Chapter 10

I woke up awkwardly sprawled on the couch to the TV no longer muted and Iggy sitting on the table in front of me listening to the news. Once again the Doomsday group made its way onto everyone's televisions. An overly happy follower being interviewed by a news anchor probably looked harmless to anyone else. It was just creepy to us.

"You know you have your own room" Iggy said not turning to face me.

"Yeah I meant to fall asleep on this couch" I said sarcastically, tossing a pillow at him. "So what are you doing up so early?" I asked glancing at the clock in the mini hotel kitchen which read 6:28 AM.

"Just wanted to see this is all, thought maybe there'd be a lead or something. Of course there isn't though"

The door to the room Nudge and Angel shared creaked open and a very tired and annoyed looking Nudge shuffled out and sat down next to me on the couch with a groan.

"Uh, Nudge?" I said

"Angel talks in her sleep now." She said in a totally un-Nudge like tone.

"That's new" I said. I was beginning to wonder if Angel had a creepy clone now too, but that was probably just being paranoid over Maya.

"What was she talking about?" Iggy asked nearly laughing. He may have been joking but I was wondering myself.

"I don't know" Nudge said sighing and slightly pausing between each word "It sounded like nonsense to me."

"Hmmm" I said knowing questioning a tired Nudge was going to get me no where so I'd just have to hear the Angel sleep speech for myself. "I'll switch rooms with you Nudge"

"Thanks Max" she said without an ounce of enthusiasm.

The morning consisted of us sitting in the living room watching cartoons, believe it or not. Not long after Nudge woke up we were joined by Angel Gazzy, and Total. Two and a half hours later Dylan joined us.

"Hey look! Sleeping beauty woke up!" Iggy joked.

For once Dylan didn't crack a smile, he just looked…annoyed. We changed the cartoons to the later morning news broadcast. A news anchor stood in front of a DG rally where people chanted 'Save the planet kill the humans' with creepy smiles plastered on their faces.

"Jeez, the whole worlds freaking brain washed" Gazzy muttered.

A woman walked into the frame, a women who looked a lot like…

"Mom?" I whispered.

"And now I am very delighted to have with me, one of the Doomsday Groups founders- Valencia Martinez" The anchor said

"No…" Iggy said almost silently.

I cursed under my breath. Founder…founder. She wasn't brainwashed, She chose to be like this. The thoughts inside my head were so loud I couldn't even hear what the interviewer and my mom were saying. All I could think was that this entire time my own mother, if she even was that, had been one of them- one of the people I hate, one of the people who've tried to kill me, one of the people that put me in a cage. After I was through thinking about that, I mentally kicked myself for not thinking of it before. We said we'd never trust adults once Jeb left and the second 'mother' was waved in front of my face I ate it up. I trusted her. I put the flocks safety in her hands. Suddenly I stood up and began to pace back and forth, clutching my head in attempt to keep my brain from falling out.

"Max, maybe you should sit down" Nudge said, her worried making her look younger.

Then it happened again, the loud screeching, the flashing images. I stopped pacing instantly and hung my head to hide the pained look on my face. I stood there like that until it passed, then looked up at the flock who was staring at me in shock.

"Max?" Gazzy said, clearly freaked "What are we going to do?"

"I don't-" I stopped myself forgetting that I'd always had a plan. Now I didn't have one. I had no clue what to do next. "I just need to think this over" I said as calmly as possible.

"Do you think we should call Fang?" Dylan of all people asked.

"He's helped enough" I said, even though I really did want to call him.

"I think he'd at least like to know Max" Iggy said cautiously "I mean we are trying to take down the DG together" he added, with a 'please don't kill me' look across his face.

"You're right" I said and his face instantly relaxed "Call him, tell him to come here as soon as they can"

"Then what?" Nudge said quietly.

"Look, I don't know. Ok? I'm sorry" I said trying not to cry.

I don't cry in front of the flock often, at least I didn't until all this crap started. I hope you can understand how hard something like this is to comprehend. Imagine finding out that the one person you trust, is actually with the people you're totally against- the founder of those people. It's not the kind of thing that sinks in well.

"It's ok Max" Angel said, not sounding like her usual self but it was still comforting. Maybe she wasn't an evil clone.

"Fangs on his way, I didn't tell him anything just that it was urgent" Iggy said closing his cell phone.

I plopped back onto the couch and looked down at my hands which were shaking like crazy. Dylan placed his hand over mine.

"We'll figure it out" he said without looking at me, his jaw tight. It seemed as if he was fighting off the whole wanting me thing. I couldn't decide if I was happy about this or concerned.

"Yeah, Max. It'll be ok." Nudge said as convincingly as she could.

How could we figure this out? How could it all be ok? We hadn't even begun to try to stop the DG yet and this happened? Things would not be ok. We wouldn't figure this out. Years of experience has taught me that when something like this happens, things only tend to get worse. Minuets later Fang and his gang were at the door. Gazzy slowly opened the door and Fang cautiously entered, not a clue what had happened. His eyebrows drew together when he saw my face.

"Max" he whispered, standing a few feet from the door. "What is it? What happened?"

I must have looked like a mess because Fang scanned the room, probably doing a head count to make sure we didn't loose someone again.

"Dr. Martinez…she…" I said still trying to comprehend it myself "She's one of the founders of the Doomsday Group"

Hope you enjoyed! Had a lot of fun writing this one! Next chapter will be up in the next two days