The Chirstmas Caravaan

Name: Peter (refers to himself as "Petey")

Age: Over 100 (he didn't know how to keep track of time in his early years)

Race: talking animal

Gender: Male

Appearance: Petey has the form of a small pidgeon. On close observation, one can see signs of abuse-several dents on his beak, a scarred leg and a small bald patch on his chest.

History: Brought up as any old pet pidgeon by an eccentric bird lover, Petey learned to speak by observing his master teach his parrots to speak. He gained a large vocabulary by listening to his master reading to his grandchildren, but when he attempted to engage his master in a conversation, the old man believe him to be possessed, and attempted to kill him. Heartbroken, Petey nevertheless managed to escape, and began to live as a free bird.
After discovering his magical gift (see "Other"), Petey delighted in making children believe he was a faerie, and he made friends with a few, though all were lost through the children's aging or, in more recent times, the great freeze.

Other: Petey has the ability to secrete "faerie dust"-a fluorescent and multicoloured substance which leaves a trail hanging in the air wherever Petey flies.
Petey adores children, but sometimes has difficulty getting along with adults. He is generally positive and optimistic. If any pidgeon could be considered charming, it would be Petey. Also, Petey prefers not to reveal his age, and when he does, he insists that it be kept secret.
Not sure how it would work in Petey's case, but up for love anyway

Andi - Head of Caravaan

I had no time to answer Ali when Petey pecked against the glass and I quickly lowered it for him, "You delivered it already? So, what did they tell you?" He landed on the dashboard.

"I may be small, but I'm fast, Andi." He stopped to catch his breath. "The pass to get into the headquarters is on my leg."

I untied the pass and placed it in the glove compartment. I whispered so only he and I could hear, "Do you mind getting this one," I motioned to Ali who was amusing herself by drawing on the frost that had gathered on the window, "-out of my hair? I need to finish my work before we get there."

He nodded and tempted her away from the window. When she had gotten through the window I quickly closed it. I breathed a sigh of relief, and Emily just smirked.

*sorry moon about the last post.*

Ali

As soon as Petey and Ali were out of Andi's watchful glare, Ali breathed a sigh of relief.

"Andi thinks I'm just a little girl.. Nothing special about me."

Petey gave her a look of sympathy. "That's not true."

"Its true, and you know it is."

Just then, Ali happened to look outside and see a mother grizzly bear with her cub. She had a fantastic idea.

"Watch this, Petey."

Ali opened the door to their Caravan, and hopped out, thankful that the vehicle had stopped to get a mechanic check. She padded up to the Mother grizzly and began stroking her fur.

"There there, your not so dangerous as everybody says."

Ali began to back up to head back to the Caravaan, when she tripped over the baby cub. The cub made a ghastly noise and ran behind his mother. The mother suddenly changed, death in her eyes. The grizzly bit into Ali's leg and threw her high in the air, where Ali landed in a snowdrift about 100 yards from the Caravaan. Ali lay there, limp.

Andi - Head of the Caravaan

I looked up from my work when a hear a ear-splitting roar. Quickly looking in the mirror, I saw a bear pick up Allie and fling her in the air.

"Holy crud, Emily! A bear's attacking Allie!" I hurriedly opened the door, and ran to Allie. She had broken a leg and probably had a concussion.

A heard a growl right behind my right ear, I stopped, the bear was right behind me. I heard it lifting its heavy paw into a fatal blow. I was paralyzed with fear as I heard it whistling as it came down and - nothing.

I turned around, confused. My mouth probably hit the snow. Curving over me and Allie was a barrier of some sort. It was a strange, iridescent color and it swirled around as the bear kept hitting and pouncing only to find it couldn't penetrate it.

I turned to the crew and Emily. They shook their heads - they hadn't created the force-field. I looked down at Allie, but there was no way that she could have done it...

Oh my gosh, I had created it. To see if it were true, I centered my magic and pushed the walls to curve around the bear and the cub. I used all my strength as I pushed the bears - still inside the ball-shaped force-field - about 100 miles to the west.

I panted as I turned around towards Allie. The crew was just standing there, stunned, and I looked down. A patch of snow was turning red around her leg. I screamed, "Bloody hell! She's bleeding! Why didn't you do anything while I was getting rid of the bear?!" Then I noticed Emily wasn't there.

I heard a door slam, and turned around. Emily was running with a first aid kit, "At least somebody knows what to do," we started to clean Allie up, "Don't just stand there! Get the First Aid Vehicle over here!"

I broke out in a cold sweat as I reached for her head, there was a massive bulge there. I prayed to the good lord above that she would be okay as I lifted her into my arms and dashed for the FAV as it plowed into sight.

*lol I keep misspelling my own characters name!*


Allie

All was black. No matter how hard Allie tried, she could not open her eyes. Pain was everywhere. Her head felt like it was about to split open and her leg was numb. She heard people screaming, then a strange silence engulfed her. She was trapped in a soundless dark void, where nothing could penetrate it. She felt jolts, and knew that she was on a vehicle, but not knowing where she was going.

Andi - Head of the Caravaan

We fixed her up easily, but Allie didn't look like she was going to wake up anytime soon. I told the others to sleep, I wanted to make sure Allie was okay.

It was Toni's turn to drive tonight.

When everyone was asleep, Toni suddenly got talkative, "You're one strange person, you know that?"

I looked at him, confused, "What? Because of the force-field?"

"No, that you actually care whether that little girl in your lap was going to make it or not."

I glared at him, then looked down to Allie. Her face was contorted with pain. It was horrible that this five-year-old had to go through the pain. I looked back at Tony, only to see him staring at me from the rear-view mirror. "Why do you say that? I'm not that cruel."

"To us you are."

"Well, maybe you are a bunch of lazy idiots who need to get their act together. You need to be strong for this, there are going to be a load of kids who need you to help them. There's danger everywhere - even in the last seven cities. Today proves it. Having someone's death on your shoulders haunts you your entire life. Chew on that."

Toni went back to driving. I hope he gets his act together quickly, and the others too.

Allie winced as she moved in her sleep. The only thing I could do was keep her warm and pet her head - so I did. It seemed to comfort her.

I was going to make some rules so this wouldn't happen again.

I didn't get any sleep that night, neither did Toni, obviously.

Allie

Her eyes fluttered open. At first, all she saw was light, but then, as her eyes adjusted, she could see that Andi was sitting there next to her, stroking her head.

"Andi, what happened?" Allie murmured weakly.

"You were attacked by a bear, sweetie," Andi said softly.

Instantly, Allie started crying. Why on earth had that bear attacked her? None of her other animal friends had hurt her. Was she starting to lose her gift?

"Shhhhhh, calm down. Its alright. Everything is going to be okay," Andi soothed.

"Andi, I can't feel my leg," Allie's eyes began to flutter. Andi reached down and lifted the blanket to reveal Allie's leg. It was ghastly white.

Allie lost consciousness.

Petey (a few minutes before Allie woke up)

"If only I had stopped her..."

Petey felt terrible, as he gazed at the injured girl from his perch. Of all the children he had come across, he particularly liked Allie, although he couldn't understand why.
Andi, who was looking after Allie at the time, heard Petey's mutterings, and shot a dirty look at him.

"Yes, why didn't you stop her? You must have known that was dangerous!"

Petey nearly fell off his perch.

"Hey, hey, careful there! You've got a cross look in your eyes. It's making you look all mad and..."

Petey mimicked a Human sigh, and fluttered across to Allie's side. A few multicoloured specks of dust marked his path for a few seconds, before disappearing.

"I wanted to tell her it was dangerous and stop her, but...oh, I don't know, how could I? That might have upset her."

Andi shot another nasty look at Petey, and Petey stepped backwards, thinking for a moment that she might attack him in a fit of anger.

"Upset her? You could have killed her!"

"What...I...well...I think you're taking this a bit too far...now, if you'll excuse me."

Petey flew back to his perch, and went to sleep.

Andi - Head of the Caravaan

"Emily!"

I woke the whole cabin, but it was about time they woke up. Emily looked frightened, "What?"

I could feel my heart rate go up, "Allie lost consciousness."

She sighed, "Andi, it's all right, she's going to do that. Allie lost a lot of blood." Emily sat next to me and put her arm around me. "She'll be fine."

I felt a little better, but then I remembered, "No, Emily, she said she couldn't feel her leg!"

The whole crew gathered around. We all looked at Allie's legs. The one that was bleeding yesterday was now a deathly white.

Toni grabbed her leg and started to squeeze it. I stared at him questioningly, "What are you doing?"

"Getting her blood pumping again. Were you concentrating on keeping that legs extra warm?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

Toni looked at me like I was an idiot, "You need to keep her warm, especially that leg. When Allie's like this, she could catch pneumonia quite easily."

"What?" The color drained from my face.

Emily squeezed tighter. "Don't worry, Andi. Just keep her warm."

I nodded. I felt as numb as Allie's leg.

Allie

Time passed. Allie wasn’t sure if it was minutes or days. All she knew was that time was passing. Her chest was sore, and she felt hot and cold at the same time.

It began harder and harder for Allie to breathe. Allie wanted so badly to cry, but she couldn’t open her eyes. She struggled and struggled, but to no avail. Helpless, Allie declined into a state of nothingness. Sometimes, Allie was able to hear voices, and she struggled to cry out, to get their attention. All she was ever able to do was twitch her fingers or something like that.

Every once in a while, hands brought water to her lips, and a smooth hand stroked her face. Allie was frustrated. Soon, though, she began to lose her will to have emotions. Each day it became more and more difficult to breathe.

Soon it will be all over

Petey

Petey scratched his head with his scarred talon. So many of his friends had left him in his unnaturally long life, and he was scared that he might be getting used to moving on. Until he met Allie. He didn't understand it, but she made him feel happier than any other child. And he noticed how many other animals seemed to feel the same around her. Except for that damn bear.

"Is she going to die?"

A few people shrugged or grunted, but none gave a clear answer. The cabin fell into silence, like it had been most of the time since the incident. Petey flapped his wings angrily.

"Yeah, that's all the reassuring I need," he said, sarcastically, "cheers."

Again, no clear answer. Maybe it was the fact that he was a pigeon, maybe people just didn't like him, but Petey always felt ignored by adults.

"She doesn't look any better. Maybe she's got a disease, or something? Come on, guys! Am I the only person who cares here?"

Andi - Head of the Caravaan

"Petey?"

He looked at me excitedly. "Would you bring this to Headquarters? We're going to be late."

Petey sighed, "Yeah."

I tied it around his leg and brought him outside. He took off before I could say anything else. "Good luck," I whispered and climbed back inside.

"I've decided to cancel the Caravaan if Allie doesn't get any better." The crew stared in shock.

Toni yelled at me, "You mean you're just going to give up? Who are you and what have you done with Andi?"

"Shut up! Allie's health is more important!" I glared at all of them.

Emily was the first to speak up, "Andi, think about this."

"Fine." I turned away from them. I was sure my mind was set.

Allie


There was a tiny grain of energy within Allie. She nursed it, and nursed it, until it grew to the size of a bowling ball. Then it spread throughout her, healing broken bones, canceling out all sickness, and easing the lump on her little head. Allie was healing herself.

After a few hours, the energy was finished, so it filtered though her body, giving herself strength. Then Allie opened her eyes, and saw Andi arguing with the crew. Petey was nowhere to be seen.

"Andi," she said softly, "can I have a glass of water please?"

If we need more characters, I'd be willing to make another.

Toni

I scowled in disgust as Andi turned away from us, arms crossed. She would risk as many lives that depended on this caravaan for the health of this one little girl? It made no sense. It was selfish.

I was just about to turn over my driving shift to someone else (I didn't care who's turn it was, so long as I got away from the rest of them for a little while) when a weak voice caused us all to stop what we were doing and turn towards the little girl.

"Andi, can I have a glass of water please?"

The face, that had been so pale before, had regained some color. The eyes were bright once again, and even now she was struggling to push herself up into a sitting position. Andi rushed over and wrapped the young girl in her arms.

"Looks like this caravaan will be moving along after all," I said to no one in particular, not bothering to hide the smugness in my voice. With that said, I motioned to one of the nameless other adults to take the wheel and removed myself from the unfolding chaos.

I made my way back to the CVS and was delighted to find it almost completely empty. Climbing into my bunk, I covered my head with my pillow and pulled the thick blanket up to my chin. Hopefully nothing else eventful would happen that would claim my attention.

Petey

The watchman called out as a bright trail of light climbed over the horizon. Soon, Petey's silhouette became visible against the night sky. The pigeon landed on the watchman's arm, and stuck his leg out.

"Message from Andi." He said, glumly.

The watchman handed it to a man Petey didn't recognise, but knew from his uniform that he was of a very high rank. The man opened the letter, and frowned. He looked at Petey.

"You're Petey? Andi's messenger?"

Petey nodded. The man took a while to realise that it was a nod, before continuing.

"Okay, please wait a moment..."

The man strode away into one of the nearby buildings.

"Any change of getting some food?" Petey asked the watchman.

The watchman sighed, and looked away.

"Okay, so you don't want to be friends. See if I care..."

Petey turned his head away from the watchman's, spitefully tightening his grip in an attempt to make the watchman feel uncomfortable. After failing in the attempt, Petey grew restless.

"So...what's your name?"

"Bob."

Petey would have smiled if he could.

"Bob. That's a very...generic name."

"I'm a very generic person."

"Are most generic people anti-social?"

Bob sighed with relief as the high-ranking man, who Petey presumed was Bob's boss, returned.

"Right, Petey, I'd like you to take this to Andi as soon as you can..."

"Okay, but do you have any food? I'm starving."

The tips of the man's thin lips bent upwards, slightly.

"Sure. But I've heard how slow you fly. I want you gone by dawn."

Petey considered replying to what he considered to be an insult, but found himself too confused-he was, afterall, well known for being faster than your average pigeon.