Horizon

We had wings. Not quite as glorious as we'd always imagined, definitely not angelic, but surely functional. They dug painfully into the shoulder blades and stretched out behind us. Imagine human-sized bat wings, made of coarse leather and knobby bones.

"Don't touch the ground!" one woman called.

"Spare your energy!" said another.

Some of the girls around me laughed at these commands and flew recklessly low or dangerously fast, quite Icarus-esque.

As for myself, I ignored them all and pushed forward, staring straight ahead. In the distance lay glorious green hills. I refused to let my mind stray from this fact.

However, as our dim surroundings grew even darker, our wings grew heavy. We could not fly forever.

It took me too long to notice that my group had landed. I backtracked and found them in a gully, huddled in a cluster.

A woman shushed me as I landed. I stood near the group but turned a wide circle. There were caves lining the walls, and inside, glowing eyes.

"We can't fly any farther," one girl whispered.

"But we can't stay here," said another.

Someone panicked and tried to fly straight up. A creature leapt from the cave and caught her in the air, dragging her back down. As they hit the ground, it pulled her, screaming, into the caves. There was a loud crunch, and the screaming stopped.

One girl started whimpering, but another woman put her hand over the girl's mouth.

"We'll all go at once," someone whispered.

"No!" another protested.

"Then stay."

I watched them take to the sky. Their wings worked frantically, pushing air beneath them. Some girls tangled together, making for easy prey. The creaters picked them out of the air, a skyborn buffet. They dragged the screaming girls into the caves lining the gully's wall.

When the frenzy of motion abated, and the caves were filled with the sound of crackling bones and crunching teeth, I tucked my wings behind my back and hiked out of the gully slowly. The eyes followed me but did nothing, seeming satisfied with their catch.

By that time, the moon was high in the sky, and it lit my way as I flew forward. The green hills in the distance were just as vibrant as they'd been when the sun was up, and no closer than before. I hoped it wasn't a mirage.