Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or it's characters. I do own the plot for this story and Lucas. Thank you.

Double Digit Chapters!! Ahh!!

Chapter Ten: The Aftermath

Flock POV

Flying almost as fast as they did on the way to the School, the flock was soaring higher and higher in the air at faster speeds to get away from the School now.

Nudge had passed Lucas onto Iggy after nearly dropping him, he was conscious now, and rather uneasy in the arms of a blind, fourteen-year-old bird kid, but he cooperated anyway, trying to think light, weightless thoughts.

Max on the other hand was still out in Fang's arms.

Fang POV

We'd done it. We'd rescued Max and some whitecoat that was apparently a "good guy." But, if Max trusted him, we would; the last time I made the mistake of not trusting her judgment of someone, it really cost the flock.

I'd carried Max before while flying, but this time she was so light. Not saying that she wasn't before, but she was definitely more now.

With sheer determination, the flock and I soared through the air. I looked down at Max, laying still in my arms. Her face was a little paler than usual, her hair a thin, lighter blonde color. And her arms, oh God, our bones were light, therefore we weighed a lot less than we looked, but her wrists were bony, as were her cheekbones, elbows, and collarbone, and this was just what I could see.

But she was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Suddenly Iggy flew up next to me with an irritated look on his face.

"He wanted to talk to you." Iggy said nodding down at Lucas.

"Thanks, um, Iggy?"

"Mm."

"What did you want?" I asked, probably a little too sharply. I looked down at Max, but her eyes were still shut and her body still limp.

"How is she doing?" he asked cautiously.

I looked over at him, then back to Max.

"How does it look? She's still out of it."

"Right. Sorry. Fang, right?"

I looked straight ahead and nodded, particularly getting annoyed.

"Yeah, she talked about you a lot."

What?

"I mean, she stopped talking all together after a while. She hasn't spoken a word in probably the past two months. The first month she was there she wouldn't stop sassing the headman and everyone else."

"Including you?" Iggy laughed.

Lucas smiled. "Yeah, she called me dog breath the first day." He recalled. I couldn't help but smile.

But he stole my thoughts and continued anyways.

"She kind of talks occasionally in her sleep."

What the hell?

"What were you doing in her room while she was asleep!?" I swear if he says something off, I'll knock him out of the sky right now.

"No! No, I mean, I was scheduled to check on her at night!" he added frantically.

Good, I'd scared the shit out of him.

"Some nights she would start screaming, others she'd just say your name, like, 'Fang, blood, your arm,' and so on. Then she'd talk about Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, the Gasman."

"Gazzy and the Gasman are the same person. Gazzy is just his nickname." Iggy explained.

"Oh, sorry. Anyways, she was really worried about all of you. But, the first day there, the headman, whom she ended up calling Dr. Chump, made a deal with her that he wouldn't harm the flock if she cooperated with the tests."

Rage, guilt, sorrow, everything was bottled up in me now. I squeezed my eyes shut and clutched Max's body closer to me than it already was.

Look what they've done to you. You idiot. How could you let it go this far?

"She was doing what she thought was best, Fang."

"I know, I know, Angel."

We flew another five or ten minutes until we got to Lake Mead and landed in our good 'ol cave next to the hawks.

"You're back! Finally!" I heard Total bark as we landed; Akila came running up behind him wagging her tail.

Everyone landed and Iggy set Lucas on the ground and stretched his arms; I was still holding Max.

"Fang? Total and Akila have a bed-type thing ready in the back. It's cooler back there, so they stock-piled all of our blankets back there."

"Thanks, Nudge." I said gruffly. I staggered back to the back of the cave. All the younger kids, plus Iggy and that Lucas guy, opened up a bag and started eating. But Lucas followed me to the back anyway.

Crouching down carefully, I set Max on the thin cushions on the floor and stroked her hair out of her eyes, the chunks that came out of her braid while we flew.

Turning, I took off my bag and dug out the first aid kit and felt her head. No fever, but she was a little cold.

The Lucas guy was still behind me, and it was getting irritating.

"Angel, are you picking anything up from this guy?"

"He cares a lot about everyone's safety. But I don't think he's going to try and decapitate us."

"Thanks."

"Fang, don't worry about him and Max, he loves her because he feels bad for her, it's more of a 'I want to help you and get you away from the School' sort of feeling wafting off him."

"Thanks, Angel."

Lucas POV

Standing behind Fang felt a little odd, he was younger than me, but already a heck of a lot taller. And to tell you the truth, kind of intimidating.

I stared down at the way he moved around Max—what could I say? I'm a—I mean—I was a scientist; I was trained to look at the way things moved! –But the way he did move, he was so protective and careful around her, almost panicked. Apparently Max didn't get this hurt often…

I decided to try and risk my life and knelt down next to Fang. He shot me a poison look. I didn't blame him.

"Can I help at all, Fang?"

Fang POV

Chicken-legs knelt down next to me; he must not value his life very much…

"Can I help at all, Fang?"

I didn't look back at him, I focused on propping Max's head up on a bag for support, and checking her exposed skin on her arms for any major damage. I reached down and picked up her seemingly lifeless hand and cradled it in mine. I remember holding her hand while she was getting her chip out of her arm, and how scared she was at first. Now I was on the receiving end. I was scared to death right now.

"She's really strong, isn't she?"

I am about to lose it on this guy.

"Yeah." I answered, short, sweet, and to the point.

He sat there a few more moments, then got up and walked to the front of the cave.

I relaxed my muscles a little, but didn't let my guard down.

A little while later, he came back with a hotdog on a plastic bag, and a chunk of ham on another. He held the hotdog out for me.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes, "I'm going to tell you the truth straight-up, Bud, I don't trust you. And quite frankly I don't like you very much. If you try and pull any funny business with the flock, or Max, I'll take you out." I said in a low, dark voice with every word true.

But the guy just shook his head.

"I understand, and I don't blame you at all. But please believe this, I do want to help you."

I stared at him, studying his every flinch. So I said that I'd trust him, but I didn't say how much.

Apparently getting comfortable around me, he squatted down again and sat cross-legged on the floor. He then raised the ham chunk to me.

"For Max, when she wakes-up I'm sure she'd want some real food."

I looked at the food and took it with my free hand, setting it on my other side.

"Thanks." Sorry, I can't help it; at least he was helping Max. I looked back down at her, real panic hitting toll.

She should've woken up by now, shouldn't she?

Max POV

I was starting to regain consciousness, I couldn't open my eyes just yet, but I did start to feel that I was laying on a different ground, the only nerves that had come back by now were the ones in my back. Then I realized something:

I wasn't in Fang's arms anymore.

Panic wanted to make me leap up, but I didn't get to far, I think the only thing I managed was a shaky breath. Then I felt a rough hand on my face, and my hand squeezed tightly, I tried to squeeze just a little bit, to let whoever was there know that I still was. I barely got the energy, but miraculously, I did. Then, as if that used everything, I fell back into the darkness of before, every feeling in me gone.

Fang POV

While sitting holding Max's hand, and ignoring Lucas as much as I could, I saw Max take a jagged breath and squeeze my hand.

"Max? Are you waking up?"

But as soon as I asked, the breath that she took exhaled just as fast as it had come and her hand went limp again.

"Oh, God, oh, God, no. Max! Max, come on please talk! Please Max! Please at least do something!" I was in panic as I jumped onto my knees and shook her hand and patted her face.

Unfortunately, the little kids heard me, and of course Angel heard my panicked thoughts, and they all came rushing to the back of the cave.

Gazzy POV

I was sitting by the Cliffside with Iggy, watching the hawks flying in loops in the air, while Angel and Nudge cleaned up from dinner.

"Hey, Iggy, do you think that Max would let us make some bombs just for fun?"

I could tell that he was about to reply when he stopped dead and his face turned to dread. But the most disturbing was when I heard Fang pleading.

And trust me, he never did that.

Iggy POV

I'm not going to try to no brag about it, but I have amazing hearing. I'd also have great vision if the idiot whitecoats didn't screw that up. But I was secretly listening to Max's every heartbeat.

So I knew when I heard her heart skip a beat, flutter a moment, and then a beat slower than ever, I turned into panic mode. My conclusions were corrected when I heard Fang screaming.

I jumped to my feet as the Gasman jumped and followed me.

I ran as fast as I could without hitting any rocks, and I could sense Angel dashing along next to me with Nudge in tow.

As I got closer to Max, I could hear the faint flutter of her heart.

She's still alive.

Angel POV

It only took a moment. In a moment I was hearing Max's thoughts again. She was trying to figure out where she was, and then she tried to grip Fang's hand, to let him know she was okay. But it was too much. She'd already passed out again. Fang was panicking, Iggy was racing, jumping over large rocks that he somehow knew were there, and poor Gazzy and Nudge were in tow, not knowing what to make of all of this.

"Fang! What's going on?! I heard Max a minute ago, but then I lost her!"

Fang turned and looked at me, fear and concern clouding his face.

"I don't know." his lips barely moved.

Lucas POV

I was about to try and talk to Fang again when we saw Max take a jagged breath, faintly grasped his hand, and then fell back into unconsciousness.

"Here! I was trained in life-guarding!" I offered.

Fang turned and shot me a sheltered glance. I could tell he wasn't going to give in easily.

Suddenly the littlest girl, Angel, was screaming at Fang.

"Fang! What's going on?! I heard Max a minute ago, but then I lost her!"

Fang dropped his glance on me to turn and face Angel, his dark eyes full of dread.

"I don't know," he practically whispered.

I shook him, "Fang! Let me—,"

But he turned and his arm barreled across my chest, sending me flying against the wall.

I caught myself before I could smack against the stone, and staggered back to my feet.

Peering through he darkness I could see Fang leaning over Max, checking her pulse in her neck while Iggy calloused his hands across her body.

I looked over at Nudge.

"What is Iggy doing to her?" I asked, sheer curiosity filling my voice.

She looked up at me, her face quite frightened, "He's checking her body for bad injuries."

I thought about this for a moment, "But he's blind, how can he do that?"

"His other senses are better than any of ours; so he can feel little things that we may look over, like blood clots, bruises, and torn ligaments."

"Wow."

I watched in awe as Iggy and Fang tried to bring Max to this world.

I prayed that she wasn't gone.

A/N: Yeah, this was kinda longer than I expected, so I'll prolong it a little longer! Thank you so much for the great reviews! Please tell me what you're thinking of it so far!