Project Songbird

Chapter 13

"You didn't have to volunteer." Tyler breaks the third silence.
"It's no big deal. I figured you would rather be in your room than the medical ward." I reply, walking over to the medical supplies and looking them over. Bandages and ointment.
"I would like a bath..." Tyler mumbles.
"Of course, do you want hot water or cold?" I ask.
"I think some warm water would help with the stiff muscles." Tyler answers.
I grab the little tub that had been left behind, I take it to the bathroom and begin filling it with warm water and soap. I bring it back, "Is this warm enough?" Tyler sticks his fingers into the water, "Yeah, that'll work."
"Perfect." I pull over a chair and set the little tub on it. I dip the wash rag into the soapy water, wring it out, and then begin to wash Tyler's body. He keeps his gaze on the far wall, I catch a light blush dusting his cheeks.
"A lot happened while you were out." I keep my voice low, "First, I...I um..."
I wasn't sure how to say it.
"Songbirds are transformed by a great loss, and when Andy struck you." I pause as I try to find my words. I swallow the lump forming in my throat, "I thought you died and I couldn't handle it. Something broke within me."
"I caused your transformation?" He asks.
"Yes." I dip the rag back into the tub and then bring it back to his chest, careful to avoid his stitches for now.
"Felix helped me end him. We found Hailey, and merged everyone. Currently we are trying to train the young children while working on a new escape plan."
"I knew we were friends but I didn't know my loss would cause that. I'm sorry that you have to deal with that rage now." Tyler says.
I shake my head, "It's alright. In a way it was freeing." I try to explain how it feels. "What did it feel like?"
Tyler turns his head, towards me, "Hm?"
"Being so close to death??" I felt curious.
"It was strange." Tyler starts as he thinks about everything that happened to him. "All I can recall is suddenly there was an overwhelming sense of pain followed by a sense of hopelessness. There was so much I hadn't done. So much I was going to miss. So many people I was going to let down."
His words make my heart clench.
He was so concerned about letting everyone down by dying.
"And then it was just dark and silent." Tyler stares down at his body, "I guess that's the time where I was teetering between life and death."
"Have you ever done anything for yourself?" I ask. His gaze meets mine and he raises a brow.
"Have you ever done anything for yourself?" I repeat, "Like a rest day? From everyone's reactions and your words there, just tell me that you've always done things for everyone else way before yourself."
"Well that is how they created me." Tyler brushes it off.
"You need a break Tyler, you can't keep pushing yourself to be there for others without taking care of yourself." I say.
He sighs, "I know you're right and I guess I got that force upon me." He gestures to his situation.
"It happens." I move down to his legs, "You can push and push until eventually your body will force you to stop."
"I guess it's overdue." Tyler sighs, laying his head back against the pillows that prop him up. He stares at the ceiling and we fall into a blissful silence.

"Felix, you have to relax." Angie's voice comes from the front of us and I peek open an eye. Mark, Jack, Felix, and myself were now working on trying to hone our emotions without the assistance of the Lullaby.
"I am relaxing." He hisses.
"You look tense." Jack states.
"I'm not tense!" Felix snaps back.
"You're killing the vibe." Mark grumbles from the front of the group.
Do they really not know how to just sit in silence for 5 minutes?
"Not really, no." I hear Bob speak. "All of their personalities are loud, sometimes they clash."
Makes sense, I guess. Is there a way you can peek in and find out why Felix is so uptight today?
"When is he never uptight?" Bob asks before I feel his presence leave my mind briefly. Felix stands abruptly, "I can't do this! It's ridiculous."
"Don't give up yet." I look up at him.
His sharp gaze turns to me and I stand quickly. I didn't like how upset he seemed.
"Oh yeah, I remember now. It's the anniversary of her death." Bob's voice nearly makes me jump out of my skin.
Oh, maybe he needs a break.
"Why don't you take some time to yourself?" I look at Felix, hoping he'd take a breath and stop being so tense. I'm worried that he would overstress himself. Felix narrows his eyes a bit at me. He doesn't say a word to me but moves closer to me. He reaches forward and places his hand up on my arm.
His touch burns me!
"H-Hey!" I jerk back from him but he keeps stalking forward, like he's on a mission.
"Felix, knock it off." Mark rolls his eyes.
Felix grumbles, his eyes landing back in the Asian, who stands up; puffing his chest out in what I can only assume is a display of power?
What in the world is happening?
"It's normal. Felix kind of loses his senses on this day. He just has to be put back in his place." Bob begins to explain.
I didn't like the explanation.
"None of you have healed." I look at all three of them, "All three of you are as sensitive as if it happened just a few moments ago. In reality gentlemen, it's been years."
Felix glares daggers at me, "We know that!"
I raise my hands up in a gesture as I meant him no harm, "Easy, easy, I'm not trying to upset you at all. I'm just saying I think you should feel those emotions to their limits. Quit holding back. It's coming out in rage at the rest of us."
"Ethan has a point." Jack speaks, his voice is tender. Mark moves over and wraps an arm around him, pulling his partner close to him in a comforting manner, "Jack, does it still hurt you?"
Jack let out a soft breath and buried his face in Mark's chest.
Felix eyes them, annoyed, "Stupid."
"Dad..." Hailey's voice pulls the attention of her father from his two friends and over to where she joined us.
She looked upset.
"Hailey, what's wrong?" Felix relaxes some of his anger as his daughter makes his way to him. She doesn't speak another word but hugs her father in a tight hug. I didn't hear anything but Felix hugs her tight, her hair almost covering his face and there I barely catch sight of tears streaming down his face.
Okay, well I should probably check on Tyler while they have their moment.
I turn away and leave them be.
Angie hurries as fast as she can waddle, after me, "E, where are you headed now??"
"Thought I would check on Tyler, he's supposed to be working on walking again." I answer as I wait for her to catch up to me. She makes it to my side and we start off again, "Oh, he's back on his feet? I didn't know our healers were that powerful."
"I think it's something to do with his DNA. The scientists seemed to have given Tyler a faster healing rate, which makes sense to have for a Guardian." I hold the door open for her. She thanks me and then begins to fill me in on her new list of baby names.
"...Angie?"
"Yeah?" She looks up from counting on her fingers.
"When am I going to meet the father??" I tilt my head, trying to recall if she ever told me the man's name.
"Oh? Oh! Um..." She shuffles on her feet, "You don't have to meet him. He didn't really want to raise kids anyway."
"What? That's ridiculous! He should be here helping you." I replied, shocked.
"No, it's really not a big deal. It just didn't work out between us." Angie starts to show signs of being uncomfortable with our conversation.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I say and try to shift away from the awkward conversation that I started.
"Do you really think it's possible for us to escape?" Angie's quiet question made me turn slightly to look at her. She gave me a soft smile but I could see the pain deep in her eyes. She honestly wanted to leave like the rest of us but she was terrified. Society was a very unforgiving monster that would probably make our life ridiculously hard.
"I know we can." I nod, opening the next door and walk in after her.
"Wow Tyler, you are really coming along swiftly." Rose catches our attention and we look to see Tyler in the middle of his physical therapy. He was walking pretty normal. "I think it has to do with whatever the scientists did to me." Tyler shrugs his shoulders. He was only wearing a pair of cargo pants.
Getting past his rippling muscles, he has a number of scars running all over his body. "Okay, well let's see if you can transform without issue." Rose moves closer to him. Tyler stands up and allows the stones to rise up from underneath his skin. He didn't look like he was having any issues. "Any soreness? Pain?" Rose makes his way around him, lightly poking his body to see if anything was hurting.
"Nope." Tyler shakes his head.
"You better not be lying." Amy walks in, she gives Tyler a look.
Tyler relaxes slightly, "Okay, I do have soreness. I'm just tired of being bedridden. I want to do things again. I want to help people."
"Tyler, it's only been a little over a week since the fight and the attack. We nearly lost you, I'm not going to allow you to strain yourself." She crosses her arms over her chest. Tyler lets out an annoyed groan, mocking, "Yes ma'am."
"Tyler..." Amy started in a softer tone but he just shakes his head, turning to face away from her, "Don't worry about it Amy, I won't stress myself. Maybe just go sit in the sun outside or something." He sounded upset, but I understood why.
"Would you like some company?" I walk forward and Tyler glances back at me. There was a slight relief in his eyes, "If you want to."
"I'll stay here, I have some things to talk about with Miss Amy." Angie smiles softly and we part ways.
"Everything ok?"
I follow Tyler as he heads out the door.
"How was the class?" He ignores my question by asking his own.
"It was a little tense. Felix was stressing out a lot but it is the anniversary of his partner's death." I jog slightly to keep up with his quick steps.

"Electricity doesn't affect me."
I look up from the sunflowers and over at Tyler. He had been staring into the distance ever since we walked outside.
"I didn't think it would." I dust off my hands.
"I could have left years ago." He didn't move to look at me, "We could've been out of here, and they never would have trapped you here as well. I should have just left when given the opportunity."
"So why didn't you?" It was a question that had been burned into my mind since Jack told me about it during my first time in the garden. He was silent and I was concerned that he hadn't heard my question, "Tyler?"
"... because I'm the only Guardian." It was strange hearing his deep voice come out in a soft whisper, "If I left, I would leave everyone completely vulnerable to an attack."
"An attack? I think they could hold their own against Andy."
"Andrew wasn't why I was made. I wasn't made to protect the scientists either." Tyler shuffles his feet, kicking at the rocks, "I was made as a Guardian to protect the civilians." He turns to face me, "Despite what may have been told to you, you are made for war. World dominance specifically."
"What...? How do you know this!" To say I was shocked was an understatement.
"There's a lot that I know." He stuffs his hands into his pant pockets, "We aren't just monitored for the sake of the scientists; the government has been watching us since the beginning. Each of us is to be sold to whichever government will pay the most."
"Are you telling me that escape really isn't an option?" I tried to keep the panic down that was building bile in the back of my throat.
"It's not. Everything has been planned from the beginning. There are only a total of just under one thousand of us." He pushes his hair back out of his face.
"Why are you telling me this?" I swallow the lump in my throat.
He looks down at the rocks that he has been kicking around.
"Why!"
He flinches at my sudden shout.
"Answer me!" I smack his arm.
He keeps his eyes on the dirt. I think he was trying to tune me out.
"Tyler!" I move in front of him, "Why are you just now spilling this!?" I grab his face to keep him from looking away from me. There, deep in his eyes, that sad broken look I saw that night by the sink.
"Tyler...? What did they do to you?"
He closes his eyes tightly, taking in a sharp breath, he pulls out of my grip, "It doesn't matter anymore. All I can do now is warn you all."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
I glance at the setting sun.
Tyler has turned away from me. He seems to be fighting himself as he spills this information. "I don't know. But each day that passes, gets us closer to the sell date."
"I still don't understand why you are telling me. How come you've kept this a secret for so long?" I look back at him.
Again, silence from him.
"Tyler, please, why me?" I plead.
"Maybe you should gather everyone and make an escape while they least expect it. Tell Bob and Wade to spread the information and stay in corners away from the cameras to talk about anything. As soon as they see, they will arrive and things will go to shit." He ignores my constant question.
"What are you going to do? Are you going to help us?" I move over to his side and he turns from me, refusing to look at me.
"Warn them." And that was the end of the conversation. He quit answering me. So I hurried inside as swiftly as I could. I spread my wings and flew through the building, shouting through my mind at any telepathic.
WE ALL NEED TO MEET! HURRY! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!!