Sometime in the night, I had managed to fall asleep and I was roughly awoken by someone, or something, yanking me out of bed by my arm. The newest version of Flyboys had my arm in a steel iron grip.
"Get dressed," it intoned and the one that had pulled Fang out of the bed repeated the orders to him. They left, leaving me mortified by my nakedness in front of Fang.
"Turn around," I ordered him, leaping for my closest article of clothing. I winced and took a sharp intake when I felt shearing pain...down there. If Fang noticed my discomfort he didn't say anything.
"After what we did, I wouldn't think it'd matter," Fang said dryly, even as he turned around. I didn't reply and we pulled on our clothes as quickly as possible. I refused to look at Fang out of embarrassment. Though I'd promised him it wouldn't change anything between us, I didn't see how it could not.
It wasn't long before the the Flyboys came back and then we were back in the dog crates with the rest of the Flock surrounding us. I forced myself not to think about what had just happened, in case Angel was picking anything up.
"What happened?" Nudge asked. "I, like, closed my eyes and I must of fallen asleep because when I woke up, at least I think I woke up, you guys were gone. Iggy didn't know either and Angel wasn't hearing anything. Gazzy let out one of his signature, uh, talents. You should've seen the Whitecoats faces! Too bad the Flyboys can't smell. Well-..." She shut up seeing my look.
"Thanks." I smiled with gratitude. "Nothing unusual to report. Just Whitecoats with their sick tests." I tried not to blush. I shot Fang a look of silence. I doubt it had any affect on him but either way he didn't say anything. I hoped he was careful with his thoughts. Having a six year old asking certain questions would be a nightmare.
"Anything happen here? Ig?" I turned the focus.
I imagine he would have shrugged then except for the fact that the cages limited out movements. "No. No one bothered us."
"Yeah, well, I wish they would've given us some food," Gazzy complained and I smiled sadly.
"Yeah, I'm hungry too." I wondered if most people felt starving after having sex. Maybe it was just the lack of food for the past couple of days and our fast metabolism.
"Max?" Angel asked quietly. "What's sex?"
Shoot! I froze, daring a glance at Fang. Nudge, who had started talking to Iggy, fell silent. She and Iggy were old enough to know what that meant. Gazzy might've too.
"That means whether you're a boy or girl, Angel," Nudge asked after a few seconds of silence.
Wait to go, Nudge, good thinking! I tried to express my gratitude in a quick smile.
Angel looked at me quizzical, clearly not seeing how that tied into my train of thought. Let it go, sweetie, let it go. I thought, hoping she was getting the message. She nodded discreetly to me and that was the end to that.
But, of course not.
"Why did you ask that?" Gazzy innocently asked his sister. Angel looked to me.
"Uh, never mind, Gazzy. One of the Whitecoats was probably thinking about it. Right, Angel?"
"Uh huh." She smiled angelically. I prayed that Nudge and Iggy brought it too. But considering the look I was getting from Iggy, I don't think so. I would worry about that later.
I threw a roundhouse kick and knocked over the last Flyboy that blocked me and the door. It's metal clattered nosily against the wall and I watched the head fall off. Man, theses things are like breaking toothpicks. The School's really gone downhill. I wondered how their budget is doing. Ha, ha.
"C'mon, guys," I called over my shoulder, pulling them away from they fights. They followed me as I launched myself out the door and into the night sky. I took a deep, exhilarating breath and surged farther upward. Vaguely behind me I could here Iggy and Gazzy congratulating themselves for making their bombs that save our butts out of the little supplies they'd swiped from our captors.
Flying always made me feel better, so much so I could barely feel the dull ache from last night's "experiment." I was crossing my fingers that Fang wouldn't try to talk about it. Iggy too. Six year old mind readers are serious problems sometimes.
A few hours later, though I didn't want to admit it, the Flock was drooping and we needed to stop and make camp.
"Seven o'clock, clearing in the woods!" I made the shift with my feather tips and watched as the others did too.
After a quick dinner of roasted hotdogs, the younger kids and Total crashed. A awkward silence fell upon us and as we listened to the crackling fire and the kids sleep, I knew what was coming. Iggy didn't wait much time in asking.
"Sex?"
With that one word, I felt like cringing.
"What?" I asked innocently. I shot Fang a look. His face was blank but I hoped he had a excuse under that mask of his.
"The Whitecoats made you have sex?" Iggy asked, sounding disgusted. I'm not sure how he put two and two together and got that, but hey, he may be blind but he's good at interrupting stuff too. Too good.
"Where you get that?" I tried but the words sounded flat even to my ears. Fang shrugged at me before turning to Iggy.
"It was either that or they'd kill you guys off one by one."
I was ashamed of my blush as I tried to glare at Fang. Playing dumb would have been better and less embarrassing.
"Oh my God. They wanted to get you pregnant." Iggy's face was covered with horror. "They wanted to see if they could repopulate the earth with bird kids. Are you pregnant?"
"What? No! Of course not." I better not be...
AN: Sorry about, like, no action during their escape. I'm not good at that and didn't really feel like trying. Thanks for reading anf please review.