Chapter 6

Two days later the entire country was in complete panic. Attacks on small hamlets and villages had been reported in every single state in America and the rest of the world appeared to be under siege. Already after attacks on both towns and small cities Sicily, Italy, Iraq, Pakistan, Spain and Mongolia have all declared a state of emergency and reportedly had engaged hoards of what seemed like demons in various places.

Miles had seen none of this but had heard all of it on both radio and television. He had only stopped at night while driving towards the New Mexican border. On the first day he had driven on empty roads shortly to a motel where the news of the Trapani attack had appeared and shortly followed by a list of US hamlets that had been wiped off the face of the Earth. By morning many more had been taken and other countries had also reported attacks and even small engagements by military forces

On the second day the roads had become rammed full of people fleeing the state. However as they fled it seemed they were now targets themselves. Miles had passed entire columns of burnt out cars and military blockades. His mind rather than attempt to process the barrage of information coming at him and the terror of how widespread the devastation was had receded in. As a result he cared for nothing other than eating, drinking, sleeping and driving away from the chaos.

As he woke up on the third day the weary Texan walked to the window that gave a view of the car park. Already a few people had hopped in their cars and sped off. A family of four ran out of their room half dressed, to their car. Every person seemed to have something or someone. People fled with their loved ones or hurried to get their possessions out of their houses. Miles had nothing now.

He took his time getting dressed and then had breakfast in an empty dinner, even the chef was planning to leave and hastily finished off the meal he was cooking before hurrying away. Miles however was not in a rush at all to get away. When he was done he leisurely made his way to the relatively new jaguar which had been filled with new supplies he had picked up, clothes mostly but also some tinned food and bottled water

As he started the car the radio burst to life with a crackle which he ignored and sped out into the distance like those before him. As he drove through the endless land which he had once loved the radio song ended and the broadcaster came on saying about the places that have been attacked and that all people are advised to evacuate from small villages and hamlets to larger settlements as the National Guard and army move in

Cruising at a hundred Mph down the long straight road his mind wandered away back to the day when he lost everything. The last thing he said to his wife, the last thing Geoff said to him. Why did he survive and be left in a world he no longer cared for, but as the radio broadcaster babbled on it appeared the world was coming to an end

Miles snapped out of this and slammed on the brakes as he approached a group of cars. They were covered in blood as bodies littered the area. There were no sign of those that did it as he scanned the ground. This was the problem though as the car was suddenly smacked at the rear side.

Miles' head flicked around where he saw for a split second and saw a winged creature. The bird was about a metre across and two and a half metres long. The predatory creature had cracked beige coloured skin and had a long, bloody beak which was as sharp as a knife. The lethal beak smashed through the back window and threw glass all over the insides of the car, missing Miles by centimetres

Several more swooned into view a distance behind him prompting Miles to skid the vehicle forward as fast as possible. However the wheel spin caused loss of control and the car crashed into another ahead of him. As he flew forward and hit his seatbelt the winged attackers rushed into for the kill. Miles quickly reached back and grabbed a revolver he had brought to fight off any attackers

However a shotgun was fired off right next to him as a group of four people rushed from their hiding inside a wrecked car. The shell hit the nearest bird mid-flight which caught it by surprise and made it hit and skid along the road surface. Miles looked over and shouted at the group

"Get in!" They did not hesitate

However one was too slow and as he ran around the back of the car he was caught by the recovering bird which jabbed out with its beak that hit the human's leg causing the man to fall down. The Exclamber creature then took flight and tackled the man down. It then bit a bloody chunk out of the back which silenced the man's screaming, they all knew he was dead.

Miles by then had reversed out of his crashed so he could escape at speed away. As he did the birds tried to pursue and achieved some speed but this was not sufficient to catch the terrified people

As the screaming hawks were left behind Miles let out a sigh and adjusted his rear view mirror to look at who he had recused, or who had rescued him. One woman was in her fifties and crying uncontrollably into the arms of a much younger woman who attempted in vain to comfort her. This woman was around about thirty and had short brown hair neatly straightened if not ruffled slightly by the past events.

The third person was a man in his early thirties who sat to the left of the driver gazing out of the window with a shotgun in between his knees. Miles thought to make the convocation with the armed man

"So ... you've got a decent shot there, thanks" He looked at Miles, studied him and smiled

"Yeah, no problem, you saved us" His voice was crackled, most likely from shouting and stress