Chapter Eight

The night was spent around the fire. Fail explained to the flock about her name, her past, but didn't go into detail when she mentioned the dagger and bullet tests. Once she had finished the flock was staring at her, Nudge and Gazzy had their jaws hanging low, Angel was probably entranced in the journey in Fail's mind, Fang was just silent but had a new look in his eyes, and Max was getting more and more uneasy by the moment.

Now the fire had died down and was just spewing out smoke. Iggy, Fang, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy were all soundly asleep. Max was sitting at the dead fire's side, questions running through her mind. She was rubbing her temples as the night sky became a lighter blue and the whole forest was engulfed in a calming blue color except the trees remained black. Max had awoken an hour ago, and hadn't seen Fail asleep when she woke and hadn't heard her since. She sat cross-legged near the stone circle with her elbows on her knees and hands at her temples. She immediately straightened up when someone dropped a small pile of twigs on the opposite side of the stone circle.

"Sorry, didn't mean to break ya from your trance" Fail said uneasily. The girl still gave Max the chills, with pale skin, hardly any muscle or fat, she was practically just skin and bones with a voice that made Max's hair stand on end. Max groaned slightly "Oh, its nothing, just thinking" she looked at Fail, but looked away when she noticed those dull orange eyes were staring at her.

Fail suddenly jumped when she realized she was staring.

"Sorry, I know you're worried and all, but-"

"I'm not worried" Max retorted, fibbing through her teeth. Fail just received Max's glare with a smirk "I can sense your feelings, you carry the worry scent, unusual at this time of day" Somehow knowing that Fail could sense her feeling by scent didn't make her comforted, instead she grew more uneasy. Fail immediately cocked her head when Max switched her mood.

"Uneasiness…?" She said under her breath, though it was audible to Max.

Fail sighed before turning around to head back towards the forest "I'm going to get breakfast" She was completely thrown off guard by Max's next question "Don't you ever sleep?" Fail turned around "Well… I usually sleep in the afternoon, morning and night are my hours so… you get the point" Max just nodded, her eyes narrowed at her. Fail on the other hand, felt a wave of uneasiness emit from Max. She wondered why Max was so uneasy around her but, then again, maybe it was because the flock didn't know what she was yet, or maybe it was her appearance, she hadn't looked in a mirror for quite sometime now and she was sure she looked like death.

"Well… I'll-uh, be in the forest" She ducked out of the clearing before Max could ask any more questions. Max was beginning to emit wave after wave of uneasiness, rage, worry, sorrow, pity, it started to give her a head ache. She shook her head as she walked deeper into the forest, why is she so… tense? She asked herself, shivering from a chill that crawled up her spine that was visible through her skin. A twig snapped, she instinctively whirled around, her teeth bared and she snarling. Then she recognized the pale blue eyes and red hair. She grinned sheepishly "Sorry"

Iggy snorted "Sorry about the growl or the fact that I had to jog slightly to keep up, not to mention trip over loads of stuff"

"Well then you should've stayed at camp"

"Why aren't you there?" Iggy asked, a look of concern coming over his blind eyes.

"I was heading out to get breakfast" she replied.

"Oh… well you know Nudge is a vegetarian"

"Well that complicates things a bit" Iggy chuckled lightly. Fail looked at him, she had gotten a chuckle out of him, next step, get Fang to smile, even a little twitch at the corner of his mouth, that'd satisfy her.

"But I can find some plants for her" she said, hunching her shoulders and stretching her arms, hearing the satisfying crack of bone.

"You know the others told me that you were skin and bones"

"Oh I bet…"

"Was that one of the tests? To see how long you could go on without food"

"While running through mazes and on a treadmill, yeah"

"Ah…" he said, looking up to the canopy above "Is your shoulder okay?"

"The bullet wound? Yeah, healed while ya'll were asleep" she said, rolling the shoulder that had a scar from the bullet wound. She turned to look at Iggy, who was looking at her, his eyes seeming to be lost in thought.

"What?" She asked, feeling her face burn. Iggy grinned and shook his head

"Oh nothing" he said in a singsong voice. What was with him? He'd been acting… different since he flew away from Itex with dead weight to carry. He was acting, odd, different from when Fail first met him, less hesitant, more talkative, he was definitely something new now. Fail turned away, her cheeks a rosy red. Sure, he couldn't see but maybe he could feel heat, she sure could.

Iggy sensed Fail turn away, which made him grin. What is wrong with me? He asked himself, pondering. His thoughts were broken by Fail, by her voice, the voice that melted him every time, and he had no idea what that meant.

"Well, I'm off to hunt" He heard two or three footsteps before she was gone. He looked to his left, then his right, then turned to look behind him, which way was camp?

"Oh crud" he whispered under his breath. He heard something crashing through the branches above him, and nearly jumped his height, in the air, when something landed right in front of him. He could tell it wasn't Fail by the aura around it, and he could tell it was dead. Something else dropped behind him, which made him jump once more but not run, now he could recognize the aura as Fails'. He gestured to the dead thing behind him

"What is that?"

"Rabbit"

"What kind"

"Jack"

"Get anything for Nudge?"

"I've been gone for, what, two minutes, to get a meat meal"

"I get it, no" Iggy was smiling again.

"Good guess, now let's head back for camp" Fail looked at Iggy, her eyes moving up and down "You shouldn't have followed me, blind one" She said in a mocking tone. Fail picked up the deadrabbit and headed back towards camp, Iggy following behind her.

"Fail?" Iggy asked a few minutes after they started walking.

"Hmm…" Fail replied.

"I've been meaning to ask you, what are you?"

"Well… I'm-uh, I'm a-" she was broken off by Angel's voice.

"They're back!"

Max had been quietly sitting by the fire since Fail had left to hunt. The others woke soon after Fail left. None of them said anything, but blinked slowly around the clearing, some staring at a certain tree or an ant mound as they wiped away the sleepiness from their eyes. Then they realized that Iggy was not there.

"Where'd he go?" Nudge had asked, looking around the clearing at each face and tree. It did not take long for her question to be answered.

"They're back!" Angel had cried out, hugging her bear, Celeste, to her chest. At first, all they saw was Fail, holding a deadrabbit. Then she saw Iggy's flaming red hair and golden earring. Total began to jump up and down barking "Food!" repeatedly. Soon enoughthe rabbitwas roasting over the newly made fire. Max looked at her flock then to Fail. Already, the girl was looking better, her dull orange eyes were becoming a more yellow color and more full of shine, her hair was returning to a dark gray color, and her ribs weren't as noticeable as before. Max looked back to the flames, watching them flicker and fight their way to the top of the log.

Max looked up from the hypnotizing flames to her flock. She saw that Fail had once again gone missing into the forest, so quickly and silently, as if she truly were just a phantom of their memories.

"What do you all think of Fail?" Max asked abruptly, wondering what the others thought of the girl that made her skin crawl. It seemed that her words weren't her own, as if someone else was speaking them, like the voice.

The clearing was suddenly silent, every one of the flock was looking at Max.

"She's Okay" Nudge shrugged, strange that she hadn't spoken more. Gazzy had the same reply, Fang just nodded, then Max looked at Angel. Angel was lost in thought. She had her eyes closed, and everyone was looking at her, an unearthly silence overwhelmed them, even Nudge and Total were completely silent.

Angel's eyes flew open. She looked at Max, her eyes full of fear, fear she had never worn on her face since School.

"What is it?" Nudge asked, looking at Angel with worry in her eyes.

"It-its," Angel began "The… the Eraser, the one in the tank" She said "It's Fail" Her voice grew fainter the more she spoke, as if she were slowly losing her voice.

Note: I know the whole 'Fail is the Eraser' thing is an oxymoron and a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious), just bear with me alright? And reviews would be great! Negative or Positive.