Wings of Metal~chapter 4

by Bambi:~:Hydra in the mall

*Here's the last one I'm posting before horsecamp (today! woohoo!) but Bambi is going to be posting what I have written on paper so far on here. I've already written the next two chapters and they're EXCITING! I'll be back next week... keep on commenting!!!!*

I woke up with legs made of lead. I could barely make it across my obstacle course.

Junco, Rusty, and Shadow were all getting ready for school. Dotty was making breakfast.

“Good morning,’ I said to all of them.

“Not for me, but thanks,” Rusty said. It looked like he hadn’t got any sleep. Shadow snickered. Rusty threw a punch at him.

As we got ready to depart for school, Dotty gave me a big hug. “Stay safe. If you see that woman again, get out of sight no matter what and call one of us. Then get back home.” She handed me a cell phone. “Don’t worry. I doubt she’ll try to find you at such a public place.” She gave me another squeeze. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Dotty. Bye,” I said, reluctant to leave my sisters safe embrace.

My brothers and I walked out the door to the bus stop. The bus dropped students off at both the junior high and the high school.

As we were walking, Shadow asked me, “Got any sweet bruises like Rusty’s?”

“I feel like I’ve got a billion on my legs, but they’re just sore. Sorry to disappoint you,” I said. “Can someone tell me who that motorcycle lady is?

“I truly want to tell you, but we don’t have enough time to explain it all at the moment,” Junco said. “Be watchful at school. Keep your eye out for anything unusual. Do you have our speed dials?”

“Yeah.”

I sat next to my friend Michelle on the bus. I was already impatient to know what was going on with my family and the motorcycle woman, so we didn’t talk much. I was really tense the entire school day but there was no sign of the red head.

I relaxed on the ride home. My brothers hadn’t seen any sign of the lady either.

I finished my homework when I got home. I had extra because of the papers I missed yesterday. But now it was time for the explanations.

We gathered in the living room. Dotty began with, “We don’t know much, Claire. But we’ll tell you all we do know.”

“The woman’s name is Kate. Her and some other people are after us,” Junco said.

“Well… why?” I asked.

“We’re not exactly human,” Shadow laughed.

That blanked my brain for a moment. Then, “what?!”

Junco glared at Shadow. “We’re human, but we have another gene. We’ll show you something in a couple minutes.”

“But that doesn’t explain why they’re after us.”

“Because we’re different, I guess. I bet mom would know,” said Rusty.

“So…after us, as in…” I said, still completely confused.

“They want us dead,” the ever brusque Shadow announced.

“Shadow!” Dotty exclaimed. She looked at me apologetically, waiting for my reaction. Now I understood why Rusty thought I was nuts to be laughing the other day after our pursuit. These people were after us, as in, not stopping until we’re dead. Oops.

“Oh…” I said in a small voice. Rusty looked ready to throttle Shadow.

“Sorry, Claire. Shadow, watch your mouth.” Junco threatened.

Dotty said, “So that’s why we go on vacations for seemingly no reason, and why we all go together for groceries. I mean, we don’t really go for the groceries. We’re fighting off the bad guys. Then we get some groceries. We’ve been protecting you. We didn’t want you to get involved yet.”

“We didn’t run into thugs yesterday. It was Kate and some of her people,” Junco explained.  “Shadow and Dotty were flying above while Rusty and I dealt with Kate and the others.”

“Then we got some bacon,” Shadow added.

I stared and Dotty in disbelief. “Flying? Dotty, you were flying?”

“I was too,” Shadow put in.

Dotty smiled. “We all fly. Come on, We’ll show you.”

I just couldn’t picture it. At all.