Dan put his hands on his hips and looked up at the canopy of
pines over our heads. The thin trunks and branches let us see that the night
was clear and filled with stars.
He said, “It’s tough to figure anything out with all these
trees. I don’t suppose your flying is any better yet?”
I cringed, but I knew it was our only option. “Actually the
flying isn’t all that bad as long as I go straight and don’t mind jetting at
supersonic speeds. I land with no problem too – if you have no problems with
crash landings.”
Bless his heart, he looked genuinely sympathetic. “My poor
girl.”
I mentally urged my pride to take a vacation, with the
promise dignity wouldn’t be far behind it. “I suppose I should try. No laughing
when I take out a tree.”
Dan didn’t crack a smile. “Never.”
I squared my shoulders and set myself under the least amount
of foliage in the area. I urged myself up and began to elevate.
As I’d told Dan, going straight is not that big a deal. I
brushed up against the tips of a few limbs, but pretty much avoided smacking
into anything. Within seconds I was up above the trees.
I kept climbing, wanting a good view of everything. Vampire
vision is better than ghost vision. Plus certain things were lit up, making it
easy to pick out landmarks. In the distance to the west of Highway 17, I saw
the airfield. I decided certain lines of lights close to the dark ribbons of
roads must be strip malls. Closer to my position, maybe seven miles away and
more to the north, was the sprawl of the federal training academy. It had
really grown over the years, making the facility about half the size of Fulton
Falls.
Most of what lay beneath me was the swath of woods. A breeze
through the pines whispered secrets that I couldn’t understand. About three
miles away was one well-lit building that I couldn’t quite make out. And even
closer, a tiny glimmer of light shone from deep in the trees.
I thought it would be worth my while to check out those two
light sources, the smaller one first. Doing my best as usual to maintain a slow
pace, I began to move towards the glimmer.
Before long I was zooming along and going faster all the
time. I winced knowing how bad the eventual landing was going to be, but the
tiny mote of light was getting bigger. Hopefully I wouldn’t flash by it so fast
that I wouldn’t be able to pick out its source. I started trying to angle
downward to pass as close to the tops of the pines as I was able.
I was almost directly over the light and not nearly as low
as I wanted to be when I saw a flash of a different kind of light, sparking
near the glimmer. I heard something whiz past my ear. Another flash. Another
whiz came even closer. Then I heard the gunshots.
I had the thought that bullets travel faster than sound
before it occurred to me that I was being shot at. In a panic, I abruptly
reversed course.
I have to give myself credit. Even though I was
somersaulting wildly, I still managed to steer myself back in the direction I’d
come from. As the sky and ground changed sides over and over at dizzying
speeds, I caught sight of the highway here and there. I aimed for it as best I
could. Some small rational part of me was sure I was out of the range of the
gun, so I concentrated on slowing myself down as much as possible. With every
rotation of my body, the treetops moved closer and closer. And then I was in
them.
I stopped trying to fly and let myself drop. My yelps rang
through the woods as I bounced off branches. The trees and my bones cracked as
we did damage to each other. Pain came steadily, infuriating me.
It seemed like an eternity before I hit solid ground. My
legs had been spared damage, and I was on my feet, fanged and ready to drain
the bastard who’d shot. I barely noticed my left arm was hanging at a weird
angle, useless at my side.
Someone was going down.
No release date set.
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