Project Songbird

Chapter 11

KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!
I couldn't take in a breath.
The constricting in my chest tightens.
END HIS LIFE!
I sit up, my head flinging backwards until I was staring at the ceiling.
And that chilling screech I heard from everyone else, pryed its way from my lips.
I stand up slowly, leaning forward a bit as my head swims.
Give in, destroy him.
Yes, yes I will.
I stand straighter and make eye contact with Tyler's body laying on the ground.
My rage increases. With speed I have never possessed before, I swing my fist into Andy's face and send him flying across the room and through the walls.
I stumble slightly.
I shake my head then extend my wings.
The inhuman screech reverberates throughout the room.
"Ethan!"
I ignore my name.
I stalk forward and glare at where I had sent Andy flying. The scientist wobbles his way back through the hole in the wall, "What are you doing here!" He sounded shocked. I grit my teeth, a hiss of air making its way out of my mouth.
He killed Tyler.
I grunt as another wave of pain explodes through my chest. I bend in half towards the ground to catch my breath. Something spilt through my back, "A-ah-!" There on the ground below me were two beautiful white wings. The pain in my back subsides and I stand back up, facing the scientist, "Just taking revenge." I spread out my new wings, feeling them flex felt nothing like the white wings spreading.
I felt free.
Like something had a hold on me this whole time and I finally broke away.
Felix makes his way next to me.
He was almost completely transformed in his demon form; a form I hadn't seen before. Usually he left his face uncovered during his change but now he was covered.
"I can give you a hand."
I glance at the elder and give a small nod with my head.
"I want to tear him apart." I feel my tail whip around behind me.
"As do I." Felix steps forward.
His wings span out as he stretches them, preparing for flight. If we weren't in the middle of a battle, I would have admired how beautiful they looked.
Felix took off first.
He slammed his leg into Andy, sending him out through the windows.
I hurry after him.
I wasn't going to let the fall take our kill.
I grab Andy by his foot, taking him as high as I could manage.
Andy struggled but slowly stopped the higher we got, "We can talk about this!"
I chuckle at his sad little whine, "The time for talk is over."
"I can reverse it!" Andy yelps.
I raise a brow as Felix joins us.
"Reverse what?" I question.
"I can change you back to humans!" Andy stammers out.
Felix grumbles, "I don't believe you."
"I think he's just trying to save his skin." I voice my opinion and Felix nods his head in agreement.
"Even if you could, I wouldn't let you live regardless." I switched hands as my arm was beginning to get tired, "Maybe you should've thought about your attacks. Tyler will not die in vain! Letting you live would be an insult to his good name!" I tighten my grip, my new claws making their way through his muscles like a hot knife to butter.
He screeches at the pain.
Felix drifts down to Andy's face, "Playing God will always catch up with you." He grins, striking Andy through his right side.
"Hey, you don't get all the damage!" I jerk at Andy's leg. Felix hisses slightly at me, gripping Andy's neck.
We pump our wings, pulling the man in two different directions; using our inhuman force to split Andy's body apart. He screams bloody murder but neither of us stop until he's completely split in two and dead.
I drop his bottom half before shifting in the air.
"You need to burn!" I bring my hands together. A ball of blue energy appears in my hands and I fire the beam at his falling body; burning it until there is nothing left of him.
"What was that??" Felix floats next to me. "I didn't know we could do that."
"I dunno, I just felt it." I shrug.
"Maybe we could use it to our advantage." Felix huffs softly before we fly back to where we had smashed out of the building.
I stumble on the landing and bend over, resting my hands on my knees, panting. I felt exhausted.
"Hurry, hurry!!" I heard shouting and looked up to see a group of healers surrounding Tyler. There was an awful lot of blood beneath him and it feels like a knife has been stabbed into my heart and twists uncomfortably. Felix grabs my arm before I can make my way forwards, "Don't get in the way. They need every second."
I stand up straight.
"So is he dead?" Mark makes his way over, his injured wing bandaged.
"Yes, he will no longer be a problem." Felix answers.
"Some of the others have filled me in on what Andrew was keeping from the rest of us." Mark begins, he gestures behind him where a young woman stands. She stares at the ground.
"Step forward please." Mark turns to her.
"Okay." She speaks meekly and steps up next to Mark. She has long hair that falls below her waist. She wears a long sleeve shirt and black pants.
"Felix, this is your daughter, Hailey. I was informed that Andrew kept them both, sadly your wife passed during the birth." Mark pushes the young woman forward.
"My daughter...?" Felix whispers.
I, too, was shocked.
She's alive!
Felix stuttered for words. He couldn't form a sentence and collapsed to his knees, a loud sob escaping him.
Hailey makes her way forward and lightly touches his shoulder, "They explained what happened, I'm shocked too."
I moved away from them so they could have their moment and look back to where the healers were still working hard on stabling Tyler.
"Now what do we do?" Jack limps over, "We got rid of one problem."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I think you have opened our eyes to the possibility of escape." Jack continues, "Somewhere in the hospital the other scientists have been watching us for years. I'm sick of this place."
"I think the best thing for now is to rest and heal. Let everyone mingle together and then we will have to make the decision together as a group. We will not isolate anyone." Mark says, "I think we should make a list of what everyone can do and make a plan from that."
"How do you feel Ethan?" Jack asks, turning the conversation at me.
I mull over his words. My eyes make their way back to Tyler before I have to turn back around, "Like a knife is stabbing my heart and twisting."
"I thought so." Jack mutters.
"Welcome to the other side." Mark pats my back, trying to make a light joke out of the dark situation.
"When you get a chance you should talk to him. Tell him how you feel." Jack says.
"That I have a bit of a crush on him and it seems to have blossomed into something more?" I question.
"Feelings aside, he's going to need someone to help care for him." Jack crosses his arms over his chest, "He's going to be bedridden for quite a while, but it'll give us plenty of time to come up with a plan and possibly train everyone properly."
"Train-"
"I don't think the scientists will let us go without a fight and if last time is anything to go on, they'll most likely bring in hired help." Mark interrupts me.
"Oh, I did something that Felix says that he has never seen before. Maybe it's something you guys can do as well." I remember the beam from earlier.
"Maybe." Jack shrugs.
"I should tell Amy about the situation and our plans." Mark steps back, excusing himself from the conversation.
I watch as he turns around and just vanishes through a very thin layer of red and blue lines, "Woah!"
"That's how his secondary ability works." Jack states and then turns back to gauge the scene around us. "We have a lot on our plates."
"Let's return to our rooms." Mark speaks as he steps back out of thin air. "Ethan, you can stay in Tyler's room."
I nod.
I had basically been staying in different rooms because they didn't have time to empty a spare room and turn it into basically my little home.
"Amy and May will watch over Tyler's recovery until he's out of the critical stage then he will be transferred into your care." Mark informs me.
"Okay." I mutter.
I watch as Mark makes his way to Tyler's body and with gentle motion, picks the giant up and disappears through his portal or whatever.
Jack pats my shoulder, "Time to head out." He teleports us out of the upper floors and at the door for Tyler's room.
"I'll see if I can get Bob and Wade to start dinner." Jack says before he takes a step away from me and disappears.
I stare at the door in front of me.
It seemed to stare back at me.
I grab the cold handle and the door swings open with a quiet creak.
"...I need a shower..."

I shift in my spot in Tyler's room.
It made my heart ache to see him hooked up to so many machines and see him wrapped up like a mummy.
I tried to ignore the pain and snooped through his bookshelf, looking for something to distract myself with.
Maybe I should check out that book he had been reading. What was it called? Something Red??
I scanned the shelf for the book.
A knock comes from the door.
"Come in." I don't bother to see who it was.
"Ethan."
I sigh softly and turn to see Felix, "Hm?"
"I just wanted to check in and I wanted to thank you, but also to apologize." Felix starts and I turn to give him my full attention.
"Apologize?"
"I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you when you first arrived here. I was so angry, I took it out on you." He closes his eyes as he thinks about his words. "Backing you into a corner..."
"It's alright." I wave it off, "From everything that I have learned here and now being a part of the transformation, I understand your anger. It's not easy to control. I was new and spouting that I could help you all when I knew nothing. You were just protecting everyone."
Felix lets out a breath which can be seen due to how cold Tyler has to have his room. "I also wanted to thank you. You kept pushing the issue and now I learn that my daughter is alive and well."
"Are you guys adjusting okay?" I offer him a seat but he refuses and continues to stand. "It's a lot of work to be honest. This past week has been an adjustment for everyone as now the children are no longer confined to the basement. Children who only saw their parents on Sunday, now have their parents everyday. It has definitely lifted everyone's spirits. Mark has been studying the blueprints and checking more through Andrew's old office. There's a lot of documentation about the experiments up to a certain point, but as far as we can tell he was lying about being able to change us back. Jack has healed quickly and with Bob and Wade's help they started to get basic training underway."
"That's good." It was a lot of information to take but it made me feel a little bit better about it all.
"Ethan, how are you?" Felix asks me.
"I'm okay." I shrug.
"No seriously." Felix moves closer, "I have killed before. By now I've dulled my senses. That was your first."
I tried to avoid his eyes, "I'm alright." I really didn't want to talk about the nightmares that kept me awake.
I squeeze my arm to keep from thinking about it.
"When was the last time you slept?" His voice is much softer.
I glance away from him and turn my gaze to Tyler, studying him. Watching as his chest slowly rose and fell with the help of the machine.
"Ethan."
I blink and Felix is squatting down in front of me. His hand brushing away the tears that slip down my face.
I couldn't speak. The words died upon my tongue. I'm frightened of myself.
Without thinking I tore this man completely apart. I ripped his life from him without blinking.
"I understand that you are having a hard time dealing with this. But it's okay, it means you still have humanity within you." Felix whispers, "You still care about life."
"I took his, with my bare hands." My voice trembles.
"You did it for everyone. You did it for the greater good. You did not murder him in cold blood. In all honesty I don't think Andrew was completely human anymore. He hurt you just to keep you from sharing information that you learned. Actually this whole time he was trying to kill you." Felix reminds me.
"You're right but I don't think it'll ever leave me." I reply.
"It won't." He shakes his head, "It'll never leave you but it'll get easier with time, much like how people learn to live with grief. You learn to live with this guilt." He stands, "Hopefully you won't have to deal with any more than just one."
Is he talking about himself now?
"If we ever get into another fight like this, let me take it. I can handle the burden." He pulls me up from the chair and into a tight hug, "I will not allow you to burden yourself with this guilt."
I buried my face into his chest.
I couldn't help but sob at his comforting words.
He hums softly.
A tune that I found so familiar.