The tension in the room could be tangibly cut with a butter knife. Fang stared at me from across the room, his dark obsidian eyes boring unabashedly into mine. My cheeks flushed with red fire, and I smiled.
Meanwhile, my mother was giving an important presentation for the CSM, and everyone was riveted besides Fang and I. We were completely focused on each other. No one seemed to notice us though, which was perfectly fine with me. It wasn't like we were doing anything bad – just staring longingly at each other from across the room. Admittedly, I would much rather be doing more than that. Much more than that, to be frank. And I could tell in Fang's eyes that he did too. I had to find some way to be alone with him somehow. It didn't seem so impossible. Did it?
Angel nudged me, making me jump. I blushed deeper and looked down at my hands, folded tightly in my lap. Angel threw me a knowing glance.
"Your mom's going to dismiss everyone for refreshments in five minutes," she whispered to me out of the side of her mouth. "Go then. I'll cover for you."
My eyes widened in surprise. "Uh, thanks," I whispered back. We received a few sharp glances from some of the CSM big shots, but other than that our conversation went unnoticed by everyone but Fang.
Five minutes, I told myself. Just five minutes.
It was the longest five minutes of my life.
When my mother finally dismissed us all to the refreshments table, I tried not to make it look too obvious. But I apparently failed, because a few people laughed when I immediately jumped out of my seat in excitement. Fang rose from his more slowly, casually. Of course. Because he was Mr. Suave. He threw me a smirk and a teasing glance, and I stuck my tongue out at him. He winked back at me.
I blended in with the crowd and melted out the door, excusing myself to go to the bathroom. When I was in the hallway and out of sight, I opened the nearest door and stepped inside the room. It was an empty conference room. I leaned against the table and waited impatiently, tapping my foot on the floor. A few moments later, Fang entered the room. He locked the door behind him.
We basically attacked each other. All he had to do was take one step and I was in his arms. He kissed me slowly and sensually, in a way that set my entire being on fire. He lifted me onto the conference table, and he leaned forward, pushing me until my back rested against the table. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and kissed him with everything I had. I shivered in pleasure as Fang ran his fingernails slowly down my spine, right between my wings. It was heaven. Pure heaven.
Eventually, we had to stop for breath. He moved his mouth to my neck so I could breathe, and I twined my hands in his soft black hair.
"I've been waiting to do this all day," I whispered into his ear.
"Me too," he admitted, taking my earlobe between his teeth. I let out a breath and wrapped my legs around his waist, attaching myself to him.
"I love you."
"I love you too," I breathed, burying my face into his shoulder as he continued to scratch my back. He planted soft, sweet kisses on my neck and worked his way up the length of my face. My jaw line to my cheek, my cheek to my lips. When he brushed his lips against mine, it was very brief and very chaste and very sweet. So much different than the, uh . . . well, the more rougher kisses we usually exchanged.
After that, we moved from the top of the conference table to a chair. I sat in his lap and he just held me against him, stroking my hair. It was really nice to just sit there with him and feel him touching me. It was sweeter than anything I'd ever experienced before.
"I wonder when they're gonna come searching for us," I eventually said, playing with Fang's hand. I spread out his fingers and carefully examined each one of them, gently caressing the scars and calluses there.
He shrugged and kissed the top of my head, twirling a lock of my hair in his free hand. "Maybe they won't notice we're gone."
"Fat chance," I replied, although the idea was enticing.
"Should we go back?" he asked.
"Not just yet," I said. "Let's just stay here for a few more minutes."
"You got it," Fang said, resting his chin on my head.
I would've been happy to stay there forever with him and just enjoy it. But of course, something terrible had to happen. Because I'm Maximum Ride, and my life is anything but normal.
Can you guess what happened?
If you guessed 'Something evil suddenly attacked the building and everyone in it and the flock had to save the day – but they didn't get to save the day, because they got captured', then you guessed correctly.
So here's how it went: Fang and I were sitting there, enjoying each other's company, when suddenly the whole building shook like there was an earthquake or something. For the first few seconds, I hoped that's what it was. But an earthquake would be too easy. It had to be something worse.
The building shook so hard that Fang and I were rattled out of the chair. I landed on my butt on the floor, bumping my head on the table on the way down, which juggled my brain around a little bit. I could literally feel it move. Not pleasant.
Anyway, Fang stood up against the shaking and offered me his hand. He helped me up, and I held tight to his hand and tried to open the door.
"What do you think it is?" Fang shouted over the rumbling noise.
"I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say something not good."
He rolled his eyes at me. "Obviously."
We made our way back to the room where the CSM meeting was going on, somehow managing to keep our footing while the building was shaking vigorously.
Inside, we found chaos.
Chairs were knocked over, papers were scattered all over the floor, and everyone was shouting, trying to hold onto something steady. I looked around for the flock. Angel was trying to get some order, suggesting that everybody should move out of the room. But no one was listening.
"HEY!" I shouted as loud as I could. It got more than a few people's attention. "EVERYONE CAREFULLY MOVE OUT OF THE ROOM! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF THE BUILDING!"
It worked. Everyone started to move towards the door, so Fang and I had to get out of the way. We were smushed against the wall as the CSM members and various others crowded into the hallway and headed for the elevators.
"NO! TAKE THE STAIRS!" I shouted. "STAIRS ARE SAFER!"
A few people heard my warning and took the stairs instead. I decided it was the best I could do.
"Max!" a familiar voice shouted, and I turned to see my mother, waiting for me by the entrance to the stairs. She was holding onto the doorknob with her life.
"You go!" I shouted back. "We'll be fine! I promise!"
After a worried look at me, she nodded and disappeared behind the door to the stairs. I really, really hoped everyone would get out okay – we were only on the third floor, if I remembered correctly, so I was hoping it wouldn't be too difficult.
I rushed back inside the room and found the flock all at the window.
"Get away from there!" I shouted, rushing towards them. "It could shatter at any minute!"
"Max, I think you should see this," Nudge said, turning wide, scared brown eyes on me.
That's when I knew that it definitely wasn't an earthquake. That's when I knew that it was Something Much Worse.
I stumbled toward the window, keeping a death-grip on Fang's hand.
"I've never seen anything like this before," Angel said, her eyes widening in fear. "They're so . . ."
"Gross," Nudge supplied.
I reached the window and looked down.
An army of Hulks surrounded the building.
At least, that's what they looked like. Minus the green skin and purple shorts. But some of them did have black hair. And all of them were very big, very scary, and very grotesquely muscular. Their skin wasn't green, but it was mottled and bruised in some places. I could physically see each vein that stuck out. Their heads were not in proportion with their bodies, which made it kind of funny, but it was still gross looking. The faces were tiny, but the foreheads were huge and stretched out and gross. It was like their brain was overly expanded and it couldn't really fit inside their heads.
Another funny thing I found besides the disproportionate heads: on top of those heads, each monster had a silky thatch of Justin Bieber hair, before he cut it and started using hair gel.
"What are those things?" Gazzy said, staring down at them in wonder.
"Not sure," I replied. "I haven't figured out a name for them yet. But they need to lay off the steroids for sure."
All the Hulk-Bieber monsters had each of their two hands on the building, which I assumed explained the shaking. And they were also blocking the doorway, which made it impossible for anyone to get out.
Great.
"We have to fly out," I said. "It's the only way."
"What are we gonna do, smash through the window?" asked Iggy, turning his eyes to a spot just to the right of my head.
"We might have to."
"Uh, guys?" Nudge suddenly piped up, her voice rising in fear. "I don't think the window-smashing is gonna be a problem."
She pointed to one of the Hulk-Biebers. He had seen us through the window somehow, because he was staring right at us. Correction: he was staring right at me. And he held a giant boulder in his hand.
"DUCK!"
The boulder smashed through the window just as everyone hit the ground, flat on our stomachs. I hope everyone had the sense to cover their face. Our arms and legs would get cut up bad enough from the flying glass. I could feel myself bleeding even as I thought about it.
The boulder sailed over our heads, missing us by mere centimeters, and crashed into the wall opposite the room. No, crashed through the wall. And four more walls after that.
"Report!" I shouted over the ringing in my ears. The boulder had made a crash like a cannon blast.
"I'm good," Angel said, shakily standing up. "Bleeding in a few places."
"Same here," Nudge replied, taking Angel's hand to help her up. I checked Gazzy and Iggy – they were fine other than small cuts on their arms. I was pretty much fine myself, and – thank God – so was Fang.
I peeked over the edge of the broken window. It didn't look like the Bieber Hulks were going to throw another boulder at us. They seemed distracted by something down below.
I wasn't about to stick around to find out what it was.
"Move back as far as you can, and run. We're getting out of here," I told my flock, already moving to the back of the room. They followed my lead. Fang went first, jumping out the window and unfurling his beautiful black wings with the grace of a panther. Gazzy followed, then Iggy, then Nudge and Angel. I was last. The Bieber-Hulks were tall, and we were only on the third floor of the building, so the tips of my sneakers brushed one of their silky heads when I jumped out. I thought he was going to reach up and snatch my ankle, dragging me down, but he didn't even feel me touch him. I soared way up over their heads, and my flock and I circled above them. I tried to think of an attack plan.
"We need to get them away from the doors," I said. "We need to get everyone out of the building."
"I'll distract them," Fang immediately volunteered. "You guys focus on getting everyone out safely."
I was about to shake my head no, but one look at his obsidian eyes stopped me. We stared at each other for a moment, communicating silently with each other. He nodded once at me.
"Okay," I forced myself to say. "Fang, you be the distraction. Do whatever it takes to get them away from the building. Iggy and Gazzy, you take the back exits. Get everyone as far away from here as you can, wherever is safest. Nudge and Angel, you take the front with me. Angel, I'm gonna need your help keeping everyone under control."
"Got it," Angel nodded, her blue eyes full of resolve.
"When the situation is under control, everyone meet at the top of that building," I said, pointing to the roof of a random nearby skyscraper. "Call for help if you need it."
Everyone nodded. A sinking feeling started deep in the pit of my stomach. This wasn't going to end well. I could feel it.
I looked at Fang once more. We shared a look of understanding. I just hoped it wasn't about to be our last.
"Ready, break!" I shouted, clapping my hands, and my flock flew off in different directions. Fang dive-bombed towards the Bieber-Hulks, war-whooping the entire way. The not-so-smart creatures were easily disoriented. They tried swatting at Fang like he was an annoying fly, but Fang stayed just out of their reach, twisting and turning in the air.
Iggy and Gazzy swooped behind the building towards the back exits, and Angel, Nudge and I barreled downwards. Fang was leading the Bieber-Hulks away from the building. We had a small opening at the front.
Nudge, Angel and I landed at the entrance and began leading people out of the building.
"Everyone stay calm!" I shouted, directing traffic. "Get to safety, quickly!"
I didn't see my mother in the throng of people rushing out of the building, and I could only hope that Iggy and Gazzy were getting her safely out the back.
Angel was using mind control on some of the more spasmodic people, calming them down and leading them to safety. Nudge was . . . well, being Nudge. She was chattering away at the people she was helping, taking their minds off of the huge monsters just ten feet away. I was barking out orders at people, trying to be as nice as I could about it. But some people were just so stubborn. A few of them stayed inside the building in fear, and I was trying my hardest not to scream at them. Didn't they see that their lives were in danger?
"Come on!" I shouted. "Everybody out! Get somewhere safe! Hurry!"
Suddenly, I felt a small sharp pain in my back. I cried out and crumpled to the ground, my body suddenly numb. I couldn't feel a thing. In my peripheral vision, I saw Angel and then Nudge drop.
My vision started to go fuzzy. I called out Fang's name as everything went black.