I sat on a fallen tree and tried not to cry.

"This is pointless," I told myself. "I can't find him anywhere. If I keep looking, I'm good as dead! But if I don't find him, I'll be dead." A lose-lose situation. Peachy. 

Then I remembered the hand cuffs. I've got to find something to break these off! I thought furiously. 

Why had I been so careless? I practically let the woman hand cuff me. I thought as I searched for something to break the cuffs.  

I jumped and swung my hands under my feet so that my hands were now in front of me. I concentrated, and pulled off using some demon strength to break the chain. 

I'd try telling people they're bracelets if they didn't hurt. I thought with a sigh. 

I found a creek and put my hands in the water. Surprisingly, my idea worked and I was able to slide off the cuffs. 

Those scientists had probably heard me scream earlier, and were probably on their way here. I left the cuffs by the creek to mess with them. One half on the edge of the creek, the other farther away in the direction I was going. It would be fun to watch the looks on their faces as they watched me fly out of reach. Sure they would know where I was, but it's more fun to run if there's a thrill in it. I climbed a tree and waited. 

They finally showed up about half an hour later. The woman picked up the first half of the hand cuffs, and the man found the second. The little boy was looking around the forest in amazement, as if he'd never seen one before. Eventually though, he saw me and waved at me. 

I smiled at him as his parents noticed what he was doing. They looked at me and smiled happily. They really thought they had me. 

I saw them start whispering to each other, and that confused me a little. I thought they would be frantically climbing the tree.  

I unfurled my wings so they could get a good look at them before I took off. As soon as my black wing was open all the way, I felt a sharp pain near where the man had felt it. I looked at the people on the ground, who were proudly smirking. 

Crap! What did he do to my wing? 

I looked at it and saw nothing wrong with it. I couldn't fly away if my wing hurt. And that meant I was as good as dead now. 

He must have used a needle or something when he was feeling my wings. That would explain why I went crazy when he touched it. I thought. I need to get out of here!  

I heard their reinforcements coming, along with some hunters. 

"Hey," I called down to them. "You only want to experiment on me right? Then let me go unharmed?" 

"Yes, of course!" the woman called up to me. "We may draw blood and do x-rays, but you will be released alive. I promise!" 

"Well, you may not be able to run tests on me," I called. 

"Why not?" the man asked. 

"Look behind you. If those hunters kill me first, then you can't experiment!" 

The small group turned and saw the hunters heading toward us. They were shocked at the number of hunters. 

"Can you help us?" the woman yelled up to me. 

I shook my head. "Not with whatever is in my wing." 

The man frowned as the woman glared at him. He handed the boy a gun. "Go in the tree and protect the girl. Only use this if someone gets to the tree and starts climbing, understood?" 

The boy nodded and climbed the tree. 

I leaned against a branch and listened to the argument below between hunters and scientists. Whatever the man had put in my wing was burning and making me drowsy. I closed my eyes. 

The boy shook me, and I looked at him. "Don't go to sleep," he said. "If you do, you may never wake up." 

I nodded to show that I understood, and sat up straight. I watched the fighting down below intensely, not letting one action go unnoticed. I wanted to stay alive and find my father, but part of me wanted to die right here and now, so that I didn't have to go through all this anymore. 

I stayed awake, no matter how much I wanted to die deep inside. The fight eventually ended, and the boy only had to shoot at one hunter, only he shot beside him, as if to scare him out of the tree.  

The scientists beat the hunters surprisingly, and then they turned to me.  

"Are you coming willingly?" the man asked me. 

I looked down at him, my eyelids heavy. "Only if you swear to let me go and get this stuff out of me." 

The man nodded and the woman climbed up the tree to help me down. The boy jumped and the man caught him before he hit the ground. I tried to use my wings to help get me to the ground. I was successful, but even more exhausted. 

They put me in a cage in a truck bed that was right outside the forest. They had the boy sit in there with me to keep me awake, but I don't think I needed his help. The ride was so rough that a dead person could've been woken up. 

The truck came to a stop after a few minutes, and I had my head leaning against the side of the cage. I was about to give up when the cage opened and the boy tugged on my arm. 

I crawled from the cage and stood on the grass. I wanted to lie down so bad that I had to look straight ahead and tell myself not to sleep.  

I let the 3 people guide me into a tall white building. We walked into a room full of machines and scientific junk that I couldn't remember the names of. They sat me on a white metal table and had me extend my wings. 

But before my wings were fully extended, I lost the last bit of energy I had and fell asleep.