Drake and the Fliers

by Allison Maruska

  Drake followed Preston. “What if we figured out a way to get them to the lake? They’ll at least have water there.”

  “What about food? They can’t fish, and they’re not hunters. They’re used to people feeding them.” Preston slammed the freezer door with the side of his fist. “There has to be a way to do this.” He kneeled and scratched the beagle behind her ears. “Don’t worry, Daisy. We won’t leave you here.”

  Chapter Seven

  “I found one!” Brody’s voice echoed from the garage.

  Miguel jogged to Brody. “Finally. What do – did – these Vegas people have against generators, anyway?”

  Drake ran after them and examined the machine, a small engine on a frame with two wheels. “I don’t think many people keep them. Maybe if they live where hurricanes hit.”

  “My family had one.” Miguel lifted the end of the generator. “We didn’t get hurricanes, but earthquakes could happen.”

  Drake had lived in an earthquake-prone area, but his family didn’t have a generator. He supposed fewer people in Vegas would have reason to keep one.

  Miguel rolled it towards the cul-de-sac while Drake carried two gas cans. Brody and Seth continued searching garages and sheds, but they likely wouldn’t find another generator. It had taken them six hours and a several-block journey to find this one.

  “How long will this gas last?” Drake asked.

  Miguel looked at the containers. “About ten hours.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, unless this is an efficient one. I doubt it is. It’ll eat up the gas. And we’ll only be able to run one fridge on it.”

  “How will we keep up?”

  “Siphon from cars, I guess.”

  Miguel parked the generator in front of his house. He poured gas from one of the containers into the machine, plugged in the extension cord, and went inside with the other end of it. A minute later, he reappeared on the driveway.

  “I plugged in the fridge. Let’s see if it works.” Miguel flipped a couple of switches, pulled a long cord, and the engine roared to life.

  Drake covered his ears and yelled over the noise. “Are they all this loud?”

  Miguel shrugged and ran inside, returning a moment later. He shut off the generator. “It works. If we want power we’ll have to deal with the sound.”

  Scopes jogged out of the house across the street. “Did that make the noise?” She pointed to the generator.

  “Yep.” Miguel pulled the cord again and let it run for a few seconds.

  Scopes uncovered her ears when it stopped. “Well, that’s not gonna work.”

  “You want power or not?” He walked to the front door. “Most of the food’s in your fridge. We’ll move it over there.”

  She huffed. “We should go to Oregon. Like Phoenix said.”

  Miguel entered the house, leaving Drake alone with Scopes. Drake picked up the gas cans. “We should finish the food here first, at least.”

  “We’ll have power there without the noise.”

  “Power where?” Talon asked from behind them.

  Drake turned around. Talon, Preston, Sonar, and a few others approached. The noisy generator must have acted as a neighborhood call.

  “In Oregon. We could just go and have power there,” Scopes said.

  Preston shook his head. “We have perfectly good food here. Even if we don’t use the generator, the rest is packed in ice.”

  “That’ll last, what, a week? Everything not on ice will start to stink before that.” She glanced at the generator. “I don’t see a point in staying here. I’ll ask around. If most of the others are good to go, we’re leaving.”

  Preston stepped towards her. “What gives you the right to decide that?”

  “They want to stay together. I keep things organized.”

  “Sonar said you kick people out.”

  Scopes glared at Sonar. “That’s not true.”

  Sonar moved his gaze from Preston to Scopes and put his hands in his pockets. “You said you wanted to. With Brody and those guys.”

  She huffed. “The other group tried to kill them. I’m not heartless.” She stomped back to her house, slamming the door behind her.

  Drake watched Miguel roll the generator across the street, then followed him. “Do you think she means it?”

  Preston jogged and caught up. “Means what?”

  “About getting everyone to leave soon.”

  “She probably does.”

  When he reached Scopes’ driveway, Miguel started the generator again. The engine roar echoed off the houses. Scopes opened her front door as Miguel reached it, and he handed her the end of the extension cord. She scowled and took it into the house.

  Preston walked back to his house. “I’ll figure out how to get the animals out, just in case.”

  ****

  Drake, Sonar, and Preston landed in the lot of a car dealership. The morning sun reflecting off the windshield of a Hummer blinded Drake for a moment, and he looked at the building that used to house sales people. The light reflecting off those windows got him too.

  He faced the ground and shut his eyes. When he opened them again, Preston had shifted, put on jeans, and was walking to the building while carrying a big rock over his shoulder. He hurled the rock through the window, shattering it, then stepped over the shards and into the building.

  “Keys?” Drake asked.

  Sonar looked into the Hummer’s windows, apparently at the reflection of his bat face, as he tilted his head from side to side. “Yeah. He don’t know how to hot wire anything.”

  “You guys talked about this?”

  “He was bouncin’ ideas off me last night after we quit tryin’ to sleep. Thought a big SUV or van could work to get the animals out.”

  “The generator kept you up too, huh?”

  Sonar nodded. “That thing’s ridiculous.”

  Drake laughed. He could probably count the number of hours he’d slept on one hand, and those occurred when the generator ran out of gas. Once Miguel refilled it, the noise resumed.

  “If we get one of these cars to work, what happens when it runs out of gas?” Drake asked.

  “We find another dealership.”

  Preston re-emerged holding several sets of keys. He used the fobs of each set, and when none unlocked the door, he used the keys on the door directly. The third set opened the Hummer. Dropping the rest, he climbed inside and turned the ignition.

  It clicked.

  Preston adjusted some levers and gears, but the engine stayed quiet.

  “Want us to try these others?” Sonar asked, gesturing to the keys on the ground with his wing.

  “No, I’ll do it.” He jumped out of the car, picked up the keys, and repeated the process with two more Hummers, a van, a Suburban, and for some reason, a Mini Cooper. Their batteries were as dead as the first vehicle’s.

  After removing himself from the Mini, Preston peered into the distance and put his hand over his mouth.

  “Want us to find more keys?” Drake asked.

  Preston took off the pants, shifted, and lifted off. “They’ll all be like that. The summer heat probably fried them. I need to think of something else.” He flew towards the neighborhood.

  ****

  Drake spent the afternoon with Talon and Sonar in the front yard of a house several blocks from the generator, but the noise still rumbled through the neighborhood. They reclined on the dead lawn, reading books about survival and hunting.

  Sonar flipped through a few pages. “This is dumb. We don’t need weapons to hunt.” He dropped the book by his side.

  Drake eyed the book, then Sonar. “How do you plan to kill a deer?”

  Sonar shrugged. “Well, some of you guys are better suited to catch big game. How much can you lift?”

  Drake raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried to lift something heavy.”

  “Seriously?” Sonar lifted himself onto his elbows. “That’d be the first thing I’d check if I wa
s a dragon. Me and Talon are stuck to catching rats.”

  “Blech.” Talon lowered her book. “I don’t want to adopt the owl diet, okay?”

  Sonar laughed, then froze. “You guys hear that?”

  Drake listened. “The generator stopped.”

  Talon sat up. “Maybe Miguel’s putting more gas in it.”

  Drake shook his head. “He did that at lunch time. Let’s check it out.”

  They jogged back to their houses, where Scopes and Preston stood opposite each other in the driveway with the generator between them.

  Preston snatched the extension cord from Scopes’ hand. “You’re being ridiculous. You can give me two more days.” He plugged the cord into the machine.

  She unplugged it and threw it at the garage. “We’re leaving, Phoenix. No one could sleep last night with this crap going on. I’ve asked around, and everyone wants to go. It’s stupid for us to stay. You have until tomorrow morning.”

  Preston ran a hand through his hair and paced. “I can’t construct anything by then!”

  “Then the animals stay here. You’re welcome to join them if you want.” She went back into the house.

  Preston kicked the generator. “Dammit.” He turned, and for the first time seemed to notice he had an audience. He focused on Sonar. “Can you help me?”

  Sonar nodded and followed Preston back to his house, where he’d opened the garage and was doing something with plywood.

  Drake faced Talon. “I need to get some more clothes before we go. You wanna come?” He’d had a growth spurt over the last couple weeks, and every pair of pants he owned were too short. Wearing them lower on his hips to compensate annoyed him.

  She grinned. “Sure.”

  After shifting and meeting outside the neighborhood, their routine for flying anywhere together, they headed to the retail area of the city while carrying backpacks in their claws.

  “Has Scopes always been so controlling?” Drake asked.

  Talon glanced at him. “What do you mean?”

  “She decides when people come and go, if they’ll be animals or not…” He flapped his wings, keeping the same altitude as Talon.

  “Scopes can be a control freak. Right after I found the group, she wanted to organize certain meals on certain nights and assign who would cook when.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “It wasn’t necessary. People volunteered. She was the only one who seemed to have a problem.”

  Drake banked to the right, heading for a department store. “I wonder what she was like in school.”

  Talon laughed. “I know that. She ran for student council president and demanded a recount when she lost.”

  “She told you that?”

  “No. Terry did. I think he was the first survivor she found and brought back to the neighborhood.”

  “So why do people let her stay in charge?”

  “She’s okay. She wants to make sure everyone has what they need. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

  Drake landed behind the store and met Talon at the front after he shifted. Once inside, he fished his flashlight from his backpack. Sunlight filtering through broken skylights and windows provided scant illumination, but darkness draped anything beyond the first fifteen feet. Most of the clothes and other items cluttered the floor, the result of looting that accompanied the collapse of the city.

  “Where should we look?” Talon asked.

  “Beats me. Let’s wander.” He casually took her hand, as if it weren’t the first time he’d done it.

  She smiled and laced her fingers between his, making his pulse race.

  Drake panned the flashlight through the space as they walked through the departments. They eventually entered a men’s clothing area, where he rustled through several piles of garments. Talon helped him find a few things before saying she wanted to see what was left in the juniors department. He later found her there, standing in the middle of the racks with her arms crossed.

  “My mom and I used to go shopping together. When we wanted to get away from the boys.” She laughed through her tears and wiped her face with open hands. “What do you miss the most, Drake? About your family?”

  He stared at the brightened space near the front window. “Um . . . I think just how we got along. Kelsey gave me a hard time about everything, but in a fun way, I guess. My dad worked at the hospital and kept weird hours, so we’d have game night at three in the morning sometimes.” He smiled at the memory.

  Her eyes bore into his, and though they were wet from her tears, the moment brought him back to the fishing trip on Hoover Dam. Without thinking, he placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her.

  He’d never kissed a girl before, but his brain went on autopilot as his lips, slightly open, moved over hers. He brought his other hand to her other cheek, framing her face, and though he wanted to kiss her for as long as she would allow, he pulled back.

  He sighed and gazed into her eyes, his hands still on her face. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  She giggled. “Why not? I’m a little surprised it took you this long.”

  He laughed. “Well, in that case…” He pulled her close again, this time moving his fingers into her hair. She wrapped her arms around him, closing the remaining space between them. His heart raced, and he tilted his hips away to keep her from noticing her effect on him. As his body and mind started to leave his control, he stopped, keeping his face inches from hers and wondering if she could hear the pounding in his chest. “I’m, uh, kind of new at all this.” He was embarrassed to admit it, but she could probably tell he didn’t know what he was doing. Better to fess up.

  She smiled. “I figured. Or you would have done it before now.” She released him and walked towards the door, saying with her back to him, “You’re a good kisser, by the way.”

  He laughed and took a long breath before he joined her outside.

  ****

  The next morning, the twenty-five teenagers who’d lived in the Vegas neighborhood for the past several months gathered in the street. They positioned their items with straps facing the sky, ready to be scooped up by their flier forms. Drake set his backpack and sleeping bag next to Talon’s; she would be carrying his supplies, as his claws would be filled with something else.

  Preston led the dogs and cats to a group of nets with pieces of plywood placed in the center. Each net could hold three or four animals, with the wood acting as a floor. As soon as they filled one net, one of the fliers bunched the edges to form a bag.

  While most of the animals followed Preston’s leading, a few showed their stubborn streaks. Drake was one of five fliers who would carry a net, and his was the last to be filled. He held up the sides while Preston and Sonar placed a lab, a terrier, and a mixed breed featuring poodle onto the plywood.

  “It’s not ideal, but I ran out of time.” Preston scratched the lab behind the ears, and Drake pulled the sides of the net closed.

  “Let’s get going!” Scopes announced from the front of the group. She and Terry had shifted, and they grabbed their bags first.

  Drake hadn’t seen Scopes’ hawk form before today, which didn’t surprise him, as set as she was in maintaining her humanity. Her sharp beak, fierce eyes, and wide wingspan of brown feathers would effectively scare the hell out of anyone who tried to mess with her. Why was she so against becoming this creature?

  While Preston held Drake’s net closed, Drake ran to the nearest yard to prepare for the journey. Upon returning to the group in his dragon form, he picked up the net and assessed how the animals would react. They braced themselves but seemed to go along with the plan without panicking.

  As he left the neighborhood, a golden eagle, a macaw, and a griffin buzzed over Drake’s head. The macaw hollered in a familiar voice – Miguel’s voice – before doing a barrel roll. Somehow, his flier form suited him.

  A shriek echoed across the land, followed by Scopes’ voice. “Just fly. Stop showing off.”

  Miguel laughed and
caught up with his buddies, seemingly unfazed by Scopes’ reprimand. He didn’t perform any more fancy tricks, though. Maybe the shriek scared him more than he let on.

  Preston and Sonar, the last to join the group after picking up their nets, caught up to Drake. As they flew, one of the dogs in Sonar’s net jumped and clawed at the ropes, forcing Sonar to fly at an odd angle at times to compensate for the changing weight.

  After about an hour of flying northwest, the group landed near a small lake for a water break. As arranged, a few of the non-net-holding fliers shifted and took the tops of the nets from the fliers, allowing everyone a turn to rest. After Sonar set down his net, the Yorkie squeezed through a hole at the corner of the plywood and ran to the water.

  “Oh crap.” Preston walked to Sonar’s net and examined the hole with his beak, then checked the other nets at the corners of the wood. His shoulders slumped. “Let go of the nets. Let them out.”

  The net holders did as Preston said, and the animals bolted from their confinement.

  “What are you doing? How will we get them back in there?” Drake watched the dogs rush to the lake while the cats explored the greenery that surrounded them. It would be a pain to round them all up again.

  “We won’t.” Preston stared at the water.

  “Why not? I thought we were doing all right. Can’t we fix the hole?”

  Preston shook his head. “Come here.” He led Drake to his own net and used his claw to pull at the rope by the board. The strands were frayed; a few had thinned to the point of near failure. Sonar’s must have gone first because of the jumping dog in his net. “The boards wore away at the nets. They’re too thin.” He sighed. “We can’t risk taking them up again.” His voice wavered, and he dropped the net before grabbing his backpack and gliding to the lake, where he shifted and put on pants.

  “You guys about ready?” Scopes yelled from twenty yards away.

  “No, we’re not,” Preston yelled back.

  “We need to get moving if we’re gonna get there–”

  “Give us a minute, okay?” The dogs looked at Preston in response to his yell.

  In a rare act of surrender, Scopes raised her hands and walked back to the rest of the group.