Maximum Ride: Saving the World?
Part One: Rebellion
Chapter 7: War Really IS Hell
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -JFK
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or anything else mentioned in this story.
---------------
Do you ever feel like the entire world is trying to make your life miserable?
I sure as hell do.
My best friend. Dead. And I had no choice but to walk away, reload my gun, and keep fighting.
Dammit, war really is hell, you know that?
So I wiped tears and sweat out of my eyes, shrugged Fang's arm off of my shoulders, and joined Jackie, Paul, and the others as we exited the building.
War raged on, and we had a job to do. While we took care of that last batch of snipers, the Allies set up some more in a skyscraper just across the street.
And so the Rebel Army's First Aerial Squadron walked into an almost-deserted building to hunt down yet more Allied snipers.
They were on the 27th floor. We decided to take the elevator to the 26th, then the stairs up the last level for an ambush. Same as last time, basically. And that went great.
---------------
Squad A1 crammed themselves into two of the three elevators. The doors closed and the elevators began to rise towards the 26th floor. The third elevator's doors opened and a trio of Allied soldiers walked out...
---------------
We ran up the stairs and burst out into… an office. Actually a giant room full of cubicles. There were no Allies in sight, but there were plenty of places to hide.
"Alright guys, guess we're searching cubicle-by-cubicle. Split up, don't let them get you first," Jackie ordered, and we each headed down a different aisle of makeshift workspaces. I looked into each one as Vic searched the ones across the aisle. It felt a bit like an invasion of privacy, but I pushed the thought out of my head for the time being. This was kind of a life-and-death scenario. Kind of.
"BOMB! IT'S A TRAP!" Iggy yelled from a cubicle not far from me. Using someone's desk as a boost, I leapt over the wall and raced to his side. "Where is it Ig?"
"Somewhere in here, I can hear it!"
"Where?"
"I can't see, dammit! How am I supposed to know?" Suddenly Sam and Austin were at my side, and we began rifling through drawers, files, and the like. Austin even tore open the computer. He is strong! I thought as we continued to redefine "Invasion of Privacy."
"Here!" Sam held up a small but deadly-looking ticking mess of wires.
"Can you disarm it Iggy?" I asked, even though I knew he could.
"I'm not sure, I'll need you guys to be my eyes. What color is this wire?" And so Iggy grew three pairs of panicking eyes. A small timer ticked off the seconds until our death.
30 seconds… Pretty much the entire Squad had shown up by now, and watched in fear.
20 seconds… Iggy froze. "What color is this wire again? Blue, right?"
"The one in your right hand?" I asked. He nodded. "No, it's red. Why?" He cursed, and started grabbing at other wires.
10 seconds… "Anyone got wire cutters or anything?"
"What do you think, of course not! You don't have any? You always do!" I was now officially freaked. Iggy wouldn't be able to save us.
"I need to cut this wire, but I don't have anything!"
"Quick!" Sam exclaimed, "Start rifling!" And Sam and Austin once again threw privacy out the window, tearing through the cubicle in search of something sharp.
5 seconds…
I got an idea. I pulled the wire out of Iggy's hands and put it up against my gun. "No, Max, that could set it off!" Jackie practically screamed.
"Do we have a choice?" I yelled back.
2 seconds… I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger.
I winced as I heard an explosion. I cautiously opened my eyes. I was alive… the explosion had been my gun going off. The smoking wire was split evenly in two, and the timer was blank. We were alive. And safe.
Then Victoria screamed, pointing at the wall of windows behind us. I turned and almost screamed myself.
A fighter jet was careening out of control.
Directly at us.
Again.
We dove for cover, but there wasn't much we could do other then pray.
Then all hell broke loose.
---------------
I pulled myself up, shoving aside debris. Flaming debris. Not good.
Iggy is right next to you, the Voice said. I didn't feel like responding. Instead I frantically started digging. I found his hand and pulled upward with all my might. He yelled in pain, and I immediately let go.
"My leg– I think it's broken," he said. I started to dig him out again, more carefully this time. It took longer but I got him out.
Looking around, I saw that almost everyone else was fine. Sam and Austin were helping Victoria, who wasn't moving. Kevin and Fang were bending over a pair of motionless bodies, obviously Jackie and Paul.
Fang saw me with Iggy and came running over, pulling off his helmet so he could talk to us face-to-face. "We've got to get out of here, the building's burning, and it won't be able to stand up much longer anyways. We got lucky; the jet hit a few stories above us, but if we don't escape we're still screwed."
I nodded, and a message came over Fang's helmet-radio. "Squad A1, report. Are you guys alright?" He looked at me, then over his shoulder towards Kevin, then back at me. He raised his helmet up to his mouth and spoke into the radio:
"This is Commander Fang Ride of Squad A1, we're on our way out."
---------------
