The Pizza explosion—Fang's POV; Maximum Ride: The Final Warning, chapter 11.
"Yes, yes, yes," Nudge exhaled, bouncing a little bit. All I could smell was pizza. It was intoxicating.
Max's mom put the boxes on the table and opened one. "Who got the extra pepperoni and mushrooms?"
Max practically jumped out of her skin. "Me, me!" I felt myself resist a smile.
Gazzy reached out to stop Dr. Martinez, yelling "wait!" Now over the years, I've learned a few things from the Flock. Each of us has a different skill, something we add. If there's something wrong with the pizza, Gazzy will be the one I'd trust to notice.
"No!" Gazzy pointed, "Look!"
I moved up behind Max to see what he was pointing at. As soon as I got there, though, Max roared "take cover!"
Reflexively, without even thinking, I grabbed Max and threw myself backward, away from the pizza, behind the couch.
For a minute I thought I went blind. Everything glowed white. My ears blew out, and for a minute, everything was far away. I found that I'd automatically pressed my hand over Max's face, and I was slammed up against her back, the hand that wasn't guarding her face, wrapped her waist. She was so still that I could feel my heart hammer unsteadily with worry. Max, my max, I thought.
"You okay?"
She nodded under my hand and I removed it from her face. She jumped to her feet in a single lithe movement. "Report," she said, and she began gagging on the explosion dust. That's Max, my trooper.