Through the Pouring Rain
By MyNameIsCAB
Okay, I'm bored with doing the whole "Hi! I'm Maximum Ride" thing, so I'm just gonna cut to the chase. You obviously all know who Max and the flock are otherwise you wouldn't bother reading Max Ride fanfics. And just a warning, Fang and Max are probably OOC because of the Fax I'm putting in.
I stood with Fang in the pouring rain, his arm slung over my shoulder and his free hand clamped over the side of his knee. Blood was seeping out of his pants and making the puddles around us red.
"Fang, stay with me," I whispered.
It had been a stupid idea to let the rest of the flock stay at Dr. Martinez's house when Fang and I went to follow erasers by ourselves.
"I'm not going anywhere, Max," he breathed out sharply.
Did I mention that Itex had updated their erasers too? Well, they attacked us and one of them got a good bite at Fang's knee.
"We gotta get help," I told him.
"No, just go find a place and let's look at the wound. We're no good, standing in the rain," he muttered.
Maybe going to a hospital wasn't such a good idea, but we definitely needed major help. Dr. Martinez, AKA Mom, was only a ten minute flight away, but Fang didn't look like he would be able to fly through the rain.
"Find a car," Fang murmured. "Hotwire it. I want to go to Mom."
"Fine." I didn't like the idea, but it seemed like our best option was to go home. Thanks to Jeb, we knew how to hotwire cars and drive them.
Fang's weight was now entirely rested on me. We staggered to a parking lot and found a really old looking van. Glancing around, it appeared no one was around. The parking lot was for a bus stop and the next bus didn't come until the next hour.
The door was unlocked, so I helped Fang get into the van first before I went to hotwire it. After a few minutes, I got the van to rev up and we were driving homeward.
"Mom!" I shouted, bursting through the front door. "MOM!"
She ran into the front foyer, a look of concern on her face.
"Mom…It's Fang," I explained. "An eraser bit him."
Fang moaned, his weight seeming to get heavier by the second.
"Get him to the bathroom," she said. "Hurry."
I struggled into the bathroom, supporting Fang, and he sat on the edge of the bathtub looking very pale. Taking a seat next to him, he leaned onto me.
Mom rushed in with a first aid kit, closing the door behind her as the other flock members tried to come in. The bathroom was already so small and having anyone else in here seemed like a terrible idea.
"Can you bend it?" she questioned Fang.
Fang shook his head, but Mom put her hands around Fang's leg and started to bend it. He gave a gasp of pain, his hands curling up into fists. As she bent it straight, his knuckles turned white.
"I'm going to have to take him to my office," Mom sighed.
"I'm coming," I said firmly.
She looked at me with a disapproving look, but eventually nodded. "The others are staying though."
I nodded.
"Get Fang into my car," she ordered. "When we get back, we're going to have to deal with that van."
I followed her instructions and stood up, pulling Fang's arm around my shoulder. He made a weak attempt to put pressure on his bad leg, but his knee buckled and his full weight was thrown back on me. We barely made it into the garage.
"Lean on the car, I'll open the door," I said.
He gave me a small nod and I opened the door. Holding his arm, I guided Fang in before getting in next to him. Fang grimaced as he bent his knee. After a moment, he was leaning on my side again.
"Hang in there," I whispered.
Mom got in the front seat and opened the garage door. The car pulled out back into the heavy rain and she started to drive towards her vet office. I stared out the window, praying that Fang would be okay.
"The scans show there's a lot of damage. He's going to need surgery." That was the last thing I wanted to hear come out of Mom's mouth.
"Can you do it?" I asked.
"We don't have much of a choice. Bringing him to a hospital will cause too much attention. I'm going to start now. He's already been put under anesthesia."
I took a seat outside of the operating room that animals would normally be operated in. Fang wasn't an animal, I told myself with a wry smile. That thought didn't lift my spirits though.
Mom must have worked hours into the night because Angel called me several times over the next few hours asking how Fang was. The answer was that I didn't know. Finally, after midnight, Mom came out.
"Okay, we're done," she said. "He's all right now. I just gave him something to relieve the pain. We can go home now."
"Thank God," I muttered.
Mom went back inside the operating room and came out with Fang in a wheelchair. I took the wheelchair from Mom and pushed him to the exit door, waiting for Mom to finish locking up the operating room.
"There was no major bone damage," Fang assured me. "Just a lot of ligament and nerve damage. But according to Mom, there was something in the eraser's saliva that will make the healing process slow..." He suddenly winced in pain. "But I'll be all right."
So now the erasers were being created to inflict more pain. We avian bird kids were fast at healing, but now Fang was going to have to suffer. Something told me that none of this was going to go well at all.
The rest of the flock was waiting for us when we got home, even though it was really late at night. Fang reassured everyone that he was fine, but I knew all he wanted to do was go and sleep. I could see it in his eyes. Exhaustion was setting in and every now and then he would grimace in pain.
"Let Fang go to bed," I told the flock. "We'll tell you everything tomorrow. It's late. You should be asleep."
Gazzy and Nudge looked like they were going to protest, but Angel dragged Nudge to their room and Iggy said something to Gazzy that made Gazzy follow. That left me alone with Fang and Mom again.
"If there's any problem, tell me," Mom said. "You never know…Something could happen."
I hoped nothing would happen, but I nodded in response.
"You two should go to bed. I have to contact Jeb about Itex's new eraser enhancement."
To me, that sounded like a good idea. I pushed Fang to his room and pulled out some clothes for him to change into and then waited outside for him to finish.
"Max…" Fang called, letting my know he was done.
"Ready to get into bed?" I asked him, having a feeling it was going to be another struggle.
"I guess."
Once again, I slung one of his arms around my shoulders and got him into the bed. He stopped me from pulling the blankets over him. "Sleep here tonight, Max."
My heart must have skipped a beat, but somehow I protested it. "Fang, I gotta go change. I'm still all wet from the rain."
"Get one of my shirts then and I've got shorts you can wear," he muttered. "Please."
I opened his closet and pulled out a pair of his shorts and one of his black button up shirts. He turned his back to me as I changed. Then I crawled into bed next to him, his shirt feeling very comfortable on me.
"Goodnight," he whispered, drawing closer to me.
I found my head resting on his shoulder. "Goodnight, Fang."