The flock sat in silence. No one was talking, not even Nudge. She didn't feel like she had the energy. She was starving. Max had gone to get food, but it felt like hours since she had left. What if

Max didn't come back? She felt guilty for thinking this, but the reality was, Max didn't know what she was doing. Nudge could tell. Nudge gave a quiet moan under her breath. Her stomach was

probably digesting itself! She needed food NOW.

She opened her eyes to see Fang leaning against the wall with his eyes shut. She didn't know if he felt as bad as she did or if he was just resting or whatever.

Iggy, who had been lying on his back on the floor, suddenly stiffened and sat up quickly. "What is it?" Angel asked.

The Gasman sat up too "What did you hear?" he asked. He sounded scared, but then, Nudge realised, so was she. They didn't know what to do if the Erasers came. "Footsteps," Iggy

breathed. Max? Nudge thought. She looked at Fang. He put his finger to his lips. They all fell silent.

Nudge barely dared to breath. It was so quiet her ears began to ring. Then she heard it too. Footsteps.

Silently, Fang got to his feet and motioned for them to leave the cave, pointing to the trees. Right. They could hide up the trees. No one looks in trees. Unless, whoever it was knew they could

fly and in that case, they couldn't hide. It always ended in a fight. Nudge sighed.

They knew that whoever it was couldn't see them yet, probably. For the flock, people's sound traveled before them. They had a few minutes, hopefully.

Nudge forced herself to stand, she felt so tired. She began to creep after Fang as quietly as she could.

Then the world seemed to change. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Either that or everything else was moving really really fast. She felt so tired. So very tired. She felt herself sink

slowly to the floor, as she watched the flock take off into the sky. Then she looked down and saw the small dart sticking out of her leg. Fuzzily she saw men in black surrounding her. Then

everything went dark.

Fang turned in mid-air to see Nudge collapsing and the men closing in. "But she was right there! She was right behind us!" The gasman was yelling at his side. "What is it? What happened?"

Iggy was shooting off urgent questions. Angel was staring intently at the men.

One man turned suddenly and caught them hovering above the trees. He didn't hesitate in raising his gun.

"Scatter!" Fang yelled. The flock split and dove into the cover of the trees.

The Gasman landed heavily on the branch of a tree. Iggy had been tailing him closely and landed next to him. He could feel Iggy shaking, with fear or anger or something else, he didn't know

what, but they both had enough sense to stay quiet until the noise died away.

The gasman too was beginning to shake. He wanted to punch something. Anything. He wanted to go down there and kick their butts. How dare they try do this! But Fang wasn't fighting, Fang

was scattering. He was running. How bad could it be?

They waited until the natural silence of the wood returned. He was beginning to get a cramp from staying still in this tree so long.

Finally he heard Fang's low bird imitation and they went to join him in a nearby tree.

The Gasman landed. He was so angry he nearly fell out of the tree. Then he exploded.

"Why didn't we go down there? They were only stupid guys. We could have kicked their butts, big time!"

He glared furiously at Fang, who calmly returned his stare. "What happened!" Iggy yelled. "I can't see remember! Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on!"

"Some people caught Nudge," Fang supplied. "And He let them!" Gazzy cut in.

"Listen," Fang said calmly "We don't know who they are. The school brought us here remember. They could be anything and they had guns. We can't rescue her if we get captured,"

"Everyone be quiet and listen," Angel said in a low voice. They stopped and looked at her. She hadn't said anything for hours and now she sounded so demanding. It was scary.

"I read the man's mind," She said matter of factly. Like that happens all the time, but then, for the flock, it did.

"They're not from the school," she continued, "They're something else, but they know we're not...normal,"

Fang nodded slowly. It was so irritating that he could be so cool and calm when the gasman felt like he was about to snap.

Jeez! First Angel. Now Nudge. Why did this always happen? Couldn't anyone let them be all six together for more than five days.

Obviously not.

"What do we do now?" Iggy asked quietly.

"We wait," Fang said.

Gasman wanted to protest, but knew he couldn't, after all, what else could they do?

They waited...

And waited...

And, you guessed it, waited some more.