Wings of Death

In the face of horror

The scientists in the lab started panicking. They did not know what to do. “These kids have doomed us all!” shouted a lean old man. Another voice screamed in terror, “We are all going to die”. Dr. Grant remained calm and tried to put an end to the chaos.

“Stay quiet. I need to think. No one is going to die!” he exclaimed.

“You can’t kill them. None of us can. I told you those kids meant trouble”, muttered another voice.

“The next one who speaks out of turn will be thrown out of the room!” 

Turning to Alex he said, “Check all the security cameras right now. We need to find out how many of them got in and where they are hiding.”

In a flash Alex was back on his palmtop. He accessed the video feed from every security camera. The building had ten floors in total plus the basement level. It took him a while to check the feed from every security camera individually. The first three floors were clear.

“Dr. Grant, I have found them. There are two of them on the fourth floor. The rest of the floors are clear”.

“We should stay here for now. They are on the fourth floor. We are still safe inside the room. I say we wait….”

Nathan didn’t allow him to finish his sentence, “We can’t stay here forever. They are inside the building. We have to find a way to deal with them”.

“There is nothing we can do about it. We can’t even go near them because of their screams. Even if we did manage to get close to them we can’t kill them!”

“I think we can”, said Alex.

“How exactly do you plan to do that? There are only knives and scalpels and a few chemical reagents in the room. You know very well that their feathers deflect even bullets”.

“I have a grenade”.

Nathan and Margaret looked at Alex in shock.

“What? How did you manage to find a grenade?” asked Nathan

“Remember that garage I was hiding in, there was a cupboard inside the garage, it had a secret locker” replied Alex.

“Okay, let me think. There are two targets. We can’t get too close to them or their screams will kill us. How many grenades do you have?”

“Just one”

“Okay, so we have just one shot at it”.

Dr. Grant did not like the idea at all. “Have you ever used a grenade before?” he inquired

“Well, there is a first time for everything”, replied Alex.

Dr. Grant was about to say something when Margaret interrupted the discussion, “Alex, what if the grenade doesn’t work? What if it is just a dummy grenade?”

“Alex, show me the grenade”, Nathan held out his palm.

Alex carefully took out the grenade from his backpack and handed it to Nathan.

Nathan studied it carefully and finally gave his verdict, “It is a M8-S fragmentation grenade. A single one of these can take down an entire squad. It has a blast radius of 10 meters. I have never used one of them but I read the military’s weapons journal every week”.

“How do you plan on getting close enough to use it?” asked Margaret.

“I will think of something”, said Nathan.

“Nathan, I think it would be best to stay here and wait. You don’t need to do anything dangerous” advised Dr. Grant.

“We can’t just sit here and do nothing. This is our last line of defense. We can’t allow the Bloodwings to roam freely inside the building”, Nathan’s eyes glowed as he spoke.

Nathan knew this was his moment. He had to fight for those he loved. He had to be brave in the face of horror. The young college student transformed into a leader and devised a plan to eliminate the Bloodwings.

“Dr. Grant, get me a thin copper wire, Alex keep tracking the Bloodwings, Marge give me your headphones.”

Everyone did as Nathan had ordered.

Nathan began explaining his plan, “I will put these headphones on and step outside. It will buy me enough time to get on the elevator and reach the fourth floor; I will lure the Bloodwings into a trap and kill them both. I am going to make a trip-mine using the copper wire and grenade. I noticed that there are pillars on either side of the first floor corridor. I will tie the trip mine in between them. The Bloodwings will follow me and then boom!”

“Sounds like a very risky plan. Several things could go wrong”, Dr. Grant still remained skeptical.

“Nathan, you don’t have to do this. I will try to contact the military. Please stay here with us”, Margaret was about to break down into tears. She could not bear the thought of losing him.

Nathan hugged her tightly and said, “Pray for me”.

“Good luck bro! Show them who’s the boss”, said Alex enthusiastically.

“Goodbye guys. Alex, stay in touch with me and inform me if the Bloodwings change positions”, those were Nathan’s final words before exiting the containment bunker.

The people in the room gathered around Alex to watch Nathan on the cameras. Nathan stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor. He was wearing Margaret’s headphones and that helped to keep him alive. He could only faintly hear some noise. He approached the pillars and carefully tied the grenade to it. He tied the other end of the wire to the opposite pillar. The wire was tied to the pin. If the wire was broken, the pin would come out and set off the grenade.

“They are still on the fourth floor. It seems like they are communicating with each other,” he heard Alex clearly through his headphones.

Nathan stepped into the elevator again and pressed the button for the fourth floor. He knew this was going to be the hard part.

As soon as he stepped outside, Alex cautioned him, “They are flying right towards you. Take the stairs now!”

The Bloodwings had seen Nathan and they started chasing him immediately. It seemed that their speed had been reduced. He had heard on the radio that they could fly as fast as 150 miles an hour. Perhaps the confined space caused difficulties for them. In any case, Nathan had to allow them to get closer before running for the stairs. He made sure that he did not look directly into their eyes. He clearly remembered that survivor’s account on the radio. They were almost at an arm’s length when Nathan decided to run.

He rushed towards the stairs and started making his descent. The Bloodwings were right behind him. They kept screaming like crazy. Nathan felt a little dizzy but kept on running without looking back. He was almost out of breath when he reached the first floor. He paused for a second, took a deep breath and sprinted towards the trip wire. At the very last moment he slid under the wire which was tied a meter above the ground. The Bloodwings were still hot on his tail. Everyone was looking at the screen when suddenly the lights went out and the screen went black. The backup generator was out of power.

A few seconds later a loud explosion was heard.

“I think the bomb went off,” said Alex.

“Where’s Nathan? Alex, let me talk to him”, Margaret sounded extremely worried.

No sooner had Margaret finished speaking, a knock was heard on the door. Dr. Grant got up and opened the door. Alex flashed his torch at the door. Nathan was standing outside, covered in dust and sweat.

Margaret ran towards him and flung her arms around his shoulders. She was relieved that Nathan was safe. The screams had also stopped. It seemed Nathan had managed to take out both of them. They needed to be certain that the Bloodwings had been killed before letting their guard down. Dr. Grant ordered the technicians to switch to the secondary backup generators immediately.