Chapter 44

Arya woke up to the sounds of fighting.

Something inside of her knew that the people she cared about were in trouble.

Her eyes snapped open and she saw Freya, Assyrian, Granite and Ezekiel fighting some monster birds.

The birds with their black feathers and beady black eyes looked a lot like ravens or crows. If ravens and crows had beady glowing red eyes, razor sharp beaks that gleamed like the blade of a sword and were the size of a full grown elephant. Just the size of one of its curved claw talons looked good enough to be used for the blade of a scythe and their caws were defending to listen to. There had to be at least 30 birds right now-and more seemed to be coming to join the party.

Ezekiel, Assyrian, Granite and Freya formed a protective circle around Lily, Owen and Arya. Ezekiel and Assyrian fired bolt after bolt of lightning at the giant monster birds, zapping many into ashes and black feathers but for every one they killed, it seemed like three more would take their place. Freya, whose power had grown and grown over just a few days of training, was making long and thick vines appear from the ground, sprouting and growing at supernaturally fast rates until they twisted and curled up 20 feet into the sky. She used them like swords, commanding them to move and target any bird she saw. The vines acted like trained and obedient pet snakes to her will and they zip and zagged through the sky to hit their targets. Freya must have used her plant manipulation powers to reinforce the toughness and durability of the plant and make it as sharp as a sword because the vines precise through the monster's chests and bodies like a hot knife through butter. The 7 birds killed by the vines dropped like rocks from the sky and landed on the ground with loud thuds.

Granite had all the skin on his body turned into stone and he looked like some sort of very realistic statue brought to life through magic right now. Whenever a freak bird got too close to the group, nose diving and flying down at them at fast speeds, Granite would give them a taste of his fist and that would be enough to send them off course and crash land somewhere else where they would not get up.

They looked like they have been fighting for quite some time now as there were piles of dead monster bird bodies everywhere surrounding them.

Lily and Owen hugged each other and comforted each other.

Arya found the adrenaline pumping through her body once again and she found the power to be able to get up despite the fact she probably only had five hours of sleep last night and summoned all her power.

The birds stopped moving, wings frozen in flapping positions and beaks still open, but they didn't drop out of the sky. Arya balled her fist and she made all the birds explode in a gruesome display of guts and feathers. Well not really a explosion when her telekinesis was crushing the birds up like they little more than ants under her feet, bones snapping and breaking, heads were caved in and the birds squawked and screeched in fear and pain as Arya crushed them them into feathers and guts with little more than the power of her mind.

Feathers and blood and flesh rained down on the small group like very disgusting confetti.

It looked like it was a good thing that Arya woke up right then and there because Freya, Ezekiel, Assyrian and Granite looked like they couldn't hold longer. If Arya had worked up just a minute too late, she would have been monster food.

Ezekiel wiped some blood off his face and he looked very cheery and happy despite the fact that he was just fighting for his life just a few seconds ago and he was covered in head to toe in monster bird remains and he smelled like a slaughterhouse. They all did and that was Arya's fault.

"Good timing, Ar-Ar!!! But did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today? That was a little violent."

Oops, Arya thought, I fucked up.

….

Arya apologized so many times and she was forgiven so many times.

"I'm so sorry but I saw you guys were in danger so I just…"

Freya brushed her off.

"It's okay, Arya. Better smelling like shit than to be dead. Besides, it's not like there's anyone around to be disgusted by the way we smell right now."

Freya extended an arm around and waved around her the barren and deserted countryside.

She was right, Arya thought, We probably had been walking for seems like hours now and she hadn't seen another living life form, human, animal or beast, except for ourselves.

Owen and Lily didn't complain about all the walking but they didn't refuse or hesitate when Granite and Freya offered to give them piggy back rides.

Water, Arya thought, they needed water fast. All the water they managed to collect from Lily and Owen's former village from the little stream was gone now.

You could survive for weeks without food but you wouldn't last anymore than a few days without water.

And all the fighting and walking they were doing was making their thirst even worse. Small mercy it was cloudy and chilly these days or else the sun and heat would bake them until they were nice and crispy and nearly dead from the heat. 

But now Arya wondered if they would die from the cold than from any monster now. Goosebumps formed on the arms and she could see her breath. She walked very close next to Ezekiel in order to share his body heat and Ezekiel was doing the same. Assyrian and Granite huddled up together.

Arya scanned the horizon and her surroundings. So far, they walked and walked down this dirt path for hours on dead and all she had seen was trees, trees, more trees, some grass and wild flowers and the discarded items of people. Colthles, tools, cups, plates:Items that once belonged to someone but were now left abandoned on the side of the road.

At least she had seen a dead body so far.

Wait…Could it be?...

The outline of a small town or village could be seen not too far away from where they were, maybe just half an hour of walking away.

"Ezzy, look over there!"

Ezekiel looked up to see the village or town in the distance and hope lit up in him like a small spark of fire.

Everyone saw it and their hopes were lifted.