A/N Happy Halloween! Two day's late I know, but meh. Better late than never right? I said I'd update it sooner than last time : ) Thanks for all your reviews! I don't want to make this too long so anyone who's wondering what the new hybrids are there's a small description at the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer - Sadly I own nothing. Chapter Seven!
Random Lab Technician POV
Running through the corridors I finally reached my destination, I grabbed the door handle, hesitating for a brief second before walked into the brightly lit room without knocking.
The glares I received when I walked in made me wish I had, but the file in my hands was much to important for me to be worrying about trivial things like a bunch of angry scientists. I stood for a second catching my breath.
In the very centre of the room was a small steel table, on one side sat a girl, thirteen I presumed, at the other Dr. Zaun. Other scientists stood around the room but I ignored them, walking straight to the man sitting by the table.
He looked at me with a look of badly disguised irritation, angry that I'd interrupted his interrogation. I gulped.
"What?" He asked pointedly.
I said nothing simply laying the file down open to the photo of the girl who had given The School and Itex so much trouble.
Across the photo was the word "Terminated" stamped in red ink. Dr. Zaun regarded the file for a while with a look of mild interest.
When he finally looked up there was a cold smile upon his lips.
"You're sure?" The look of glee in his eyes could not be mistaken.
"The new strain Erasers we sent after them said they l-left her for d-dead" I stammered nervously, I needed this job and Dr. Zaun had a well know tendency throughout The School for firing people on the spot for no apparent reason.
There was a sudden gasp from the girl sitting at the table. I turned curiously to look at her for the first time seeing her properly. Strange, I though confused she doesn't look like any of our hybrids, she mouthed something that I couldn't quite make out and stared down at the photo her wide eyes filling with horror.
"No" She whispered shaking her head back and forth slowly.
"Max...No!" Tears now falling down her face as her voice increased in volume. She began to tug forcefully at the restraints binding her. I stood frozen, not quite sure what to do.
"Sedate her." Came Dr. Zaun's bored voice. Some of the Robot Erasers that had been standing by the door came and jabbed a needle into her arm with force that didn't seem quite necessary. The drug worked quickly though and she was soon limp.
"The others, the dark haired one?" He asked me, the look of excitement from his eyes now replaced with the same bored look he'd used with the girl.
"Well" I took a breath. Dr. Zaun was, by far, the most intimidating man I'd ever come across. "According to the new Eraser's report they left him falling to the ground unconscious, he had some sort of seizure so I expect he's…" I didn't finish the sentence, Dr. Zaun cut across me.
"Hmm, I'm not surprised, they're failures after all. They have expiration dates and I suspect they won't last very long without that one" He nodded at the picture of the girl on the table. He sighed thoughtfully and stared at the limp girl opposite him.
"No matter." He said brightly turning to face the Erasers.
"We no longer need this" He motioned towards the girl with a hand "Take care of it." His voice was cold and hard with a note of finality in it, but before the Erasers could move an inch someone had walked over from one of the room's darker corners.
"That will not be necessary Doctor." Came his icy voice from the other side of the room. Dr. Zaun glared at the man.
"Dr. Batchalder, she is of no further use to us. As you can see yourself," He held up the document with the photo. " You're favourite winged nuisance is dead."
Dr. Batchalder's face was dark.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that."
Fang's POV
"Iggy!" I yelled stumbling into the cave Max still limp in my arms. He came running to the mouth of the cave where Nudge and angel were sobbing hysterically. Gazzy stood stiffly trying to keep his tears at bay, but eventually he too began to cry silently.
I walked a little way into the cave, kicking some small rocks out of the way before I set Max down as gently as I could.
"Crap," I mumbled pulling up her T-shirt as delicately as I could. Not an easy task as my hands shook terribly and her shirt was now completely soaked in her blood, clinging to her wound.
I took a sharp intake of breath when I saw what was causing all the blood loss, my stomach flipped. Iggy knelt down beside me, his expression was grim. "This is bad isn't it?" he mumbled, I couldn't quite find my voice to answer him. "I can smell the blood," He explained.
"Yeah," I eventually managed to whisper back, voice thick with worry "it's bad."
Those things are so going to pay for this.
Iggy brought his hands up and felt the wound with a touch so light that I doubted Max would have felt it at all if she where awake.
My stomach lurched at all the blood. It was; too say the least, a gruesome scene. I gritted my teeth, trying to block out the youngest flock member's emotions, they where falling to pieces over there. I stole a glance in their direction, Angel was sitting on the ground watching Iggy's back with an empty expression, tears staining her face.
"Ig? Do you think we need to get her to a hospital?" I asked in a muted tone turning back to look at him. It was, of course, the very last thing I wanted to do but if that's what Max needed…
He stayed silent for a while his fingers brushing the length of Max's injury gently.
"I think we can handle it here" He said finally, I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. Iggy sighed looking away from her to look at me, knowing where I was in that creepy way that he does.
"Bedsides," his expression was still grim "How the hell do you think we'd be able to cover up the whole wings thing? People have gotten pictures of us Fang, remember the game back in Texas? If we went to a hospital we would eventually get spotted" He looked down at Max remorsefully.
"I'm pretty sure the doctors would be more likely to experiment on Max than patch her up if they recognized her, I really don't want to hand her over to them like that." I grimaced. Rage built up inside me at the thought of Max going through any more experiments.
I'd seen what it had done to her at The School. I'd never let that happen to her again. I'd rather die.
"Plus," Iggy added, "In case you've forgotten, the last time we went to a hospital we ended up with a crazy FBI agent who tried to adopt us." He concluded.
"I'll go get the antiseptic then." I muttered angrily.
"We'll need some kind of bandages as well." He called, I picked up my backpack that Iggy had taken to the cave for me while I'd been waiting for Max in our room. I pulled out a couple of black shirts and the first aid kit. I walked over to the kids first who were still crying pitifully on the opposite side of the cave to where Max was, they couldn't see her from here as Iggy's body was in the way.
"Iggy" I said throwing him the antiseptic without thinking. Iggy caught it without a problem, I shook my head in admiration, I really had no idea how he did that. I turned back to the kids.
"Look," I said quietly, I realised a second later that I was still covered in Max's blood therefore probably not very comforting in the present situation. Things could never be easy for me could they?
"I'm sure Max will be fine, I need you to help me tear these up and make bandages for her okay?" I made sure that my thoughts as well as my voice was comforting, knowing Angel had a tendency to invade your mind more than usual in situations like these.
I laid the shirts down on the floor as four pairs of tear filled eyes looked up at me. Total's being the fourth.
Nudge picked up one of the shirts and got to work on tearing it into strips, forcing her self to keep calm, a lesson she'd learned very well from Max. The others soon followed her example. Total helping Angel by using his teeth to tear the fabric.
I hurried to where Iggy was and picked up the antiseptic, getting to work on cleaning the wound.
"How is she?" I asked him managing to keep my voice even this time.
"She's lost a lot of blood," He said quietly, my breath caught in my chest. She isn't going to die, she can't. "But I think she'll be fine." He finished and with those words the weight that had been threatening to crush me was lifted. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to keep my own emotions in check this time.
I took a deep breath and shifted so that I was sitting by Max's head. She had a few shallow cuts on her face and arms and her face was pretty bruised, I got to work on cleaning them up while I was waiting for the bandages. Nudge came behind Iggy a few moments later with the strips of black fabric.
Her eyes widened when she saw the full extent of Max's injuries. She flinched, but didn't start crying again. I picked up the make shift bandages and got to work on wrapping them tightly around Max's stomach.
"Fang?" I looked up from Max's wound, Nudge was looking down at me. A look on her face that made her look older than she was. "She isn't going to die is she?" Her voice was calm on the surface, but I could feel the real fear brewing beneath the calm exterior she'd put up. I didn't answer her at first just turned to address the rest of the kids.
"It's been a long night, I think you should sleep." Gazzy and Angel nodded weekly, Nudge didn't move I patted her shoulder once and whispered in her ear.
"She'll be fine, I promise." She nodded and smiled gratefully bouncing off to get a blanket from her backpack. Before long all of them where deeply asleep, even Total . I'd finished bandaging Max up. Iggy sat down next to me.
"She'll be fine now" He said, I felt the relief radiating from his body even though he tried to disguise it "The bleeding seems to have stopped and her heart rate" He picked up her wrist "feels normal" he finished putting her wrist back down slowly.
I brushed some stray strands of bloody hair from of her face. She felt cold so I shrugged off my jacket and lay it over her body.
Iggy laughed quietly.
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing at all." I narrowed my eyes in his direction, not caring he couldn't see, it made me feel better.
"She's lucky," He said and yawned. "I really thought she might..." Shaking his head with a dazed expression he got to his feet walking away from Max to where he had put his backpack.
"What happened?" He questioned. I decided truth was the best option, Iggy could handle it, he was the same age as Max and me even though she seemed to forget it at times.
"We run into some new Erasers." He hadn't seen that one coming, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
"New…?" He trailed off taking a moment to get over the shock.
"They're strong" It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes" I said simply, he nodded and walked over to another part of the cave. I felt him drifting off to sleep some time later.
I looked down at Max's face, only barely visible due to the fact we hadn't lit a fire. The sun should be coming up soon…
I played with a strand of her hair, it had grown back from when she'd cut it and the pink highlights where barely visible even in daylight. I pressed my lips into her hair softly.
I'm glad you're okay. I thought pulling her sleeping form onto my lap and wrapping my arms around her. They will not hurt you again.
A/N Someone asked what the new hybrids were so for anyone who's wondering : Remember that little body builder kid that Max described in the third book when Ari was taking her around? These guys are the end, grown up result, with some Lupine and Avian DNA added to the mix. Poor things. So, they're a lot stronger than the original Erasers but basically of the same family.
Hope you liked it! Review please!
