The fire in the flood chapter 4
Story by Digiridoguy on SoFurry
Mac has a dream and then lives a nightmare.
Overhead, dancing on the wires, chirped birds. There wasn't a single distinct species on those wires, a particularly beautiful avian that any layman could recognize like a jay or a robin or pigeon. They were just black, with a tinge of color here or there, maybe a distinct mark telling it's sex or subspecies. Nothing that the average mind of a trainee in basic could distinguish with his eye.
Not like a trainee had a good look at the birds, standing in formation beneath those telephone wires. Face straight, eyes forward, thumbs by his pockets and ankles together.
They were silent.
There were always those that fidgeted and talked to one another, commenting on this morning's breakfast, or physical training, or the last time they got laid.
The trainees that cared were silent. But, as soon as an order left the drill sergeant's mouth and reached their ears, they were keen to obey.
But while they waited, and they listened, or whispered like housewives by a spinning wheel, they heard the chirping of birds.
A beautiful sound that to someone like Mac was the closest thing to music he'd listened to in the weeks before they started doing cadences.
But cadences only sound good when you're a part of a formation.
The chorus of birds, that song which filled every still moment in basic training?
It was good enough that Mac made it his ringtone.
Mac's eyes shot open as he fumbled around the sheets, looking for his phone. Ripping it off the charger, he brought the speaker to his ear and coughed. "Hello?"
"Where are you?"
Mac jumped out of his bed. "My alarm didn't work."
"We need you here a fucking hour ago. Get here now, or you're fired."
Then Mac's boss hung up. Mac was already getting dressed, throwing on jeans and a windbreaker on top of his underwear. He processed everything and had a plan; His alarm didn't go off; he maybe hadn't set it. His car wasn't working, so he would have to take the bus. A glance at his phone revealed it to be 9:20. The bus stop was a 10-minute walk from the building. If he ran, he could catch the 9:30.
Kicking down the door, Mac startled the somewhat naked Smelter.
Smelter grasped her bare chest, blushing through her sapphire cheek feathers. "W-weren't you just asleep?"
Mac whizzed past her, not noticing she was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.
The raptor flinched, a fire stirring in her loins. "Where's the fire?"
"I'm late." Mac was already out of the apartment and hitting the stairs. His feet hit the steps like a flamingo dancer on fire, a machinegun of thumps as he beat feet to the last floor.
"Why?" Mac pondered as he made his way down. Why did his phone alarm not work? Or, why did he turn it off and then forget to set it back on? Why didn't his natural clock wake him up around the same time? Why did he choose a job with such shitty work hours? Why did he buy a car that would shit the bed at the worst times? Why did he leave that car instead of selling it before basic? Why did he have to join the guard instead of going active?
"Why is the ceiling below me?"
Mac was running down the last flight of stairs. Then his legs were towards the ceiling. And then there was a crunch.
Mac grit his teeth. His foot wasn't in the direction it was supposed to be.
Before he even knew what was wrong, Mac called out to the one person he knew.
"SMELTER!"