Wing It
A/N: Here's chapter 11 for you.
Chapter 11
After a quick glance at Trin we jumped down together and met the others at the bottom of the trunk. Trin was all business. "How many?" Angel shook her head.
"I don't know. They're thinking funny, all their thoughts are in a jumble…"
I looked around, seeing nothing. "How long? Where are they?"
"Here!"
Nudge gasped, pointing into the shadows around us. I looked around, eyes narrowed at the sight of red irises glowing in the darkness. They were completely silent as they moved, their eyes glowing so brightly that it was like they were red fireflies, except they never blinked, and they remained completely level as they floated towards us.
Mason and Bella were standing back-to-back, wings tense and fists at the ready. Fang and Max were close to each other, with Angel between them. Iggy and Gazzy were holding bombs or something in their hands--where they got this stuff beat me. Angel, Nudge and Kate were right behind me. And Trin was at my side.
"Angel," I thought sharply, "Can you tell how many yet?"
"Only about thirty," she replied, "but I can't be sure..."
Thirty. Thirty against our...how many did we have? Thirteen? About two against one. We could handle this, or at least we could handle it long enough to get away. Unless the Fallen were incredibly far more advanced than Flyboys… I nodded at Trin and tried to keep as many of them in sight as I could. It was dead silence for all of five seconds or so, neither side moving, barely breathing.
Then they attacked.
I was attacked by only one of the beautiful males; Trinity was attacked by five--and Fang by four. Somehow, the boys managed to hold their own. I was almost overwhelmed just by this one tall, scarlet eyed, ivory fanged monster. He grabbed my arms and lifted me right off the ground, then slammed me into a tree. But something was off... He didn't try to kill me. He just pinned me there and stood firm, watching his comrades as they held Kate, Nudge, KIX, Gazzy, Iggy still...
"What do you want with them?" I shrieked as the remaining Fallen lunged at Trin and Fang; Max, Bella and Mason were still putting up a good fight, but the clear focus was on Trin and Fang. The Fallen that was holding me looked back at me. He shrugged, face impassive. "Zachary commanded us to bring the fair haired, tan one and the dark one. He said he didn't care what we did with the rest of you."
I struggled against him even though it was useless. "What are you going to do?"
He leaned closer, and sniffed at my neck. "Well, to tell you the truth, you do smell good..."
"Uh, no thank you!" I squirmed. "You seem nice for a monster. Please, don't."
He shrugged and leaned back, smiling slightly to reveal pointed canines. "Alright," he said in his low, purring voice. "I'll be nice and just knock you out. It looks like our job here is done." He adjusted his grip on my arms and with his now-freed hand, smacked me over the head.
My vision went black.
When I came-to I jumped up, and caused my head to go spinning. One glance around told me what had happened. They'd left us alone. We were still in the same place, all they'd done was knock us out--and taken Fang and Trin. My heart tightened. "Is everyone alright?"
Angel clung to my legs. "We're fine," Nudge rasped. I looked over at Max, who nodded. Kate was helping Bella help Mason, who'd apparently gotten a nasty hit on the head. KIX was hiding Beth from view, worrying over her. Iggs and Gazzy were searching through the grass for something, probably parts of bombs.
I got a firm grip on Angel's shoulders, and looked at her. "Ange..."
She nodded. "I know. I'm looking." She closed her eyes and her face scrunched up.
Max crossed over. "We could leave the others here, have Mason and Bella take the others and keep driving, and you and I, maybe Iggs too, could go track down the Fallen. If we leave soon, we might be able to track them..."
"KIX can tell us which direction they went in," I said. "I like your idea, Max... We could then call Mason and Bella and rendezvous with them. That could just work."
Max nodded. "It will work. It has to." The look in her eyes was fierce and determined, and I'm pretty sure my eyes looked like that too. She turned around, to face the boys so she could yell at them. "Iggs! KIX! Get your arses over here!"
We filled them in on the plan, and as the others drifted over everyone got the gist of what was going on.
KIX took a few deep sniffs and pointed. "East," he said.
I nodded and looked at Mason and Bella. "You guys get as far away from here as reasonably possible, and try to stay on populated roads and areas. ITEX wouldn't dare attack in the open. We'll call you up soon, don't worry." I looked back at Max and Iggy. "You guys ready?"
Max snapped out her wings and Iggy nodded. "Always." We took a running start, and took off at about the same time. Max and I shared the lead, with Iggy trailing a little behind and a little lower.
We spotted the building by late afternoon. It was in a remote location, and my eagle eyes couldn't see a town anywhere in the distance. It must've been a largely experiment-containment branch of ITEX, to have so much room for the building itself and then the outside grounds.
"No electric netting above... Looks like they don't have so many flying hybrids. Let's land here," Max called. We angled our bodies and landed quickly.
Iggy tapped Max's shoulder once we were on the ground and spoke in a whisper. "There's also the possibility they aren't worried about flying experiments even wanting to escape, besides Trin and Fang. Those Fallen looked pretty in line, we might not be able to escape to the air."
She nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Get down!"
We ducked low under the cover of the bushes, but I could clearly see the Fallen that had just stepped out from behind a tree a little ways away. They couldn't possibly have seen us, but they might have smelled us…
As the winged person got closer—I couldn't tell if it was male or female from this angle—it began disappearing from view behind the bushes we were in. I held my breath… I couldn't tell if they were standing right next to me, that's how silent they were…
"I know you're there," its voice whispered right in my ear. "Since I do not have orders regarding intruders, I won't mention you. But I advise you to leave."
"I can't," I whispered back.
"Ah, rescue mission?" The Fallen's voice got lower. "Hurry. The scientist's lunch break starts in ten minutes, it is a half-hour break and they are gathering in the arena. I do not know why… But it might give you time."
I stared. "Why are you helping us?"
They didn't get the chance to reply, Iggy was already tugging on my arm. "Let's go!" I turned and ran with them, using the cover available. I didn't look back until we were almost in the building, and then there was no sign of the Fallen who had assisted us.
I looked over at Max. "Why do you think--"
"It doesn't matter; they didn't want to hurt us, so let's take that as a good thing. Duck again."
As the scientists passed, I listened to their conversation. Something about the "newly captured rogues" being held on Containment Floor 3, Room 412, and how they could never escape.
The scientists disappeared down the corner, and Iggy, Max and I hardly looked at each other before we were running to the nearest elevator, pressing the button, and then hiding—just in case the elevator that came down here was occupied. We were lucky, as it wasn't. We quickly went to the floor labeled "Containment Floor 3".
It was easy enough; we ducked into a janitor's closet once we heard the bell calling all the scientists to lunch go off. We waited there until we couldn't hear anything anymore, and the crowd of voices had passed. Once they were gone we ran down the hall, checking every door, looking for 412. When we came to the 400s, there was another jumble of voices and we just barely made it without being seen. We wound up cramped together between a desk and a wall, the white coats' voices not too far away from us.
But those voices faded away without incident. We finally reached 412, and ripped open the door to find...
"Rescue team!" one of the experiments whispered, being smart and keeping his voice down so not to call attention to us.
"Get your butts out without being seen, and please, please, please don't alert anyone to you escaping! We have to get our friends out—you seen a tall, dark, emo looking bird kid, or a tall, blond, scary bird kid around here?" I tried to be as fast as I could, like Nudge. We had no time.
"Yeah," another experiment said softly. "They took both of them to the Coliseum."
…
"Oh my God." I turned around and ran down the hall. "Max, you and Iggs go find a way out, I'll get Fang and Trin. I'll catch up with you soon, you better have an escape route by then!" I shouted.
I ran almost the whole way there, the signs on the walls were really helpful. And, amazingly enough, I didn't run into anyone--until I was down the hall from the Coliseum. I heard a loud thrum of voices, as if everyone in the building was inside. They probably were. I dove for the first air vent I saw, and climbed through it, forcing my way up, up, where I wouldn't be seen. And when I found an exit I jumped and climbed to the rafters, and started hunting like an eagle for them. It's amazing how no one ever looks up.
Let me explain what a Coliseum is. Every major ITEX facility has one, where strong experiments are set against each other like pit bulls. These battles were what ITEX called "Natural Selection" and "Survival of the Fittest". The theory behind this brutal sport was this; whichever experiment survived was obviously superior, and therefore that line of experimentation was brought to the forefront of their efforts, and everything went on. Usually, the Survival battles were only between top experiments—Omega and Max, for example; although, that wasn't nearly as brutal as usual battles were.
So there I was, waiting for the latest battle to start. I knew at least one, or both of the boys were fighting (since it could be one-on-one, or two-on-one, or two-on-two, or any combination).
I could see a young scientist fiddling with his laptop, and one of the screens on the wall lit up with data—experiment numbers, gobble-de-gook that only twisted scientists needed, and two names, enlarged and in fancy fonts: Alpha vs. Beta
All that's missing is Omega, I thought to myself, and bit my lip. I wonder who's who…
"Alright, everyone!" I jumped as the young man's voice echoed forth from hidden speakers. "Do you have the camera set up, Yolanda? Good. Everyone have their note taking items? Yes? Great. Are we ready?" A murmur of assent from the all-too calm crowd. "Alright. Bates, open the doors."
A button was pressed, there was a soft beep, and then the doors on either side of the arena slid open without a sound. My eyes zeroed in on Trinity first; tall, thin, and imposing, with his wings spread out on either side. Attached to his either wing was a Flyboy, holding them open, as if he were on display, just a captured bird in a science observation. That's probably all that Flyboys were good for nowadays, now that they were almost obsolete.
Trin's tawny hair was grimy, his skin was ashen with a sickly flush along his cheekbones, and his eyes were closed. Even from here I could tell that he wasn't breathing properly. On his left shoulder was a silver cuff with an A engraved on it—Alpha. His hands were bound together in front of him, engulfed in a strange silvery substance that made it look like his hands had been dipped in paint and glued together.
Even as I watched, a scientist approached and filled a needle with a clear liquid. Half-conscious, Trin shied away from the needle on instinct. He was so weak, however, that the scientist grabbed his arm and the needle sank into Trin's neck with only slight, almost non-existent resistance. With a hissing sound the syringe was emptied into Trin's bloodstream—it reminded me of the old Enterprise injections… The scientist released my boy, but the Flyboys still held him.
Trin's eyes opened slowly, and after a few moments of dazed blinking, he glared up at Zach with a look of pure loathing.
A movement at the other side of the arena alerted me to the fact that the other experiment had just been administered the waking-drug. Fang stood at the far end of the room, held in a similar position as Trinity. His wings glistened in the light, glossy black and purple in the blinding white fluorescents. They were the exact opposite of Trin's snowy feathers, and his dark hair was a stark contrast to Trin's tawny, golden locks. Fang's dark eyes were also locked on the young scientist with the same intense hatred as Trin.
I was suddenly struck with a thought, and a chill ran down my spine. What was I supposed to do now? Both of them were about to be released—I could swoop down and we could all fly out. I mean, they wouldn't actually fight each other, would they? All the previous battles had been between two starving, half-insane, blood-thirsty, frightened experiments who knew nothing except pain and orders. Fang and Trin were the exact opposite—they'd most likely refuse to fight each other!
…right?
I was suddenly overcome with paralyzing doubt. What if I was wrong? They could fight, one of them get killed, and if the survivor caught up with us he could pretend that Flyboys did it or something! With a sickening jolt, I remembered how Trinity had told me, in a desperate moment, that he'd do anything for me…and how Fang had explicitly said that he'd kill to keep those he loved safe…
"Before we begin, I'd like you to note the injection. It was of a chemical that will activate Alpha and Beta's true experiment natures—more specifically, their attack and destroy instincts."
Thanks, White-Coat, I thought miserably. Just go and kill all of my last hopes, as per usual. Jerk, idiot, demon…
"My name is Zachary Moore, head director of experimentation. The Natural Selection will commence momentarily…" A few more jots down on their clipboards, and then Zachary—that bleeping jack arse!—looked around and asked, "Is everyone ready?" Zach's icy eyes looked around, then hardened as a silken, evil smile spread across his face. "Alpha, Beta…" His eyes flickered up into the rafters and I froze, hoping against hope that he didn't know I was here…
"Attack."
The two bodies were released like out of cannons, hurtling towards each other. Their wings had snapped back to their bodies like rubber bands, and were so tightly pressed against them that they would have been invisible if they were under a shirt. The moment Zachary had set them lose, their shackles had melted off into puddles on the ground, and with them went all my hope for their mutual safety.
Still, I had no idea what to do. I sat there, paralyzed and horrified, staring open mouthed at my two best friends. They'd collided and begun tearing at each other's skin, hair, wings—blood and feathers littered the ground beneath them as they rolled and tumbled and fought. Their hands were curled into talons, and their eyes were filled with blood lust the likes of which I'd never seen before.
"Fang, get out from under him!"
My shriek was (thankfully) lost in the primal, bird-like shrieks that echoed from the two struggling boys below. My words were true, however unheard they were—Fang was pinned to the ground with Trinity straddling his waist, landing punch after punch on Fang's arms, which were his only shield. Finally, Fang managed to throw Trin off of him and stumble back out of range. He took to the air immediately. Bloody feathers drifted to the ground as Trinity spread his scarlet-streaked wings, but he didn't seem to care. He crouched and leapt into the air, without even taking a hop-skip-and-jump to get airborne. The two boys swooped after each other, always just a feather's breadth away from colliding. With horror, I realized that everyone was looking up now—and I prayed that I'd been right in assuming that I couldn't be seen from the ground.
Fang did that strange twist of his, and for a moment he was hovering on his back just as if he'd been floating on water. He hung underneath Trin—and me, and for a moment his eyes, devoid of sanity, were locked with my horrified gaze; then his hands tangled in Trinity's and the spell was broken with a snap. The two angels grappled with each other like mating falcons, or angels fighting for Heaven and Hell—a dark Lucifer and bright Michael, falling out of Heaven even as they fought. Trin's white wings were flapping desperately, furiously against Fang, and in return Fang was spinning and twirling them around, trying to get a good hold on his opponent. Feathers, black and white, flew everywhere.
The boys were dropping at an alarming rate, and the ground was looking for all the world to be pathway through death to Hades—for one, if not both of the boys.
Just before they could crash, Trinity let go of Fang like a hawk hurling its prey to its death. He thrust Fang away from him with all the force he could muster, and shot up into the air in the same movement, using Fang like a springboard to propel himself in the opposite direction of the fall. Fortunately, Fang managed to flip open his wings and hurtled off, one wing tucked to his side as he fell towards the earth. He performed a complete corkscrew, hurtled parallel to the ground with his chest a mere six inches away from the dirt, and headed straight of a wall.
I bit my knuckles to keep from screaming, and my vision blurred from painful, frightened tears.
I need not have worried.
Fang turned at the last moment, flawlessly swirling around with his primaries sliding along the dirt to make patterns and kick up a swirl of dust. He gathered himself like a spring as his feet hit the wall, and then he kicked off to tackle Trinity in mid-air.
The two fell to earth with a thud and slid, kicking up even more dust and releasing more, louder, falcon-like screams of fury. And then Fang surfaced, with Trinity's arms pinned and his legs incapacitated. Fang leaned close, shielding them both with his huge, raven wings—the way a hawk mantles its prey.
For a few moments Trinity's screeching was the only sound in the entire Coliseum. Fang hung on for dear life, never letting go of Trin for a moment. And then the screeching began fading away, and then all was silent.
Fang finally jumped off and hurtled into the air, followed by Trin. They shot up toward me, bleeding and practically ripped to shreds—but they swooped around me, enticing me to come fly with them…to escape.
They landed on either side of me on my rafter, one hand extended each. I took the offered hands, slick with blood, and together we toppled down as if in slow motion, as if in a dream. Our wings were pinned to our backs, our bodies angled aerodynamically. Murmurs rose up from the crowd of scientists and I heard Zachary shouting out orders; they were lost on me. Our wings snapped open in unison, and we streaked towards the door, through the Flyboys, and out into the hall. I saw, outside a window, Max and Iggy hovering. Iggy was holding a bomb, ready to detonate it.
One by one we crashed through the nearest window…and we were free!
Iggy threw the bomb right at the now gaping window, and then turned as fast as he could and zipped away. I numbly handed Max my cell phone and let her call Mason and Bella. After that, we flew in silence.
I didn't realize I was crying until we landed on the roof of Bella's car. Both of my boys wrapped their arms around me; Trinity pressed my face into his scarred chest, and Fang held me with such tenderness that it pulled more sobs out of my frame than stifled them. "Oh my God," I rasped, "I was so scared, Oh my God…"
They didn't seem to be able to speak: Fang was silent as ever, and Trinity seemed to be fighting tears.
We toppled off the van onto the grass as we parked. I was still sobbing uncontrollably. Angel and Kate ran over, pale and wide-eyed. Max came next, seemingly torn between who to comfort first—Fang or Trin? Mason and Bella watched solemnly from the cars. Gazzy and Nudge were hugging each other as they watched, unsure whether to attack us with hugs or to keep our distance.
KIX and Beth glomped us, of course.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh." Beth could not stop repeating herself as she hugged all three of us. I saw the boys were wincing, but they silently patted her back.
KIX flitted around us. "Are you guys OK? What happened? Do you think we have first aid in the car?"
Mason came out at that, arms laden with said first aid. Apparently we did have it in the car.
I forced myself to swallow my tears and calm down.
He gestured for Trin to spread his wings, and began to treat him first. Beth released her grip on us for that, and Kate and Angel were able to situate themselves beside the boys. Kate closer to Trin and Ange closer to Fang. After a long, silent moment everyone crowded around, offering each other silent comfort. Max sat by me, for once in a lifetime.
"What happened?" she asked softly. I looked over at Trin and Fang.
They exchanged long glances, and Fang spoke first. He spoke carefully, like we were all made of glass and his words would shatter us. "They...pitted us against each other in the Coliseum. Apparently Trin and I are Alpha and Beta. Natural Selection..." he trailed off and cleared his throat. "We had a fight, and we escaped. Ana saw the whole thing."
Max's eyes widened considerably. "You guys did…that to each other?"
Trin nodded. "Yeah... We did."
I shivered, and both of them reached out to me at the same time, they spoke in unison, and stared at each other afterwards. "It's alright, Ana."
Fang dropped his hand to my knee, and Trin's hand came to rest on my shoulder. I looked at them, taking in their individual wounds, their shared stoic faces, exhausted eyes. I then looked up at the sky. "You guys get some sleep in the car," I said. "Soon as you're done getting bandaged up. We'll get dinner for you… Mason, Bells, can you drive through the night?"
The two adults nodded. "Yeah."
KIX, Beth and Kate crammed themselves into the back seat of Mason's car, with Trinity and Fang in the middle row, and myself in shotgun. The boys were out like lights as soon as we'd given them a blanket and pillow each; I turned on the heat and watched as Trin pulled his legs up beneath him to get more comfortable in his sleep. Fang had leaned his head against the window and had covered himself with his blanket.
Both of my boys looked even more exhausted—and more alike—than ever in their sleep.
Beth, KIX and Kate looked at me. "Natural selection?" KIX whispered. "Are you freaking serious?"
"Yeah. That Zachary guy was there, he was the one that organized it… They injected the guys with…" I closed my eyes and tried to remember what Zach had said the chemical was. "With some sort of chemical that would 'unlock their true natures or more specifically, their attack and destroy instincts'."
"Oh man." Kate's face was ashen. "And you had to sit and watch it… Oh man, that must've been Hell."
I nodded and turned back to the windshield, sniffing deeply. Yeah, I thought to myself. ITEX is Hell.
