Max

We were flying over an amusement park. I was carrying Total in my arms, watching the excitement from miles above. Even from way up here we could hear the screams of terror, excitement and utter glee. (All of which were probably caused from the multiple roller coasters.)

"It sure looks and sounds fun down there." Nudge commented, clearly referring to the amusement park.

I nodded in agreement, hoping it was nothing more a comment because I wasn't sure what to do otherwise.

"I'll bet they have food down there too." She continued.

I knew where she was going with her comments, so I immediately began to weigh our options.

"Can we go Max?" Nudge asked.

"It could be really fun." Angel added.

"I smell food." Iggy observed.

"See! They do have food! Please can we go Max?" Nudge asked.

"It'll be lots of fun!" I heard Fang say in an uncharacteristically and extremely enthusiastic voice.

I shot Fang a look, raising an eyebrow. Fang put his hands up in the air to say it wasn't him. Turning my head I saw Iggy smiling, Angel and Nudge pressing their hands over their mouths, clearly fighting the urge to giggle and Gazzy looking smug.

"What do you think Gazzy?" I asked. "Do you wanna go?"

"Well, it would be lots of fun." He answered sheepishly.

"Fang, what do you think?" I asked.

"They wanna go, we're probably all getting hungry, and if you're up for it we could fly over the gating on the edge of the park and sneak in that way." Fang suggested, using his extremely perfect logic.

I weighed the options; up until now I had no real plan so I decided Fang's plan was the best one we had.

"Okay, we'll go." I announced, smiling at the younger kids' excited faces.

"What about me?" Total asked. "Don't you want my opinion?"

"Do you want to go Total?" I asked.

"Yeah, I just wanted to be included; that's all." He answered.

"I will try to remember that for next time." I told him.

...

Okay, so we flew over the gates in the back of the park. It turns out the park was called Terror World. (I would soon find out exactly how accurate that title was later.)

"Remember Total, no talking." Angel kindly reminded Total.

I know Total had a lot to say about that, but he didn't because it was Angel who told him; he loved Angel best. I put him on the ground. Taking a leash out of my backpack, I put it on Total and then I handed the leash to Iggy. Total looked at me in a way that I took to be his version of a glare and he growled at me.

"Okay, we're staying for two hours tops; an hour and a half for rides and other activities and half an hour for food; got it?" I told them, ignoring Total's growl and potential glare.

Fang nodded and the rest of the flock (except Total) said, "Got it."

I found a map of the park on the ground, so I picked it up and asked, "Where should we go first?"

"Could we wander around the park and look for rides with the shortest lines?" Nudge asked.

"That's a great idea." I smiled at her.

We walked around until we came to a roller coaster that looked pretty cool and had almost no line at all. It only seated six which was perfect because there were six of us. I put Total in my backpack, (left a reasonable-sized air hole for him) and put my backpack on again. Then we got in line. After around five or so minutes it was our turn to go. We sat in the ride: Angel by Nudge, Iggy by Gazzy, and Fang by me (and Total-technically.) As the ride started I noticed a flock of birds that looked a little odd. My stomach dropped and I felt adrenaline begin to pump into my blood as I realized what the problem with the birds was: they weren't birds. Fang and I exchanged glances, and he nodded. That's all I need from him to know whether or not I should take drastic action. I unstrapped myself to the ride and jumped up to the front of the ride.

"There are Flyboys on our right! We need to get out of here now!" I yelled.

Angel, Gazzy, Nudge and Iggy unstrapped themselves from the ride and jumped into the air. I looked back at Fang who was struggling with the straps and I yelled, "Get out of here!" to Angel, Gazzy, Nudge and Iggy as I took Total out of my backpack and shoved him into Iggy's arms. They took off and I jumped to help Fang with his straps. I grabbed my pocket knife and cut the straps.

"Thanks." Fang said, taking the remnants of straps.

"You're welcome." I told him as we took off into the air.

"What's the plan?" Fang asked, flying beside me.

"Let's try to fly west and see if we can out-fly them; if that doesn't work, then we'll fight."

We took off in the opposite direction of the others who had gone east, but still away from the Flyboys who had come from the north. Things went downhill from there. I heard a "bam!" and Fang grunted in pain.

"What's wrong?-Were you hit?" I yelled over the wind.

"I'm fine." He called back, but I knew he wasn't.

I looked behind us and saw the Flyboys gaining on us. In utter desperation I grabbed Fang's hand and started pulling him down. I reached into my backpack (which is very hard to do while flying by the way) and pulled out a bag that Iggy and Gazzy had given me yesterday.

"Bombs?" Fang asked.

I nodded, handing him some. Then we started throwing the bombs at the Flyboys. When half the bombs were gone, all the Flyboys were in pieces, plummeting to the ground.

Remembering Fang's injury I said, "Let's land."

"No, let's find the others." Fang argued.

"I'm landing; are you coming?" I asked, starting to fly to the ground. As I landed I realized we were in luck: we were by a stream on the edge of a forest.

Fang landed beside me and I asked, "How's your arm?"

"I'm fine; don't worry about me." Fang said stubbornly.

"Let me see your arm." I ordered.

Knowing I wouldn't let the subject go, Fang took his black leather jacket off, leaving him in his black tee-shirt. His arm looked awful; blood was streaming down his arm. I grabbed his arm and started moving it around, trying to find the source of the bleeding. (Yeah I know, just look for the blood-well there was a lot of blood!) I let go of Fang's arm and motioned for him to follow me to the edge of the stream. Using fresh water from the stream I cleaned Fang's arm off, looking for the bullet-hole. When I finally found the hole my stomach knotted up and I wanted to barf. The bullet was stuck in the back of his left arm, and inch or so under his shoulder, right beside his heart. He had come that close to death.

Fang turned his head to look at me. "What's wrong?" he asked, obviously noticing my face.

"The bullet's stuck." I told him, trying to keep my voice steady.

"What are you gonna do?" Fang asked sounding calm, but as I looked at his face I noticed he was all tense. From that fact alone I knew he knew what I was gonna say and he didn't like it because it just brought back terrible memories of the School.

"I need to get it out of your arm." I answered.

Fang nodded and I gestured for him stay very still. With a shaky hand I grabbed my pocket knife out of my pocket.

"Ready?" I asked.

Fang nodded silently, looking off in the distance.

I started digging into Fang's bullet-wound, trying to get the bullet out. The blood spilled out even more and at a faster rate. Fang's face was pale and his skin felt a little clammy by the time I dug the bullet out.

"It's out. How do you feel?" I asked as I cleaned and bandaged Fang's wound. When I finished, I realized that I had accidently made his bullet-wound slightly bigger with the knife. Stupid knife. I thought in frustration, throwing the knife into the water.

"I want to find the others." He said.

"Fang, that's not what I meant." I told him, getting the knife out of the water, drying it off with my jeans.

"I'm fine; let's go find the others." He said, standing up.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, standing next to him.

"Yeah, let's go." He answered, putting his jacket on. Fang took a few steps forward and then he stumbled.

I caught him and tried to sound confident as I said, "You're probably woozy from blood loss; you'll be okay soon. In the meantime, you should probably sit down." I made him sit down.

"Here, try this." I told him, handing Fang a granola bar.

"What about the others?" He asked.

"I don't know-I hope they're okay. I didn't see any Flyboys go after them." I answered.

Max! I heard a little voice say in my head.

Angel? I thought.

Yeah, it's me; are you two okay? Angel answered.

We're approximately ten miles away from the park. We can't go anywhere for a little bit because a Flyboy shot Fang-he's okay but he lost too much blood to be walking around right now. Are you all okay? I thought.

Yeah, we're okay; none of the Flyboys came for us. Iggy and Gazzy were a little disappointed because they wanted to try out some of their new bombs on them. Can we try to find you and Fang? Angel answered.

No, stay hidden; we'll find you soon. Okay? I thought.

Wouldn't it be better if we found you two? Angel asked.

Are you all safe where you are? I thought.

Yes.

That's why you can't go anywhere; you need to stay hidden-you need to stay safe. We'll come for you soon. Where exactly are you?

We flew into a cave about five or so miles away from the park and have been hiding in it ever since.

Stay there and stay safe. We'll find you soon; I promise.

Okay; stay safe too. Angel said, then I felt her leave my mind.

Fang was eating his granola bar, staring at me with a questioning look on his face. "Was it the Voice again?" He asked.

"No, it was Angel; apparently her mind-reading abilities have increased because we're at least fifteen miles away and she was still able to get inside my head." I answered.

"Are they okay?" Fang asked.

"Yeah, they're in a cave five miles away from the park." I explained.

"So they're safely hidden?" He asked.

"That's what it sounded like." I replied.

"What are we gonna do?" He asked.

"You lost a lot of blood-not as much as the time when you were sliced open, but you still lost a lot of blood. I think you should be able to fly in approximately fifteen or so minutes. Then we'll find that cave. Okay?" I told him.

Fang nodded. Then a shadow passed over his face and he stared at something above us. "Max look." He said quietly.

I looked up and gasped...