Chapter 9

As soon as our feet scraped cement on the top floor of the towering skyscraper undoubtedly home to thousands of office spaces, Fang had torn his backpack from his shoulders and began to pull out antiseptic and bandages. He was the only one carrying a pack that day. I had stored the rest of them atop of a few trees in our temporary home – Central Park. The Do Something Now group tried to persuade us into lodging at one of their fancy schmancy hotels they had booked for the engagement but we respectfully declined. Considering our previous hotel experiences had resulted in a bomb delivered to us a la pizza and being kidnapped and locked away in a sensory deprivation tank, we were avoiding the extended stay in hotels for a little while. Don't get me wrong – I missed the hot showers, the comfy bed, the pillows. But lodging in trees and caves would be just fine for now. And when we did need a hot shower or a bath, we just used Jeb's – yes, he was along for the ride on this particular mission.

As Fang pushed my pants leg up (and not carefully might I add – ouch!) and worked on stopping the bleeding, I let my thoughts wonder momentarily to Jeb. Jeb Batchelder kidnapped us from the School when I was just ten years old. He raised us for two years – teaching us not only the finer things in life like - you know – reading, but also the not so finer things – like picking locks and winning fights at all costs. Then, he disappeared. We all thought he was dead, but then he turned up like a bad penny two years later working for the School, helping them to hunt us down. He claimed it was all part of my testing. Whatever. Then, he saved my life and I found out he was my real father. Whatever – and I am rolling my eyes this time. At one point in my not so happy life, Jeb was the source of my happiness and I would have given anything for him to be my real dad. Then he was the object of my hatred. Now – he is my father and I am majorly confused about him. I, we cannot totally trust him although at times I am almost convinced that he is one of the good guys. And then I think about all the evil stuff he let happen to me… to the flock…

I glanced over at my flock while Fang tended to my injuries. This was my family. I didn't need Jeb. I needed these guys. As a flock, we had split up a couple of times – for good and bad reasons. The emptiness that I felt those few times was overwhelming. My flock completed me… we completed each other. I felt a proud smile forming on my face as I watched Nudge detail the new surroundings for Iggy. They were gazing out over the edge of the building and I listened to her ramble incessantly about the various restaurants and theatres and stores in the huge world below us. Gazzy and Angel were playing hide and seek with Gazzy being discovered within seconds each and every time Angel was the "seeker". Yet another game you do not play with a mind reader. Total was curled up in Fang's open backpack, trying to soak up every bit of heat possible in this twenty degree weather.

I gazed up at Fang – determination and concern echoing from his dark eyes and tensed jaw. He was my right- hand man. He had my back no matter what and life without him was unimaginable. There was a brief time when we had decided to go our separate ways. I had chosen to let my half-brother Ari – who as an Eraser had tried to kill us on several occasions – join our merry band of mutants and Fang couldn't deal with that even though I knew that Ari had changed. And then Ari died. Those were some of the toughest days of my short and pitiful life. Fang and I swore never to break up the flock again.

Fang felt my gaze on him and he flashed a half – smile in my direction that made my heart skip a beat. "All better," he stated matter of factly as he lowered my leg to the ground. "Stopped the bleeding for now. Not as bad as I thought."

"Thanks," I muttered as I let him help me to my feet. Our eyes meeting momentarily as I up righted myself. The flock seemed to notice my improved state for they came running at me from all directions.

"Max! I am so glad you're okay," exclaimed Nudge. "I thought we were going to have to go to a hospital again and I really didn't want to because of all the School smells. They would probably have those FBI people there and I really don't want to talk to them again – "

Nudge was like the freaking Energizer bunny – she kept going and going and –

"Anyway, guys," continued Nudge. "You should see what's going on down there!"

We all followed Nudge to the overlook for the high rise. Down below us was mass chaos with a capital C. Ambulances, fire engines, and squad cars lined up as far as the eye could see. There were small fires being put out. Cracks in the pavement from the earthquake that followed from the blast. People wandering – looking all around as if answers for this madness would magically appear in the sky. Cars overturned both from the vibrations and from the out of control driving that could only have resulted from others coming to a screeching halt. Point blankly – it was a mess.

"Alright, Gazzy. Spill." I said. "What happened back there?"