Butterflies in Winter

::Chapter 15:: Home

Home had become an alien word to Kit in his five years of isolation from the outside world. It was a distant memory, not a place but a feeling. One which felt strange on the tip of his tongue, as though he no longer had any right to say it.

From the looks on the faces of the men and women around him, they were having similar feelings. Max beside him looked like he had been hit by lightning, the shock freezing him where he stood.

"I get that this is big for you, for all of you." The voice of the leader was surprisingly kind, and his tone took Kit aback a little. "But we don't have much time, we don't have a clue how many could have got out. We need to act first if we are going to minimise the damage." He explained lowly.

No one spoke for a moment. No one knew how to respond, they were trying to contemplate the meaning of what was to come.

With a short sigh, Kit spoke up first. Pulling himself into an upright position looking back at his friends. He didn't make eye contact with the humans as he spoke. "How long has it been like this?"

Kit could see the cogs turning in Vic's head as he thought. Looking over the ruined mess at their feet. "Two days, maybe more. There isn't really an easy way to tell," he said in a quiet voice. He sounded angry, an Kit didn't blame him.

"Best case scenario is two days," Romany spoke this time. Her tone was almost unreadable, but there was a hint of the anger that she too carried. "How would the monsters make their way to the mainland?"

"A few of them can fly," he replied lowly. "None of them that I can think of have a particular aversion to water so those who cant fly would have swam."

"They're not the sharpest, it would have taken a while for them to realise that they can even get out." Max tried to inject a little hope into the conversation, but his attempts fell flat on it's face. The fact that God himself was on their side would have brought little hope to the group of survivors.

Part of him hated himself for having to say this, but Kit couldn't bring himself to lie to them right now. "The day everything went down, me and Max came across something new. A monster we'd never come across before."

It was the other survivors who reacted in the manner that Kit saw as acceptable. They were taken aback for what had to be the tenth time that day by this news. "Impossible," insisted Vic, desperate this time.

Clearly not, Kit didn't say it out loud, but the sentiment was there. Lowering his head he said in a low voice. "That's what I thought, but I swear on everything I am that I have never seen a creature like the one we came across that day."

"What does this mean?"

Shaking his head, Kit struggled to find the words. "In five years, they're have been twelve different monsters. In varying populations across the island, that was one thing that has so far never changed."

"But the other day we found a thirteenth," Max finished before Kit had the chance, and he was grateful that the younger man stepped in. "It cant be a coincidence, not after everything that's happened." His voice was reduced to little more than a whisper.

Vic spoke again, his tone gentler now. The anger gone, to be replaced with a fear that sounded foreign on the tongue of the usually strong shifter. "God only knows how many more could be around now."

"Heading for the mainland."

"That leaves only one thing to do," the leader spoke again. His words firm and he made it apparent that no one was going to argue with him. "We go back, and we do what we can to stop this from happening."

As much as Kit hated to admit it, he was beginning to feel that they had no other choice. As much as his every instinct told him to beg for another option, the simple matter of fact was that there wasn't one.

With a deep sigh, Kit said in a low voice. "Would you please allow me and my friends to have a moment alone to think about this?" his words sounded hoarse. Evidence of the pain lighting his veins at the very thought of what was ahead of them.

For a moment, Kit believed that he was going to refuse. He had a retort on the tip of his tongue, to make it apparent that the fact he had worded it as a question was out of politeness. He wasn't about to take no for an answer.

He wouldn't have the chance to let the retort loose, as the older man responded first. "Very well, but be as quick as you can. We don't know how much damage has been done, and we need to get going."

Bowing his head in gratitude, he looked back at his friends who nodded in turn. Max was the first to move, the eagle unused to being trapped bellow ground with something above his head. He was restless to get out into the open air.

Even those without wings were overwhelmed with the same feeling. As they pushed past and through the strangers, towards the stairs which would lead them into the outside world once again.

Yet even once he was on the surface world once again, Kit still felt claustrophobic, suffocated. As though the world was crowding in on his head, pounding his skull from the inside out. He felt crazed, scared.

Part of him wanted to take off running and never look back. To hide from his fears and his responsibility.

Kit squatted to the ground, running his hand through his hair, trying to pull himself together. The rest of the group making similar attempts. He exhaled hard. Every fear and terror he had ever experienced in the last five years came tumbling down on his head. Making him feel sick to his stomach.

No one knew as to what tomorrow was going to come tomorrow. Only that as far as they could tell would be that it was wrought with dangers.

The unknown was squaring up against them, and Kit didnt know if they were ready to fight with it.

All he knew was that they were going to have to be.

Squaring up uncomfortably, Kit lowered his hand. Fingers clenched into a fist he forced himself to think straight. "What do you think?" he offered weakly, without much else to say. No words could make this better. Little could sugar-coat the danger which would come to them over the next few weeks.

"We dont exactly have much of a choice, do we?" growled Vic, the anger darkening his eyes until they were almost as black as the night sky. "We have to go, we have to fight, we have to leave the island."

Rolling his eyes, he lowered his gaze with a sigh. "You know what I meant, what do you think?" he repeated, emphasising his words more this time.

Vic only shrugged his shoulders. "Scared, we all are. Don't give me any bullshit that we aren't, it's the truth."

Nodds all around, any pretences they may have had that they were braver then they were left through the side window. They were scared, but they knew the truth. The importance of what they were going to have to do.

"Of course we're scared. We're not stupid," grunted Max in turn. His arms crossed as he let out a low sigh. "But we have to do this, because if we don't leave. Their isn't going to be much of a world out there left to protect."