by Keeley Smith
He didn’t scream like a girl, although he’d expected himself to. In normal circumstances he would have laughed at someone who screamed like a girl but this wasn’t exactly normal and it did call for it, but his throat had closed up. He’d never felt pain like it. The sweet sting from his father’s back hand didn’t even come close to the pain he was feeling now. It was rolling over him in giant waves as dark tendrils crept into his vision. He wasn’t going to faint. This wasn’t the time or the place.
Instead of his own scream he could still hear Deyna’s terrified screams below him, before his mind could register what had happened, he felt a considerable weight drop onto his legs. That weight made the talons dig deeper, ripping muscle and flesh. He bit the inside of his cheek and felt the rush of warm copper fill his mouth.
He looked down to see what the sudden weight was and found Phillip clinging onto him for dear life. They flew higher but the speed had decreased as the bird struggled with two of them. Eagles dived, pecking viciously at Phillip but to his credit, Phillip didn’t let go.
Stephen couldn’t speak, his breath was coming in short gasps, his lungs wouldn’t function and this scared him which made him pant more. The injury wasn’t good, he knew this when he felt copper tasting bubbles pop near his mouth with each shallow breath.
Whilst the other eagles were fighting Phillip, they were also making the bird attached to his shoulder jerk and change course. Black spots popped into his vision.
“Phillip... I can’t take the pain. You will have to drop down.”
Phillip fought off another attack. “I’m not letting you go!”
“You have to...I can’t...breathe.”
Phillip shot him a worried look and then glanced below.
The waterfall was now in full view which meant the drop was a long one. Phillip took a deep breath and then let go. Now that took some serious guts. The eagle rose higher. Its wings flapped, one stroke after another that had the sharp talons dragging at his body. He gritted his teeth thinking of a way out of this situation. Any movement or fighting the bird would result in pain that felt like a red hot poker being stuck into his shoulder.
Brilliant white sparks circled him and the large fearsome bird. The crackling fireworks from Lester’s trail caused the bird to screech in frustration. It changed course making it feel like his shoulder was going to break away from the rest of his body. Despite the pain, Stephen had never felt happier to see Lester.
“Use your weapon, Stephen.”
His mind, numb with pain, hadn’t thought of this.
Stephen’s sluggish hands grasped desperately at the gun that was sitting snug in the back of his jeans, he felt like he’d had too much to drink, his co-ordination was wrong, the signals from his brain weren’t being received anywhere else. He pulled at the gun feeling relief when he finally felt the heavy weight in his hand. Panting and feeling pinpricks of sweat bead at his forehead, he aimed the gun. He tried not to think about the pain that twisting his body caused, he needed to do this.
Forcing himself to ignore the large black spots in his vision and the stalled air in his lungs, he pulled back the hammer and felt the click. The gun was ready. He twisted around placing his finger against the smooth trigger and fired.
The force blasting against his hand was something he hadn’t thought about. They didn’t show that in the films. The gun flew from his hand and fell down into the water.
His weapon was gone, that had been his only chance. He really hoped he’d hit the sweet spot. He closed his eyes trying to breathe.
Talons lost their grip as a screech from the eagle made his ears ring. He felt gravity push against his body and welcomed the freedom. He had seconds to think about the fact that he was falling. The water rushed to meet him, he hoped the water was deep enough otherwise he was going to be as flat as a pancake. He took a deep breath before the impact.
He hit the water, the force feeling like thousands of knives stabbing every inch of his body. The surface of the water sped away from him. He pushed his feet forcing his body to go upright instead of sinking further into the darkness he was starting to hate. He hadn’t realised the river was this deep.
The second his face broke the surface, he spluttered for air. He kicked his feet desperately trying to keep his head above water, it was hard because his arm was useless. Another loud crash sent a tidal wave of water over his head making sure he was sucked back under for a second. He gasped and swallowed water. Spluttering as his lungs forced out the water in gut wrenching coughs, he tried to stay afloat. Feathers floated towards him which could only mean the bird had followed him plummeting out of the air.
“Come on, Stephen!” Phillip put his arm around his waist and pulled him towards the edge of the river.
“Wait. Get the bird.”
He pulled away from Phillip and began swimming, rather unsuccessfully, towards the large bird.
“Why?”
He pulled at a wing and realised he was going to struggle with it alone. He could feel all his energy leaking out of his wound, his life’s source turned the water red around him.
Phillip helped him drag the large beast to the side of the river. He hadn’t really helped Phillip much to be fair. He heaved himself out of the river, stood for less than a second as the world rolled and dipped, and then crumbled to the floor gasping for breath. Deyna raced to his side hugging the breath right out of him. He didn’t have the heart to tell her to let go, that he was already struggling to breathe. That would cause her to worry and he didn’t want that.
He was worried though, his body shook uncontrollably when he thought of the seriousness of his injuries.
“Why... the hell... did you bring...that back?” Phillip gasped breathlessly.
“What else are we going to eat?” he mumbled feeling his words slur with pain.
“Are you joking?” Deyna screeched in shock as she shook from the cold water clinging to her clothes.
The sound made the hairs on his arms stand to attention. He looked up expecting more of the deadly birds to swoop down on them. Thankfully, it was silent.
“No, I’m not joking, unless you want to starve?” His teeth chattered, he couldn’t even rub his arms to try and warm himself up.
His comment was greeted with silence. He didn’t exactly want to eat the bird himself but he was starving. The saying was true; the one that stated you would eat anything when you were hungry.
“Okay, genius, but how do we cook the thing? I’m not eating that raw,” Phillip scoffed.
Phillip did have a point. He couldn’t stand to put raw fish into his mouth, so a slightly warm, bloody piece of bird was not going to pass his lips.
“We need wood to start a fire,” he wheezed feeling a bubble pop near his mouth.
Other than dirt and water, they were surrounded by nothing.
“Okay,” he said in answer to their quizzical expressions, “I hadn’t thought that far ahead... but we have Lester’s spark attack to help with the fire end of things,” Stephen whispered.
His shoulder and chest had taken on a heartbeat of its own.
“I have an idea, please wait here.” Lester looked at them individually daring them to move.
Where else were they going to go? He bit back the sarcastic remark fearful that it would take too much energy to say it. He didn’t feel too good but he didn’t want to say anything to the others. He realised he could possibly die here.
Lester’s eyes stayed on Stephen for a second longer, and then he seemed to disappear into thin air.
j
CHAPTER TWELVE
