Wings

A New Day Part 1

If you were fortunate enough, you were born with wings. If you weren't, you'd hope a child in your family would born with wings. Lee and his younger brother fell into the former camp, their parents were in the camp with them. Centuries ago, people with wings were once treated as deities, then were hunted, and then treated with the utmost respect.

That wasn't to say they were above the law. Criminals with wings had them amputated when they reached prison. Which Lee was on his way to.

A fact about wings, despite being feathered appendaged that could be incredibly fragile, they were sharp. If done correctly, a wing would be able to slice through reinforced steel, hence why criminals had them amputated. Not all criminals, just those who had committed serious offences, like rape, murder and so on and so forth.

Lee found himself thinking more on Sam than his wings.

"Alright, I reckon you didn't do it then." Said the police officer driving him to the prison.

"Why do you say that?" asked Lee, looking at the man.

"Y'know, I've driven a buncha fellas down to this prison. Lord knows how many. Usually is 'bout now I get the 'I didn't do it.'" Answered the Police officer, "Had one of your kind try and tear the seats up with his wings while doin' it."

"Not from me." Sighed Lee, looking back out the window.

"'Cause guys in your position already said it enough?" Asked the Police officer, as the radio said something, "I followed your case a little bit, you being a Macon boy and all."

Lee looked at the Officer in the rear-view mirror.

"You're from Macon then." Said Lee, adjusting himself in his seat when he felt his left wing cramp.

"Yep. Came up to Atlanta to be a city cop in the seventies." Responded the Officer, smiling wistfully, "Always wanted to work a murder case, like that senatorial mess you got yourself mixed up in, with all due respect. A real shame, that is."

A Police car shot past them, heading towards Atlanta. Lee frowned, wondering what it was heading to.

"Hell, the whole family used to be regulars at your folks' drugstore right in downtown. Still there?" Said the Officer, glancing back at Lee.

"Sure is." Answered Lee.

"Good." The radio sparked back into life and said something that Lee didn't catch.

There was a moments silence between the two, before the officer started speaking again, "I got a nephew up at UGA, you teach there long?"

"Going on my sixth year." Said Lee, 'Or I was.' He thought.

"You meet your wife in Athens?" Asked the Officer, passing a couple of cars.

Lee froze, internally panicking, before he turned and looked out the window.

The officer quietly looked at Lee, "You wanna know how I see it?"

Several more police cars shot past them, along with a SWAT truck, all of them heading towards Atlanta.

Lee looked away from the window and at the rear-view mirror, "Sure."

The Officer went to speak, before catching sight of Lee, before deciding against it.

"Regardless, could be you just married the wrong woman." Dismissed the Officer, making Lee open his mouth to speak, before deciding not to.

"You'll have to learn to stop worrying about things you can't control." Continued the Officer, as a helicopter flew past them and towards Atlanta. The radio started making noise again, Lee couldn't understand what they were saying.

Another helicopter flew towards Atlanta, followed by two SWAT trucks and several police cars.

"I'm driving this man once, he was the worst one. He wouldn't stop going on about how he didn't do it. He was an older fella." Said the Officer, either unaware of, or ignoring, the other police vehicles heading towards Atlanta, "Big, soft eyes behind a pair of smart folk glasses, and he's just wailing back there, says it wasn't him. Crying and snotting all over, right where you're sitting."

Lee tried not to wince at that piece of information.

The radio made some more noise, before the officer turned it off.

"Then before long he starts kicking the back of the seat, li-like a fussy baby on an airplane. And I tell him he's gotta stop, that's government property, and I'll be forced to zap him otherwise." Continued the officer, "So he stops, and having exhausted all his options, he starts crying out for his Mama. 'Mama, it's all a big mistake! It wasn't me!'"

"So, did he do it?" Asked Lee, curious.

"They caught the fucker red-handed! Stabbin' his wife, cutting her up as the boys came through the door! He sits in my car screaming bloody murder that it wasn't him!" Spat the officer, "I think he actually believed it himself. It goes to show, people will up and go mad when they believe their life is over. Oh, I got another good one for ya. This one's a little bit less depressing and a bit more hilarious if I do say so."

The Officer looked away from the road and towards Lee, just as something stumbled across the road and into the path of the police car.

"WATCH OUT!" Yelled Lee, his wing flaring out and breaking the binds on them.

"This other time-" The Officer was cut off when the car crashed into the thing in front of it, making it veer out of control, through the guard rail, off the road and into the forest.

Lee hit his head on the seat in front of him, half-conscious, he saw figures moving outside of the car, before hearing screams and growls before passing out.

W

Lee woke up some time later. He didn't know how long he'd been unconscious, but the sky had started to change colour, so he assumed it'd been a few hours at least.

"Ugh... Ow, shit." Groaned Lee, his head was pounding.

Lee tried to take his handcuffs off, the object unyielding against his hands.

"Thirsty..." Groaned Lee, rubbing his throat, before he shifted and felt a stabbing pain, "Ahh! Fuck, my leg."

Lee looked down at the large, bloody gash on his thigh. He looked out the back window and spotted the officer lying face down on the ground with blood streaks leading up to him. Lee turned to look at the door window and growled, before positioning himself with his wings facing the window. With one swift movement, Lee's wings cut through the metal and glass. He grunted as the remains of the door fell on him. After carefully turning around, Lee hauled himself out of the police car. He grunted again as he fell to the ground.

Lee unsteadily got to his feet and hobbled around the car, stopping before spotting the officer. He glanced down and spotted a shotgun and a shell. Lee frowned, before stumbled over to the shell, he picked it up and slid it into his pocket. He briefly considered picking up the shotgun, before deciding against it. He needed to get the handcuffs off, he considered using his wings on them, but dismissed the idea, he didn't want to run the risk of accidentally cutting his hands off. Lee hobbled over to the Officer.

"Officer?" Rasped Lee, looking down at the older man, "Officer, are you alright?"

The Officer didn't respond to Lee. Lee felt a pit of dread form in his stomach, he hoped he was wrong but, he thought the Officer was dead.

"How did this happen?" Muttered Lee, frowning at the body, "He wasn't ejected from the car."

Lee leant down and took the handcuff keys off the Officer's belt, he swore when he dropped the keys, leaning back down, he grabbed the keys again and unlocked the handcuffs. The metal restraints fell to the ground, as Lee rubbed his wrists.

The Officer then groaned. Then he growled, before his head snapped up and looked at Lee with cold, dead eyes and lunged at him. Lee acted on instinct, swiping his wing at the Officer, cleanly separating the head from the body. Lee shuddered as he felt the blood soak into the feathers, before limping over to the shotgun. He picked it up and loaded it, sighing through his nose, Lee looked around. He spotted a figure standing on top of a hill.

"Hey!" Yelled Lee, waving at them, "Go get help! There's been an… incident."

The figure turned and ran away, Lee caught a glimpse of a small pair of wings before they vanished. Groaning reached Lee's ears, making him swear and look around.

More of those things were heading towards him, taking a deep breath, Lee limped up the slope as fast as he could and, as soon as he reached it, hopped over a fence and landed on his bad leg in some stranger's garden.

"Fuck." Wheezed Lee, checking his leg and making sure he still had the shotgun.

He quickly looked around, before placed the end of the shotguns barrel to the ground and pushed himself to his feet. Looking around, he noticed he was in the backyard of a house in a small neighbourhood. He hoped that no one called the police on him.

"Hello?" Called Lee, deciding to throw caution to the wind, "Anybody?"

He heard some distant gunshots and the monsters on the other side of the fence wandering away.

"I can't go back out there." Muttered Lee, turning away from the fence and looking around the garden. There was a covered-up swimming pool and a patio that led up to a front gate, a wooden porch that led up to a sliding glass door and a patch of grass that had a big tree with a tree house. Lee contemplated checking the tree house, but dismissed it, if there was someone there, they wouldn't've been able to climb all the way up a tree, get into a tree house and close it all up to appear that no one was there. He looked at the door.

"I wonder if anybody's home." Wondered Lee, before walking up to the door and knocking on it, "Hello? Anybody home? I need a little help."

There was no reply, Lee glanced at the tree house, before looking at his leg, "I'm not getting up there with this."

Lee looked at the door again, before sighing, "Screw it. I'm just going in." He went to open the door, before he paused, what if someone was hiding and they thought they were being robbed? What if the door was locked and he set off a burglar alarm? He knocked again.

"Hello? There's something going on." Called Lee, as he looked in through the window, "Doesn't seem like anybody's home."

Lee banged his fist on the door again, hoping to coax someone out of hiding and open the door for him.

"Maybe it's unlocked." Muttered Lee, when no one appeared. He gingerly gave the door a tug, wincing as it opened slightly. Reluctantly opening the door, Lee called out, "Coming in. Don't shoot, okay?"

Lee entered the house and closed the door behind him, he felt a sudden stab on pain from his leg, making his wings flare out, then grabbed his leg.

"Ahh, shit." Winced Lee, almost falling to the floor, "Hello? I'm not an intruder... or one of them."

Lee silently chided himself, of course he was an intruder, you just can't go up to someone's door and let yourself in.

Lee then noticed that the furniture in the living room was knocked over and there were bloodstains on the floor and wall of the kitchen.

"These people might need more help than I do." Muttered Lee, looking around the ground floor. He considered looking around, before he spotted a bowl of fruit on the table. Reaching out, he grabbed an apple, "It's fake. Damn."

Turning away from the table, Lee limped into the kitchen and slipped on a pool of blood. Grunting, Lee hauled himself back up and hobbled over to the sink. He filled a glass up and took a drink from it. Feeling the dryness disappear from his throat, he sighed, before looking through the draws. He came across a note that had a hotel name and a Savannah area code, before he opened a drawer and found a radio. Lee frowned, before placing the radio in his pocket. He checked the other drawers, but found they were empty. Lee paused, tilting his head slightly, he could hear something. Looking around, Lee couldn't find the source of the noise, but it sounded like beeping. He slowly made his way out of the kitchen, before he finally spotted a phone and an answering machine.

Lee approached it, turning it on and making the beeping stop.

"Three new messages. Message one. Left at 5:43 PM." Said the automated voice of the machine.

"Hey, Sandra, this is Diana. We're still in Savannah. Ed had a little 'incident' with some crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and have it checked out." Said a woman's voice, "Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break!"

"Message two. Left at 11:19 PM." Said the machine.

"Oh, my God, finally! I don't know if you tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped." Said Diana, sounding panicked, "They're not letting us leave and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I've got to get back to the hospital. Please let me know that you're safe."

"Message three. Left at 6:51 AM."

"Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police." Diana sounded like she was near tears, "That's 9-1-1. We love you...we love you...we love y—"

The machine beeped after the last message. Lee picked up a picture near the phone and looked at it, which showed a young girl and her parents. This must be Clementine, mused Lee, before the walkie-talkie activated.

"Daddy?" Came a little girl's voice.

"Huh?" The voice jerked Lee from his thoughts, he took out his walkie-talkie from his pocket and walked over to the glass door, flaring his wings as he did.

"Hello?" Asked Lee, looking around the garden.

"You need to be quiet." Said the girl, making Lee frown.

"Who is this?" Asked Lee, trying to spot her.

"I'm Clementine. This is my house." Said the girl, sounding indignant.

"Hi, Clementine. I'm Lee." Said Lee, only noticing that his wings were still flared and folding them.

"You're not my daddy." Stated Clementine.

"No, I'm not." Responded Lee, as he walked into the living room, "How old are you?"

"Eight."

"And you're all alone?" Lee frowned, who'd leave an eight-year-old girl alone?

"Yes. I don't know where anybody is." Answered Clementine, "How old are you?"

"I'm, uhh...37." Answered Lee, starting to question how he entered a game of 20 questions with a child.

"Okay." Said Clementine, as Lee entered the kitchen, avoiding the puddle of blood, and stopping and looking out of the window.

"Are you safe?" Asked Lee, trying to find where Clementine was hiding.

"I'm outside in my treehouse." Answered Clementine, "They can't get in."

"That's smart." Said Lee, looking at the treehouse, as Clementine appeared in the doorway of the structure.

"See?" Asked Clementine, looking at the window, "Can you see me? I can see you through the window."

Clementine waved at Lee prompting him to wave back. Clementine suddenly let out a scream and disappeared back inside the treehouse, closing the door behind her. Lee turned around and saw one of the monsters behind him behind him. It growled and tried to attack him, making him push it to the ground. As he tried to escape, he slipped on the puddle of blood, making him fall and hit his head on the counter and landing awkwardly on his wings. His vision was blurry, but he could vaguely make out the creature crawling toward him, making him kick it away.

Lee screamed as he felt pain course through his leg, reminding him that he was still hurt. Lee got back on his feet and tried to run, only for the creature to grab his leg and trip him. He punched it away as it tried attack again. Clementine ran up to the glass door and opened it, holding a hammer. The creature attacked again, making Lee push it away, continually kicking it in the head and crawling backwards.

"Here..." Said Clementine, holding the hammer out to Lee. Once Lee reached Clementine, he took the hammer from her shaking hands and looked at the creature. He felt his heart plummet, realising that this creature, that was trying to kill him, was what remained of the babysitter.

Lee yelled as he violently bashed the creature on the head with the hammer, deforming her face in the process.

"Man..." Gasped Lee, taking a step back and placing his hands on his knees, before remembering about Clementine, "Hi there."

Clementine took a step back as the creature's blood oozed across the floor, her small wings quivering slightly as she stared up at Lee.

"Did you kill it?" Asked Clementine, as Lee's wings twitched.

Lee looked down at the deformed corpse, before regretfully saying, "Yes."

"It's okay." Said Clementine, making Lee look at her, "I think she was a monster."

"I think so too." Mused Lee, before kneeling in front of Clementine and looking her in the eye, "You've been all by yourself through this?"

"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now." Clementine nodded, making Lee frown.

"I think that might be a little while, you know?" Said Lee, as gently as he could.

"Oh." Said Clementine, looking down sadly, making Lee move closer.

"Look, I don't know what happened." Said Lee, gently making Clementine look up at him, "But I'll look after you until then."

Clementine gave a small smile and nodded, her wings giving a little flutter. Clementine looked around, before looking up at Lee and asked, "What should we do now?"

"We need to find help before it gets dark." Answered Lee, standing back up and looking down at Clementine.

"Yeah, it's not safe at night." Agreed Clementine, reaching out and grabbing Lee's hand.

"Let's go. Stay close to me." Instructed Lee, folding his wings against his back.

The two then left the house, Clementine closing the door behind them and then going ahead of Lee, leading him to the front gate. Lee approached the gate and noticed two men in the street trying to push a car out of the road.

"Aw, man... I ain't never getting home to Mama at this rate." Bemoaned one of the men, looking at the other man.

"This sucks." Agreed the second man, making Lee frown.

"It's hot dish night." Continued the first man.

Lee reached to open the gate, before pausing and turning to kneel in front of Clementine, who looked conflicted about something.

"What's the matter?" Asked Lee, gently placing a hand on Clementine's shoulder.

"Should I stay?" Asked Clementine, quietly.

"What?" Frowned Lee, confused.

"I don't want to sleep in the treehouse tonight," Continued Clementine, "but I don't know if I should leave. What if my parents come home?"

Lee sighed, "I won't leave you alone."

Clementine smiled at Lee, getting a smile from him in return.

"Let's go somewhere safe that's close, okay?" Suggested Clementine, trying to take the lead.

"That's a good idea." Lee smiled, before getting up. Clementine opened the gate. They approached the two men, the two still somehow unaware of their presence, "Hey, man!"

The men turn around, startled.

"Holy shit!" Swore the second man.

"Don't eat us!" Pleaded the first

"We're not gonna hurt you." Said Lee, frowning in confusion at the two men, "Why would we eat you?"

"Phew, thought for a second you and the little one were both gonna give us the chomp." Said the second man, only furthering Lee's confusion.

"What are you doing?" Asked Lee, his wings flicking slightly.

"Trying to get home, this neighbourhood's a disaster." Said the second man, "Are you trying to get outta here? Because you should be. Those things are all over the damn place. I haven't seen anything as gnarly as this neighbourhood since downtown Atlanta, fifteen miles back." Before adding, "I'm Shawn, by the way, Shawn Greene."

"Lee." Responded Lee, before gesturing to his side, "This is Clementine."

Chet knelt down and waved at Clementine, "I'm Chet."

Clementine smiled at him, making Chet get up.

"We shouldn't be out in the open like this." Said Shane, looking between Lee and Clementine, "How about you help us clear the way, should be easy with those wings of yours, and we'll take you and your daughter out of here, and down to my family's farm. It should be safer there."

"I'm not her dad. I'm..." Started Lee, before pausing, unsure what to say, "...just some guy."

"Some guy?" Shawn frowned, looking between Lee and Clementine.

'Great,' Thought Lee, 'now he either thinks I'm pervert or I kidnapped her.'

"Yeah." Said Lee, awkwardly.

"She's alone?" Asked Shawn, frowning when he got a nod from Lee, "Let's get going. Staying put for too long is a mistake. Even for a guy with wings."

Lee nodded and turned to Clementine, "What do you want to do?"

"I..." Clementine trailed off, looking at her house, then back at Lee. The growls of the creatures reaching their ears.

"Them monsters comin'!" Gasped Chet, crouched down, "We gotta go!"

Shawn started pushing on the car, trying to move it out of the road.

"Lee, quick! Let's go!" Yelled Shawn, looking at Lee, making the winged man rush over to him. Lee and Shawn pushed on the car, Clementine joined in helping them push after a few seconds. Chet crouched behind the truck, hiding from the approaching creatures. Once the car was out of the way, Shawn got into the driver's seat, and looked at the others.

"Get in!" Commanded Lee, hauling Chet to his feet.

Chet jumped in the truck bed, while Lee got in the front passenger seat, after making sure Clementine was sitting in the middle looking out the back window. Shawn drove the truck away from the approaching herd.

"For just 'some guy,'" Said Shawn, glancing at Lee, "it seems like you've saved a bunch of lives today."

Lee sighed and closed his eyes, the sound of the creatures fading away and being replaced by the sound of the truck running, he carefully adjusted his wings against the seat, with Clementine mimicking him.