The Gryphon Generation Book 2: A New Era

by Alexander Bizzell

  “Where is trust?” Anfang pointed out.

  “A certain amount of trust is earned, not given,” Matthew replied.

  Anfang slowly lifted one scaled forearm and huffed through his nares, reluctant to accept the band but knew there was no other choice. Matthew put the band on and clipped it in place to make sure it was tight. He pressed a button on the side and the small screen lit up with numbers. “There. Now sit tight. I will be back in a couple minutes.”

  Matthew left and shut the doors behind him, leaving Anfang alone in the office. The gryphon glanced around, looking at the countless books lining the walls and then out the window once again. A small clock on the wall ticked rhythmically, counting the seconds as they passed.

  Anfang walked over to one bookcase and sat, running his talons across the spines of the books. He could read simple words, and tried to sound out a couple of the books names. “Pride and Pre…pred…predju…” Anfang grumbled as his tongue ran across his sharp teeth. “Moby, Moby Dick… Ham…let.”

  He picked one out in particular and pulled it from the shelf to glance at the cover. “War…and P...Peace.” Anfang held the book in his large talons and opened it up to a random page. He took a while trying to read the first sentence, and listened to the clock somehow growing louder with every tick.

  His eyes strained until he shut them. His mind grew fuzzy and distant before remembering a similar clock in a white room. There were several men standing in front of him, dressed in white with masks over their faces. One was holding a weapon and was pointing it straight at him.

  Anfang had hissed and tried to move, but he was bound to a wall. A loud noise had rang out and his ear rang as a sharp pain had lanced through his chest. He had screeched and looked down at the wound leaking with blood. One of the men walked to him and bent down to retrieve a piece of metal on the ground.

  Anfang had struggled against the bindings, wanting to lash out and rip the human in half, but it was no use. The rest of the humans began to clap as the man placed the small metal piece on the tray and walked back to the group. Anfang had looked through an observing window, seeing two men garbed in intricate green clothing and wearing many badges. He could see them smiling.

  Anfang shook the memory from his mind and roared before tossing the book across the room. It slammed against the clock and broke it into pieces before it fell to the ground. The wooden door suddenly opened as one of Matthew’s bodyguards peaked in with a frightened look on his face. Anfang glared at the man, and he slowly closed the door behind him.

  The gryphon turned to look back at the window to watch the trees blow in the wind. “War. No peace.”

  Chapter 18 The Hunt

  Anfang closed his eyes as fresh air flowed into his lungs. The evening sun beat down on his brown and crème feathers, bathing him in pleasant warmth. The wind whipped across his scarred face, up over his back. and under his leathery wings.

  He flapped once and felt the burning of exhaustion in his wing joints. It had been so long since he had flown free that he was out of shape. He beat his wings again and straightened them to glide.

  His armband beeped and he lifted his foretalon to look down at the small screen. Matthew had explained how to use the device. At first, he had been confused by the concept, but he display was simple; just an arrow pointing towards his destination and the distance left to go. It had come to make sense to him with practice.

  “Follow the arrow,” Anfang repeated out loud and he felt his stomach rumble. It had only been a couple hours since last he last ate but his crop was empty

  Another beat of his wings and the burning painfully reminded him of his inexperience at flying for long periods of time. When the device told him five miles to finish, he had no concept of what that distance meant. Was five miles far away or close? He hoped he would arrive sooner rather than later.

  His task was simple, find Daniel and kill him. Matthew had made it clear he did not care if it was done quietly or if it was done in the presence of a crowd. Anfang smiled at the thought of having an audience for his show. The look of horror on the faces of humans as he dug his talons into hot flesh had always been a delight to him and well worth the punishments he received for it back in the labs. Only this time, there would be no repercussions if he performed it right. There would be no one to chain him and beat him for his actions. There would be no one to help this Daniel.

  The band beeped again and Anfang looked down to see the words, destination reached. He saw no arrow anymore, and assumed his target was somewhere below him. Anfang banked and turned into a lazy spiral down, scanning the area for the best place to land.

  There were a few buildings below him, each a short distance apart with trees surrounding them. He felt his curiosity grow as he scanned the buildings, wondering what the humans did with each one. Each had a parking area filled with multiple cars. He had watched television and understood concepts such as restaurants and grocery stores since that’s where humans went for food, but everything else was a mystery.

  Anfang landed roughly in a grassy area next to one building and folded in his aching leathered wings. He looked around, checking to see if any humans had seen him land, but found none. Anfang looked through the glass window on the side, and saw multiple tables, chairs and booths. He watched as people conversed while sitting across from one another, and eating food.

  Anfang finally put it together. “A restaurant!”

  It was interesting to see so many humans sitting in one room, eating and drinking together. A woman walked back and forth from one door, and each time she appeared again, she held multiple plates of food. He grinned at the thought of a human bringing him endless amounts of food and eating until he could not fit another bite into his crop. A blond man in the corner of the restaurant turned to wave at the woman bringing food and Anfang’s feline eyes latched onto him.

  “Daniel,” he hissed under his breath.

  Anfang could feel his heartbeat quicken, and his muscles tense up as his predatory instincts inside came to life. His muzzle curved into a toothy snarl and he chuckled to himself as endorphins rushed through him, giving him a high in the process.

  He twitched his head to the left as someone stepped out of the restaurant’s front door and headed towards their car. A way in. Anfang walked towards the front door and opened it with his foretalons.

  As he stepped inside, he focused on Daniel in the back, busy eating his food. Suddenly, the room fell quiet. He realized that every person was holding their breath, staring straight at the monstrosity that just casually walked in. He gave them his best toothy snarl.

  “M-may I help you, sir?” a woman stuttered from behind the counter, clearly terrified at the beast before her.

  Anfang’s eartuft stood straight up and his feathers ruffled as he pointed to Daniel at the back. “Yeeesss. I’ve come for him,” he said with a croak in his voice. Slowly, Daniel turned around and stared blankly across the room.

  Anfang stared into Daniel’s blue eyes, and the man turned ghostly pale. The hideous gryphon laughed and walked across the room, pushing tables and chairs aside with his massive body.

  Daniel stood quickly, drew out his weapon and pointed the barrel at Anfang. “Matthew sent you, didn’t he?”

  Everyone in the restaurant screamed and went into a panic at the sight of the sidearm. The gryphon broke into a sprint across the restaurant, his wings flared. Tables, chairs and people scattered as the gryphon closed ground. Daniel fired.

  Anfang winced as the familiar pain shot through his body. The bullets stung but they fell to the ground after hitting his body. His blood pumped and his ear rang as another shot was fired, yet the gryphon did not stop. A third shot was produced just as Anfang closed in. He swiped, and felt flesh tear against his talons.

  Daniel was sent flying towards the front windows and hit hard, breaking the glass. He quickly sat up, clutching his chest as blood poured from the open wound. People screamed and rushed out of the building. Anfang watched the crowd
leave, and turned back to Daniel. They were alone now.

  Anfang slowly approached his preyl, his eyes wide and a permanent grin attached on his toothy beak muzzle. Daniel, lifted his weapon and fired again. This time, the bullet missed Anfang completely. The gryphon grabbed Daniel’s wrist, and squeezed. A loud snap echoed in the quiet room along with Daniel’s cries. Anfang trilled and perked his eartuft, savoring the sound.

  “I sad everyone leaves. I want people to watch. I want them to see.” He dropped Daniels limp arm and leaned his beak muzzle in close to Daniels face, staring into his eyes. He wanted to see the pure terror in them, but all he saw was anger.

  “I’m going to kill you for murdering Jack, you bastard,” Daniel spat out weakly. Anfang cocked his head, and sat on his haunches in front of Daniel.

  “Jack? Oh, you friend! Yes. I no get to eat him. I was sad.” Anfang responded. He saw Daniel grit his teeth in anger and reach for his weapon with his uninjured hand. Anfang let him almost reach it and then pushed the gun away with his foretalons.

  “You think you so strong. But you so weak!” Anfang taunted and pushed a talon into a gaping cut on Daniels chest. The man yelled as Anfang dug around for a moment, and pulled the talon back. He ran his long salivating tongue across his talon to lick the blood from it.

  The sweet copper taste made the insane gryphon shiver with pleasure as he watched Daniel stare helplessly up at him. Daniel looked at the bleeding wounds on Anfang, clearly confused how the gryphon was still standing after being shot multiple times.

  “What are you?” Daniel asked and gripped his chest, desperately trying to stop the bleeding as it soaked his shirt.

  “They call me a weapon for war. A killer. Yes, humans make me this way. It what they want. Death. War. Blood.” Anfang took a deep audible breath through his nares as if to take in the smell of it all. “I know why you humans like it. It feel good. It taste good. Power and blood.” Anfang reached forward with his gigantic talons and wrapped them around Daniel’s throat.

  The man wheezed and put his functioning hand on the gryphon’s scaled forearms, desperately clawing at them with his fingernails. “P...please,” Daniel choked as tears filled his eyes.

  Anfang looked into his eyes again, finally seeing the fear and realization of his own mortality. Anfang laughed loudly and leaned his beak muzzle in again.

  “Yes?” Anfang asked and squeezed firmly. Daniels mouth opened as he tried to suck in air. The gryphon waited for a moment, and tilted his eartuft to Daniels mouth as if to wait for a response. “I not hear you,” Anfang taunted and pulled his head back.

  Then he looked out through the broken glass window as bright flashing blue lights caught his attention. Daniel’s body shook and his legs kicked wildly under the crushing talons. Anfang frowned as he watched several men hop out of cars and suddenly the quiet room erupted into sounds of explosions.

  Anfang screeched out as several shots hit him square in the body. He fell onto his back and rolled to his feet, shivering with pain. His whole body screamed at him, and his vision faltered. He had to run.

  Anfang turned to see Daniel gasping for air, lying on his side. No, he had to kill Daniel first. Anfang turned to lunge at Daniel, just as the front door opened violently and several men poured into the room. Several more shots rang out as Anfang crouched low and maneuvered behind a row of booths. He ran along the wall, and heard the men call out orders to one another. The gryphon slipped out low to the ground, and saw three men standing at the entrance, looking over to Daniel.

  He seized the opportunity, and leapt with his wings flared out wide. The sounds of crushing bones filled the room as Anfang took one of them to the ground, talons digging into one officer’s spine. The other two remaining men spun around to see the great beast pulling his talons out of their fallen comrade. Anfang lunged low and swiftly, swiping talons at the two men’s legs. They both shouted in pain and fell to the floor.

  Every movement he made was pure hunter instinct. The officers did not stand a chance against him. Anfang righted himself and bit down on one man’s neck, breaking it in an instant. He stood over the last human, looked down at him as he cried out in anguish. Another round of shots rang from outside, whirling by his body. Anfang screeched and quickly turned his head to see more men standing by their vehicles, all opening fire.

  Anfang crouched low again and ran towards the back, busting through a swinging door. He looked around quickly, his eyes darting back and forth at all the bright metal in the room. There was food scattered all across the shining tables, along with dishes broken along the tile floor.

  He perked his eartfut as he heard the humans shouting at one another. Anfang chose a door, and slammed into it. He tumbled out of the building and darted across the back lot to the cover of the trees. More gunshots filled the air and he felt pain jab through his rear leg.

  Anfang cursed and darted between the trees as fast as he could. He did not know where to go. He just knew he had to get away.

  Anfang ran until his muscles burned, and then he ran faster. His bloodied talons sank into the moist earth with every long stride he took, his wings tucked in tight to his side. He had to find a clearing or somewhere where he could take to the skies.

  Then he found it. The tree line broke into a vast open space. There were small people running around in the middle of the field, passing around a ball with other humans standing on the edges of the field.

  Anfang spread his wings, and pushed with all his strength to climb into the air. He beat his leathery wings hard, fighting for altitude as the people below him shouted to one another. Anfang felt his chest heave as it struggled to take in enough air, but he pushed forward and flapped his wings harder. The humans below him became tiny specs as he ascended into the sky.

  His mind slowly became clearer as cognition came back. He checked behind him, watching as the restaurant and the multitude flashing lights disappeared from view. Anfang began to laugh uncontrollably.

  “Yes! What a rush!” He called out to himself and strained for another wing beat. “So much blood. So much.”

  Anfang smiled and rose higher into the air until he was almost touching the clouds. He set out into a steady glide, and let the air streams take over. His endorphins tapered off, and with that, excruciating pain rocked through his entire body. Anfang fought back the pain and ground his curved teeth against his beak.

  “Daniel still lives…” Anfang hissed under his heavy breaths, cursing himself for toying with his prey too much.

  He should have made it swift, precise, and calculated. It would have been easy to snap the man’s neck or tear out his throat at any time during their whole exchange. He had just been having too much fun. Sure, maybe he would die from losing blood, but Anfang had wanted to watch him die!

  Anfang looked down at his chest and ran his talons over it, finding multiple bleeding wounds. He ran his talon around one wound and retrieved a bullet still stuck halfway into his flesh. He flicked the round away and checked another wound on his chest. That one had barely scratched the surface but had left a huge blue welt in place.

  Anfang glided and checked the rest of the wounds he could see, occasionally pulling out a bullet and tossing it away. He was lucky they hadn’t used bigger guns. The humans had experimented enough with his altered flesh for him know that he wasn’t completely immune.

  Satisfied with his condition, he looked to his wings outstretched in the air. His muscles were exhausted. He tried to force another wing beat out of them, but only received a slight twitch in response.

  His bracelet vibrated, and he looked down to see it flashing with a message. He cocked his head and tried to read the digital words. “L…Land… and hide. We will come… to you.”

  He clutched his front talons to his chest and looked around, noticing nothing but forest and a few sparse roads beneath him. Anfang looked to the sun and took note of how much lower it looked. He must have been flying for hours and not realized it.

  In the distance, he could
make out a small red structure at the end of a field. It looked abandoned and far away from any road he could see. Anfang slowed his momentum and made his descent towards the building. He felt his wings give out just as his foretalons touched the ground.

  He tumbled across the grass and sighed as he lay on his back while the world spun wildly. He slowly forced himself to stand up on his quivering legs, wings drooping to the side. The building in front of him was in disrepair, old red paint flicking off of rotting wooden boards and the front door slightly open.

  He limped through the door and forced his eyes to adjust to the darkness inside. The smell of old manure and animal hair stung his nares along with the musty air. Several stalls were open with moldering straw on the ground, and various rusting tools hung on the walls.

  Anfang struggled to move forward, and saw a pile of soft-looking hay. His body ached to fall down into it and he did not stop himself. He collapsed and took a deep breath of the earthy scent, allowing his eyes to close. Then everything went black.

  Chapter 19 Confidence

  Thyra’s heart beat heavily in her chest as she walked onto the field. She could hear the positive shouts behind her from Johnathen and others, giving her the confidence and energy that she needed. Antonio limped next to her with the assistance of the crutch under his wings.

  “You can do it, Thyra,” Antonio assured her.

  Her crest feathers ruffled as she saw the spark of spirit in his eyes. He believed in her, even though she was inexperienced and nervous about failing her team in this important game. She looked to her teammates, who all smiled in reassurance. She was surrounded by great gryphons, and even in the shadows of negativity, they still smiled. Thyra approached Rachel and Aadhya first, and extended her wing to bump against their own as the opposing team got into their positions.

  The personal foul meant they were staring on the Jays’ side of the field with the ball in their hands. Thyra and hunkered down with wings spread, ready to leap at the sound of the whistle. The world seemed to slow as her senses were increased by excitement and nerves.