FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Written by brazy "birb" seeker

Inspired by K.A. Applegate's "Animorphs"

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CHAPTER 1

I started off as a normal kid leading a normal boring kid life. I would go to school, go to the mall, explore out in the woods and abandoned places, then, head home and be terrified about life and repeat. You know, normal teenager stuff. Don't we all start that way though? How long does it take for one's life to be flipped upside down, be it from school ending, an awful job, a loss, or anything else? Eventually, everything changes. Everything turns to crap no matter how much you plan ahead. I knew that would happen eventually, but I never could have expected it to go this way.

I found out about the Animorphs like everyone else on this side of the country. I was coming home from school when everything turned to chaos. People were running everywhere, cars speeding down the road and almost hitting me as I walked home, asking each other what they knew. I was very suddenly, very, very, interested.

See, I had a thing for chaos. I would tell myself I was a good kid, that I'm happier when everyone else is happy in their little delusions of perfection, but I wasn't. I really really wasn't. I had a lot of respect for humanity, I thought we could do great things, but at the same time, I wanted it all to burn to the ground. That's why I got so excited seeing people panicking and running around in the streets, it means something interesting is happening.

And boy was I right.

Someone stopped me on the street as I was jogging home by practically running straight into me. He was panicked and his eyes were wide with a mix of fear and excitement. "The world is ending, the aliens are here! The.. the spaceships, the fire, I saw it on the news, it's playing everywhere! I knew it, I knew it was coming, I knew we couldn't all be alone here! It's all BULLSHIT, AHAHAHAHAHA!"

He pushed off me hard and practically sprinted off down the road dodging through traffic, cackling like a maniac. I could respect that. It was safe to say my interest had been very much peaked. I picked up the pace, putting my other backpack strap on and quickly made my way home through the urban streets, watching the chaos of frantic drivers and people knocking on doors, others outside just looking up at the sky as if searching for something to come down on them.

I got home to find my parents already watching the TV, barely acknowledging I came in. That's pretty normal though, even if they weren't distracted by the end of the world. My parents always seemed to enjoy pretending I didn't exist.

I sat down on the other side of the couch away from my father and turned my attention to the screen. The signals had absolutely blown up. I grabbed the remote and switched through and sure enough, every single channel was transmitting the final battle. Most were government broadcasts and others were various duplicates of popular news networks. I picked the most exciting channel and stuck with it. Through the screen I saw the enormous space ships, fighters swarming all around them. It seemed like there were two different types of ships. Some were more elegant and organic looking, almost like they were born out of nature itself, while the others were hardened, made of sharp edges and dark colors. The video was shaky, those poor camera guys were probably scared out of their wits. It was amazing, for a moment I had even thought maybe it was all a prank, but not even the most advanced prankster could pull this off, not on this scale, it was like it was straight out of Star-Wars. My parents looked terrified, but I was ecstatic. I couldn't look away. I always knew stuff like that excited me, but something about this was different.

Within a day the whole world would know about the invasion, everyone would know we were no longer alone in this universe. I wish I could have seen that final epic battle in person, but knowing me I probably would have run straight into the action and gotten myself killed, so its probably better this way. I watched on, glued to the screen, so close I was probably giving myself some sort of eye cancer, but I didn't care.

The news anchor was talking about wild animals being everywhere, it seemed like nature itself was trying to fight the crazy alien dudes, and that's what I thought too until the camera zoomed in. It zoomed in on a huge tiger, its fur vivid orange and deep black, aside from the staining of blood. It had a large gash in its side and stumbled, falling. The camera watched on as the tiger began to shrink, fur thinning, almost like it was melting. I thought the tiger was being killed by some crazy invisible alien weapon, but that made no sense, the fighting was already calming down by the time I started watching. I didn't understand what was happening to the poor creature, I was scared to even watch. I didn't want to see an animal die. I've always felt more connected to animals than humans, after all, they deserve this place more than we do. I was worried, hugging a throw pillow and looking over it, almost ready to look away entirely, that was until the shrinking melting mass, it- this makes no sense, but, it started to look more and more... humanoid.

Then he said it, the news anchor. I'll never forget his words as long as I live.

"Hold on Hold on, this is big," the news anchor stated excitedly while walking cautiously up to the shrinking, disgusting lump of now more skin than fur-covered tiger "We have finally made contact with one of the creatures possibly responsible for the- wait, what the hell? Ahem, sorry. I..."

His voice faltered and broke, sounding stunned by something, watching entranced and speechless as soon the fleshy form turned more and more human right before his eyes, before all of our eyes. In less than a minute, the tiger was gone.

"It...it seems... Jesus, Carl! They're just kids! They aren't aliens at all!"

He paused again, bending away off screen, mumbling something inaudible to someone it seemed, before going completely out of frame. The fully healthy human, a boy who looked almost the same age as me which only a couple minutes prior was a critically injured Siberian tiger, stood up. He looked calm, too calm. He had a look in his eyes that only comes from aging hard and aging fast. I could tell he's seen a lot.

"We aren't the ones you're fighting.." was all the kid said before he started to back away carefully in a crouch, eyes darting from the camera to the anchor off screen, and he started to change again.

"Holy shit" I muttered under my breath, unable to do anything but watch "This isn't happening, this has to be fake..." He shrunk rapidly this time, his skin turning a light grey with complex layered patterns on it, then the feathers sprouted. They sprouted so fast I was startled almost, it was like huge overgrown hairs suddenly appeared on his whole body. His arms stretched out and I could tell they were becoming the wings of a bird of some sort, and no more than two minutes later, the longest two minutes of my life, a falcon looking bird was left in the place of a human. The bird stretched out its wings fully now and flapped hard, taking off into the air, and finally you could hear what seemed to be the cameraman yelling to get the anchor's attention, clearly the cameraman was too distracted by the incredible scene to say a word. The anchor suddenly ran back in frame, a cigarette held in his lips which he promptly spat out. "No no no no NO NO! COME BACK!" he yelled as he sprinted after the bird, jumping up and barely grazing the falcon's tail feathers with his microphone and landing at his knees. "DAMNIT!" he cried, starting to beat on the ground "Damnit damnit DAMNIT! Carl, what the hell just happened?!"

Any sense of professionalism from the anchor seemed to be lost at this point, his frustration was thick in the air. "Carl? You...you saw that too, right? The kid! He... he was a tiger, then a boy, then.. bird! You got all that, right?!" The camera seemed to nod in agreement, and the two of them started to talk about the insanity they just witnessed, but I had seen all I needed to.

I knew, right then and there, this was the start of a new world. I didn't even care about the secret war that was just uncovered. I had just witnessed a human being turn into an animal, a bird, and fly away. That was all I needed to know. God, what I would give to experience that. What was there that I wouldn't I give? I felt something well up inside me, an ecstatic, almost primal feeling of thrill words couldn't even begin to describe. I knew that I needed to find out how to do the same, to morph. At that moment, I didn't care what it took to get there.

I would do anything, I would give up everything to morph. My whole life, my home. I was only 17, but I felt like my whole life had just come into focus. I knew exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed to do. It was everything I never knew I wanted.

While my parents were distracted by the news buzzing away I grabbed my backpack and ran upstairs, not that they would care anyway, and began dumping all my school stuff out. I filled it with whatever I thought I needed for the day. A change of clothes, my toothbrush, some snacks, and of course my Walkman with a change of batteries and a few of my favorite tapes. I ran over to my dad's office and with the key I knew he kept under his lamp I unlocked a drawer. Inside there was a white envelope labeled "grocery" and I snatched it up. I was ready for anything and I needed to talk to someone NOW, the only person in the world who would understand what I was feeling at that very moment. I snuck out my window and headed for the woods right outside of town. I didn't even bother calling first, I just headed towards the hideout where I knew this person would be, if not already there waiting for me, my mind swimming with thoughts.

CHAPTER 2

I ran. I ran and ran and ran as fast and as far as my legs would take me. I took the long way to the hideout, I knew I needed time to clear my head, but at the same time, I didn't want to. I ran to invigorate my thoughts. The things I had just witnessed on the TV were burned into my eyes, I relived the memory, again and again, picking apart every last detail, I tried to imagine myself changing, morphing into an animal. The thought of feathers growing over my body like thick prickly hair, the thought of my arms changing into wings that could lift me away from this wrenched place. I looked down at the ground as I ran and tried to imagine lifting away, flying off into the sky and never returning, flying away from this world, away from this life. It wasn't even that it was so terribly bad, my life, I just didn't want it. It was like I just never wanted to be a part of this species, that I would give up everything, my very sentience, my humanity. The thought thrilled me in ways I can't quite explain. If you don't already understand, then you probably wouldn't get it the next time I explain it.

"TSSEEEEEEEER!"

An almost otherworldly sounding noise pierced my ears and I looked up, but I wasn't afraid, I instantly recognized it as the call of a Red-tailed Hawk. I paused my running and gave a little chuckle at the coincidence, watching in awe as the bird, completely uncaring of all the drama unfolding on the world below it, swooped down a distance away from me into a field. It disappeared into the tall grass of a meadow near the more forested area I was headed for and stayed there a while, I could only assume it caught something.

"What a way to live..." I spoke softly to myself under my breath, followed by another soft chuckle "Not a care to be given to the world ending below. Not your world to care about. Maybe we'll all be like that again one day..."

I watched the hawk shuffle around in the grass for a while before continuing on my way. I know that the universe probably doesn't play favorites, that everything is just chance, or at the very least inevitable, but its times like those that really make me wonder. Even if it is all chance, its quite beautiful at the same time.

I came up to a turn in the road, signifying the place for me to disappear. I ducked behind a street sign and down a very lightly trodden path into the thick of the woods, the brambles were thick on either side and pricked at me as I pushed through. We kept it that way on purpose to hide our way, we didn't want anyone to find us down here.

The path went quite a distance into the woods, luckily the thickest part of the briers was at the entrance, once you get into the forest itself it gets easier. Inside the forest the ground was covered with pine needles and speckled with moss, ferns, and other various bushes. The soil was mostly sand held together loosely by the roots of the ground cover which made it very soft and pleasant to walk on, albeit a bit shoe-filling at times. I took my time now, having burnt off some energy with my dramatic run and feeling much more somber from my run-in with the hawk. I walked at a steady pace, my head craned up to stare at the dense canopy above me. It was mostly made of pine trees, my favorite trees by far, but also had the rare deciduous speckling too. I loved the way they seemed to reach up to the sky and fill everything, while the trunks below were mostly bare. It made the forest feel like a secret sanctuary guarded by the enclosure of vegetation on all sides. As I walked, my mood slowly started to shift. The thoughts I had before, I think I was scaring myself. Did I really think that? I mean, I have a lot here, sure my family isn't the best, school is stressful, but at least I have parents who are together and get lunch money. A lot of people can't even say that much.

Was I really willing to throw it all away?

I was getting near the hideout now, I could see the wooden planks haphazardly nailed to some trees in the distance and it broke my focus away from guilty thoughts. Suddenly my hair stood on end and I was overcome with the feeling I was being watched. I froze.

Crunch. Crunch. CRACK!

I spun around fast, but it was too late! I knew I should have been more cautious!

WHAM!

I was hit from behind and it felt like someone was grabbing on to me and swinging around, then...hugging me?

"What the hell Mikey?! I told you not to do that! You know I startle easy!" I yelped, slightly aggravated.

"Heh Heh Heh... And you know that's why I do it" Mikey replied in a sarcastically eerie and ominous voice. "You really should expect it by now... Frankly, I'm disappointed, Mikey, Mr. 'I'm-so-prepared'"

"I was looking at the trees!! And I told you not to call me that!"

Yep, that's Michael. Perpetual pain in my ass by trade. He stands a good 6 inches taller than me, but I'm short to begin with at 5'6". I swear, puberty hit this man like a bus doing 70 down the freeway. His hair is spiky and dark brown, about the same as mine though I leave my hair longer. His eyes are a greenish hazel that gave an aura of peace, while mine are an almost bronze brown that stare right into your soul. He has a nicely kept thin goatee right on his chin, whereas I prefer to keep clean shaven. Overall, in the most "bro" way that I can muster, he's pretty cute. I'm not sure I'd say he's hot or anything, his face is a bit more rounded than that, but definitely cute. He's also one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, assuming you don't catch him either stressed out about the world or in the middle of a game of Doom and asking him to eat dinner. He's the kind of guy who would catch your eye in a mall and make you secretly whisper "Daaaamn" to yourself. He would then promptly trip over a trashcan when he notices you looking at him. I wouldn't say he's exactly my polar opposite, I mean I'm not so bad looking myself, just a bit more average, and I definitely keep up with him in all the wingman scenarios. I can't think of anyone else in the world I would trust to be right by my side as much as him, and not just because he's 6 foot tall. This man would snatch you out from in front of a speeding car, set you down on the side of the road, then promptly kick the shit out of said car's mirrors. I can say that because that's actually exactly how we met, last fall in sophomore year of Highschool. Let's just say... I was daydreaming, that's all. I did feel a little bad for the guy in the car though.

"Lemme tell you somethin' Mikey," Mikey leaned over and laid his shoulder on my head, I happily returned him a roll of the eyes and grump "If you don't take that stick out of your butt, one day, it's going to get so stuck up in there you'll need to buy a Drain Snake and a gallon of Drain-O to get it out!"

"Okay, okay! just... lay off man..." I push him off of me and look down at the ground, rubbing my arm some. It was unlike me to react like that, even his worst teasing made me laugh, and I've gone through worse than Drain-O, so it made Mikey change his tone some, switching to his much more caring self he uses when he notices something is bothering me. He's good like that.

"Hey, It's okay, you know I didn't mean it. What's bothering you all of a sudden?" Mikey looked down at me with concern, which made me feel a little guilty and I try to shake it off. I didn't want him worried about me, even though the high from my realization and run was all but worn off, slowly replacing with worry.

"Alright... alright, maybe I overreacted a little...at least don't call me Mikey in public, It's weird."

"You sure you're okay? I can lay off, really, you know I just like to tease, but if something is actually bothering you..."

Now I was feeling really guilty, I had to switch the topic before I get super embarrassed. "No no, God no, whatever would I do without your teasing? I might as well wander out in front of a speeding car!"

"Hehehehe, then I'd just have to save your life, AGAIN!" That made him giggle pretty good and I started to smile again, soon we were both laughing about that fateful morning and reminiscing on good times again. It made me feel a lot better.

"Oooookay Miguel," he spoke with a sarcastic tone, almost British sounding. His teasing was much softer now, though. That was my name but from time to time he would pronounce it like that just to pick on me. I kinda liked it, but don't tell him. "Would you like some tea and crumpets too while we wait for you to tell me why you're here? I thought you had to go to counseling with your parents today. Don't tell me you blew that off again, we talked about that, man."

I looked at him stunned. He didn't know? There's no way he didn't know! He must have skipped school again, that's the only way he wouldn't know. Come to think of it, I didn't see him in science today.

"Wait... you actually don't know?" I looked up at him, tilting my head some, checking to see if he looked guilty. He may like to tease, but he doesn't have the best poker face. He looked completely normal, aside from looking at me like I'm an idiot.

"Don't know.. what? Why are you looking at me like that? Okay, something has definitely gotten into you. Did you get in a breakup? Wait, no, you don't have a girlfriend. Did your pet bird die?" "No no no, you...wow! I can't believe you actually don't know! This is awesome, I actually get to be the first to tell you!" I say in a mix of astonishment and excitement. "Well, let's get into the hideout, you're going to want to sit down for this one..."

CHAPTER 3

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up. Time out." Mikey looked over at me with a gleam in his eye that was even brighter than usual. I could sense his excitement brewing, at least that's what I hoped it was. I was a little worried about how he would react. We were sitting inside the hideout now, it wasn't much to look at, but it was more homey to both of us than our real homes. It was mostly made of boards and sheet-metal roofing salvaged from fallen down decaying buildings that we found elsewhere in the woods all slapped together. The boards made up walls that we nailed to a group of about five trees which acted as the support pillars. Four of them made up the main 'living' area, and the last one sort of jutted out to make space for an opening we covered with a makeshift door of sheet-metal. The roof was covered by more sheet-metal, of course, and when all said and done it was a mostly all enclosed cozy little space. Not too big, not too small. It even protected us from the rain and snow, sometimes. We also saved up some of our lunch money to buy a little solar light which we strapped to the roof, giving it that extra little homey feel, as well as making it so we didn't have to keep using AA batteries when we stayed out late into the night chatting and playing cards on the crappy table we made.

As for the abandoned buildings and where we got all the stuff? There were a lot of those around here, the forest stretched on for miles and miles and deep within you'd occasionally stumble across an abandoned building, or even a complex of them. Hopefully not literally though, because most of the abandoned buildings were from old mining outposts back when the whole state was basically a big spread out copper mining frenzy, so that stumbling might just end you up at the bottom of a 100 foot mine-shaft. Out there, there is definitely no one to find you if you end up in a pit. Anymore there's not quite as much of that action though, but still a little in the bigger cities. Not that the cities here get very big.

"You're telling me, basically, without all your fancy-schmancy big words, that while I was dicking around in the woods, aliens invaded earth. Am I getting this right? They flew in on the other side of the country like they owned the place, hovered around and pew pew'd their lasers some, and then you saw someone turn into a bird? And now you're going nuts over it?" I held my hand up for a moment, finger raised as if to object, but honestly, that was pretty much everything I knew. In my usual long-winded nature, it took me a good half hour to explain it to him, not sparing any details about my exciting run home or anything. I hadn't told him about the thoughts I've been having though and the hawk, not just yet. The timing just doesn't feel right.

My finger drooped. "Uhm... yeah actually pretty much"

"And it's all real?" Mikey said.

"Eee-yup!" I replied in an overly chipper tone.

"Just checking, are you going insane?" Mikey asked me in a falsely patronizing voice.

"Most likely, but this is definitely all real." I said in response, adding a sarcastic sigh at the end for effect.

"Alright as long as we're on the same page now, can I just say... HOLY SHIT!" Mikey jumped up from one of the wooden benches we had nailed to a tree trunk that he was resting on, letting out a cackle that even I would think of as a little over the top. "AHAHAHAHA! YES! Do you have any idea what this means?! It means... It means..." He began to pace around on the packed dirt floor. "We could do so much, we could explore pieces of this world never seen by human eyes. You know how we find all those abandoned mines and stuff? Imagine what it would be like to do with wings!"

I nodded in agreement quickly, still sitting down on the bench "Yeah! and even more, imagine all the places we could sneak into too, we would never need to pay to get into anywhere again!" Mikey's eyes shined as I said that. See, we both were always good kids on the outside. We would put on the show of good kids for most everything in life, but when the curtains close, we were always wandering around and finding the next place we weren't supposed to be. I'm not sure why we did it, it just didn't feel right always going exactly where we were supposed to go, I mean, where's the fun in following the same path as everyone else?

"Alright," Mikey said, "Where do we get this um... morphing ability?"

I inhaled sharply and looked at him with slightly squinted eyes. "I uhm...well see, I was trying to figure that out, I got really sidetracked with my thoughts and-"

"You have no idea, do you" Mikey cut me off.

I looked at him a little embarrassed "I... I mean... No... But, we can figure it out! We know the final battle took place in California! Somewhere..."

"Huh, Yea that narrows it down a lot, from a whole country to one state larger than life, all the way on the other side of the country no less!" Mikey rolled his eyes "We definitely will need more information"

"Yeah, but... You're down?" I said, cautiously.

"Am I down? Am I down?! Do you have any idea who you're asking? We've been all over half of the state together in just the last year! Hell yes, I'm down!" He sounded thrilled at the idea for a moment, before shifting. "Well... It's just... I mean, California is really far away, and you know with me wanting to go into the Army after high school is over with... and I've been getting traction with my scholarships..."

His voice sorta faded off as he spoke, not wanting to look me in the eye. I knew exactly what he was thinking, and he knew it would break my heart. See, as much as Mikey loved adventure like me, he never really had it front and center. Other things always came first, he had a life to build. For me, adventure was my only escape. I never made friends in high school, but it wasn't anyone else's fault, I just didn't want them. I had the sky to gaze at, the streets to wander, and the forest to walk in for miles. I never thought I wanted or needed friends. I suppose you could call me some sort of a loner, but I don't like the cheesy connotations with it. I was just being me, I never called myself one, I never did it for attention. People would try to befriend me, and I would act kind as always, but I never let anyone get close. I wasn't afraid, I wasn't one of those all dressed-in-black punk rock kids. I would just turn on my Walkman with something peaceful and wander to find the beauty in the world as it is, alone. That was until I met Mikey, who successfully threw that under the bus, or more accurately, away from the speeding car. As much as I hate to admit it, it did change something in me a little bit. So I didn't really know what I would do if he couldn't follow through on this adventure with me. More than likely I'd find a way on my own. I needed to change the topic.

"Look, it's no big deal. We'll start with just doing some research. Your dad, he's got that job in the Army. Maybe we could poke around some, ask some questions?"

"Hmm... maybe, yea. I could ask him when he gets home. But we just can't do anything that puts his job at risk and..." Mikey said, all of a sudden looking worried, like I reminded him of something. His tone turned sour.

"Of course! We're good kids!" I responded chipper, cutting him off.

That made Mikey chuckle some, it was sort of a running joke. Every time we would need to get out of trouble, that was our excuse. Our reputation on paper showed it, in school and all we had an almost perfect record, aside from the occasional day of playing hooky. Everyone does that time to time though growing up, at least in our school. "Yeah, good kids. Good kids with a death-wish"

I looked out one of the gaps in the wood of the hideout, it was starting to get dark. We've been out here talking for hours as usual.

"We'd better be heading home. It's starting to get late."

"Oh sure, so I can head home and you can wander around town alone until midnight." Mikey said with a smirk. I knew he was right, but he knew I was right too. I played the good kid game too, but he was a little more strict with it. I had time to wander. Mikey played hooky without me, which already upset me a little anyways, normally we do it together. It came over me to ask all of a sudden, I never actually questioned him why he ditched school today.

"Wait a minute, why did you even skip school? As you know, I always feel personally attacked when you do that without me" I asked him, trying to play it off as a joke.

"Oh... I Uhm," He paused, as if trying to come up with an excuse, but then looked guilty. "Well... Okay, maybe what I said wasn't entirely true. I didn't know about the Invasion, but..." He started looking really distraught now. I waved him over to sit down and he reluctantly plopped down next to me and slouched. "My mom, she called into the school at around noon... Agh..." He was really struggling with his words now.

"Come on, how bad could it be?" I regretted saying that almost immediately after hearing his response.

"I never told you because it wasn't really important, but my dad, he was stationed in California. Then, He didn't show up after that final battle..." Mikey replied, almost in a monotone voice.

"Oh... shit..." I responded.

Mikey looked down. "Yeah. Definitely an 'Oh shit'..."

CHAPTER 4

Mikey got the news the next day after school. His mom tried to break it to him easy, but there's no easy way to explain to someone that their father had been half vaporized by an alien energy weapon. I held Mikey for a long while, but there wasn't much I could do. I felt worthless, I felt terrified for him, and I felt mad at the world. Mikey didn't deserve it. Why him? What did he ever do to deserve something so awful? I wish I could rewind time and drive to the other side of the country to save his dad. It should have happened to me, I was the bad kid. I was the one always breaking the rules. Mikey would do it with me and even encourage it sometimes, but he was the one with the goals, the aspirations. He had a life laid out for him, this was just some childhood playing, you know, living fast and hard while he still can. What did I have? I had no goals, I just wandered. I had no home real place I would call home, no one who wanted me. I just figured the world would catch up with me eventually and I'd have to work it all out. I wanted to cry and scream and tear the world to shreds all at the same time. Who the hell did those aliens think they were? Across the country half of a city is destroyed because of them. I hear they're all gone, kicked off the planet with their tails between their legs, but that's not enough. I hope they all burn in hell. For Mikey.

We didn't stay around long downstairs after his mom told what happened. Mikey never really had a great relationship with his mom. His parents got married when they were in college together, but soon after his dad shifted from his major in engineering to wanting to pursue a life in the U.S. Army and dropped out, which his mom hated. I heard she was fighting a lot with his dad over that, even throwing around divorce words. Mikey always had a thing for the military stuff I noticed, so I figure that made him lose a lot of respect for her. He never really liked to talk about that side of things much to anyone.

We talked for a couple hours, though more accurately I consoled him as he cried, then I cried with him. He was too broken up to walk all the way to the hideout, so we just sat in his room on his bed. I can't imagine what he must be going through. In all the time I've known him I never had seen him like this. He looked completely broken. The shine in his eyes, it was gone.

"It's not fair..." Mikey finally said after almost an hour of silence "It's not fair. It's not fair, It's not fair, IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR!" He leaped up suddenly from his bed with a fire in his eyes, the eyes of someone who had nothing left to lose. I knew that feeling well.

"Why did it have to be him?!" Mikey bellowed and grabbed a shelf attached to his wall, it was covered in pendants and medals from his dad and tore it clean off the wall, throwing it across the room so hard it put a hole in the opposite wall. "AGHHHHH!" He yelled again, running across the perfectly kept room and tipping over his dresser which was covered with even more military memorabilia.

I didn't move, I couldn't, what was I going to do, try to stop him? He needed to let out the anger, the pain. I had to be there for him when he falls, I would be. He was the only person who meant anything to me. I had no one else left, and now neither did he. I knew his pain, I could feel it flow through me as if the same were happening to me.

"Look, I just don't get it," Mikey said, "Why can some people go their whole lives with nothing more than some family dying from old age and maybe a few breakups, and then I have to deal with this."

I looked over to Mikey and spoke finally. "I guess... I mean... It's not fair by design, you know, life? Maybe this shit happens just to keep things interesting. I guess life would be pretty lame if it were super easy. How do you know the meaning of bliss if you don't know pain?"

Mikey let out a soft snort. "I mean, I guess you're technically right. It's still stupid though."

"Yeah, it is," I responded, "But I think of life more like a game these days."

I looked down at my lap, worried a bit about how he would respond to that. It's not something I tell many people. Instead of reacting badly though, he didn't really reply. He bent down, pushing over the dresser and plucking up a crushed and broken up picture frame. He pulled the photo out of the glass with his bare hands, slicing them up some as he did. It was a photo of his dad, he was in civilian clothes, holding a baby. Before Mikey even said anything I knew it was his dad holding him.

"God," Mikey spoke softly "I'm glad I let my mom talk me into keeping this cheesy photo..."

He seemed more burnt out now, it broke me out of my daze and I finally spoke. "Yeah, I Uhm... I'm glad you kept it too..."

Mikey looked over at me, that same broken look in his eyes, and walked over in a slouch. "You know this... This doesn't make me crazy, right?

We both looked over his now destroyed room and I felt a sense of calm come over us.

"No, not at all. It just makes you human. It just means you're scared..." I looked down and he sat back down next to me. "I'll be scared with you, okay?"

Mikey nodded softly in agreement, offering a half-hearted punch to my shoulder. "You know that sounds super gay, right?"

I chuckled and grinned big. It never took much for Mikey to bounce back, but he still looked hurt. His voice didn't have the usual characteristic chipper to it. I knew it wouldn't go away that easy, but there was still a little bit of him left in there, and that made me happy. "Heh. Yeah, I guess it does sound pretty gay, doesn't it." I rubbed his shoulder softly and sighed. "Hey, you want to go to McDonald's? Maybe it will help take your mind off all this, at least get you out of the house."

I finally saw Mikey smile a little. "Sure, what do you want to do, buy me a happy meal?"

I thought for a moment. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.

CHAPTER 5

As we snuck down the stairs I could hear Mikey's mom crying in her room not far away. My heart couldn't take much more of this, we had to get out of here as fast as possible. The back door clicked closed softly and we were gone into the dense springtime air. The McDonald's wasn't too far away, only mile or less, but we were on foot so it would be a little bit. I pulled my Walkman out of my backpack and clicked on some 70s tunes my dad gave me long ago, it was good for wandering, and we were off down the road, taking in the atmosphere along the way.

We walked in silence for a while before I turned over to Mikey. "Hey, Mikey?"

"Yeah?" Mikey said.

"What if we did end up in California? What do you think you'd do first?" I said.

He sighed as if he was already thinking about California before I even mentioned it.

"I don't really know. I never really thought much about moving away from here," Mikey replied, "I mean, I've thought about moving away plenty of times, in a normal sense, I just mean the whole..."

"Yeah. That." I responded.

"You think its actually real?" He said. "I mean... I saw it, some of it, my mom recorded the whole thing on tape, but it's just... it feels so surreal. Do you really think we could just leave like that?"

His voice seemed different from the last time we talked about the invasion. "Wait, I thought you said you were going to stay." I said. "I mean, you're right, I know you are. You've got a lot of life to work towards, and-"

"I know, I know, but it just... what if we did go." Mikey replied, cutting me off. "I mean... if we were animals, if we could even figure out how all that morphing stuff works... we wouldn't need to worry about all this anymore, this... this... life bullshit. My dad..."

My eyes widened. I was almost shocked. Was he really suggesting what I was thinking before? The hawk. "You don't mean... are you saying you want to go with me?"

"I know it seems crazy, but look," Mikey's voice picked up as he spoke. We turned down the main street of our small town and could see the McDonald's all the way at the other end. "What if we did leave. What if we just packed up all our shit, hell what if we took that car your dad lets you drive and just... went. It wouldn't even matter, what would they do?"

I looked at him stunned, but I couldn't help but feel an excitement brewing in me, in both of us. i could feel something. I had never seen Mikey like this.

"I... but your family-" I said, stuttering some.

"What family?! My dad, hes gone! Hell, I don't even want to live in a world without him, do you even know how much he meant to me?" Mikey burst again, yelling practically right in my face. It scared me, deeply. I didn't really know what he and his dad were like, I barely saw him outside of school and our hangouts. I'm a little ashamed to admit I didn't really know what it was like to lose someone close like that.

"I'm sorry Mikey, I just... I didn't know, I don't know. My parents never really... I wasn't close to them like that" I responded timidly.

"Look, I don't give a rat's ass about what your shitty relationship with your parents is like right now, my dad is GONE." He yelled at me in a way I had never seen him speak to anyone, let alone me. "Just... AGHH!" He picked up the pace and ran off ahead of me, yelling back at me. "I need some time, just go... cry to someone else"

I stopped walking and my heart sank. I wanted to cry right then and there by the road. I just sat down, right there in the road where I stood, watching him jog off into the distance, speechless. I watched him travel down the road until he disappeared into the McDonald's. The cars drove around me, but I was close enough to the side to be out of the way. Part of me wished I were a little closer to them, but I knew this time Mikey wouldn't be there to pull me out of the way.

I just stared at the restaurant, watching the cars fly past, staring in silence as soft peaceful music played quietly through my headphones, and I cried. I thought about the last year, all the adventures we had been on together. I thought about the time we packed up our school bags full of clothes and tarps, snagging a six-pack of beer from my dad's fridge and went off to an abandoned apartment complex one weekend. There were homeless guys there, but we made friends soon enough with the offering of free beer and some cigarettes we found in Mikey's place. We spent all weekend looking at the stars on the roof and talking, talking to the homeless and to each other. All of us shared our own stories, turns out some of the homeless had traveled a lot too, a good few were just there by choice. They had no real home, they made their homes where they went. We both envied them. I wonder what they would do if they could morph too.

Now in one swift motion I felt like it was all gone. I realized there was someone in my life I did care about, and he was there the whole time. I felt like an idiot, and now it was too late. It was too late to talk. Too late to apologize. He was gone.

I stood up. Headlights came over the horizon. It was time to fix my mistake. It was time to finish what Mikey was too heroic to let me do before.

I stepped into the road.

"SCREEEECH HONKHONKHONK- THUD"

It didn't hurt as much as I expected. I was there, and then it was over. Lights out. The last thing I remember was sirens, and Mikey. To this day, I don't know if I imagined it, or if he was really there, carrying me off the road, crying for me to wake up.

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up...

CHAPTER 6

"WAKE UP!" A voice yelled to me "WAKE UP GODDAMNIT! PLEASE! No no no no..."

The voice seemed so far off. I tried to reach out to touch the words, but my arms didn't work. The voice was trying to tell me something, I could feel it envelop me, but it was just noise. I could almost touch it if everything would stop being so fuzzy.

"Okay, Okay. I'll fix this. Fuck, what do I do...This is all my fault..."

I felt my body being picked up. I didn't weigh very much though, maybe I was being stolen away. That wouldn't be so bad.

I was carried for what felt like forever. Sometimes I could see bits of road passing by, but it was fuzzy. Having my eyes opened hurt, there was this bright light that was burned into them that I couldn't get to go away, it was staring at me. My eyes faded between half-open and closed.

I remember the sound of a familiar door opening, a car door. I was laid down in the back gently and felt a blanket snuggling up to me.

The voice spoke again and I could feel a caress on my face. "I'm going to get us out of here. California. It's where you've always wanted to go. It'll be okay, just sleep back there. We will be there soon, if this car has it in it. We can figure out how to morph! Maybe that can help you. Just hold on buddy, soon we can forget it all..."

I heard a door latch at my head. Forgetting sounded nice. The light faded above me and I finally let my eyes close. I was too tired. It was time to sleep. This seat was cozy enough, maybe just a little nap. I would be up and ready for school mom, leave me alone. I just want to be alone, just let me sleep.

I just want to be alone...

"VROOOM- SCREEEECH"

Light. It burned on my skin, I needed to get it off. I tried to scratch off the light but I couldn't make my arms move. Arms are stupid anyways

The rumbling, my whole world seemed to vibrate in such a familiar way. Where was I...

I rolled over and wrapped up in the blanket tight, covering my eyes.

That was better. No more outside. Dark was good. Dark was for sleep.

Dark. The world was black outside my eyes.

This was good. No more burning. But there was still that same rumbling. Why won't someone make it go away, it was so loud.

That's okay. Everything was okay. Sleepy time again.

Light. I felt water slipping down my throat. I swallowed, but that was all I could do.

No moving, moving hurts.

Eyes don't open, too bright.

The world stopped rumbling though, that was good.

Everything was good.

No more thirst. Good. Time to sleep again.

Dark. Oh god, everything hurts. EVERYTHING HURTS!

_Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! _

Sleep is good. No thinking. Only sleep.

Rumbling again. Rumbling means sleep. Will think about pain later. Now only sleep.

Light. I heard something familiar, it wasn't the rumbling. Rumbling was still there. It was different. Music, my music. The world was playing my music outside.

I listened to my music for a while. I even looked at the ceiling some, the ceiling was nice too, the light didn't burn as much anymore. I felt the pain some, it hurt. Pain was less good, music was okay. Darkness was still better though.

It was good, music is good, especially my music. Ceiling is good. Everything is good, except pain. I didn't like the pain.

Music is good for sleeping. It was time to sleep again, I was awake enough.

Dark. "Hey Miguel, guess where we are?" I heard a far off voice say. "I just stopped at a gas station, spent the last bit of our cash on fuel and more water for you, but it's okay. We're in Vegas baby! That's where dreams are made, heh! I wish you could see it, the lights are amazing! I wish you could have seen all of this..."

Vegas sounded nice. I remember seeing it in magazines, all those buildings lit up like a big adult carnival. Too bad it was time to sleep again soon, otherwise maybe I would take a look

"I just thought I would update you again. I hope you're cozy back there, I got you another blanket, a bigger one!" The voice continued, chuckling some. It seemed scared about something. I can't imagine what, everything was perfectly okay.

"Anyways, you just rest some more. We should be in California soon, hopefully by dawn. This old car isn't doing so hot though, I really wish your dad had changed the oil. We've only been doing 40 half the way... Hopefully it's got another couple hundred left in it..."

This was good. I'm glad the voice was having a good time, everything was good. It said we would be somewhere soon, so I would need to start waking up. I suppose I could do that for the voice, it seemed nice. Good enough reason to do anything, I was sleeping enough.

Maybe after just one more nap...

CHAPTER 7

Light.

The hawk. I saw it suddenly right before my eyes. I was standing in the same road from the night that seemed like years ago, I saw the hawk fly across the road. I saw headlights crest the hill in the road. Why was it flying so low...?

No! It was too low! The cars tires squealed as it impacted, trying to stop but it was too late.

"THUMP"

Suddenly I wasn't just watching anymore. I was the hawk. My wings crumpled and I fell to the ground. I was absorbed in pain, the black surface of the road filled my vision as it narrowed in. I was finished, never to fly again, never to feel the familiar sensation of air filling my wings. I would die here, the car would drive off. I wouldn't be buried, my body wouldn't be wasted and hidden away. I would return to nature through the jaws of a scavenger. The cycle would be complete.

I closed my eyes. This was okay.

I woke to the sound of an engine sputtering and dying slowly. It was my dad's car, I could remember that now. The sound of the car was so familiar, it was the same engine I had heard a thousand times in my life, from the dozens of drunk driving episodes with my father and his friends to the few times I had been able to drive it myself.

I screamed. It was like every single fiber of my being was shocked back awake. I tried to flap my wings to fly away, but it just twisted my already hurt arms painfully making me panic even more.

"AHHHH! HELP HELP I CAN'T FLY!" I yelled, looking around at where I was. Car seat, the back seat. It was a seat I knew. I looked at the mounds of blankets, empty water bottles, and various snack wrappers on me, trying my best to sit up, letting out a long groan along with the motion. I tried to put my arms back up to my chest, but they wouldn't move right, leaving them to my sides instead. They hurt like hell, it felt like someone took both my wings- arms, and smacked them with a hammer right along the wrists. On my right arm it was worse, it hurt all the way up to the forearm. I could barely move them without searing shooting pain jolting through my whole body.

"W- what the hell, where am I? I was a bird... I..." My brain struggled to pull the pieces together. It felt like two realities had merged.

"OH MY GOD! YOU'RE ALIVE!" The car swerved hard as the voice from my dreams responded in excitement. Mikey's voice. "I thought you'd never wake up!"

"What? I... I was just asleep, why am I in my dad's car, and... what the hell I didn't know you could drive!" I responded.

"Oh, you... shut up, neither did I! God, hold on let me pull over so I can give you a hug." Mikey said, the car coming to a swift halt on the freeway.

"Where... are we..." I said as Mikey came around to the back seat. He opened the door and pushed some of the trash out onto the side of the road and taking the blankets off me, before reaching in and helping me stand up. "Agh... and why does everything hurt so much"

I looked out into the early evening sky, it was hot and very dry, but that sky. I've never seen anything like it. It didn't look anything like my home town.

"We aren't in Michigan anymore, are we Mikey..." I said.

"We're in... California. I'm pretty sure at least. Somewhere southern." He replied, rubbing his shoulder anxiously with one arm while supporting my shaky stance with the other.

"No way... no way, you're messing with me," I looked around again. Yeah. It looked like what I would imagine as California. "Oh my god..."

As I stared into the sky everything started to come back to me. The reason for my aching bones, my swollen arms. They were broken, had to be. Dammit.

I could see headlights almost burned into my memory. The headlights of the car I jumped in front of. I saw my arms out in front of me, as if accepting the car to hit me. I felt immense guilt fill me.

"Mikey, I... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do this to you- " I started to say.

"Sorry? You're sorry?! Are you kidding me? Look at me!" He said, looking down at me as I turned his way. "I was terrified I'd never be able to apologize for what I said to you that afternoon. I was so scared you were gone, I just started driving and driving, I took all the money I could find to get this far."

Tears started to well up in his eyes "I'm so sorry I pushed you like that. I never should have said what I did, I was angry, I was emotional. What happened to you in your past, it matters just as much. I'm so grateful you're alive."

He leaned in and wrapped his arms around me. I felt like I was about to cry on his shoulder, but it was cut short by the searing pain that jolted through my arms.

"Agh! Ow, Ow, my wing- Er... arms," I said, correcting myself mid sentence, "Be careful! I can barely lift them. God, I must have hit right on them..."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I forgot," Mikey said and jumped back, before pausing, "Wait your what? Did you say wings?"

"I um," I lowered my face in embarrassment, "I had some strange dreams..."

"Ah. Well I probably would have too if I were asleep for days" Mikey said.

"Days?!" I said in shock

"Yeah, that car put you to sleep hard. I took care of you, don't worry. It took almost three days to get this far, there wasn't much life left in that car of your dad's..." He said, trailing off towards the end out of what seemed to be guilt.

"Are you telling me... what was I in a coma or something?" I said, "My dad is going to kill me if when he finds out about this..."

"Hell if I know. By the sounds of it though you were more of a bird than a vegetable. Bird-Boy." He grinned at me in that all so familiar way that always makes me want to both punch him and laugh at the same time.

"Holy Jesus. I was hit by a car and you drove me all the way across the country- NOT a hospital, might I add, and NOW you're cracking bird puns? I would punch you right now if it weren't for my broken wings. Arms. Dammit!"

I couldn't help but laugh as I yelled at Mikey, giggling and twisting my torso to get him off me as I limped over to the front passenger seat. At least my legs worked, aside from the soreness in them. I reached for the door handle worthlessly with my left arm, moving it all of a few inches before I grimaced in pain. I could feel the bones in my wrist grinding together. This is definitely not going to be easy.

"Ow Ow AGH! Wow that is extremely not nice feeling! Hey Mr. I-don't-need-a-hospital, can you please get the door for me, because my arms are most definitely broken." I said as sarcastically as I could muster while trying to swallow the pain.

"Crap! They are? Are you sure?" Mikey ran around and opened the door. He helped me sit down inside, even buckling the seat-belt. This was not the Mikey I knew, he was being way too nice.

I looked at him with the most entertained look I could make. "Yes. I mean. Okay I've never broken a bone, I know you have, so lets see. It hurts like some fresh hell I've never experienced, and I can feel the bones in my wrists grinding together. My arms don't work at all, and they are also about twice the size they're supposed to be. Finally, Doc, my right forearm feels like its made of Jell-O. Pain flavored. Does that sound about right?"

"Y... Yeah, Okay. Maybe we should have gone to the hospital..." Mikey said as he climbed back in the driver's seat. "At least we have the car still!"

Mikey turned the ignition and I heard the engine roll over reluctantly, sputtering and slowly roaring to life.

"See! Good as new!" Mikey said proudly.

Then the engine exploded. When I say exploded, I mean there was a dent in the frickin' hood of the car.

"WURR GRRRIND- WHAPOW!"

"AHHH!" I yelled

"AHHH!" Mikey replied

Flames started to lick out around the front tires of the car and we both panicked, Mikey popped the hood and jumped out of the seat, running around to the front with a towel and tried to lift the dented hood, yelping as he touched it.

"Hot! Hot! Hot! Ow! Hold on ill put it out!" Mikey said, burning his hands as he lifted the hood.

Now, if you've ever played with fire before, you should know one thing. Fire loves oxygen, and well, Mikey just gave it a lot of it.

Yeah, don't do that.

_ "_WOOOOSH!"

Flames completely engulfed my vision and I screamed, even through the windshield it was like the sun had just appeared in front of me and I was getting a tan. I had to get out right now!

I looked down at the seatbelt buckle helplessly and tried to use my less broken left arm to push at the buckle, but i couldn't get any pressure on the button. No, No, No, I needed help! Mikey! Where was he?!

"Mikey! Help please, I'm stuck! I can't get the buckle loose!" I yelled with my broken voice, it was weak from days of not being used. He can't hear me!

The flames started to grow back around the car further, getting larger with each second until they started to lick under the dashboard at my feet, burning through the old rusted out firewall. I knocked the passenger door with my head, screaming out of the partially open window for Mikey.

"MIKEY! PLEASE!" I cried in panic.

The fire was spreading into the car, my feet were burning and my pants were starting to catch. I kicked at the fire, as if that would do anything, searching around for anything to help me. My backpack, food, water bottle.

Water bottles! I reached with my less broken arm, still calling for Mikey, and tried to pick it up. My wrist then did something a wrist never should do. It flopped, right along the middle, at an ungodly angle. I screamed, LOUD. I started to cough from the dense smoke, my lungs and eyes burning.

"AHHHHHHHH FUCK! HELP, HELP, HELP!" I screamed.

"I'm coming! I was trying to put out the fire but its too much, what the- OH MY GOD!" Mikey yelled.

Mikey freaked when he saw the flames coming into the cab and my twisted arm. He reached in and unbuckled my seatbelt, dragging me out of the car. I don't think he realized the fire was spreading. He reached in through the flames and managed to grab my backpack before running away from the ensuing blaze.

I coughed and laid in the grass on the side of the road only a couple feet away, watching as Mikey grabbed the backpack and threw stuff to the side. I was dazed from the agony, just staring at the fire as it engulfed the car. It was intoxicating and I was frozen in place. It was beautiful in a way, the flames, maybe I could just sit and watch them work. I didn't move and inch. I swear I could almost see that same hawk sitting in the passenger seat as flames filled it, burning up into fried chicken...

"Move MOVE! We have to go! Its spreading too fast! What are you doing?!" Mikey said, grabbing me by my shoulders forearm, luckily it was the left one, but it still jolted the bones again. That woke me up.

"AGH! My arm! OH!" I said, jumping up and away from the car, my hair was singing from the heat.

He dragged me away while carrying the backpack, we didn't make it but 40 feet before:

"BOOM- WOOOOOOOSH!"

The fire reached the fuel tank and it went up, hard. You could have heard that boom for miles, probably. We turned back in awe as the fireball rose into the afternoon desert sky, the heat from it radiating like a second sun.

"Welp," Mikey said finally. "At least we don't have to worry about any evidence, huh?"

I replied with a slow nod, my jaw hanging open as I watched the fireball dissipate and the car burn to a crisp.

CHAPTER 8

We began to wander up the road with the smoking wreckage of my fathers car left behind us. We didn't bother waiting for the fire to subside, it was far too late to salvage anything from the explosion anyway.

I limped along in pain along side Mikey, practically hopping on my right leg. Something was very wrong with my other leg, but I wasn't sure what. Now wasn't the time to wonder, we had to get the hell out of there. The cops would be there soon enough, and we had to separate as much distance as possible between us and the crash for when they inevitably show up.

As we walked in silence we heard sirens beginning to wale behind us. We definitely weren't anywhere near ready to get caught and quickly leaped off into the brush beside the highway.

"Aghh damnit, this really really hurts..." I complained as we ran down into the woods away from the speeding cars on the highway, "I never thought I'd complain about going into the woods."

"I know it hurts, but come on we have to move, you don't want to get caught this soon, right?" Mikey said.

"Hey! I wasn't the one who drove us all the way across the country!" I exclaimed.

"I also didn't jump in front of a car and slip into a coma for 3 days..." Mikey said.

I made a little huff sound and looked down, slightly hurt. "I... Okay... fair enough I guess..."

Mikey beamed some and grinned, "Yeah! So, we've got to get to uh..." He took the backpack off his back and pulled out the map, it was half charred, "Somehow get the rest of the way to the west coast..."

He trailed off as the sounds of sirens flew past us on the road up the ditch. Mikey looked confident, even more so than I've seen him before. Normally he is a bit more of a follower, at least with my adventures. All of a sudden he seems so much more in control. I shook my head, thinking for a moment.

"You uhm... Are you sure? Why the west coast? I mean..." I sorta slowed my speech and stopped. Maybe he was confident for a reason. It just felt odd to me. I was always the one in control on our adventures.

"Oh! Yeah, I heard it on the radio on the drive over, practically everyone has been talking about the invasion, its been insane!" Mikey said, "Santa Barbara, that's where were headed."

"Santa what now?" I said in confusion, looking up at the road again as more sirens passed above. We had a minute to chat.

"Last time I checked the only Santa there is gives gifts, and, aghh..." I groaned some and held my side, the pain piercing suddenly. "This... this definitely isn't a gift to me."

I expected Mikey to respond with sarcasm, but instead to my surprise he looked down and shrunk some. "It's... I mean... We'll fix this, okay? We'll get you better. Once you're a bird none of this will matter."

"How do you know? What if I've got to live with this, even as an animal? What good would I be as a bird with a broken wing?" I said.

"I... I just..." Mikey turned away, I swear I heard him sniffling some. "It will, I hope. I really really hope."

Mikey turned away and I looked back up to the road, trying to ignore my pain.

"Santa Barbara, huh?" I said.

Mikey nodded, "Yep!"

"No idea how far that is, right?" I said.

"Hey! I mean... I know which highway to follow at least! This one!" Mikey pointed up at the road.

I couldn't help to chuckle, "No shit, Sherlock. Any other wisdom to drop on me?"

"Hmm... You have a zit right there." He pointed at my left cheek.

I looked incredibly unamused. "What are the chances you'll carry me?"

I enjoyed a good few miles of being carried on and off for the next few hours. It was quite nice in all honesty, it gave my pained legs a break, as well as taking strain off my spine. I swear it felt like something was fractured in there.

It was strange. It was like I enjoyed it a little more than I should have. It was metaphorical almost, I was always the one planning the adventures, always making them work out. We would run off into the woods and I would always lead and point the way. I would choose the destinations I felt were best. I was always the guy in the background giving the best time to whoever's around me. Now we were on the other side of the country and I was the one being carried. Literally in this case. It was nice, albeit a bit terrifying.

"God, it's so hot, how long have we been walking? Can we take a rest?" I said, looking up at Mikey.

"Huh? Oh," He swiped the headphones off his head, he had been listening to my Walkman. "Sure!"

"Okay, you seem way, way too chipper about carrying me. Whats up? I said.

He came walked down off the road and set me down under a tree. I sat with my legs out straight, any folding hurt like hell.

"Oh nothing. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Just enjoy the ride!" Mikey said.

Something was definitely up. This was not the Mikey I knew. I looked over at him, he had sat down a few feet away, but strangely looking straight at me.

The weird thing is, he didn't stop looking at me.

"Tell me!" I said.

"Nope, not gonna do it. You are passenger on 'Travel-Mikey'." He replied.

I grumbled and wondered if he was thinking something similar to what I was thinking before. I guess there was no point fighting it, I was getting a free ride anyways.

I laid back in the grass and closed my eyes. I was tired again. Maybe it would hold the pain back for a while, if I can even fall asleep with the deep humming through my bones.

"Alright then, fine. I'll leave you to do your thing you nutcase, I'm taking another nap. Wake me up when we're dead again." I said.

"Copy that!" Mikey responded with an overly chipper tone, not even arguing with me for a moment as I went to fall asleep in the filthy highway grass. It was not the best bed I've ever slept on, that's for sure.

He was definitely planning something, I was just too tired to care. My brain calmed quickly as soon as I gave it the chance to and I slipped away to sleep.

Dark.

DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! RUN!

Home. There was someone here, I could sense it. My eyes darted around my room, I felt an overwhelming sensation of someone being there, but there was no one. It was a small room, really not a room at all. Bars, vertical ones. Wait, why did it feel so familiar?

My body felt so strange. I tried to walk, but my legs weren't right, like they didn't move the same way. I almost fell head first down off whatever I was standing on. Maybe I would just stay here.

My legs didn't hurt, they didn't feel broken, in fact nothing hurt. I felt completely normal, except I wasn't me. I wasn't even in my own body, I could sense it, even in the dark. My legs, my feet, they dug into something and gripped tight. My strangely superior balance held me in place. I tried to reach out to grasp the walls, but instead I just felt a soft touch at my finger tips, the mystery bars responding with a faint rustling noise.

<Where the hell am I...>