The world smells like antiseptic spray and burning flesh. That's all that I can think of when I come out of my stupor. I groaned against the pain in my head and tried moving my limbs that felt so alien to me at this point. I felt warm hands holding me by the arms and those hands jolt me back to reality.
"Max?" My voice is scratchy, like fiberglass has been shoved down my throat. I would know her touch anywhere, god how I have missed her. The grip she had on my shoulders was light which meant she wasn't pissed at me for leaving…again; which mean I must have really scared the crap out of her. What's worse is that she collapsed on top of me and started sobbing. Note to self: For the love of all that is good, never let the flock separate again. I stroked her back right between her wings. My hand froze at the joint that connected Max's left wing to her body as a memory bit into me: My wing is gone, Max shakes her head.
"Dylan patched you up all shiny and new. You now have a synthetic left wing but you can still fly like normal." She explained, her voice deadpan. I frown at her lack of emotion all of a sudden. In an attempt to ease the tension, I ask where boy wonder was so I could thank him properly. My attempt failed miserably when I saw her eyes. Her light brown eyes that I loved so much were broken so before she said the words, I knew he was dead. My chest clenched with guilt. I had never liked Dylan for obvious reasons but even I had to admit he was a good person, in an annoyingly perfect kind of way.
"He sacrificed himself in bringing you back. I-I miss him" She admitted and then sucked in a shaky breath before she was able to look at me.
"But I thank him for every moment that you now have to be alive." She sobbed before I brought her to my chest. Words won't help her now only contact. I will hold her every second of my life if it meant she would be okay, we stayed like that till we finally drifted to sleep. In the days following my recovery, my body was as wobbly as a newborn calf and it was incredibly annoying. Forcing my body to go back to normal was the only solution that I saw in this craziness. Thankfully, I had Max and my brothers and sisters to help me along. I was pleasantly surprised to see the rest of my old gang. Kate was constantly telling me how sorry she was while Star was a stoic as ever. In all honesty their betrayal seems so trivial now. I had come back from the dead and I had my family back and that's all that mattered. Speaking of which Max has been a little off latey. I was really worried that she was sick from some sort of radiation poisoning or something so when she took me out go flying and talk about something, I was terrified.
"Fang you remember what happened the night before you left" She asked. "When we were alone in the woods?" How could I forget? Losing your virginity is fricken huge, especially if it's to the girl you have loved your entire life. But then I had to leave her right after to go off and die, woohoo go me. She is probably going to tell me she never wants to have sex again, which is reasonable.
"Yeah" I asked hesitant.
"Well Fang, when one birdkid realllly loves another birdkid they do certain things and thus producing a little baby birdkid." She said with a Max-like delicacy to the subject. My brain momentarily short circuited.
"A what?"
"A baby" She said simply as if I was daft. Max. Pregnant. My baby in Max. Does not compute. Oh why look at that, I am falling out of the sky. I began flapping my powerful wings so that I am right in front of Max who looks determined but I note a twinge of fear in her eyes.
"Like a baby?" I asked again. Hey leave me alone, the world had ended and was being rebuilt all while I was dead. So I am brought back to life and now find out the love of my life is pregnant. I think anyone would need to take a moment to process all of that. She smirked at the stupid look that no doubt shrouded my face.
"I'm pretty sure that's what they are called." She laughed and shook her head at me.
"Are you sure?" I asked while grasping her shoulders. I knew the answer but I still felt I needed to hear her say it. She lifts up her shirt to show me the little bump protruding from usually smooth flat stomach.
"It's kicking me. From the inside." She said and instinctively I place my hand expecting to feel a little thump against my palm, she laughed at me.
"It doesn't work on command, Fang. Don't worry when it starts kicking up a storm I'll let you kno-" I don't let her finish. I take her lips in mine and caress her face. God I'm about to be father! Usually this would be time to panic, some jerks even think it'd be time to turn tail and run. But this is Max, my balance, my light and now our flock is getting a little bit bigger. I know we are young and yeah his is terrifying but we have all had to grow up so quickly anyway. We had seen and dealt with some things that some people never had to in their lifetimes.
Things escalate once I find and isolated patch of earth. We will be trapped underground for who knows how long so I want to make the most of this. This moment, here with Max. We later fly above the layer ash and gaze upon the billions of stars.
Two
In the remaining months of Max's pregnancy I was expecting her to inflate like a balloon but she only gained like ten pounds which really worried me. But we weren't normal humans and our makeshift doctors assured me that it was to be expected with our high metabolism that Max wouldn't gain too much weight.
So when she woke me up in the middle of the night screaming to get the baby out of her, I would love to have said that I stayed calm throughout the whole ordeal out of my own will but at a particularly painful contraction, Max thought my face just looked ripe for the punching. I was down for a minute or two.
"Fang! your baby is being born and you think it's time for a nap?! What's wrong with you, get over here!" Nudge ordered and hulled me over to Max who was still screaming. Total was cowering in the corner with Gazzy and Iggy looking positively traumatized. Nudge was being Max's hippie birthing coach talking all roses and butterflies and I could tell Max was just waiting for the thirteen year old to get within range to clobber her. And where is our little prophet, Angel? Delivering the baby because let's be honest is there anything this eight year old can't do?
My baby girl comes into the world screaming her little lungs out. She is puffy and red but she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, just like her Mama. I have held babies before; I used to help take care of Angel all of the time, but it's different when it's your kid. She is so tiny I am afraid I will break her. The moment she reaches Max , her crying stops and Max sends me a tired and triumphant smile. I chuckle I see that even who our kid loves more will be a competition.
Gazzy swaggers in and asks to hold the baby. He has a wicked little gleam and then he holds the baby above his head and starts screeching ''Circle of life' from the Lion king with Iggy. Max is so tired that she is not even remotely worried that she just burst out laughing as the flock burst into a full musical. I even join in and use a bucket as a drum. Nudge and Angel start their adaptation of a tribal dance while still singing along. That moment with my singing flock, laughing Max, and my crying baby girl will always be my favorite memory.
That night, while Max sleeps, I sat on the floor holding our little Phoenix. It was fitting and I loved it the moment Max said it. She was the baby that was born from the ashes of the old world and will later step into the light of the new. I hear the light steps and don't even bother looking up to know who it is.
"Who would ever thought that we would end up here huh, Ange?" I ask while touching the outline of my baby's soft face. Angel sits cross legged in front of me and shrugs her arms.
"I can promise you I didn't." She scoffs and then I look up to see a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
"I am so sorry, Fang. I wanted so badly to fit all the pieces together so that things could work out but it all just went to hell anyway." She said her twig thin shoulders shaking violently. Before I knew all that Angel had gone through, I thought she was just a megalomaniac intent on taking over the world. But she was just a kid thrust into a world that was dark and doomed plus she was only seven years old when she was given visions of death and decay. I moved Phoenix to her makeshift basinet of blankets and opened my arms to allow Angel to launch herself to me.
"Angel, everything worked out in the end like it always does. You did some crazy things but in the end you saved us." I told her as I rocked her softly like I used to do when she was a baby, she let herself become undone and be child for once.
"Hey I think it's time for you to retire, oh wise prophet. It's okay to be a kid." I whispered to her and smoothed her hair. She laugh/sobbed.
"Not an option." She said bitterly.
"Then let us help. We can share the burden at least. We are your family, Ange and we are here for you no matter what." I say. She hugs my neck tighter as if I am just going to vanish into thin air.
"I may take you up on that. I love you, Fang." She whispers before burying her head in my neck.
"I love you, Sis." I tell her as she drifts to sleep.
Three
I thought that I would never love anyone as much as I love Max but that was before Phoenix fluttered into my life. At five years old, she flies excitedly above me laughing as the wind ruffles her hair and feathers.
"Gotcha!" Max says as she grabs hold of our girl. They squeal with glee as they dive-bomb and then accelerate at Max's top speeds. In the wind I hear her
"Bye-bye, Daddy" Phoenix calls. I smile, 'Daddy' has become my favorite word because when she says it, a warmth surges through me. Max got her to say 'Mama' before she was able to say Daddy and she holds it above my head but I don't care. I know my baby girl loves me and boy, do I love the hell out of her.
Later that day, Angel says that she had been picking up some thoughts in the area so she recruited Max, Nudge and Iggy to come with her to scout for survivors; which left me to take care of Phoenix. Haha, in your face Max! So now, she tightly holds my hand as we navigate through the lab of the Morrissey brothers looking for something to do. It was still weird knowing that my DNA was being put into a vaccine to save people. Ironically, Phoenix is fascinated by all things science and loves making trips down here. I guess things are different when you aren't the one being dissected. Her interests weren't so much biological as they were chemical; chemicals that made things explode were her favorite, Iggy and Gazzy have had quite an influence on her. She lets go of my hand so she can explore and I look all the vials that contained the lifesaving vaccine. There are hundreds of them and more are being made every day giving humanity a little more of a chance.
"Daddy, look what I found!" My daughter calls out to me. I turn from my trance and see her bounding forward excitedly holding what looks like an old camera. I crouch down to her level and turn over the gadget to find the power button. I press it but no dice.
"Sorry baby, it doesn't work." I tell her sadly and she looks at me incredulously, her eyes shining with Max's determination.
"Sure it does! Look!" She says and takes it, her little eyebrows knit together as she concentrates. I study her carefully trying to see what she is doing but then sparks of electricity fly from her little fingertips. My instinct is to knock the camera aside and tackle her to the ground while shielding her with my body, her eyes are wide and confused.
"Why'd you do that, Daddy? I fixed it." She said proudly. I looked at her hands and noticed they weren't singed they were actually unharmed. The electricity had come from her.
"How'd you do that?" I asked forcing my heart rate to slow from a heart attack. She shrugged and crawled out from under my arms to the camera and pressed the power button and this time, it bleeped to life. She smiled triumphantly at me. I shook my head and chuckled at her, she may look like me but I swear she is at least 90% Max. I motioned for her to come to me.
"Come here, Sparky let me show you how that works." I tell her and so she flops down on my lap. I turn the camera over and make sure to turn the flash off before instructing her to smile. She hugs my neck and smiles widely at the lens. I glance at her and can't contain my smile. When the camera clicks, I give the most genuine smile I ever have. When I show Phoenix the picture, she is memorized and then sets off to take pictures of everyone and everything. But her new electric powers make an idea spring into my head, I talk about it with Max that night and although hesitant she agrees that we should at least try.
Four
The following day, Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy embark on a mission to create a ground satellite and computer. Nudge is a genius with technology and Iggy and Gazzy decided they could put their destructive skills to the side and try out their building skills. It didn't take long: two days, the only thing missing was an electrical charge to come forth and spring the satellite to life. That's where Phoenix comes in. Max is holding her hand when our girl comes skipping out to the middle of the field where the machine is waiting. She'll be fine, I know she will. Max is more concerned and is a pacing a hole in the ground.
"Will you relax? The electricity doesn't hurt her." I try to assure her but she glares at me. She is probably thinking that I am being a horrible father because I'm not worried about my kid blowing up but I'm not worried because I know she can handle it.
"Okay, Phi. Just like we practiced. Concentrate and aim the electrical current at the satellite." Nudge instructed while moving aside to a safe distance. Phoenix stood alone five feet from the device and put her feet apart. She took a dramatic deep breath and clenched her fists, her long black hair began to spark first before it shot straight up. She opened her eyes and shot her right fist forward as if she was about to punch the satellite but instead a bright flash of light launched off of her fist and into the machine which made a series of various beeps and clicks before silencing.
Nudge came over and pushed the power button. After a few seconds it hummed to life and everyone erupted in cheers. Gazzy picked up Phoenix and started carrying her around on his shoulders, parading her around the satellite. I look to Max who was cheering and laughing, we made eye contact and I couldn't keep the smug look off my face.
"Shut up, Fang. I know you were right." She said as she nudged me. I brought her in for a hug and put my chin on top of her head. I love how well we fit together, it made me realize we really were meant for each other. I looked off to the distance and saw Angel talking with Nudge and Iggy avidly, no doubt about placing these satellites all over the world. Nudge calculated that the satellite had enough juice for about six months. That much surprised me, that's a lot of concentrated electricity inside of my five year old. Maybe it would be good to release that every now and again especially if we have to drop off these satellites all over the world.
Now I sit in front of the laptop that I had stashed away before I had left all those years ago. Max and Phoenix are curled up together on the bed sleeping peacefully. I quietly tip toe to the closet and fish out the camera that Phoenix had charged at the Lab, it was too perfect not to take a picture of my girls happy and healthy with the first rays of sunlight illuminating them through the window. I download the pictures onto the computer and unsurprisingly most of them are burly or of the ground, she's five, cut her a break. Phoenix did get a few really great shots of the flock and of the camp. I move them onto a file and upload them onto my blog. I am so relieved to see a few people are still updating. But some of the posts sound really helpless and we haven't posted anything in close to five years so they most likely think we are dead. It'll take more than an apocalypse to wipe us out. The heading photo is the one Phoenix and I took together in the Lab.
Yo ,
Fang here and I would like to introduce you all to my daughter , Phoenix. Yup, daughter. Max and I have a kid now guys. Our flock is intact for the most part. We have lost Dylan and many more brave souls as I am sure you all have. So many brave people that have had their lives lost in this war of the world vs. human/mutant, but we can't let those be in vain. We have to stay strong and build this world up from the ashes. You guys have made it. You have survived. You are so much stronger than you think. You, 'modified' or not, your lives matter and will make a difference. We have to come together and help each other out to build this world up. This is it guys, we are going to make it. Our little geniuses are working hard at making ground satellites that we can scatter all over the world so that we can all communicate and show each other the progress that is being made. Send us your location and we will leave a satellite there so that you guys can have a stronger connection. Keep hope alive guys. That's the only way to make it in this new world.
Flock over and out.