Fledgling: Book 1 (Afterlife) (27 page)

“Can you feel Orange as well?” Ben asks her.
 

I turn to face her briefly, in time to see her nodding. “The feeling is stronger now.”

“Can you see anything?” I ask.

She shakes her head. Her golden brown eyes are tight with concern. “No but I can definitely feel it. It is stronger from here.”

I turn and glare through the door. I don’t like this. I can’t see anything, but Cindy says she can feel it. To make matters worse, the man gives out another one of his creepy chuckles. It makes it seem like there is a trap waiting on the other side of the door. He steps through the door and indicates for us to follow. With the adrenaline still pumping through my veins, my mind turns to our fellow trainee, Orange. We need to find him and make sure he is safe. I take a deep breath and step through the door.

- Chapter Twenty-Five -

A sensation passes through me that I have not felt before. Instantly the hairs on my arms rise. A ripple effect travels from the top of my neck down my back. The air is thick and unpleasant. There is a strange awareness telling me I have just walked into another world. I hear Cindy and Ben right behind me.
 

“Whoa!” escapes Ben’s mouth. “What’s that stench?”

Cindy is standing behind me, and I can feel her body tensing. Mine is doing the same. In stunned silence, I let my eyes scan the spectacle before me. The scenery is the same. We have stepped into the large clearing in between the buildings. As before, not a single tree exists. The difference is that in the middle, in the full sweltering sun, Orange is tied to a large wooden post. He is tied upright with his hands bound behind the post. His brilliant orangey-red hair is falling toward the ground over his tilted face.
 

A surge of panic travels through me. He looks lifeless. I want to run to him to see if he is still alive but, surrounding him is countless amounts of people, mostly dark skinned and looking like the local Somalians. There is something different about them. They looked human, but my instincts tell me differently. They appear to be unaware of our presence and are continually strolling around Orange like they are in a trance. I study them trying to work out what's off about them. As one of the men, looking to be in his thirties strolls past I examine his face. Unexpectedly his dark brown eyes flick up and look at me. It is only small, but I involuntarily jumped. What I see in his eyes is pure evil.

“They’re possessed,” Cindy hisses. “They are all possessed.”

I don’t turn to look at her; I don’t feel safe enough to take my eyes off the people before me. To make matters worse, this man continued to look at me as he did another round of the open area.
 

On the right-hand side of me, I hear the cackle from the old man. I am about to sneak a quick glance at him when I see several of the people’s heads turn and look at us. Each of the dark, almost black eyes, has that unmistakable look. They are not controlled by human minds. I cringe.
 

“Ah, guys,” Cindy squeaks. “I am pretty sure they are going to attack us.”

“Piece of cake,” Ben says. “These guys will be a cinch.” He stands with his feet apart in a ready stance.
 

“Have you seen how many there are?” Cindy says in a panic. “And they look to be walking dead.”

At that comment, I study their faces and skin. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before; they have pieces of skin falling off their bodies. Some have big gaping wounds caked with dark, dried blood. It is hard to see these wounds against their rich dark skin. The horrid stench now makes sense.
 

With the amount of possessed people in front of me, and an unmoving fledgling centred in the middle, I don’t feel that self-assured either. The memory that the archangels have sent us here because they have confidence in our abilities fills my mind. From this, I can feel the sureness building and strength entering my body.
 

“Cindy,” I say without taking my eyes off the circling enemy. “We have the mighty Archangel Michael as our trainer. He is the angel of protection, justice and strength and is one heck of a fighter. He has taught and trained us well. We will be fine.”
 

“Remember, we are sent here because they have faith in our abilities,” Ben says.
 

After a brief moment’s silence, Cindy steps forward and takes a deep breath. She sets her feet apart, and her stance is ready. “Well then, we can’t just stand here and wait for them, can we?”

“Nope,” I say.
 

Another cackle sounds beside me, and the remaining heads turn to look at us. This laugh is getting on my nerves.
 

A yellow streak flashes past my nose. Curious, I gaze at the flash just in time to see Cindy connect a running sidekick into the old man’s stomach. He folds over her bladed foot. She retrieves her foot and watches as he falls back hard onto his backside.
 

“And you, old man, are the perfect place to start,” she says.

I hold back a laugh. That’s the Cindy I know. It was good to see the turnaround in her attitude. We need all of us to fight these people.
 

Assessing the situation, I say, “These people haven’t done anything other than stare and circle Orange. Maybe, we can go to the centre and retrieve him without them reacting.”

“Don’t know,” Ben says. “But it is worth a try.”

“Why don’t we fly to him?” Cindy asks. “We can all fly together then get the heck out of here to tell the archangels about this place. It sure beats us taking on all of them at once.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ben agrees.
 

We push off the ground and fly into the middle with our wings feeling the heaviness of the air. Other than watching us, the people don’t react. We land in the centre surrounding the pole. While Ben keeps an eye on the possessed, I reach up to check if Orange is still with us. His vitals are faint, but still there. It is clear that something has happened to him to drain him of his energy completely.
 

“He’s still with us,” I tell the other two.
 

Cindy starts untying his hands and body from the pole.
 

“We need to go, now.” Ben’s voice strains.

I turn from helping Cindy with Orange to see that we were being surrounded. The staring continues, but they are progressing toward us.
 

“What changed?” I ask.

“I don’t know. They all turned in unison about the time when Cindy undid the first knot.” His eyes catch me straining under Orange’s weight, as the final rope unties. He rushes over and scoops Orange into his hands. “Let’s go.”
 

He pushes off the ground and Cindy, and I follow suit.
 

When we have flown out of reach, I watch as several of them jump up to try and grab our feet. I am surprised at how far they can jump, as one of the men’s hands graze Cindy’s ankle. She startles and increases her speed upwards. The man that narrowly missed grabbing Cindy opens his mouth. A familiar, horrid scream, the same as we heard before we found this place, pierces our ears. On one side, I see the streak of yellow flash faster toward the sky. Cindy must be pretty jumpy after she was nearly pulled back into the crowd.
 

Out of reach of their jump, I turn to watch where I am flying. Screams from below are still filling the air. Flying ahead, Cindy is increasing in speed, as Ben continues up at a steady pace with unconscious Orange in his arms. We must be twenty metres from the ground, right above the middle of the clearing.

A thud sounds from above. My eyes catch a quick flash ahead. I watch in horror as Cindy stops flying, her body tilts with her back first, and she begins to fall to the ground. It looks as though she hit a force field, and it has either knocked her out or dazed her.

- Chapter Twenty-Six -

This can’t be happening. Flipping around, I tuck in my wings and begin to nose-dive toward her. I have to try to catch her before she hits the ground. I grit my teeth. Almost there. With my arms stretching out in front of me, I am positioned to dive deep. I fall hard and fast, gaining speed and inching closer. The breeze is pushing hard against my skin and the wind whistling past my ears. My fingers reach out a little further. I can just touch her. The ground is rising at an immense speed. I stretch out further, and my fingers clasp around her wrist.
 

Having Cindy firmly in my grasp, I spread my wings, catching the wind underneath them and causing us to jerk with the motion. With the harsh movement, Cindy’s eyes fly open. Relief passes over me; she must have just been stunned. She flips over and opens her wings, carrying her own weight.
 

Below us only inches away, the hands are reaching up trying to grasp us. All kinds of weird noises are coming from their mouths. They are unnatural sounds that I hadn’t heard a human make before.

Cindy looks below then above to where she was flying only a few moments before. “What happened to me?” she asks.
 

“You seem to have run into some kind of force field.” Ben came lower. Orange is still lying in his arms unmoving. “It knocked you out for a moment.”

“Thanks for catching me,” she says.

“That’s what friends are for.” I smile weakly. “You do know I didn’t want you to get in trouble by the archangels don’t you?”

“Yeah, I know.” She gives me half a smile. “I was just stressing. When they are together they really have a way of making you feel like a naughty child, even when you haven’t done anything.”

I smirk. “I have always been guilty of something, but I agree they do make you feel like a naughty child.”

“What are you two gas-bagging about?” Ben has lowered to our level. “Surely you realise it is not the time and place, right?”

“True,” I say. “But we do have to discuss one thing.”

“What’s that?” His dark brown eyebrows crease together.
 

“After watching Cindy run into the force field and fall, I have a hunch that they've trapped us within this area. The force field is clearly invisible, even to our eyes and is probably the reason we did not see all of these people down here when we were flying above.”

“We're trapped. Are you serious?” Cindy’s pale face has turned a couple of shades lighter.
 

“From flying out, yes. But possibly we can still leave through the door that we arrived in, or we will have to fight our way out to release ourselves from this entrapment.” I am observing the ravenous, possessed humans below. They have not lost interest in us.

I turn to Cindy; her golden brown eyes focus. Her look is apprehensive, but the fear is not there. She too gazes down at the mass below and says, “I know one thing for sure, I’m not going down without a fight. These people have caused enough trouble already.”

“Now that’s the Cindy I know and love.” I smile. I turn to Ben; his arms remain full with Orange. He is not going to be able to fight with his arms occupied. I look over at the door we came through. It is still open. I can see through to the other side. There was no one near the door except the old man. He appears recovered from his solid stomach kick.
 

An idea comes to me. “I need you two to keep the audience’s attention on you. I will quickly fly over to the door we entered and see if we can leave that way.”

“Sounds great,” Ben’s voice was enthusiastic. “Be careful.”

“Always.” I start approaching the door. The old man’s one eye is watching me. Even from this distance I can see his head still shaking. I watch him in my side vision as I edge closer. Even though Ben and Cindy are doing their best to keep the other human’s attention on them, I keep my eyes on the lookout for a stray. I don’t need any nasty surprises. The door is only a few meters away, so I begin to lower my flight. So far, it is only the old man I can see watching me. His tongue circles his dry, cracked lips.
 

The tell-tale cackle sounds loud in my ears. I was expecting it, but I am still not quite sure if it is a nervous tic or a genuine evil laugh — possibly a little of both. This place is pure evil and at the moment we are trapped. I don’t trust the old man, and I am not willing to find out if he has any hidden talents. He is a couple of metres away from the door and hasn’t made a move. I know he walks extremely slowly, so I take a quick dive at the door. After watching Cindy being stunned by a force field, I am not taking any chances.