Drake and the Fliers

by Allison Maruska

  “Oh, the guys that broke the windows left that. They asked if I’d changed yet. They must have shifted first.”

  “What did they shift to?” Talon took the feather from Sonar.

  “I have no idea.”

  She put the feather in her pocket.

  Why did she do that?

  “Should we keep looking?” Gray asked, gesturing to the windows.

  Drake nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

  ****

  Ten days after they left Oregon, Drake and the group arrived in San Diego, having found scant evidence of survivors in other cities and no evidence of anyone having been there recently.

  They landed in the middle of the zoo, surrounded by empty enclosures with doors and gates that swayed in the breeze, creaking and banging against the frames with stronger gusts. Aside from the gates, the place was ominously quiet, like the setting of one of those horror films Drake’s friends made him watch on Halloween. Drake imagined a machete-wielding psycho combing the grounds.

  A standard-sized golden eagle flew overhead and landed in a nearby tree. It stared down at them, as if asking why they intruded on its territory. It tilted its head to the side before flying off.

  “If Phoenix is here, where would he be?” Drake asked as he watched the bird shrink in the distance.

  “Anywhere. Let’s split up and walk around. Meet up at the front gate.” Sonar headed towards the African exhibits with Gray. Drake and Talon walked the other way, hand in hand.

  “What if we don’t find him, go back to Oregon, and he’s there? What would you do?” Talon asked in a teasing tone.

  “Light a fire under his feet as a ‘welcome home’ present.”

  She laughed.

  “I don’t know if he’d come back on his own at this point, though,” Drake said.

  “You said he might. Just because it’s been longer doesn’t mean he won’t come back.”

  “Scopes shouldn’t have done what she did with the ferrets, but was that enough to chase him off forever?” He shrugged. “Part of me wonders if he’s been captured.”

  “Yeah, I’ve wondered that too. The thing that got Brody must have gone somewhere. From what Miguel says, it would have fit right in with the group they found before–”

  A roar interrupted her. She and Drake twisted around: a lumbering lion paced on the path about twenty yards behind them. It bolted at them when Drake made eye contact.

  “Shift! Now!” Drake jumped and shifted, and Talon followed a moment later. They let the remains of their clothes fall on the big cat and hovered well above it.

  “Damn. I liked that shirt,” Drake said.

  Talon laughed. “We should keep searching from the air.”

  “Good idea.”

  ****

  Drake led the group to Texas. They stopped in Amarillo first, the place Talon had lived. She didn’t want to stop, so after a cursory inspection of a few buildings from the air, they moved on to Dallas. Finding nothing there, they flew to Houston, arriving six days after they left San Diego.

  The degree of Houston’s decay was greater than the other cities Drake had seen, with the exception of burned-out Los Angeles. The local plant life had worked furiously to claim the buildings in the metropolis, and the dome that once covered the football stadium featured a gaping hole two-thirds the size of the original roof. Drake thought nothing of it until a huge, black bird flew out of the gap, followed by a flying lizard.

  “Oh, crap.” Drake flew behind the remains of one of the towers then up to the roof, where he could see the dome. The others followed.

  More creatures flew in and out of the fractured roof. “There’s definitely a group there.” Drake scrunched his nose, feeling silly for stating the obvious.

  Talon gazed south, the direction the black bird and lizard had flown.

  “What are you looking at?” Drake asked.

  “I think that black bird was my brother.”

  His eyes widened, and he glanced at her bag. “You think that feather came from him?” He couldn’t imagine the jerk who broke his stuff was his girlfriend’s twin brother. Zeke was nothing like Talon.

  “I don’t know. I kept it just in case.” She faced the dome. “So what should we do? We can’t sit here and stare at them forever.”

  “I was hoping Preston — Phoenix — would fly out of there. Then we can intercept him.”

  Without warning, Sonar lifted off and flew towards the dome.

  Drake hopped onto the ledge. “Sonar! Hold on!”

  He didn’t stop.

  “Crap.” Drake grabbed his bag and flew after him.

  Sonar flew to the dome and hovered over the gap. He dropped into the space a few seconds later.

  A sense of dread filled Drake’s stomach as he followed. His scales were back to the deep maroon color.

  About twenty flying creatures perched on the seats or flew around the interior, and the remains of land animals that had apparently been picked apart by hunters and scavengers lay on the former football field. A large falcon landed near the carcass of a deer at the same moment the rotting smell reached Drake.

  He exhaled, pulled in another breath, and held it.

  How could these creatures stand to be around this stench?

  “Funny to see you here,” a familiar male voice said from above and behind him.

  Preston, in his Phoenix form, perched in the upper section of seats, as if surveying a kingdom. The largest section of the remaining roof shaded him.

  While Drake, Talon, and Gray hovered in place, Sonar went right for him. He landed near Preston, between two rows of seats, and shifted to human form.

  “No! We stay animals here.” Preston’s yell echoed through the space.

  Sonar put a hand on Preston’s wing. “Phoenix, what are you doing? We’re here to bring you home. I miss you.”

  “Home? Is that what you call that place? And what do you call Scopes? Mother?” He chuckled.

  Drake released his breath, flew closer to them, and glared into Preston’s eyes. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “Nothing. I’ve finally found my place.” He faced Sonar. “You should stay.”

  Sonar glared, his hands clenched into fists.

  Drake glanced at the field. “What’s with all the dead animals?”

  “Remember how I thought we wouldn’t have to prepare food if we stay as animals? I was right. It’s so much easier. No one’s gotten sick. A few hunters get what we need and bring it back here.”

  “Doesn’t that go against your philosophy of protecting all the animals?”

  “It’s the food chain, Drake. We’re a dominant species trying to survive. We’re not intentionally torturing animals, like humans do.”

  The black bird and flying lizard returned, carrying a deer. They lowered to the field and dropped it next to a picked-apart carcass.

  Preston took off and joined them, where he worked with a small group to tear the deer apart.

  Drake’s stomach clenched. He wanted to look away, but his attention stayed on the carnage, reminding him of the time his mother drove past a fatal car accident.

  He held his breath when Talon glided towards the field. Drake followed, ready to fight to keep her from joining Preston. She landed behind the seats and entered the corridor, returning a minute later as a dressed human. “Zeke?”

  The black bird twisted its head around, a string of flesh hanging from its beak. It dropped the meat and hopped to Talon, stopping at the wall separating the seats from the field.

  Drake landed on the seats above her, watching the bird.

  The bird shifted to a boy Talon’s age with black hair and tan skin.

  Drake recognized him immediately, though he appeared calmer when not destroying other people’s property. Drake quietly groaned.

  “Chrissy, what are you doing here?” Zeke asked.

  “We came looking for our friend.” Her voice shook.

  “Ezekiel, you’re a bird here,” Preston said in between bit
es of deer meat.

  “Yeah, give me a second.” Ezekiel glanced at Drake. “Is he with you?”

  Talon nodded. “How can you live like this? It’s savage.”

  “It’s nature.” He gestured to Drake. “He could probably bring some big game in by himself.”

  “I’m not interested.” Drake shifted behind the seats, allowing Ezekiel to make the same discovery Drake already had made. “Remember me?”

  Ezekiel laughed. “A dragon? You?”

  Drake yanked his pants from his bag and put them on as he ran down the stairs, reaching Ezekiel in seconds. “This is what you had in mind, about starting over?”

  “This is how we eat, Drake,” Preston said. He half-flew, half hopped to the wall where Ezekiel stood. “This is it, the reason we were spared. Humanity had its shot, and it failed. It’s our turn. Don’t you get it? Trying to stay human makes no sense, not when we can be something greater.”

  Sonar flew to the field, landed next to Preston, and shifted to human form again.

  Preston scowled at him. “I like you better as a bat.”

  Sonar stepped towards him. “How can you say that? After everything…” His voice caught. He faced the ground and cleared his throat, obviously trying to keep tears at bay. He looked up at Preston. “Can you shift, please?”

  “No. I don’t do that anymore.”

  “But you said…”

  “Look, if you can’t accept me like this, then you should leave.” He leaned over Sonar. “But I think you should stay here, as an animal. Learn how great you can really be.”

  Sonar wiped his face with his open hands. “You’re wrong. I’ll be back at the ranch. See you when you realize it, too.” He shifted and flew out of the dome.

  Preston’s attention followed him until he was out of sight. He looked at the ground and shook his head before facing Drake. “What about you? There aren’t any dragons here. You could be important.”

  Drake took Talon’s hand. “We don’t want what you want.”

  “Maybe you should let her speak for herself, Dragon Boy.” Ezekiel shifted back to his crow form.

  “Zeke, don’t.” Talon squeezed Drake’s hand.

  “You want to stay with this joke? He didn’t even try to fight us back in Denver. He just sat back and watched.”

  Drake tried to lunge at the guy, but Talon held him back. “Don’t. He’s not worth it. He made his choice. We should leave.”

  “You’re making a mistake,” Preston said.

  “I don’t think so.” Drake dropped Talon’s hand and shifted. He grabbed his things, flew through the gap, and waited outside for her, but she didn’t appear. He flew back into the dome.

  Still in human form and fully dressed, she stood on the opposite side of the rail from Ezekiel. She was crying and staring up at Drake.

  His heart raced. She wouldn’t stay here. She said she wouldn’t.

  “I can’t shift!” Her eyes showed every ounce of panic he felt.

  “What do you mean?”

  “It won’t work!”

  Preston walked back to her. “So this is what happens. When you try to stay human. You lose the choice.”

  “Drake, get me out of here.” She ran to the aisle and up the stairs, her only means of escape.

  Drake met her in a wide walkway behind the seats and landed. “I don’t know how to get you out.”

  “Wrap me in your claws.”

  “I might hurt you.”

  “If I can’t leave, they will hurt me!”

  Drake swallowed, dropped his bag, and lifted a few feet off the ground. He gingerly wrapped his front claws around Talon’s torso, holding her like a doll.

  He glanced at the field as he carried Talon out of the dome. Preston and Zeke were staring at him.

  Chapter Twelve

  Drake set Talon on a rooftop far from the dome. Gray landed with them, but Sonar had disappeared.

  “What happened?” Drake shifted to human form and put on his pants.

  “I don’t know.” She put her face in her hands. “It just wouldn’t work.”

  He wrapped her in his arms, stroking her hair and wishing he could fix whatever was wrong.

  “How will we get her back to Oregon?” Gray asked, still in his parrot form.

  Drake shook his head. The logistical issue of carrying her thousands of miles aside, she didn’t have thick feathers covering her anymore. They’d have to find heavy winter clothes or carry her inside her sleeping bag.

  She trembled. He pulled away and focused on her eyes. “We’ll get you back. Whatever we have to do. I promise.” He stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead.

  She stared at him, her eyes silently communicating her worry.

  Gray’s voice broke their silence. “Guys, we need to hide.” He lifted a wing towards the dome.

  A group of fliers that included Ezekiel and Preston flew through the gap and dispersed over the city, scanning the rooftops. They appeared small in the distance, but it wouldn’t take long for one of them to reach Drake’s group.

  “Crap. Gray, you need to shift.” Drake ran to a roof access door and tried the knob. It was locked, and the door opened the wrong way for him to kick it in. He searched for another solution.

  A tattered blue tarp lay crumpled in the corner. He ran to it, straightened it out, and lifted it. “Come on.”

  Talon and Gray shimmied under; Drake was close behind.

  They lay side-by-side on their stomachs. The sunlight filtering through the plastic gave them a blue glow.

  Above them, two voices yelled to each other. Drake considered shifting and fighting the fliers, but if something happened to him, Talon would be stuck on this roof. Gray couldn’t get her back to Oregon by himself.

  “Are they looking for us?” Gray asked.

  “What else would they be doing?” Drake ran his fingers over the roof’s rough surface, frustrated. Why did the other fliers care if his group stayed or not?

  “Chrissy!” Zeke called from above them.

  “Stay quiet,” Drake whispered. “Don’t move.”

  “Chrissy!” Zeke’s call came again, though quieter this time. He was moving away from them. “The others can go. We just want you.”

  Drake held his breath.

  “They want me? Why? I can’t even be an owl anymore.”

  “Not being able to shift might be temporary. Maybe they think they can change you back somehow,” Gray said.

  Drake hoped her situation would reverse on its own. It would be better if they figured out the cause, so they could cure it and keep it from happening again. Whatever it was could keep him and Gray from shifting too, if it was as contagious as the virus.

  The urgency to reach Oregon settled in his chest. If they all stopped shifting, their lives would be in danger.

  He stopped hearing activity and peeked out from under the tarp. The sky was clear. “This is our chance. We need to find something to wrap Talon in, like a sheet. Something we can hold easily in our claws.”

  “I’ll go look around. You…” Gray’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “You guys stay here. I’ll be back.” He crawled out from under the tarp.

  Talon rested her head on her arms and closed her eyes. “Scopes is wrong about him. He’s young, but he’s smart. Probably smarter than any of us.”

  “You’re tired?”

  “Hmmm.” She exhaled slowly.

  He looked her over. She’d said she slept well the night before. He thought she’d want to talk about what happened. Seeing her brother go completely against her couldn’t have been easy. Maybe the stress of it wore her out.

  He curled his arm on the ground and rested his head on it, watching her doze. Her black hair draped her like a blanket. He stroked it, calmed by how peaceful she appeared.

  “Talon?”

  She opened her eyes.

  “Why is Zeke like that? I can’t believe you two are twins.”

  She sighed and rolled onto her back. “He was picked on a l
ot, up until the virus hit. He didn’t have any real friends. I think he got a taste of power and ran with it.”

  He lifted onto his elbow. “Was he mean to you before? When you were kids?”

  “Sometimes.” She took a long breath as she closed her eyes.

  He decided to let her sleep and rested on his arm. He must have dozed as well, because he woke when Gray returned with a comforter. By then, the sun was setting, lighting the sky a brilliant orange. They hadn’t spent much time flying at night, but in this case, the cover of darkness was necessary if they wanted to escape undetected.

  Talon crawled out from under the tarp. “What about Sonar?”

  Drake laid the comforter flat on the roof. “He’s probably heading straight back to the ranch. He’s scouted more than anyone. He’ll be fine.”

  “You mean he’ll be safe. I doubt he’s fine.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” While Drake thought he understood Preston’s argument for staying here and staying an animal, he couldn’t figure out why he’d treated Sonar so badly. Was his dislike for Scopes or his animal favoritism stronger than anything he had with Sonar?

  His mind flashed back to something Scopes had said before Preston left the ranch: He favors animals. Even over you and Sonar.

  Apparently, she was right.

  With Talon and their supplies inside the comforter, Drake and Gray shifted and each took an end in their claws. They lifted off with the blanket and Talon between them.

  They hovered a couple feet over the rooftop. Though she had a flashlight, Drake barely saw her through the opening in the top of the comforter. “Are you okay? Do you need to adjust anything?”

  “No. This is comfortable. It’s like a hammock.”

  “Okay.” He faced Gray. “We have to fly right next to each other. Tell me if you need to land or something.”

  “Don’t worry; I won’t drop her. You ready?”

  Drake nodded, and the two flew north through the darkness, the blanket swaying between them.

  Drake had no way to measure the time, but from the moon’s position, he guessed they flew for a couple of hours before they landed and set up camp. Talon had fallen asleep again after she’d unrolled one of the sleeping bags and crawled into it as they traveled.

  “Are you feeling okay?” He watched her plod around the campsite, looking sluggish. Fatigue was one of the early symptoms of the virus. Between her sudden inability to shift and this, his concern was quickly turning into panic.