Chapter 5: Chapter 5
We left the lake cabin in pristine condition. We cleaned up our mess, made it look like we had never been there. I made sure of it. I figured we were rude enough to break in and use their cabin for a week; we should at least be kind enough to leave it the way we found it. I also made sure the kids all ate as much as their stomachs could hold before we left and made The Gasman go down to the lake several times, just in case. I didn't want to be making very many pitstops on the way home. As few as we could, one if necessary, two at the most, zero if possible. I didn't eat though. I couldn't eat, didn't have the stomach for it. I was still a little woozy after this morning, and every once and a while I caught glimpses of last night's nightmare. I had to quickly shut them out though; I couldn't let Angel see them. So, I was too busy to eat, and I hoped the others didn't notice.
We flew south west, straight for Arizona, there would be no lollygagging or scenic detours this time around. We were going home, where Dr. Martinez, Jeb, Ella, Total, and hopefully Max was waiting for us. No, not hopefully, surely, surely Max was there waiting for us. Where else could she be?
"Hey! Nudge, Angel! Watch this!" I looked down when I heard Gazzy cry out. I had taken over Max's position above the rest of the Flock and hadn't really noticed the others below me. I focused on them now as Gazzy did a summersault into a cloud and came out with his arms and legs outstretched like a big X, leaving a hole in the cloud in the shape of his body. You know like how you see on cartoons? When someone flies through a cloud and the cloud doesn't just fill up like it's supposed to, it leaves a hole in it? Yeah, like that, only cooler. Gazzy's impression didn't last too long before the cloud kind of drifted apart, dissipating into the air. Gazzy in turn was soaking wet. He laughed hysterically.
"Hey! Hey! Guys! Did you know clouds were made of water!?" He seemed very pleased with himself over his discovery.
"Of course, they are, haven't you ever flown through one before?" Iggy asked swooping in next to Gazzy. Usually, we tried to avoid clouds when we flew. Iggy however, being blind, had the unfortunate incapability to see where he was going, flying into clouds was often a result of that.
"Maybe," Gazzy said shrugging. "If I have, I don't think I noticed it too much."
Nudge laughed. "I always wondered what it was like in a cloud. I asked Max once if you can see inside a cloud. She didn't answer me though. She just gave me one of those looks like- Yeah! Like that!" She said pointing at Iggy who was giving her a smug 'are you really being serious?' look.
Angel had a big smile on her face. She giggled at Nudge while she tied Celeste to her waist with a piece of old rope we found by the docks at the lake.
"Ok! I want to try!" She cried out and swerved upward into a cloud. She burst out through the top and tucked her wings in just right, making her twirl in the air. Water droplets flew off her as she extended her wings and arms again, looking like, well, an angel. She laughed.
"It feels like flying through rain!" She said and Gazzy nodded in agreement.
"Come on Iggy! Try it with me!" Nudge called flying up next to him.
Iggy shook his head. "Actually, I'm goo- woah!" Iggy's reply was cut short as Nudge took his hand and pulled him with her into a particularly big and dark cloud. They ended up falling through the bottom because they were so wet it was hard to fly. But they managed to stay aloft, and the wind dried them quickly. Nudge was laughing, having the time of her life while Iggy was scowling angrily.
"Now look what you did." Iggy scoffed,
"Awe what's the matter Iggy?" Nudge giggled finding it hard to keep from laughing. "Put out cause you had to take a bath after all?"
"That's it! Come here you!" Nudge squealed as Iggy lunged for her and started a game of sky tag. There was laughing and playing all around, and I couldn't help but smirk watching them. Flying really was the best. Even in the worst of times, even when Max was missing and things were looking bad, flying always lifted our spirits. We could be ourselves up here, leave all of our fears and worries on Earth and just soar carelessly through the clouds. Nothing was better than that.
Even Max could unwind when we were up here. She was in her best frame of mind when she could just let the kids be and fly as high as she could go. She almost seemed peaceful at times like this. Of course, Max was never completely at rest. Too much to think about and do, she had a lot riding on those tense shoulders of hers. The fate of the world for instance. Hard to relax when you have 'saving the world' on your plate. And when you're a globally known, mutated avian hybrid, science fair project gone wrong, wanted by every power-hungry evil mastermind in the world, you just don't have time to kick back and relax, ya know? Which was why we all knew this vacation was a bad idea in the first place. And which was also why things like flying robot monkeys, just don't catch us by surprise like they used to.
"Fang! Look out!" I felt the air escape from my lungs in a huge burst as Angel barreled into me, throwing me off course just as something fast and silvery zoomed past my face.
"That was close, thanks Ange." I gasped catching my breath quickly and righting myself again. "What the heck was that?"
"It was a flying monkey!" Gazzy exclaimed out of nowhere circling the area in large irregular loops.
"Like from the Wizard of Oz?" Nudge asked. Her eyes darted every which way keeping close watch for another attack. Instinctually, after an attack we went higher up above the clouds so we couldn't be seen, but that never stopped a desperate attempt to end our lives before now has it?
"Yeah!" Gazzy exclaimed. "Only it was a robot! A flying robot monkey!"
"Well, that wouldn't surprise me any." Iggy said rolling his eyes.
"Seems a little… childish, don't you think?" Nudge cut in as we continued to fly. Whatever it had been, a bullet or a flying monkey, we needed to get out of there, just in case there happened to be more of them aiming our way. "I mean, if this is another attempt by Itex to capture us, it's kinda lame. It missed Fang and it hasn't come back. And there was only one, why haven't they sent more? All I'm saying is compared to the Erasers, the Flyboys, the Clones, and the M-Geeks, a flying robot monkey feels a bit insulting. Like, after living a life of luxury for two months we'd be off our game and an easy target or something."
"No, that doesn't make any sense at all." Iggy said sarcastically. Then he did a double take. "Gee, that couldn't be why Max has been so uptight lately could it? And why she ran off?"
"Max is always uptight. I wouldn't worry too much about that." I assured him my eyes still scanning for danger.
"And besides, Max running off was Fang's fault." Angel added. I shot her a glare which she returned with an innocent smile.
"What happened that night anyway?" Nudge asked. I clenched my jaw hard. I wasn't much for talking anyway, but I guess I could say I'm good at saying what needs to be said, when it needs to be said. But this was one topic I was not willing to open my mouth about. Not to them, not even to Max, not to anyone.
"Nothing," I replied.
"Well obviously something happened, or we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place." She shot back. I decided not to say anything more. I didn't need to justify myself to them. And even if Max did, that was her problem, not mine.
"Incoming! Flying Robot Monkey three o'clock, on your left Iggy!" Gazzy called and Iggy rolled out of the way just in time for another silvery flying object to miss him. We all shot upwards again at once. We should have been getting relatively high up by now. But it was hard to tell because there were so many clouds, and the temperature didn't really change much. It was cold wherever you went.
"What was it? Did you see it? Was it really a flying robot monkey from the Wizard of Oz?" Iggy asked as we all regrouped.
"The flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz were not robots Iggy." Angel corrected him crossly.
"How am I supposed to know that?" he said back with a shrug.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter because that wasn't a flying robot monkey anyway." Nudge said matter-of-factly.
"Was too! I saw it!" Gazzy shot back.
"I saw it too and it most definitely was not."
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Enough already!" I said raising my voice only just over their bickering. "Why don't we just head back down and see for sure what it was." I suggested.
"That's exactly what they want us to do. They're trying to lure us out in the open for a clearer shot!" Gazzy proclaimed. It was a reasonable accusation, and after what we've been through it wouldn't surprise me any more than if it really were a flying robot monkey. But if we didn't find out exactly what it really was, I'd have to put up with Nudge and Gazzy's arguing about it all the way back to Arizona. And I just didn't have the patience for that.
"Alright, you guys stay here, I'll go check it out." I said.
"No way! We've already lost Max, we can't risk losing you too!" Nudge objected. Without thinking I turned on her.
"We have not lost Max! She'll be back soon okay!?" I said losing my temper for the first time in like, ever. "And until then I'm in charge and what I say goes. Iggy, you're in charge. Make sure everyone stays put." I ordered and dove quickly below the clouds. Of course, this is Iggy we're talking about here. He hardly takes orders from Max. Unless it were literally a life-or-death situation, and even then he'd find his own way to silently rebel. And I was well aware that he and the others followed just enough to watch me.
Once below the clouds I didn't have much time to recon before I was completely blindsided by another flying robot monkey. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the silvery bullet like creature heading right for me, but I didn't have time to react as I turned to face it and it hit me hard in the stomach. My arms flew instantly to surround it and keep it from going anywhere and attacking again.
"Fang!" I heard the others cry as they all came down to my rescue. But as soon as I had it in my arms, I knew there was no danger. I even found it hard to contain a bit of snickering when I realized exactly what it was that caused us so much fuss.
"Fang?" Gazzy asked cautiously their approach slowing.
"Is this, what you saw Gazzy?" I asked easily holding the object out for everyone to see. It was a toy plane. And a very nice one at that. Probably cost the owner a nice big wad of cash. It was a high tech, fully operational, metal model of an F1-50 fighter jet. And it looked in no way, like a flying robot monkey.
"Heh, oops." Gazzy mumbled when everyone turned to him with evil glares. Turned out we had been flying unusually low without even noticing it. A number of things contributed to this fact. For one we were all a bit distracted what with sky tag and the empty space Max's absence has left. Also, it was a particularly cloudy today and the clouds just happened to be riding pretty low in the sky as well. And it was almost winter, so flying up high like usual meant flying in a colder atmosphere, naturally we avoided that.
We had been flying over a city, and in a park, there had been a couple of rich snobby kids playing with their overpriced remote-control plane. They saw a flock of unusually large birds and decided to have some fun and attack them with it. Gazzy, who seemed a little 'high' off of cloud diving, mistook the toy as a flying robot monkey. A common mistake for an eight-year-old mutant bird kid whose been on the run from such things most of his life.
So, imagine how shocked you would be if you were playing with your toy plane in the park and the giant bird you were teasing with it suddenly snatched it out of thin air and then came swooping back down into the park to return it to you, only to turn out to be in fact not a giant bird but a bird kid. Now, imagine the complete opposite reaction. And that's pretty much what happened.
Against my better judgment I decided that whoever this plane belonged to, probably wanted it back. So, the flock and I came down and landed in the only park within a ten-mile radius of us. I didn't even have to look for the plane's owner because as soon as I landed two finely dressed boys came running up to us.
"Hey! Give us our plane back!" the boy with the remote ordered holding out his free hand.
"Excuse me?" I asked a little taken aback. Kids these days, no manners.
"You heard him, give it here! We saw you take it; we want it back!" The other boy scolded.
"You attacked us with it!" Nudge said outraged by the kids' behavior. "You're lucky we didn't blow the stupid thing to smithereens!" she exclaim throwing her hands up.
"If there's even one scratch on my new Flyboy-500 you're in big trouble!" Woah now, back up. Flyboy-500? Now that was an uncanny name for a toy plane. And did this kid have any idea who he was talking to?
Yeah, he saw us take his plane from the air remember? I heard Angel's voice in my head and was a little startled. I wondered if this was how Max felt when her voice spoke nonsense to her. He doesn't care, he just wants his plane back. Angel explained.
"Relax kid," I said and held the plane out for him. He snatched it from me and gave it a quick once over.
"You're lucky. I'll let you off with a warning this time. Next time I better not catch you messing with my plane." He said. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. To tell the truth I found this whole thing to be rather pathetic. But Iggy on the other hand was ticked off. He stepped forward, fists clenched, blind eyes sending death glares between the two boys.
"Next time? You little punk! I have half a mind to break that thing in half for attacking us like that." Iggy shouted angrily.
"Ha! This plane is made of high-performance titanium. There's no way you could even bend it!" The second boy scoffed.
"Watch me." Iggy growled and went to grab the plane from them. He would have succeeded in wrecking the thing too if I didn't stop him. I put my hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly.
"Forget it Igs, let's go, we still have to find Max." I told him and turned to get ready to take off. Iggy let out an irritated huff but obeyed. "You're welcome." I tossed back to the two boys and took a running leap. I snapped out my wings and beat down hard, without even dropping an inch I soared upwards and back into the sky. The others followed right behind me.
I'm sure Max would have been proud of the reaction we got from those boys. I only glanced back to make sure Iggy had done what he was told, he did. And the look on their faces when they saw us close up in all our glory? Priceless. Jaws dropped and everything. Yeah, Max would have enjoyed every second of it. She probably would have swooped back down while they were gawking at us, snatched up the plane, and dropped it into the pond in the center of the park. Leaving us all feeling a lot better. But Max wasn't here. And I didn't care about those kids or their stupid plane. We were still a good eight hours from Arizona, and every passing second felt like a second closer to- to what I didn't know, but it had to be bad. I could just feel it.
We had wasted too much time messing with those kids and that plane and I was eager to get back to the mission at hand. Unfortunately, my straight forward attitude combined with that unpleasant encounter and an unsatisfactory ending to a very chastising situation, put a huge damper on the chipper atmosphere we had going earlier. No one said so much as a single word until we reached the Colorado-Nebraska border.
This Max was dead. No. She was still very much alive. Breathing. Heart beating. But everything that made her who she was, was gone. I killed her. I crushed her spirits. I took everything that was ever important to her. I took her. I killed her. I broke her wings. I made her scream. And now. As I stand over her body one last time, I examine my work.
This last time. When I entered this room. When I forced her down. When I entered her. She did not put up a fight. I had broken her. My name would go down in history as the man who finally broke, Maximum Ride. Brought her down to the level she belonged. So, My Max could finally be free. My Max would love me now. She has to. I did this for her.
This Max was nothing. She laid on the floor like a pile of dirt. Her body wracked in pain. Scarred inside and out. Wings mangled and broken. Not moving. I could see her ribs now. And her skin no longer had that healthy glow that sickened me to the core. Before I could not bear to look at her without retching in disgust. Now I was proud. Proud of my work.
Her eyes were empty. Glazed over in pain. Staring at nothing. Any light that once resided in them long ago extinguished. She couldn't even muster the strength to keep from crying anymore. And when she looked at me, I could only just barely see the hint of pain and fear. The only remaining emotion left in her. The drugs dulling that even more still. She couldn't move. She was ready.
There was still much work to be done on her before she was ready to sell. But my job was done. I can ship her now. Let them take care of the rest in Mexico. Then I'd have my money. I'd have my final revenge.
"Sir," The voice was familiar. I did not turn. The woman. My personal toy. By her own free will. She disgusted me. But she fulfilled my needs. "They're ready for them." Yes. At last. Max was not the only one for this shipment. No. I did much work besides her. I worked hardest on Max of course. And no other article got the pleasure of experiencing me like her. But she would not be the only one I ship. Two others. Yes. Two very pretty ones. Easier than Max was. They were ready long before now. But I held them off. I wanted Max to be with them.
"Clothe her. Shoot her up one last time. Make it a double dose, we must be extra cautious with this one." I told the woman. And she obeyed. She always obeyed. They always obeyed. They were pathetic. I looked at This Max one last time. Thought about keeping her for myself. But that was not my job. My job was done. I left her. And she could die. As soon as I got my money. She could die.
Them? There were more of them? Had he been doing this to other girls? Not only had Fang, drugged, beat, and rape me, but he had done this to other girls. What happened? This wasn't the Fang I knew. Fang would never- No, it hurts too much to think right now. My head. It hurt so bad. It pounded inside my skull exploding behind my eyes. Just like when the voice first came to me. Where was the voice anyway? It just abandoned me.
I cringed as the pink haired woman from before dragged me to my feet. Pain erupted from every pore on my body, and it all seemed to be centered around the un-ignorable throbbing between my legs. I could feel something sticky trickle down one of my legs. But I ignored it. I was too busy trying not to cry out as the woman carelessly moved my broken wings and battered body about. She forced my hands into the sleeves of a silky robe. The light material burned my skin which was covered in open sores.
I was given more drugs. The only relief to this pain. I found that with the nausea and fatigue came a wave of haziness that instantly lifted most of the pain. I depended on that now because it was my only escape. It was the only thing that made me feel even the tiniest bit better. I couldn't think about Fang like before, or my flock. Because Fang was the reason for all of this. And if the flock was even still alive, they obviously didn't care enough to stop him. I was alone and in pain and these drugs were the only thing keeping me alive, I think.
I was only barely coherent as they forced me out of that room. The only four walls I had seen in… how long has it been? I could feel myself growing distant already from the injection. I might as well have just given in and let them take me over. Why should I care where they were taking me? I had lost everything. I might as well give up. And yet something deep inside me… just needed to know. So, I forced myself to stay conscious.
It didn't take long to get lost. I couldn't keep track of the rooms or the hallways. But I guess none of that was important. I wasn't going to be staying here any longer. That was why they were taking me out right? They were 'shipping' me somewhere. Then we were outside. Some instinct inside of me kicked in and I wanted to escape. But I quelled that urge immediately and settled for trying to figure out where I was.
It was dark, and hard to see. But it was easy to tell there was nothing here. Other than the building, and a long strip of concrete. There was a plane on it. We were heading right for it. It was a small plane, probably only a two-passenger hold. And not in very good condition as far as planes go. The cargo gate was open, and I was led up the ramp into the belly of this giant sardine can. Even after all the trauma, my ever-persistent claustrophobia found its way to settle over me as the door slowly closed. But this was nothing new. I had seen it all before. Only before I had had my family. Now I was alone.
The plane took off then and I was tossed hard against the cold steel walls and floor. I gasped from the pain, but it was drowned out by the roar of the engine. The bouncing and the change in air pressure made the nausea worsen and soon the plane's cargo hold was filled with the stench of my own vomit. As if things couldn't get any worse.
The plane was aloft for several hours I believe before I finally noticed I wasn't alone. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness and the drugs were starting to wear off. Which meant the pain was back and I felt like my body was being torn to shreds with every little movement the plane made. But it also meant I could think a little more clearly, and it occurred to me that what I had thought to be merely more cargo amongst the crowded hold might actually be a person!
I blinked a few times and forced myself to sit up. Just then the plane gave a great lurch, and I was thrown sideways. I caught myself just barely as pain jarred through me and I clenched my jaw biting down a scream. I opened my eyes again to find two pairs of eyes looking back at me. I felt my heart give a leap. There are more of them! Sure enough, two girls about my age, maybe younger, were huddled together near the front of the plane.
"H-hello?" I called finding my much-abused voice. I amaze myself sometimes. Here I was, sitting in my own blood and bile, weaker than a toothpick under a bus tire, mangled and probably in the worst shape I'd ever been in, trying to make contact with my fellow… prisoners. Who, might I add, were probably just as bad off as I was, in the very same position no less, scared to death, and without a hope in the world.
They were small. One might have been a cherry blond originally, but it was hard to tell under all the dirt and grime. The other had black hair. Both of them with the most stunning blue eyes I had ever seen on a pair of cowering vulnerable young girls. And they both had on a similar silk robe to the one I had on. I tried to move toward them but stopped when I realized one of them wasn't even moving.
The cherry blond was lying her head resting in the lap of the other girl, her blue eyes wide and frozen, and her lips, just barely parted, and blue from lack of oxygen. Her body was limp, it didn't move at all, she wasn't breathing, and white foam was clinging to the corner of her mouth, spilling over and down her chin. She was dead. I bit back a startled yelp and scrambled backwards ignoring the pain. The other girl had been staring at me with a gaze just as intense as that of the dead girl's. But now she seemed to lose interest and she turned her head to stare into space. She was sitting up with the dead girl in her lap, just absently stroking her blond hair and staring at nothing. I watched her, my heart pounding. And when I listened very carefully, I could hear her humming over the noise of the plane. I felt tears prick my eyes as I sat there watching and listening to her. Then she opened her mouth and formed the words to the song she had been humming. It wasn't English, and I didn't understand what it meant. But I would never, for the rest of my life, forget those words or her voice singing them.
I didn't know what she was saying. But all the same I could feel the pain and the sadness in every word. I felt something hot and wet fall on my hand and I realized I had been crying. I raised the sleeve of my robe and wiped my eyes gently. I wanted nothing more then but to help that girl. Somehow. If there was a way out, I'd find it. And I was taking her with me.
I had fallen asleep. Though I didn't believe it would have been possible, I know I was sound asleep when the door hanger opened, and a bright hot sun bore in on us. I pried my eyes open just as two men walked up the ramp and blocked out the sun. I stayed motionless. I didn't move a muscle as they walked past me.
"Ugh, not again." One of them growled. "Another one, dead."
"Leave her. Get the other two and let's go already. We're wasting time." The other one said. Suddenly I was yanked to my feet. I couldn't help the yelp of pain I let out as they forced me up.
"Come one let's go, hurry it up!" the first man ordered as he pushed me and the other girl out and down the ramp. I blinked in the bright light and squinted to see where I was. But the land was barren for as far as even my trained eye could see. It was dry and dusty, and it looked like we had landed on not a runway but the only strip of road for miles around. There was a lone building. It was small. If I didn't know better, it looked like gas station. But the chipped and broken sign in the window said. "Mexico Trading Inc." Mexico! I was in Mexico! But then I realized knowing this, wasn't going to help me any.
So, I let them lead me inside. It wasn't much cooler inside. Just as hot and humid and dusty as outside. Only it smelled like sweat and something rotten in here. I saw from a window there was a van out back with the company name printed on the side. The back was open, and men were lifting heavy wooden crates into it.
"This is Kin's shipment?" I turned at the sound of the voice behind a desk near the door. An older man, mid-sixties, wispy white hair, and a big round belly, was filling something out on a clipboard. "I swear they get shabbier every month." He shook his head with disappointment "Where's the third one?"
"Dead. Didn't survive the transfer." One of the men who had fetched me and the black-haired girl answered.
"Very well. The boxes are labeled already pack them up and get them on that bus." The old man ordered.
Boxes? It was then I saw the three girl sized crates in one corner of the tidy room. They were going to stuff us into a tiny box throw us into the back of a van and ship us off yet again! Over my dead body. I thought feeling a bit of the old fire spark in me again.
They went to put the other girl in a crate first. She was just as unhappy about it as I was and started to fuss, putting up a fight. That only made them push harder.
"Leave her alone!" I cried out without thinking. Oh, that made them stop alright. All eyes turned to me. The old man smirked.
"Looks like we got ourselves a live one here." He chuckled.
"Oh, you bet I'm alive." I snarled growing more and more confident. "Alive and kicking." Then all hell broke loose. Sure, it felt like the world was crushing its entire weight on me, every time I moved, sure I was beat to a bloody pulp, backed into a corner, weak and vulnerable, everything I hate. So, what else is new? And besides, it's in situations like this that I'm at my most dangerous. Am I right? And even though I was well off my game, you can bet they weren't expecting me to fight back.
The first thing I did was throw a barefooted round house kick into the chest of the closest thug. I clenched my jaw tightly enduring the pain that shot up my leg into my spine and back again and fought hard to keep my balance. Weak as I was, I'm still a genetically enhanced avian hybrid with the strength of twenty of full grown men. And even though only about five of those men were functional right now, the kick was still powerful enough to knock my target back and off his feet.
The other one came at me next with the full intent of killing me. Or at least getting me that much closer to death and stuffing me in a box to be shipped off to god knows where for people to do god knows what to me so they could get their check. Yeah, fat chance. I held my breath as I swiveled and met the guy head on with nose breaking punch to the face. Bad idea on my part. I had succeeded in taking the guy out but in the process of doing so I had used my broken wrist. I gritted my teeth holding my hand close to me and fighting back tears. But I had to keep moving.
Two down, one to go. The guy that just got his nose shoved up to his brain just so happened to have a gun on his waist. I snatched it up without a second glance and aimed it at the old fat man behind the counter.
"We get off this freak show bandwagon here." I snarled.