DOOM DAYS ✓

Chapter 18: Flight

Flight: the ability to fly using wings or one's own powers.

"I think I'm going to be sick." He falls next to Tiana and clutches his stomach. "Both from the teleporting and the awful bomb you just dropped. H- how does he know?"

"It was weird. When he grabbed me, I started these... images. Not random messages but snapshots of my memory. He was searching."

That doesn't help ease his anxiety. "Did he see-"

"No, he didn't see Tyler or Hayley. He didn't even seem to care about those memories. Just the ones with our families and neighborhood. Not our houses, though, so that's a plus. But still." Tiana shudders and wraps her arms around her chest.

Josh leans his head against the concrete wall. "So, we can't go home. Not now, at least."

"Wait- my dad. He's working tonight. I've got to tell him, I've got to warn him that Alley Cat's coming."

Tiana suddenly starts to bolt up, losing her balance as her bad leg gives out and sends her sprawling. Josh catches her before she hits the ground, holding her back. As tempting as it is to warn their parents, he knows they can. There's a chance Alley Cat won't even go after them.

"Tia, calm down, we need to think this through," he says, still gripping her shoulders.

She opens her mouth to start arguing, but her expression drops to a ghoulish pale. Her eyes flicker to somewhere behind him, and Josh turns his head, following her gaze.

Just as he sees the silhouette of a man, he's shoved to the ground. It's Alley Cat. He starts pummeling Tiana with floating shards of metal, but she blocks them with disc shaped bursts of dark energy. Some still hit Josh, though.

"How the hell did you find us?" Tiana blurts as one shard penetrates through her shield and cuts ther bicep.

"You're not the only one with spatial abilities." Alley Cat grabs Tiana outstretched wrist and yanks her off balance.

Josh is frozen on the ground. He can't move. He should really be moving. His best friend is in danger. Why won't his legs move?

As Tiana tips forward, Alley Cat grabs a fist full of her hair and pulls her straight up. She yelps in pain and tries to wriggle free, but the man's grip is unrelenting. Her toes don't touch the ground.

"You two kids stole something from me," Alley Cat growls. "It's about time you give it back."

He raises a metal slab to her throat. That finally melts away the fear Josh felt. All he could think was, I can't lose her too. He leaps up and runs without a second thought, tackling both of them to the ground.

His teleportation must've kicked in and sent the three onto the roof of the hospital, away from where others could get hurt. After a moment of dizziness, Josh shoves himself between Tiana and Alley Cat, letting her crawl away.

"Don't you dare touch her," Josh growls, pinning him to the ground.

That's when he realizes Alley Cat's mask isn't a mask- it's his actual face. Wrinkly, steel blue skin covered three quarters of his face, with the rest being ghostly pale. His left eye is glowing blood red, and his right is cerulean blue. Just like theirs. A pale wide scar the bizarre shape of a cat head covers where his lips and chin should've been. Short curly horns the same grayish blue stick out from his white hair.

"What the hell are you?" Josh whispers, the fear he'd been feeling a moment coming back even stronger.

Alley Cat grins and grabs Josh's injured wing, right where it meets his shoulder. "I'm exactly what you two are. A failed experiment."

One moment Josh was holding Alley Cat down, the second he's on the floor in the fetal position, paralyzed in sharp, encompassing pain. He can see Tiana fighting off Alley Cat, but he can't move. When he looks down at himself, he sees why.

Steel bars had been wrapped around his ankles and wrists in almost lightning speed, trapping him like a pig up for slaughter. The metal that Alley Cat held against Tiana's throat is now lodged in shoulder. Josh tries with all his might to pull himself free, but unfortunately he didn't get super strength and every inch he moves sends fiery pain up his arm.

"Kitty!" He shouts the old nickname of hers out of pure instinct, sticking out one of his wings to trip Alley Cat when he crosses behind him.

She hears his cries for help and slashes the bars to bits with one quick, easy swipe. Josh somehow gets to his feet and looks at Alley Cat, who's taking his time getting off of the ground.

"What do we do know?" He asks, trying not to move his left arm.

Tiana doesn't respond at first, only walking back slowly. Josh follows suit, sprinting towards the edge of the building when she does.

At first, he assumes they're going to just teleport away again, even thought this has to be the most time he's done multiple long distance jumps in one sitting and could already feel the strain on his body. It's not until she starts to fall behind does he realize what she's trying to do.

"Tia, no."

Josh stops at the edge and turns. Tiana doesn't budge, her face stoic and still brave despite the tears streaming down her face.

"You've got to go," she says tearily. "I can hold him back."

"I'm not leaving you with that- that monster!" He exclaims.

Alley Cat keeps getting closer. Their chance to leave gets slimmer with each foot he limps in their direction.

Tiana steps forward and wraps her around his neck, planting a firm kiss on his good shoulder. "You need a little push, that's all." She pulls back, puts both of her hands on his chest, and shoves Josh right off the edge of the building.

Josh tries to catch himself at first, hand scraping against a window pane, but he's too physically exhausted to hold on. His fingers give out and he starts spiraling in the air. Cold wind whistles in his ear as he spins and spins and spins. He thinks he's screaming but it's too loud.

What the hell was she thinking? He can't fly. He's not strong enough, he can't figure shit out as quickly as her. Josh is about to die, and his last words were "oh shit!"

Out of pure animalistic instinct, Josh spreads his arms and wings to his sides. The wind catches under his makeshift parachute and slow his descent only by a fraction. Before he hits the ground, Josh snaps his eyes shut.

Where can he go? He can't go home. All of his siblings are there, his mom, Tiana's dad. He can't risk their lives. They still don't know about him.

Who does he know that can help? Who does he trust with this?

Tyler.

Josh stops falling down and ends up falling sideways out of a porch and onto a thorny bush. He groans and has barely enough strength to turn onto his back, staring up at the sky as the sun barely peeks over the city skyline.

A house, he thinks. He landed at a house that he doesn't recognize. There's orange lights hanging from the roof. They're pretty.

The exhaustion begins to catch up to him as the porch light turns on. A blonde girls appears right in front of him, putting her hand against his neck. Her hands are cold.

"He's got a pulse."

"Grab his legs, I'll get his arms."

"He's hurt!"

"Yeah, no shit Dahlia, now help us."

"Language, Tyler."

"Whatever, Walter."

"Tiana," Josh mumbles as the conversation around him comes to a halt. "I need to find Tiana... she's- I can't leave her. Where is..."

He doesn't get to finish the question because someone touches his shoulder and his eyes roll back, sending him once again into the beautiful land of unconsciousness.