A Little Person Called God Chapter 14: Dead, Dying, and Down, a maximum ride fanfic

A/N: I just want to thank all you amazing people for be so patient. I know I'm doing a really sucky job about updating, but this summer has just been so hectic. I also want to thank everyone who supported me in the Maximum Ride Fanfiction Awards. ALPCH got six nominations and four wins in Best Action/Adventure, Best Fax, (don't know how that happened), Best New POV, and Best Story. Plus, I won Best Author; I emailed my fanfiction-hating creative writing teacher about that, just to pester him. Mwhahaha! (He knows he loves me. He just hates my fanfics, LOL.)

The more observant among you may have noticed the new summary. I did a little reworking: ALPCH and ALPCG both have new summaries, and I changed the chapter titles a little. I'm also taking ALPCH through a little editing, but nothing major.

Disclaimer/Copyright: Yeah, yeah.

NSRQ#13: "Down, down in an earlier round/ And Sugar, we're going down swinging/ I'll be your number one with a bullet/ A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it --Sugar, We're Going Down by Fall Out Boy"

Chapter Eleven: Dead, Dying, and Down

Max was really upset. She wasn't crying or anything, but I could practically feel the sadness spilling over from her, dripping onto the floor. I let Leigh's cooling hand fall to rest on her stomach, and wrapped my arm around Max. She turned her head into my shoulder.

"It's not fair," she mumbled. I kissed her hair and didn't reply. It wasn't the sort of statement that needed an answer; it wasn't fair. Nothing was.

Max stiffened in a way that I knew meant she was talking to the Voice, or Deven, or His Holiness, whatever it was called these days. I waited patiently, pulling Max up into my lap and drawing patterns on her palms. Finally, she relaxed and looked up at me.

"He still won't say who Isaac is. Or where the hell this stupid seventh angel is." She reached up and pushed my bangs away from my face, not looking at me.

"We ruled out one option: it's not one of the kids from the Institute," I provided. Max just sighed and drew her knees up to her chin.

"I don't know what to do," she admitted in a voice that could only be described as small. "Everyone expects something out of me, but I have no idea what to do."

I didn't know what to tell her. For a moment, I tried to imagine if Max was born normal. No wings, no frickin' lightspeed metabolism or air sacs… just going through high school, partying, being with some guy who wasn't as completely screwed up as I was. But I couldn't; I just couldn't see that—it felt like some sort of far off alternate universe, the sort of thing you only touched while reaching out from dreams and nightmares. I'd never put much stock in destiny or fate, but Max seemed to be drenched in the stuff.

"Well," I suggested cautiously. "Let's start with doing something with Leigh. Then we need to get out of here before those Erasers find us."

Max glanced up at me, as though she'd just remembered the Erasers from the hotel, and the fact that we were still uncaptured due to stolen time. "Oh." She raked her palms over her face, chin to forehead and back down. "What should we do with her? Can we bury her?" she asked, sounding incredibly tired.

"Not enough time. And no shovels."

"Well, what are we supposed to do with the body? We can't just leave her here. Someone could find her."

I thought about the Bible we'd nicked from the hotel room, tucked between my sketchbook and second pair of jeans in my backpack. "We could roll one of those boulders in front of the cave entrance. Like a tomb."

Max stared outside at the monstrous chunks of rocks, broken off from the cliff face ages ago. "You really think we could move one?"

I nodded. "We are genetically enhanced bird freaks."

And so, we moved all our stuff outside the cave, shifted Leigh into a more restful position, and started attempting to shove a miny mountain.

We pick the smoothest, most round boulder that was big enough to completely cover the cave hole, but small enough for us to have any hope of budging it. Bracing ourselves against it, we dug our feet into the ground, and pushed. Our combined efforts were futile for nearly half an hour, and in that time I'd used every single curse word in my repertoire to describe the stupid thing, both mentally and out loud. Finally, we managed get the boulder moving and we rolled it in front of the cave, leaving a bare, dark patch in the ground where it once laid, with bugs skirting away, terrified by the sudden departure of their home's roof.

Once we were sure that the boulder was snug against the cave's entrance, Max took out the knife I'd given her and carved a slight "L" in trunk of the nearest tree. She stared at it for a second, then turned to me and announced, "We need to go."

I looked at her drawn face. "Erasers?"

"On the way," she replied dryly.

The lack of emotion worried me, but the pain in her eyes reassured me—she was still hurting, she just didn't want me to know. I mentally sighed; Max had a heart large enough to care for everyone, even the people who didn't exactly deserve it. The cat-girl was included there. As am I, I reminded myself grimly.

"Where to?" I asked, slipping my backpack on and unfolding my wings a little.

"Anywhere," Max muttered. She shoved her arms through her bag's straps. "Just not here. We're practically in the enemy's backyard."

I thought about everything Leigh had revealed to us: that there was another School-esque facility named "Administration" was just barely fifty miles away and it was some sort of storage place for the dying and useless… that this Isaac guy apparently knew Max enough to miss her—though she had no idea who he was—that he knew her mom, (whoever she was), and of the seventh angel, and that he was, of all things, a whitecoat.

More pieces of the puzzle. And much as I tried to step back and see the Big Picture, I couldn't. I didn't make any sense. We needed more information.

Max puffed out a breath, drawing me from my musing. "Let's go." She turned and sprinted into the forest. I stayed fast on her heels, and we quickly found a clearing in the trees wide enough for us to take us. Max leapt into the air, her tan wings billowing to catch the wind. I followed suit and soon Leigh's makeshift tomb was just another speck on the ground.

I flew close to Max, searching the sky for any telltale sign of the Erasers that were allegedly on our tail, but dawn was only just breaking and visibility wasn't great. I grumbled to myself and kept my guard up.

Max was arguing with Deven again. As far as I could tell from the things she unconsciously muttered, she was trying—unsuccessfully—to pull more answers out of it. I felt the sudden urge to fight my fist into this Deven's face, hard, if it even had a body. I mean, here it was, taking up space in Max's head as though she didn't already have enough going on in there, nearly giving her a seizure whenever it decided to pop by, and it couldn't at least tell us more information. If it wanted Max to save the world so bad, why didn't it help more?

I swallowed the sudden rush of useless anger and forced myself to focus on my breathing rate, counting my respirations. I grimaced bitterly as I realized that I was following my "therapist's" advice.

You can hate me as much as you want, Seven, but it won't do you any good when I got you here, will it? The anger will just get you hurt, won't it, Seven? When I can just push this button? Deep breaths, count them now. If you don't learn to control yourself, you'll just keep getting hurt. Isn't that right, Seven?

I shut down my memory before a panic attack could start—my skin already had a slight sheen of cold sweat. I glanced cautiously at Max, but luckily she'd been too distracted to notice my brief meltdown. No need for her to know that I was a complete basket case.

It was then, in my moment of relief, that I noticed the storm clouds.

Or what looked like storm clouds anyway.

"Max!" I called out. Her head snapped up and looked at me questioningly. I nodded towards the dark formation. "Erasers."

She swiveled around midair to see their approach. Her eyes darted over them as she quickly drew an estimate of the size of their force. I watched her face fall as she came to same conclusion I'd reached: we were screwed.

A hundred Erasers. A hundred of the new, faster, stronger, smarter model of beasts, at least half of them armed with those tranquilizer guns. A hundred.

Against two.

Even with the whole Flock here, including Iggy and Gazzy's explosive regime and Angel's mind control, I didn't think we'd make it.

"Run?" I suggested.

Max shook her head, her face pale. "They'd just catch us."

"What about your speed thing?"

She deliberated with Deven for half a second. "No. Deven says you're too heavy for me to drag and manage to get to a high enough speed." I opened my mouth, but she read my mind. "And I'm not leaving without you," she snapped.

I decided not to argue and cast my gaze downwards, praying for a forest or mountain range we could lose the Erasers in, but no such luck. We were over a highway, and an empty one at that. "Can't lose them," I informed Max, knowing she was probably too busy arguing with the Voice to look for herself.

Max blinked, staring at the sun just starting to peep out. She stayed that way momentarily, her whole body clench except for her wings, which were working to keep her afloat. Finally, she decided. "We have to fight." She looked to me for support; I tried to smile reassuringly.

But as I turned back to face the army of werewolves swarming towards us, I couldn't help but wish that I'd been given a better power. Something more useful than drawing the bloody future… like laser vision or strong telekinesis.

Well, I did have one thing.

I called my anger back, letting it rally through me and spike my blood with adrenaline. Looked like it wouldn't be so useless after all.

"How did the operation go?"

The surgeon's back stiffened; obviously he hadn't noticed me behind him. He turned to face me slowly, his face smooth, but his eyes clearly frightened. "Oh! Dr. Batchelder, sir," he stammered. "I'm sorry, I di—"

"The operation?" I inquired again.

"Oh. Yes!" The doctor brandished a clipboard and flipped through some of the papers. "Yes. Well, it was mostly a success. We patched up the lungs, stomach, and heart. The liver was also showing some damage, so we cleaned that up as well. We checked the other vital organs; luckily, the brain seems to have survived thus far without dam—"

"What do you mean 'mostly a success'?" I interrupted.

The doctor shoved his slipping glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Well, you see, sir, we were able to do some repairs to extend the subject's time, but we couldn't completely stop the—"

I cut off his babbling again. "How much longer?"

The surgeon ran his tongue over his top row of teeth. "A few months at best. Maybe half a year with regular treatments."

Half a year. I cupped my palm over my face, a deep sorrow sinking into me.

What have I done?

Without raising my hand from my face, I asked quietly, "How is the subject doing now?"

"Better. As well as could be, considering the condition it's in."

I lowered my hand from my eyes, and stared through the Recovery Room window. The experiment was awake, and glaring back at me with eyes I recognized all too well.

I unclenched my throat; I had to be in control. "Can I take him?"

"Er, yes," the doctor replied. He gestured to two nurses and they slipped into the room. I watched as they brought a wheelchair out from a closet and assisted the massive subject from the bed and into it. The subject trembled all over from the exertion of the movement. "It should regain some of its strength and be able to walk on its own in a week or so," the doctor continued, hastily filling out some forms in the experiment's file. "I suggest that it stay in this sector for the rest of its time though, in case of an emergency. Room A16 is open."

"Thank you," I muttered. "You've been such a help." I felt as though the world was spinning around me; everything seemed surreal, and I had to sudden urge to just sit down and stay there.

The surgeon mumbled half-hearted 'your welcome's'. He fiddled with his tie anxiously for a moment, before getting to the point. "Dr. Bathelder… if my head finds out that I'm helping you, I could get in serious trouble. The Director said you—"

I leaned closer to him, wary of the cameras and microphones that I knew were watching and listening. "You won't get in trouble; your superior is a friend of mine. Just, please don't let word spread around that this Eraser is here."

The surgeon nodded, much relieved.

The nurses emerged, one of them pushing the wheelchair, the other one carrying a bag with the subject's belongings. I took the wheelchair from the first nurse, trying to ignore the accusatory eyes of its occupant. I turned to the intern who was beside me. "Isaac, could you take his things?"

Isaac wordlessly took the bag from the second nurse. In equal silence, I began pushing the wheelchair down the hall.

Once we turned a corner, the subject broke the quiet. "So," he ground out, his voice rougher than usual with menace. "What's wrong with me?"

I hesitated; he was so young, just a little boy stuck in the body of a monster… but he had a right to know. "You… you're expiring," I muttered. The experiment's body stiffened. "…I'm sorry, Ari…"

"No!" Ari grabbed the wheels, forcing the chair to a stop. His hands shook. "You're not sorry!" he spat. "Don't stand there pretending to care about me—if it weren't for you, this wouldn't be happening! If it weren't for you and your little scientist friends, I'd be a kid! NORMAL!" He shouted the last room, causing many of the doctors and nurse in the corridor to turn.

"Ari…" I didn't know what to say, but I could tell that if I didn't try something, things would get violent very quickly. "I—"

"No! Fuck you, Dad!" He moved his glare to Isaac. "Fuck both of you!" He wrenched his bag from Isaac's hand and set it on his lap. With a grunt of pain, he managed to get the wheelchair moving again, and started struggling down the hall away from us. His laborious pants echoed off the walls.

Isaac looked at me uncertainly. "Should I follow him?" he asked quietly.

I stared at the back of my son's head, the son who so clearly hated me. The son I'd let this happen to. "No," I finally answered. "Leave him be." Isaac started to protest, but I held up a hand. "No," I repeated. "Thank you for coming, but you need to return to your duties."

The intern stared at me angrily, lips pursed. "Don't worry about Ari; he's a fighter," he said finally, turning to leave. "All three of us are."

We met the storm of Erasers head on.

Six Erasers crowded me almost immediately; I trashed in the air, knocking them further away from me so I had room to move. I kicked out, hitting one of them hard in the chest. I yanked on the wings of two others, and broke the nose of one more with a well-placed fist. The last two tried to grab me, but I burst away from them, soaring up higher. Another group of the wolf men jumped on me straight away. Three of them had those stun guns. I kicked two of them out of the Erasers' hands; the last I tore from her grasp for myself.

I didn't like the idea of using guns much, but this was an emergency. Besides, it was just tranquilizers… and a few thousand feet worth of a fall. I quickly oriented my fingers to the controls and trigger and started sinking shots into the Erasers. My aim wasn't very good, but at this close of a range it didn't really matter. The Eraser backed away a safer distance from me, but not before I sent five of them falling.

I hurriedly scanned the battle zone for Fang and soon spotted him amidst a squadron of Erasers. He was flying through them, clipping several of them with his powerful wings, and kicking the closest of his enemies in the skull and sending them into unconsciousness. A path of plunging Erasers traced his flight.

Out of habit, I searched the Erasers for Ari's familiar mug, but he was nowhere to be found. Where was he? That Steve guy at the church said something about being Ari's replacement. Was he dead or something, or fired?

"Pay attention, Max!" Deven yelled. I snapped back to reality just in time to duck out of the way of a fist that'd been headed for my face. I grabbed the wrist of the Eraser and snapped it back, making him yelp in pain. I whacked his head with the barrel of the gun, knocking him out.

I emptied the clip of tranqs, managing to hit three more lupine-avian hybrids, before finally chucking the stun gun away and heading back into the fray. An Eraser sank her claws into my leg; I hissed in pain and kicked her face with my free foot. She let go and I fell a few feet before I could extend my wings wide enough to stop. A few tranqs were shot at me, but I wove away from them, one of them whizzing straight by my ear.

A mass of Erasers converged upon me again. I punched and I kicked, trashing fiercely, and managed to break away once more. Another wave of Erasers crashed upon me, but I flew away, with the wolf men on my tail.

There's too many! I screamed in my head. There's no way we can win!

"You have to fight, Maximum!" Deven hollered back. "If they capture you, it's over!"

Then help! An Eraser caught up to me and I engaged in hand-to-hand combat, not really paying attention to what I was doing and relying on instinct. Do something!

"I can't, not while you're—" He broke off suddenly, then yelled, "Get Fang!"

Deven's urgency couldn't be ignored. I broke away from the Eraser and searched the sky frantically for Fang, but there was no black streak anywhere in the fray. Then, I saw him—plummeting towards the ground.

"FANG!"

I dove after him, tucking in my wings to gain speed. My heart lodged somewhere in my throat. The wind burned at my eyes, tears clouding my vision. I was nearing him, close enough to see the tranquilizer that'd pierced his leg. And then, we collided. I wrapped my arms around his waist tight, crushing his body close to mine and trying not to damage his out-stretched wings.

But god, he was heavy. I couldn't handle the dead-weight and we continued the fall, together. I unfurled my wings and cried out as they caught the rushing wind hard. I tried to push them down, but the force of the wind was too strong. They billowed out like a parachute and resisted the air, slowing our descent.

Nonetheless, we were still falling. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact, hugging Fang's limp body, as the highway rushed towards us.

BAM! My knees buckled and I heard a painful pop! I opened my eyes just in time to see that I'd landed atop a car before the driver hit the brakes and we were thrown off. We slammed into the road, but being flung off a car was definitely preferable to falling from a few thousand feet.

I let go of Fang and sat up, wincing as pain shot through my leg. Fang was still out cold, but he seemed okay, considering he'd just fought Erasers and fell from the sky.

The Erasers! I looked upward and I could see the Erasers hovering above us, hesitating. I didn't understand why they weren't swooping down on us.

"Holy shit," someone whispered.

Oh, yeah. The driver. They didn't want to come down because of the human. I winced, realizing that Fang and I both had our wings on full display. Fang was going to kill me when he woke up. We had to get out of here, fast. But there was no way I could fly carrying Fang and judging by my now-swelling knee, I wouldn't be walking very far either. The pain was clogging up my brain, making everything seem completely unreal.

Then, the driver called out, confusion lacing their voice, "…M-Max?"

I blinked and turned to look at the driver, nearly fainting when I saw him. Standing by his car and looking more awake than I'd ever seen him, was Christian.

A/N: Yea! Christian's back! And Ari too, sort of. And finally, we meet the mysterious Isaac. He didn't say much, but don't take what he said lightly. All shall make sense soon.

As for the challenge I issued last chapter, regarding your theories on the "red eyes" that watch Deven, I received guesses of everything from pet cats to Voldemort. One I especially liked was suggested by a friend of mine—she thought that maybe the red eyes were the little lights on security cameras. A good idea, but alas, she is wrong.

Please review!