I do not own Maximum Ride! :D

A Lifetime by the Bedside
Chapter 7: Gazzy – Bing Bang Boom

It all happened really quickly. Angel had fallen asleep on Iggy's shoulder and Nudge and Fang were talking quietly, Nudge providing most of the conversation. I yawned, bored, lying flat on my stomach on the floor, looking out of the window, really really wanting to just expand my wings and fly like the wind! But, of course, we could fly much faster than the wind so it's like 'ha! Keep up wind!' Then again, my own supply of wind always seems to give me an extra little boost, if you know what I mean. Wink wink.

So, people were doing whatever when all of a sudden the window shattered, crash. Pieces of sharp glass clattered to the floor. I jumped to my feet, my reflexes sharp as a number two pencil. Not having the faintest idea about what was going on, I looked around the room, panicked, my breathing becoming rapid. I spotted a metal canister on the floor. Wafts of yellow gas escaped from it, dancing in the air like snakes charmed by the guys with flutes. It smelt revolting and I almost heaved, but couldn't help admire its craftsmanship. I looked to Fang who was already on the move, dashing here and there. It was like watching a tennis match, trying to follow his movements. He was unclipping the wires from Max, who was still sleeping after all of this time, and cradled her in his arms like when we had first come here.

There was no-one else in the ward because Angel had been her usual persuasive self with the doctors, so it was just us with the smelly gas which was beginning to sooth all of my worries, making me feel very distant.

'Everyone, cover your nose and mouth!' Fang ordered, whilst untangling the final wires. 'Right...' he began to mumble to himself. I barely heard him. My eyelids felt as if they had humongous weights on them, pulling them down shut. No, I told myself firmly. I snapped myself out of it quickly, blinking rapidly, willing my eyes to stay open. Fang looked from the window to the fire exit a couple of times before eventually shrugging. Striding forward, he kicked the fire-door in. The fire alarm sounded piercingly and I could hear panicked shouting spread throughout the hospital like a Mexican wave. 'Let's go guys,' Fang prompted, walking through the door with determination.

Everything was beginning to go fuzzy, but I managed to cling to the whitewashed walls, pulling myself towards the door, digging my nails into the plaster to keep myself upright, my knees feeling like jelly.

'What's going on?' Nudge asked, confused, slowly following Fang.

'Why don't we just go out of the window?' Angel whined, pointing to the window which had sacrificed its windowpane. Does that still make it a window?

Fang began to become bombarded with questions which he did not answer straight away; instead he looked quite frustrated, trying to check that everyone was following. A more serious threat, I thought, was us being bombarded with gunfire. Suddenly, whoever it was who was out to get us was letting rip fire. The pillows where Max had rested her head on were pelted with bullets, their fluffy goodness lost. Like darts with deadly precision, the bullets began to shred the room. A vase on the side table shattered and water gushed out onto the floor, the flowers it contained flopping lifelessly to the floor. The walls became decorated in an elaborate design of dot-to-dot and everything was a mess. Too stunned, I stared at the destructive scene, still.

Fang all but hurled me out of the ward in the nick of time, before I was eaten up by the chunks of metal which were tearing through the air. He had his priorities right, seeing as I am very important. Iggy was the last through and slammed the door behind us. I noticed dents appear from where the bullets tried to get through and I gulped loudly, hoping that they wouldn't be successful. I bent over myself, hanging my head between my knees, taking deep breaths of clean air. Nudge placed a supportive hand on my shoulder.

Looking up, I saw that we were in a corridor. The lights hanging overhead flickered nervously, giving the area an eerie atmosphere. The walls were a dull grey, matching the cement covered floor. Very bleak.

It was only a short distance from the final door which would lead to our freedom - a short distance from fresh air. This was enough to raise my hopes.

Bing.

Bang.

Boom.

The walls abruptly started to shake like crazy, shaking my optimism out of me, and dust rained down on us, giving us a light murky coating.

'Eew!' Angel squealed, picking a cobweb from off her shoulder.

She is such a girl.

It was as if the earth was moving beneath my feet and I expected someone to start yelling 'earthquake!' I found the noise too much. It was pushing down on me and I had to cover my ears with my hands, trying to block out the hullaballoo – that's a funny word.

The fumes from the canister still stuck in my lungs, refusing to leave, and I choked on them. Fang gave me a caring look, but his eyes flitted to the door, knowing that we had to keep moving.

'I'm good!' I coughed, giving a thumb up. I didn't want to hold us up. We needed out.

Fang nodded and started to head towards the door, the lighted sign above it reading 'FIRE EXIT.' Angel took Max's hand which had fallen to her side and he looked seriously at that for a second. He soon recovered though, flicking his hair out of his eyes. I wasn't sure what to make of that. It puzzled me.

Fang shifted Max's weight into his left arm and started to jog faster down the short corridor. Everyone followed obediently. Although the door had only been a few feet away it appeared to have taken forever to reach and I was impatient to feel cool refreshing air on my face. Fang shoved it open with his back, moving backwards through it and I scrambled past him to embrace the outdoors.

The sounds of destruction from the hospital were followed by sweet bird song. The feeling of poisonous gases in my lungs was followed by gulps of fresh spring air. The sight of destruction was followed by... a car park – ok, admittedly not as nice as the little birdies, but it was an improvement. The escape went smoothly, all in all, no life threatening injuries, no men left behind. But, of course, we did not expect a gang of Erasers to circle us after we had moved barely a foot out of the building.

The mutts approached us, determined, with all their swagger. They growled at us angrily, their noses twitching, catching our scent. They were even uglier than I remembered and I thought, 'well, at least I don't look like that.' Thank God for small mercies that I am a devilishly handsome young boy. Fang kicked one down which stupidly tried to take him on. Idiot. It banged back into a shiny red Volkswagen Golf which was trying to leave the car park. The driver, a middle aged woman with dark hair, began screaming hysterically. The Eraser sneered at her, scraping its claws against the body of the car to strike fear into her heart. It sounded like nails on a chalk board and I grinded my teeth, enduring the nasty squealing. Petrified, the woman put the pedal to the metal, accelerating hastily, sending the Eraser over the windscreen. Ha! The Eraser rolled over the roof of the car before dropping off and hitting the ground with a thud. The car sped away at top speed, the perfect hit and run, clearly exceeding the safety limits of a hospital car park.

'Take that!' I mocked, pointing at the Eraser who had taken the hit.

It was crouched on the ground and its head whipped up, glaring straight at me, bloodlust in its eyes. I wished Iggy and I could have used our most spectacularly amazing inventions yet to blow these suckers up, but Fang had point blank banned explosive material from the hospital. Well, that hadn't stopped the Erasers now, had it? I made a mental note to argue my case to Fang after all of this was over. Whilst the stare off continued, for most, Fang placed Max into Iggy's arms. He appeared surprised at first, resistant to take on the weight.

'You're trusting the blind guy to carry her? Seriously?' Iggy muttered urgently.

'None of the others would be able to carry her,' Fang explained. He whispered something to Iggy, never taking his eyes off the Erasers, but I couldn't make out what he was saying over the roaring wind. Iggy looked like he was about to argue, but stopped himself. He nodded stiffly and motioned for us to follow his lead. Unfurling his wings, he U and A-ed, cutting through the air like a rocket. Whoosh!

'Where are we going?' Nudge asked innocently, slowly crawling up to where Iggy hovered above.

'Go,' Fang said, pushing those who remained on the ground away with his arm. It reminded me so much of Max's fight.

Confused, I followed Nudge. The Erasers, baring their yellowed teeth, snapped at Fang then and finally lunged forward. Their claws raked at his face, but he was too fast for them, almost like lightning. Spinning into a side kick, Fang sent an Eraser down. It clutched its stomach and twitched on the ground, gravel embedding itself into its fur. He punched another straight in the nose and you could hear it crunch like fresh autumn leaves beneath your feet. Blood gushed and Fang smiled in satisfaction. I punched my fist up high in the air in triumph.

'Woo! Go Fang!' I cheered, doing a little victory dance.

I was eager to join him and kick some Eraser butt, but when I tried to, Nudge grabbed my collar and shook her head. Why does everyone try to spoil the fun? Fang looked up at us and gave us a wink, before yelling, 'now or never guys!'

Iggy flew off to the west, looking sad, as if he was abandoning Fang. But the others followed, just leaving. I continued to look down at the fight scene beneath me though, too absorbed by how cool it was. I was in awe of Fang's mad skills, but gasped as one of the Erasers landed a direct hit. There must have been about half a dozen of them, though half had already been completely and utterly destroyed! Fang winced from the fresh gashes on his cheek and he spat out some blood.

Without looking up, he sensed my being there and called up, 'go, Gazzy.'

Stubbornly, I refused and descended next to him. I was not some lap dog he could just send away at his own will. In the middle of grabbing an Eraser by the neck, Fang gaze me a wide eyed look, are you insane? Maybe I am. Life's more fun that way. I gave him a small smile and took up a fighting stance, clenching my hands into small fists, taking deep breaths. I wasn't going to leave him. Scared – only a little scared – I told myself.

I still didn't fully understand what was wrong with Max, but now everything seemed more serious and people were looking worried and no-one would say anything. Things went wrong when we left Max and without Fang too we wouldn't be able to survive. Survival is key, Max always says, and seeing as she is so determined to be right all of the time, I have kind of accepted it.

As my brain went into overdrive, I punched an Eraser in the jaw. It whimpered momentarily, but then snapped at me fiercely, fuelled by pain, aiming for my face. Swiftly and skilfully, Fang grabbed it by the throat and threw it to the floor. It was completely winded and cowardly crawled away. Fang gave me another one of those looks, you shouldn't be here.

Just then, an Eraser jumped Fang from behind. Acting on instinct, I kicked it hard in the gut, sending it off its feet and into the air before it landed with a thud. Fang looked over his shoulder at the sight, slightly surprised, his eyebrows raised. See, I can be helpful! No need to thank me, modest old me. I was tempted to gloat, but managed to control myself.

I was right to have stayed.

Scanning the area quickly, getting over my lack of appreciation, I saw that the couple remaining grizzlies were retreating, knowing that they couldn't win, because we are superkids! Hell yeah!

'What did I tell you?' Fang asked seriously, ruining the moment. I could even feel his glare. He clamped a firm hand down on my shoulder and bored his eyes into me.

The Erasers were practically out of sight by now, or lying dead on the floor. The cut on Fang's cheek looked painful, but he didn't let it show. His lip was bleeding too and his eye looked partially swollen, but he'd had worse. I had managed to scrape away with just a few scratches and bruises and I felt lucky.

'Things went bad when we left last time,' I murmured, looking up at him innocently.

He said nothing, only unfurled his wings, and I mimicked his movements. I thought he was mad at me, but he gave me a crooked smile, shaking his head. His only comment, 'your left hook needs some work.'


A/N After gaining some feedback I have made some corrections to this chapter and tried to add more details so that you can really visualise the flock's movements from the hospital to the fight with the Erasers. I hope its an improvement - I think it's better :)

Let me know ;) Review/PM :D:D:D

BrownieCrumbs
x