Flight of the New World

     I yawned and opened my eyes. The sun was shining brightly in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Birds were singing, my radio was playing softly, no noise came from outside, yes ever-

     Wait a second. No noise? That cant be right.

     I reached over to my window, still half asleep, and bulled back the drapes. The glare of the sun struck me right in the eye, and I had to look away for a moment and let my eyes adjust. When the light had finally become bearable, I looked out the window again. The streets were void of people. Cars were strewn about in various places on the street, like everyone in the city had vanished in to thin air!

     Instantly I was alert. I stood up, only for my balance to not be right and fall over. I tried again, and managed to grab the windowsill to keep my balance. I rubbed my eyes with a hand, then nearly shrieked in surprise when I saw, not a hand, but a large, orange talon. I followed it to my body, which now was covered in feathers on the top half and fur on the bottom. I looked on my back and saw a large pair of wings and the tail of a lion.

     "I'm... Am I a griffin?" I asked myself. Griffins were my favorite mythical animal, and to see that i had become one was too good to be true. "This has got to be a crazy dream."

     I pinched myself in the leg and instantly regretted it. Being a griffin, I now had razor sharp talons that not only hurt like hell (Which proved it to not be a dream), but cut through the skin on my leg like a hot knife would on butter. I gasped in pain and quickly ran to the bathroom, carefully putting toilet paper on the cut. I held it there for a minute or two until it eventually stopped bleeding. Carefully walking out of the bathroom, I grabbed myself a quick breakfast of a muffin and a banana before walking out to my back yard.

     "Tank! Halo! Come here boys!" I called out. My two dogs came running out from the side of the house and in to sight. The first was a pitbull-bulldog mix named tank. He was white with a brown spot over his eye, ear, back, and tail. The second was Halo, a lab mix. He was faded white, almost yellow, with the tiniest hint of brown on his ear and back. The two came bounding forward, but stopped suddenly as they saw that there was now a human calling them, but a griffin. They dropped to a fighting stance and growled.

     "Sit!" I said, raising a claw with the palm up. Instantly, they both sat down and looked at me expectantly. I smiled and walked up to them, patting them on the head. Instantly, I saw their body language become more relaxed, as if they knew it was me. I looked at them both int he eyes and my own widened. Something about their eyes was different. They looked less like animals and more like sentient beings.

     "Free." I said, and the two dogs instantly leapt up and tackled me, showering me with kisses. "Okay, okay, thats enough!" I laughed, gently pushing them off as to not cut them with my claws. I smiled and brought the two dogs inside. After washing up, I walked out the door, calling the dogs with me. Even though the city wasn't particularly dangerous, the silence as well as these odd occurrences had me on edge. Better to have the two trained dogs with me in case something happened.

     My talons clicked on the sidewalk as I walked through the empty city. Tank and Halo walked beside me, their fur on end. Something was very wrong here. Very wrong indeed. There wasn't a single person in the whole city. I was extremely nervous. Deciding I'd had enough, I quickly ran home, stumbling a few times on my new feet. As soon as I reached my house, I ran inside, letting the dogs in, and shut the door. I grabbed my phone and tried to punch in my parents number. However, my new claws did not allow for such an action. I used my voice command to call my mom. The phone rang for a few seconds before going to voicemail. I called my stepdad, then my stepmom, then my dad. All four of them went to voice mail. Beginning to panic, I called my friends Isa, Emily, Kaliegh, Morgan, and Kiera. None of them answered either. Finally, I called my last friend, Hannah. I prayed for her to answer while the phone rang for a few seconds. I gasped when I heard Hannahs voice on the end of the line.

     "HANNAH!" I practically screamed.

     "Kylee? Whats wrong?" Hannah asked.

     "Hannah, havn't you noticed everybodys gone?!" I said.

     "Well, I saw my parents were gone, but I figured they went to the store or something." Hannah said. "What do you mean by 'everyone'?"

     "I just went through part of Atlanta and there was nobody there. And nobody is answering the phone!"

     Hannah was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Lemmie call you back. Im calling my family to see if they will answer."

     The call was then dropped. I waited for about 10 minutes before Hannah called back.

     "Any answers?" I asked.

     "Nope. Nada." She replied sadly.

     "Okay, Hannah. Come to my house. I'll get some food ready." I said.

     "Alright, on my way." She confirmed before hanging up.

     I sighed before realising something. I didn't even tell her i had changed in to a griffin! What would she do when she found out?

     I heard a knocking at the door and quickly ran over to it. Pushing the dogs aside, I opened the door and saw an orange horse with a green mane and tail. She also had WINGS!

     "What the hell? Is that you, Hannah?" I asked.

     "Kylee? Are you a... griffin?"

     "And you're a Pegasus." I said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing horribly.

     "Yeah... I guess I am." She then turned to look behind her. Thats when I noticed she had brought her four dogs with her. Two pitbulls, Rosco and Tootsie, and her two Chihuahuas, Honey and Squishy. "Hope you don't mind that I brought them. I couldn't leave them behind."

     I nodded and moved to the side, still holding Tank and Halo back. Hanah walked in, her dogs darting in afterwards. I closed the door and finally let my two dogs go. As the six dogs got settled, I walked over and grabbed one of the plates of food i had made. I carefully balanced it on my back before grabbing the other and placing it on the other wing. It still felt weird to have two extra limbs growing out of my back, but it was even weirder to walk on four legs, as it felt like i was crawling.

     I precariously brought the plate over to Hannah and lowered my wing slightly, letting it slide gently off on to the table. I did the same with my other plate and sat down at my chair. It was kind of uncomfortable with my new body, the wings and tail and all, but I managed. I picked up the small peice of fruit i had cut and took a bite before turning to my salad. I wasn't much of a cook. The best I could do was eggs or a grilled cheese. I was only 13 years old after all!

     I took a bite of the salad, making sure to get one of the ham-and-cheese rolls in it, and swallowed it whole. "God, thats good. Glad mom told me how to make this a few weeks ago." I said happily. Thats when i noticed a quiet gagging sound. I looked over to Hannah and saw she was spitting out one of the ham-and-cheese wraps.

     "Whats wrong with it?" I asked her.

     "No clue." She replied, licking her lips. "I guess since pegasus's are like horses, they can't eat meat. I know my dads horses could only eat leaves and such."

     "The correct term is 'Pegasi' i beieve. But yes, i think your right." I said. "Just pick out the meat."

     "And how do i do that?" She asked. "No hands anymore. Just hooves."

     I looked from her hoof back to her face, then to her hoof again, before it finally struck me. "Oh... Well then ill do it for you." I said sheepishly. I grabbed the plate and pulled it back to me, picking out the ham from the rolls and leaving just the cheese, eating the ham for myself.

     After getting out all of the ham, I slid the plate back to Hannah, who ate the salad and then turned to the fruit. We finished eating at roughly the same time, Hannah a minute or two ahead, and walked up to my room.  I sat on the bed in an almost dog-like position before Hannah sat next to me in a more human fashion.

     "So, what do you think? Of all this I mean." Hannah asked.

     "I dont know..." I said thoughtfully. "I mean, i love griffins, so its not all that bad, and I'm guessing we can fly with these." I said, gesturing to our wings. "But... What about everyone else? Where did everyone go?"

     "Yeah, I'm worried to." Hannah said. "But we gotta keep going. Atlanta's population may be gone, but we have the whole WORLD to search. We'll find them. I promise."

     I sighed and nodded before laying my head down on my pillow. The events of the morning washed over me and, after a big yawn, I was fast asleep.