Fallen Wings (Chapter VIII) The Story Turns...
Paul raced down the trail, leaving everyone behind. Everyone just stood and stared in amazment for a second, and then the rest of us were off to catch up with him. The trail on this side of the ditch was much larger, it was used by forestry fire trucks to do training exercises and to battle the many brush fires we got every summer. Paul was leading the way with Joe walking next to him talking his ear off, asking questions of every sort about this angel. Rusty, Dennis and Jennifer were a few yards behind them. John and myself pulled up the rear, we lagged the furthest behind, there was a good 15 to 20 yards between us. We hung back so that we could talk without the others hearing us. I was beginning to get real nervous abot this whole thing now.
"John do you think he really saw an angel or is he just making the whole thing up?" I asked him, not even trying to hide the quiver in my voice as the fear began to rise up inside of me.
" I think he believes he saw an angel, Paul was never one to lie. He may have told some strange stories before but he always believed them." John said trying his best to calm my nerves. John always had a calming effect on everyone around him. It was if he always knew the right things to say in any situation.
* * *
As the trail wound on, the rest of the guys had managed to catch up with each other with me and John still talking at a distance from everyone.
"Hey Ron, get up here there is something you need to see." I heard Joe say from the middle of the group. They had all stopped and were looking at the ground at this point.
" What do you think it is John?" I asked.
" Well since they are looking at the ground, and you are the tracking expert here." John said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
" You know that is a bunch of crap, I only let them believe I can track things to keep the adventure alive." I said to John.
" Yeah I know that and you know that, but they haven't seemed to figure that out yet, and besides what you do is pretty amazing sometimes. You may not think you really know what you are doing, but you always manage to track things down when we need you to."
I guess he was right about that, maybe I did have an idea what I was doing, and I did practice looking at tracks and identifying them with books and anything else I could get my hands on about tracking. John and me began jogging up to where the rest of them were. Paul was standing in the center of the group looking down in the loose grey sand.
"Look Ron, what do you make of those?" Paul said with a confident look on his face, you know the look it is that one that says "I told you so". In front of Paul on the ground where he was point were two lare footprints, but there was something strange about these feet. They had four toes at the had of the foot and a single toe to the rear. It looked as if the rear toe had a large nail on it due to the indention into the sand, it looked as if where the toe was someone had taken a pencil and stuck it in the ground directly behind it.
"Yeah, those don't look like any footprints I have seen." Said Jennifer, she was kneeling down near them now to get a better look at them.
"They look like the talons of a large bird, but you can clearly see the outline of toes like on a human foot." I said starring in slight shock at what was in front of me. It was beginning to look like Paul was right about what he saw. "Can anyone see anymore of them around, or is it just these two?"
"Over here." I heard Dennis say. He was standing about ten feet further down the trail. " There are more over here." I walked over to Dennis and the rest followed me. Sure enough on the ground were more prints, this time they were going down the trail as if whatever it was, was walking now.
"Look here, see how they are staggered. That means this thing is walking, and look here it is dragging something. Here on otherside of the footprints it looks as though it is dragging a narrow cloth or something." I said.
"That isn't cloth." Paul said. " That is her wings. Her wings go all the way to the ground when she folds them in, and the reach just above her head."
Could it be true, that these were the tracks of an angel walking on earth. If so why would they be here? I was really beginning to believe that what Paul saw was true, and that didn't seem to help calm me down.
* * *
" Hey what are you looking for Jennifer, Big Bird?" Said Joe roaring with laughter.
" NO, you moron haven't you heard wha Paul has been saying. Gosh you are so stupid and childish sometimes. I am looking for Paul's angel Emelia." Said Jennifer with that familiar tone of anger she got in her voice when someone tried to make he look stupid.
" You think your going to see an angel, you need binoculars just to see up to the door knob. HA HA you are so short, you little oompa loompa." Joe said still full of laughter. That was all it took to set Jennifer off. She may have been small, but she was tough, tougher than most of the guys I knew twice her size. It was always incredible and scary to see her leap into kill mode. She sprang in the air and jumped on Joe punching him hard in the face. His nose started to bleed as we pulled her off of him. Joe was smart enough not to hit her back, cause he knew we would get on him for it, but it didn't make him any less angry about the whole thing.
" One of these days Jennifer, your going to hit te wrong person and they are going to hit you back. I only hope I am there to see it, just so I can see you get your butt beat." Said Joe with anger seething in his eyes.
"Ok, everyone calm down. We aren't here for this, we are here to find out what this feather belongs to and now to see if we can find Paul's angel." Said John in that same calming voice that always worked.
Jennifer struggled against Dennis and me holding her just so she could get another shot at Joe.
" Come on everyone it is getting kinda late in the day, we need to get to the quarry and back to the campsite before it gets too dark out." Said John. With that we all started walking towards the quarry. This time John and I were in the front watching the tracks. Dennis, Joe, Rusty, and Jennifer were following a few yards back, They were all talking about how cool it looked when Jennifer jumped in the air with a raised fist targeted at Joe's face. Joe this time was the lone straggler. He was far behind us mopeing and talking to himself, proably saying something about how when we get to the quarry he is going to push Jennifer in and laugh at her.
* * *
Joe was walking alone looking at the others in front of him, seething over what had just taken place. " I am going to get her, when she least expects it she will get hers." he mumbled to himself. If Joe was looking at the ground like he usually did when he walked the trails trying his best to track like Ron, he might have seen the large shadow growing in size as it neared him. He heard a large crack of a branch and tried turn to see what had made the sound when it hit him. Like a thud he was grabbed by the shoulders, a seering pain shot through him as claws dug into the meat of his back. He felt himself lifting off of the ground and as he looked forward at the others he could see them growing smaller and then he was turned and he saw them no more. He couldn't speak because of the pain that now paralyzed him. He could only see the trail and then the ditch and then darkness as he passed out.
* * *
I looked back at he rest of them and noticed that Joe was no longer in sight. I called back to the others. "Hey where is Joe?"
"I don't know, he must have gone back to the camp. You know how he can get." Rusty said. Rusty would know, he was the closest to Joe.
* * *
If Ron or anyone had looked back sooner they may have seen what had happened. Instead only a small speck of Joe and his attacker could be seen now growing smaller and smaller.
* * *
"Ok let's get out to the quarry so we can get back to calm Joe down and start making something to eat." John said, he wasn't letting Joe stop him from getting to the quarry now. I have seen that look in his eyes before. The obsession of the chase was there now. It took John over and he would move like a possessed robot with no obstacle to big to stop him. We had made it to the crossroads now. We waited for the rest to catch up before we moved on...
Paul raced down the trail, leaving everyone behind. Everyone just stood and stared in amazment for a second, and then the rest of us were off to catch up with him. The trail on this side of the ditch was much larger, it was used by forestry fire trucks to do training exercises and to battle the many brush fires we got every summer. Paul was leading the way with Joe walking next to him talking his ear off, asking questions of every sort about this angel. Rusty, Dennis and Jennifer were a few yards behind them. John and myself pulled up the rear, we lagged the furthest behind, there was a good 15 to 20 yards between us. We hung back so that we could talk without the others hearing us. I was beginning to get real nervous abot this whole thing now.
"John do you think he really saw an angel or is he just making the whole thing up?" I asked him, not even trying to hide the quiver in my voice as the fear began to rise up inside of me.
" I think he believes he saw an angel, Paul was never one to lie. He may have told some strange stories before but he always believed them." John said trying his best to calm my nerves. John always had a calming effect on everyone around him. It was if he always knew the right things to say in any situation.
* * *
As the trail wound on, the rest of the guys had managed to catch up with each other with me and John still talking at a distance from everyone.
"Hey Ron, get up here there is something you need to see." I heard Joe say from the middle of the group. They had all stopped and were looking at the ground at this point.
" What do you think it is John?" I asked.
" Well since they are looking at the ground, and you are the tracking expert here." John said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
" You know that is a bunch of crap, I only let them believe I can track things to keep the adventure alive." I said to John.
" Yeah I know that and you know that, but they haven't seemed to figure that out yet, and besides what you do is pretty amazing sometimes. You may not think you really know what you are doing, but you always manage to track things down when we need you to."
I guess he was right about that, maybe I did have an idea what I was doing, and I did practice looking at tracks and identifying them with books and anything else I could get my hands on about tracking. John and me began jogging up to where the rest of them were. Paul was standing in the center of the group looking down in the loose grey sand.
"Look Ron, what do you make of those?" Paul said with a confident look on his face, you know the look it is that one that says "I told you so". In front of Paul on the ground where he was point were two lare footprints, but there was something strange about these feet. They had four toes at the had of the foot and a single toe to the rear. It looked as if the rear toe had a large nail on it due to the indention into the sand, it looked as if where the toe was someone had taken a pencil and stuck it in the ground directly behind it.
"Yeah, those don't look like any footprints I have seen." Said Jennifer, she was kneeling down near them now to get a better look at them.
"They look like the talons of a large bird, but you can clearly see the outline of toes like on a human foot." I said starring in slight shock at what was in front of me. It was beginning to look like Paul was right about what he saw. "Can anyone see anymore of them around, or is it just these two?"
"Over here." I heard Dennis say. He was standing about ten feet further down the trail. " There are more over here." I walked over to Dennis and the rest followed me. Sure enough on the ground were more prints, this time they were going down the trail as if whatever it was, was walking now.
"Look here, see how they are staggered. That means this thing is walking, and look here it is dragging something. Here on otherside of the footprints it looks as though it is dragging a narrow cloth or something." I said.
"That isn't cloth." Paul said. " That is her wings. Her wings go all the way to the ground when she folds them in, and the reach just above her head."
Could it be true, that these were the tracks of an angel walking on earth. If so why would they be here? I was really beginning to believe that what Paul saw was true, and that didn't seem to help calm me down.
* * *
" Hey what are you looking for Jennifer, Big Bird?" Said Joe roaring with laughter.
" NO, you moron haven't you heard wha Paul has been saying. Gosh you are so stupid and childish sometimes. I am looking for Paul's angel Emelia." Said Jennifer with that familiar tone of anger she got in her voice when someone tried to make he look stupid.
" You think your going to see an angel, you need binoculars just to see up to the door knob. HA HA you are so short, you little oompa loompa." Joe said still full of laughter. That was all it took to set Jennifer off. She may have been small, but she was tough, tougher than most of the guys I knew twice her size. It was always incredible and scary to see her leap into kill mode. She sprang in the air and jumped on Joe punching him hard in the face. His nose started to bleed as we pulled her off of him. Joe was smart enough not to hit her back, cause he knew we would get on him for it, but it didn't make him any less angry about the whole thing.
" One of these days Jennifer, your going to hit te wrong person and they are going to hit you back. I only hope I am there to see it, just so I can see you get your butt beat." Said Joe with anger seething in his eyes.
"Ok, everyone calm down. We aren't here for this, we are here to find out what this feather belongs to and now to see if we can find Paul's angel." Said John in that same calming voice that always worked.
Jennifer struggled against Dennis and me holding her just so she could get another shot at Joe.
" Come on everyone it is getting kinda late in the day, we need to get to the quarry and back to the campsite before it gets too dark out." Said John. With that we all started walking towards the quarry. This time John and I were in the front watching the tracks. Dennis, Joe, Rusty, and Jennifer were following a few yards back, They were all talking about how cool it looked when Jennifer jumped in the air with a raised fist targeted at Joe's face. Joe this time was the lone straggler. He was far behind us mopeing and talking to himself, proably saying something about how when we get to the quarry he is going to push Jennifer in and laugh at her.
* * *
Joe was walking alone looking at the others in front of him, seething over what had just taken place. " I am going to get her, when she least expects it she will get hers." he mumbled to himself. If Joe was looking at the ground like he usually did when he walked the trails trying his best to track like Ron, he might have seen the large shadow growing in size as it neared him. He heard a large crack of a branch and tried turn to see what had made the sound when it hit him. Like a thud he was grabbed by the shoulders, a seering pain shot through him as claws dug into the meat of his back. He felt himself lifting off of the ground and as he looked forward at the others he could see them growing smaller and then he was turned and he saw them no more. He couldn't speak because of the pain that now paralyzed him. He could only see the trail and then the ditch and then darkness as he passed out.
* * *
I looked back at he rest of them and noticed that Joe was no longer in sight. I called back to the others. "Hey where is Joe?"
"I don't know, he must have gone back to the camp. You know how he can get." Rusty said. Rusty would know, he was the closest to Joe.
* * *
If Ron or anyone had looked back sooner they may have seen what had happened. Instead only a small speck of Joe and his attacker could be seen now growing smaller and smaller.
* * *
"Ok let's get out to the quarry so we can get back to calm Joe down and start making something to eat." John said, he wasn't letting Joe stop him from getting to the quarry now. I have seen that look in his eyes before. The obsession of the chase was there now. It took John over and he would move like a possessed robot with no obstacle to big to stop him. We had made it to the crossroads now. We waited for the rest to catch up before we moved on...
VIEW 15 of 15 COMMENTS
mavericka:
love you story, i was really getting into it, can't wait to read the next one
lillithvain: