Wings of Death

The Perfect Opportunity

 The cries of the Bloodwings grew loud for a moment and then they ceased completely. Margaret walked stealthily and opened the basement door. She looked outside through the shattered window pane. It was raining outside and not a single Bloodwing was in sight. On the ground lay clumps of red feathers just like the ones Alex and Nathan had mentioned before. She was overjoyed and immediately sent text messages to her friends. Alex was a light sleeper and had woken up immediately on hearing the thunderclap. Nathan was still fast asleep. After receiving no reply from Nathan, Alex decided to call him up. He woke up on hearing the ring and yawned.

“Hello.  What’s happening Alex?” his voice sounded heavy with sleep.

“Wake up! It’s raining!”

Nathan immediately sprang to his feet and started rubbing his eyes. This was the perfect opportunity. He whispered to Alex, “We will proceed as planned, inform Marge” and disconnected the call. There was not a moment to lose. They all had kept their backpacks ready. Each one of them put on a raincoat, set a timer on their watch and stepped outside. They had accomplished the first phase of their task. Both Nathan and Margaret’s parents were fast asleep and had no clue about their plans.  Nathan was the first to reach the spot. He sat down on a bench outside the Mexican restaurant. He felt like a character in one of his video games. The rush of adrenaline made him fearless. This was the perfect opportunity. He had always wanted to be worshiped like a hero and fate had given him a chance to prove himself. When he had seen the Bloodwings for the first time, he was afraid of dying, he was afraid of losing his parents but now he knew he had to overcome his fears to save humanity.

Alex arrived a few minutes later. They went over the plan once more while waiting for Margaret to show up. They were discussing the routes when Margaret finally showed up. She had been paddling as fast as she could and had to catch her breath before greeting them. It had been a very long journey for her since her house was quite far from the restaurant. After resting for a while she joined in the discussion. Alex and Nathan both wanted to take the highway and get there as fast as possible while Margaret suggested taking the safer route. Eventually they all agreed to take the highway since it was raining heavily. Each one of them had a task to perform before entering the research facility. Alex had to visit the nearby pharmacies and collect necessary medicines, injections and a few first aid kits. Margaret was given the job of stocking up on canned food, chocolates and biscuits. Nathan took the responsibility of collecting bottles of drinking water and cans of soda. It was 1 AM now and they had to return home by 4 AM. They could not risk being outside for too long or their parents might find out. Everything had to be timed to perfection. The trio mounted their bicycles once more and set off in the direction of City Square.

They reached the spot in just fifteen minutes. After consulting the map again, they headed in the direction of the highway. There were abandoned cars with broken windows scattered all over the highway and the stench of decaying corpses made them feel nauseous. They had to paddle carefully to avoid crashing into the cars. There were no houses on either side, if it stopped raining they would be trapped in the open with no chance of escape. After navigating their way through the pile of abandoned cars they eventually reached a clean stretch of road. Nathan, Alex and Margaret paddled at breakneck speed and raced each other to the research facility. As it was still raining heavily it was difficult to maintain balance. Nathan’s bicycle hit a pothole and he lost balance. His bicycle was flung into the air upon impact. Luckily he didn’t fall off and managed to land it on its wheels.

”Don’t stop! I am alright”, he shouted.

Margaret wanted to stop for a while and check on Nathan but decided to carry on after hearing his voice. They were near the last stretch of the highway when they had to pull up. A couple of military trucks were blocking the way. There weren’t any soldiers nearby. The trucks had been placed to cordon off the area when the military had arrived to combat the Bloodwings. They decided to get off the road and enter the field on the right. Soon they could see the research facility in the distance. It was 1:25 AM when they finally arrived at the research facility. From there they split up in three directions and went searching for supplies. Most of the shops had their doors open so they had no problem at all. Nathan, Margaret and Alex had collected all the necessary items within fifteen minutes. They regrouped outside the research facility; its metal doors were shut from inside. There was a voice lock on the door. It seemed the place still had power. Alex took out his palmtop and launched an application which he had designed a few years ago. He typed some alpha numeric codes and hacked into the building’s central database. From there he disabled all cameras and locks. He downloaded the blueprint of the entire building and the names of all the researchers who had been working there.

The huge metal doors parted and they entered the building. A vast hallway with marbled flooring stretched out in front of them. There was a computer terminal at the entrance. Alex decided to access the computer and find out more about the status of the lab. They were surprised to see the building was so clean. There was no blood on the floor and not a single corpse in sight. The window panes had been shattered and pieces of broken glass lay on the floor. It all seemed very strange. Nathan and Margaret began exploring the place while Alex was busy on the computer.

“Guys, come here. I found something!” said Alex quivering in excitement.