Chapter 24

Fang's pov

'We got in a fight. She was fine after. She was able to fly away. She flew fine, and then she talked to Angel. She was fine. She had that cut long before she was by herself, so what am I missing?'

Max was hurt, and she the bleeding wasn't stopping. The superglue had finally stopped the bleeding but she was still knocked out. She needed blood. Dr. Martinez had taken mine first, and Iggy's and then Nudge's. All of us who had blood to give had already given and now it was only a matter of time before Max woke up. Or so Dr. Martinez said.

It had been 2 and a half hours since Iggy had found Max. About 45 minutes later, Max got some blood in her. She stopped loosing blood about an hour and fifty two minutes ago. Ok, exactly one hour and fifty two minutes ago, now one hour and fifty three minutes ago.

What could make her bleed for hours, from only a cut? Granted it was a cut that wouldn't have disappeared completely to the point where you wouldn't even know it was there for about a month, but still.

Then it clicked. We were dealing with the School and the School's employees that like to watch others suffer. Sure they wanted us dead, but they would want it to take a long time for it to happen so they could study us. What is one way to kill someone slowly, but not damage the average functions of the body, so that you could still to study the subject in detail?

Poison.

"She got poisoned," I said, after coming to this conclusion. Eight heads turned to look at me in turn.

"Poisoned? With what?" Dr. Martinez asked, looking me like she didn't even know me.

I shook my head. "Not sure. That just has to be it. She should be better by now," I said feeling the need to throttle an Eraser until they would never wake up again.

"I've never seen anything that keeps your blood from clotting until you're the point of bleeding to death…" Dr. Martinez said. I was silent, as was everyone else in the room. I had to force myself not to snort. She had obviously not dealt with the School before this occasion.

"What could she have gotten cut with that would poison her?" Ella asked. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. She looked at me, offended.

"Hum, I wonder. Because you can't cover a knife in poison. That would be mean," I said, so irritated that I wanted to scream. I don't scream.

"Well excuse me; I try to think with a non-violent mind!" Ella said, trying to sound angry, but sounding more like a wounded animal.

I laid my head back, and closed my eyes. After a minute I looked back up. Gazzy and Angel were sitting in the lazy-boy chair cuddled up. Angel's nose was red, and Gazzy had his arms around her, just like I had done so many times when she was crying. They were fine; they had each other for support.

Iggy was sitting by himself in the far corner. He was fine. I looked for Nudge. She was glaring at me.

"You know Fang, Ella wasn't raised like us. She grew up in a safe home, surrounded by safety. We were raised on violence, trying to outsmart the enemy. We're programmed to think like we do, and she was programmed to think like she does. She can't change that, and I don't want her to! I like having a normal person to talk to, so leave her alone!" Nudge said, sounding ridiculously like Max, except in a higher pitch with more words.

I looked at Ella, and she looked at me. I nodded to her, and then looked away.

"Ok, so what should we do?" Dr. Martinez asked, ignoring my jab and Nudge's interruption.

"You're the vet," Nudge answered promptly.

"Well, I can only think of one thing. You guys aren't going to like it," she started. Oh, because we like this so much…

Seven hours and a few spasms later, I was sitting in one of those un-padded uncomfortable chairs that hospitals have, except I wasn't in a hospital. I was in Dr. Martinez's veterinary hospital.

When you have a problem with your liver, you have to get your blood taken out of your body, all of your blood, and cleaned. So doctors hook you up to a machine and have that clean your blood then pump it back into your body.

Well, it's expensive to get this done, and as you can imagine, the equipment is expensive. Dr. Martinez didn't have one, but she had access to one.

Fellow vets had one, and so she called that guy; and he let her borrow it, because he didn't want the dog, which happened to belong to a billionaire, die. That could cause lawsuits. This dog was in dire condition, and needed a blood diagnostic right now. So Dr Martinez had gotten the diagnostic machine.

The dog was Max, in case you haven't caught on by now, and now we had work to do. Max didn't have a bad liver, but her blood was contaminated, so we had to clean it. Dr. Martinez proposed cleaning it with this machine.

I didn't have a better idea, so here I sat, watching Max's blood get pumped out of her, into a big loud machine, and then back into her veins, to get carried into her heart.

I had originally grabbed her hand just to check her pulse, but then I felt how cold it was. Her hand felt like it belonged to a dead person, and I was not having that.

Now, both of Max's hands were curled up into fists, and I had my hands on the outside of hers, and she had about fifty blankets piled on top of her.

Gazzy was asleep on the floor, right next to Max, and Nudge and Angel was on the couch. Angel was asleep, but with Nudge it is hard to tell sometimes if she is sleeping or thinking hard. Ella was on one of the other uncomfortable un-padded chairs.

Iggy wasn't in here. After telling me that he would cut me into Swiss cheese with a rusty butter knife if I didn't wake him up the second Max woke up, he had went into the lobby to stretch out on the big fluffy waiting chairs to go to sleep.

I looked at the clock on the wall. After staring at it for about thirty seconds, I registered that it was after six in the morning.

'I should sleep,' I thought.

I closed my eyes, and laid my head back.

I've never had trouble sleeping. My brain puts me to sleep when I want sleep, and it wakes me up when I need up. I can think that I need up in six hours and I will be up in six hours. When its time to sleep, I just close my eyes and I'm out.

But right now, I couldn't sleep. For whatever reason, these last couple of nights I have just laid awake. They say counting sheep's helps you fall asleep. That is bull shit. It just keeps your brain thinking, and keeps you awake. I've been trying out different methods for falling asleep. So far, I've come up blank.

When I got to 467 elks, Dr. Martinez came in the room with us, and told us that we would have to leave in the next five minutes because her clinic opened at seven and when the first person arrived, her lobby couldn't have bird kids spread all over the place.

I went around and oh so gently (snort!) shook the flock, plus Ella, awake.

"Wake Iggy up on your way out," was all I said. Gazzy crossed his arms.

"And what are you going to do?" he asked defiantly looking at me like he was not going to leave unless I picked him up are carried him out of here.

"Make sure no one gets to nosey," I said, deciding that that would be the official reason why I was going to stay. To protect our secret and make sure that no one happened to come into the wrong room.

"Me too," "And me!" "I can help too," rang out through the room.

"You have to go," I said, coming up with an out of the blue reason why, "because that defeats the whole purpose otherwise. It will still look suspicious if you're all here."

Ella turned and left first. Soon, I was in the room by myself, and Iggy came walking in.

"Call me in an hour and I'll come and watch over. Sound good?" he asked. I nodded, knowing even then that I wouldn't be calling him. "And you had better call me!" he threatened.

Damn. He knew me to well.

"I sound like that girl from John Tucker Must Die…" he muttered as he left the room.

We had just seen that movie a few months ago when we were here… and it was interesting. The main character was an idiot, and a womanizer, but it had some funny parts. It was more of a Nudge sort of movie rather then mine. Max just about beat Iggy to a pulp when he asked me to describe the kissing scene to him. There was one part in the movie, where two friends kissed… and they were both girls. Max was appalled… Iggy was like… well he wanted a clearer picture of it lets just say that.

I mentally laughed to myself as he left the room, recalling that memory.

I sat in front of the door, leaning against it, making sure that no one would be able to get in without going through me first, literally. I stared at Max, wondering what had happened, and if she had been poisoned when she was stabbed, like I thought she had, but also wondering if she knew but was just concerned about finding me. She underestimated me; I would make it home, no matter what.

I closed my eyes, imagining what she was thinking, wondering why she felt that we couldn't be together. Did she just think I was incapable of being… a good, this sounds funny but boyfriend? Or was she just afraid that I would leave her again like I did before? What was going on her that perfectly… annoying head of hers?

And why did she hide inside a tree trunk? If the erasers were still around, then they would have still been able to find her… they are 50% wolf, they could have smelled her blood.

I shuddered, thinking about what might have happened if they had found her when she was so hurt that she wouldn't fight them. She would have had no way to tell us she was gone, and we would have just kept looking in the surrounding area until it may have been too late.

I felt something push on my back, and I jammed my feet into the tile, and put my hands on the door pushing myself up as well as keeping the door shut. I turned around, and opened the door enough to peek outside. It was just Dr. Martinez.

"Fang, you don't have to listen to me, but I really think you should go home and get some sleep. You haven't slept in 24 hours, and you had an adrenaline rush, which will leave you fatigued. You should sleep," she said. I knew she was right, but I was not leaving.

I nodded, and muttered, "I'll just sleep here."

"Call me as soon as she wakes up. She's not just my patient, she's my daughter too," Dr. M. said before closing the door and walking out.

I realized right then that even if Max's mom seemed like she had it together all the time, she really didn't. She was just a lot like Max; she had to pretend she had it together so that it might make the rest of us feel less panicky. At least, if her reasoning was the same as Max's that was her thought process.

I looked at the door, and then at a chair next to Max's bed. I checked under the door for feet and when I saw none, I grabbed the chair and quickly stuffed the backrest under the door handle so that no one could get in.

I walked over to Max, and felt her pulse again. It had picked up slightly. Still not enough for me to be relieved though. Her hands were still cold! When was she going to warm up enough for me to… relax. Well, as much as I ever relax anyways.

I dragged myself back over to the door, and removed the chair, and sat back down.

I could sleep for another hour or so, and then Max would be about ready to wake up. I think.

I closed my eyes. And kept them closed. And then opened them for about a second before closing them again.

I began counting seconds hoping that would put me to sleep. It didn't.

Finally after 2,361 seconds (I think…) I knew it was a lost cause. I was not getting back to sleep.

I jammed the chair back under the door handle, and kicked the legs, locking them into place. I didn't want that chair to move without me knowing that someone was trying to get in.

I walked to Max's side and looked at the table she was on. It wasn't really a bed; it was more of a surgical table, which wasn't long enough. After the animals got surgery here, they got put in a cage so there were no beds for Max. Instead she got put on this table.

I felt the metal, and it was colder than Max. She was already cold, she needed to get warmer, so I grabbed the blanket that was folded twice on top of her, and unfolded it. I took the extra, and awkwardly sat her up, and put it under her top half, then the same under her lower abdomen.

That should be warmer and more comfortable for her.

Then I walked back to the door. There was nothing for me to do there either… I wandered to the far corner of the room, and looked at this room from a different perspective. Still nothing to do.

I continued wandering for another half an hour, minimum, before deciding that there wasn't much I could do.

I walked back over to Max, and she still wasn't up yet. She was a bit warmer though, and when I felt her pulse, it was a lot better then a few hours ago. This treatment was working. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, but still it was working.

I slid her feet over to one side, and sat next to her on the table. After a few minutes with nothing else to do, I checked her pulse again. It was still the same as before, as far as I could tell.

I looked at her face, and there was more color to it than when Iggy had first found her in the woods, back when I didn't know if she would make it. Just this one cut had caused so many problems.

Granted, some of those problems I caused, by trying to push her. See, Max is made up of layers. She is like… an onion. No, she is sweeter, so more like a cake. Anyhow, on the outside, she is tough, with no cracks, but the further in you go, the softer and sweeter she gets. How do I know this? You can see it when she sees Angel hugging Chelste and being a mother to her, or when she sees Iggy touching random things so he can see the color in his head. You see the softness in her eyes.

Enough Hallmark, that is just how it is ok? I know this is how she is, and I know that until I get the outer tough layers stripped away, she will keep insisting to herself that she doesn't like me as more than a brother.

Before tonight, I didn't know how to strip those away; I just knew that I had to. But after seeing the look in her eyes when she pulled back, ever so slowly, I knew that one of those layers had just been stripped away.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to be weak, I just wanted her to let me get to the inside of her, for her to let me see how she thinks. She would still be the same; she would just grant me a little more access.

Once the last of those layers was gone, she would finally admit to herself that she likes me. She has to like me, because if she didn't, I would be dead by now. She would have killed me that day eons ago in the cave when I kissed her, and if she let that slide, which she wouldn't, the second I went to give her a massage, she would have killed me. So she has to like me.

I sat thinking for a little while longer until I had to check Max's pulse again, for my own sanity. Or, what was left of it.

Her pulse was almost normal. I looked at her face. Same color as always, except her lips, they were still a bit pale.

I looked down to her hands. I picked up her non-injured hand, and held it between my hands. It was small next to mine, but still the perfect size.

If I hadn't been so greedy, if I would have just been satisfied with a kiss, then we would have went back together, and I would have realized that Max was still bleeding. But I had to be greedy; I had to hold her hand.

Any guy would, so I couldn't blame myself for that, but I should have just kept my mouth shut, like I normally do.

She was just as mad as I am. That's why she said what she did; she didn't really think any of that stuff she said, that was all just stuff for her to take back. She had to know that I wasn't afraid to show my feelings; I just didn't want to scare her off, because we all know that when she is overwhelmed she runs.

I let go of her hand, and put both of her arms under the covers so she would keep warmer, then I sat on the floor, with my back on a wall.

I felt my eyes start to close and I knew that I should sleep now if I could. With all the trouble I had been having lately, when I could sleep, I was going to take advantage of it.

I closed my eyes.

What felt like minutes later, I snapped awake. I jumped up, my back to Max, knowing that I had to protect her against anything at all costs.

Then I heard a little laugh. I whipped around to face Max, and saw her sitting up.

Relief washed through me, and I smiled at her.

The grin washed off her face, and in seconds she had mustered up one of her glares that could kill.

"Get out. Get my mom, and get out," she said, in that ready to kill quiet voice she had.

She ceases to amaze me, she has been knocked out for hours because she was hurt so bad, and yet now she is ready to jump up and fight me?

I ignored it. "I take it you're gonna live?" I asked her, knowing that would tick her off, but saying it anyways.

"Are you deaf? Get out, before I do," she said, and she removed the blanket and swung her legs over the side of the table. She swayed a little bit, and put her hand to her forehead.

I rushed forward, to catch her if she fell, and she snapped her eyes open, and looked me dead in the eye.

"I don't have amnesia. I remember everything Fang. If you don't, let me remind you. You got on my case because I don't have time to mess around with you and your stupid emotions, or lack of, and you got ticked and told me I was a horrible leader. So now that you've been enlightened, get out," she said, her voice not even shaking.

"I did not say that!" I said, drawing on my memories to make sure that I didn't say she was a bad leader. She wasn't, not at all and I don't care how mad I got, I would never say she was.

"You may as well have," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Think what you want. I'm going to get your mom, because she asked me to get her when you woke up, and then I'll be back," I said, needing a second to collect my thoughts.

I hadn't even thought about what would happen if she was mad when she woke up. But, of course she would be, she didn't sit up worrying for several hours for my safety.

I grabbed the lab coat that Dr. M had left for me when she walked out. It made me sick to my stomach to put it on, but I swallowed deep, and put the damn coat on.

I found her almost instantly; she was in the lobby, reassuring a loving cat owner that taking the cats temperature wouldn't scar the cat for life.

As soon as Dr. Martinez saw me, she put her hands up in the universal 'hold on' gesture, and the patient stopped talking.

"Miz, please hold on one second. One of the cats that was recently hit by a semi truck is in critical condition and has just woken up. Am I correct Intern Jogia?" she lied smoothly, looking at me expectantly when she said Intern Jogia. Apparently, that was me.

"Yes," I replied, lying more smoothly than Max's mom.

The worried cat owner got a sudden panic in her eyes, "Go, for Pet's sake, go fix that cat!" and then her eyes welled up with tears. Wow. Pete's sake, what ever happened to Pete?

With that Dr. Martinez turned, after smiling gratefully to the customer, and followed me, right on my heels.

"So she's ok?" she asked me.

I nodded briskly.

"And how long has she been up?"

I shrugged. "Maybe four minutes?" I responded, not quite sure how long it had been. How long was she up before I woke up?

"How long has she really been up? Ok, no, how long did you talk for?" she asked me calculatingly.

"She has been awake five minutes max," I said, not intending the pun.

Dr Martinez looked at me, her eyes curious, "Ok…," and she walked in the door to Max's room. "Wait out here."

I nodded, having planned on it anyways.

About six minutes later I knew something was wrong. It had to be, it didn't take six minutes to take someone's pulse, or unhook them from all there equipment.

I jumped up and ran to the door, and tried to open it. It was locked. Something was wrong…