Bird of Prey (DISCONTINUED)

11 - Pride

"The trick is to not flap them too much, just a few strong flaps and you should be launched into the sky." Phil said to young Tommy.

Tommy was about 7 years old, and his wings were finally big enough for him to learn to fly. They were only about to his elbows with his arms stretched out. That was the appropriate length to start flying in the avian world. It would be an understatement to say that Tommy was ecstatic.

Tommy nodded towards his father and tried his best to follow the instructions given to him. He bent his knees and brought his wings above his head. He jumped up and used all his strength to launch himself into the sky. He only got up about 5 feet and kept himself suspended in the air for a solid 30 seconds before falling safely into some water his dad had placed earlier.

Phil congratulated his son, saying that that was perfect and that Tommy was learning very quickly. Tommy stood proudly, happy to have made his dad feel pride in him.

"I'm going to go inside and get dinner ready. You stay out here and keep practicing okay?" Philza said, already heading back to the house. Tommy nodded enthusiastically whilst still drying himself off. Once he felt ready again, he started practicing taking off and staying in the air over and over. Since it was winter time, it had gotten dark fairly quickly and early. But Tommy didn't notice, he was too focused on his training.

He jumped into the sky for the 34th time, this time he had gotten to over 8 feet up and would remain in the air for over a minute. But whilst he was flapping his wings progressively in the air, he noticed a mob of zombies making their way over to him. He screamed and fell from the air, having missed the water and landed on his ankle wrong. He cried out from the pain, calling for his dad and brothers. The zombies were surprisingly fast, already about 10 feet away from him. He didn't have his wooden sword on him. He got up and limped as fast as he could to the house. Since the only entrance to the house was on the opposite side of where he was approaching, he knew he had to fly to the roof to be safe. The zombies were only about 5 feet away now, and he had to be fast.

Despite his hurt ankle, he put half his weight on it, and jumped, crying out again because of the pain. He flapped his wings, trying so hard to get to the top of the roof. His hands gripped the side of the roof and pulled himself on top. He took a deep breath, assuming he was safe.

But he was horribly proven wrong when he saw the single skeleton in the crowd of zombies, already having its bow drawn back and aimed at him.

Tommy tried scrambling away, but was not fast enough. His dominant hand felt like it had been put on fire and he let out a bloodcurdling scream, one his family was sure not to miss. He refused to look, already knowing what it would look like. He crawled quickly up the side of the roof and took shelter behind the chimney. He cradled his hand against his chest, still feeling the arrow in it.

He heard his name be called by his father and let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in. He called back to Phil, saying he was on the roof and that there were a bunch of zombies and skeletons.

He heard as all the zombies and skeleton were slayed by Philza, with the help of Will and Techno.

"Tommy? It's safe now, you can come down." Phil called up to the roof. Tommy peeked his head out from behind the chimney to see the kind eyes of his father below. His tear streaked face showed a little bit of gratefulness along with awe.

"Dadza?" Tommy carefully floated down to the ground, with his hand behind his back, his ankle swelling up.

"Are you alright?" Phil kneeled in front of Tommy so they were face to face.

"N-No..." he slowly brought his hand from behind his back, tears streaming down his face.

"Oh my God..." Phil muttered. He, like many others, had been pierced with arrows before too. But he was not prepared to see his 7 year old son with an arrow through his hand.

Techno was intrigued at the sight, wondering how much it hurt. Sure, he was a bit worried about his younger brother, but he knew he would be fine. Wilbur, on the other hand, was about ready to throw up. He was gagging and running inside the house and to the bathroom.

Phil picked up Tommy and rushed him inside and onto the couch. He gave the child a healing potion to drink that should have knocked him out since he was young and potions were still a bit too much for his small body to handle. Tommy felt his eyes droop as the liquid ran down his throat. He closed his eyes, finally feeling peace after his very eventful night.