as he scrunched his face. “Does he have a pulse?”

  Drake’s dad had taught him how to take a pulse. He and Kelsey even practiced on each other. Finding Brody’s pulse in his neck would be impossible with all the damaged skin, so Drake reached for his arm.

  As more teens entered the house, Drake placed his fingers on the inside of Brody’s wrist, moving them slightly when he couldn’t detect a beat. Giving up on Brody’s left wrist, Drake grabbed his right and tried again.

  Come on. Where is it?

  He let go of Brody’s wrist and grabbed his own, to make sure he had the correct position. A rapid beat met his finger. Holding his breath, he picked up Brody’s wrist again.

  All eyes were on him, waiting for him to give them good news.

  Keeping his eyes on his injured friend, Drake set down Brody’s hand and shook his head.

  “No! God!” Seth crouched, keeping his hands in his hair.

  Miguel knelt next to Drake. He stared at his friend and swallowed. “Why would someone do this?” His voice cracked.

  Drake couldn’t answer.

  Chapter Nine

  After a fitful few hours of sleeping in a tent in the front yard, Drake found Preston in the stable, brushing the horse. They’d let Seth decide when to move Brody’s body, which didn’t happen until well into the night. Drake had helped wrap Brody in a blanket and carry him back to the car until they could bury him – not the best place of honor for the dead, but they didn’t have many options. Keeping Brody in the house caused a few to have emotional breakdowns, as similar as the situation was to the virus killing their family members.

  Drake cleared his throat to keep from startling his friend. “Hey.”

  Preston twisted around. “Oh. Hey.” His attention returned to the horse. “She hasn’t been brushed in ages.”

  “Do you know anything about horses?” Drake stood on the other side of the animal and put his hand on her back, feeling her soft hair. She was thinner than other horses he’d seen, but she didn’t look emaciated.

  “A little. My cousins had horses, and we visited every couple of years.” Preston stopped brushing. “How’s Seth doing?”

  “Still asleep. We’re gonna do a little service today, after Seth and Miguel decide where we should bury Brody.” Drake swallowed the lump in his throat. This was the first death he’d faced since Kelsey’s, the first death caused by something other than the virus. He hadn’t known Brody well, but both his death and how he died sent an unease through the group – something unknown was out there, and it killed without hesitation. “Are you worried about what did that to him?”

  Preston pursed his lips. “I’m not sure. Terry thinks it was alone, or a group would have come after us by now. Maybe it thought it was protecting itself.”

  “But Brody was in human form. Not much threat against an acid-spitting lizard.”

  Preston shrugged. “We might not get to know why it happened.”

  “Just like how we don’t get to know why we lived.” Drake clenched his jaw. “I’m going back to the city with Terry and some others after the service. You wanna come?”

  “What for?”

  “We still need a fridge, and . . . we want to find that thing.”

  “It’s a revenge mission?”

  “Maybe. We’re gonna stay in flier form and stand guard. We’ll see if it shows up.”

  Preston nodded and continued to brush the horse. He performed the task slowly, stroking the animal with apparent affection.

  “Are you doing okay? With what happened back at the lake?”

  “Yeah.” He held his hand in place on the horse’s back. “I wish we could have done something. They might survive where we left them. It was better than the neighborhood. But…” He turned his head to the side and cleared his throat. “I don’t understand. Humans have spent centuries abusing and killing each other because of ego or whatever. The virus takes us out, and the animals are the ones that suffer the most. And most people didn’t give enough of a damn to make sure they wouldn’t suffer. Like Scopes. She couldn’t care less about leaving the animals behind.”

  “I think she cared. She just didn’t think she could do anything.”

  Preston shook his head. “If she cared, she would have given me time to make a cage that wouldn’t fall apart. We would have been fine in Vegas for a while longer.” He smoothed the horse’s mane. “Animals are different than we are. Daisy — the beagle — only wanted to be with me, no matter what happened in the past.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Preston kept his attention on the horse. “I didn’t cry when my dad died.” He swallowed. “I know I should feel guilty about that, but I don’t. My parents kicked me out when I was sixteen, after they caught me with a guy. I still wanted to see my brother, though, so I’d sneak him out of the house. My dad filed a restraining order against me when he found out.” His eyes glistened. “Because of him, I believed I was damaged. Unlovable. I told her all that, and she stuck with me.” He sniffed and returned to brushing. “Animals love unconditionally. People are incapable of that.”

  Drake wanted to say the dog couldn’t understand everything Preston had told her but decided to stay quiet.

  As if reading his mind, Preston said, “You probably think Daisy didn’t know what I said. Animals know a lot more than we give them credit for.”

  “She’ll be okay. She’s smart,” Drake said, only half believing it.

  “I hope so.” Preston glanced at the house. “I’ve been thinking about leaving.”

  “Why? Because of Scopes?”

  “Not entirely.” He scrunched his eyebrows. “Okay. Maybe mostly. If I got a group together to head out on our own, would you come?”

  “Um…” Drake twisted around and looked at the tents, where a few others had started to mingle. Talon kneeled on the grass next to the fire pit, working to get the flames going again. Her black hair draped around her, swaying with every move, and she somehow managed to make sweats look good.

  “It’s Talon, isn’t it?”

  He turned back. Preston was smiling, which must not have happened recently because it struck Drake as odd.

  Drake grinned. “Yeah. She was with her brother when they found the group. He didn’t want to stay with them. She basically split from him so she could be with this group. I don’t think she’ll want to leave.” He gazed at her again,
watching her stoke the small fire. “And I can’t leave her.”

  All his affection for Talon rushed to his core, and he closed his eyes, realizing for the first time how strong his feelings were for her. He resisted the urge to run out to her and scoop her in his arms.

  Preston’s laugh broke Drake’s trance. “It’s okay. I get it.”

  “Are you really gonna leave?”

  He shook his head and walked towards the tents. “I thought of it this morning. Sonar won’t want to leave either. I’ll try to figure out how to deal with Scopes. The fridge thing should slow her down for a while.”

  “That was gross.”

  “She deserved it. I’m glad the doors broke open.”

  “You don’t think she’ll make life worse for you now?”

  Preston shrugged.

  ****

  Drake flew a few yards behind their newly acquired truck, which held a stainless steel refrigerator. He and Terry had acted as guards while the others retrieved the appliance, but there had been no sign of the flier that attacked Brody – aside from the acid-burned truck they’d left behind.

  Drake mentally replayed the brief service for Brody as he flew. Seth and Miguel each spoke, but the reality was no one knew Brody before the virus. They couldn’t speak about his life as he grew up, what his hobbies were, what his family was like.

  They all lived together now, but before today, Drake hadn’t considered they would build lives together and eventually know those details about each other. Over time, these people would become his family.

  His mind went to Kelsey, and anxiety took hold in his gut. Acquiring a new family felt like betrayal.

  A bang followed by a hiss on the street interrupted his thoughts. The truck came to a slow stop.

  “Dammit!” Scopes stormed out of the truck, slammed the door closed, and paced with her hands on her hips.

  Terry landed next to her. “What happened?”

  “How should I know?”

  Preston landed and peered into the window. “It was fine when we left. Did you work the clutch correctly?”

  “I know how to drive, Phoenix.”

  “I’m just saying, something happened between there and here–”

  “You could have driven it if you wanted.”

  “Then you would have had to shift to your hawk form. Or ride with me in the cab.” He raised his brow.

  This was Preston’s plan for dealing with Scopes?

  She stepped towards Preston. “We need to get this back to the house, and there are no other trucks around here. Why don’t you figure something out, since you’re so smart? Oh, but make sure it works better than the animal thing did. We’d like it to actually get there.”

  Drake inhaled, bracing himself for Preston’s reaction.

  Preston silently stared for a moment. “Wow. Nice one.” He lifted off, flying away from the group.

  After they tied ropes to the truck’s frame, Drake and Terry pulled it back to the house. Preston returned about the same time they had the fridge upright. He stood next to Sonar and whispered something into his ear, and they left the house together.

  Sonar returned as the rest of the group settled in for a movie. He stood in the doorway like he didn’t remember how to finish walking into the room.

  Drake approached him but didn’t say anything. Sonar tilted his head to the door, and they walked to the fire pit.

  “Phoenix is in the stable,” Sonar said. “He wants to leave. He asked me to go with him.”

  “What’d you say?”

  “I don’t wanna leave. These guys have been my family since the virus.” He sniffed. “I talked him into staying. He knows whatever attacked Brody is still out there somewhere.”

  “You know there are others, right? Besides that one?”

  Sonar nodded. “It’s why we were scouting for survivors.” He gazed into the distance. “We should get back to that.”

  “Scouting?”

  “Yeah. A few of us started out doing it, but I was the only one when you and Phoenix showed up.” He grinned. “I got distracted after that.”

  Drake laughed. “I can go scouting. I’d like to.”

  “All right. Let’s find a map tomorrow and figure out coverage areas.”

  That was more involved than Drake imagined it would be. He thought he’d just be flying around. But it made sense to cover new areas.

  “Phoenix wants to stay in the stable instead of the house. I’m gonna help him get set up.” Sonar walked to the stable, and Drake returned to the house, thinking about the decisions that had been made in the last half hour.

  Preston would stay, and Drake would start scouting. Maybe he’d find other survivors, fliers who didn’t know they weren’t alone in the world.

  Chapter Ten

  Drake soared above the barren city, a habit he’d adopted since he started scouting four months earlier. The others had stopped about a month after they settled in Oregon, certain there were no other survivors to find. They hadn’t even seen the lizard that killed Brody. It seemed to have shown up solely for that purpose, then disappeared.

  Drake kept at it, and no one seemed to mind. There were other survivors – Talon’s brother and the three thugs from Denver, at least. The longer he scouted without results, the more he had to bury the lingering hope that insisted on staying with him — the hope that he’d find someone like him. Eventually, he went as an excuse to get out on his own once in a while.

  Flying between the tall buildings, Drake marveled at the level of destruction the virus and nearly a year of neglect in a rainy climate had produced. Floors had collapsed onto each other. Most windows were broken. Wild plants worked to reclaim what man had created, growing through and around streets and up the walls. In a way, it was a beautiful demise.

  Drake headed back to the ranch. After a few hours, the house, stable, and longhouses they’d built came into view. As usual, he landed near his longhouse and walked through the extra-wide door, designed so they could enter in their flier forms. After he dressed, he wandered towards the house to get a snack.

  When he was halfway there, Talon’s voice stopped him. “I wondered when you’d get back. This is the longest you’ve been gone.”

  He twisted around, and his breath caught at the sight of her. He rushed over, put his hands behind her head, and kissed her the way he’d imagined for the last three hours. The cold drizzle sprinkled their faces, contrasting with the warmth of her lips. She pulled him closer.

  Footsteps crunched the snow behind him. “Didn’t you see her this morning?” Preston asked.

  Drake pulled away but gazed into her eyes. “I don’t care.”

  She laughed. “I need to go help the others. Terry brought in a deer this afternoon.” She reached around Drake’s head and yanked the tie that held his hair back. “I’ll take this with me.” She put it on her wrist and sauntered towards the stable.

  Drake’s hair fell around his shoulders. “Why does she keep doing that?” He combed the strands with his fingers.

  “Maybe she’s hinting for you to cut it. You do kind of look like Jesus when your hair’s down.”

  “Just wait ‘til I get the sweet beard.” Drake pulled another hair tie from his pocket and redid the ponytail as he headed for the stable.

  Talon giggled, apparently not out of earshot.

  Preston put a hand on Drake’s arm, stopping him. He stared at the stable for a few seconds, then faced Drake. “Well?”

  “Well, what?” Drake glanced at the ground.

  Preston widened his eyes and leaned forward.

  Drake pressed his lips. “Fine. We didn’t. Okay?”

  “Really? I thought for sure last night would be it.”

  “Yeah, well… she didn’t have a good first experience, I guess. Before the virus. I don’t want her to feel rushed.”

  “Rushed? You’ve only been talking about this for what – two months? Longer?”

  Drake scratched a place on his neck that didn’t itch. “Can w
e please talk about something else?” He resumed their walk.

  He’d thought last night was his best chance to be with Talon the way he’d wanted to for countless weeks. He’d even flown into the city a few days ago and scoured until he found an unopened shipment of condoms, hoping the lack of climate control in the store wouldn’t compromise their effectiveness. He returned carrying two boxes of forty-eight, laughing at the number. What would Talon say if she knew?

  After sunset, he’d flown with Talon to the small shelter he’d built near the lake, about five miles from the ranch. He constructed a fire near the shelter’s entrance, and they relaxed on the bed of blankets. They made out for longer than Drake could guess, but as he started to make his move, she told him she wasn’t ready. Her first boyfriend had rushed her and the relationship ended badly, and Drake didn’t want to appear even close to that. So he told her he’d wait for her.

  He was seventeen and hadn’t gone there yet, so he didn’t know what he was missing. At least, that’s what he told himself.

  “Dammit, Phoenix! What the hell?” Scopes’ yell pulled Drake from his frustrating thoughts.

  Preston snickered. “She must have found the ferrets I put in the stereo cabinet.”

  “What? Why’d you do that?”

  “I needed a place to put them, and I didn’t have a cage.”

  “Where did you find ferrets?”

  Scopes stormed out of the house before Preston could answer. “Get those filthy things out of there. Seriously, they’re probably swimming with disease. They smell horrible.”

  “They’re fine. Ferrets are supposed to smell like that.”

  “If we needed animals in there, we would shift.” She stomped back inside.

  Preston rolled his eyes and walked towards the stable.

  Drake laughed. It seemed the ferrets weren’t going anywhere. “Why do you keep antagonizing her?”

  “Because she’s ridiculous. There’s no reason to keep animals out or to prevent us from shifting whenever we want. We have this gift to become something greater than human. Why not use it?”