Disclaimer- I'm not James Patterson, so I don't own Maximum Ride. Sorry to disappoint.
Max's POV
When I woke up, I was greeted by Erasers footsteps, coming towards our room. I quickly woke the others so they wouldn't be kicked good morning. I wasn't able to wake Fang, and he didn't look anywhere close to waking up. The Erasers walked in, followed by Anne. She walked over to Fang's cage first.
"Still asleep, I see. Note, serum 213 works on subject 0035." Anne said, and I realized what they did. They must have given Fang a sleeping potion or something, and it makes sense because he normally is the first to wake up. "Roll them all to room 234." She said, and Ange grabbed my hand as the cage started moving. They rolled us until we got into one of the biggest rooms here, and that's pretty big.
There was a giant TV screen behind them, and they opened Fangs cage and put a helmet on his head. A picture came up on the screen, of me. I was shaking in my sleep, and Fang was whispering my name, and I realized what was happening. This was what Fang was seeing. In his head, he thought he was seeing me having a nightmare, which has happened before.
Anne walked over and explained it in more depth, for the little ones. "We want to know what he would do if Max was dead and the rest of you decided to hate him. We did a scan, it's one of his worst fears, and we are going to see what would happen if that plan went into action. He will think that she died and the rest of you hate him, and you will see it all from his eyes."
"Max, Max wake up!" he whisper yelled, but the Max on the screen just rolled and landed on Iggy.
"Max?" Screen Iggy said, and he looked over at Fang.
"Wake her up, she's having a bad dream." Iggy tried to wake me up, but I wouldn't and stared saying not to kill them. I was having one of those dreams, where the flock was going to die. Fang was going to have to experience that, and he won't be asleep. Once I woke up, I broke down and cried on Iggy's shoulder.
"It's fine, just go to sleep." It was weird to hear my voice and hear me say stuff that never happened.
"Too late now," Fang reasoned with me. "It's morning, the whitecoats will be coming soon, and we might as well be ready for it."
The others woke up soon, asking for food, and Gazzy asked why Fang got food, and I explained how it was part of Fang's punishment. Pretty soon the whitecoats came in and took us away. Then things got more interesting.
They had Fang in a cage, facing a maze. Anna walked into the room, walking towards Fang. "We are giving you 15 minutes to get to the other side of the maze. Your girlfriend is on the other side. If you don't make it to the other side in 15 minutes, we will kill her. And you… you will watch." Fang seemed to perk up at that. "To make it easier for you, you can follow her screams." my screen echoed off the walls, and the others looked at me, making sure it wasn't real. Ange grabbed my hand, and I squeezed it.
"That isn't real, don't be scared by what you see. I'm perfectly fine, nothing that happens in there is real, okay?" I reassured them as Fang hit the air, thinking it was a cage. Once he was out, he ran like a madman, but it was confusing for him, because the others screams filled the air.
A voice rang through saying he had five minutes, and his wings ripped through his shirt as he flew through the halls. I understood now why they had chosen such a big room, Fang was flying left and right. Once I came up onto screen, Fang flapped his wings faster and was almost there, when a bell rang, and a cage door appeared in front of him. Ari was cutting into my skin with a knife, making long cuts.
"You failed Fang. And you know the price of your failure." Ari said, and Fang turned around, but another cage door blocking his way. He was trapped. "Ready to see her die? Ready to see her bleed, ready to see the life leave her eyes?" Ari taunted, and Fang tensed.
"Let her go." Fang said calmly, but there was fear in his eyes.
"Now, where's the fun in that?" Ari said. "C'mon, let's play a game. How much can I torture Max before she dies?" he pulled down the curtain that was behind him and there was a bunch if weapons, bats, knives, pots, pans, whips, and guns. "Let's start out easy, shall we?" he said, grabbing a bat. He walked over towards the Max on the screen and hit her in the stomach, and she moaned.
"Stop!" Fang cried out, but I knew he could yell louder. He's saving his energy. He ran towards the front of the cage and started to try and bend the bars. Ari hit screen Max a bunch more times then looked up and smiled.
"You think you can't handle it know, look at all the other stuff I can use!" he said, laughing. He hit her in the face, giving her a broken, bloody nose. He then got up and grabbed a pan, hitting her stomach with it. "Well I can't hit her with this, then she'll be knocked out, and we won't be able to hear her scream!" he hit her stomach a few more times before getting back up and grabbing a knife, but this one seemed different. It had smoke coming off it, and I realized the blade was heated.
Ari grabbed screen Max's arm and brought down the blade, cutting swirly patterns into her, and she screamed in pain. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" Fang cried out desperately, and it broke my heart, hearing his voice with so much pain in it and knowing I was the one causing it even if the Max on the screen wasn't me. Ari laughed like a maniac and cut more swirly patterns into her. "STOP!"
"Why don't we give her a little reminder of whose fault this is before she dies?" he sounded like he had the most genius idea ever, which meant more pain for screen Max and more guilt for Fang.
He turned her onto her stomach and moved her wings, wanting to get to her back. He purposely blocked Fang's view, which annoyed me because we can't see what he's doing either. But it didn't mean we couldn't hear her screams. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" Ari stepped aside, satisfied and we saw what he had cut.
We all gasped, except for Iggy, who sheepishly whispered, "I don't know how to read."
"He wrote 'Fang's fault' all over her back." I said sadly as I heard Fang scream out in rage. I knew how much that upset him, because he was already blaming himself.
"TAKE ME INTEAD! DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH ME, BUT LEAVE HER ALONE!" he cried out, desperate.
"Don't you get it? I get to choose what happens here, I'm the one in charge, not you. I can do what I want with her before I kill her, and I will do whatever I want with her, and you won't be able to do anything about it." he cut into her more, her screams blurring with Fang's screams of protest.
Ari got back up and grabbed the whip, walking back over and bringing it down on her stomach. I noticed her screams were getting quieter, and I also noticed Ari was having so much fun he didn't see Fang slip through the cage bars. As Ari got up to grab a gun, Fang was behind him with a bat. He gave Ari a nice blow to the head and he was out cold. If he wasn't so frantic to help screen Max, he would have noticed that Erasers don't go down that fast.
He ran over to her, taking off his shirt and tearing it into strips. "Okay, stop the bleeding first…" he mumbled to himself, and he started tying his shirt strips around her like bandages, but to us he was tying them around thin air.
"Fang… it's not going to work. I'm going to die." Screen Max said tiredly, and I felt a spike of jealousy, but it was gone quickly and guilt came quickly after. This is exactly what I would have tried to tell him.
"No you're not, I'm going to save you. Quit talking nonsense. I'm going to save you, and you're going to feel fine."
"Fang, I'm going to die. You're not going to do anything about it, so please don't try." Fang started to open his mouth in protest, but screen Max shushed him. "Shhh. I want you to stop. I'm dying and I don't want you to save me, because it's not going to work. Please don't waste your efforts." How do they know exactly what I would say if I were in that position?
He sat next to her, but still tried to stop the bleeding. "Max, I have to try and do something, I can't sit here and let you die. I have to try."
"Fang… tell the others I'll miss them. Tell Angel she'll always be my little girl, tell Gazzy to never fix his problem, tell Nudge I'll miss her rambling, and tell Iggy to never stop being the pyro he is." she said, tears coming down her face faster. "I'm going to miss you all."
"Is that what you'd say if you were actually dying?" Ange whispered, and I nodded.
"Max, don't leave me, you can't die. How will I tell the others? How can I tell them it's my fault? Please don't die Max, I need you, I love you!" he said, tears falling from his eyes. I touched my face and realized I had started crying too. I had made Fang, the emotionless wall, the one who is careful to never show his emotions cry.
I couldn't stand it. "FANG, WAKE UP, IT'S NOT REAL!" I yelled as Iggy tried to calm me down.
"Max, don't waste your breath, he can't hear you, and sooner or later it will be over and you can explain to Fang what happened for real."
I nodded and calmed down, seeing what was going to happen next. "Fang, I'm scared, it hurts." She said, and Fang pulled her into a hug. "Fang, kiss me one last time?" she asked, and Fang gave her a quick kiss before pulling back. He probably didn't want to waste her oxygen.
"Fang, I'm going to miss you, I'm going to miss you the most. I don't wanna leave." Her breath was getting slower and her voice quieter, and Fang seemed to realize that.
"Max, stop talking, please."
"I want these to be my last words. Fang, I-" there was silence, and Fang grabbed her arm and checked her pulse. Screen Max was dead.
"NO!" he shouted, crying. He hugged her body, squeezing it. There was laughter behind him, and Fang slowly stood up, shaking. Behind him was Ari. "YOU KILLED HER!" Fang yelled, grabbing a knife and throwing it at Ari. He grabbed a bunch more and charged Ari.
He dropped the knives and attacked him with his bare hands. "You. Killed. My. Max." Fang said, his voice deadly. He threw Ari on the ground and jumped on top of him, his hands finding Ari's throat. He was choking Ari to death, but more Erasers came in and dragged him back to his cage.
Once he got there, he punched the cage and cried. Screen Ange looked up at him, reading his mind. "They… killed max?" she asked him, and he slowly nodded. "This is all your fault! If you had been two seconds faster Max would be here! If you had gotten out of that cage faster she would be here! But because of your slowness, she's… dead!" she yelled and real Ange winced. I knew she would never say that, and Fang looked shocked.
"She… she told me to tell you that she would miss you. Angel, she said you'll always be her little girl. Gazzy, she said to never stop being… well, Gazzy. Nudge, she said that she'll miss your rambling, and Ig, she said that you should never stop being the pyro you are. I'm sorry." He said, and the screen flock started crying.
"You've had more rest then me and are stronger than I am but even I could have done that maze with my adjusting eyes!" screen Ig yelled. Real Ig winced too.
"Fang gets more rest than us, Fang gets more food than us. Fang doesn't get hurt and we do, I bet you're working with the school and that's the real reason!" Screen Gazzy yelled, and the rest of the screen flock nodded in agreement.
"I hate you. I wish we could trade you for Max." screen Nudge said, but the real Nudge was silently crying.
"We don't want you as out leader." Screen Ig said, and Screen Ange stood up.
"I will be the new leader, and I kick you out of the flock." She said proudly, and Fang still had no idea what to say, but finally he responded, his voice in a whisper.
"I'm sorry. I wish I could give myself up for Max too." And when the whitecoats came and dragged him out, he didn't even try to fight back.
Then a real whitecoat came in and injected him with something, and he was asleep. They took off his helmet and put him in the cage with us, and the Erasers rolled us back.
I ran to Fang and placed his head in my lap. He was still asleep once we got back to the room, but they didn't try to put Fang in a separate cage. There was silence before Ange spoke. "He's going to wake up in a minute. You should set him down and then come to him, because he might freak out more if he wakes up and is in your lap. You should wait for him to wake up and then walk over to him." I nodded and carefully placed his head on the floor, then stood up and walked over to Ig.
Once he woke up, he looked around, but he couldn't see me. "Fang!" all the others said, asking if he was okay and they were sorry, but he wasn't having it. He got up and ignored them as he walked towards the end of the cage and sat down.
I got up and walked over to him. "Fang." I said, and he turned around quickly, blinking a million times as if I might disappear before saying something.
"This isn't real. You died." He said under his breath.
"Fang, that wasn't real. I am real. The flock is real. That flock wasn't real; would the real flock act like that?" I questioned.
"Tell me something only Max would know."
"The first time I met you, I gave you the name Fang because you told me they tried to inject snake DNA into you. Once we escaped, we were out and you bought 30 apples. You and Iggy gave each other nicknames, Iggers and Fangles… the time that we pranked Iggy and dyed his hair black and gave him black clothes and I called you emo thing one and emo thing two (once again, credit for emo thing one and emo thing two goes to my fave fanfic writer silenceisgolden15 so do those the cutting swirls into body with burnt knife idea.)!" I said desperately. He had to know I was real. I had to think of something more personal. "You carved out initials into a tree. It was the tallest tree in the forest and I got so mad at you for leaving because I thought the whitecoats got you and you told me what you did and showed me and I kissed you and that's when we told the flock we were dating."
He closed the space between us and hugged me. "Max. My Max, I thought you were dead." Fang said, crying.
"I know, but I'm not, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere." I didn't want to break the hug, I wanted to stay like that forever, but I knew I had to, so I stepped back. "Fang, none of that was real."
"What?" he asked quietly.
"Last night, when they insisted you eat all the food, they put something into it. They took one of your worst fears and wanted to know what you would do, so they did. They made you think that was happening. We were there, but starting from the dream I was having to when Ange kicked you out of the flock, none of that actually happened." I started. "They put a helmet on you so we could see what was going on in your head on a screen, and it was like watching a movie."
"So, none of that was real, the whitecoats made me think it was real?" he asked, and Nudge couldn't take it anymore.
"None of that was real, and I'm so so so so so sorry, but I would never do that. I still feel guilty though, but I would never ever ever ever say anything like that, never ever!" she said, running over. "Please please please please forgive me!"
Fang, looking overwhelmed, nodded. A second later, Nudge was on top of him, giving him a giant hug. "Nudge…" he started, but she wouldn't let go, and Ange and Gazzy joined the hug.
"Can't breathe." Fang said, and they quickly let go. Iggy walked over and held out his hand.
"We cool?" he asked. Fang took it and shook it. Guys are so weird.
As I heard Gazzy yawn, I realized how late it actually was. "Okay guys, time to sleep." I said, just as Anne walked in with Ari. Fang stepped in front of me.
"There's no need for that Fang, it's you we want." Ari said, grinning. "Good to know you're afraid of the big bad wolf."
"You've messed with his head enough." I said firmly, trying to get out from behind him, but only getting next to him.
"Max…" he started, looking at me, but I didn't move. "I'll go, it'll be fine."
Anne whispered something into Ari's ear, and if it was possible, his grin got even bigger as he nodded. "You know, I don't know why you're even talking to them right now, this could not be real. That's the thing Fang, you don't even know what's real. How do you know which is which?"
"I know this is real. If I tell you why I know it is, you'll use that information to make the serum more believable." But after knowing him for years, I could tell there was a small seed of doubt in his mind now.
"Enough with the chit chat Ari we're on a schedule." Anne said, and Ari nodded.
"You can either do this the easy way or the hard way." Ari said, cracking his knuckles.
"Easy"
"Hard" Fang and I said at the same time. Fang looked at me, then nodded, but I realized too late. Iggy had been sneaking up behind me, and he grabbed me from behind.
"Damn it Iggy let me go!"
"Don't fight." Fang said to the little ones, then walked out when Ari opened the cage door.
"Sorry Max." Iggy said. Ari roughly grabbed Fang's shoulder and walked him out the room. Once they were no longer visible, Iggy let go of me. He quickly took a step back and held up his hands in surrender. "Look, before you yell at me, hear me out. He just saw you die, and now that he has you back, he doesn't want that to happen again. So how do you think he would be acting sitting in here knowing that he has every chance of losing you again?"
"Since when did you get so serious?" I asked playfully. He took this as a sign that he was forgiven and smiled.
"Since I was unblind." He said, laughing. I will never understand this kid. I heard Angel nod, and decided it was time for them to sleep.
"Okay, bed everyone." I said.
"What about Fang?" Gazzy asked.
"Fang would want you to get some sleep." I said as the little ones put their heads down and dozed off.
"He would want you to sleep to Max. Don't tell me you weren't planning on waiting for him, I'll wait and wake you up when he comes." Iggy said, and I opened my mouth to protest, but it turned into a yawn. I nodded and put my head down, quickly falling asleep.
A/N- So… I had a snow day on Monday and spent all PE class talking to a guy who likes John Green books so yea. Sadly, my friend is moving to Portland and I will probably never see him again, and I can't go to Lebanon this summer to see my family because they are bordering Syria and my parents don't want us to get trapped in the airport or something. Also, I finished watching Merlin and like cried for a long time.
Question of the Chapter- What do you think should happen next?
My Response- I'll come up with something by next Friday.
So I'm gonna update this now so my friend doesn't kill me… bye!
