Between Us – Chapter 2
By MyNameISCAL
DAY TWO:
I woke up early to find Iggy sitting in the kitchen. His eyes seemed to be dancing around the room. Then they fixed themselves in my direction.
"Morning," Iggy said, pulling out a chair for me.
The walk from the doorway to the chair seemed like miles. Iggy looked tired, like he hadn't slept.
"Do you think you could make breakfast?" I asked him. "For Fang?"
"Of course." He stood, making his way to the fridge. Then he stopped and turned back to me. "How bad is it, Max?"
I closed my eyes, not wanting to talk about it. "It's pretty bad, Ig."
Iggy let out a sigh and asked nothing more, beginning his process of cooking. The smell of food wafted through the house, drawing the rest of the flock to the kitchen. When Iggy was done, scooping food onto a plate, I headed down to the basement alone. Fang stood slowly, walking towards the glass. I headed to the decontamination chamber and pulled on the suit before going through another chamber and entering the room.
"Thanks, Max," he said, almost weakly.
I set the plate down on the table before taking a seat on the bed. He looked at me and sighed.
"You look ridiculous in that suit," he remarked.
"Yeah, well, I wish I didn't have to wear it," I grumbled.
He frowned, picking up his fork. "You shouldn't be in here."
"And you'd rather me be on the other side of that glass?" I pointed.
"I'd rather you be safe."
A voice suddenly blasted through the speaker system.
"Max, Jeb's car just pulled into the driveway."
I stared at Gazzy. "Okay, I'm coming out."
Fang let out another sigh and started to eat as I decontaminated the suit and hung it up. I was going to kill Jeb. Well, I was going to kill him after he gave me the cure for Fang.
"Jeb!" I roared as he let himself in.
"Max, hello." His calmness only angered me more and I felt Iggy grab me by the arm, ready to be restraint.
"You can't just let him die like that!" I screamed in his face.
Jeb pulled off his glasses and wiped them. "Max, it's for the greater good. You'll understand someday that it isn't such a great loss."
Iggy's grip tightened around me as I lunged forward, missing Jeb by an inch.
"Now, now, Max. Behave. I have an offer."
I waited impatiently.
"I'll give Fang the cure if you come with me," Jeb said slowly. "And you'll leave the flock too. Someday, you're all going to need to go on your own, be leaders elsewhere. They need to learn to grow without you holding their hands, Max."
"Never!" I spat in his face.
Jeb sighed. "And I'll find someone for you, Max. Someone better than Fang."
Iggy put his hand on my shoulder, holding me back as I tried to claw at Jeb, but I was stronger and unfortunately, I had the advantage being able to see as Iggy hadn't quite adjusted to his surroundings yet. After kicking back and sending Iggy into the wall, I punched Jeb in the face and he crumpled to the floor.
"Oh my God," Nudge gasped.
"Find his keys. I want to search his car."
Gazzy found the keys and tossed them to me. We headed out, leaving Nudge to tend to Iggy. I felt like an asshole for doing that, but we needed to try and fight for a chance for Fang.
But after searching the car, there was nothing.
"He wouldn't be stupid enough to bring it with him," Angel stated. "C'mon, Max, he knows what we're capable of."
I scratched his door with the keys and then kicked it, making a dent. It wasn't any use. We were wasting time and there wasn't much of it left.
It took me a while to go back inside, by then, Iggy was out of the hallway and Jeb had regained consciousness.
"That's the offer, Max. I'll give you some time to think about it, but you better decide before it's too late." He adjusted his glasses and took the keys from me. A few seconds later, I heard the car pull out of the driveway. Gazzy and Angel stared at me for a while, waiting for me to say something, to direct them somewhere, but I couldn't. I walked past them into the kitchen.
"Are you okay, Iggy?"
Iggy sat, holding an icepack on his knee. "I'll be alright."
Everyone took a seat at the table, still expecting me to say something to them. Finally, Gazzy broke the silence.
"So what are we going to do?"
"I don't know, Gaz. There has to be another way to get to Jeb." I rubbed my eyes. "I…I can't think straight."
"But there must be something we can do," Iggy interjected.
I stood, heading to the basement. "The one thing you can do now is prepare for the worst."
No one said anything to me after that and I went down the stairs, taking a seat in front of the glass. Fang was in the middle of a coughing fit and I didn't press the speaker button until he finished.
"Did you take your medication?" I questioned.
He nodded. "You're upset, Max. Why?"
His voice was hoarse and he coughed again, resting his hand against the glass. I put mine up to it and he gave me a brief half smile.
"What did Jeb want?" He asked, taking a seat.
"He offered me the cure for you." I took in a deep breath. "In exchange that I go with him and never see any of you again."
"You're not going to do that, Max?" For a moment, he sounded scared.
"If that's what's going to save you, Fang, then maybe that's our only option," I answered.
"No, you can't do that!" It was like he regained strength. "I will come after you if you do that, even if that means the end of me, Max!"
"Alright, Fang," I said, watching his heart rate spike on the monitors he was hooked up to. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
He coughed, leaning against the glass. "Why don't you go out and get some air, Max?"
I nodded slowly and he moved back to the bed, lying down.