Get Up & Fight

A/N: So two chapters in one day. Aren't you proud of me? Thanks to my betas DANZNQUEEN and marauder05. Please let me know what you think about this chapter. It kind of plays an important role in the stories outcome.

Towels were in the dryer and jeans were in the washing machine. Angel and I had finished making turkey sandwiches and Nudge was pulling a tray of peanut butter cookies out of the oven, chatting away.

We sat down on the couch and I flipped on the television.

"Oh, it's Lost!" Nudge exclaimed, as a Korean man filled the large screen. He was lying on a beach and looked half dead, like he'd been through hell and back.

"Can we watch it?" she asked, happily.

"Only if you promise not to talk through it," I said, taking a large bite of my sandwich. Nudge scowled, but agreed to be silent.

After eating we were drowsy-eyed. I sent Angel and Nudge to bed, telling them that a short nap wouldn't hurt them. I picked up our plates and rinsed them quickly, telling myself that I'd wash them later.

When the doorbell rang about an hour later, I didn't hesitate to answer it. I thought that Margaret may have decided to come by for a visit. I hadn't seen her or Mattew since the middle of October and the rest of the Flock hadn't seen them for what seemed like forever.

It may have even been beneficial to talk to Margaret about my situation. She might have given me pointers on how to tell Fang, after all, she'd had to tell Mattew. But they had been married.

I opened the door with a smile plastered on my face. I was hit with a huge amount of force and quickly surrounded by five Erasers. Two were still in human form. The others had already taken on their grotesque, hairy form. And I recognized one.

"Ari," I snapped, looking at him. My eyes burned with rage.

"Max," he growled, moving towards me. His eyes were blood shot and full of lust. He brought his hand/paw towards my face and lightly touched my cheek.

I yelped as I jerked away. His claws cut dug into my skin, not too deep, but enough to hurt. I could feel the sticky blood on my face.

Launching myself at him, I elbowed his nose. I heard it crack and blood began gushing from his nostrils. Another Eraser grabbed me from behind and threw me into the wall. My body smashed into the wood paneling and I crumpled to the ground. Being double teamed is so unfair!

"Where are your friends?" the Eraser asked, a smirk on her face.

I glanced towards the bedroom door, but didn't reply. Silently, I begged Angel and Nudge to get out. Standing up, I spun around and kicked her in the chest, knocking the breath out of her.

Ari pulled my hair and wrapped his furry hand around my neck and I watched as another Eraser came out of the boys' bedroom. Thank goodness they weren't here.

Ari removed his hands from my neck and picked me up. I kicked and threw punches but they didn't seem to cause him any pain whatsoever. He threw me into the coffee table. My head hit the corner and my sight became hazy. Carefully, I touched the side of my head and felt the red liquid that was beginning to come out of the large gash above my ear.

"No one else is here," another female said. She stood outside the girls' bedroom. Thank God, they'd made it out.

Get up and fight, Max, the voice coaxed.

I struggled to my feet and picked up a butter knife that had been left on the table. Using all my force I stabbed it into the nearest Eraser. He howled in pain and clutched his arm. One of the females rushed over to help him.

I blocked her way and launched a roundhouse kick at her. My leg made contact with enough force to knock the air out of her and cause her to wobble backwards. I headed for Ari, who was arguing with another Eraser.

"You stupid coward! There's five of us and one of her. This will be a piece of cake," Ari smirked.

"And I'm sure I'll taste amazing, too," I said, coming up behind him.

I pounced and clung to his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing tightly. He wobbled slightly and began clawing at my arms. I bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming.

Ari forced one of my arms loose and twisted hard. I heard it pop and pain shot through my spine. I let go quickly, screaming and dropping to the floor. There was no denying that my shoulder was dislocated. I'd only felt this pain once before and Jeb had been the one to fix it. That definitely wasn't going to happen again. I'd have to have Fang pop it back in for me. It may not be as sweet, but at least the pain would go away.

Clutching my arm, I swayed as I tried to stand up. My head spun, probably from the large amount of blood that I had already lost. Looking down, I saw that one of the gashes on my left arm had hit a major artery. Blood was spurting from it.

Ari walked towards me. He raised his right hand. It was clenched into a fist. I saw it coming, but was too weak to block it.

He punched me in the stomach, knocking the breath out of me. It was painful and my mind suddenly flashed to the baby. I started to crumple and blinked rapidly. Anger filled me with extra energy. There was no way he was going to get away with this.

I backed away from him, trying to find room to kick out at him and ended up backing into another Eraser.

"Where do you think you're going, Blondie?" he asked as I turned around. I had been backing towards the door, but I wouldn't have made it through. The other Erasers would have been able to stop my escape.

I threw a weak punch at the Eraser, hitting him in the mouth. He choked and spit out a few, extremely long teeth.

I turned around and came face- to-face with Ari.

"Leave us alone," he growled at the other Erasers. I turned my head slightly and watched as they filed out the door. So, Ari was in command.

"Let's finish this," I said, anger and fear in my voice. I'd never been scared of Ari before and I wasn't now. I just wasn't sure that I had enough strength to defeat him.

I swung at him, making contact with his already bloody face. Then I shoved him hard, putting all my strength into my right arm.

"Is that all you have?" he asked me. I clenched and unclenched my hands, more anger bubbling to the surface.

Ari kicked me in the stomach again and I wobbled. The pain I felt slowly began to take over and a tear slid down my face. Ari began to laugh and hit me in the chest, cracking a few ribs.

He swung at me again and hit my face. My head snapped to the side and everything got fuzzy. Black, grey, and white dots clouded my vision and then the light left. Everything went black and I felt myself hit the hard floor.

He stomped down on my right leg. I felt both bones in my lower leg snap and the pain flew up my body. The pressure from the boot released.

Then Ari rested his boot on my chest and my breath left me as he stepped down. I began to cough and had to spit something out onto the floor next to me. I wanted to get up and fight, but my brain wouldn't move my body.

Ari chuckled and a smoky smell filled my nose.

"You're going to die a slow death," he whispered in my ear. "Bye bye, Maximum Ride."

As a stronger smell of smoke filled the room, I drifted out of consciousness.

A/N: Some of you probably hate me right now, but don't worry good things are to come.