by Laura Mae
Another bullet buzzed past her as she ducked sideways; then, another almost hit her foot. She could hear Dr. Malik shouting at the gunman to ceasefire while waving his arms, and the bullets stopped. Finally jumping to the rope, Dr. Malik began to climb, but Sydona caught up and grabbed a hold of his slippery, black shoe. With the blade in her right hand, Sydona took the opportunity to kill him once and for all. His upper thigh was as high as she could reach, and she sliced his leg. And as he bent down to grab it, she impaled her knife into his side. Crying out in agony, the doctor lashed out and kicked Sydona in the face, causing her to fall twenty feet back down to earth. As she fell, she gazed upon the bloodied man being pulled up by the gunman and holding his ribs. The doctor was safe and flew away from Eagle Lake.
The ferocious tumble made her gunshot wound intensify by a hundred. Still, she rolled onto her back to watch the helicopter fade farther and farther from sight. Her entire body ached from the fall, and shooting pains creeped up her back, forcing her to arch her body like a cat. The ground was not forgiving to her bones, and she swore something broke. Maybe it was just the feeling of all her body parts bruising at the same time. Whatever pain she was experiencing, the thought of what Dr. Malik said was all she could focus on. The last words he uttered lingered in her mind as she laid frozen on the grass. The blue showing through her natural eye color must have had something to do with her being part human. But why would it just now be appearing that way? Sydona wished she could see a mirror to see how much the blue showed through. Did the extreme torture of electrocuting her somehow change her biologically?
Doing her best to roll over and get up, she felt a hard metal piece in the grass. It was a small silver key, possibly for Raoul’s cage. She assumed it fell out of the doctor’s pocket when he ran. Suddenly, she heard her name being carried through the wind by a woman.
“Syd! Heavens woman, you okay?!” Willow asked as she finally reached her and kneeled
down next to her.
“Look.” Sydona flashed the key at Willow.
Willow nodded, helped Sydona off the ground, and asked again, “You gonna make it?”
“I’ll be fine--” Sydona grunted.
“You get shot?” Willow asked.
“No big deal.” Sydona put her good arm around Willow and changed the subject. “What about Harold?”
Willow smirked. “Don’t worry ‘bout him. Did ya kill Malik?”
Sydona paused, trying to figure out if she should lie and say she did, so everyone could rest easily. Or say that she did her best and hope for the best. It suddenly felt simple to answer.
“He’s dead.”
“Good riddance,” Willow said.
They finally made it to the camp, and Sydona felt relieved. The fall made her entire body feel like a bruise, especially her back and tailbone. The walk was excruciating, but she couldn’t vocalize her pain to Willow. Besides, there were pressing matters to deal with other than her wounds. Sparrows walked around the camp, checking the bodies on the ground. The bodies of dead fliers in blue uniforms covered most of the grounds. The ones still breathing were rushed inside the cabin by several able Sparrows. Sydona looked over the horrific scene, and the first person she recognized was Maverick, lying face down next to a woman Sparrow. She looked more closely at a tattoo on the woman’s arm. It read ‘J.V’ making Sydona’s heart ache and eyes turn brown. Sydona guessed the initials stood for ‘Joelle Vandermead”, Maverick’s daughter. A smile then creased her face as she thought of Maverick finally seeing his little girl after years of her status being unknown.
“ Amor bez strah… ” Sydona whispered to herself. “ ...love without fear. ”
“What’s that?” Willow asked.
“Nothing…” Sydona answered. “Are we close to Raoul?”
“Oh, I dunno. Hey, Oscar! Come help me with her!” Willow shouted, making Sydona flinch.
From across the way, Oscar ran over to the women, and Willow transferred Sydona over to him. As he walked her up to the cabin, Giovonna, Silas, and Ian interrupted. The sight of her father made her feel uneasy. He looked completely drained and stared off into nothingness. It wasn’t until he saw Sydona’s face that he brightened up a little. The news of her being part human trickled its way into her mind. She wasn’t sure how to feel, yet. She was still devastated over her mother but had many questions she wanted to ask about who she really was. It was hard to assess when a good time would be to ask her father anything.
“Syd! Are you okay?!” Giovonna asked frantically, touching Sydona’s face and wiping off sweat, blood, and mud.
All she could do was nod in assurance. “I need to see Raoul,” she said as she noticed Silas carrying the cage. She caught Silas’s eye as she reached for it, and he gave her a worried look. Looking away from his gaze, she took the key out of her pocket and opened the door.
Raoul slowly stepped on the metal bar where the door once held him back and took a deep breath.
“You alright?” Sydona asked.
“Don’t worry about me. Are you?” Raoul asked softly.
“I’ve been better.” She smiled slightly.
“What about the doctor?”
Sydona hesitated and noticed everyone looking at her, even random fliers who had gathered around.
“Killed him!” Willow announced proudly to the surrounding onlookers.
The crowd cheered loudly, hugged, and high-fived each other. But all Sydona could do was try to swallow the rock in her throat.
“Come on, let’s get you patched up, killer,” Silas gently brushed hair out of her face.
Oscar helped her onto a bed in the same room she arrived in when she first got to the camp but with a much different atmosphere. The room looked somewhat intact, although there was another table with a Sparrow lying on it as a couple of others helped her. From what Sydona heard, she had a gunshot wound on her leg and was bleeding out quickly. Oscar and another woman began to work on Sydona, starting with cleaning her face and wounds. Then, they moved on to examining the gunshot wound in her shoulder. She was lucky enough to have the bullet go all the way through, but she needed a sling and was told she could not use her arm for a while. Oscar gave her strong pain pills to help her relax and sleep off the pain.
Silas found a few extra blankets, laid them on top of her, and gave her another pillow to elevate her back. Everyone eventually left the room to let her rest, except for Raoul. The Sparrow next to her was fast asleep while Raoul ate like he hadn’t eaten in months. As she lay there watching him engorge himself, she felt like she was in her own bed again. She even swore she could look out the window to her right and see her backyard. But then again, maybe it was the pain pills.
“Feeling better?” she asked once Raoul slowed down.
He gulped a bite of apple. “Yeah, a million dollars better.”
Sydona stared at him, glad to see him be himself again. Even though his wings were torn and his hair was a mess, which she dared not say anything about, she was happy he was still alive.
“What did he do to you?” Sydona asked in barely a whisper.
Raoul paused. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Sydona lay still, noticing the trauma plastered to his face. “‘kay--” She hesitated. “I’m so sorry for what happened.”
“It’s really fine,” Raoul answered shortly.
“It’s not, though. I was being stupid and selfish,” Sydona argued.
“Syd. It’s done. Leave it alone,” Raoul said.
A knife felt like it had been stabbed through her chest. No amount of pain pills could help the guilt. There was nothing she could do to turn back time and change the outcome. But imagining what he went through ate at her like a piranha. She understood how he felt, but she still wanted him to open up just a tad.
“Raoul--” Sydona started, and then, a soft knock rattled the door.
“Hey.” Willow entered without an answer. “I wanted to give ya an update on what’s happenin’ from here on out. If you wanna k
now.”
Sydona sighed as she looked at Raoul who still stared off with his arms tightly crossed. With no hope of getting him to talk, she answered Willow.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Willow pulled up a metal chair and placed it next to her bed. “‘Kay, so first thing’s first: gettin’ these metal bracelets off y’all. Silas showed Giovonna the thing in the basement, and she thinks she can figure it out. Plus some of the Sparrows are good with that stuff, so we have a whole team workin’ on gettin’ them removed. Once that’s done, I’ll get in contact with a group on a private island that we just discovered a couple months ago, and we think it could be a fresh start for a lot of you.”.
“An island?” Sydona asked.
“Yep. It’s non-inhabited. Only wildlife and the sort. I think as long as you okay with bugs and not showerin’, it’s paradise,” Willow laughed.
“So, you’re asking us to go?” Sydona looked at Raoul who met her gaze.
“I think you’ll be the safest there.” Willow examined a clipboard she brought in with her.
“Safe?” Raoul interjected. “Safe from what? Dr. Malik is gone. There’s nothing else to worry about.”
The knife turned sideways in Sydona’s body, and she closed her eyes in agony.
“Just ‘cause he’s gone, buddy, doesn’t mean there ain’t other threats out there. Until we know that they shuttin’ the experiments down for good, y’all need to lay low,” Willow said, trying to sooth his temper.
“But he was the leader... of the entire thing! Why would it still continue?” Raoul asked furiously.
“Raoul,” Willow said calmly, “we don’t have any details yet. They may replace him and get it up and runnin’ with a new director. We can’t be sure.”
With that answer, Raoul huffed and flew clumsily out of the room with his torn wings.
Willow shook her head with a heavy sigh. “Poor fella…”
Sydona anxiously picked at her nails under the blankets, feeling overwhelmed with feelings and information. “Thanks, Willow. I’ll think about it. But I wanna try to sleep for a bit first.”
“Course. Rest up, princess.” Willow grinned and left Sydona to herself.
As Willow closed the door, a million thoughts rushed through her head. She had the chance to start over on a new piece of land untouched by people, and she could finally live in peace and quiet. She could grow her own food, hunt if she ever ate meat again, and maybe even build her own home. These were all things she really enjoyed doing for the past forty years, but now it was more a form of survival, which intrigued her. She also thought about Raoul and wondered if he would ever be the same. When he ate, he sure seemed alright, but deep down, there was something seriously wrong, and she wondered if she would ever be able to help him. The guilt she felt about it grew stronger every minute.
Guilt was becoming the theme at Eagle Lake. She wondered if asking her father about her being part human would fill him with remorse. Humans were the one thing she hated most in the world; they took her parents, tortured her friend, and murdered her own mother. They were the one thing she ran and hid from her entire life, afraid they would hurt her or alienate her for being different.
A gentle knock at the door made her thoughts pause, and her father walked in with a slight smile. He couldn’t fool Sydona, though; she knew what her mother’s death meant to him. The strong emotions Sydona felt couldn’t compare to the way her father felt. The one woman who stood by him for all those years slipped away from him.
“How ya feeling, baby?” Ian asked as he caressed her forehead.
“Can’t complain.” Sydona smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
“You did a brave thing, sweetie,” said Ian. “Your mother would be proud.”
Sydona smiled and changed the subject as her stomach twisted. “What’s it looking like out there?”
Ian shook his head. “It’s a graveyard... But good thing is, we won. No one died in vain.”
This made Sydona want to curl up and shrivel away, but she could only nod her head.
“Everything okay?” Ian asked, confused.
Nothing was okay. Nothing. Her mother was gone, never to be seen again. A part of her was human, and she wasn’t sure why she heard it from Malik and not her own parents. And he could come back. He might still be alive. The curiosity was too much to handle, and she had to know before anymore precious time passed.
“Am I part human?”
Ian stared at her, wide eyed. She could hear him gulp, and he took a step back.
“I am. This--this is--I can’t...”
All of Sydona’s breath escaped her at once.
“Syd, I can explain...” Ian said as he took her hand.
She turned her head away from him, ashamed to even look at him.
Her father let go of her hand and pulled up a chair to sit beside her. She heard a deep sigh echo through the room.
“Dad. You don’t have--”
“No, it’s alright. You deserve an explanation,” Ian began and cleared his throat. “Back before you were born, your--mother--and I were friends with a man named Carter. She and Carter fell in love--even though he was a human. And, long story short, she got pregnant--with you. But not long after she found out, Carter was diagnosed with cancer and passed away only a few months later. Not being able to leave your mother alone with a baby, I wanted to help her raise you. We ended up--falling in love a few years later--and got married.”
His voice faded off, and Sydona noticed tears running down his worn, sunken skin. She took his hand, and he happily grabbed it back, trembling slightly. The room went silent. Sydona found it hard to make him continue, but she was still unsure how the doctor knew.
She asked him softly, “How did Malik find out about me, then?”
Once Ian let out enough tears, until he was ready to talk again.
“Your--mother… She, uh, spoke up. The doctor just went crazy one day. All of his results were coming up inconclusive, and he was unable to make any headway for months, and then he threatened to kill us. Everyone. Even lined us all up on our knees with guns pointed at our heads because we were of no more use to him. A waste of his time, a waste of space. He said he couldn’t let us all go because we would go after him in his sleep. And so he tried killing us.
They were about to kill a little boy that was next to her--and that was when she told him. She told them she had a daughter and that she had a human father but could fly like a flier. This gave him hope and stopped the mass killing. But it caused us to move to a bigger area and advertise in order to bring in more fliers. She told him we hadn’t seen you in forty years, so we weren’t sure where you were… She did tell him you had blonde hair, but that was all. We never thought he would be able to find you. We were just praying that you were in another country--that you left this place…”
Sydona sat wide eyed in disbelief. “What would have happened if I never came on my own?”
“We tried not to think about that.” Ian shook his head.
As Sydona lay in bed, trying to understand everything, she couldn’t help but think of how difficult it must have been for her mother to tell the doctor about her only daughter. To risk speaking up to someone holding a gun to her head, unsure of whether or not he would use it. She severely underestimated the bravery her mother and father both had. They just stored it down deep so that they wouldn’t draw anymore attention from the doctor than they already did. They stayed quiet and stopped taking risks to stay alive.
Her father stood up and looked down at Sydona. “I want to throw a funeral for Evey.”
Sydona smiled. “That sounds nice, daddy.”
Ian took a deep breath and smiled at Sydona before he walked out of her room.
“Hey dad?” Sydona blurted before he shut the door. “By chance, do you know if Carter had blue eyes?”
“Ah… yes, I believe he did. Why?” Ian answered.
“Just curious…” She gave a quick smile.
After her father
left the room, no one came in for several hours, and Sydona fell asleep.
The next day, Sydona heard about the funeral service planned for the afternoon. Willow, Giovonna, Raoul, and even Silas were helping to set it up. She felt so helpless lying in bed with a sling and nothing to do but wait for people to give her updates. The thin mattress felt like a cloud, though, so she didn’t mind too much.
Finally, Raoul came buzzing through the open door to her hospital room and told her it was time. As she tried to move her body, she felt every muscle in her legs, arms, and torso.
“Can you do your--thing, please?” Sydona grunted.
Raoul laughed and dusted Sydona with his fairy dust, making her feel light as air. She still felt her muscles ache, but it wasn’t nearly as bad.
“How does she look?” Sydona asked as she shuffled slowly out of her room.
“Peaceful,” Raoul said and landed on Sydona’s shoulder. He dusted her every minute or so as she walked down the long hallway to the outdoors.
“Are you feeling better?” asked Sydona.
“I am. Are you?” Raoul asked in return.
“Yep,” she grunted. “I’m glad you stayed with me, Raoul. You’re my best friend, and I don’t know where I’d be right now if you weren’t here. And I’m sorry again, for everything I put you through… I don’t deserve you.”
Raoul chuckled. “Thanks, Syd. Where’s this all coming from?”
“Don’t laugh. I’m being serious,” Sydona said.
“...You’re my best friend, too,” Raoul agreed with a quiet voice.
The sunlight burst into her eyes, illuminating the park ahead. The grounds were covered in white sheets where the fallen lay. As Sydona made her way down the stairs grudgingly, she noticed some sheets had yellow daisies on top. She assumed they were meant for the fliers more than the guards, and it was a nice gesture. Over to her right stood a huge gathering of people. Almost all of the survivors surrounded a single person, Evelyn Wilder.
