Welcome to the Family

Patrick, Furia and Adam barely made it out alive to Adam's lands. Now safe, it was time for Patrick to get into business.

Welcome to the Family

I felt conscious, but still hadn't opened my eyes; they were too heavy to open. I started analyzing sensations. The first one was where I was laying on; it was soft, comfortable; on both sides, on and under me, actually. And my head was on a pillow… but where was I?

I made an effort again to open my eyes and succeeded… just to find more darkness. What time is it? Is this the same night? Or the next one? How long have I been sleeping? Where is Furia? Where is Adam? Am I dead and buried!? ...

If the gunshot didn't kill you, all those questions will.

I had a huge burst of joy, I tried to push myself up, but I felt as a nail was being twisted in my chest. I fell back to the mattress.

-Furia…

Don't talk, use your mind, silly.

Right… I can't believe we made it out of there. Where are we, for the matter?

We are in Adam's lands. Somewhere in the outskirts of a place he said to be named "Levelland". (Furia closed her wing, allowing me to see we were under a tree, the sun tried to penetrate through the tiny windows the leaves had to the sky) You scared me like hell when you passed out on the way here… don't you f*****g do that again!

I think I won't… (Furia touched the side of my head with the tip of her mouth) Where's Adam? I asked.

He's talking with his parents.

How long have I been sleeping?

Just a night, this is the next day's noon. Now stop asking questions and sleep.

Why? What's wrong now?

Adam's family looked very upset at our arrival. Adam is still trying to prevent them from kicking us once you are ok. I just hope he finds the way through them...

You seem to trust him now…

He's doing good at earning my trust… What do you think is waiting for us now?

That's a good question and a hard one to answer… a few days ago we didn't see ourselves out of my father's lands, did we?

We sure didn't… go back to rest, I'll be here.

I fell asleep until nightfall. When I woke up, Adam was sitting next to me, along with Furia.

-Adam…

-Hey there Pat… feeling better?

-Scratched…

- (chuckles) yeah…

-How's the shoulder?

-Doing well…

-Furia and I have been wondering… what now?

-Now? You rest and recover patiently; you and your dragon are safe now.

-I don't mean now as right now. I mean… the next move; I won't be injured forever.

-No, you won't, which is a shame. Seriously, just rest. Once you are able to get on your feet by yourself, you'll wish you were injured. I'm going to bring you some soup.

He stood up and left, giving me a chance to have a talk with Furia.

Should I insist? Furia?

How surprising can the answer be?

That's what scares me…

I'm glad it does. We need to be on our feet to bear what's ahead. Both of us.

I guess you are right… have you hunted something these days?

I'm ok, don't worry.

No, you aren't. I can feel something's disturbing you, and it's apart from all this, I can tell.

Ok, I haven't hunted anything. I was going to do so last night; then this whole fugitive thing happened.

Then go ahead. I'm not going anywhere.

I can't leave you alone.

(Sigh) I know, but now it's necessary, how will you protect me while starving? We need to be on our feet, remember?

Ok, but do not let them get you in the house while I'm gone.

On this same spot I'll wait for you.

Furia took off; not much earlier than Adam arriving with the soup, and he said...

-Feels weird to see Furia leaving you alone…

-Why?

-She has always been by your side. And there was no way to change that. We tried to get you into the house but she guarded up like killing the first one who pushed further; we operated you on the ground. Luckily it was a clean shot; we just had to stitch you up.

-I just told her to hunt; she was hungry.

-And don't you go easy on her decision. She went because, and only because you are awake and can call her if something happens.

I would have punched myself in the face so many times if my arms weren't so heavy.

-I'm sorry… I'm not thinking straight…

-I wouldn't either after being shot in the chest. Now shut up, you must eat too.

Adam then gave me the soup. At a fast pace, not allowing me to say a single word. Once I finished the soup, he stood and headed home and I called him…

-Adam! -I grunted of pain right after saying that.

Adam just turned, just waiting for what I had to say.

-Thank you, Adam. Even if it was your duty, mission, whatsoever… Furia nor I would be alive now if it wasn't for you. We owe you our lives.

-You'll pay that debt sooner than you think… rest well.

- Wait, what about your family? Did they accept us?

-Barely, don't expect much interaction with them.

Adam turned around and left; leaving me alone with my thoughts. I didn't know at first if I should just sleep... or if I should analyze something… or… I spent a lot of time like that, just wondering. Without noticing, I found myself thinking about myself, back when I didn't had Furia. When did I become the right person for the job? It was then when Furia arrived that I found the tranquility to sleep.

A month passed before I was ready for the next step. During which, Adam called his close group of friends, four guys also members of the Dragon Society: Alan, Oliver, Thomas and Jack. Their first task was to get Intel from the area we were going to make the call to my father from. They were like spies. Once we received the "zero threats", they took me to the public phone and I made the call. It was a rushed one; we timed it just for 30 seconds long so no one could trace us from my father's phone. My father was very worried and upset, I could tell by the tone of his voice. I could not tell if he got well the part of the message that said "Don't try to look for me; I'll reach you once this is all over" Back to the part of being traced, I asked Adam about his college files; if the Hunters could find me… why couldn't they find him as well? It happens that everything I and the college knew about Adam was a lie, along with the whole world itself. Not even his name was Adam. His name was Clyde Barton. It shocked me at first, though I was kind of expecting something like this would happen.

The "step" I referred to before… was "Training". Since the moment it was safe for me to endure physical stress, Clyde and his friends trained me to fight during the day and taught both Furia and I "Extreme Flying" to improve Furia's numbers, such as top speed, time capacity of flying at top speed and general endurance; while I learned to endure and control crazy situations in the air. I slept just a couple of hours a day and not even in the house, but outside with Furia… by my decision. At first it was exhausting, but I faced each of Clyde's friends as true opponents during combat training. On the long runs through the almost desert like lands under the sun, I reached the point of passing out many times, and when I was with Furia we flew every time better and tougher than the night before.

By the end of May, I could take on two of Clyde's friends and put on a good fight and Furia doubled her stats by then.

But it all wasn't just training; Clyde's friends moved here for the occasion. We ate meals together, and during resting times, we got to know each other better. Even if I was punching one of them in the face at a given moment, I became part of the family.

One weird thing was… when Furia got to 6 months old at the beginning of June, Clyde told me "Now we start the real training".

Author's Note

Any Reviews will be gladly accepted. Thanks.