Maximum Ride All Over Again – Part II; Chapter 4
Disclaimer – I do not own Maximum Ride, all rights belong to James Patterson.
Mom took the book from Angel lightly and warily started to read. The tension in the room, though lowered after the battle concluded, started rising as the flock remembered the tense hours to come. Fang wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer.
Chapter 7
We hovered in place for several minutes, waiting to see if there would be a second attack. For the moment we seemed in the clear, and I took the time to catalogue our injuries. Fang was flying awkwardly, his arm pressed against his side.
"I'm fine," he said curtly, noticing me watching him. I huffed. "Liar," I muttered. He rolled his eyes and rubbed my arm.
"Angel? Gazzy? Nudge? Report," I said. "What about Iggy?" Ella asked and Iggy smirked, crossing his arms. "Yeah, what about Iggy?" He repeated. I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue muttering whatever.
"Leg hurts, but I'm okay," said the Gasman.
"I'm fine," said Angel. "And so are Total and Celeste." Celeste was the small angel-dressed stuffed bear Angel had – well, let's say – been given at a toy store in New York. Angel grinned sheepishly.
"I'm okay," said Nudge, but sounded whipped.
"My nose," said Iggy, pressing it hard to stop the bleeding. "But no biggie." "No one asked you, Ig," Fang said, causing Gazzer to laugh.
"Okay, then," I said. "We're almost to DC, and it should be easy to get lost in another big city. We good to go?" "When are you ever good to go?" Ella asked.
Everyone nodded, and we swung in a tight, graceful arc to return to our flight path.
"So . . . what's with the flying Erasers?" Iggy said a few minutes later.
"I'm guessing a new prototype," I said. "But, man, they're failures. They were having a hard time flying and fighting at the same time." "The very first batch," Jeb nodded. "They were the first Eraser experiments to have wings and the Director thought they could take you. She greatly underestimated you." I looked at him in curiosity as he continued. "Of course, that's why I had to let her go through with it, because they were no match for you, nothing other than sparring practice."
I let that sink in as Mom read on. So he really was, if nothing else, trying to be on the lookout, still a pain, but he was only helping us get better at what we were doing – I suppose he isn't all bad. Maybe 95.5% bad. But not all bad.
"Like they'd just learned to fly, you know?" said Nudge. "I mean, compared to hawks, we look clumsy. But compared to those Erasers, we're, like, poetry in motion."
I smiled at Nudge's description, silently checking out my own aches and pains.
"They were bad fliers," Angel chimed in. "And in their minds, they weren't all Kill the mutants, like they usually are. They were like, Remember to flap!"Mom laughed as she read that.
I laughed at her imitation of a deep, growly Eraser voice. "I can try, can't I?" Angel said giggling. "Did you pick up on anything else, Angel?" I asked.
"You mean besides dead Ari showing up?" Gazzy said, sounding bummed.
"Yeah," I said. Just then I caught a warm updraft and coasted for a minute, enjoying a feeling of pure bliss.
"Well, none of them really felt familiar," said Angel, thinking.
Having a six-year-old mind reader came in handy. Sometimes I wished Angel's mind reads were a little more specific, or that they'd come when we wanted. Then maybe she'd be able to warn us that an Eraser was about to drop in and say hi. But sometimes she just gave me the willies. Angel was starting to control people with her mind – not just Erasers – and I wasn't sure when she was crossing the line into, say, witchcraft, for instance. My little mind reader sighed. I'm sorry, Max. I heard in my head.
It's all part of growing up, Ange. I smiled at her to let her know all was forgiven. She nodded at me from across the room.
A while later, I realized that Fang wasn't beside me and I looked around to see him below, maybe twenty feet back. He'd been silent, not unusual for him, but now I could see that his flying was ragged and off-balance. His face seemed paler, and his lips were pressed tightly together.
I dropped back and swooped down next to him. "This isn't gonna be good is it?" Ella asked, dreading the next chapter already. Our grim faces told her she was right. He's okay, I told myself again and again. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through my nose. Nothing would ever hurt us like this again.
"What's going on?" I said in my no-nonsense tone. It had never worked on him before, but a girl had to keep trying.
"Nothing," he said, but that one word was tight and strained. Which meant he was lying through his teeth.
"Fang -," I began, and then saw that the arm pressed against his side was dark and wet. Blood. "Your arm!"
"'S not my arm," he muttered. Then his eyes fluttered shut and he started to lose altitude fast.
Really fast. Mom passed the book to Jeb without a word and took a deep breath staring at Fang. He put a hand in the air and looked at everyone, like he was waving at them. "I'm okay," he said to the room at large, a ghost of a smile playing on his face, only noticeable to those who constantly studied his face. So probably just me.
Chapter 8
"Iggy!" I yelled, as cold panic ripped right through me. Not Fang. Please let Fang be okay.Now Fang was smug. "You were worried about me," he whispered. I huffed.
"Of course I was worried about you," I muttered. "Since when have I not worried about you?"
"But if I'm not mistaken, this was before you noticed that you loved me, even though I knew you did."
"How did you know when I didn't?"
"Because I knew that there was only one person who could ever love me like I loved them. But now I know that's wrong, because no one could ever love me as much as I love you."
"Oh, get a room," Iggy said loudly, breaking into our little reverie. I felt my face grow hotter than the Sahara. Suddenly aware of the faces on us, and how close our faces were, I coughed and laid my head on his shoulder. Mom and Jeb looked slightly amused while the others were anxiously waiting to get back to the story.
"Hello!" Ella said. "Fang is dying. Can we please get to the part where he heals?"
I laughed. "That's my cue, I guess," Jeb said and started reading again.
"Over here!"
Then Iggy and I flew beneath Fag, supporting him. I felt Fang's dead weight on me, saw his closed eyes, and suddenly felt as if I couldn't breathe.
"Let's land, see what's wrong!" I told Iggy, and he nodded. "Oh, nothing much, just another typical day with the flock," Mom muttered softly and I smiled at her.
We flew hard toward the narrow, rocky shore edging the black ocean. Iggy and I landed awkwardly, Fang limp between us. The younger kids scurried over to help us carry him to a flattish, sandier place. "The beach," Iggy said. "Stuff always happens to us at the beach."
"Stuff happens to us everywhere," Nudge replied.
"But more so, it seems, at the beach."
"Do tell," Ella said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes, glancing at the book.
"Well there was the first time, with Angel learning to breathe underwater," Iggy said. "Then this – Fang's near death experience. After that came Max's meltdown, then Gasman, Fang and I had multiple battles with Erasers at different beaches. The seal from the arctic – need I go on?" Ella's and Mom's mouths dropped.
"You know, now that you mention it," I said in amazement, then groaned. "We're never going to the beach again. Not anytime soon at least."
The girls whimpered, but I shook my head and motioned for Ella to continue.
Stop the bleeding, said the Voice.
"What's the matter with him?" Nudge asked, dropping to her knees next to Fang.
Checking him out, I saw that Fang's shirt and jacket were soaked with blood, the dark fabric gleaming wetly. I tried to keep my face calm.
"Let's just see what we're dealing with here," I said steadily, and quickly unbuttoned Fang's shirt.
Now I saw that the shirt was shredded, and beneath it, so was Fang. Ari had managed to do this . . . obscenity.
Nudge drew in a quick gasp when she saw the damage, and I looked up. "Nudge, you and Gazzy and Angel rip up a shirt or something. Make strips for bandages."
Nudge just stared at Fang.
"Nudge!" I said more firmly, and she snapped out of it.
"Uh, yeah. Come on, guys. I have an extra shirt here . . . an' I got a knife. . . ."
The three younger kids moved away while Iggy's sensitive hands brushed Fang's skin like butterflies. "I never told you guys how proud I was of you. It was a crucial moment and you all worked so well and didn't lose your cool," I said, looking at my gang in wonder. They blushed but Nudge spoke up for them.
"We wouldn't be what we are – were? – without you, Max," she said.
"This feels real bad. Real bad," Iggy said in low voice. "How much blood has he lost?"
"A lot," I said grimly. Eve his jeans were soaked with it.
"Jus' a scratch," Fang said fuzzily, his eyelids fluttering. "Liar," I muttered, then stuck my tongue out at him, my mood having greatly increased.
"Actually," Angel started, "it was a scratch. . ." Fang chuckled.
"Shhh!" I hissed at him. "You should have told us you were hurt!"
Stop the bleeding, the Voice said again.
"How?" I cried I frustration.
"How what?" Iggy asked, and I shook my head impatiently.
Put pressure on it, said the Voice. Press the cloth over it and lean on the wounds with both hands. Elevate his feet, Max.
"Iggy," I said, "lift Fang's feet. Guys you got those strips ready?"
The Gasman handed me a bunch, and I quickly folded them into a pad. Placing it over the gaping slices in Fang's stomach was like putting my finger in a dike to stop a flood, but it was all I had, so I did it. I pressed both my hands over the pad, trying to keep a steady pressure on it.
Under Fang's side, the sand was turning dark with his blood.
"Someone's coming," said Angel. "I'm glad," mom said with a sigh of relief. "You obviously need help with this type of injury." I nodded and was filled with a surge of gratitude for the man, he saved Fang for us – for me.
Erasers? I looked up to see a man jogging along the shore. It was almost dawn, and seagulls were starting to wheel and cry above the water.
The man slowed to a walk when he saw us. He seemed ordinary, but looks could be deceiving, and usually were.
"Kids, you okay?" he called. "What are you doing out here so early?" He frowned when he saw Fang, then looked scared when he figured out what all the dark wet stuff was.
Before I could say anything, he'd whipped out his cell phone and called 911. Ella let out a deep breath as Jeb handed me the book, then I took a deep breath, feeling air flow deep into my lungs.
Chapter 9 I read.
I looked down at Fang, then glanced over at Iggy's tight face. In a second I realized we had to suck it up – Fang was hurt bad. We needed outside help. Everything in me wanted to grab Fang, get the flock, and tear out of here, away from strangers and doctors and hospitals. But if I did that, Fang would die.
"Max?" The Gasman sounded scared. In the distance, the obnoxious wail of an ambulance siren was drawing closer.
"Nudge?" I said, speaking fast. "Take Gazzy and Angel and find a place to hide. We'll go to the hospital. You stay around here, and I'll come back when I can. Quick, before the EMT guys get here." "Not a smart move," Mom said and I bobbed my head in agreement.
"Thankfully, it doesn't work like I wanted it too," I said. Thankful for once that my plans didn't turn out as expected.
"No," said the Gasman his eyes on Fang.
I stared at him. "What did you say?"
"No," he repeated a mulish look coming over his face. "We're not leaving you and Fang and Iggy."
"Excuse me?" I said, steel in my voice. Fang's blood had soaked the cloth and was seeping between my fingers. "I'm telling you to get out of here." I made myself sound cold as ice.
"No," Gazzy said again. "I don't care what happens – you're not leaving us again."
"That's right," said Nudge, crossing her arms over her skinny chest.
Angel nodded next to here. Even Total, sitting on the sand by Angel's feet, seemed to bob his head in agreement. "Seemed to," Total echoed from his place at Angel's feet. "Of course I nodded in agreement." I rolled my eyes and kept reading.
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I was stunned –they'd never disobeyed a direct order.
I wanted to start shrieking at them, but it was already too late: Two paramedics were running across the sand, holding a body board. The flashing lights of the ambulance made intermittent rosy stripes across all our faces.
"Goveryou," I said tightly, "I'm sorry," Ella interrupted. "What was that?"
"Goveryou," Iggy said.
"I explain if you listen," I told her and she furrowed her brow in confusion but stayed silent.
"Goveryou," I said tightly, using a secret language that went back to when we were kept in a lab. It was used in cases of extreme emergency when we didn't want anyone to understand us. "Allay. Todo ustedes. Egway." "So what does that mean?" she persisted.
"It means [an: Like you thought I was going to put that in here? hah! For the safety of Max and Crew it has been hidden away. It's secret for a reason folks. :P]," Iggy told her.
"Oooh, okay."
"No," said the Gasman, his lower lip starting to tremble. "Neckerchu."
"What's happened here?" One of the paramedics dropped down next to Fang, already taking out his stethoscope.
"Accident," I said, still glaring at Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel.
Reluctantly I removed my hands from the soaked pad. Fang's face was white and still.
"Accident?" repeated the paramedic, staring at the injury. "With what, a rabid bear?" "More or less," mom said softly.
"Kind of," I said tensely. The other paramedic shone a small flashlight into Fang's eyes, and I realized Fang was truly unconscious. My sense of fear and danger escalated: Not only were we about to enter a hospital, which would freak us all out, but it might end up being for nothing.
Because Fang could die anyway.
"At least I didn't die," Fang said. "I'd hate to see what would've happened if I did."
"It wouldn't be pretty," I said as he took the book from my hands.
AN:
Phew. Okay. So, there's another chapter.
I hope you all enjoyed it, and that I gave you a little glimpse of their future (or past) adventures. Sorry if it got a little mushy for some of you – nearly took part of the Fax out, man alive I've never written such mushy gushy lovey dovey stuff in my life!
Please let me know how I did? Leave a review! Please? Yes. Okay. Good.
Now, it's late, I'm tired, and there's more to write.
Until next time,
~Jezabel Raewin
