I was sitting on my couch reading the latest strip for Prequel Adventure around midnight when I noticed that my fingers couldn't reach the joystick on my controller. I looked over and saw that my arm was turning grey and a coat of a slightly lighter shade was growing on it, spreading from my wrist up my arm. It was.... strangely calming. I couldn't place why I wasn't freaking out at all. Maybe it was just my nature to go with everything that was happening around me?
Nope, here comes the panic! How the fuck was I turning into another being?! Is this some sort of government secret? That-that we aren't really humans anymore? Or is it just some that aren't human and never even knew they weren't human?
.... Wait, that's the best I can come up with? Laaaame! Well, at least this means that there are aliens out there, just a lot closer than we thought.
I looked over the back of the couch just in time to see the headphones fall to the desk. My mother had just-.... She just disappeared! She was sitting right there at the desk and just poof! Gone without a trace! I- My dad and little brother.
I managed to climb over the back of my couch and get down the hallway to my parent's bedroom after a few falls, though I probably should've tried walking first instead of galloping. When I stopped in front of my parent's door, I hesitated a moment before shoving it open. All I could see was my dad's body pillow on the bed.
The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor with my tail in my forelegs and was stroking it, muttering to myself. Why was I the only one of my family to change? How did they disappear? Why were the lights off but I could still see?
I sat up and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself as I sat back up. Okay, freaking out more wouldn't help me at all. I had to find someone who- I yelped and leaped from where I was sitting. Something just brushed my back. Something that didn't feel like it was friendly. I jumped again swiping at where I felt the sensation, only to hiss in pain.
Looking over my shoulder revealed that I had a pair of leathery wings. They were covered in what looked to be a very short coat of grey-ish purple fur and had a hook-like protrusion on the second joint. There was a membrane going halfway up the hook extending to the tip of my wing and back to my shoulder where the wing was attached.
I stared in shock at the appendages. I had wings. I had my own pair of wings! They were a little on the small side, but with enough speed I could possibly fly! "Oh, I have got to learn how to use these ASAP!" I exclaimed, giving a little *squee* of happiness.
Then my mood instantly dropped. I was alone in a new body, in a house with no power, and was possibly the last one living in Lincoln. Yeah.... Being the last one alive in a town small enough to be considered a ghost town didn't really help my nerves. That's how the really old, good horror stories started, and I did not want to end up like the people in them.
"I.... I need to get a plan together, see if anyone else is in the town." Opening the front door was hard, but I managed to do it and propped it open with an old carjack and then looked at the van. It was a tan 2007 Chrysler Town and Country. .... That could be a good ramp for me to get in the air. The sooner I get in the air, the sooner I can leave.
I shook my head and forced myself to think of how I would eat or sleep. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't just take a few days to learn how to fly and then leave. I had to find food, a place to sleep, and possibly find a good defensible position to set up a base of some sort. I seriously doubted I was the only one left on the planet, someone would eventually find me, right? Right! I-I can't let the disappearance of my family make me believe I'm the only one!
.... That didn't mean I couldn't spend an hour or two trying to learn how to fly. I wasn't exactly an expert on how birds flew, but I had watched plenty of birds and other creatures fly and studied skeleton drawings.... Okay, fine, I had drawn a rough sketch or two and researched as extensively as I could on how I could try to give myself flesh and blood wings! It's been my dream ever since I picked up the Maximum Ride series to soar above the clouds and sleep among the branches high up in a tree.
I walked down the steps and over in front of the van, turning to face it once I was about thirty yards away. I knew what I wanted. I knew how I could achieve that, all I needed was to put all the theories and mental run throughs together.
I opened my wings fully above me, stretching them to their limit before flapping them. Hard. I shot up a few feet and with a panicked yelp of surprise, I landed right on my face. Damn, even though they're small, they still got me off the ground with a single flap. How heavy am I now and... are my bones really that light?
I pulled my muzzle out of the ground and muttered, "If my wings are already that strong, then all I need to do is learn how to fly. But that would mean taking time away from looting the town and I don't want to spend longer than I need to in here." I shuddered and glanced around. Not having anyone to talk to - or rather, listen to - didn't seem like it would be good for my sanity in the long run.
"Okay, I need to find out how to drive so I can start moving around the town and seeing if there's anyone here." I frowned and shook my head. "No, I can just use wagons to transport what I find back here. Besides, if I think of a way to attach them to the van I could take them with me and use them to store more than the van can hold."
With that, I nodded and began going around to the other houses. I'm not going to bother with the details of how I found cans stacked away in pantries and cereal boxes on top of fridges that weren't running. Rummaging through drawers and medicine cabinets for bandages and other medical supplies. Not a single person was in the dozen or so houses I broke into. No one even answered the shrill alarms that I set off...
I shook myself back to the present and opened the driver's door on the van, pulling a pair of crutches in behind me so I could reach the pedals. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly I said, "Okay, let's hope I don't crash into anything and actually stay on the road."
I fumbled with the key a bit, but managed to get it into the ignition and turned it. As the van turned on, I pressed the brake and put it in reverse. ...Shit, I left the passenger door open. I reached over to close it- SHIT! Turn! Turn the wheel! DON'T HIT THE WAGONS!
I slammed the brakes, jerking the gearshift back into park. "Fuck. I just tore the door off on the tree. Heh... heheh.... Well, at least I'm facing the right way and the van's still... mostly in one piece." I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "I really need to find someone else. I'm not going to be able to survive on my own."
I looked back down the road and saw that the sun was just about to rise over the trees across the highway. "Well, at least I'll be able to *yawn* sleep in a comfortable bed today."
