And here we are again. I know, I know, I haven't posted in a little while. Gomen, gomen, gomen. And sorry that I randomly speak Japanese sometimes. I've been busy and practically banned from the computer. But this makes up for it, right? Right? I don't own Maximum Ride.

A quick 360 glance revealed no Erasers that weren't being pummeled. Strange, I thought, flapping in place, there should be more of them. Then a laugh from above me made me whip my head up. I found a pair of grinning Erasers dropping down towards me, too close to avoid. They landed right on my wings, close to where they met my back, and I shrieked for a second before clamping my mouth shut. Pain coursed through my body from my shoulders, beat in my veins with my blood. I was falling fast, weighted down by two hairy half wolves, and the air rushed past my face. The Erasers grabbed my arms, laughing and dislodging from my momentarily useless wings. I saw red for a moment when I bit into my tongue and tasted blood, and then was filled with a cold fury.

Using every ounce of strength, and ignoring the screaming protests of my muscles, I yanked my arms together in front of me, enjoying the sight of two Erasers colliding face first. They fell away, howling, and I tested my wings. They hurt incredibly, but worked, so I surged back fifty feet upward to return to the fray.

First thing I did when I got back was knock an Eraser flying, hitting him at high speed from underneath. I found myself face to face with Max, who gave me a surprised look and stopped her fist inches from my nose. She grudgingly nodded thanks as I whipped around and caught another Eraser in the side with my heel.

A minute or so later, I vaguely heard Iggy's voice, close behind me. An Eraser hurtled past me, trying to regain control, scrabbling at his shirt. I had time to think, "What the?" before the Eraser exploded, and I was knocked backwards. Into Iggy. His hands encircled my skinny arms, ready to tear another wolf-man apart, but then I guess he realized I wasn't covered with fur, and he let me go. "You should probably know, Ebony," he told me, "next time I give a warning of any sort, it's probably a good idea to duck." He stashes bombs? And Max approves? I nodded, said "Thanks," and dodged an Eraser that barreled past.

"You… are… a… fridge… with wings… we're… freaking… ballet dancers," I heard Fang growl. I almost laughed out loud (Fang? Ballet dancer?), which would have been bad, considering the circumstances.

Suddenly I felt the rake of claws across the back of my neck, and I turned, angrier than ever. My reward was another scratch, right across the cheek and just missing my eye. An Eraser leered in front of me, ready to deal a punch, but I zipped in and locked my hands around his throat. He struggled in surprise, and forgot to flap once, making us fall a couple feet. I ignored his efforts to extricate me, the claws scoring my arms, and tightened my grip. "You think you're so hot," I hissed, "now that you can fly. Yes, go ahead, dog boy, taunt the little kitties. Well, guess what." I dug my long, sharp nails into his neck, and felt one puncture an artery. The Eraser looked at me with a glimmer of true fear in his eyes. "This kitten has claws, too." With that, I yanked my arms across each other, slitting his throat wide open. He spiraled downwards, gurgling helplessly.

"That was kind of really scary," I heard Fang say, and I turned to see him looking at me strangely. I shrugged sheepishly, then a movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention, and I heard Max shout, "Fang!" A snarling ball of fur and claws flew past me, carrying Fang with him: Ari. I turned fast, to see Fang push him away. Ari swiped at Fang.

My gaze flicked around erratically, making sure there wasn't a relief force of Erasers coming down on us. I caught my breath, seeing Ari was the last one. He seemed to notice it, too, and retreated with the few remaining Erasers. "We'll be back," he said menacingly, then flew off lopsidedly.

"Boy, you just can't kill someone like you used to," commented Fang. There was a note of tension in his voice. I glanced at Max in surprise; I didn't know she had killed Ari in the sewers.

We lingered for a little while, checking out our injuries. Fang was most definitely hurt by Ari's final assault, but didn't give anything away, simply answering, "I'm fine," to Max's look. Angel was completely fine, Gazzy just had a minor leg bruise or something, Nudge just still seemed extremely tired, and Iggy had a bloody nose. When Max's gaze fell on me, I answered, "Um, cuts. A lot of 'em." My hand was pressed to my bloody cheek, and I felt more blood trickling down my back from my neck, emphasizing my point. "But that's it, so I'm fine."

"Okay, then," she summed up, "we're almost to D.C., and it should be easy to get lost in another big city. We good to go?" There were nods, and we banked around and headed south again.

The others started hypothesizing about the winged Erasers, but Fang stayed silent. His face was strained and a little on the gray side, so I stayed with him, talking a little and trying to send him health and feelings of wellness. But he kept ebbing lower and lower, and I began to worry.

Max's POV

I was talking with Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge and Angel when I realized that Fang and Ebony weren't with us. I looked back and found them, maybe twenty feet below. Ebony was shooting worried glances at him, and her brow was furrowed as if in concentration. She was as close to him as she could possibly be in the air, nestled halfway above him and out of range of his wings. Fang's flying was ragged, off-balance, and his face ashen. I swooped back toward them, and asked him, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," came his reply, but his voice was tight and came through clenched teeth. Ebony turned away from him to look at me, a little panicky, and showed me her hand. It was dark red, covered in blood.

"Your arm!" I gasped.

"'S not my arm," he managed to get out, before his eyes fluttered shut. He fell down and away, losing altitude fast.

Really fast.

Ebony's POV

Fang dropped out from beneath me, his wings crumpling weakly. Max and I dove after him after a second of staring stupidly in disbelief. Fear rippled through me like freezing water, as I managed to haul Fang's bloody arm over my shoulder. Max did the same on his other side, and we flew awkwardly up a few dozen feet, trying to avoid smashing our wings together.

"Max?" Iggy's alarmed voice called. I looked up. He was flying toward us. "What's wrong?"

"It's Fang," she told him stiffly. She turned to me. "We should land and see what's wrong." I nodded, my mind shut down and my body on autopilot.

The five of us headed to a shoreline as fast as we could, and landed haphazardly. Nudge and Iggy helped us drag Fang's limp body to a flat stretch of sand.

"What's wrong?" Nudge asked, her voice high pitched. I saw how much blood Fang was covered in, and tried to stop my hands from shaking.

"Let's just see what we're dealing with here," Max said. I admired how she kept her voice so calm.

My head lowered, eyes trained on Fang, I muttered to her. "His side… it's torn up. Completely ripped apart. I think it was when Ari…" I couldn't finish the sentence. She pulled his shirt away, and turned pale at the damage. Nudge gasped.

Immediately, Max gave out orders to the younger kids, and they moved away, stunned. Iggy's fingers drifted gently over the gaping wounds, and he said, "This feels bad. Real bad. How much blood has he lost?"

"A lot."

"Jus' a scratch," came Fang's weak voice, his eyes half open and vacant. I looked at him in surprise.

"Why didn't you tell us you were hurt?" Max hissed, then glared at me. "And you! You knew. Why didn't you say something?"

"I-I… I was trying to… to help him…" I stuttered faintly, staring emptily ahead. Then I shook my head. "I'm sorry. We can lay blame later. Right now, we can't waste time." She stared angrily at me for another second, then turned away, asking for the cloth strips. Folding them quickly into a pad, which she then pressed down across the wounds, she looked almost helpless, trying to stand in the way of death.

I heard footsteps crunching on the sand at the same time Iggy did, and snapped my head up. It was a man, off on his morning jog. "Kids, you okay?" I felt Fang's blood seeping through the knees of my jeans. No, sir, nothing's wrong. Nothing at all. Suddenly, the man got what was happening, yanked out his cell phone, and dialed 911.

Max was about to open her mouth and protest, then turned and looked at all of us.

"We need help," I told her softly, probably speaking her thoughts. "We can't pull through this alone, or we'll lose Fang." She nodded, forgetting to glare at me in the rush of events, looking pained.

There was a bit of an argument between Max and the younger kids which kind of surprised me, though it really shouldn't have. Then the EMTs showed up, with an ambulance and a stretcher and everything.

"What happened here?" asked a paramedic incredulously.

"Accident," came the reply.

"Accident? With what, a rabid bear?"

Close enough, I thought.

Epic fight scene! And that's that for chapter 10. I promise 11 will be up in a bit, and I'll get to work on my Soul Eater one as well, though that might take a little longer.