Yeah, I know, I haven't updated in a while. Sorry. But there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that I just picked up a Keyboarding class in school, so I can learn to type faster. AND now whenever I wanna go on the computer to work on another chapter, I just tell my parents I need to practice. Bonus!
The bad news is that to pick up Keyboarding, I had to lose my only studyhall. So now I'm gonna have a lot more homework. But hey, win some lose some.
Don't own Maximum Ride. That would be soooooo awesome, though.
I also don't own any brand names that may or may not come up in the chapter. Or anytime else in the story.
I was woken from dreams of flying turkeys (the fried kind that you can buy at Thanksgiving, not the live animal) by an annoying beeping noise. I snapped into a sitting position and looked around wildly, hoping I wouldn't find a time bomb. My eyes flashed in all directions. It was still dark out, but I could see just fine. And I didn't see a bomb.
But I did see my laptop, the screen glowing a soft blue even though it was closed. It seemed to be the origin of the beeping. I relaxed and let the adrenalin rush out of my veins before I tiredly opened it. The chat-room was still open from a few nights ago.
Coolman230: Hello?
I started to type something in, and saw that I was still logged in as BlackAngel5. Fang's account. I sighed. Oh well. That's what he gets for not logging off.
BlackAngel5: Iggy?
Coolman230: No, not Iggy
BlackAngel5: k then who r u?
Coolman230: Max. and you are so dead. HOW COULD YOU!
BlackAngel5: y? what?
Coolman230: o, u know y, fang U R A DEAD MAN! I WILL HUNT U DOWN!
BlackAngel5: im not fang. im maya.
There was a pause.
Coolman230: who?
BlackAngel5: maya. ask iggy.
Another pause, where Max was probably asking Iggy.
Coolman230: oh. sry then. put fang on. dont tell him its me
BlackAngel5: cant. fang ran away two nights ago. i think we scared him off...
Coolman230: [word removed] ! y cant i find him!
BlackAngel5: ur word got blocked...
Coolman230: i no. tats probably best... i just wish i could talk to fang... :(
BlackAngel5: did u try calling him?
Coolman230: he has a cellphone?
BlackAngel5: idk
There was yet another pause before I got a reply.
Coolman230: well... i better go then
BlackAngel5: k. tell iggy i said hi
Coolman230 has logged off
I stared at the screen for a while. Fang hadn't told us much about the Flock in the time he had been traveling with us. And we had pestered him with questions and the twins kept asking if he was single, so he took off in the middle of the night two days ago. Now we were back on our own again, and we didn't have much money left.
I looked at the horizon, and saw that it would be light soon. Then everyone else would wake up and we could continue our journey.
"When are we going to Mexico?" Yori asked. "I've been craving a burrito for days now!"
"I don't know," I admitted. "Mimi?"
The twin closest to me didn't even look up. "I'm Kiki."
"Kiki?" I corrected myself. Kiki looked at me.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Arizona." She answered, and continued to braid daisies into Yori's fur. Hey, we had to keep ourselves busy somehow.
Sky was over in a tree with Mimi, and Koro was filling water bottles at a stream close to the edge of the clearing we had called home for the night. Sky jumped down from her branch gracefully and landed on her feet.
"I'm gonna go see if I can find some berries or nuts or something." She said. "I'm starving."
"Look around for any wild strawberries," Mimi and Kiki said at the same time. "We love those!"
Sky nodded and walked into the forest. I laid back onto the cool grass and watched the clouds float by. Pretty soon, we'd be on our way to Mexico and the world of Spanish-speaking people and tacos.
Sky was looking up at the branches, so she didn't notice the house right away. She was looking for a walnut tree. They were in season right now. She knew because she had seen some a few days ago, when they were in a different state. Maybe they didn't grow here. Maybe-
slam!
Sky's head shot up in time to see she had come to a clearing in the woods, a different one from the one the pack was staying in. And in the center of the clearing was a house. The slam had been the screen door closing behind a middle aged woman. Sky jumped behind a tree. A few branches rustled. And to Sky's horror, the woman turned to face her.
Normally that wouldn't have been too bad. But she had left the windbreaker she used to hide her wings back at camp. With both wings exposed, there really wasn't much she could do if the woman saw her.
A dog ran over to Sky's hiding place, and yipped happily.
Go away, dog! Sky thought. But apparently she wasn't a telepath, because the dog didn't go anywhere.
The woman looked at the dog, and her eyes traveled to the tree that hid Sky.
"Max?" she called. "Is that you?"
Sky tensed. The woman thought she was someone else. Probably her son.
The woman stepped closer. "You can come out now. I can see you."
Crap! Sky thought. What do I do? Run? Fly? Hide? No, not hide. Hiding was not working.
The woman was right next to the tree now. The dog barked and jumped up and down.
"Quiet, Magnolia," The woman said, and the dog quieted down, but still whined at the tree. Sky closed her eyes.
"I said, I can see you." The woman repeated. "Come on out now, I don't bite. Neither does Magnolia."
Sky was so startled when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, that she squealed and jumped up. Her wings extended a bit reflexively.
The woman's eyes went wide.
And Sky said the first thing she could come up with.
"Uh, uh, uh, I'm an angel. From, uh, you know, heaven."
She shook her wings a bit for effect.
The woman put a hand on her hip and opened her mouth to say something. But just then, Mimi burst out of the trees.
"Hey!" She blurted. "Maya said to come check on you, and to tell you that we're leaving-" she saw the woman. Mimi hadn't worn a hat, and her ears were very, very exposed. Very slowly, Mimi lifted her hands to her head and covered her ears. Then she said the first thing that she could think of.
"We're not mutants."
The woman lifted and eyebrow, and Sky looked over at Mimi.
"Really?" Sky asked. Mimi nodded.
"You're hallucinating." Sky added, hoping that just maybe, the woman might leave.
"Or dreaming." Mimi piped. "Whichever works best for you."
Sky smacked her forehead. "Stop helping."
The woman sighed. "Please don't panic. And don't worry, I've seen mutants before."
The two girls paled.
"You're one of them!" Sky whispered. Then they both ran, screaming, back into the forest.
When Sky and Mimi burst out of the forest screaming their heads off, my brain went into overdrive.
"What happened?" I demanded.
"There was a house, and a woman, and, and, a dog, and, and," Mimi gasped out. Kiki, across the clearing, started hyperventilating.
"She's a white-coat!" Sky cried.
"Ok, we're leaving now." I said. "Koro, grab the bags, and put a hat on! You too, Mimi."
"I'm Kiki." The girl replied, but she grabbed a hat and threw one to her sister.
"Which way's south?" I asked.
"That way." Kiki pointed in one direction.
"Everyone, head that way!" I called.
"Wait a minute!" A voice called from the trees. We froze. I could hear footsteps coming our way.
"Scatter!" I called. We all disappeared into the forest in different directions. From my position in a large bush, I could see Koro on a branch in a tree that extended over the clearing, and Jaws hiding behind a bush near that same tree. Sky had climbed another tree and jumped out of it, giving her enough momentum to take to the skies. She was somewhere overhead. Mimi and Kiki were in another bush. And I couldn't see where Yori had gone. We were all silent as a woman entered the clearing, breathing hard, suggesting that she had been running.
She looked around the deserted campsite. "I'm not going to hurt you!" She called.
Yeah, like I've never heard that one before.
The woman opened up a bag she had been carrying and pulled something out of it. I prayed it wasn't a gun. Then the most magnificent smell wafted out. She held out a container.
"I made cookies." She said. "From scratch."
Crap. Those smelled good! I wondered how long it would be before someone decided to give themselves away for the sake of the cookies.
Apparently not that long.
"I want a cookie." Jaws said, stepping out from behind the bush and into the clearing.
I heard the twins squeal out some "no!"s before clamping a hand on their mouths.
The woman looked curiously at Jaws, apparently having never seen an Eraser before. Or at least recently. Or as a child, like Jaws was.
"What the heck are you doing?" I cried out. I couldn't help it. This has got to be the stupidest thing that boy has ever done! He's gonna get us all killed! Or worse!
"I'm starving and we don't have a clue how long we're going to live, and I wanna have a freaking cookie before I die, okay?" He called back.
Koro lost his grip on his branch and fell out of the tree. He hit the ground right next to Jaws and I heard the breath go out of him. The woman jumped.
That was when Sky flew down. "Hey! You are never going to guess who I just met!"
The twins jumped up. "The Jonas Brothers?" They squealed in unison. Sky shook her head and the twins deflated.
"Get back down!" Yori cried out, poking her head out of a bush.
"What the heck?" I cried, standing up. Hey, if we were going down (and at this point, we were), I was going down with my pack.
"I had no idea my cookies were that powerful." The woman muttered.
Just then, in a gust of wind, five more people flew into the clearing. And, yes, I said 'flew.'
"This is Max," Sky said, pointing to the oldest girl. "And that's Angel, The Gassman, Iggy, and Nudge. They say 'Hi.'"
"OMG!" One of them, Nudge, I think, gasped. "More mutants? Where did you all come from? I mean, I know there were others, but I thought they were all dead. Not that I want you all to be dead, I just didn't know anyone else was out there, you know? And anyway, you all look so tired and stuff. Mmmmm... I smell cookies! Mrs. M, did you make cookies? Oh, those are so good! Ooh, and still warm? Yay! You all just have to try them! And you two, with the orange ears, where did you get those shirts? They are so cute! Do you think they come in my size?-"
"Nudge?"
"-I really hope so. And I love your skirts, too. They go with your eyes!-"
"Nudge?"
"-It would be really cool if we matched. We could totally be, like,-"
"NUDGE!" The tall boy, Iggy, shouted. "Do we have to get back out the duct tape?"
Nudge shut up.
I looked over the group. The little one with white wings and blond hair looked like an angel, but her aura kinda creeped me out. Iggy was probably blind, due to his startling eye color. The Gassman, oh brother. I think I can smell why he's named that. I should probably move upwind. Nudge was obviously the motormouth of the group, and she had a fashion sense just like the twins. Max was probably the leader who-
Wait a minute.
Max.
The Max.
"You're Fang's girlfriend!" I blurted.
Max's head snapped up. "What do you know about Fang? Do I know you?"
"We met on that web-chat thingy last night."
Max thought for a moment. "Maya, right?"
"Maya?" It was Iggy's turn to look up. "From the chat-room? Is Fang still with you?"
"No, sorry." I said shaking my head. "We kinda scared him away a few nights ago."
"Where were you when you split up and which direction did he go?" Max demanded.
"Uhh..." I thought for a moment. Then I grabbed the arm of the closest twin. "Kiki?"
"Mimi." She corrected. "We were in south-west Colorado. Donno which way he went."
"You two need name tags." I muttered.
"Southwest Colorado." Max was talking to herself. "That's not too far away. He couldn't have gone far."
"Well," Sky had walked over. "In my experience, which isn't very much, you can fly pretty far and pretty fast in good weather. Plus, we don't know which direction he was heading. And it's been two days. Sorry, but your boyfriend's gone."
Max said some very unladylike swearwords and punched a tree. Then she yelped and held her hand.
"Stupid tree!" She cursed. "Stupid splinters!"
Mrs. M hurried over at the sound of Max's cussing. "Come on, lets get you inside." She said, placing a hand on Max's shoulder. Then she turned to me and my pack. "And we'll fill you all in."
An hour later, we were all sprawled out across Dr. M's lawn munching on homemade cookies and just about anything else we could find in her cupboard. I won't spell out everything her and the flock told us, since if your reading this right now, you've also probably read their bestselling book series (Book series! Wow, I really need to spend more time in society).
And then, after some quick introductions and exchanging survival stories (Their lives make ours look like school children's!), we were just hanging out and enjoying the day. Which felt soooo incredibly nice.
"So," I heard Koro say to Iggy. "You can't see, but you can feel colors?"
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?" He answered.
"Oh yeah! Hey, open your mouth."
I saw Koro holding a bag of Skittles. I noticed that Gazzy was over next to them, too.
"Why?" Iggy asked suspiciously.
"Come on, Ig." Gazzy said. "Don't worry, it's food. And it won't kill you."
"I don't believe you." Iggy said bluntly.
"I'll vouch for them." I called over. "It's edible, and it's not gross or anything."
"What is it then?" He asked.
"Candy."
"Fine." Iggy opened his mouth. Koro poured in some Skittles.
Iggy chewed and his pale eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Gazzy laughed. "This brings a whole new meaning to 'Taste the Rainbow!'"
Iggy nodded. "So... colorful!" he muttered through a full mouth.
I looked up into the bright blue sky just in time to see a winged shadow cross over the sun. Now that we weren't running away, for the moment at least, Sky was taking all the time she could to learn how to fly better. She was up there right now with Max.
Mimi and Kiki were over with Nudge talking about fashion and stuff. I thought I caught the word 'noodles.' They were fast friends.
Yori was talking to the flock's flying, talking dog named Total and his, um, wife, Akila. I think she was happy to be with another mutant who looked like an animal.
I looked over at Jaws. After the whole initial 'Holy crap he's an Eraser!' reactions with the flock, he had fit in quite nicely. He was currently guarding the newest batch of cookies and talking to the other boys.
I was just lying in the soft green grass and petting Magnolia while the sun warmed us both. My mind drifted. I thought about fish for some reason. Must be the cat in me, but I love fish. Especially sushi. I remember one time when we had stopped at a sushi restaurant back in New York. It had smelled so nice I had finally convinced everyone else to go. Yori had dared Koro to eat half a tablespoon of wasabi, and he had ended up running out of the shop screaming for water while the rest of us laughed and chased him. Jaws had tried some of the sushi, which, by the way, is just raw fish with rice and sometimes seaweed and veggies, and almost puked. Ever since, he has been disgusted by the thought of raw fish.
But right now, I could really go for some. I absently looked over at Jaws again, and he was making a face at me. Seeing me turn to him, he had quickly looked away.
But not soon enough.
"Jaws?" I called over.
"What?" He called back.
I pictured a piece of sushi, and Jaws' eye twitched, just slightly.
"Alright," I called out, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Who's the mind reader?"
Nudge pointed. "Angel. How'd you know that? Are you a physic too?"
I ignored her and gave Jaws a look.
Quit invading people's minds or you will be the one eating wasabi. I thought at him. Jaws nodded and quickly looked away.
I sighed quietly to myself and let my body gently lay back down, even though I was probably going to get a lot of redish-brown dust in my hair.
"I'm home!" Called a young voice.
Without sitting back up, I looked over. A young girl was following Dr. M. She smiled brightly when she saw us.
"Everyone, this is my other daughter, Ella." Dr. M said. "Ella, meet the pack."
We all smiled and waved. Max and Sky flew down to greet Ella.
Feeling the warm sun on my face, I closed my eyes. For the moment, my family was safe and comfortable.
Too bad moments like this never last.
Yup. How many of you hate me right now?
BTW, the Skittles thing was Lilac Rose6's idea. It just fit so well in the context of this story that I decided to put it in.
And also, just in case you didn't pick this up, Dr. M is Dr. Martinez. I just don't feel like spelling out her entire name.
I will try my best to update faster. But just so you know, there are only, like, two chapters left after this one.
