Chapter 1
Max's POV
"Nooooooo" I cried as a flyboy swooped in aiming for Angel. She span round in mid-air and landed a punch straight into its ribs, it faltered slightly which gave her the chance to smash her fists down onto its head. She started for it ready to hit it hard, but at the last second it regained its balance and dodged around Angel, hitting her hard in the stomach as it did so. She doubled over, groaning in pain while the flyboy turned around headed straight for her.
I started for Angel but suddenly three flyboys were surrounding me. I took the one in the middle and landed a hard blow on its head, knocking it spinning out of the sky. Then I span around, ready to face the next one, only to be confronted by a painful kick in the ribs.
Fang saw the breath being knocked out of me and instantly battled his way over to help. His powerful wings elevated him to head height of a very unlucky flyboy and he gave it a neat roundhouse kick in the head. Ouch.
"MMMAAAXXX" I heard someone yell. Angel. Crap. I turned, only to see that one of the stupid flyboys was holding her around the waist, pinning her wings down. My poor baby.
"FANG, HELP ANGEL," I tried to yell, but suddenly, a flyboy landed a nasty blow to my jaw just before I could get the words out. Pain exploded from the site of impact and I could feel the darkness flooding in, the wind rushing past me and the final thing I heard was Angel's screams of terror fading away into the distance, I felt strong arms close around me. Blackness.
I awoke with a start, I was leaning on something warm and hard. Fang. I tried to remember why I was here. Suddenly it all came flooding back, I winced a little. The flyboys unexpected visit, Angel being hurt, the explosion of pain in my jaw, Angel's screams of terror as she was dragged off into the distance, the darkness creeping in. I shuddered. Fang felt the movement and lifted his hand to stroke my hair.
It was too overwhelming, my baby was gone, poor, sweet Angel was gone. I just couldn't face it. I looked up at Fang's face, for once it showed signs of emotion, grief, pain, sadness. He quickly regained his composure. Emotionless.
"She's gone Max," I heard him say.
It was too much, I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me so I would never have to face this sort of pain again, finally I turned my head into his chest and sobbed. Me, the invincible Max, was sobbing. I felt like I was letting the rest of the Flock down but I couldn't do anything about it. Angel was gone. The whitecoats had her, and we had no idea what they were going to do. Experiment on her, torture her or even...... NO MAX, they won't do that, they can't, I won't let them.
Fang tightened his grip around me and the others snuggled up close. Floods of tears were cascading down Gazzy's saddened face and for once, Nudge was completely silent and reserved, her eyes closed, her body shaking with dry sobs. Iggy's face was blank but silent tears were rolling down his pale cheeks, his shoulders were drooped and his expression was pained. Total was curled up at my feet; his head was buried in his furry little body so I had no idea what he felt. I had promised them, a promise, I would never lose ANYONE again, not after what happened in Germany. I had failed them. I had let Angel go. I had let them take Angel. I had failed.
A while later I heard the soft snores of the Flock, except one. Fang.
"We have to find her Fang," I whispered, trying not to burst into tears. I felt like punching the tree in frustration. Why her? Why can't they just take me and leave the rest of the Flock alone? Why did they have to take her AGAIN?
"We will Max, we always do," he whispered back. And with that I drifted off to sleep, with Fang's arms still wrapped around me.