Fever by Selina Brinkmann (readict TXT) 📕

Illness spread over the world. Whole towns were forever whipped from the surface as none of the habitants survived. The human tried everything to stop it but all hope was lost. But then the first messages of survivors arrived. There were not many but it raised the hope among the human race. And then as suddenly as it begun the illness stopped. However the people realized soon that the “survivors” were not as normal as they seemed to be. The people soon discovered abnormal traits and started to fear the “Survivors”.
This is the story of Evy, she was the only one of her town who survived. The one her rescuer turned their back to after they saw her new abilities. And now she is one of the few who escaped again but this time from her once time race, the human species.

“Run”, whispered the wind in Evy’s ear as she broke through the wood. “Run, or they will get you!” Evy cried out as a twig scratched her skin and caught her hair but she did not stop. Halting mean losing precious seconds, halting meant examination and possibly death, again. She was tired of running, tired of defending herself.

The only thing she truly wished for was a night of undisturbed sleep and the possibility of a peaceful life. However life had not been kind to her in the last few days, well that was not entirely true, it has not been kind to her in the last few months. When she awaked the first time after the virus the only thing she had seen where the dead bodies of her beloved and Evy knew that nothing would be the same again. The people who discovered her had taken one look and fled. They had sent others to get her out of her old house, far away from all the death.

She cried when they carried her out, happy to see survivors but scared of what would happen to her. They had provided foot, medical treatment and shelter. Evy had trusted them, she had not minded when they took her blood to run tests. She cooperated with them but after telling them about the wind and how he talked to her they did not hesitate to chain her down.

The weeks after that were a blur in her memory. Days of no sleep, being forced into the open without any protection against the cold to see if the wind was truly talking to her and being examined by force over and over again. But the wind did not talk to her and they were getting furious. As they could not break her mind they tried to break her body. They broke her bones and hit her body but not even once did they go so far that she lost consciousness as they were amused by her pleads and the fear they could arose in her. The last few months had been the same over and over again, healing, beating and keeping her sedated so she would not run away. But Evy had grown strong, faking the pain and fighting the sedative in her blood thus taking the first opportunity to flee.

Evy’s lungs burned, she did not know where she was. Sweat was running down her body and everything ached. But the further she went from the station that kept her caged for so long the better her chances were to survive. Her feet did not want to carry her anymore but Evy forced herself to go even faster. The thin slippers they had given her during her imprisonment where long lost and rocks were cutting her already wounded feet.

“That’s right daughter of the wind, lose yourself and you will be free!”, Evy shook her head and pressed the hands on her ears. Those voices in her head were the reason why she lost the security all over again. She hated them, hated how they separated her from all the other but one thing she promised herself was that she would never listen to them. She would keep mute and silent as they had done when she was screaming for help in the snow.

“She is here, I hear her move. Get the hounds out and we will get her faster. This time she cannot escape.” Evy stopped dead in her track. How did they found her so fast? She was certain that she did not leave a trail. No money, no scent, not even a finger print! Anxious Evy looked around. She was surrounded by trees and mist. The ground was littered with fallen leaves and mud.

“You want to survive?” The mist poured over her like the gentle touch of a lover, “Follow our voice!” Evy was desperate. She never wanted to be in the hands of those men again but neither wanted she admit to finally hearing the wind and following his orders. However with one frightened look back, Evy whisked around and followed the thin trail of fog deeper into the forest.

Her steps got lighter when she could no longer hear the voices of the hunters. But her joy was short lived when she heard the howling behind her. Those bastards had set the dogs loose. With a quick glance behind, Evy kneeled down and smeared the mud onto her face and arms. She might be dead by the end of the night but she would not make it easy for them. With a smirk she pushed herself under the thick roots of a big oak, the mist poured around her protecting her from the eyes but not the noses of the dogs.

The next minutes where the worst in her life. She waited anxiously for the dogs to found her and they did. The paws where scratching at the branches and dirt was falling down upon her.

“Hey Michael, I think the dogs found something! Come here and we might find this creature.” Evy shivered when she heard his voice. It was the bulky man who leered at her during her ‘health’ care and dropped sexual hints more than one time.

“Please”, she whispered, ”save me!” With slow movements Evy pushed back and shivered when she felt the bark of the tree against her nude feet. No way to retreat if the men followed their dogs lead and no way to escape the leer of Rick W. Warner. She could not remember how long she has been in the care facility but she remembered that he touched her, touched her where no one should ever touch her without her permission.

“She must be here! She cannot be far with the high dose of sedative in her blood; she should not even have been able to escape!” Evy suppressed a cry, she had gone to those people because she thought they would help her instead they imprisoned her and kept her sedated to the point of being defenceless and weak. Furthermore they made her believe that she was not worth anything and could be treat as less than an animal.
She was sad but mostly she was furious. Her family had died all the people she cared for had vanished and just because she survived the virus they wanted to study and exanimate her.
With each thought she heard the wind becoming stronger until she heard the dogs howl out of fear and the men curse as they were struck by broken wigs. Each minute the men stayed longer the wind picked up in speed until it resembled a storm.

“Rick, come on man. We will not find her in this thunderstorm!”, Evy listened to the rude remark of Rick as he was pulled away by Michael.

“If we do not find the bitch by tomorrow night you know they will not hesitate to use their newest device. And I will not give up the opportunity to finally get her just because she is freaking dead!”

Evy sucked in her breath. She knew that they would likely insert a tracking advice – it had been the only reason why they found her so quick realized Evy but she never thought they would actually kill her before she could be free again. And with this thought snapped her control, she was labelled as dead either way. It did not make a big difference if it was today or tomorrow night. Evy’s cry of misery was carried by the wind through the woods and reached the hunting party. As the two men turned around she had scrambled out under the wood and charged towards them.

Rick grinned when he saw her in her ripped clothes and the blood running down her body but it soon faded when she scratched his cheek and draw blood. “Now we are the same you bloody animal! Both of you are animal, none of you is any better than me!”
But with a nasty glance in her direction Rick caught her wrists and hissed “But we are no monsters, you are abnormal and a disgrace thus being treated as a bloody beast!” Evy sobbed but it was soon absorbed by cold fury with a snarl she twisted her head and looked him in the eye. Her body was shaking and heat surged through her body and tore her apart.

Before Rick or Michael realized what happened she was free and lunged into the air. The wind was carrying her higher and higher until all she could see was the ruins of the city and the deep green of the forest. Evy closed her eyes and let her sorrows be taken away – well until she realized that as a human she was not supposed to be flying weightless around the sky. And that was the moment where she felt feathers touching her skin and saw the big wings on her back.
“O my god!” and that was the last coherent thought she had as the tiredness and worries caught up with her and knocked her out in mid-air.

“What she doing here?” , “How she come here?”, Evy groaned and moved a little bit as her sleep was disturbed by the gentle voices. Her head hurt and every breath sent a wave of pain through her body. She slowly tried to open her eyes but found herself unable to do so. The lids