The Explanation

Max's POV

There I, the great Maximum Ride, sat. At a birch coffee table in J.J.'s house. Why was I here? It was the closest place to me when I'd received the news. What news? The rest of the flock were going to be staying with Ella and . You see, we'd been separated. How? Erasers, of course. I'd been knocked out and when I woke up, I was in the back of a black van. Thankfully, there was no one else with me. The rest of the flock had gotten away. To make a long story short, they shouldn't have left one of them left a gun in the back when they stopped for a potty break. I was driving along roads that were vaguely familiar. I knew I was in Virginia but didn't know how I'd gotten there. With the help of the handy dandy Maximum Ride credit card, we'd opted to get two cell phones. One for me, and the other for Iggy. They called and told me where they were. Just after we hung up, I noticed a girl, about my age, was just outside my car window where I had pulled over on the side of the road.

"Max...?" She whispered. So there I was, at J.J.'s house. This being the fourth day. I couldn't get a hold of the flock on the cell phone or Martinez's phone. I decided to stay where I was in case the flock came because if I couldn't get a hold of Dr. Martinez, they probably weren't there. And if I couldn't get a hold of Iggy, I didn't know where they were.

The obnoxious ring of the doorbell brought me back from my brooding. "Max?" J.J.'s mom asked, "Could you get that?"

"Yeah," I rose from my seat, trying to sound as polite as I could. I mean, the woman was letting this girl she'd never met stay in her house and it wasn't her fault I'd been separated from my family. She deserved better than me laying about her house, moping.

I opened the door, expecting it to be Lily again. She came over every afternoon to chit chat with J.J. And by chit chat I mean, chit and chat and chat and chat and CHAT! She never shut up! But boy was I in for a surprise when I opened the door to Fang. "Fang!" I gasped. His face had less emotion than usual. Generally, I could at least see a glint in his eye or some sort of underlying thought, but this time, I got nothing. "Fang...?" I mumbled.

He grabbed my arm and motioned outside with his head as if he wanted to talk privately. "Uhm... sure, but I have to go tell J.J.-"

"Come on!" He yanked me forward and out of the doorway.

I jerked my arm loose in response. "Hey! What's that for! And you could have at least called, you know!"

"Called?" He murmured, almost as though he were talking to himself.

I nodded, "Yeah. On the cellphone."

"Cellphone?" Almost all at once it hit me. He didn't know about the cellphone, he was being more forceful than usual. How could I know this was Fang? He hadn't even called. What if... what if Fang were dead? What if the whole flock were dead?! Or worse, at the school...

"You... aren't..." Just then he lunged at me. I spun on my heels and right back into J.J.'s house. "RUN!" I screamed to J.J. and her mother. Fang chased me up the stairs when I tripped on the top most step. "Oh no!" I cried. I heard "Fang" start to laugh maniacally. His hands seized my shoulders just as I grabbed a pencil from the floor. He flipped me over onto my back only to have me stab him in the arm with the pencil. He roared in pain and ripped the pencil out of his arm but I had distracted him long enough to kick him in the chest, sending him rolling backwards down the stairs.

I took a fleeting glance at the open front door while he composed himself before making a mad dash for it. I had to get him away from this house. I was almost out the door when a pair of hands grabbed my ankles a left the rest of my body to hit the ground. Head first. He brought my ankles down to the ground and pulled me backwards until I was underneath him, then turned me over. He grabbed my wrists in both hands and pressed them to the floor over my head. I struggled but nothing I did seemed to have any effect.

It was no use, my arms were pinned above my head, there was no getting out of this. This was it, I was going to be killed. By Fang no less. Or... whoever this was. His head bent over and he whispered into my ear, "Are you ready to die, Max?" His warm, wet breath fanned my cheeks.

And then, just as it was going to happen. Just before Fang'd had the chance to slit my throat, my hands were free and I heard a loud grunt from the other end of the room. Sitting up, I saw what was going on. Fang had kicked Fang off of me. But... There was something different about this new Fang. This good Fang that rescued me... his hair! It was so long! And no colours in it, just pure black, pulled into a ponytail. I could vaguely see numbers on the back of his neck... An expiration date? Oh no! Fang!

"Calm down, Max. Everything's going to be alright." And just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder, a third Fang appeared on my right. Looking the same as he always did, helping me out.

"Are you-" I began. He nodded, helping me up from the floor. For a moment or two we stared at the two fake Fangs fighting. "Who are they?" I whispered to him.

He sighed, "It's a bit of a long story but I think I can give you a vague idea of what's going on, right now. The evil one, that's my clone."

I nodded, "And the new one? With the ponytail? He's your clone, too?" Fang shook his head. "Your brother?" Another head shake. "Then what?!"

He chuckled under his breath, "That's my son."

I sucked in a gulp of air, "Your- what?! How?!"

"I'll explain it all later, now, we have to get out of here."

"But there are people still in there!" I cried. Fang! How could you be so heartless?!

Fang gave me the, "Honestly, Max, I think I have this covered" look. "They'll be fine," he said, "Don't underestimate the power of my son."

When I saw the beating "Fang" was taking from Fang's son... jeez, this is getting confusing, I couldn't help but be in awe. Even I probably couldn't have done so well against Max II. I followed him outside only to be immediately glomped by four children and a dog.

"Max! You're alright!" Angel screamed.

"Fang didn't kill you! I mean, evil Fang. Fang's clone. Shouldn't evil Fang have a name. Like we gave a name to Max II. Shouldn't we call him something different so we don't get confused. Like, Ricardo or something..."
"Max, we missed you!" Gazzy cried clinging to my legs.

Iggy, who had broken away from the group hug almost as soon as it began, stood to my left. "So, what did you think of Fang's little secret?"

"You mean his son?" I questioned, shooting Fang a glare.

Fang sighed, "Clearly, I didn't do anything without your knowledge, Max. For goodness sakes, the boy's older than me."

My jaw practically hit the floor. "He's what?"

Just then, Fang's son emerged from J.J.'s house, dragging an either dead or unconscious "Fang" behind him. "I explained everything to the family that lives here. We can leave right after I get this guy into a dumpster." He then proceeded to waltz over to J.J.'s trash can, stuff the body in, then dust off his hands before coming back over. "So, what do you say we get this show on the road? I can explain everything to Max when we land." He winked at me.

Fang placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "That's okay, Drake. I think I've got this covered."

"Whatever you say, Dad." Fang's son, Drake apparently, replied, unfolding large brown wings with black speckles, then taking off. The rest of us followed suit.