A/N: So this chapter is more than 2000 words. Even though no one reviewed, I'm still posting this just cause I'm done with finals for this semester and I got almost a perfect score on every single one.. so this is kinda celebrating since my parents don't really care haha :)
I really hope you guys are liking where I'm going with this story.. and if you don't let me know because I really do take every opinion into account.
Random Fact: Someone spiked my drink at a party once... shhhh. (Hate drinking. Don't do it kids.)
Enjoy! ;)
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Chapter 13: Unleashed
I'd been on edge since the whole 'getting attacked by erasers thing'. That night, I walked home with blood ALL over me and somehow had to come up with an explanation as to what happened. Basically, I told them that a couple erasers attacked me and one of them had a gun so I had to shoot them. Of course they gave me weird looks because I rarely let them use a gun…. I mean why should we ever need guns? We were genetically enhanced to fight so it almost seemed like cheating in a sort of way.
"MAX lets go!" Nudge squealed.
"Coming! One second!" I took a look in the mirror.
I was wearing a tank top because it felt comforting to have something tight over my stomach. It felt protective. I wore a sweatshirt over top, jeans and my signature combat boots. I tossed my black Jansport book bag over my shoulder and attempted to walk to the door with out letting the others know of my pain. Even at 6 months pregnant, I looked pretty normal. All us bird kids are really petite so it only made sense that my child would also be tiny. Fang grabbed my hand and pulled my out of my thoughts.
"Earth to Max… lets go!" Fang ran forward and leaped off the roof. I copied his actions and almost doubled over in pain. Fang looked at me with worry.
"I'm fine! Ow... I just pulled my inner thigh muscle…" Fang knows when I'm lying because I tend to look away from his eyes and my lips purse together. I made it a point to look him straight in the eyes and part my lips just the right amount. Fang flew a bit further and waited for me. Thank god he bought the excuse.
I heard Iggy yell from above, "What's taking so long? Hurry up or we're gonna be late again!"
"Alright, alright I'm coming… sheesh can't even show a little sympathy for a strained muscle can you?" I glared at Iggy even though it had no effect on him.
I jumped off of the roof holding my thigh but still supporting my stomach just incase. We flew for about 10 min before landing. We all walked to our first class of the day murmuring goodbyes and see-you-later's. Everyone had adjusted pretty well except for Fang and I. Nudge has a whole group of friends who adore her, Angel's teachers actually think she's an angel because of how smart and cute she is, Gazzy found some friends who love playing Minecraft, and Iggy is on hormone overdrive with all the "hot" chicks in the school. Fang just thinks everyone is annoying and I have bigger things to worry about. When we arrived in homeroom, we suffered the usual glares from the blonde and sat down in our seats.
"Good morning class! Today the principal has announced that there is a morning assembly in the auditorium so up and at it! Lets go, no shenanigans!"
"Careful. Something unexpected might just come your way."
Your riddles come at really inconvenient times.
"And how is this inconvenient?"
Not now! Just in general…
"Maximum, focus! This is not a normal assembly. Since when does this school have random assemblies."
Maybe they want to congratulate someone on academic achievement or something?
"You really are losing your touch."
The voice has never been wrong before so this began to worry me.
'Angel! Something's about to happen and I have a feeling that we'll have to run away again so alert the others.'
I saw Nudge's pained face as she realized that we might have to leave again. I saw her break the news to her friends and they were all crying in a circle. I rolled my eyes… I should have said IN CASE.
"Are we really leaving?" Iggy looked a little sad.
"I'm not sure… the voice said that something would happen at the assembly and I think its another eraser attack." I looked around and lowered my voice. "They attacked me just a few days ago and the school probably was keeping tabs on us this whole time and today is probably the second attack."
"Alright kids listen up! Today we have a guest speaker… in honor of this week being college week, I would like you to have the pleasure of listen to a lecture by a very talented geneticist who works for a top secret agency, Jeb Batchelder!"
I froze in my spot. I looked at the utter disbelief on the faces of my flock and then the shock reached me. Jeb. Jeb Batchelder? There's only one I know and he abandoned us years ago. I thought about all the times he fathered us and I wanted to hug him right then and there. Then I thought about him leaving us all alone and fury raged through me. I was about to leave the auditorium when I realized that there were security guards entering the stage… good-looking ones. It was likely they were all erasers.
In the middle stood one aged man; a face I would ever forget. The thick brown hair slicked back with streaks of grey, semi-shaven beard and round face. Jeb. He really was alive… and he was staring right at me.
"Good morning everyone! I would like to take this moment to share a message with you all. Each and every one of you has a destiny whether you like it or not, it must be fulfilled." Jeb smiled at me and then looked at the rest of my flock. He continued with his speech and eventually got to the sciency stuff.
We needed to leave and I had a plan. As soon as Jeb took his eyes off of one of the flock, we ducked down and slowly inched our way to the exit. About 5 minutes later, the whole flock was together at the end of the auditorium. I looked around for any escape exits. The auditorium happened to be smack dab in the middle of the school so there were no windows at all.
Crap. Think fast, think fast.
"Up."
I looked up. Thank the lord.
"Unless that lord is me, you're welcome."
Do you have to be sarcastic even at a time like this?
"Yes."
I sighed in frustration. I realized that the entire auditorium was agitated and looked back at us. The "guards" were walking swiftly through the crowd, bumping girls here and there to get to us.
"Max, what are we going to do?" Gazzy asked. I could hear the fear in his voice. "I don't want to go back to the school."
"We won't." I took in a breath and remained completely still. I had to catch the erasers off guard. I had to make it look like we would run through the doors and through the school rather than through the window above. Jeb probably thought that we wouldn't risk being spotted- well he was wrong because I'll do anything to keep my flock safe.
I pretended to fix my hair and be oblivious of what was going on around me. The only people who had noticed the guards coming towards us were the students on the sides. I took my bobby pin out of my hair and put it on the edge of my shirt facing up. It was an old trick we did before they screwed with Iggy's eyes. I shuffled my feet to get on my toes (like how we did when we were about to take off) so Iggy understood that we were going up.
I whispered, "On the count of three…", I braced myself for the right moment. "Three." I whispered.
We all shot up in the air, ignoring all the shouting and surprised faces… the one thing I did hear though…
"HOLY SHIT! They have wings! What's going on?" I grimaced a little… it was the snobby blonde girl.
I circled the windowed skylight and burst through to the open air. I definitely caught the erasers off guard because they were just getting ready to block the doors.
"Come on! We have to go now!" I did a quick head count and silently nodded to myself.
"But I never got to say goodbye to some of my-"
"Nudge! Not now! We need to fly… let's go!" I lead the flock away from the area.
"Max." Angel said calmly.
"Okay guys, we're going back to the apartment, we've got a minute to pack our backpacks and get all the food possible." I gasped for air.
"Max."
"Actually scratch that. We can get food anywhere. Everyone pack a backpack, grab a water bottle and we're high tailing it out of here got-"
"Max." I turned to Angel.
"What?" I exclaimed.
"The erasers are coming." She pointed to the horizon with fear in her eyes… A dark cloud was starting to form... it was the Flyboys.
I contemplated leading them on a chase but I knew we were out numbered.
"We have to fight!" Fang exclaimed.
"Iggy, Gazzy, bombs! Angel stay with me… Nudge don't leave Fang! Everyone ready?"
Everyone nodded. I could see the fear in their eyes as clear as day. We were all wondering the same thing. Why here? Why now? What do they want from us now?
As the cloud approached closer, I noticed a somewhat familiar face…
"Ahhh The Great Maximum Ride, we meet again? Long time no see, huh?" Ari. "I missed you." Wait.. Ari?
I faltered a little. The sweet little seven year old… was an eraser? Jeb made his own son into an eraser? I hated him more than ever now.
I gasped. "What… what did Jeb do to you?"
Ari laughed, "Oh don't feel sorry for me… I know that you all never liked me because I got the perks of not living in cage. Dad didn't do anything to me… I asked him too." He looked proud as a seven year old could look. "I'm better now. I'm faster, smarter, and I'm the lead if you haven't noticed, and soon, you'll be nothing but a dead bird after I'm done with you."
"Ari, I'm so sorry…" I didn't know how to react. Jeb turned his sweet little seven year old into a…. a monster.
"I said don't feel sorry!" Ari lunged for me with his claws but I was still numb.
"Watch out Max! Focus! You need to protect the baby!"
That snapped me out of my daze. I decided to use my power because the flock was going to find out someday or another and I couldn't risk fighting on my own.
I blocked Ari's claws and punched him in the stomach. I swirled my wings making me do a 360 turn to gain enough momentum to kick him in the chest. It was hard to hurt someone who I had once liked, but then again, you can trust no one.
I grabbed Ari's wings together, "Max please! I'll do anything… I'm sorry!"
"Oh now you want to play the sorry card? Because I'm about to kill you? Is that it?" I screamed at him.
Ari pleaded, "Max please! I'm begging you! If dad knows that I died on my first assignment with wings, he'll revive me just to kill me again. Please, please don't kill me!"
At that point, I really did feel sorry for Ari. He was terrified to death… of his own father. I dropped his wings and let him drop to the ground. He gathered his group and flew away clumsily.
I surveyed the damage. A bruise on the cheek, a claw to the face, busted lips. Not too bad I guess... we've had worse. I sighed.
"Lets fly for a couple miles and land somewhere safe." I instructed the flock. I decided that we could last a couple miles before we assess our wounds.
"Sounds good!" Gazzy smiled, holding a remote for a bomb that I assumed he ignited.
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"Max, why do you think the erasers came after all this time for us?" Nudge asked silently. She was probably still upset about leaving her newfound friends.
"I know why and they're never going to get it." I numbly stated.
The entire flock swiveled their heads to look at me.
"What did you just say?" Fang asked. "What do they want?"
I bit my lip and looked away.
"What? What's going on? They want Max?" Iggy asked around.
"No… they want something else… some-one else…" Angel curiously stated. "But who else? Would they kidnap me again?"
"No why would they want you again? They already got what they wanted… they're probably kidnapping us each one by one." Gazzy hypothesized.
"Guys, I want to hear this from Max… Max, what do they want from us? I know that you're nervous but I promise we can handle it. And I'm sorry about being pissed before, It's just that I've never had friends besides you guys… and well I hope you forgive me and tell us what the school wants from us." Nudge looked pleadingly at me.
"I can't." I looked away and suddenly I felt super dizzy. There was liquid seeping down my pants.
"Guys we need to land. NOW." I was on the verge of panicking. My vision became hazy. I needed to tell them now… they had to know.
"What's happening? Max?" Fang held me and shook my shoulders. He was holding me in his arms and descending because apparently, I was in some sort of paralyzed state.
"I'm… I'm pregnant. The school… they want my baby… I'm giving birth… now... water... broke..." I felt even lighter headed. I gasped for air as I saw the shocked looks on my flock.
Then, blackness.
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Boom- cliffhanger. I'll post a new chapter tomorrow. I want to know where this is going just as much as you do.
BY THE WAY.. I wonder if anyone has guessed my real name yet... Melodic, starts with an H.. (I think its pretty easy to guess haha)
~Shyla (H-something)