Wings of Death

Pretty faces

The secondary backup generators were switched on remotely and within a few minutes the power was back on. They were all eager to look at the footage from the security cameras. Unfortunately, the cameras on the first floor had been destroyed in the explosion.

“We need to go outside. That’s the only way to find out what happened to the Bloodwings”, said Alex. He was dying to know whether the grenade had done the trick.

“Okay, me and Alex will go back to the first floor and look for their corpses. You all stay here and keep your eyes open”, said Nathan.

They headed outside and took the stairs leading to the first floor. The area near the blast was covered in dust and debris. The two pillars had been scarred with a number of cracks.

“Do you think the building might collapse?” Nathan asked Alex.

“That’s highly unlikely. I saw the blueprint. There are a total of 12 pillars on the first floor. They can take the weight of the building. These two in front of you actually serve no purpose. They were put in for decoration”, replied Alex.

Feeling reassured, Nathan headed towards the pile of debris. The two Bloodwings lay on the ground in front. They had the faces of human females. It was hard to imagine that these terrifying monsters could have such lovely faces. A black liquid was oozing out of their corpses. Alex went ahead and kicked one of them just to make sure they were dead.

“They look quite pretty. Now I know why that girl’s father couldn’t take his eyes off them”, remarked Alex.

“I think there is more to them than meets the eye”, replied Nathan with a smirk on his face.

Dr. Grant was informed immediately. He arrived shortly with a crew of scientists. On his lips was a million dollar smile. “You did it Nathan!” he exclaimed with his fist in the air. “We can now study the corpses and find out more about them!” he gushed in excitement.

The debris was cleared and the corpses were taken to the basement level for a detailed post mortem. Meanwhile Margaret had managed to contact Dr. Erica Von Hart. She informed the doctor about the recent occurrences and what they had managed to find out by analyzing the feather. Dr. Erica was super excited to know more about these creatures. She hadn’t been able to get her hands on any of the creature’s body parts and had to base her research on video footage and eye witness accounts. She had not been allowed to leave the secret research facility even once.

Dr. Grant decided to speak with Dr. Erica directly. They had a lot of catching up to do since they had last spoken to each other about three years ago. Dr. Erica had been extremely busy with her research work and Dr. Grant had lost her number. They discussed the anatomy and cellular structure of the Bloodwings at length. Dr. Erica still could not believe that they actually had human faces. She begged Dr. Grant to bring the corpses to her research facility so that she could also study them. Dr. Grant thought it would be best if they both worked as partners. Dr. Hart was thrilled to hear that he wanted to work with her as her partner.

“I will arrange special permits for you. I am so glad that you agreed”, she squealed in excitement.

“We are going to need four passes. Margaret and her friends will be joining us too. They were the ones who took down the Bloodwings. I think you will love Margaret, she is a bright young lady”, said Dr. Grant.

“I have already spoken to Margaret. I am interested to know more about her rain theory. Getting four permits might be a bit difficult. I think I’ll need to pull a few strings”, she chuckled.

“Okay then. See you soon. We need to arrange a transport first. I hope it does not stop raining”, added Dr. Grant.

Dr. Erica said she would not be able to help them with the transport but suggested that they should travel via the subway. “Our research facility is just 10 miles from the nearest subway. If you can get the trains up and running you can get here in a few hours”. She paused for a while and then added, “Get onto a train and get down at Milson Row. Captain Elijah will escort you from there.”

They needed to leave immediately while it was still raining in order to reach the nearby subway safely.

“We can’t come with you right now; we have to get back to our parents. They are going to be worried about us and besides we have to return home with our supplies”, said Margaret.

Dr. Grant understood their dilemma. He suggested that they should gather the survivors and together they would go to Fort Barton. It would be safer there and Dr. Erica’s research facility was also situated inside Fort Barton.

Nathan and his friends liked the idea and agreed to do as Dr. Grant said. They bid Dr. Grant farewell and headed outside. It was decided that they would wait for the rains and then gather all the survivors and head for the nearest subway. The scientists would rendezvous with them at Hoffman station. From there they would embark on their journey towards Milson Row.

Nathan, Alex and Margaret shared some food with the scientists and then they distributed the food, water and medicines among themselves. They put the supplies back inside their rucksacks again and set off towards their hideouts. It had been an adventurous journey for them. They were surprised to see that their parents hadn’t called yet. It was almost 7 AM. They climbed onto their bikes and went their separate ways.

Nathan reached home at 7:45 AM; his parents were still fast asleep. He changed into dry clothes and went to sleep on the couch. Alex returned to the parking lot at 8 AM and was greeted by Joshua. He had been waiting for him to return. Mr. and Mrs. Smith listened to his entire story and decided it would be best not to burden him with their own problems right now. Their daughter had gone to sleep but she was still burning with fever. Joshua’s contraption was ready. He hid it inside an ambulance which had been parked in the parking lot. Alex informed them about their plan. They all were initially very scared to go outside but Alex assured them that they would be completely safe inside the subway. Mr. Smith had to agree at last because he needed to get his daughter to a doctor as soon as possible and they might have doctors at the military base. Margaret was the last to reach home. When she returned it was almost 8:30 am. She managed to change into dry clothes just a few minutes before her mom woke up.

It had been a successful day. They had executed their plans to perfection and had returned home in one piece. The trio now decided to focus on the next mission. Fort Barton seemed like a glimmering ray of hope in a very dark cave.