Chapter Seven

Eris woke her back was sore from sleeping on the ground; she was use to her comfortable bed. She sat up to find that Iggy was awake -most likely the one on watch. "Morning. Have a good night sleep?" he asked when he heard her stirring. "I've had better." "Want some breakfast?" "Yeah, that'd be great." Iggy began to cook and soon the air was filled with a wonderful aroma. The rest of the flock woke not long after; Eris guessed that the sweet smell had made them hungry. "So where are we going from here?" Eris asked once they were all seated and eating their breakfast.

"Well we never really have a plan..." Max explained. "Yeah we more or less just fly wherever we want" Nudge filled in. "However…" Max continued ignoring Nudge "I think this time we should go somewhere a little less obvious." "Yeah New York and Washington DC weren't exactly the best choices" Fang added. "So where are we going" Angel asked looking a bit confused. "How about London" Gazzy said. "That's like half way around the world" Max informed him. "Oh well how about Chicago?" he continued. "Yeah that sound like a good place to go," Angel piped in. "Do you even know where that is?" Iggy asked "No but I just though I should say something" "So anyway" Max said trying to move things along "Its Chicago then?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "What about you Eris?" Iggy asked, "You haven't exactly said much about it" "Anywhere away from the school is fine with me so lets go" she said. And with that the flock (Eris now included) began to pack up their belongings.

Their flight was unusually quiet, besides Nudge's rambling, everyone was quiet. It wasn't that they were fighting or in a bad mood, the fact was that there was nothing to talk about. Whatever had happened to each of them in the last month no one else really wanted to know, nor did they want to share. Eris' bite from the spider the day before was beginning to sting again. The pain refreshed the memory of the spider's fangs digging into her skin and their hairy legs on her bare skin. Thinking about it made her shiver. "You ok?" Max asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you keep asking?" "I just want to make sure you're ok, after all I'm the leader and it's my job".

They fell silent again until Angel got bored and began to ask that annoying question, "Are we there yet?" she asked. "We're still flying does it look like we are there?" Gazzy asked back. "How much longer till we're there?" she asked. "I don't know. Anyone else got any idea?" Max asked but everyone shook their heads. "Sorry Angel no one knows." "This is so boring. We've been flying for ages." Nudge stated. "Why don't we play a game?" Gazzy said. "Like what?" Iggy asked. "How about beating the crude out of the Erasers over there." Eris pointed into the distance where some tiny black dots were approaching. Max didn't know how Eris had spotted them; she had to squint to see them even.

But she was right. There were at least a dozen Erasers heading straight for them. Max knew her flock could handle these pig heads but she wasn't so sure about Eris. Sure she had proved her strength in flying but that didn't mean she could fight and fly at the same time. Max glided down to Eris. "Can you fight?" she asked. Eris looked uneasy for a moment before responding "I don't know... I think I'll be okay" "Well just call if you need some help." Max replied and with that she flew back up to her front position "Okay everyone" Max called" Get ready, you all know what to do." There was a range of silent nods of agreement throughout the flock. Meanwhile Eris began to brace herself. She was still a little sore and bandaged up from her last run in with the Erasers. But this time she wasn't going to let them off so easily.

Three Erasers lunged at Max, she dodged the first two then punched the third in the head and he was knocked out cold. Max soon dealt with the others while Fang fought with five Erasers, all of them three times his own weight. The others were doing great, Angel had told two Erasers to kill themselves, Gazzy and Iggy had blown a few Erasers to kingdom come and Nudge dealt with one Eraser at a time. Eris was doing well against the Erasers until she came to one particular one. When she spotted him he gave her an evil grin and she froze. Lucas. He was one of them, one of the Erasers that had tortured her her whole life. He pounced at her and she threw a punch but missed and only brushed past his head. She was too paralysed by fear to concentrate. All the memories overwhelmed her, she couldn't block them out. They surrounded her and consumed her. Lucas hit her with her full body weight, knocking her off balance for only a moment. She hovered in the air a metre away from him. He slashed his claws, leaving a red blood trail across her stomach.

Eris felt a searing pain rip through her. She saw the blood dripping her front and took a moment to realise what had happened. This was her first mistake. Lucas dove at her one again and this time managed to lock her in a tight hold. Eris began to panic and tried to pull free. But the Eraser was much too strong and she faltered under his weight. She looked quickly across at the rest of the flock and saw both Fang and Nudge ganging up on a beefy looking Eraser, as well as Max and Gazzy holding their own. Angel too was telling Erasers to drop like flies. That was beginning to get seriously creepy. How could her life have been such bliss and happiness one moment and then turned to complete dread the next. Eris began to feel Lucas' hold grow tighter and tighter around her until she was sure she would burst. Just when everything was beginning to go black she heard a cry and a swift kick slammed right into the Erasers rib cage. The grip around her was loosened and Eris managed to wiggle free. When she had regained her composure she looked up to see Iggy flying near her. "H-h-how did you know..?" she stammered. Iggy smiled "I may be blind but I have great hearing" he replied modestly. "I could hear you choking" "Thanks" Eris muttered. "Anytime."

The flock watched as the Erasers retreated in bitter defeat. Once they were out of sight Max scanned the surrounding area for a place to stay the night. "We'll stop there." she said pointing to a clearing just before a small town. "Then we'll find a motel." The group swooped down and landed in the clearing then made there way into the town. They found a motel with a free room without much trouble. They opened the door to their room and sorted out where they were sleeping.

Angel and Gazzy immediately ran to the two double beds in the room and began jumping up and down. Clearly the past events had not had an effect on their good humour. The rest of the flock looked on and laughed with them. Yes even Fang showed a hint of a smile. However Max soon took order and organized who would sleep where. As any good leader would. The three younger ones would share one bed while Max and Eris would share the other. Fang and Iggy were not too happy about the arrangement at first but were soon silenced in defeat. It didn't take long for everyone to fall asleep. The past few hours had been extremely exhausting and not even Iggy with his super hearing could hear the rustle of the wind outside.

At midnight something woke Iggy. He silently sat up and listened very carefully. Someone was crying in the bathroom. He rose and lightly tapped on the door. The person inside sniffed, "Who's there?" It was Eris. "It's only me," he responded as he entered and shut the door behind him. Eris was on the ground in front of the sink. Her face was drenched in tears, but Iggy didn't see this. He estimated her location in the room and sat down next to her. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Nothing. I just was having a nightmare".

"You want to talk about it?" he asked. "Nah, I'd rather talk about something else." she answered. The two sat in silence not really knowing how to start the conversation. "So, you like stuff?" Iggy asked. "Yeah, stuffs cool. You like it?" "I guess so." Iggy nodded. She smiled greatful for his company. Eris leant her head against Iggy shoulder, at first he was tense but he relaxed and so he could hear her steady breath signalling that she was asleep. Iggy closed his eyes and soon he to was asleep.