Max hummed a little tune as she poured more vegetable oil into the pan. She paused to smell the wonderful aroma just as Fang arrived. With a grin, Max abandoned her cooking and gave him a quick kiss. "Where's Phoenix?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.
"She's right behind me," Fang said confidently. He turned. His jaw fell open. "Phoenix?" he called frantically. "Where are you?"
Max's eyes widened. "What do you mean, where is she?" Fang held up his hands.
"No, she was right behind me!"
Worry made Max snap. She promptly slapped Fang across the face. "You idiot! We've got to find her! She could be lost, tired, hungry, or worse!"
Fang nodded, holding a hand to his reddening cheek. "Yes, ma'am." He took off through the front door. Max paced back and forth, tears appearing in her eyes. Phoenix, that stupid little rascal. Maybe she just ran off because she saw something interesting. But what if… Dread washed over Max. What if her little girl had fallen while flying? She could be seriously hurt!
Max rushed through the door and spread out her wings. As soon as she took flight, her sharp eyes began to scan the landscape. The earth was still recovering from the meteor, so there was still a lot of ash and rubble. Now, though, Max could see small trees poking out fro the ground, and the river didn't look as contaminated as it had before. "Phoenix?" she called. No answer.
Max searched for about an hour or so with no luck. "I need help," she said to herself. Swooping down, she landed in front of a large house near a cliff. She knocked on the door and waited.
"Coming," said a muffled voice somewhere inside the house. The door was opened to reveal Iggy, still as tall and strawberry blonde as Max remembered. "What?" he asked. Max bit her lip.
"I need your help," she said. "Phoenix is missing." Iggy snapped to attention.
"What? Our little Phoenix?" A single tear escaped Max's eye despite her attempt to keep back her emotions.
"Yeah, she and Fang were playing hide and seek. She must have gotten off track when they were coming home. May I come in?" Iggy moved aside to allow Max to step inside the house. She immediately noticed the thousands of pictures hanging on the walls. Nearly all of them were of her sister, Ella. She was dead now, drowned during the apocalypse.
A pang of sadness pierced Max's heart. "You still miss her, don't you," said Max quietly. Iggy nodded without a word.
"Let's get the others," he said in a strained voice. Max walked to the spiraling staircase and shouted, "Nudge! Gazzy! Get your butts down here right now!" There was stumbling somewhere upstairs, and ten seconds later, there were two sleepy looking teenagers at the foot of the stairs.
"Waas it, Marx," slurred Gazzy. Max grabbed his shoulders and shook him awake. "Okay, okay! I'm awake," he grumbled. Nudge yawned.
"What's the problem?" she asked.
"Phoenix is missing," puts in Iggy. Nudge's mouth fell open, and she turned to Max for confirmation. When Max nodded, Nudge bursts into tears.
"Oh no!" Nudge wailed. "What will we do?"
"We find her, obviously," said Gazzy. His wings were already out and ready to take flight. Iggy nodded.
"All right, let's go," he said. They ran outside and started flying. "We'll meet back here in three hours!" Iggy shouted. "Got it?"
"Got it!" shouted the rest of the Flock. Max flew high, hoping to catch a glimpse of her daughter, but there wasn't a little girl with black hair and black wings in sight. Max flew for a long time before she was flying over a forest.
"Maybe she's hiding in the woods," Max murmured. Gently she landed in the shade of a tall oak tree. The forest was eerily silent, which was strange as there was always something moving, even if it was as small as a beetle. "Phoenix?" Max called. The only thing she heard was the wind blowing the leaves.
She began to trek across the dry soil and crunchy leaves, calling out her daughter's name. Max searched for about thirty minutes before suddenly, a twig snapped. Max whirled around, her ears perking. Nothing. But she stayed still for another five minutes, just in case. Finally she was about to continue her search when something large and heavy slammed into her back.
With a cry of surprise, Max did a face-plant into a pile of leaves. She felt the tips of sharp teeth graze her neck before she let out a cry and shoved the animal off her back. Max twisted around to glare at her attacker. Her first thought was, Eraser! No, that's wrong. Erasers were vaguely human. This animal was completely wolf, or so it seemed. Max slowly backed up.
As soon as she heard the quiet humming sound, she dove to the side instinctively. Just in time as well. From the wolf's eyes shot out two glowing red lasers. They burned two holes in the tree where Max had been standing in front of only moments ago. "Oh, come on!" complained Max. "It's a mutant wolf that just has to have freaking laser beams!" The humming came again, and Max spread her wings and jumped into the air as the lasers burned the spot she had just been lying on.
Before the wolf could shoot lasers again, Max kicked it soundly across the jaw. Its head snapped sideways, and Max punched it again for good measure. The wolf gave out a long howl. It was calling for its friends. Five dark shapes leaped out of nowhere and started tearing at Max. One sank its teeth deep into her shoulder, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. Another swipes its claws across her side, and Max barely manages to stumble away. Weak, she spread out her wings and launched into the air.
Somehow, she managed to dodge the lasers that were shooting up towards her. Max began to fly as fast as she could to get away from the mutants howling behind her. Her flying became slower, and she felt extremely lightheaded. "You'll be fine," she says to no one in particular. Max ripped off a strip of her T shirt to wrap her side. She did the same for her wounded shoulder.
A raindrop splattered against her hair. "Oh, this is just great," groaned Max. "It's gonna rain." Sure enough, it was raining cats and dogs within two minutes. Max was soaking wet within seconds. Brushing aside a stand of wet hair, Max shivered. It probably was already three hours since she had left Iggy's house. Disappointed in not finding Phoenix, Max turned around and flew back to Iggy's house.
Or at least, she tried to. Almost instantly, the weight of her wet feathers dragged her down. Max had no choice but to walk.
By the time she got back to the meeting place, Max was wet, shivering, and covered in mud. Iggy raised his eyebrows. "Well, looks like you had a fun trip," he said. Max glared at him.
"Yes, I definitely did," she snarled. "Where's Fang?"
"Here," Fang said, emerging from the house. "No luck finding her." Max's bottom lip quivered.
"Nothing?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"No," murmured Fang, looking down. "I'm sorry. We'll continue searching."
"You'd better!" said Max, marching upstairs to take a shower. "Oh, and I'll kill you later, Fang. Just let me shower first." Fang had never looked so upset in his life. Max felt bad for saying those words to him, but she was too angry at the moment. She twisted the knob and let the hot water run over her, and she tried to loose herself in the gushing water.