One of my favorite chapters to write. Ever. Period.
Oh and I forgot my disclaimer all this time:
If I owned Max Ride, would I really be here right now? I would be at a genius convention somewhere! Jeesh.
Max's thoughts are still like this.
Voice is still like this.
Now, ON WITH THE STORY!!
I watched as the 7 kids threw punches and kicks all around the clearing. Just to keep track of them, I recapped the situation again.
There was Hope, who I had temporarily renamed Dream, who had just drop kicked an Eraser. She had light brown hair, which had a green streak in it. A bit strange.
There was the guy who always kept closest to her, who I had renamed "Josh" for no real reason whatsoever. He was wearing some brown khakis and a blue shirt, and had just dragged Hope out of the way of an oncoming Eraser blow. Wow, he's protective of her.
There was "Wren", the girl who had ranted about the Institute forcing them all to have sex with each other. She was the one wearing the T-shirt with the black wings on it and the ripped up jeans. And also the one who had just knocked out a Flyboy. Well damn. There are no words to describe that look.
There was "Roy", the third boy who I also renamed that for reasons unknown to me. He had been the one wearing the all green clothing. He obviously loved his camouflage. He just attacked the Eraser who was threatening to clock Wren over the head. Reminds me of Fang, sort of.
There was "Rose", the girl who had been closest to Shadow (their leader). She was the one who was wearing the T-shirt with the rose on it and the blue cutoff pants, and was currently surrounded, and now she's not due to the fact that the guy who had been closest to her that I said was named "Tai" (he was the one that had been wearing the blood red T-shirt and the black pants) had just jumped in and attacked half of that circle. Once again, there are no words. And that reminds me of Fang. Scratch that last thought.
And then there was the last girl. I thought her name had been Ivy – It was a nice name anyways—but her name had really been Shadow. Understandable. She was the one who when I was in the mall helped me for no real reason and she was the one wearing the camouflaged black khakis, the black camisole and the black cutoff leather jacket. She really did remind me of me, I guess. When I dropped from the sky and helped Ella for no apparent reason. And I also don't get why she called me her "sister". I mean she's obviously not my sister. She looks more Brazilian than anything, and I'm all pale. And she sure as hell isn't Ella either.
I tried to figure out Trace's reaction to seeing her. And…
I got nothing.
It was obvious that he was looking at her like the eight world wonder, and he looked sort of in denial too. And he looked so joyful that I thought he would get up and start doing the Macarena and sing out showtunes from the mountains.
And I have absolutely nothing, still.
Turning back to the actual fight scene going on about three feet in front of me, I saw that everything was going rather well for the experiments.
As the last Eraser got scissor-kicked and fell to the floor, all the kids regrouped. "Take that, BOZOS!" "Tai" yelled as he and "Rose" high fived each other. Shadow's head was automatically scanning to see if everyone was there. Head count, I thought with a small smile.
Then she dropped to the ground next to "Roy", who was currently cradling "Wren" in his arms.
She cocked an eyebrow. He answered. "She got hit by a tranquilizer dart. I pulled it out as soon as I could."
She nodded, checked "Wren's" pulse, and took the half empty tranquilizer dart from "Roy's" hands."Roy" looked at her with what looked like hopeful eyes. She simply muttered something too low for me to hear, and he sighed almost…angrily. Once again, possessive much?
They all got up and "Roy" cradled "Wren" in his arms. Everyone tensed when a single voice echoed through the clearing.
"Did the party start without me?" Someone called out mockingly from the trees where everyone had just run from. Everyone turned around and stared.
A single body emerged from the trees and stared dead at Shadow. "Aw, Sparky, you didn't wait for me." He even did the pout. I do not like this guy. Don't care if I don't know him. He pisses me off already.
He looked like Omega, only he had the sneer plastered on his face. His eyes were literally glowing with hatred, and from where I was standing…crouching…Shadow looked even more lethal than he did.
In the middle of the field, a spare broken Flyboy part ignited.
"Guys, leave now." Shadow managed to ground out with much difficulty, her eyes still trained on the hate filled robot that was still staring at her.
"We aren't leaving Shadow. Now, who the hell is this creep?" "Tai" asked, his eyes starting to squint.
"I'll tell you later. Leave now." She commanded through gritted teeth. Shadow turned to look at "Rose", and "Rose" jumped backwards. "Holy crap!" She yelled. "Shadow, your eyes are dark brown!"
Everyone immediately took a step backwards away from their leader, and Shadow kept her eyes on the guy who was still staring at her from across the clearing. After a few seconds, "Rose" said, "Right. Come on, guys." And everyone besides Shadow started to move backwards into the forest. Right before they left, "Tai" looked back and said, "It was a pretty clearing while it grew." Shadow chuckled tensely and we all listened to the sound of their footsteps fade away.
Everything got all silent again. "Aw, you didn't tell them about me, Sparky. I'm hurt." The creepy guy across the way said (still mockingly), and he started to circle around the clearing. Shadow kept the distance between them the same, moving in the opposite direction.
"Well, it's pretty hard to capture the amount of hatred I have for you in words, Kyle." Shadow said. Absently in the back of my head I thought, She has a pretty voice. And she does sort of sound like me. Especially with that little smile at the end of that statement. Just lay on the sugar. Doesn't matter if you're staring death in the face... or in this case ugly.
Kyle, on the other hand, had a different sort of reaction to the smile. The fake smile dropped for a few seconds. "Well isn't that a shame, Sparky? I—"
Shadow interrupted. "Don't call me that."
"Why not Sparky? Is that what your friend used to call you? I'll just ask those kids over there in the bushes." He said. Was he talking about us?
Yes, Max, yes he is.
Well, crap.
"HEY KIDS!" He yelled, slowly approaching us. Shadow growled. My gosh. What percent animal was she?
"Leave them out of this." She commanded, moving back to crouch in front of us. She knew we were here the entire time?! Wait a minute, I'll go down that thought path later, she doesn't even know who we are, and she's attempting to protect us.
I told you she resembles you.
"Why are you trying to help protect them Val?"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT EITHER!" She yelled. Another piece of Flyboy exploded in the space between them.
"But why are you trying to protect them, Valerie? Didn't you see what happened when you tried to protect Damien?"
Everything was very very quiet. And then some unseen line was crossed, because Shadow and Kyle lunged at each other at exactly the same time.
The only thing was that both of Shadow's fists were one fire. Interesting.
I didn't see that coming. The Voice chimed in.
Shadow was throwing wild punches and her eyes (when I could finally see them after her ebony black hair was out of the way) were pitch black. There are no words for that kind of fury.
"DON'T BRING HIM INTO THIS!" Shadow was yelling. I think she was pissed beyond pissed beyond reason. She was also past hysteria.
Kyle didn't even look like he was really working up a sweat. He simply dodged every blow that she threw at him. Eventually, he got pissed enough by her efforts, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into a tree. She squirmed against the tree trunk as her back hit the bark
"Now listen up, Shadow, or Valerie, or whoever the hell you are. You are coming back to the School and you are going to behave like a good little experiment. Got it?" He sneered.
Shadow/Valerie—at this rate I'm going to have to go back to calling her Ivy—tried to choke something out. "What was that?"
Clearly having trouble breathing, she wheezed out, "I said, over my pile of ashes." And then she kicked Kyle twice in the stomach (which was placed rather conveniently where her feet were hanging) and nearly crashed to the ground gasping for air. Kyle had been thrown back about 10 feet. She has a nice soccer kick.
He started moving towards her again, but something changed. Kyle, the closer he got to her, the harder a time he seemed to be having keeping himself upwards. It was really off. Well to me anyways.
Eventually, right before he reached her, there was a muffled ripping noise that came from right where Kyle was now falling face down in front of Shadow. His eyes were now dark, like they were in sleep mode. There was no glowing.
Kyle was dead.
Shadow was staring at the body that was now lying on the ground in front of her. Then she started to sway, and a voice called out to her from the trees. "SHADOW!"
Shadow stopped herself from swaying and just dropped down right where she was. Then "Rose" ran back into the clearing and dropped down beside her. "What were you thinking?!?!" She yelled, starting to fix Shadow's injuries.
Shadow chuckled rather darkly. "You don't want to know. Rather violent, even for me."
There was a pause, then "Rose" broke it. "I heard everything." She said, staring Shadow dead in the eye.
Shadow grimaced ruefully, and said, "I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?" "Rose's" only response was a nod.
Shadow took a deep breath. "Ok, remember how I said when I met you guys that I had been outside the Institute before?"
Another nod. "There is a lot more to this story than that."
She continued. "When I was four, I got moved to a different room and met the guy who soon after became my best friend. His self-appointed name was Damien, and since I didn't know my own name, I gave myself the name Valerie. It sounded good, and I heard one of the "nicer" whitecoats call me that once.
"Anyways, by the age of 10 we got out. I disarmed the security system. That was a good day."
"Tangent." "Rose" interrupted.
"Right. We traveled around, met some others like us at a rebel site. The girl in charge took me in, and so we stayed there.
"One day, we had been doing a raid, and some Flyboys attacked. We didn't know how to fight them right, and so they took me and Damien back. Said they had no need for the others. They held us at gunpoint and I laughed in their faces. Much fun." Did she have a death wish back then? Even I wouldn't do that!
You sure about that Max?
I thought about it for a second. Hush it you.
"I got knocked out with some tranquilizer, and woke up in the Eraser playroom. I was backed against a wall, surrounded, and then I saw through the little hole that the Erasers made in the forming of the circle the blank you see lying in front of me wrapping a cord around Damien's neck."
"Oh jeez, Shad—"
"You don't know what it's like, to see the life of your best friend being drained out of his eyes. That memory haunts me every night. It's why I can't sleep. It's why I try not to show to much emotion. It's why I beat the crap out of any fool who has the guts to try and stand in the way of what I want. It's why I try to protect you guys so much." I don't think that she realized it, but a few stray tears were running down her cheeks.
As soon as I thought that, Shadow abruptly wiped the tears away from her face. "Rose" helped Shadow to get back on her feet, quietly waiting for some order.
"I'll be fine." Shadow said. Then came a smirk. "Rose" smiled in return. I guess she was happy to have her friend back to normal.
"After you?" Shadow said. "Rose" was now full out grinning. Like Iggy "I-just-got-a-free-never-expires-pass-to-the-world's-bomb-supply" grinning.
"Rose" turned in a different direction, the way that ran along the long side of the clearing. She put her bag on her back and rolled her shoulders back. Then she took off sprinting, and opened up a beautiful pair of cream wings with black speckled spots on the tips. Well that answers the question of what type of experiment they are.
Shadow started running too, and whipped out a gorgeous pair of dark brown wings with white streaks on the lower part which was closer to her feet. She flapped them twice, and then they flew up and away, towards the mountains.
Almost immediately, Trace jumped up and said, "We need to go after them." We all stared at him. A, that was the most he had ever spoken at one time. B, he didn't even know her.
"Umm, Trace, might I ask why?" I asked slowly.
He heaved a huge sigh. He sounded tired, but his eyes were literally dancing. They were much more alive than I had ever seen them in the time that I had known him --cough3yearscough--.
He looked up at the sky in the direction Shadow and "Rose" had gone. He looked back at all of us and said rather forcefully, "Because I'm not losing my best friend again."
It was then that I put everything together. "Damien…" the name slipped from my lips, and Damien's eyes snapped towards mine. I didn't need any confirmation from him.
Follow his lead.
I didn't need any more convincing. I got up from my hiding spot, started running, and shot open my wings.
This will be interesting.
No one ever said it wouldn't be.
How did you like it? I want at least 8 reviews!
Sincerely,
"Zee, will you shield me from the oncoming taxi so you die instead of me?"
"Of ciourse, Maya."
--silence--
"You must really love me. Jeesh. Have you know sense of survival?!?!?!"
a.k.a. Skittles31