Wings of Death

An endless wait

Margaret eagerly opened the email she had just received and started analyzing every detail meticulously. There was absolutely no room for error. One small mistake could doom them all. She went over the plan a dozen times and carefully studied the map attached with the email. The research facility was around 5 miles from the City Square. They could not risk being outside for too long. Most of the cars had crashed or been abandoned by their owners. Using a car posed several problems, the noise might attract the Bloodwings and navigating through streets filled with abandoned cars and corpses would be almost impossible. The only things which came to her mind were bicycles. They were silent and would allow them to navigate the streets easily. In case of a change of plans they could easily get off the main road and slip into the nearby alleys and by lanes. Nathan had his own bicycle stowed away safely in the garage and Alex would have no problem getting his hands on one since he was close to a parking lot. Margaret was certain that she too could easily find a bicycle on the streets.

It had been decided that none of them would make any more phone calls or else their conversations might make their parents suspicious. They planned to communicate through text messages from now on. Alex had selected two routes which led to the research facility. One of them seemed a bit safer than the other since it would keep them off the main road and close to garages and nearby buildings which had basements. The other route was much shorter but they would have to traverse an open highway with no buildings on either side. It was a difficult choice to make. One route offered security while the other saved time. She thought it would be best to decide it through a vote.

Alex had also made a list of nearby fuel depots, pharmacy shops and departmental stores. They needed rucksacks for carrying the essential items back to their hideouts. Since they would be going out during a downpour they had to carry raincoats and an extra pair of clothes which they could change into, to avoid all suspicion. Margaret made a list of tools needed for their nocturnal escapade. They included: three flashlights, a laptop, a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, a portable charging device and three bottles of water. She emailed her suggestions to Nathan and Alex. She was so engrossed in their plan that she had completely lost track of time. It was almost 3 PM now. Only a few more hours to go before the skies went dark. There was just one thing which was still bothering her, the weather forecast on her cell phone which read:

EXPECT A BRIGHT AND SUNNY DAY WITH NO CHANCE OF RAIN. THE NIGHT SKY WILL ALSO REMAIN CLEAR. CHANCE TO SEE A SHOOTING STAR!

She didn’t need a shooting star; she had already made her wish. Margaret kept telling herself that the weather forecast had an accuracy rate of only 75 percent. Humans are rational beings endowed with excellent reasoning skills and Margaret always thought logically but in the face of calamity, her sense of logic seemed to have deserted her. Her skepticism was replaced by an insane amount of hope.  Perhaps she too had become infected with Nathan’s optimism.

Nathan was pacing up and down in his basement with his ears wide open. He was waiting for the cries of the Bloodwings to fade away. The evening drifted into dusk and still there the screams did not cease. It was nearly 5 PM, just a few more hours before nightfall. Inside the basement one lived like a blind man, neither could they peep at the sun nor could they gaze at the moon. The night was approaching steadily with no chance of rain. Nathan was starting to lose hope now. He kept pacing up and down and his face reflected his desperation. Mr. and Mrs. Browning scraped out the last bit of fish from one of the tin cans and shared it between them, it barely filled their stomachs. They had saved the last can for Nathan. Mrs. Browning insisted Nathan to sit down and eat but he was too distracted by his thoughts to respond. He switched off the radio in frustration. It had been almost 17 hours since the last announcement.

With an empty stomach and a sense of hopelessness Nathan went to sleep at 9 PM. He refused to speak to anyone. Nathan’s parents thought that it would be best to give him some space since he had always been a very moody boy. It was as if the whole world was conspiring against him. He thought to himself, humans in the past had always been at the mercy of nature and even now they were seeking nature’s grace. Even his dreams had deserted him. It seemed as if he was rolling around in a trance. Margaret and Alex were still wide awake. They still had a few drops of hope left in their hearts.  Alex had had nothing to eat since morning, his stomach was rumbling in hunger. He sat in a corner of the garage and kept checking the weather apps on his palmtop.

The hands of the clock tiptoed towards the number 12. Both Nathan and Alex had fallen asleep by then.  Mr. and Mrs. Smith had been kept awake by their daughter. She was having a fever. They had to take her to a doctor as soon as possible. Meanwhile Joshua had finished making the blueprint for his peculiar contraption. He now set to work collecting the parts needed to make the device. With a wrench and a screwdriver in hand he kept opening the hoods of cars in the parking lot and extracting parts from inside. Margaret was writing her diary. It did not contain her personal thoughts and feelings but details about the Bloodwings and their victims. She was feeling too sleepy to continue and was about to doze off when suddenly she was shaken up by the sound of thunder.