If old readers remember, this is where I threatened to end the story. :)
Ha, how could I?
Onward!
Chapter 8
Running
Max's POV
We had ended up under the school, in the storage basement.
Okay, then.
To make this brief.
Three tough looking Erasers were hanging around, expecting us. We defeating them with a kick of a heel and a messege from the brain.
Nudge used her abilities to find the exit and even the lab room where Fang was.
Whitecoats were everywhere. And Angel made everyone ignore us. Totally. Not a second glance at all.
Now to the point.
We saw a certain room with this engraved on the door, as we ran through the halls.
Lab Room 3
Flock 2
We busted in, and it was the trypical room, but cleaner, nicer, safer, and with bigger cages.
And four kids.
Ruby's POV
"Hm...that just makes you look stupid."
I stared at the small mirror the whitecoats had put in our cage, glaring at Blake, trying out different faces to see which one looked the most threatening. I was dumbstruck by my own beauty, actually, not to sound to vain of myself.
I have smooth, shiny, dark red hair at shoulder length, fair, flawless skin, a perfect figure if I looked at a big mirror, and ruby, hence the name, red eyes.
And of course, maroon colored wings.
Being eighteen, I was what the scientists said the oldest (and most beautiful) hybrid they had ever created. I was followed by Blake, also eighteen, whom I had to say was pretty handsome himself. He had fair, almost pale skin, neat blonde hair, and blue eyes that made him look Swedish or something. His wings made it more obvious, being a pure white.
"This is sooo dull," muttered Scrapes, fifteen, from the other side of me, on the left. He was tall and skinny, and his long brown hair and narrow brown eyes gave you the feeling he was a Europeon/Chinese cross, which was...unusual, I had to say. He flexed his tan wings, looking as bored as he sounded.
"The whitecoats will come soon," said Sasha brightly from next to Scrapes. "Maybe they'll finally tell us what happened to Shade,"
Sasha was Blake's thirteen year old sister, and she had platinum blonde hair with the ends curling around her cheek. Her vivid blue eyes looked around at us. Her wings, white like Blake's, were retracting and unfolding.
Shade. My heart ached.
She was always so bright and funny, and the youngest at twelve. I loved her so much. It was not too surprising they snatched her away from us, with all her abilities, but I still didn't understand.
Oh, wait, our abilities.
Ruby (me): Sensitive hearing and exellent eyesight in the dark
Blake: Run/Fly at the speed of light
Scrapes: Highly developed brain that made him a teen genius, scraping together anything possible
Sasha: Highly developed memory (MP: I swear, I can remember what side and where a word is EXACTLY in books..sorry..), and super-reflexes.
"Yeah, honey, maybe," I told her. I don't go around calling everybody "cutie" and "sweetie".
'Honey' is as far as I go.
I faintly heard footsteps running through the walls, and I cocked my head, and the others got the hint.
"What? What is it?" Sasha whispered. "I can't hear anythi -"
Blake cupped his hand over her mouth.
"Footsteps.." I breathed out. "Running...and...they just turned the corner. Stand up, look threatening. They aren't whitecoats."
Everyone got up, and looked at the door with their creepiest, deadly looks. Wings outstretched.
The door slammed open.
A kid about fourteen years, staring at us, at first taking us in, then confused.
She beckoned to something we couldn't see, behind her, and four more kids came in, plus a dog.
Except for the dog, they all had wings.
Well.
There was another fourteen year old, boy, tall and thin, and had a blank stare that slightly creeped me out. An eight year old-ish boy was next to him, his blue eyes wide, tugging on the kid's shirt. An african american girl, about eleven, came in holding a six year old girl's hand, who looked a lot like the eight year old. The dog, in the oldest boy's arm, stared at us.
"Oooo...kay."
The oldest girl stared at all of us, wierded out.
"Well...I can see...that you are bird-kids, right?"
We nodded, a little creeped out.
"Well, that figures. To make this quick, I'm Max, fourteen. And - "
"I'm Iggy, legally blind, illegally blinded, fourteen," said the tall kid. Max looked slightly stressed.
"Total, and yes, I'm the dog who talks, any questions?" snarled the dog. Max became agitated.
While stared at the dog in shock, the little girl spoke up.
"He's my dog. I'm Angel, and I'm six. This bear - " she pulled out a dressed-up bear from behind her " - is Celeste. I looked it up and it means 'heavenly'. I read and control minds. Max flies at the speed of light. Gazzy can -"
"Gasman, eight, and I can mimic voices." the youngest boy butted in "I'm her big brother. We're trying to find - "
"Fang. That's not my name, though. My name's Nudge. I can see things when I touch stuff. What are your names? Is their more in your flock? The door says 'Flock 2.' Fang is somebody we're looking for. Do you know where he is?" Nudge ranted.
Max let out a harsh sigh.
"Enough. The point is -" Max came in again. She looked tough, trying to look much older than she was, and I took authority with my look. Cheap clothes, dirty faces. We're Abercrombie and Fitch, baby, and clean as can be.
"Ruby, eighteen, night vision and sensitive hearing," I was brief, not wanting to take too long, like Max. Man, these kids were outdated. Ages six through fourteen? So elementary. Twelve through eighteen? Junior High, and likin' it.
"Blake, eighteen, speed of light during flight and on foot," Blake glanced at Max when he mentioned his power.
"Scrapes, fifteen, kid genius, 'nough said," Scrape puffed out his chest, trying to look strong.
"Sasha, thirteen, sweet memory and super-reflexes, Blake's sister," Sasha was not stoic like us, unfortunately, "Have you seen a girl named Shade? I think she was put with some guy named Fang!"
The other kids stared at her.
"Where?" the oldest demanded.
Demanded?
To a kid with a leader four years her senior?
Did she just tell my girl what to do?
"Hey," I snarled, "Don't tell her what to do. She's in my flock,"
Max glared back at me cooly. Her kid flock glared at me as well, with an 'You don't know what you're getting yourself into,' look.
Sasha was the only one happy about our fellow mutants.
"It's okay, Ruby! They said they were in Lab 4! Should be the next room! Can you let us out?"
"Uh, no, Sasha. We are not hopeless." I snapped.
"We've tried everything! But the bars are too strong and thin and the lock in all the way at the top of the front!"
Iggy, the blind one, came over and took something out of his pocket. Max came over.
"Iggy, it's some sort of ID thing. You'll probably cause an alarm to go off if you try to fiddle with it -"
Just our luck, a woman came in, with her long blond hair in a pony, and when she looked up she almost dropped her clipboard.
"What the...?" she stammered. She whirled around, but the youngest ran in front of her.
"Give me the ID braclet," Angel spoke it a serious tone, but her eyes were bright and a grin plastered to her face.
The whitecoat suddenly had a clouded look over her eyes. She slipped of the white braclet from her right wrist, and gave it to Angel.
"Thanks. Now turn around and tell the boss you're sick and you need to go home. Forget about us completely."
Then, to our shock, the whitecoat turned around and exited. And that was it.
"Here, Max!" beamed Angel, going over and handing over the braclet to Max.
Max examined it, then moved it in front of the green dot in the middle of the square pad. A musical sound played, and I could hear the gears churning and unlocking the door.
Max opened the door, and we all got out.
I immediately grabbed Sasha and picked her up, she only being about fifty or sixty pounds. Then we all ran to the door.
But the kids stepped in front of us.
"Move it," I snarled.
"We helped you out, now you have to come with us and get our flock member back." Max hissed back."He'll be with this Shade person, so you have nothing to worry about. Now come with us."
I narrowed my eyes, but then I glanced at the braclet in her hand. She would use it, get this Fang guy, and disappear, locking us out. We didn't exactly have six year old mind freaks telling people to hand stuff over to us.
"Fine." I muttered. I put Sasha down, who had been trashing and trying to get out of my grip.
We would have to trust them.
That's what I thought to myself as we cautiously raced down the halls, Angel stopping at every door to check for feedback.
For now, that is.
Max's POV
"This is it,"
Angel had stopped in front of the door, the next door around the corner, just like Sasha had said. We were good, so far.
I looked around, making sure everyone was there, Ruby's flock and all, then opened the door. I had to use the braclet, for some reason.
We didn't walk two feet before everyone froze.
Fang was there, all right. His eyes were wide, surprised we had made it so far without setting off alarms, whitecoats, etc. He was all strapped up the the infamous Velcro Bed of Torture, both legs bandaged around the legs, and patches over his wings.
Talk about fixing your mistakes.
Oh, and guess what?
The girl nextdoor looked just like him.
Fang's POV
"Ruby!" cried Shade. I remembered the name instantly, and two things popped into my mind about that convo:
1) She was the leader of her flock
2) She guessed mine was going to save us.
Well, there was a total of nine hybrids staring at us, and one flea-bitten-talking mutt.
How did I know they were hybrids?
Hey, this is the school we're talking about.
A girl with red eyes came over, looking relieved but still restless out of her mind.
"Shade! What did those assholes do?" She began unstrapping her from the bed, and I saw my Flock flinch.
"Could you not swear? I have six year olds," Max growled, pointing at an uncomfortable looking Angel.
Ruby didn't respond, and after unstrapped the whole thing, Shade jumped into her arms and hugged her tight.
"Ruby! Guess what, they came in and Jeb and The Director of the School came in, and they said -" she looked up into her eyes, and stopped.
" - that we were siblings." I finished. "Hey, can somebody get me out of this? My legs are numb from waiting for you guys all night. And bullet holes don't make it easier."
Everybody stared.
"What? But...we thought...?" Ruby stuttered, glancing at Silent Shade.
"Thought wrong. Get me out of this."
"Fang, why the heck would they lock you up just to find out -"
"Get. Me. Out."
Nudge finally let me out, ten minutes after everyone started whispering and staring.
Max sighed.
"Let's get out,"
I nodded.
Then we get answers.
That chapter was 2087 words, the longest I've ever written.
Wow, people love this chapter. I got the most reviews on it.
Redo! It's so fun typing it!
