Chapter Twenty-Five: Out of Options

Fang was drifting away from life; the agony that radiated through his entire body becoming strangely unimportant. It was like the pain belonged to an entirely different person, and he was merely a bystander. The emptiness, the release from the aching and burning was exhilarating.

He was free from the pain, but he was alone in the darkness. He heard no sound and sensed nothing else around him.

Then, a bright light of an indescribable color began to approach him from a far distance. No, it was he who began to approach the light. It could only be the proverbial light that appeared before death. As he approached the light, he gradually began to forget his old life and was slowly being stripped of his memories. Not that it bothered him. He'd had a terrible life, and would not miss any of the memories from his life at the School and the mutant fighting arena. His pain, his past memories, and the life he was leaving behind didn't really matter. He wanted release. He'd had a horrible life.

He was on the threshold between the darkness and being consumed by the blissful, peaceful light when he stopped abruptly. He remembered…something; something that was very important to him. Not something. Someone.

The image of a face overlapped his vision. A face that induced a strange sensation in his chest, but he had no idea why. He saw tawny eyes with little golden flecks fused within; and the eyes sparkled with mirth. Her flawless rosy lips were quirked up in an irresistible smirk. Her light brown hair floated in wispy layers and thin blond highlights streaked through her hair like rays of gilded sunlight. Her skin was tanned to perfection, but in the most natural way.

She was the most breathtaking girl that he'd ever seen. The strange fluttering in his chest grew out of control until it was a wildly passionate fire that had already consumed his heart and mind, and was currently eating away at his soul. He knew that girl. Just the briefest, flitting thought about the girl sent pleasurable tingles down his stiffened spine.

Max.

That girl was Max. Suddenly, he fled out away from the magnificent bright light and into the seemingly endless darkness. He couldn't let go or leave; he had to go back. His memories of her grew clearer and clearer, like thick fog dissipating in the heat of the afternoon sun and making the landscape clear once more.

No one could deny that he'd had a truly terrible, short, and miserable life. But the few months that he had spent with Max made all the cruelty and suffering worthwhile. The burning in his heart fueled his determination to remain living. He wouldn't leave her. Max.

Pain scorched through every tired and battered nerve in his broken body. He could hardly stand the suffering, but he stood his ground for Max. He was deeply unconscious now, where even the pain could barely reach him, but he was grasping life in a tight grip. He would not let go. Now, because of Max, he now had a reason to live.

XOXO

"I'm losing him! I'm losing him!" Dr. Martinez cried out desperately. Fang had ceased breathing. Ella rushed over to her mother's side. Ella had pulled off her nice V-neck t-shirt that she'd worn and was now left in a light pink camisole, which was splotchy with perspiration and blood. Her jeans were in similar condition.

Dr. Martinez was still in her Freak Fest uniform, not having a spare second to change. Her white lab coat was splattered with blood, and she looked like an evil scientist. Her designer jeans that she was required to wear with her Freak Fest polo shirt was stained beyond recognition. Not that she cared in the slightest. She hated the uniforms and was probably fired from her job anyways.

The Flock was in a sorry state of disrepair. Their clothes were more tattered, stained, and dirty than they'd ever been and The Flock looked like they'd barely survived a brutal battlefield. They looked very out of place in the charming little room of the annex.

A sheen of sweat glistened on Dr. Martinez's brow.

Ella, Nudge, Angel and Gazzy gathered around Fang's bedside anxiously. Nudge was biting her lip in order to refrain from prattling nervously. Angel gripped her hands together tightly. Gazzy stared intently at his battered sneakers. Iggy remained seated at his chair. He felt no inclination to get up and stand by Fang's bedside. He was perfectly fine sitting by Max.

It's not like he hated Fang. He didn't… not anymore, anyways. However, he still was a bit bitter and angry that Max liked Fang and not himself. He knew that Max and Fang didn't make love to each other on their own volition. They were forced to by those sadistic monsters, the whitecoats. Still, Fang had what Iggy never could; a relationship with Max. Iggy would always be gruff and short with Fang, at least until he had moved on from Max.

Until then, Iggy stared sightlessly Max's beaten form sleep uneasily. Max was whimpering in her sleep. She dreamt in Avian, since it was her first language and it came naturally to her. It was a nagging reminder of how different Iggy was from Max and how much more she had in common with Fang. Iggy scowled, even though everyone else was too caught up with the flat-lining Fang to notice.

If Iggy had the ability, he would have been the only one to notice that Max and Fang were clutching the other's hand like they were lifelines. Fang's thumb, shakily but surely, stroked the side of Max's hand softly. It was more like a ghost of a touch than a true caress, but it was a miracle. Lots of miracles seemed to follow these bird-kids wherever they went. Of course, they've had an above average amount of tragedies, so it was probably pretty well balanced out.

The only sounds were the room's occupants breathing and the slow whooshing of the ceiling fan.

Then, every person in the room stopped breathing, Max and Iggy included. Iggy couldn't believe his ultra-sensitive ears. Fang was breathing. He wasn't dead after all. Max somehow understood this too, because she seemed to breath more easily now, and was more peaceful in her injury induced coma.

Ella, Nudge, Angel and Gazzy wandered like sleepwalkers to continue their duties. They had truly witnessed an unexplainable miracle. They'd seen a dead boy return to life.

Then, a seemingly ear-piercing gasp rang through the room. Ella stared speechlessly at Max and Fang's intertwined hands. The group stared, unblinkingly at yet another unexplainable occurrence.

"You guys never cease to amaze me." Dr. Martinez said so quietly, that it almost went unheard.

"What is so amazing, exactly?" Iggy burst out irritably. Everyone looked at Iggy as if they forgot that he was there.

"Max. She's holding Fang's hand." Nudge said quietly. Iggy hated to leave Max's side in her time of need, but he couldn't stand in that room any longer.

The kids watched Iggy as he left, then returned their attention back to Max and Fang. Dr. Martinez and Nudge watched Iggy closely. They pretended not to see him wipe away a few tears that nearly spilt from his eyes.

Bird-kids were supposed to be tough. They had to be. There were just some blows that couldn't be taken without tears. For Iggy, this was one of those.

Nudge wanted to go after him, but she knew that he just had to be alone. Watching him cry would only hurt his pride even more.

Ella asked Gazzy for help with folding Fang's wings correctly. The two wordlessly folded Fang's wings neatly against his sides. They couldn't fully fold them against his back, because he was lying on his back and his weight, as light as it was, could easily injure the fragile bones in his wings even more.

Avian-humans rarely lay on their backs due to the uncomfortable, cramped position that it put their wings in, but with Fang previously being on the brink of death, they had to have him flat on his back.

They began to work on Max's wings, which were in much better condition. Gazzy eagerly showed Ella the way that their wings worked. Ella had figured out the basics with Fang's wings, but she was eager to learn more about their strange, foreign anatomy. Ella was totally rapt with their glorious wings and Gazzy had always wanted to show someone the mechanics of their wings. Gazzy eagerly showed Ella new ways to detect dislocated joints, fractures, and the sore places where clumps of feathers had been ripped out. As Gazzy and Ella tended to the wings, Angel flitted between Max and Fang; routinely giving each a mouthful of yogurt or water.

Dr. Martinez rifled through her medical bag, finishing her extensive repairs on Fang. She didn't share her thoughts out loud, because they were too negative and the Flock really shouldn't hear them. They might have believed that Fang was saved, but not by a long shot. His skin, which was naturally tanned, was paler than a piece of printer paper. Little beads of sweat gathered on his brow.

Dr. Martinez had seen the vast amounts of his unique Avian-Human blood that he had lost and knew that if she didn't provide him with at least a few quarts of blood, then he would surely die, no matter how hard he clung to life. Bird-kids healed rapidly, but not fast enough for Fang to save himself. He was going to need help.

Dr. Martinez couldn't just go to a hospital or blood bank or even donate her own blood to Fang. His body would reject the one-hundred percent human blood and would shut down. She needed the perfectly crafted two percent Avian and ninety-eight percent human blood in order for Fang's body to accept it.

The second problem was that there was no way for her to get the blood into Fang. She needed to perform a blood transfusion, but had no means to do so. She needed specialized medical equipment, and she didn't exactly have that sort of equipment lying in a cupboard at her house. The equipment she needed was at at a hospital or at the Freak Fest.

She looked at Fang helplessly, ashamed that she had failed this boy again. She couldn't save him this time either. Her heart ached with sympathy for him, but he probably wouldn't want it. He would want her to figure out a way to save him, like any other person who would be leaving a loved one behind.

Not only would she be failing Fang, but she would be, yet again, failing Max by letting her lover die once again. She couldn't put Max through that again.

No, she definitely couldn't fail any of those poor kids again. The plan in her mind might have been a long shot at best, but it still was a shot and it was the best thing that she could do at the time. Then, she could honestly say that she gave her all to help Fang.

Dr. Martinez pulled out a particularly large syringe out of her bag. She looked at the rest of the Flock.

"Okay, you guys, listen up. We're not out of this yet. Fang's still in bad shape. He lost a lot of blood. And you guys have very special blood, so in order for Fang to live, you guys are going to have to give him some of your blood too. It may sting a bit, but I you really want Fang to live, you're going to have to give some blood. It may hurt a bit, but I promise you it won't be long." Dr. Martinez said, trying to hide her uncertainty of the situation with an authoritative tone.

Nudge stared at the syringe, doing a brave but unsuccessful job to hide the fear of the object in her eyes. The mere sight of a sharp medical object brought back terrible flashbacks of their awful lives back at the School before they were rescued by Anne.

Nudge mentally coaxed herself to volunteer first. She was going to have to. It would be too much to ask of Iggy, so she was the next in line to be leader. She was going to have to act like a leader now. There was nothing to fear. Not anymore. Dr. Martinez was a kind woman and the blood was to help Fang. Nudge didn't really know Fang, but Max loved him, so there had to be something very special about him. She couldn't let Max down.

"Okay. Let me go first." Nudge said firmly. Dr. Martinez looked at the twelve year old with a great amount of respect. That girl had been through unimaginable pain at the hand of doctors like herself, and yet she was facing her fear to help the boyfriend of a friend.

"Okay. Sit right here, sweetie." Dr. Martinez said. She was trying to be as different from the whitecoats as possible. Dr. Martinez disinfected a small spot in the crook of Nudge's left arm and proceeded to take a syringe-full of her precious blood. Dr. Martinez didn't comment on it, but she couldn't help but notice the eerily calm way that Nudge handled the needle, like it was almost an everyday procedure. By the thousands of tiny white dots on Nudge's coffee colored arm, she had been desensitized to needles a long time ago.

Dr. Martinez gently pulled the shiny silver needle out of Nudge's arm and put a smiley face bandage on the spot where it previously was. Nudge managed a timid smile.

"They sure didn't bother to put cute Band-Aids on us back at the School." Nudge said timidly, managing a terse smile. The rest of the Flock managed smiles too, but it wasn't happy smiles. They were more like the smiles someone wears when they are walking down to the boss's office when they know they are about to be fired.

Dr. Martinez wiped the syringe's needle off with a disinfectant wipe, thoroughly cleaning it. Was this method dangerous? Yes. Was it guaranteed to work? No. Was it an approved treatment taught at medical school? Definitely not. But it was their only shot. No pun intended.

Dr. Martinez disinfected a spot on Fang's malnourished but oddly muscular arm right above a prominent vein and injected the ruby liquid into it.

She repeated the process several times, carefully cleaning the needle each time and choosing a different spot on the person's body to inject/extract blood.

It was a tedious process, but after taking about two pints from Nudge, she gave Nudge a bar of chocolate and a carton of milk. She could only take so much blood from one person. Nudge was a little dizzy, but the food and fluids perked her right up.

Dr. Martinez extracted blood from Max. Max would want to help in any way that she could, if she were conscious. Gazzy and Angel were too little to give blood, much to their protests. Taking blood from Nudge was questionable. After all, humans were only medically ready to give a significant amount of blood at the age of seventeen. Given the fact that these were bird kids, who were much bigger and more mature than humans, Dr. Martinez could take blood from the older bird kids, like Max and Iggy. But Nudge was pushing it. There simply wasn't enough blood in Gazzy or Angel's bodies to share it with someone.

Fang had about four pints of blood more than he had before, but he still needed a good two more pints before he could be in a loosely stable condition.

Then, a tall, lanky, strawberry blond and blind bird kid stepped into the room.

"I heard that you needed a blood bag. Will you take my blood using the standard method by needles or vampire style?" Iggy said in an attempt at humor. Dr. Martinez looked over at him and was surprised to see a small, wry smile on his face. He was leaning against the doorframe, slouching a bit so that he didn't hit his head on the low doorway.

"I think that the traditional method would suffice." Dr. Martinez said, smiling warmly at him. She truly admired Iggy. She knew that he had a thing for Max, and was very broken up about the fact that she had chosen Fang over him. He didn't have to save Fang's life at all. In fact, it would be better for him if he let Fang die, for real this time, so that he could heal Max's broken heart and fill in as the man in Max's life. However, Iggy knew that Max would never replace Fang. He knew even without seeing, that Max loved Fang. He didn't want to take something like that away from here again. They'd all lost too much already to be selfish and turn against one another. Because all that they really had left were each other.

Iggy sat down at a chair near Max and held out his arm in an eerily habitual manner. He was no stranger to needles either. In fact, he was the most accustomed to them, since he was at the School the longest.

His pale skin, which was a deep contrast to Nudge's tawny skin, was speckled with hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of small dots where needles had pierced his skin. He didn't even twitch as the needle pierced his arm. It was very, very scary to see in someone as young as Iggy.

Dr. Martinez got the needed blood from Iggy, and gave it to Fang, who became less and less sickly looking. Even the stitched up wounds were healing faster, right before their very eyes.

Iggy was wearing his Mickey Mouse band aids with an odd sense of pride. Nudge sat next to him.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. She saw that Iggy had a particularly large gash on his arm. It could have used one or two stitches, but Nudge decided to simply clean it and bandage it tightly.

"Iggy," Nudge said quietly, and almost as if she were choosing her words carefully. Igg would have normally cracked a joke about Nudge not being the type to worry about her choice of words, but it sounded like she was about to say something important, so he let her continue with a nod of his head.

"Um, that was uh, very, very great thing for you to do. I was just going to say that I'm really, really proud of you. I know how tough and… well, you just rock." Nudge said, blushing. She was silently glad that Iggy couldn't see her rosy cheeks. However, nudge was nervous, and when she was nervous, she chattered uncontrollably.

"I've always thought that you were the best leader ever, and I've always looked up to you, but recently more than ever I've liked you even more. You probably only think of me a sister, and that's great, and I know that you really want Max for a girlfriend, but I'm not a kid anymore and I really like you. I could be your girlfriend too, if you want. I mean, I'm a bit younger than you, yeah, out if you feel wierded out, I'll wait until we're a few years older. I mean, I wouldn't like it, but I will. I really hate waiting but…" Nudge chattered, wishing that for once in her life that she would shut up.

Iggy's head turned towards her slowly. She tightened the bandage a little tighter than necessary on his upper arm. Iggy opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by an earsplitting bang coming from the front door of the house.

There were the shouts of men, a loud voice more distinguishable than the others.

"I want you to find those mutants! We can't let them get away! Tranquilize them, and kill anything or anyone else that gets in your way!" The voice snarled, bordering on an animalistic tone. The Flock huddled together in silent fear; with Dr. Martinez and Ella in the center. They were all living a nightmare.

The two best fighters, Max and Fang, were unconscious and in no condition to fight and they were being invaded. The School was here, with Jeb calling the shots. Once again, they were trapped. But this time, fighting wasn't an option.

This was shorter than the usual, I admit. I had to update. You don't want to hear my excuse for updating so late, so I won't bore you with it. I'm a terrible person for not updating, and I don't deserve your reviews. If anyone deserves reviews, it is the lovely Birdwatched. She is the one who inspired me to write again. Seriously guys, read her stuff. She deserves the reviews more than I do.