Me: Okay. I know it's way late. And thank you SOOO much for all the reviews. They mean a lot. And the reason this isn't up when I said it would be is because my brother went off to college. And he took. My. Computer. Yeah. So you see how that limits the whole Type and Post procedure.

Fang: So we only got the computer back on Sunday.

Me: That's not actually true. The computer was brought back Friday, but I had to reset it up, and there was a extra cord that totally threw me off.

Fang: Yeah. So, she decided to type the rest of the chapter on her iPod. After it being deleted like 10 times on the other app. And she didn't finish.

Me: Well, no, because I've notice that the chapters are all six pages of writing, so I cut it at the middle, because if I continued, you may forget the important thing that happens early in the chapter. So this chapter has been split in two. But the other half should be up later or tomorrow.

Fang: On another note. Disclaimer time! Idiotic Freak here owns nothing of Maximum Ride. She also doesn't own Darry. She ALSO doesn't own… the name Atheas. She got that from a Kanye West song.

Me: Yeah I guess that's about it. It's not actually Atheas. The word is atheists. But I didn't know that. Put it like this. If you seen it in a book/song/show. I DON'T own it. Good, good.

Fang: How did you misspell the word 'get' it's a three freaking letter word. OMG no, just stop typing. Please.

Me: Yeah sorry. I don't know what's the matter with me. I just misspelled a whole bunch of words, most of them under five letters. Like if it wasn't for spell-check, you wouldn't be able to read this.

Fang: Let me type. *moves over so he can type.* ONWARD WITH THE STORY! Oh, and read the bottom note!

Me: Yeah, it defines Fang's se—

Fang: Shut UP!

Chapter 14

Fang's POV

"Well, tell Atheas he can shove it up his ass!" I said, angrily. The first guy clenched his fist.

"You will follow us." He said slowly. "We will take you to Atheas. And you will speak with respect." I almost laughed.

"I'll think about it, then let you know." I smiled at his anger. He retreated back to his bike, the two guys that had been behind him followed suit. I put the helmet back on, then quickly stuffed the Bluetooth Dad had given me into my ear. Carter answered on the first ring.

"We're getting the signal." He said. "We can see you. Just don't look for us." I looked at where we were going, seeing an old rundown building coming into view.

"Uh. Yeah, okay. Oh, and do you know who Atheas is? They said he's got her." Carter muttered something under his breath.

"I… Fang you gotta get out of there right now. He doesn't joke around." He didn't sound scared, that wasn't the right word. More… as if he had history with this guy.

"Too late, man. He's got Max." I said as we pulled up at the building. "Be ready if anything happens."

"Fang. I'm serious. Do. Not. Go. Switch with me, or back down. Just don't go." He continued.

"Carter! I'm going. That's that. Nothing you can say is stopping me." Yes, I know. I'm annoyingly stubborn. Oh well. The first guy came and jerked me off the bike.

"Atheas will see you now." Carter finished quickly:

"Respect him Fang. You have no idea what he's capable of." He hung up. I took off the helmet, quickly stuffing the Bluetooth in my pocket. They led me up to what felt like the top floor. It was dark, and creaky. They pushed me into a room, and I saw Max; blindfolded, gagged, and tied up; in a corner. I ran to her, taking off the blindfold and the gag. She was crying. I pulled her to my chest, rubbing circles on her back slowly.

"Shh… it's okay. You're okay." I said quietly. Then pulled away and looked at her. "You are okay right. I mean it would suck immensely if you were to be hurt, after my coming all this way, hoping you'd be fine so I didn't have to carry you." She laughed quietly.

"Aw… isn't that cute." A voice said from behind me. I looked up. A guy, about Darry's size —no. Seriously. Darry is like all muscle. This guy is like the Hulk—stepped up. I saw a glint of metal in his hand. I stood.

"You Atheas." I said as more of a statement then a question.

"Maybe. You got a little something of ours." I looked at him with a WTH expression. He cracked his knuckles.

"Excuse me. If I'm not mistaken, it's my girlfriend you have tied up behind me." Is what I felt like saying. Instead, I said, "I don't know you. I came to get my friend." I pointed to Max.

"What you saw…" The first guy stepped up.

"I didn't tell anyone. And I won't, if you let me and her go right now." I said, backing to Max. 'Atheas' pounced on me. His knife dug into my side, and I bit my lip, and the metallic taste of blood entered my mouth. He punched my jaw, and more blood bubbled in my mouth. Max had gotten herself out of the ropes, and came to my side. My arm was drenched in blood by now, from either my side, my lip, or coming from my mouth.

"Hurt him and I swear I will kill you." Max screamed, Atheas smirked.

"'S that a threat or a promise girly." The other three guys advanced. "You know you can't win, kiddies." I glared, but knew he was right. If he didn't kill me now, the blood loss would. I leaned against the wall, lightheaded, and pulled Max back too.

"So what. You gonna kill us? I don't see the good in that." I managed, "I said I wouldn't tell anyone. She won't either. Just let us go will ya." Now, hopefully this works, I saw it in a movie once. Hmm… "But don't—"

"You're Carter's brother ain't 'cha?" He interrupted.

"What's it to ya?" He avoided the question.

"You can both go now." He said, disappearing into the darkness. Whoa, that sounded so wicked. Like some sort of villain in a movie. Or a book. (What're the odds?) I stared at him, but Max pushed me out and down the stairs. "And tell Carter I said hi." By the second flight I had my arm pressed against my side, by the first I was coughing badly. I barely got out the door before Carter grabbed onto my shoulders, steadying me. He pulled me into the car, and I felt my eyes closing.

"No. You have to stay awake." A voice, I guessed was Iggy, said. It sounded hollow and far away. "Fang… stay awake." I tried, and I think I succeeded, cause the next and last thing I remember is bright lights, yelling, and being put on a moving thing.

Max POV

They called me in a few minutes later. They did a check, cleaning the bruises and stuff off of me. I went back to where everyone was waiting for Fang to get out of the surgery.

Angel was sitting with Ari. She'd been crying a little before, but it subsided to hiccups. Ella was sitting on Darry's lap. He had his arms around her in a brotherly like manner. She had her head on his shoulder and they were talking quietly. Iggy and Nudge were sitting, Nudge crying and Iggy mumbling things to her. Denis was talking to a nurse. Fang's parents were a little more together. They were sitting, staring hopelessly at their hands.

*Important Note: Okay, so I had chapters 15-20 written. But I had a thought, so I changed up the ending of chapter 15, which changed up 16 and 17, which was critical to chapter 18. So now everything is going to be kind of sketchy. But work with me, everything should be good by chapter… 1…8. 18. So yeah, wanted to clear that with you.

Carter was worst of them all. The second after they took Fang, he punched the wall. Iggy told him to go outside. He did, and came back ten minutes later with cut open knuckles and bloody hands. That got cleaned up, and now he's pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. I went over to him and hugged him. I felt him tense, then relax and hug me back.

"Stop blaming yourself." I whispered into his shirt. "It's Fang… he would've went anyways. He's stubborn like that." I looked up at him, sending him a reassuring smile. "He got it from you." He sat down in the chair beside us, his hands in his hair. We sat for what felt like hours, but was probably about half an hour, until a nurse came out.

"Nicholas just came out of the surgery, and has almost fully recovered from it." Everyone let out a breath of relief. "He wanted to talk to one of you alone. Carter?" Carter nodded, following the nurse through the double doors. The big glass double doors, leading to the entrance suddenly opened and a silhouette appeared in the doorway.

"You call this SAFE?" (Oops!)

Fang POV (OMFG! My notebook fell in the water. NO!)

I was still hazy from the loss of blood, and my side was aching. A nurse came back with Carter. The nurse; her name was Karol; nodded to Carter, then left. I tried to sit up, but he stopped me.

"Lie down Fang." I obeyed, well, obediently. Then turned to look at him, propping myself on my elbows.

"Start talking. You know this guy, Atheas, how?" his eyes avoided mine, giving him away.

"Nope." He said, a curious tone to his voice. "Can't say I do."

"But you can't say you don't. He seemed to know you fairly well. Told me to say 'hey!'" his eyes were set to the floor. "Carter." His light green eyes flicked back to my dark ones. "You know him."

"Knew." He corrected. He grabbed the chair, spinning it around so the backboard was facing me. He rested his arms on the top. "I knew him. We used to be pretty good friends. We'd mess about. But it was never anything serious. But then I guess he wanted more... I dunno... Action. But we'd never done anything that could get us charged for gang-like behaviour. Well, he joined up with this gang. The Faceless Assassins. You've heard of them I bet." This was true. They were supposedly the most feared gang in the country. Well, not the most. But defiantly top 5. "So yeah he joined in, then got me in on it too."

"Is that the tattoo on your wrists." I nodded to the bracelet-like tattoos circling both his left and right wrist. He nodded, studying them for a second.

"Yeah. Everyone had to get it. I can't remember why, but I'm guessing for recognition. We did some stupid stuff, vandalism, mugged a few people. I didn't mind it, gave you something to do. Gave you freedom..."

"You ditched though. Why?"

"They started doing drugs." he shrugged simply. "Got me doing stuff. Got me selling stuff at school. Almost got caught once or twice. They made me a street fighter, and I became second in command, under a guy, Manny. José absolutely hated that. He worshiped the ground Manny walked on, and he wanted my spot really bad, so he could prove to Manny he was one of the best, something that seemed to come easier to me. He thought he was the better fighter. So he tried to get rid of me. First he tried the simple, straight up asking me to drop position." I nodded, still listening intently. It was a lot to take in. "When that didn't work, he tried another approach. Showing off to Manny whenever he could. That worked almost a little. He became third from me. So, he tried to kill me, so he could move up to second.

"He was drunk at the time, but his aim was annoyingly accurate. He had a gun, as we all had some form of weapon. He took aim at me, but missed by this-much. And then shot Manny, who died almost instantly." I watched as he rubbed his eyes, almost in a sorrow type way. "I couldn't stay, not after seeing that. But I had to, as second, they made me leader after Manny's death. I was one of the youngest there, at 15, but I stayed. Then the disobeyed me. They went to start shooting people. I got away after that, cut then dyed my hair. Mom hated it at first, but I think she grew to it. I tried to get the tattoos removed, but you had to be 21. So I went back to school, then finished and went to South Carolina. I didn't know they had branches in each state, so people all over the country were looking for me. I went to New York, then met Sam. No one found me. I got Sam to get the tattoo off, and she almost did. Now it looks a whole lot like the old one, but could easily be mistaken for 'Love and Hate' in Japanese. Everyone was almost perfect."

"Until tonight." I said, a wave a guilt warming over me. After all the work he did to make everything stop following him, I had to go and screw it up. Nice job Fang.

"Until tonight. I didn't think he was still alive, much less leader... Much less he'd remember me. Or was still out for me." He let out a breath through his teeth. "I didn't want you in there. It could've been a lot worse."

"Wouldn't it have been worse if I left Max with them. Or if you went in yourself. If he wants to kill you that bad do you really think he would've hesitated if he had the chance?"

"Maybe. But he wouldn't have hesitated to kill you. Or Max. That's not how things work with him. He wouldn't try to hurt me physically. No… he'd get something or someone close to me. Then take that away. It's a mind thing. He did it to you. With Max. And he'll do it to me, with you. S—" he looked like he was going to continue, but stopped. Then he said, "I should get the others. They'll probably want to see you're okay. Don't let anyone know about my… situation. They shouldn't worry." I was going to object, but then knew better then to argue with that, and watched him leave the room.

I sat up, my head in my hands. That whole speech gave me one serious headache. I was sure I was going to ask him for more info on this later, but tried to put on a bored face, so no one would worry. The door clicked open, making me look up again.

"Fang!" Angel crossed the room, and I lifted her up, ignoring the sharp sting from my side. "Are you okay Fang." she looked close to tears.

"I'm okay." I reassured her, just as everyone else filed into the room. The second everyone else was in, comfortably, they started with the questions.

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"Who was that guy?"

"Should we call the police?"

"If you die from all the bloodlessness, can I have your room?"

"Ooh can I paint it pink?"

"Okay STOP!" I said, weirdly loud. Silence. "I'm fine, some guy knifed me, I'm not sure, probably not, no you can't, and no." I said, all in one breath. Angel and Iggy sighed sadly. "And besides, it's not like calling the police can do much. I don't know much about where we were, and I can't remember anything after the mall." That was almost true, I was sleepy, and drugged from the surgery I was told I was given, and my head hurt. The nights events just weren't coming to thought.

"Okay. Fine, but when you start remembering, tell us, the police should be notified." I nodded at my mom, but was watching Carter in the corner of my eye. His face had a hard look on it, and his eyes were set, but filled with a mix of concern, worry, and… fright?

"Um… am I free to go?" I asked a little while later.

"They wanted to keep you overnight, but if you really want you can ask the doctor if they can let you out early." Dad answered. I nodded, looking down at Angel, who was now sleeping.

"Excuse me." The nurse had cracked the door open, her head sticking in. "The doctor would like to test Nicholas, so would everyone please exit the room." everyone nodded, and Carter took Angel from me.

"Get better." he said to me, loud enough the others could hear. Quieter he said, "we'll talk later." I nodded.

"Later dude." Iggy and Ella called, halfway out the door. Max cupped my cheek.

"You owe me insanely huge." I said, my lips twitching up. Max smiled.

"Sure. But before I forget… Jeb wants to talk to you." I sighed angrily.

"Do you ever deliver good news?" I asked, watching her.

"Yup." she kissed my cheek lightly. "We have PE tomorrow. Dodge-ball. Then there's football after school." I glared at her. "ooh, I guess it's not good news. Oh well." she shrugged. It was just us in the small, white room, and she made her way to the door.

"You suck, you know." I Said to her back, her hand on the doorknob. Her head turned.

"I know. But you swallow." I glared at her again.

"Fuck you."

"I can't fuck me. No dick, which is mostly used when engaging in sexual intercourse. You can, however, your gender is said to contain this crucial body part. But I'm not going to let you. Because that would result in awkwardness between us. So, me no fuck me." I blinked. "Owned." with that she left the room. [1]

"I like her." a female voice entered the room. "She's got spunk." I smiled at Dr. Megan Dwyer. She was my doctor. I repeat: MY doctor. I've claimed her. I'm always in the hospital- sports related injuries— and always in the same area on this floor. So she is always my doctor. We're pretty good friends still, and we tend to joke around a bunch of times.

"Thanks." I said. "Way to be on my side." she winked, checking one of the clipboards.
"So, what did you do this time, fall out of a tree again?"

"Okay, it was one time. And it was Ig's fault. Sheesh."

"Yeah. Okay." She mumbled sarcastically. "Fang?" I looked up at her. She put the clipboard on the table, "How the heck did you manage to get STABBED?" I shrugged.

"Long story?" I tried. She rolled her eyes. "But yeah it was gruesome. There was blood EVERYWHERE and like guts were splurging from my ears and my eyes were Huge. Totally Saw 7 worthy." I said proudly. She shook her head, a small smile on her face. She put on her stethoscope thingy. I slipped my shirt off, and she put the listening metal thing part on my chest. I gasped. She looked back up at me, concern filling her eyes.

"Did I hurt you?" I shook my head.

"This room is freezing, and there's a draft." this caused her to roll her eyes. She moved the metal thing, and it went quiet as she listened.

"Okay breathe in…" I took a deep breath. She put her free hand on my stomach, "And… breathe out." I let out the breath, a little… okay very dramatically. She nodded, and took the metal thing off. I shrugged my shirt back on, watching as she pressed a button on the monitor.

"Can I go tonight? Or do I have to say till tomorrow?" I asked.

"Um… everything seems to be in check, so I suppose you're free to go. But watch the stitches. If one pops out it will be one hell of pain. So be careful. Please, don't… I dunno—"

"If you tell me not to fall out a tree Meg I swear to you I'll—"

She laughed. "I was going to say don't get into a fight or something. But since you said it, you really should stay out of the trees. Your bones will appreciate it." I smiled.

"Kay see ya later." I stood, walking to the door. She hugged me once, kissing my cheek. "Lollipop?" I asked hopefully. She smiled again, pulling a green one out of her pocket. "Awesome!" she smirked and kissed my other cheek, before slipping out the door. I followed, going in the other direction. I gave the big folder thing to the girl behind the desk.

"Come back tomorrow for the follow-up can take place. Thank you have a good night."

[1] I actually said that to my friend once. Love you Jamal. LMAO.

Me: Sorry again. And yes, that is the end of chapter fourteen part I. Now, I have stupid French homework to do.

Fang: She's just mad at the teacher.

Me: Well yeah. EVERYONE else got Mr. Manning, who is instantly THE BEST French teacher on the planet. But not my class. We got this stupid boring, NOT Mr. Manning, annoying teacher with an unpronounceable long last name. Like really, she's making us colour in a map of the world, labelling countries that speak French. Like when am I ever going to need to know that.

Fang: Oh stop crying— *song comes on- Fang sings along* My parents just don't get me, you know. They think I'm gay just because they saw me kiss a guy. Well, a couple guys. But I mean, it's the 2000's. Can't 2 ... or 4 dudes make-out with each other without being gay?

Me: *…* Maybe you are emo. That explains SO FREAKING MUCH! And your gay. Fang, Fang, Fang… *SMH* Did you tell Iggy yet… No wait… did you tell Max yet. She's going to flip out on you ya know. Like, rip your spine out, beat you with it, shove it back into place from your butt… then like I dunno… get a chainsaw, cut off your… *eyes flick down, then back up* and feed it to a rabid pack of wolves.

Fang: *shifts uncomfortably* She wouldn't… would she? And I'm not gay! It was once. Sheesh.

Me: *stares* yeah, she probably would, then like get me to help, which I so would, because secretly I hate you.

Fang: *gasps, starts crying* You hate me… But… we… we shared something special…

Me: Yeah… I'm incredibly awesome, and you sit here to make me look even more awesome.

Fang: *Cries*

Me: Is it your Time of the Month again Fang?

Fang: Leave me alone!

Me: … *backs away slowly*

Fang: *looks to see that I'm gone. Recovers with a smirk and starts typing.* People. I'm not gay. No offense to gays, and I'm not emo. Also no offense to those who may be. But do me a favour? Review. The things I do for you. Now she's never going to let me live this down. So review. We'd appreciate 9 of them? Hmm? Thanks…