Survivors
Chapter Fifty-Seven

Nearly three miles away Luke was landed in the copse. He set down the terrified Darius as gently as he could and swiftly changed back to his own form. Darius was lying face down on the floor gasping for breath. The flight, the fear and being in pretty poor physical shape had all taken their toll and he was really struggling to regain his composure. Luke could see that Darius had lost a lot of weight and his hair looked a lot greyer and a lot thinner.

After a few moments Luke stepped forward and put his hand on Darius’s shoulder. Darius’s head snapped round to look at who, or what, had touched him. His eyes were wide with fear. When he saw Luke, if anything his eyes grew even wider so much so that Luke was a little afraid that they were going to pop right out of his head.

“It’s okay Darius” said Luke as soothingly and reassuringly as he could “It’s me!”

“W.. Where’s that bird thing?” gasped Darius looking anxiously around.

“This is going to be really hard for you to understand, but that was me too”.

“What do you mean? How could that possibly have been you!”

“Well...it’s...it’s... It’s probably easiest if I just show you. I can change into pretty much anything I want to. Please don’t be scared, you’re perfectly safe, just watch”.

Luke racked his brain for the most non-threatening animal he could think of. The only problem was, a lot of the cute little furry animals he didn’t have the DNA blueprint for. Bretnel obviously didn’t think cute was an attribute they would have needed very often.

“Well?” said Darius “Sh.. Should something be happening?”

“I’m just thinking” replied Luke.

“Well what are you thinking?” insisted Darius.

“I’m just...”

“Just what? Just tell me!”

“I was thinking what to change into that wouldn’t scare you to death!” snarled Luke. As the words left his mouth Luke realised that they were in fact a real snarl and that Darius was hastily backing away looking even a little more bit terrified than he had before, if that was possible. He felt the fur sprouting and his teeth elongating into a pair of massive canines. Darius stumbled and fell. Luke began to feel guilty he had lost his temper so easily. He brought himself under control and changed back to full human form.

“I’m sorry” he apologised moving towards Darius.

“Could you just keep away from me please” said Darius holding up his hand in a pathetically defensive gesture. “I’d really appreciate some distance between us”.

“Sure” said Luke a little sadly, this wasn’t how he’d seen this reunion going. He squatted on his haunches and waited for Darius to speak.

“What the hell has happened to you?” asked Darius. “We thought you were killed when the Aliens attacked the camp”.

“No we escaped”

“We?”

“Yeah, Joe and Holly made it out too”.

“And are they like you, like you are now?” enquired Darius nervously.

Luke nodded and thought of something to say to change the subject.

“It was Jacob, Jacob Farley who brought the Aliens to the camp, and he killed the Dane as well”.

“Good god, Jacob?”

“Yeah, we’ve met him again since then”.

There was something in Luke’s voice that made Darius pause and look at him, as if seeing him for the first time.

“Did you kill him?” he asked flatly.

“No” replied Luke equally flatly “No I didn’t”.

“Are you still with Joe and Holly, I mean are they still alive too?”

“Yeah, they’re fine”

“Luke, i’ve got to ask, you know i’ve got to ask, how can you do the things you do? How can you transform your body like that?”

Luke took a deep breath and told a very short version of their story. Darius sat open mouthed trying to take it all in. When Luke was finished they both sat in silence for a few moments.

“Was that Holly or Joe that was with you today?” asked Darius.

“That was Joe” replied Luke suddenly worried “And he should have been here ages ago! Wait here” he commanded.

Luke took a couple of steps away from Darius before transforming back into the eagle and leaping into the sky. As he broke through the canopy of the wood he quickly scanned the countryside around him. He saw two groups of Aliens moving towards the copse. They were still a good mile or so away and were moving slowly and cautiously. He could make out the column of slaves had reformed on the road. They were all sitting guarded by only a couple of Aliens. He knew there must be more Aliens out there somewhere but he could see no trace of them. There was also no trace of Joe. He tucked in his wings and crashed back through the canopy landing heavily next to Darius.

Darius could see, even before Luke had turned entirely back into himself that something was wrong.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I couldn’t see Joe, something must have gone wrong”.

“What do you think’s happened?”

Luke didn’t reply.

“What was the plan? Luke? What were you intending to do?

Luke still didn’t answer, he was lost in his own thoughts. He began to pace up and down becoming more and more tense.

“Luke!” insisted Darius.

“Shut-up” yelled Luke “Let me think”. He knew this was all his fault. He hadn’t thought out a plan like he normally did when they attacked the Aliens. Fly in and grab two people out of a column of hundreds surrounded by Alien guards, what kind of plan was that!? A bloody poor one! There was no fall-back there was no contingency, there was no second rendezvous, there was nothing, just this shambles and a rising sense of panic that Joe was dead.

“We wanted to rescue you and Mamma” he suddenly blurted out, as tears began to fill his eyes.

“Rescue us?” said Darius disbelievingly.

“Yeah, we were meant to be meeting some helicopters that were going to take us to some island that’s supposed to be safe. Then we saw you and we wanted to.. I wanted to, take you with us”.

“How?”

“What do you mean how!?” said Luke confused.

“How could you have got us all on the helicopters, there are hundreds of us?”

“Not all of them” said Luke his anger beginning to rise again “Just you and Mamma”.

Darius paused for a moment then replied in his oh so considerate, compassionate but utterly infuriating way.

“Well in that case I’m afraid I won’t be able to come with you”.

“What?!” shrieked Luke.

“I can’t go with you”

“I heard what you said. I .. But .. But we rescued you. We could have been killed. Joe may have been killed. How the hell can you stand there and tell me that you can’t come with me?”

“Because those people down there on that road” said Darius pointing. “Many of them are my friends and even more of them look to me for support and guidance. I couldn’t just abandon them”.

“You’re mad!” yelled Luke “I’m offering you a way out and you’re just too stubborn and stupidly proud to take it”.

“Pride has nothing to do with it! It’s about duty and responsibility. I thought you might have learnt a little about those two things since we last met”.

“Don’t you dare try to lecture me!” hissed Luke.

“I’m not trying to lecture you. I’m just trying to help you understand why I have to say no” went on Darius. “Would you abandon Holly or Joe?”

“Of course not”

“Well I feel the same about those poor people, I can’t desert them, I have to go back. And you, you have to go and replace Joe then Holly and then go and meet those helicopters”.

Deep in his heart he knew that Darius was right, and the mention of Joe’s name had the instant effect of replacing his anger with fear. Where the hell was Joe?

As if reading his mind Darius said “If you want to go that’s fine. I will walk out towards the Aliens and surrender. Knowing how suspicious and thorough they are bound to spend some time checking me out. While they deal with me that should give you some time to slip away”.

“I..” began Luke but he didn’t have anything much to say.

“It’s okay” smiled Darius “I know what I’m doing. Go replace your brother”. He shook Luke firmly by the hand. “Perhaps we will meet again one day”.

He then turned and walked away raising his hands high above his head. Luke watched him for a few seconds.

“I’ll come back and get you!” shouted Luke as Darius’s walked away.

“If you do don’t just get me, get all of us” Darius shouted back without turning round, and with that he disappeared into the undergrowth.