DISCLAIMER: I own nothing to do with Maximum ride.
There was something wrong with the sausages.
Ella's mom had given them to Max before they had left, sealed in a plastic box. "For the journey," she had said and Max had hugged her, tears glistening in her eyes. "Thanks Mom," she had choked out, incredibly emotional. She hadn't wanted to leave, none of them had but there was a world to be saved and a Director to hunt down!
With teary farewells behind them the Flock had flown for the entire day, following the instructions of Max's Voice.
And when night fell they had set up a fire and Iggy had cooked the sausages to perfection. They had settled down to eat and Nudge had taken a big bite of hers. And then...and then...
It had tasted of metal and ice, burnt her throat as she swallowed it and the instant she did she was retching and gagging, trying to bring it out of her stomach where it blazed like acid. The rest of the flock were in similar states, choking and screaming. Then, one by one they had collapsed.
Nudge watched Angel collapse into a white, feathery pile before the blackness had built, choking out her every thought and she had fallen to.
She woke in a tiny cramped room, lit by one dusty bulb swinging on a bit of string. The shadows the dim light threw up were wild and erratic, dancing like mad things on the cement walls.
"MAX!" She screamed as soon as the drugs effects had worn off and she could think coherently.
"MAX! IGGY! FANG! ANGEL! GAZZY!" The screams tore loose from her aching throat and bounced back off the walls, nearly deafening her. "MAAAXXX!"
The scream trailed into a gut wrenching sob and Nudge sank to her knees, fighting the tears that pricked the corners of her eyes. She didn't have time to be miserable! She had to find a way out of here! All right...What would Max do?
Find the door!
It took Nudge all of two seconds to locate the only way in and out of the cell; a vast iron door that not even a battering ram could get through let alone a scared twelve year old girl. There were no windows and the walls were solid concrete.
She was trapped.
The feelings of utter despair and hopelessness washed over her and she burst into tears, huge tearing sobs shaking her entire body and tears streaming down her face.
Then there was a knock at the door.
Immediately Nudge hurled herself away from it, crouching down the far corner of the cell, terrified of what might come through. She heard the metallic clinks as someone undid the locks that were on the other side of the door and there was a grating noise as it swung open. Hollow footsteps echoed as he walked towards her.
When she saw who it was hope sang through her veins. He would help her, he had always helped her, he was a good guy! But then why was he here?
"Jeb?" She asked, her voice trembling. He didn't reply and Nudge felt sick with apprehension. "Jeb, where am I? Where's the flock? Where's Max?"
He looked at her coldly for several seconds before replying, his voice flat and emotionless. "You are in the School Nudge. It doesn't matter where the flock or Max is, you don't need to know."
"Why are you doing this?" Nudge choked out, her body shaking. Jeb was supposed to be a good guy, even when he seemed to be working for the School he wasn't like this - flat, cold, uncaring.
And then he smiled, a malicious smirk that sent chills down her spine. "Why Nudge? Why? Because it's my job, that's why. You're an experiment and I'm a scientist."
"You were working for them all along weren't you?" Nudge said, her voice shaking as comprehension dawned. "All this time; just a game."
"Not a game Nudge, a test, a test to see if you were good enough." He turned and walked towards the door. Pausing, with his hand on the handle he looked back at her, dark amusement in his grey eyes.
"Just so you know Nudge; you weren't"
And then he slammed the door and left her, left her, left her...
The whitecoats came in, three of them burly and strong. Pinned her down and stabbed a needle in her leg. Then the drugs took effect and everything blurred...
Screaming. White. Blinding lights. Needles. Drugs. Pain. Where was the Flock? Max? Iggy? Fang? Gazzy? Angel? MAX!
Help me, make it stop they won't stop and ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts.
Dark and pain and more drugs and everything hurts.
Max? Are you there? Can you hear me? Help me Max, please help me. They're coming back. No, no nonononono not again! MAX!
Can't breathe, can't move, can't feel. Blinding lights overhead, warped voices speaking. Can't understand.
The smell of metal and the taste of my own blood in the back of my throat.
MAX!
Whycan'tanyonehearmetheyhavetohearme.
This is a dream. Just a dream. I'll wake up soon and everything will be safe and happy again.
Jeb you bastard, you bastard, you bastard. I'll kill you! Do you hear me? Can you hear me? CAN YOU HEAR ME?
"This subject is a human-avian hybrid, part of the disastrous Batchelder project...No of course I don't blame you Doctor Batchelder, even though these experiments carry your name its not your fault that they turned out the way they did. Now, if I may continue? Thank you."
Another set of drugs.
"Since they are obsolete in every other way this one is being used to test new drugs; medicinal, hallucinogenics and the like. Illegal?" A soft chuckle. "Of course, but really, who cares?"
Who cares? Who cares? Whocareswhocareswhocareswhocares...
Days and months and years and cages and dark and pain.
Blood between her teeth and tears in her eyes.
Who cares?
"Can you hear me?"
What an odd voice. Dull and emotionless and so very bored. They don't want to be here. They want to be off somewhere else. They want to be off somewhere else, like a party! Birthday party! Nudge loved parties, with cake and games and the like. But not yet! She doesn't have anything to wear. "But I don't have a nice dress for the party," she complained as she rolled over onto her side. Her whole body ached and her limbs felt like lead. There was something on the side of her face, something warm and sticky but congealing fast, forming a crusty coating on her cheek. She raised a hand to her cheek and wiped the icky, gooey stuff away, opening her eyes a crack to examine it. Her fingers were covered in a viscous red-brown substance which smelt familiar but she couldn't quite place it...
Blood. Blood! Blood!
"Blood!" Nudge screamed as she sprang to her feet, instantly alert. There was blood on her face! And... Feverishly she examined her arm and saw that it too was smeared with caked on blood. She looked down at herself and saw that she was wearing a paper thin shift dress and her feet were clad in canvas plimsolls. Both the dress and the plimsolls were flecked with red. Her head was killing her but she disregarded that. Where was she? And why was she covered in blood?
She wheeled around and her head span so badly that she almost passed out. There was someone watching her, someone who seemed horribly familiar but she just couldn't place them. Her vision was too blurry so she squinted and steadily the image swam into focus. It was a boy. A few years older than her, a few inches taller with light brown hair and silvery blue eyes.
Silvery blue eyes.
Gasping with shock Nudge took a step away from him but her back hit a cold wall and she couldn't retreat any further. "Omega..." she whispered, her voice barely audible.
He nodded conformation and studied her carefully. Nudge could hear her heart hammering in her ears, she was terrified. Max had beaten him - just, and Max was a brilliant fighter. Nudge wasn't. Suddenly she felt a pang, a desperate longing for Max and the flock that was almost physical pain but she blinked back the tears that threatened to come. Now wasn't the time.
"Where am I?" She asked, her voice wary.
"The School." He replied, his voice as blank as ever.
Fighting to keep a hold on herself, swallowing hard to stop the bile rising in her throat from the rusty smell of the blood. "A-and the b-blood? Where did that come from?"
He was perfectly clean except a faint red stain under his fingernails. Nudge wondered where it had come from.
"The blood came from the failures." He said in his robotic monotone.
Dread rose like vomit. Nudge began dragging in air as he continued, verifying her horrific theory.
"The failures that I was ordered to terminate."
Shaking, shaking with fear and disgust Nudge plucked up the courage to look around. The room was white and silver; white walls and silver metal tables. The floor was made up of cold white tiles, like the ones you might find in a bathroom.
And it was drenched, drenched in red; splashed up the walls and gathering in pools on the floor. There were corpses, grisly lumps of flesh scattered around.
Nudge closed her eyes but it was too late; the nightmare scene burned behind her eyelids where she couldn't blot it out. She leant forward, doubled over and retched; vomiting on the white floor. Then she opened her eyes and didn't look at the room, instead focusing tear-blurred eyes on Omega.
"Am I next?" Her voice was strangely calm, as though she had already accepted her fate.
Omega looked puzzled as though what she had said made no sense. "Of course not. My orders did not include you."
Nudge knew better than to be relieved, she was just suspicious. "Then why the hell am I HERE?" Her voice rose as she spoke and by the end of it she was screaming at him. He didn't flinch.
"The doctors threw you in. You were unconscious; drugged. I didn't understand why; you weren't slated for termination." He paused and looked towards the door. "I have finished my job, they will be here soon. It would be easier if they stayed; it would save time." He shrugged and a slight frown creased his face. "I don't understand why they never stay."
Nudge gaped at him in disbelief. "You don't understand why they don't stay? They may be evil but no-one wants to see this...this..." She gestured towards the blood-soaked scene before her without looking at it. "Screw saving time, no-one wants to see this."
Omega's frown deepened and he looked at her in confusion. "But I would not have harmed them."
Nudge shook her head. "You don't get it do you? No human...not even an evil scientist wants to see people getting torn apart. It's disgusting." She shuddered and felt tears begin to trickle down her cheeks, tears for the poor "failures" that Omega had termi- murdered.
Omega's mouth opened as if he was going to ask another question but just then the double doors opened and three whitecoats strode in. He snapped to attention at once, his face expressionless.
One of the scientists turned away as soon as they entered the room. Another turned faintly green and averted his eyes with a muttered: "Oh God." The tallest, with grey, thinning hair and hazel eyes didn't look at the blood and gingerly picked his way towards Omega and Nudge. He looked from Omega to her and then back to Omega again, glaring at him furiously.
"Why didn't you kill the girl?" He snapped.
Nudge gasped and stared at the man with horrified eyes. Omega's face remained blank as he answered. "They were not my orders."
The man's eyes narrowed. "Well I'm ordering you now. Kill her!"
Omega didn't move. "I only take orders from the Director."
The man flinched as though he'd been struck. "She was in the room!" He protested. "Your orders from the Director were to terminate all in this room. Do it! Kill her!"
Nudge, terrified looked for a way out but there was none. If Omega attacked then she'd have no choice but to fight. And that was no choice at all.
"No." Omega stated, his voice beginning to sound annoyed. "You put her in the room, she was not there at the start. Therefore she is not slated for termination by the Director and therefore I will not kill her."
The man stared at him in disbelief, clearly he was used to being obeyed. He exploded. "Kill her damn it! You were created to obey orders! KILL HER!"
Omega's silver gaze was cold and angry, the look on his face made Nudge shiver. The scientist wilted under it. "I only obey the Director. Not you. I was created to be superior to ordinary humans which I am." His voice was clear and calm but with an undertone of menace that allowed no argument. "Doctor Patterson I would strongly recommend that you stop acting above your station."
Doctor Patterson lowered his gaze and muttered something that Nudge couldn't hear. Then he straightened up and glared at Nudge. "You!"
Nudge glared straight back at him. "I have a name you know."
Without any warning he lashed out at her, catching her a blow on the cheek that sent her reeling. Instinctivly she lashed out at him, her hands clenched into angry fists. But something grabbed her wrist and didn't let go. Omega was holding her wrist in a grip like iron which, try as she might, she couldn't break. "Let me go!" She snapped, still fighting to free her hand.
"You are not to harm them," he said calmly. "No experiment is permitted to exhibit signs of physical violence against a doctor."
Nudge stared at him, her face frantic. "Not permitted? Not permitted? Screw that! Damn you! I'm not an experiment! I'm more, I'm more! I have a name, a life!" Her voice grew in pitch and she knew she sounded hysterical but she didn't care. "I don't obey orders. I don't obey orders!"
Omega studied her curiously as she writhed and fought, angry tears streaking down her face. "Everyone must obey orders. And you are an experiment; part of the failed Batchelder project."
Nudge stopped struggling and slowly shook her head. "He designed us..." She murmured, suddenly feeling utterly spent and very alone.
"No. The Director designed you, oversaw the project. He created you. Engineered you."
The whitecoats had been debating about something. Finally Dr Patterson walked towards Nudge, a sneer on his face and a towel in his hand. He tossed it to Nudge and she caught it by reflex, looking at it dumbly.
"Clean yourself up." He ordered.
She wiped the blood from her face, wincing as it slid like oil across her skin. She scrubbed at the blood on her arms but she could only remove a little; it was caked on hard. She wished with all her heart that she could have a shower, a proper shower that took ages. Max always said that she took too long in the shower. Another pang. That was bad, don't think of Max, don't think about any of them.
When she had finished he took the soiled towel back, holding it between finger and thumb, looking at it with distaste. With a grunt of disgust he flicked it away from him and it slid across the blood stained floor, thudding softly against a-a-a...
Nudge retched and turned away from the disembered corpse. Omega still held her wrist, his eyes fixed on the whitecoats. Dr Patterson gestured for them to follow him and set off through the double doors. Omega followed, dragging Nudge with him. She didn't try and resist.
What was the point anymore?