Matthew "Matt" Bernard's Story

Samuel

Samuel tried to remain detached and focus on something else rather than the idle chatter, he still managed however to pick out key bits of information such as the boy's name but he was more focused on the matters at hand, and frankly was still shaken by how quickly everything seemed to be going, he convinced himself he'd adapt to it eventually which seemed to lessen the shock, and give him some breathing room. Samuel drifted downwards, before he realized he still hadn't had anything to eat, as hunger once again set in immediately he scowled before trying to focus on something else. Which brought him to his other need. Electricity. He needed to recharge and although he had built up some power, he needed more if he wanted to assure himself he'd be ready for another attack but that would have to wait he guessed as it wasn't his top priority.

Samuel's eyes focused and he felt slight unease as the one known as Matthew spoke “Marce,” it wasn't the words that got his attention it was his voice tone it sounded anxious. “I can’t feel my wrrrring….” The girl then began to tilt to the side, Matthew yelled her name before snapping forward catching her as her damaged wing hit the ground softly. Samuel looked clearly alarmed, he knew the girl had accumulated some injuries but he didn't think they were that serious. "Marce!" Matthew shouted, the reply was most worrying “Can’t. Feel. Wing.” the words sounded forced and Samuel quickly stepped forward.

Samuel could see the girl's wing clearer now, and it looked bad he couldn't deny that. The muscle looked shredded, as paralleled claw marks ran up her wing, she also seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness. “She needs a hospital” Euro suggested calmly, and Samuel shuddered carefully at the suggestion. Samuel regained himself and he thought carefully about the prospect, through Samuel's limited experience through the world he knew most doctors wouldn't really know about bird anatomy let alone a person with functioning wings, and that several mutants walking into the hospital looking like they've been in a grave fight would attract a lot of attention. Samuel also felt that several loose ends hadn't been tied up, but he supposed most of them never will.

“It’s the only way we can help her. We can’t fly her there, so we’ll need to hitchhike. And by hitchhike, I mean steal a car.” Euro continued, Samuel felt like objecting since he hated the thought of being inside one of those contraptions, but decided that he'd bring up his questions later about the decision, that is if he hadn't left as he was still deciding if he should stay or go, the question confused him greatly so he remained silent. Euro then bit his lip briefly before turning to Matthew, “She’s your sister. So it’s your choice weather you want to save her not, but…”

Euro then turned looking at Taylor and Samuel, he smiled but Samuel could feel something serious about to be brought up, which increased his tension. “You guys aren’t related to them, from what I understand. If Matthew chooses to go along with this, you two are welcome to either come along for the ride, or leave. It’s all up to you.” Samuel gulped, before he looked down towards the ground weighing out his options. Surviving alone would be a lot easier, but traveling in a group did have its bonuses as well, perhaps the Ward would think twice before coming after them he doubted it, but there's safety in numbers as far as he knew.

Samuel heard Taylor agree to Euro's offer as Samuel felt a certain pressure settle onto his back, he tried to readjust himself before as calmly as he could state, "Yeah I'll travel with you guys..." his voice and his body was shaking, Samuel wasn't used making big decisions due to the weight of the subject, but he was glad he didn't just stand there like an idiot drooling. Samuel then looked back up, "Are you guys sure about the hospital? I mean... would doctors even know how we work? Honestly a vet would probably know more knowledge about a wing..." he paused before continuing "And a hospital is a very, very public place..." he sighed before stating, "I'm just not so sure..." he then reaffirmed himself, and spoke more confidently, "But if you're certain it's best I'll follow..." he added a dry salute, before chuckling.

Euro

“The hospital seems like the best answer,” Great! So Taylor was on board. I nodded to her encouragingly. Power in numbers. Now all that was left was…

"Yeah I'll travel with you guys... Are you guys sure about the hospital? I mean... would doctors even know how we work? Honestly a vet would probably know more knowledge about a wing... And a hospital is a very, very public place... I'm just not so sure...But if you're certain it's best I'll follow..."

I frowned, feeling shame begin to fill up my system. Samuel was right. Besides the whole “we’re-screwing-ourselves-over-by-going-to-a-hospital” thing, it’s not like the doctors would have any idea how the girl, or for that matter, any of us worked. I mean, carrying her to the vet still gave us the chance to get our asses busted by the Ward or some other government facility, but hey, at least she’d survive. Hopefully. And here’s where I got stuck.

The hospital was a huge, open public facility, with freaky, annoying doctors, and obvious tattletales who’d have us busted with the government the instant we got there. I knew that for sure. That’s how ruthless intellectuals worked.

The local veterinarian on the other hand was generally concerned with dogs and cats. Ever wonder why there are stand alone Avian vets just dedicated to the health of birds? Never fear here’s your answer; as the majorities of pets consist of dogs and cats, people are bias to learning about cats and dogs. Even horses pass their lists. But guinea pigs, rats, birds, lizards, and many other “minority” pets fall into a different category. You’d need an animal hospital for that, and trust me when I say a vet’s clinic does not constitute the words animal hospital.

“That’s a good idea, Sam,” I was banking on the idea that he didn’t mind me calling him that, “But Avian vets and regular vets are two very different things.” I said softly, “If we….assume that just any vet will be able to handle her, we could be playing with fire. Not to mention the fact that a vet may not have what it takes to make a human blood transfusion. If I know anything about doctors, I know they’re intellectuals, kind of like lower level scientists. They’ll save her, if only to study her later on. We can almost bet on the fact that they’ll call up an Avian specialist to assist them if they have too….” I trailed off.

God, the girl was going to be hanging by a thread by the time we got there. She twitched in Matthew’s arms for a second, before going still again. I could hear her breathing steadily, which was a good sign, but the occasional twists of pain were a cause for concern.

“Can we hurry up with the decision making?” Matthew scowled, panicked concern scrawled across his face, “She’s going to go into a coma by the time you guys get moving.”

I rolled my eyes, but accepted his harsh words. He was simply concerned about his sister’s well being, and probably wasn’t thinking straight. Without a second thought, I slipped over to the closest car, a decent looking Honda Civic, probably of a generation older than 2012. I had one of two options:
1) Use some sort of pin to unlock the front door of the car
or
2) smash the window open.

Seeing as there was no pin, I went with option two. Using my shoe, I made a hole just big enough for my hand to fit through without scraping myself. The alarm, of course, was going crazy, and I had to work fast to unlock the door and rewire the underneath of the steering wheel so that the car would shut up. This had been me and Solo’s life when we’d first escaped. And while I was no pro, I most definitely knew what I was doing.

Which brought up another problem.

A very pressing, very heartbreaking, very traitor like problem.

I had to ditch those kids as soon as the girl was safe. Staying with them….was dragging me and Solo back to a life of misery. I would explain it to them. Explain why I was leaving. But for now, my concern was getting her safely to the hospital.

As the engine roared to life under the working of my hands I began barking orders. Unaccustomed to being in charge, my commands sounded more like solid requests rather than orders.

“Sam, you get in the front,” always safer to have someone besides yourself looking out for stuff in the front seat, “Taylor and Matthew you get in the back….Matthew support your sister’s weight. Try to keep her in an upright position so that the blood doesn’t flow faster towards her upper area and head..” Eyeing her blood soaked sweater, I came up with another quick idea, hoping Taylor would go along with it, “Taylor take her sweater and press it against the wound with enough force to slow the bleeding…”

Matthew, upon hearing my command, quickly slipped the bloody sweater off from his sister, revealing a simply black t-shirt, much less stained. He offered the sweater to Taylor with a pleading look on his face, and I hoped she would accept the job. The reason I’d chose her over Sam or Matt? Simple. She was a woman.

As I finished my tirade of commands, I slipped into the driver’s seat, patiently waiting for them to join me in the car.

Alice

I stared at the monitor indifferently as was my habitual response to anything that flickered on and off the hazy screen. I had been, naturally out of my own curiosity, observing the bird children, learning from their movements, but not necessarily understanding their interactions. The “Eins” as daddy referred to her was deathly frightened of everything, including her savior the “Marcus” who had rescued her from the clutches of a pair or so of Daddy’s Vampires. I couldn’t understand her, couldn’t understand her fear. If she’d been the stepping stone to the blossoming of my life, how was she so different from me?

If I had been there, I would have killed the Vampires and enslaved the boy.

It only made sense. One with such power should not wield it lightly. One with power must flaunt said power. One with power must become the dominant one.

That’s why I was Daddy’s heiress.

I was the powerful one.

“Alice,” Daddy’s voice was filled with kindness; fake kindness, but it was the only type I knew of. I wasn’t sure if to react brightly, or if to simply saunter over to him. In an attempt to please him, I skipped over to him as an average six year old would. Seeing as I was in the body of a six year old, I could only hope it would work. He ignored me.

Hope. Ha, what a joke.

Arriving by his spinning chair, I put a delicate hand on top of his. The chair seemed to float, as I could not make out what lifted it, and I assumed it worked on some sort of intensely concentrated vaporizing system. I could smell the water in the air, after all.

“Yes Daddy,” That was a default response. It was the obedience Daddy wanted, and it was the obedience he got.

“You’ll be leaving for Arizona today,” he said quietly, grazing his eyes over the gruesome scene one of our bird children had, had. She looked very similar to me, at least similar to me when I was an adolescent, but much more beat up with a grisly set of claw marks on the side of her wing, courtesy the Vampires.

I wasn’t sure if to call her a “poor thing” or if to think she deserved it. I wasn’t sure how Daddy wanted me to react.

“Yes, Daddy,” I said. What else was I suppose to say? What else did people say? He went on as though I’d asked a question about what I was to do once there,

“I may have a few Vampires waiting for you. They will guide you through the steps of integrating yourself into the human world.” My hear skipped a beat (I think that’s the expression).

Daddy was going to let me be with the humans. Daddy was setting me free on the world.

"That's a good idea, Sam," Samuel nodded at Euro's response before slowly lowering his gaze towards the ground listening vaguely as Euro continued, “But Avian vets and regular vets are two very different things.” Samuel winced, before he nodded calmly: it seemed he didn't know as much about the world as he thought, but then again he had lived a ridiculously sheltered life so he couldn't blame himself, although he still felt like an idiot for not taking that into account.

Samuel's eyes drifted upwards as he began to focus more on Euro's words, "If we….assume that just any vet will be able to handle her, we could be playing with fire. Not to mention the fact that a vet may not have what it takes to make a human blood transfusion." Samuel winced again, this time he looked a lot more distressed. That was a very good point: one that he should have been taken into consideration. But he assumed that Matthew had the same blood type as his sister, after all they were brother and sister but he wasn't exactly certain. Samuel lowered his head once again, in thought. The hospital would surely attract attention, but he admitted that it was probably the best bet for the girl.

"If I know anything about doctors, I know they’re intellectuals, kind of like lower level scientists." Samuel muttered mostly to himself, "Perfect..." he used the word loosely and most certainly sarcastically, he had grown a certain dislike to Scientists due to his personal experiences with them: which were mostly them experimenting on him "They’ll save her, if only to study her later on. We can almost bet on the fact that they’ll call up an Avian specialist to assist them if they have too….” Samuel nodded satisfied with Euro's response, as Euro trailed off he watched the others follow for a few seconds before lagging behind them.

As Samuel stopped behind the group he heard Matthew scowl “Can we hurry up with the decision making?” Samuel came to an abrupt halt behind the group, “She’s going to go into a coma by the time you guys get moving.” Samuel craned his neck around, before he blinked calmly waiting for the next course of action. Samuel watched as Euro dashed over to the nearest car where he swiftly followed, Samuel ran his eye down the car before noting "It looks very... small in there." Although Samuel had never rode in a car before he felt a instinctive dislike to them, probably due to the noise.

Samuel watched curiously, watching as Euro used his shoe to smash the cars window. Samuel jumped as a loud sound emanated from the car, it continued as Euro swiftly unlocked the door and pushed himself underneath the steering wheel, rewiring several wires. The alarm suddenly stopped and the engine of the vehicle roared to life, Samuel muttered half-heartedly "Looks like we're in business after all."
The victory over the car was short lived, as Euro began barking orders, however they sounded more lighter than usual orders, like a request if anything else.

“Sam, you get in the front,” Samuel nodded carefully, before looking helplessly over at Taylor and Matthew wanting in someway to provide help “Taylor and Matthew you get in the back….Matthew support your sister’s weight. Try to keep her in an upright position so that the blood doesn’t flow faster towards her upper area and head..” Samuel nodded reassured about Euro's decision “Taylor take her sweater and press it against the wound with enough force to slow the bleeding…” Samuel stood still watching Matthew pull of his sister's bloody sweater revealing a black top in much better condition, Matthew handed it to Taylor.

Samuel turned around not wanting to look at the scene any longer. Samuel headed towards the car's front door and slipped into one of front seats next to Euro, he left the door open for a few seconds before tiredly shutting it behind him. Samuel rested his head against the glass morosely, before he glanced outside the window at the scenery, everything seemed to serene too quiet he couldn't describe it, it was foreign to him and felt strange. Samuel heard the door open, and looked backwards noticing Taylor slipping into the back seat, he waved casually before casually before looking forward towards the window again.

Euro

Awkward didn’t even begin to cover the atmosphere in the car. I wondered, out of sheer curiosity, if any of them were feeling claustrophobic. I knew what it was like, coming from the Ward, and then getting freedom. Everything with plausible amounts of space was welcoming. Everything with barely any space was terrifying. Hopefully, these kids were tougher than that.

As I’d requested, Sam had taken a seat next to me up front, while the rest of the kids had piled in the back. Taylor had slipped into the backseat with an awkward look on her face, and in an attempt to reassure her, I said, “You did a great job Taylor. So long as she isn’t bleeding as much as before, we’ve got more time.”

I wasn’t going to lie. It was crowded in here. The addition of our wings, all of various widths and lengths were another thing to take into consideration. If I’d just let my wings out loose enough, I’d be touching the tip of Sam’s shoulder. Therefore, I kept them plastered tightly against my back. I was uncomfortable having anyone but Solo touch my wings. Years of countless experiments and pain had made me impossibly frightened of situations with the involvement of someone besides me or Solo touching my wings.

My hands were firm on the steering wheel; while I had no driver’s license, I’d had plenty of practice in my early days of escape.

Something had been bothering me, pricking the back of my mind constantly, since we’d started driving.

“Kids,” I said, sighing, “There’s no way they aren’t going to call the FBI out on you guys…just…be careful…”

Well, I’d totally chickened out of what I was originally going to say. I’d been mustering up the courage to tell them I’d be ditching them after the girl was safely checked in but…I couldn’t do that. No one knows that way an adult knows the feeling of looking a kid in the eye and shamelessly telling them that you wouldn’t be there with them. I mean, personally, before this, I’d never done something like that. But I’d seen it plenty of times in movies.

I sighed again, focusing on the road ahead of me. I could already see the peak of the hospital’s roof, and was quickly beginning to feel the familiar anxiety build up within me.

“We’re nearly there, guys.”

Matthew

I stared at the careful wrap that Taylor’d made out of Marce’s blood soaked sweater. It seemed to be holding up, something I was thankful for. In a car with three guys, a woman was always useful. My mouth twisted at my own sexist joke, before I turned my face down to look at Marce. She looked so beat up. Her hair, which was usually already messily tied up, was clearly and obviously knotted now. Poor kid. She’s have a total drama session trying to untangle it when she woke up.

“We’re nearly there, guys.” Euro’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

Ew, the hospital. The second most dreaded place on my list of most dreaded places. I knew the moment we arrived we’d be hit with the scent of heavy chemicals. I’m not sure how to describe what the drive was like. Long, boring, antagonizing, irritating, upsetting…I could go on but I won’t.

I just knew the moment we arrived, I wanted to turn tail and run. We hadn’t reached the transparent set of double doors yet, and I was already able to smell the high, disgusting, fear inducing scent of disinfectant, hear the various conversations of random people talking about their relatives, or friends, or acquaintances, and the conditions they were in.

A few of them gave me peculiar looks. In order to hide Marce’s wing, I’d stuffed it under my own sweater. It looked like I was a pregnant man, walking with his accident ridden sister to get treated for insanity. Jeez.

I couldn’t help but notice that Euro’d donned his hood, and was pointedly looking down. Away from the cameras I guessed. We didn’t really know anything about Euro. Heck, we didn’t know anything about each other. But hey, we’re all the same peas in one pod. How bad could we be?

Everything went by in a flash. You’d think there’d be more detail to what we did, but really it was simple. Marce was in critical condition, and from the moment she arrived, she was sent into emergency. The rest of us were guided to the waiting room, save Euro who was called upon several times, by several nurses to speak with the doctor taking care of Marce. I could only guess why (cue sarcasm). I was called in once; for a blood transfusion. By the time I arrived back in the waiting room everything was fuzzy, and I was feeling gosh darn tired.

Plopping myself down on a soft, plush like chair, I tried to deliver a report to Taylor and Sam, “She’s doin all right. Doctor says ‘s gonna be a few weeks before she can return to normal health.”

Weeks in our case probably translated to days.

I was quite for a moment, before a few other questions struck my mind, “Where are you guys from, by the way? I mean, a Ward I would guess, but you guys got any specific directions on you? Any places you were supposed to be heading? Any plans of your own…?”

As hazy as I was, I was still tense. Everything was so…disgusting, and uncomfortable here. I could never fathom how a normal humans, patients included, could stand to be here, much less sleep here.

As I questioned them, I completely overlooked one very important detail: Euro had disappeared.

Marceline

”Hello?” I called out. No one replied. It was dark where I was. And we all know how well birds do in the dark. You know, unless I’d been my brother, or had owl blood (hoot, hoot).

My lips pursed as I blindly felt my way through wherever I was. The things I touched. They felt like prickly bushes and thorns, and I silently prayed for me to regain my sight. Everything was so dark. Everything was so lonely.

And there was a pain. An indescribable pain piercing my left wing.

I wandered for while. Nothing but silence. The wandering seemed to last forever.

And that’s when I heard them. Or rather, I knew they were coming with no other more specific forewarning. Sharp, snapping teeth, glistening white in the dark, with outspread wings, bigger and more agile than mine. They followed me through what I now assumed to be trees, dipping and diving and cackling like maniacs. I couldn’t achieve flight here. My wings, they were too thick to properly snap out in the crowd of the bushes and trees.

Instead I ran towards it. A beautiful light that split the forest in half. And when I arrived there, when I arrived at that entrance, I found the most beautiful thing in existence. A wide, outstretched field of healthy green grass, with the clear blue sky as its overseer.

Knowing this was my chance, I snapped my wings out…I snapped…my wings…

Where were my wings? The hung limp by my side. I couldn’t feel them. And they were coming. All of a sudden things were going faster. I just kept running and running, and trying and trying, but my wings refused to budge.

And then they descended on me. They hissed and jabbed me with electric sticks, sending me to the ground. And when finally I was subdued, one took a long silver knife out from its pocket, covering my eyes with one grisly, smelly hand.

And all I could feel was the sharp, protruding pain of that knife cutting into my wings.

Alice

"How may I be of service, sir?" The “Michael” had arrived. He was calm and collected when he slipped into our room, quickly assessing the presence of all who was there. I felt him glance over me once, but I couldn’t be sure of it.

My father seemed to be having an icy stare down with the Vampire.

“Mike,” he said innocently, hidden venom dripping from every word, “How good to see one of my most successful Vampires again. I have a special job for you, lad. I want you to take care of this here girl. Alice, stand up,”

Gunther commanded me with the same terrifying disposition he had used earlier, and I immediately snapped out of my seat.

“You,” he said, once again addressing Michael, “Will take care of her and teach her the way of human beings. Make sure she successfully integrates herself into the human populace. And if you can do so, we’ll see about further promotions within the Ward.”

My father smiled in a way that could only be described as “evilly” before cutting off the video chat.

I turned to Mike. Not a word was uttered around the table, and for a while I simply assessed my new caretaker.

Sighing (who knew I was capable of it) I said in a monotonous voice, “You were assigned to “babysit” me as father has thought of it on so many occasions. So I will listen to you, and understand from you the ways of people.”

Once again the room was silent. A coughing Vampire, the same one who’d contacted Mike, spoke up, “Maybe you should take her somewhere, Mike.” He suggested, “Get started on the whole teaching her to be normal thing. Gunther’s kept her locked up for most of her life. She doesn’t know anything.”

“No to mention,” A female scientist intervened, “she’s only a year or so.”

“A year and six months,” I corrected. While I deterred to show it, I was actually seething on the inside. If hate is the right emotion, then, I hated it when they spoke of me as though I wasn’t there. As though I was just come pawn on a chessboard.

Standing stoically still, I patiently awaited Mike’s response. Surely he would think up some activity to keep me entertained.

I didn't say anything on the trip there. Honestly there wasn't much to say. I just listened to Euro talk, staring out the window. As we arrived at the hospital, I quickly got out of the car, stretching. Sitting in that cramped thing was horrible and I would fly a thousand miles instead of driving.

We were all guided to waiting rooms and from there....well we waited. Matthew gave us an update on how she was doing and I would only nod. Thinking. That seemed to be the only thing I was doing now a days. Thinking and staying quiet. Matthew came at us with a few questions and after thinking them over for a split second, I answered "No." and cleared my throat. I had been quiet for a long time so it felt weird using my voice. I looked at Samuel wondering how he was holding up.

Then I looked towards Euro. Wait..... Where was Euro?! I stood up, looking around eyes wide. "Where's Euro?" I asked, looking at the two as if they had the answer. I didn't know why I was so worried. Maybe Euro was captured? How had I not noticed he was gone earlier? Wait....what is Euro was completely safe somewhere? But that didn't make sense either. I put a hand to my head, feeling dizzy. I wanted nothing more than to leave and go fly around for a while.

Samuel

Samuel noticed that even though the car had started moving, he still felt uncomfortable. It was probably due to the awkward silence which had descended upon the car, that along with how cramped it was inside, their wings really didn't help in a situation like this.

Samuel already hated small spaces, a dislike he developed due to the Ward's methods, and the car was definitely not his favorite way to travel: as the noise and space available was very off-putting for him, as his instincts told him that something making that much noise is obviously bad and wants to cause him harm in somrway. Samuel summarized that he'd be able to get over his fear with time, as time heals everything, well mostly everything. Samuel could only hope that he'd grow used to the noise as well as the space available in time. Samuel fidgeted before tucking his wings tighter against his back, and sighing looking outside the widow at the road ahead as the car sped on.

“Kids,” Euro's voice interrupted the awkward silence, “There’s no way they aren't going to call the FBI out on you guys…just…be careful…" Samuel's head drooped before he continued to morosely stare out of the window, "Perfect..." Samuel muttered dryly his voice had an obvious sarcastic and distasteful tone. Samuel didn't even know what the FBI was, all that Samuel could assume was that it was bad, and that he shouldn't want to encounter them, Samuel guessed he'd be extra careful at the hospital, and if he did suspect a confrontation then he'd at least be prepared. Samuel sighed knowing that some sort of confrontation at the hospital would probably be inevitable, he could just feel it in his bones all he could do was hope that he was wrong.

Samuel's eyes slowly began to droop as began finding it harder to focus, he leaned again the window his eyes fluttered closed as he drifted into a light sleep. Samuel slept often like this, his sleeping patterns were erratic thanks to the Ward, he could never get into a routine about it, and when he actually wanted to get to sleep he found he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried or how tired he was. “We’re nearly there, guys.” Euro's voice jolted Samuel awake, and he moaned tiredly before gazing out the window at the building forming in the distance.

Samuel moaned with relief as he got out the car, he instantly stretched followed by flapping his wings a few times to stop them aching, as Samuel turned to focus on the massive building ahead he gulped before shuddering at the sight. As Samuel lagged behind the group they approached the transparent doors, he could already smell the familiar scent of disinfectant and other chemicals in the air all reminded him of the Ward. As they entered everything seemed to speed up, the girl was in dire need of help and was taken off to emergency while the rest of the group were shoved into the waiting rooms. On the way through the hospital, Samuel noticed most people giving him strange looks, but then again he did have wings, so it was expected he guessed.

As Samuel sat down on one of the chairs, he began to try and pass the time by playing idle games which were to be honest fairly boring and eventually he just sat back bored. Samuel also noticed Euro had been summoned several times, along with Matthew who had been summoned in total: once, he guessed the Doctor's assumed Euro was a parental guardian or something like that, as for Matthew well he was related to the girl, probably a blood transfusion, or explaining her condition.

Samuel watched as Matthew walked over to a soft, plush chair, before collapsing into it “She’s doin all right. Doctor says ‘s gonna be a few weeks before she can return to normal health.” Matthew explained, Samuel in response nodded at least it was good news that the girl was going to be fine he supposed. Samuel looked towards his chair, before shifting into a more comfortable position, his head laid back and his arm on both rests he stifled a yawn.

Matthew was silent for a moment before asking “Where are you guys from, by the way? I mean, a Ward I would guess, but you guys got any specific directions on you? Any places you were supposed to be heading? Any plans of your own…?” Samuel turned to hear Taylor answer with a bland "No." she then cleared her throat, Samuel turned before answering "I think I came from..." he paused trying to focus, until the word clicked into place "Arizona. As for plans, I haven't really had time to formulate one." Samuel laughed edgily, before hearing Taylor ask "Where's Euro?" Samuel turned to see Taylor, he eyes wide, Samuel paused before looking around curiously.

I awaited their answers patiently. Taylor responded with a prompt no, clearing her throat in the process. For a moment, I wondered how long the two of them had escaped from the Ward. Had they unknowingly come from the same Ward and accidently met up? Or had they been together the whole time?

“I think I came from..." Sam began, pausing for a moment as he seemed to organize his thoughts "Arizona. As for plans, I haven't really had time to formulate one."

I nodded, prying apart my lips to inform them on my own situation. For a moment, my eyes flashed brightly as I remembered the crumpled up piece of paper stuffed in Marce’s sweater. Jeez. There was no way that thing had survived the blood showers in one piece, as cruel as it sounded to joke about my sister’s condition. I’d just have to hope that it was at least legible.

Just then Taylor seem to grasp onto something I had been completely and utterly oblivious too.

“Where’s Euro?”

Where was Euro? A better question would be, how long had we been here? Certainly long enough for them to have patched up my sister. We’d been sitting here for what seemed like hours.

“I don’t know,” I answered dumbfounded, just as a nurse sauntered over to us.

“Is your name Matthew?” she asked politely, a small yellow, sticky note looking piece of paper in her hand. I nodded, still too shocked with Euro’s disappearance to find words.

“Well,” she said, hesitating, “Amazingly, your sister,”

“Marceline,” I filled in automatically.

“Marceline,” she corrected herself, “Is in stable condition. Her wound seemed to, well, miraculously speed up in the healing condition. However, you all can’t see her just yet.”

I nodded. The nurse and doctors would never understand just how advanced us bird kids were. Speedy healing was a part of the package.

“Also, the young man who dropped you off left this note for you.”

I took the note from her dainty hand, unfolding it to read the insides.

“I’m sorry. I have a family. We’ll meet again someday. I’m really sorry kids. Oh and I’m human.” I read aloud. The words were scrawled on the paper as though he’d rushed them down. My lips pursed. I felt both betrayed and yet at the same time, responsible to keep Euro a secret.

I could only assume so many things: First and foremost, Euro was a young guy. Family probably meant a wife, or something, and a baby. I couldn’t jeopardize his life like that.

“He’s human,” I repeated the word human, emphasizing on it, and hoping to convey to Taylor and Sam the idea that we couldn’t let it slip up that Euro was one of us. We could be putting his family in danger. I mean, I hoped he wasn’t lying to us. He’d helped us, why would he be lying?

I slumped down in my chair, disappointed and tired. Tired but not necessarily sleepy. I didn’t know what to say, and honestly hoped that Taylor or Sam would change the subject somehow. This was just…too devastating.



I remained emotionless. Perhaps a normal person would have arched their eyebrows, but I knew of no such thing as plainly expressed emotions. Or rather, I preferred to keep what I was feeling to me, only if the reason was because I didn’t really understand what it meant to express myself. Slowly, by the indication of the female scientist, I lifted myself to my feet following Mike’s lead.

He seemed…intelligent…or at least I had to assume so. Something already felt different about him, different to the way other Vampire’s acted. He seemed careful, and controlled. He also seemed to have recognized me as soon as the scientist had uttered my age.

That in itself proved how well known I was amongst the Ward intelligence. Anyone with power in the Ward knew about me. Which meant if my father trusted Michael to take care of me, trusted Michael to know about me, Michael must have had a rather high ranking amongst the Vampires.

I followed him through the hallways, uncomfortable with the looks that the majority of scientist threw my way, praising my form as though I was some kind of prize animal. I heavily disliked it. You may wonder why I didn’t use the word hate. I once heard that hate means you must have once loved quite a bit. I get the impression that many don’t believe, but I do. And so, for now, I shall try to avoid the word “hate”.

“Tell me,” I said in a monotonous voice, directed at Mike, “What is it you do here at the Ward? What is it we’re going to do?”



Do surgery on my wing, will you?

My lips pursed as the doctor tersely touched the edge of my formerly ripped wing, reveling in it’s presence.

“Are you done masturbating to my wing yet?” I asked casually, implied venom subtly dripping from every word. Taken aback, he snapped his hand away, pale freckled face running bright with blood.

“Sorry,” he stuttered, already seeming to grasp for an excuse.

“I don’t want hear.” I cut him off, before he could continue. “Where’s my…family…” I said carefully, referring to all of them (Matt, and the new kids, Taylor and Samuel ) as my collective family. It was safer that way, if the doctor thought we all had connections to one another.

“They’re outside. They can’t see you yet,” He murmured, quickly beginning to dismiss himself, “I’m sorry miss, but you’ll just have to stay here. Good night.”

He rushed out of the door flicking the lights off. Asshole.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead, and flexing my fixed wing. It was beginning to feel much better, but the ache in my head was worsening.

Euro had driven us here. He’d helped the doctors patch me up. But he’d never once said he was a bird kid as well. All I remember hearing of his hushed conversation with the doctor was that he’d been strolling along when he’d found us. He explained his bird knowledge by saying he worked in a pet shop with a section dedicated to parrots and parakeets. All his excuses would have sound like lies coming from a kids mouth, but he was an adult.

Then, when everything had been over, he’d come and spoken with me.

”Sorry, but what’s your name?” he looked down at me sheepishly, and I almost melted under the light brown eyes begging for forgiveness. I’d never in my life met a guy who was able to that. Then again, there’s always firsts.

“Marceline….thanks.”

“No prob Marceline,” he twined his fingers, glancing the other way then back. His words spilled out of his mouth like a rushed waterfall, “I have to leave you Marceline. I have a family, a pregnant wife, a special baby on the way…”

Special. Winged, he meant.

I nodded. “Thanks Euro…you gotta do what you gotta do.”

He nodded back in agreement, looking genuinely sorry. “I’ll leave a note for the kids. We’ll meet again someday.”

And just like that he was gone.

I frowned. The rest of the kids would be devastated when they found out. I was.

Flapping my wing, I tested it out on the curtain, which abruptly began flowing with the motion of wind I was producing.

I couldn’t handle being in here. It smelled disgusting, and felt cramped. Slowly, I slid out of the hospital bed, grabbing my jeans and my shirt. My regular, blood soaked sweater was now dyed with dark, almost black spots of dried blood. Against the dark purple background of the sweater, the blood looked like an out of place design.

Oh well.

I slipped it over my head, glad for the fact that blood doesn’t smell. I’d ditch it some other place.

Prying open the window, I did one of the things I knew how to do best. I jumped.

Spreading my wings out, I let a sliver of wind catch me, before pumping myself higher in the sky. I winced as my wing ached a slight bit before subsiding.

My headache was already beginning to disappear. The fresh (or as fresh as polluted air can get) air was a welcome change to the disinfectant scent of the stinky hospital.

I can’t tell you how long I flew. The trip back to the area where I’d been, by air, was about fifteen minutes, tops. It didn’t take long before I got to a shopping district, grinning as I looked down at the ant-like people still out and about. Which, to me, was not many. They wouldn’t be able to make my shape out against the pitch black darkness of the night sky. To them, normal people who’d never seen a bird kid, I would have looked like some giant bird. To a bird kid, I would have been recognizable.

For a second, my eyes blurred, and I snapped my head forward.

Oh no. Once again they blurred, and I felt myself tilting to the left. My left wing had given out.

In a matter of seconds I was spiraling downwards. In a desperate attempt to adjust my direction, I tilted my body, and remaining wing, aiming for a rather desolate alley near an already closed store.

When I was close enough to the ground of the alley, I spread my right wing out, slowing my speed, but still toppling me into the ground. At least it didn’t hurt as much.

But let me tell you. It still hurt.

“Ow,” I scowled, tightening, my wings against my back. My right neatly tucked itself into my sweater, but after a determined effort, my left simply plastered itself awkwardly up against my back, too stiff and painful to fully fold into my sweater. Jeez, what a mess I had gotten into.

“Stupid,” I reprimanded myself, refusing to blame my wing (yes I treat my wings just like any child would treat their teddy bear; like a real person…I wish I had a teddy bear.) The walk back was probably a good hour.

“What’s wrong with you Marce?” I sighed, pulling myself to my feet and dusting my jeans off.

Samuel

Samuel after a few seconds snapped back into reality slowly regaining his senses, his eyes widened and came into focus as he relaxed against the chair again, he was completely certain Euro wasn't in the waiting room. Samuel didn't really understand the deal here, so what if he wasn't in the waiting room, he had been with the doctors most of the time after all. But then again he could have left which Samuel considered a viable option. Samuel straightened up, before shifting uneasily in his seat, a slight bit of hesitation in his eyes.

"I don't know" Matthew answered Taylor dumbfounded by the situation, just as a nurse was approaching. She turned facing Matthew, “Is your name Matthew?” the nurse asked in a polite fashion, Samuel curiously examined the nurse, he caught sight of something in her hand, a note of some kind it was yellow and small, Samuel had seen them before but struggled to find the word for it: "posted something" other than that Samuel's mind was at a blank. Samuel's eyes caught Matthew nodding, shock was written on his face. Samuel sighed before leaning back into the chair, his ears open and primed for any important news.

Samuel's head lulled closer towards the edge of his seat as he listened intently to the conversation. The nurse began to explain Marceline's condition, Samuel nodded along casually, it seemed she was improving rapidly. 'At least there's some good news.' Samuel's mind echoed faintly, before he nodded again accordingly. He guessed all bird kids had accelerated healing to a limit, he wasn't sure how it compared to his, he supposed it varied but he wasn't really sure on this. Although Samuel took slight comfort by the fact that he'd probably never need to go to the hospital.

“Also, the young man who dropped you off left this note for you.” the nurse spoke, as Matthew took it from her hands. Samuel leaned forward a little his curiosity piqued, he watched obviously interested as Matthew unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud. “I’m sorry. I have a family. We’ll meet again someday. I’m really sorry kids. Oh and I’m human.” Samuel's eyes locked down to the ground, and he felt genuinely shocked, it took a few seconds for him to genuinely process the information, and with that came slight understanding, he had other priorities: a family, that didn't stop Samuel from feeling slightly betrayed however, but it eased the feeling.

"He's human" Matthew quickly repeated emphasizing the words and Samuel nodded along quickly, before sarcastically muttering, "You don't say?" he leaned back into his chair before rubbing his temples, all this waiting around was giving him a headache, he wasn't sure he could take it much longer. “So…” Taylor's voice interrupted the silence, “What do we do after this?” Samuel's eyebrows cocked, before he went into thought, "Well I'd say we get Marceline, and get the hell out of here." he paused before continuing, "The nurse said she was doing alright. I'm sure she'd be alright now, right now we're taking a unnecessary risk." Samuel's head turned towards Matthew as he shrugged generally.

Marceline

I waved casually to Eins as Marcus introduced both himself and his companion.

"So, Marceline... we need to get you back to the hospital. How far away is it? I guess walking is an option... but flying would be better. If I helped, do you think you could fly with one wing?"

I’d just been about to tell Marcus the distance of the hospital, when he made his suggestion to put it in mild terms.

I frowned feeling my pride stiffen every friendly muscle I’d just had.

God, I could imagine it now. We’d look like an awkward giant-three-winged bird toddling through the air. It was so embarrassingly laughable that I couldn’t even bare to look at it in a humorous light. Or maybe that was just my pride speaking. Biting my lower lip, I deliberated for a moment, allowing Marcus and Eins to be covered in a blanket of silence.

Let’s see. Walking would save me all the shameful feelings of not being able to carry myself on my own two wings. On the other hand, in my ever increasing bad condition (being made worse by my rebellious nature) I was bound to tire myself out before we’d reached half-way there. And the whole trip would probably end up taking, about, two hours. Far too long. My brother and the rest of them would find that I’d snuck out of bed already.

Which left flying. In my condition, flying with Marcus’s assistance would give us about twenty minutes to make it back to the hospital. Enough time for the kids to find out about me being gone, but also enough time for me to get back without giving any of them heart attacks.

It was at a time like this that I wished Euro hadn’t decided to pick up and leave us. Damn that boy….man for having other things to do. With his herculean strength (or his car stealing skills) we may have slid out of this one at a much faster rate.

But no, I was left with other bird kids who were similarly malnourished to me, and just as clueless as I was about stealing cars.

Wonderful.

I wasn’t going to lie to them though.

“I don’t like this idea….but it’ll have to do. There’s no way we can make it back in time on foot…so to the air away….”

I spread my good wing, holding out my arm for Marcus to grab onto. My pride was bending my will into all sorts of impossible positions, and I could only imagine my conscience wreathing under my decision. What can I say? I liked being independent.

Motioning to the length of the alley with my other, not outstretched, arm, I said, “The alley should be long enough to give us an adequate running start.”

After all, with the two of us bumbling along, I didn’t think we’d have enough space to just jump into the sky.

“Maybe she should take a head start?” I said, jerking my chin towards Eins. If she was already in the sky, there’d be no worry about leaving anyone behind, and we’d have more space in the alley, rather than just having her go stand behind us, or outside by one of the stores.

Alice

There was so much to learn, so much to comprehend, I thought my mind would overflow with the questions that were pricking the back of my mind. Rubbing my forehead, I tried to make sense of what Mike had said.

I’d seen Vampires attacking the bird kids on the screens back at my father’s lab. But never before had I gotten a good in depth look on either species. What Mike was telling me was so different from what I knew from passing glances at blurry screens (you would think Gunther could afford better).

And McDonalds. The way he’d spoken of it all of sudden made it much more distasteful than I had originally thought.

Pursing my lips, I asked another question, a much more important one, that had been pricking my mind for quite a while.

“Where are we going now?” We were outside. The Arizona air was cool now, chilled by the snug blanket of the night sky. “Any place in particular, or are you just going to stuff me back in the Ward?”

For a moment, I surprised myself by breaking my usually monologues tone. The last words I said came out cracked, with a bitter tone, and I blinked away the strange wet substance known as tears. Father condemned me when I cried, and therefore I knew better than to cry. But he wasn’t here now, and with him gone, there was space in my head for me to think about how I felt. Emotions. Something I didn’t necessarily understand.

“Sorry,” I apologized quickly, going back to my dull, non-threatening tone.


Matthew

“What do we do after this?” Taylor asked, all of sudden concentrating on her swinging feet. I frowned. Good question.

"Well I'd say we get Marceline, and get the hell out of here. The nurse said she was doing alright. I'm sure she'd be alright now, right now we're taking a unnecessary risk." Samuel responded, looking my way and shrugging.

Raising my hands, I quickly made my position clear, “Don’t look at me that way,” I said, chuckling, “I’m not the leader. If there had to be a leader, I would chose Euro, but he left our sorry asses alone….well, anyway, I agree with Sam. I think we should get Marce, and get out of here. This place gives me the chills.” I shrugged my shoulders, as if I was trying shake of a nasty substance from my back.

I turned my head, searching around for the nurse that had addressed us earlier. My eyes didn’t find her for a while. She was camouflaged in with all of the other, similarly dressed, nurses, and even with my stellar vision, I was forced to pick body apart from body in an attempt to discern her.

When I finally spotted her, I waved my arm timidly, to which she responded by coming over.

“Yes, sweetie.” Aww she talked to me like I was a scared little kid.

“Umm, can you tell us what room Marceline is in?” I said in my most polite teenage voice.

She hesitated for a moment, before saying, “I’m sorry but you and your….siblings,” I arched my eyebrows in surprise. Marce must have told them we were all related, “Can’t see your sister just yet. You’ll have to wait till the morning.”

Her tone was as friendly as ever, but I had a feeling she knew about our secret. Maybe from Marce’s doctor or something. And I had feeling she was keeping us from seeing Marce because maybe, just maybe, a certain government investigation team was on its way to apprehend us. Which meant they didn’t want us going anywhere. This nurse had, in the span of a minute, become far more creepy and deceptive than I had originally thought.

She smiled at me again, before curtly nodding her head, and disappearing back in the masses of nurses.

Getting up and stretching, I turned back to address Sam and Taylor, “So, who’s up for an adventure. Any ideas on which direction we should head?”

Samuel

A small frown formed on Samuel's face, as he slowly looked towards his chair before scooting forward an inch or so. He wasn't sure how long they had been in the hospital it felt like it had been ages but he couldn't be to sure. Things were starting to get a bit weird, he didn't know how to describe the feeling he was getting, but it was as if things were getting creepier by the second, like a gradual change in the atmosphere. Samuel's head turned towards Matthew as he raised his hands and quickly clarified his position within the group, “Don’t look at me that way,” Matthew chuckled.

“I’m not the leader. If there had to be a leader, I would chose Euro, but he left our sorry asses alone..." Samuel winced slightly, still a little sore on the subject of Euro's departure. Samuel nodded understandingly towards Matthew, being a leader wasn't an easy task. "Well, anyway, I agree with Sam. I think we should get Marce, and get out of here. This place gives me the chills.” Samuel nodded again before muttering, "I know what you mean." Samuel paused before humorously quipping, "I guess we're a democracy for now..." he smiled slightly, before hunching over.

As Samuel looked forward, he began browsing through the waiting room, he had noticed for the first time there weren't particularly a lot of people in here, besides the gaggle of nurses which were frankly unnerving, in a sense. Samuel tried to laugh a bit but it sounded anxious and nervous, perhaps he had a phobia of nurses, he had no doubt that he most certainly had a phobia of doctors too, another thing to add to the list he guessed. Samuel turned once again on Matthew, as he browsed through the crowd of nurses, before spotting the one from earlier, he waved for her to come over.

"Yes, sweetie." the nurse spoke directly to Matthew in a condescending voice, Samuel focused on the pair watching them both anxiously. "Umm, can you tell us what room Marceline is in?” Matthew responded politely, Samuel nodded in union with Matthew's words. The nurse seemed to hesitate before speaking “I’m sorry but you and your….siblings,” siblings? Samuel recoiled slightly at the statement, before realizing Euro or Marceline probably made it up, so the story or whatever would fit more with the situation. “Can’t see your sister just yet. You’ll have to wait till the morning.” Samuel's eyes narrowed slightly and he tensed, he could feel a feeling in his gut that was telling him something wasn't right.

The nurse smiled before nodding her head. Then she walked back into the gaggle of other nurses disappearing from plain sight. Samuel had a feeling that they were trying to keep them here for longer, perhaps so the Ward could apprehend them. Perhaps Samuel was just being paranoid but it was better to be paranoid and free, rather than sane and in the Ward. Samuel could feel an uneasy tension settle over the hospital, and he sighed.

Matthew got up and gave a quick stretch, Samuel shifted forward out of his seat, before stretching his arms relieving himself of the tingly sensation of being immobile for so long. "So, who’s up for an adventure. Any ideas on which direction we should head?” Matthew spoke, and Samuel rose from his seat, before nodding "Always..." he paused before casually suggesting, "As for the directions, I haven't got a clue. I'm sure we'll figure it out though."

Samuel's head turned as he strolled briefly towards the waiting room's door and quickly peeked through. Samuel then turned backwards and walked back over before suggesting mildly, "We could always split up and search the hospital individually." he kept his voice rather hushed but still audible, "Or... if things get bad enough we could always ask the doctors... politely." he put emphasis on the word politely, basically he was suggesting shaking a doctor down for information.

Matthew

I grinned when I heard Samuel say democracy. I like the sound of that. We were working together, rather than having someone be the leader. I hoped that wouldn’t change. So far we were doing a good job without my sister or Euro here to lead us on.

"Always..." Samuel said, nodding in response to my previous question.

“Sure” Taylor responded, shrugging her shoulders. I could understand the look on her face. It was one of those ‘we’ve-got-nothing-else-to-do-so-might-as-well’ looks. Which was understandable. It’s not like we were normal anyway.

"As for the directions, I haven't got a clue. I'm sure we'll figure it out though." Samuel continued, helpfully.

I smiled. His casual response was cluelessly optimistic, which encouraged me not to give up.

Sam’s head turned before he casually sauntered over towards the waiting room’s door, peeking outside. Turning on his heels, he walked back to where we were.

"We could always split up and search the hospital individually." he suggested quietly, "Or... if things get bad enough we could always ask the doctors... politely."

Both Taylor and I snorted at the same time.

“Jinx, you owe me a soda,” I muttered under my breath comically, suppressing a mischievous grin.

“Right...” she said sarcastically in response to Sam’s idea, “I think that could be our last decision”

Putting a finger to her chin, she looked thoughtful.

“Searching the hospital could be a first choice though…Individually...”

That seemed to be our resolve. It was a good a idea anyway. If we were all thinking on the same wavelength, then we all probably thought we’d look way too suspicious running out together, all huddled up, and looking for our “sister”. Not to mention the fact that none of us had a single idea about which direction to head in.

I bit my lip, “I guess we’ll be splitting up then.”

Glancing toward the entrance of the waiting room, I could see the hall conveniently split up into three paths, as though it were meant for the three of us. Left, center, and right.

“I’ll go right,” I declared, eyeing the right hall. I’d just made a split second decision. All the halls looked equally dreary, and I deliberated the idea of splitting up again. Still, if we stuck together, it’d be too obvious. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ward caught us faster that way. After all, we were in a hospital. A hospital, that, by the looks of the hall, was one huge maze. I swallowed noisily and nervously.

Taking a deep breath, I looked back the two of them, before smiling. Sticking my right arm out in the middle of the group, I explained, “We should probably do one of those things where people stick their hands in the center of the group and then raise them,” I shrugged, “It’s corny…but since we are a team now…” I let my thoughts trail off, "We'll meet up back here if anything."

I glanced at the clock. It said 10:15.

"After about an hour. So, like 11?" I questioned, still patiently holding out my hand.

Marceline

"I thought that it was a trap to lure me in, even though the Vampire couldn't have predicted that I would've followed him into the woods. But then she started getting her tail kicked again and I jumped in. And she seemed to think I was going to take her head off next, which didn't help my suspicion any. But she started doing that beaten dog routine and I stopped worrying about it. Well, actively worrying about it. Now every time I express any kind of emotion she acts like I'm going to rip her head off."He rolled his eyes, and I chuckled warily, "I've just kind of decided to keep an eye on her... I'm not sure."

I nodded, complacently taking in the information. At least, from what I understood, Marcus was still keeping an eye on her, unsure of her or not. He was a good guy.

In a matter of seconds, after his explanation, we were taking off. Synchronizing our steps, we took a running start towards the opening of the alley. If felt a little awkward, running so close to him, and I internally sighed in relief when he put some distance between the two of us, allowing us to speed up.

The take off wasn’t so bad. I could hear the heavy flaps of his wings, and I knew he was working extra hard to help stabilize us in the air. I myself was pounding my good wing up and down, hoping it would help him somehow, and feeling extremely sour, bad, and regretful for the situation I’d put him in.

When we were stable enough, he seemed to tilt one wing up, allowing us to flow almost fluently through the air. I grimaced. If Marcus let me go now….I subconsciously tightened my grip around him, loosening it when I realized how wussy that must have looked.

He glanced behind us, probably scouting out for Eins. Her little display earlier made me grudgingly sure that she could keep up with us. All that complaining for nothing. She’d done just fine. And that, my friends, is what happens when people underestimate themselves. I really need to stop talking to myself…

He turned back to me, half smiling, half frowning. This still sucked. I couldn’t move on my own, and was completely dependent upon some boy I’d met not but ten minutes ago to help me. But, in the end, we were still in the air. That was what mattered.

I smiled wryly in response wondering if I was doing the right thing. On the plus side, I’d just added two new members to our cracked up family. On the down side, I had no idea if they were good or bad. I had to make myself believe they were good. They were on the run from the Ward too…but…

I sighed shaking my head.

"What now?" He said loudly, speaking over the commotion our wings, coupled with the night wind, were making. I pursed my lips. We’d head to the hospital.

Tilting my good wing, I angled us the in the direction of the hospital, depending on Marcus to straighten us out. As if by instinct, I replayed his earlier motion; glancing backwards, I raised my eyebrows at Eins as if to silently say ‘keeping up?’

“We’re heading towards the hospital,” I said, trying to keep my voice level enough so that I was able to be heard. All of a sudden, I’d found my throat all dried up, and found myself rather tired. I really needed to stop stressing out.

“We’ll go in through the window I left from. After that, I think we’ll search for the rest of them. Then we can get the heck out of there, and somewhere….better…” It wasn’t necessarily safer, being out on our own. There was always the chance that some Vampire would get us. But it was better than being in a stinky hospital all day.

It took us about twenty minutes to reach the hospital, and sneak back in through my window. It was cold, but I peeled off my sweater anyway, wondering if either Marcus or Eins had realized that the blackish-red splotches on it were really blood marks. Walking around a hospital with blood all over your clothing wasn’t exactly the best way to go, and so I simply wrapped my arms around it. I was unwilling to leave it; it’d kept me warm for almost a month, and God knows when I’d get another one. If I kept it hidden it wasn’t such a big deal.

But my wings. It’d be hard to hide those with the thin black t-shirt I was wearing. Hesitantly, I turned the sweater inside out, so that the fluffy inside was facing outwards. Slipping it back over my head, I smiled dryly at the two of them.

“Wouldn’t want any nurses to see all that blood,” I glanced at the entrance of the room, “Eins you might want pull your hood back up. Normal people don’t have natural white hair.”

I loosened my own hair, before wrapping it up in a tighter bun. “People out there are going to be suspicious. As far as they know, I was in here alone. So we’re going to have to be sneaky.”

Samuel

Samuel's head cocked forward slowly in a tired manner. It seemed fairly tranquil at the hospital which made it seem all the more unnerving, but even in this situation Samuel could not help but feel tired, he had been on the run for days. Mostly without sleep, and even when he did go to sleep it only lasted a few brief minutes, which really didn't help. It came to Samuel as rather funny, that his body was probably just running purely on adrenaline, his supply was beginning to run out however, and he wasn't sure what he'd do then. Samuel pondered how long it'd be until he began seeing hallucinations of the sort, but he seriously doubted that he'd be able to keep himself up that long. However his tiredness was beginning to hinder him, as his thoughts were beginning to cloud, and it was getting harder to think clearly, but he'd pull through. He always had after all.

“Searching the hospital could be a first choice though" Taylor paused before adding not a second later, "Individually." Samuel gulped at his own idea but nodded in unease, he didn't like this, but it seemed like the most logical think to do, they'd look a lot less suspicious that way, and plus they'd cover more ground quicker, allowing them to get out of this creepy place once and for all. Samuel's pessimistic mind however, began noting all the bad things that could happen alone: if he disappeared none of the group would know; plus being alone did make you a rather easy target. But then again Samuel was used to being alone, the prospect didn't seem that bad, and he was sure that if he played his cards right, everything would turn out okay (although a big portion of himself was convinced otherwise.) Samuel drew breath, before deciding it'd be best not to think on it.

Matthew bit his lip before saying “I guess we’ll be splitting up then.” Samuel nodded morosely, before gazing at the pathways that awaited them. Ironically there were exactly three pathways: left, center, right he gazed at them individually, summing up the surroundings, most of the halls looked the same, and had little difference. It reminded Samuel of a book he'd manage to read in the Ward, which involved having to navigate out pf a labyrinth, of course there wasn't a Minotaur chasing them here, but he still felt it had a loose connection and some relevance, he felt a lump in his form and he shuddered at the thought.

“I’ll go right,” Matthew declared. Samuel nodded wearily before looking down towards the ground in deep thought. Samuel's head slowly raised back up, and came into focus, "I'll go left, then." his voice was anxious, and the tone was rushed. Samuel didn't like this, and wanted to get it over with as fast as he could. Samuel's eyes slowly wandered over to the left hall, nothing looked out of place in regards, and it seemed like any other part of the hospital, he nodded again reaffirming his decision.

Samuel kept his focus, and glanced towards Taylor awaiting her decision, which was rather pointless as there was only one option left: the center. As Matthew put his hand in the middle of the group, he explained “We should probably do one of those things where people stick their hands in the center of the group and then raise them,” Samuel raised an eyebrow before smiling, he guessed it would offer reassurance as well as comfort "It’s corny…but since we are a team now…” Matthew trailed off, before continuing "We'll meet up back here if anything." Samuel still felt a little dazed at the pace, but nodded, "Seems like a plan..." he commented casually, he noticed Matthew glance at the clock on the wall, "After about an hour. So, like 11?" Samuel's head lolled forward, as his eyes settled on the clock, it was 10:15 so in total they had 45 minutes, more than enough time. "Let's do it." Samuel said, eager to get this over with, and with that he stuck his hand forward.

“I’ll go right,”

"I'll go left, then."

That left me with only one choice. “I’ll go straight” I said shrugging. I glanced up at the hall ahead of me warily. Matthew put his hand out though, saying “We should probably do one of those things where people stick their hands in the center of the group and then raise them,”

I grinned as I balled my hand up into a fist and stacked it on top of there’s. “Eleven it is” I said then added, “I’ll think of a team name later”

Heading forward, I turned and gave a small salute to the guys then turned back, taking a deep breath, “Well here goes nothing” I murmured under my breath. I didn’t look back and quickly slipped out of the waiting room, having no idea where I was going. I tried my best to avoid nurses and anyone who resembled some kind of authority. It wasn’t hard either considering the fact that everyone had more important thing to do than wander the halls. Eventually I came across a bathroom and silently hid out in there. One look in the mirror told me why some people had given me odd looks as I passed by them. I winced and then looked around. The place was pretty tidy and pretty small too. I glanced at the floor where the stalls were to check for feet and thankfully saw none. I let out a sigh and moved towards the sink, turning the faucet on. I splashed water on my face trying to remember what I was looking for again. Actually I think we were just suppose to be exploring. Wait, I can think of a team name now. I glanced up at the mirror. My fact was dripping wet but at least it was clean now. I grabbed one of those towels from the dispenser thing and dried my face off then began to repeat the process with my arms and legs. After a few minutes I headed out and resumed searching.

“Team….team…Gah this is hard” I muttered under my breath. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever but I was pretty sure I wasn’t lost. Doors were on the right and left side of me and every time I turned a corner, it either led into another hall way or a large space that eventually led to more hallways. God this was not gonna be fun.

Marceline

"Where?!" Marcus retorted sarcastically. Figuratively speaking, his sharp response provoked an equally sharp feeling in my chest.

It was like venom versus venom.

"Anywhere but here," I said, scathingly, pausing just enough to get in a pouting scowl. My own sarcasm burned my tongue; it was natural, for me at least, to act that way. To challenge when I felt I was challenged. And so, I flinched internally, hoping Marcus wouldn't take it badly.

The pseudo nurse was still coming after me, his long, heavy muscled arms outstretched in a threateningly uncomfortable way. Grimacing, I imagined that the incoming grip was a gentle hug, rather than the tight squeeze I knew I would feel in less than a minute. I gasped when his arms wrapped around me, quashing the breath out of my lungs and making my world spin with oxygen deprived dizziness. Ouch. I could feel my wing crushed up against my back; it disturbed me when I realized that my damaged wing had gone limp. I suppose the pain had been a bit much for it to endure.

I was in the air now. I was tall myself, but this guy was taller and stronger. With his height, my toes could barely reach the ground.

"Idiot," I grumbled under my breath, knowing he wouldn't hear me. He grinned down at me condescendingly, and I could feel my rage growing. Writing in his arms, I tried to slip out of his grip. Instead, my foot clipped him in the knee, forcing him to drop me as he doubled over in pain. Good. I hoped his knee would feel pain for a good week or two (you know, if he happened to survive this encounter.)

While he was wreathing on the floor, I found myself in the vice tight grip of much slimmer, more sure, arms. A woman. She'd been so quiet, I'd barely had time to react before I'd realized that her slim hands were wrapped around my neck. The best I could have done was slip out from under the delicate strangling half circle she created with her left arm, only for me to grab her right and fling her over my head. My wing (both of them, thank goodness) were beginning to feel normal again, as the blood flow previously constricted returned back to its normal flow, and I ripped off my blood soaked sweater. I was taking this bitch down.

She snapped up on her legs faster than humanly possible, and began charging at me again. I would have compared her to a hunting lioness, if I knew what one looked like.

"You are going down." I snarled charging back and snapping out my wings. The elongated hall of the hospital was perfect; flapping hard, it was less than three seconds before I was in the air at my top speed, my wings slightly bent to compensate for the fact that hall was smaller than the length of both my wings put together. For a minute second I wondered how the boys, with t their probably large wingspans, would have been able to cope with the claustrophobic space.

I have no idea what my top speed it; but, I do know that it supposedly breaks the speed of sound. Curiously I wondered if this was the fastest I could go. Could I break the speed of light? It was a good question, since I hadn't always been able to fly this fast. It had built up over the years, till I had hit a maximum speed. The Ward Master hadn't labeled it as my utmost max speed, and so it left me wondering how they had programmed my body.

And for that matter, for the first time in my life, my eyes. Normally, a bird kid, even with our advanced sight, would not have been able to see at my speed. Their eyes would have teared up and everything around them should have been a blur. But I was seeing just fine. A slight frown tugged at my lips; it had always seemed so natural that I had never considered it. Perhaps, when they had messed with my brother’s sight they had messed with mine too?

I didn’t have enough time to contemplate all those questions. Before the lady was able to hear the flap of my wings I had crashed into her (what with my faster than sound thing going on). I heard a sickening crack come from her arm, and a splatter of blood whipped across my face in a diagonal line. Ew.

We crashed into the very end of the hall, rolling in a discordant ball, and tumbling more than a few nurses out of the way. When we finally stopped, I was able to look back and check out Marcus and Eins.

To my surprise, and dismay, Eins seemed to have been hurt. However, he’d done it, Marcus had saved her. As I tried to get up, I froze, feeling a strange tingling sensation rolling down my back. It was stressful, as thought my muscles had tensed up, and I realized that was exactly what happened. To make matter worse, the muscle spasm had my left wing (the hurt one) constantly pulsing with pain. I kneeled on the ground, not sure if I was giving up or taking a break.

Matthew

I nodded briefly before dissolving from our little group to head down my hall. It was only now, when I was away from Sam and Taylor, did I realized how frightened I really was. My mouth feel dry, and I could feel the early stages of a headache crawling up along my brain. I needed an Advil or Aspirin, or whatever the hell people used to get rid of headaches.

I could give you all the boring details of my exploration through the hall but I’m not trying to kill you. All you need to know was that is exceedingly dreary and frightening to be alone and worried for my sister. It had all my nerves on end, and I found myself carefully picking my way from nurse to nurse, politely asking them discreet questions, hoping they wouldn’t relate me to my sister quickly.

After about fifteen minutes of searching I heard the strangest thing I’d ever heard in my entire life. Third floor, eastern corridor off of room 308. The Angels are under attack. Help them. I hissed (at least in the human approximation of the word) before I began making sense of the urgent invasion of sorts. It didn’t take me long to deduce how I had received such an alien plea for help; either a) there were other mutants in the hospital, or b) the Ward was trying to bait me. And either way you looked at it, if the Ward was trying to bait me or not, it meant that either Marce, Taylor, or Sam were in trouble.

Following the direction, I soon found myself close to room 308. And that’s when I spotted her. Relieft flooded through me.

“Marce!” I called out, elated. She was hurt, so that definitely meant something was going on. There was a woman not too far away from her with a deformed looking arm. She was slouched against the wall, her lips twitching angrily as she stopped me quickly lopping towards my sister.

“Don’t you dare,” the woman growled at me as I went in to pick my sister off the ground. I had been about grumble my own response back when I realized she was holding a gun to my face. I swallowed noisily waiting for her to pull the trigger. Time seemed to stop, and I barely had a fraction of a second before I ducked. The bullet careened off the metal top of the hall, reflecting back and digging itself into the flat marble floor.

I looked back at her stunned; had she really been out to kill me? Usually the Ward went for capturing, not killing. And there was nothing even remotely Vampire-ish about her. Out of my peripheral vision I was just able to spot the blurred shapes of two smaller (or rather thinner) people, about my age, I would guess. I didn’t risk glancing, too afraid that the gun was still loaded.

Alice

"You did great, I fell on my face a few times before I could even fly at all. You're a natural, When you want to land just get as close to the ground, flare your wings a few times to reduce speed."

I felt a genuine smile creep onto my face. How many times in my life had I even been complimented? I’ll answer that for you; not many.

Even with the space Mike was giving me, I found myself angling away from him, not wanting to be smacked by his mammoth wings. For a while, I admired the way he flew. It was far more graceful than me, and if there was anyone who was “natural” at flying out of the two of us, I would have thought it was him rather than me.

For a while we flew separately, until it seemed that he had something to tell me. Carefully, he angled his wings, coming close enough that I could hear him, but staying far away enough so that we didn’t collide.

"We'll be landing at the edge of the forest, we wouldn't want any bird kids seeing our approach." I nodded quietly, listening intently as he spoke.

Then, as he had described to me earlier, he began descending towards the ground, flaring his wings out in order to make a smooth landing. I watched him with envy; I knew this was the part of the day where I failed my flying test.

He called down for her, and she grimaced when he mentioned “handling this nicely.” This was not going to be nice.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered under her breath. Taking a steep (probably too steep) dive downwards, she angled herself as best as she could, for the ground. It wasn’t enough.

“Ouch,” she growled, as she tumbled in a pile of crumpled leaves and pointy bushed. Groaning, she asked sarcastically (something she had picked up from observing one of the bird kids), “How was that.” She rolled her eyes, not at Mike, but rather at herself.

Twisting around so that she could see her wing, she grunted when she realized that her Vampire wing, jet black as it was, was marred with the small trickle of blood that indicated a cut. Her pure white Angle wing seemed find, albeit a bit ruffled.

Samuel

Samuel nodded anxiously towards Taylor and Matthew, he took a deep breath before slowly turning his back away from them and stepping towards the left hall. As Samuel approached the opening he looked back briefly, before steadying himself and taking another step forward. This time however he didn't falter; he knew that he had to do this. As Samuel continued down the bleak, dull hallway he felt the cold chill of fear begin to creep up his spine, his eyes darted forward instinctively examining his new surroundings in more detail while he steadily continuing forward. The hallway seemed so still, serene came to Samuel's mind; there wasn't anyone walking through these halls, and the noise was now a hushed whisper. This added to the atmosphere, but most importantly it also added to Samuel's distress, he wasn't exactly sure what to expect from the unnerving silence. To put it simply: in a room full of people he felt safe, no matter how many were secretly against him, silence however was different he couldn't help but feel something was out to get him.

Samuel took a sharp turn before letting out a sigh of relief at the sight before him: there were people, although the amount was small Samuel's tension was eased considerably. They were mostly pushing empty hospital trolleys along, a few were heading in and out of rooms holding documents of data. However Samuel's momentary ease didn't last of long, he wasn't sure why, but the tension just seemed to return as quickly as it had left; he knew it had something to do with the way everybody was moving, it seemed rushed and slightly false. Samuel could just sense something bad, he wasn't sure if it was pure-avian instincts, or just common-sense; then again he had developed quite a paranoid streak since his escape from the Ward. Samuel gulped not exactly sure what to do, a sense of panic seemed to wash over him, he felt an irresistible urge to flee from this building and never look back. The feeling he felt there was similar to the feeling of being caught in a trap which had not sprung yet. For a second the feeling to escape wasn't a suggestion it was a maddening imperative.

Samuel sighed before shaking his head shakily he couldn't leave now, he had gone down this rabbit hole (on his own accord) and he had to see it through, he knew the consequences but for a moment he didn't really seem to care. All he knew was that he had to see this through. Samuel began to continue through the hallway until a thought struck him; he could at least prepare himself, it wasn't a solution but it would make him feel better. His eyes scanned the edge of the hallway until he spotted what he was looking for, a bathroom but that wasn't all he spotted. Two of the male nurses had spotted him from down the hall, which was non-surprisingly empty by now. He could immediately tell that these people weren't ordinary nurses, they didn't look the part, but he could also see in their eyes that there was harm, which was more distressing. The two nurses did not even attempt to stop him, but simply strode towards him, one had a case, and was unpacking it slow and steadily: he pulled out a long hypodermic needle, while the other pulled out a baton of some sort, both looked calm and business-like. Samuel stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before his rationality regained itself, and he quickly rushed into the bathroom slamming the door behind him.

The bathroom was empty like everything else, and there were six empty stalls next to several sinks with urinals on the other end of the room. Samuel had originally intended to come inside here, and drain the power from the lights, he didn't have time to do it now of course, but he still had a rather vague plan in mind. Samuel's eyes glanced at the stalls, and then towards a small window which was tightly shut. Samuel had to act quickly; he dived over to the window and tried to force it open it didn't budge an itch it must have been or something, he hesitated before exerting more force, he could hear it creak and that willed him to push harder until the window was fully open. Samuel turned in panic, they were probably almost upon him by now he quickly ran over to one of the stalls shutting its door behind him and quickly getting up on the seat, he knew they were going probably going to check the stalls but they wouldn't be able to spot him: hopefully anyway. Samuel paused before closing his eyes and forcing concentration, he was trying to become invisible to no avail, he was beginning to panic now, rationality was beginning to crack as he heard the bathroom door creek open.

Samuel heard them shuffling forward, until a giant wham! entered his ears. Samuel winced he knew they were kicking the stall's doors open. He closing his eyes, shivering slightly. Another wham! had entered his ears, Samuel was in outright panicking now, he was positive he was in the third stall, and the surge of adrenaline that had washed through him had made everything slow down. As the stall to his door was kicked open, he saw the man with the baton fall back down from his kicking stance, before scowling adjectivally, he looked around in the stall failing to spot Samuel, who had by now relaxed and was breathing heavily; he wasn't sure how he had done that, but regardless felt a large weight lift of his chest. As the two nurses checked the last three stalls, the one with the needle muttered uneasily, "Where did the bugger go?" The one with the baton looked around, in thought before spotting the window that was open, he gasped before stating, "I think the little shit might of gone out the window." Samuel looked on casually aware that there was a slight pressure on his brain, he had another five minutes before he'd have to become visible again, but they'd be gone by then so it didn't really matter. Samuel watched laughing hysterically as the two nurses ran out quickly, he fell to the floor howling with laughter, this wasn't the funny sort of laughter but more of the, I-can't-believe-that-worked kind of laughter.

Samuel pushed himself off the floor, wiping his eyes; the occasional snort of laughter erupting. As Samuel looked around the bathroom, he decided it'd be best if he did what he had originally planned. Samuel slowly walked forward until he was directly under the light, he could feel a small buzzing sensation in his stomach and he raised his hands, almost as if to touch the light. Suddenly a spark of yellow static electricity escaped from the lamp and jumped into Samuel's hands, it buzzed around for a second before steadily feeding into his hands, the light was flickering on and off rapidly now, he was sure that other electrical appliances would be acting up, as he wasn't draining just this lamp, but the whole hospital but none of the appliances would be drained as bad as the light, since that was the source. After about a minute he let go satisfied that he had charged himself up enough. Samuel pushed himself forward, raising his right hand and sparking a small spark of electricity from his fingertips, "Perfect..." he smiled, before snapping his right hand shut.

As Samuel readied himself to leave the bathroom: a voice entered his head, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin, before looking around obviously startled and bewildered, Third floor, eastern corridor off of room 308. The Angels are under attack. Help them. the voice whispered, and then it was gone. Samuel looked around wide-eyed for a moment, before regaining his composure, he wasn't sure whether to act on this, it could be a trap, he hardly recognized the voice which had entered his head after all, but nevertheless he felt a certain obligation to do so. The obligation wasn't anything special, more of a natural curiousness which Samuel couldn't help but check, anyway now that he was charged up he felt confidence bubbling up, before he grinned. Samuel walked out of the bathroom with some hesitation however, but he was almost certain that he invisible anyway so it didn't really matter to him. Samuel walked out to see the hallway was completely deserted, he relaxed before letting himself become visible again. Samuel began running at a quickened pace forward, he looked up at a sign above the hallway's archway, which told him he was exactly on floor two, and in the western corridor.

As Samuel continued running down the western halls, jumping over the occasional obstacle he came across a small stairway, which he quickly dashed into and up a flight of stairs as quickly as he could, he didn't want to waste anymore time. As Samuel emerged he could hear something, which sounded like a gunshot, his senses were immediately on high alert, and he instinctively fell to the floor; he scowled edgily, before realizing the trouble the others could be in. Samuel dashed ahead, before sliding along and soon finding the eastern corridor, as well as the ominous room 308. The first thing Samuel noticed was the scene that had played out before him, his eyes went wide at what he had seen: a woman her arm a mess, was holding a gun in her other hand towards Matthew who was supporting his sister, behind him however was two others, both he didn't recognize; he could tell however he was a bird-kid due to his black wings, the other he couldn't get a good look at, but she looked different.

Samuel had fortunately however, emerged behind the scenes and had not drawn the woman's attention... yet anyway. Samuel stopped when he was a few feet away from her, hoping she wouldn't detect him. Samuel sprang with surprising speed off his legs and onto the woman's back, forcing her to the ground, he heard something slide along the floor, he suspected (hoped) it was the gun. The woman turned slightly before elbowing Samuel in the face a few times, they didn't do much damage due to him being on top of her, but they still hurt, and Samuel felt blood drip from his nose, it didn't matter all of his wounds didn't last for long after all. Samuel quickly grabbed her head, before slamming it into the ground repeatedly, her blows got weaker and weaker, until they stopped completely. Samuel rolled off the woman, before speaking roughly "Sorry I took so long..." he coughed, before spitting some blood on the floor and staggering to his feet, using the wall as support.

"Eins, we have to get moving," I snapped, in no mood to coddle her. Yeah, something was definitely wrong with her arm, but now was so not the time to worry about it. She wasn't dead, she wasn't bleeding, and she could walk. That was good enough for me. The sympathy would have to wait until we weren't about to be killed or captured by the Ward.

"We need to go back to Marceline," I said, really having no idea whether that was true or not. Was now a good time or bad time to be separated? I'm just not good at these decisions in the heat of the moment. I checked to make sure she was following and I headed back through the semi-crowded hall, shoving people out of the way and occasionally throwing a punch if someone tried to stop me. The hall seemed to clear in front of me and I soon found out why.

A nurse was holding a gun on a boy who looked remarkably like Marceline, and who I just instantly assumed was related to her. Marceline herself was a short distance away and seemed to be hurt. The sight filled me with as much panicky fear and anger as the the sight of the gun did.

Martial arts is kind of useless when a gun is in your face. You don't need to touch someone to hurt them with a gun. In the movies I'd watched, the hero used special martial arts to dodge bullets. The Ward had used guns on mutants with even greater abilities and had never failed to kill them.

As if to prove me right, the nurse pulled the trigger. The sound was deafening in the hall and I flinched, expecting to see blood gushing everywhere or to feel the unexpected pain of a bullet wound myself.

But since Marceline's brother was still in one piece and no one else (including me) was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, she must have missed. He had to have been lucky to avoid that at such close range.

I was wondering what I could do to take her down when another kid -probably a mutant- began to sneak up on her. I stared... I couldn't help it. Easy way to ruin someone's ambush, by staring at them while they sneak up on someone. Luckily my reaction didn't seem to ruin it; he sailed through the air and tackled the woman hard. I couldn't help but be impressed as he slammed her head into the ground repeatedly. I was even more impressed when she kept fighting. Vicious.

He climbed off of her when she stopped moving and apologized for taking so long.

"No problem. Not like we're facing a life or death situation or anything," I said sarcastically, but I half smirked at him to show that I didn't mean it. "Can we leave now?"

A couple of the nurses I'd taken down were closing in on us again, though now they were being slow about it, as if approaching dangerous wild animals. Which I guess is a good description. Oh, and they were pulling out guns too. Copy cats. My smirk disappeared in an instant and I tensed up again. I so did not want to get shot today.

"Now what?" I asked seriously, all traces of sarcasm gone. Not like we could rush them and they definitely weren't close enough for me to do anything. I was useless.