"TELL US EVERYTHING!" Andy and Louie bellowed.
"Ow! My ears!" I groaned as I backed away from the overzealous scientists. The procession was no longer traveling underground but were hiding in the woods outside the Spirit factory. Now on a small cliff that over looked the factory and the Mississippi river, the entire group could see the swarms of thrads that attacked laying waste to the few structures that remained, feasting on evo and human corpses, and oddly enough a few were mating with each other. The tunnel had taken us about two miles away from the factory. Not as far as Chase or anyone would have liked but better than still being inside the factory.
"Gods I hope getting yelled at doesn't become a thing for me."
"Never mind about your ears Chase, tell us what you saw! How did the grogark preform in that fight?" Andy asked eagerly.
I looked at both scientists as they backed me into a tree. War crime chittered in a low tone that reminded me of a angry rattlesnake rattle then crawled over my shoulder and hissed at the scientists, warning them away.
"Chase!" Andy and Louie exclaimed as they jumped away.
"Calm down War crime." I said then patted the grogark on his head. War crime purred then slide back to his original position on my back. "Instead of demanding to know what happened in the tunnel wouldn't it be better to get this entire group moving and to safety. Like to town?"
"No, St. Louis is only seven miles from the factory. At full speed it won't take long for that horde to make it to town." Dad said walking over to the cliffs edge and looking down at the scene below. "We'll head to fort Vaultworth across the river in Illinois."
"Wait are you suggesting that we just abandon the town?" A scientist exclaimed from the group. Panic spread across his face like wildfire. "No! My wife and children are there!"
A cacophony of yelling and refusals battered dad as most of the scientists and workers swarmed him on the ledge. Mom quickly jumped between everyone and dad, silencing them with a loud ear shattering whistle.
"He is not suggesting that we leave everyone in town to die! Thomas is simply saying that we all can do more for everyone in town by alerting the military of what is going on and getting everyone in town support." Mom amended dad's words and glances back at him giving him a warning glare then looking back at the group. "Thomas sent a Fey-fey to the towns sheriff before we started our escape, I'm sure that everyone is already being evacuated as we speak."
"But how can we know?" Another scientist asked.
"Yeah!" Barked another.
"We can have Chase head to town to check!" Zachary Sami, the lead vat worker exclaimed. The vat workers were some of the least respected workers in the factory. Little more than janitors that scrubbed and prepped the Splicing vats and incubation tubes. While Zackary not management like my dad and mom were as head and team lead scientists respectively, he was just as influential as the both of them among workers and scientists alike.
"Check how?" Louie asked suspiciously eyeing Zachary. Zachary pointed at the aivard then at me.
"He's a splicer and that is a flying evo! He can get to the town in a matter of moments and check to see if it's being evacuated…." Zachary started.
"And then he can be arrested for using his powers and murdered in his cell!" Mom snapped and interrupted Zachary. She stepped forward and the crowd parted as she moved until she was face to face work Zachary. "You know how people who don't work in the factory feel about him. He'll be lucky if he isn't shot in sight by some trigger happy sheriff!"
"So you'll put the life of a splicer over that of your fellow humans?!" Zachary stared loudly, looking to the others around him for support. A few idiots spoke up and cheered him on but were silenced by one steely glare from mom.
"That is my son! Splicer or not! I will not make him do something that could end with him getting arrested!" Mom snapped.
"You had him work in the factory!" Zackary countered with a sneer. "How old was he when you first had him work in the factory? How old had he been there when you asked him to use his powers to help with your work? How many times have you risked his life just to further your own objectives!?"
Mom reared back and slapped Zachary so hard he stumbled back into the mob of workers behind him. I winced as he held his face and looked back at Mom with shock and indignation.
"How dare you! My son has save nearly every one of your lives and you want to repay him by sending him to his death!" Mom snapped.
My eyes moved from the spectacle of my mom and Zachary to my dad, still standing at the edge of the cliff looking unsure. It was the first time I have ever seen that look on my dad's face, uncertainty and helplessness. Dad had always looked so sure to me, larger than life and as powerful as mountain. In that moment however he looked small and powerless.
As if he felt me staring at him, he turns and our eyes met. In that moment I felt tike slow to a crawl again. Dad's eyes looked so guilty and conflicted. Like he'd wanted to ask something but couldn't find the way to ask.
'No…he can't possibly….' I thought. I felt as if a frigid had had suddenly grasped my heart and squeezed it. Dad's expression turned apologetic as he turned back to mom and the others.
"Honey…." Dad said started getting everyone's attention. "…if the thrads head into town then eventually they'll find your parents house in the woods…."
"Mom and Dad's house…?" Mom muttered then gasped as dad's words sounded in her head. "They've be overwhelmed!"
"Not only them but your brother is in town on leave from the military and staying with his mother. I know you two don't see eye to eye Chase but…" Dad said turning to me.
"I can't let him and everyone else in town die." I interrupted.
'Even though the only ones that ever did anything for me or treated me with any sort of respect were my grandparents…' I thought.
"About time he had some sense of duty!" One of the workers said in the back of the group.
"The least he could do after all these years of forcing us to deal with his splicer stink.' Another said.
'Blank! Keep your face blank!' I told myself as I turned to the aivard. It was laying a ways away from the group, watching everyone with cold and calculating eyes. They warmed considerably when they fell on me.
"Come on. I hope you're as quick a study on flying as you are on walking." I said waving the aivard over to me. It instant jumped up and galloped over to me then plopped down and looked up at me with large puppy dog eyes.
'So aivard's personalities are possibly influenced by the canine part of their DNA.' I thought.
I turned to face the direction of the town and pointed to the St. Louis Arch in the distance. It marketed the where the town line began on this side of the river and was the largest landmark in the midwest.
"I need to get to the town over there. I need you to take me or else those thrads down there will kill everyone in town. Can you help me?" I asked. The aivard replied with a loud yip and bounced over to the edge of the cliff. It gripped the rocks edge with the claws on his front wings then spread his middle wings and gave them a tentative flag as if testing their strength and the wind.
I hopped onto the aivard's back between it's first and second pair of wings and held onto the scruff of its neck.
"Chase hold on!" Louie exclaimed and rushed over. I looked down at him and arched my brow. "Take me with you. My wife's pregnant and home by herself!"
"Come on!" I exclaimed and held a hand out. He grasped it eagerly and I pulled him onto the aivard's back. War Crime climbed around my back and gripped onto my chest tightly.
"Chase, be safe…!" Mom exclaimed over my shoulder. Dad rushed over but didn't say anything. His eyes were flushed with guilt. I looked away and urged the aivard on.
It let out a loud growled and jumped off the cliff with it's wings spread. Louie screamed as the ground rapidly approached. Aivard flapped his wings Harland pulled up its belly barely skimming the ground before paridly ascending above the trees and into the sky.
"OH MY GODS! OH MY GODS! I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO DIE!" Louie screamed.
"THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME! WHOOOOOO!" I hollered.