I opened the door and there he was, sitting on the bed closest to the door; the bed that I hadn't slept in. His bed, apparently.

"Hope the shower did you some good," he said. Not looking at me.

He wasn't wearing a shirt, and had his back turned to me so all I could really see his wings.

Like a previously mentioned, they were mainly black but had a few tani-sh/brown spots. I had to admit they were, I guess, pretty good looking wings.

Of course, I still preferred mine; mine were much better, but still.

"It was fine," I said, describing the shower with restrained detail. It had been more then fine. More like sent directly from Heaven. I wasn't feeling very conversation inclined at the moment so I didn't mention it.

"That's good," Brium said.

He sounded like he meant it.

But he still didn't turn to look at me.

One moment he couldn't stop looking at me, the next he wouldn't start.

I was about the inquire about that, when I noticed that he appeared to be doing something; his arms moved periodically, though it was hard to tell because of his wings, and he seemed to be devoting most if not all of his concentration on this mystery task.

And then he moved his right hand slightly, and I saw that he was holding something: a rather vicious looking knife.

Okay, that's where curiosity takes over.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, moving across the room to stand over his shoulder.

"Self applied medical aid," Brium said.

It didn't take me long to figure out what he meant. One glance at his body, and I realized he was covered with injuries.

Dozens of cuts and scrapes dotted his torso and arms topped off by a huge gash and several smaller ones that had needed stitches. The black thread was still there, as a matter of fact.

Brium passed the knife to his left hand and scooted over on the bed, patting the spot he had vacated, inviting me to sit next to him.

Now, normally I have nothing to do with sitting next to strangers, especially armed strangers, but it had occurred to me that Brium had had about a bazillion opportunities to kill me, and had actually done the opposite and I guess nursed me back to health, so I suppose that we had some sort of bizarre truce or trust or something.

Ah, what the hell? Might as well find out what I can.

I sat, staring at his battered body. "What happened to you?" I asked.

"Jeb. And Twenty-nine Erasers, including Ari."

"Ari?!" I exclaimed.

"Yes. Don't worry. I let him live. You tow know each other, I gather?"

I blinked. "Yes, we um… Yeah, we know each other," I was staring at the gash on Brium's chest. And then I was staring just at him.

He was… hot.

I mean, he had a great body; it wasn't like, super body builder ripped, more toned and defined. Like he was meant more for speed then strength.

The only other person with an even comparable body that I'd ever seen was… Fang.

Fang was back in the School! He was back in the worst place on Earth with the rest of my flock!

That thought was almost enough to make me jump up and ask (probably very loudly) just what kind of rescue we were going to make.

But I restrained the urge.

"Twenty-nine Erasers?" I asked instead. "How did you get away?"

Brium smiled, and for the first time since I had entered he looked at me. "I killed them. Except Ari and Jeb."

Bullshit.

Brium returned the knife to his right hand, and resumed what he had been doing.

He had been removing the stitches from the gashes; I could see he had several on his left arm that had already been removed, and now he was cutting the stitching on his chest.

"You killed them?" I asked, using a tone of utter disbelief. "How?"

Brium cut a few more threads. "I shot some. Used a blade on some. Stuff like that."

He put down the knife and began plucking the cut threads from his skin.

I doubted he had killed so many, but I didn't really want to get into it. "When did this happen?" I asked.

"Two days ago. They found me; I arranged a meeting; they tried to capture me; I killed them. In that order," Brium was halfway done with removing the threads from the gash.

Was this guy for real?

Time to find out.

"Alright, start talking," I demanded.

"I believe that's what I've been doing," Brium replied coolly.

That's not what I mean! I want to know your story, Brium," I used his name for the first time.

"All right, Max," Brium looked at me with those mismatched eyes. He had removed the duct tape bandage that had been over his eye and all that was left was a pink line of fresh scar tissue. He must've really been like us; he healed fast.

"What do you want to know?" he said.

"Everything. Start from the beginning."

"Hmmm." Brium thought for a moment, as he removed the last thread from the gash. "I was created, I was trained, I escaped, I've maintained my freedom and now I'm here with you. That's pretty much it."

Brium smiled. "How about you? What's your story?"

"You didn't tell me anything!" I sputtered.

"That's a lot more than I've told most other people," he replied.

Oh, it was going to be like this, then. That's cool. I can play this game.

"How old are you?" I asked.

I was going to have to do this question by question.

"Seventeen," he said. "You?"

"You don't get to know."

Brium gave a laugh "I can get quiet real fast, Max."

Fine.

"Fourteen," I said. "Where were you created? The School?

"Yes. I assume the same for you, and likely for the rest of the flock."

"Yes. That's where we were born," I said. I don't like the term 'created'. It made us sound less than human, and I hate that.

"When did you escape?" I asked,

"Forty-one months ago." Brium looked at me. "Do I need to ask?"

He was good, this one.

"About two years ago," I said.

Brium raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?" he said. "How did you do it with that many people?"

I swallowed. Here came the embarrassing part.

"Uh… Jeb helped us…"

"He did mention that," Brium said. "Your escape is apparently just a big elaborate test."

Yeah, that was basically the gist of it.

"So, what have you done for two years?" Brium asked.

"Well, we lived in this remote mountain house for most of it… Back when we thought Jeb was a hero; a… savior… We thought he was dead, and then one day the Erasers turned up, and low and behold Jeb was alive and… evil."

"Max, I'm going to be as frank with you as I can," I didn't like the look Brium was giving me. It was a look of urgency. "Jeb told me I was supposed to help you."

Okay… What…?

"Help me how?" I asked, truly curious.

Brium smiled. "These are Jeb's words, not mine." He took a breath. "I'm 'supposed' to help you save the world… Would you happen know anything about this 'world saving' business, or can I write it off as more of Jeb's absurd babble?"

I felt my jaw drop, and Brium's eyebrow raised a tad more.

Brium was involved with saving the world? How the hell…? What the…? Um…

"You know what I'm talking about," Brium said. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," I nodded dumbly. "That's what Jeb's been telling me forever. I have to save the world."

"From what, may I ask?"

I shook my head. "I don't know… He's never given any specifics. I'm starting to wonder if that whole thing was a just a lie, too. Like everything else Jeb says."

Brium nodded once, "A distinct possibility. Curious that he would spread the same tale to multiple parties… What's he trying to gain, I wonder…"

Brium stood up and walked to a paper bag I hadn't noticed before it sat next to the bed.

He pulled out a black T-shirt and returned to sit next to me again. He still held the knife in his hand.

"So," Brium said, quickly and professionally cutting the double slits in the shirt; exactly like we all did with our clothing. "Why did you want that chip in your arm removed?"

"I thought it was…" I trailed off. I wasn't going to tell Brium about the Voice. I didn't want him to think I was crazy or weak or something. And plus, the Voice had been absent recently, so I wondered again if maybe it was gone for good…

Either way, I wasn't about the tell Brium that.

"I thought it might have been a tracking chip." That was a pretty good answer.

If Brium caught onto my lie, he didn't show it.

"That's what mine was, I think." He showed me his arm, and I saw a slight scar.

He had had one, too.

"You had a chip?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Who removed it?" I had Dr. Martinez at my disposal. How had Brium managed?

"I did," Brium said.

"How?" I asked. He had had removed it himself?!

Brium finished cutting the slits in the T-shirt. He held up the knife. "Using a knife very similar to this."

"What?\Are you like a surgeon?" I scoffed.

"Yes," Brium said matter-of-factly. "Not licensed, certainly. But the ability is there."

It took and effort to keep my jaw from dropping again.

Who was this guy?

Brium stood up and put the shirt on, and I was slightly sad that I couldn't see his perfect body anymore.

Hey, despite all of the obstacles, I am still a teenaged girl.

A still curious one at that.

"How did you get that gash?" I asked.

"Sword," he replied in a tone that implied that sword related injuries were a normal occurrence.

"A sword?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. The School has a new creation. Something that looks human," Brium said. "Only their strength is comparable to ours. So is their speed, for that matter. My guess is there's plenty more, and they're going to be hard to spot."

Brium checked the T-shirt over to make sure it was a good fit. "That plus the robotic Erasers really adds to our obstacles. Saving the flock may prove to be a difficult proposition."

"How are we getting the flock out of there?" I asked.

Brium smiled at me again. "We'll talk about that during the drive to Los Angeles."

Author's note:

It's been a while since I've done one of these notes.

Anyway, thanks for all of the reviews from all of you! I plan on personally thanking all of you in the stories' epilogue (which I can promise is still a long way off).

Hope the story's still entertaining.

And I'm only still warming up.