Sorry!

Hey! I'm so sorry, but this week has been crazy so the next part of "Nation" wont' be coming out this week. I'll try to make sure that it's finished by this upcoming Saturday! In the meantime, I'm going to post up the first bit or so of the story that will be posted up after "Nation" is finished. Kind of like a sneak peak. Thanks for your patience!

It was always kind of frightening, flying at high speeds through the air and never really knowing if we were going to crash into a wall or not. I pulled sharply on the reigns, trying to get my animal to turn, but it just buzzed angrily, kicking its legs and running along the empty air.

“Come on, Tara!” Zack shouted at me, keeping perfect control over HIS beast as though he'd ridden every day of his short life. Which wasn't actually a showing of how much skill he had, more of how much of a teacher's pet he was. He got the best pick of the bunch, and it showed. Which was irritating.

“Pull right!” the teacher's voice sounded in my ear, and I tugged incessantly at the reigns, but instead of turning left the way the creature was supposed to, it shot upwards. I screamed, dropping the reigns and just starting to bang incessantly on the outer exoskeleton. It snapped, swinging its head around to try and bite me, but I leaned back to avoid the mandibles.

“Why won't you just do what I say??” I shouted.

“TARA! The hardair!”

I spun around in panic, just as the wall hit me. The barrier looked just like any other patch of open air, but it was hard and slippery. The entire left side of my body crashed against it, making my head ring. The buzz from my animals wings sounded like a thousand sirens shouting “HERE I AM! HERE I AM! KILL ME!!” My saddle was slipping to the side, and I tried desperately to reorient it, but my head was still spinning from the impact.

“Ugh. . .”

“Tara! Get away from that part of the sky! You need to fly to safety!” HOW? I wanted to shout back. My stupid animal won't listen to a single signal I give it!! And now it was trying to break through the hard air and escape out onto the outside. Which could only be worse then the inside. Right?

I pulled on the reigns, trying to reassert control. After a few seconds of fighting it, the beast finally seceded to my reign and began to fly downwards. Which was partially what I wanted, so it worked for me. I landed on the cliff, jumping down from my seat immediately to feel the firm ground beneath my feet. Whoever decided flying these things was a good idea was obviously a moron.

Zack landed next to me, hoping off his carefully trained pet with precision and grace. I glared at him. “Tara, are you okay?” his face looked all concerned. It was almost sweet. In the obnoxiously angering type of way.

“I'm always okay,” I snapped, go away. I wanted to add, but didn't. Because every once in a while, some of my family's teachings stayed within me. Things like, don't make enemies of people who pretend to be your friend. Not outright anyway.