(A/N: Does "oops" cover my long absense from updating this? Well, oops... We had some kids from Montana over and I had to babysit all five of them (none are over age 8)... School, cross-country, work... NO "ME TIME!" It sucked... Bad excuse, I know, but I'm back, and this is it... This would be the end to my lovely, eight chapter story... Reviews please... They make me smile! And again, sorry about the previous chapter eight that wasn't mine... I killed that friend, but then bought them back from the dead so I wasn' charged with murder! Anyways, the story!)
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I don't own this...
Angel: She owns nothing!
Me: Shh, don't tell them that!
Angel (uses mind-controlling powers): You own NOTHING!
Me: I guess I own nothing...
Angel: And I get the remote!
Me: No fair, you cheated!
I was running through the woods, sprinting. The branches whipped my bare arms and legs, scratched my face and caught my hair. My wet sneakers made me slip and slide with every step I took. I heard a dog howl and my stomach literally flipped. Damn them for bringing the dogs out!
"Find her!" someone yelled loudly. How about you don't find me and say we did? I ran faster as my breathing became erratic. I had a cramp in my side; it made it even harder to breath. I slipped and once my hands hit the ground, I pushed myself up and ran. I was bleeding, muddy, tired, sweating and alone… Then I realized it was too late as I dog appeared in the path in front of me.
Only it wasn't just a dog. It was an Eraser. I backpedaled but it was too late. It raised its gun, a red dot appeared on my shirt, and it pulled the trigger…
I want to run
I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls
that hold me inside
I want to reach out
and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name
I woke up screaming. I was sitting up straight as opposed to lying down on the dirt. I was breathing heavily and my skin was covered in a thin, cold sheen of sweat. The dream flooded back and I searched for bullet holes on my clothes. There were none.
"You okay Max?" Angel asked nervously. I realized I'd woken everyone up. Total walked up to me and nudged my leg with his nose.
"I'm fine… I just… had a bad dream. Sorry, go back to sleep." In the dark I could feel Fang's stare on me. My heart was finally beating normally and my breathing was almost there. Everyone settled down and their breathing slowed… except for Fang.
"You're sure it was just a dream?" he asked sitting next to me. I nodded surely. "Well what happened in it?"
"The usually… I died." I tried to smile, but Fang looked at me seriously. Of course, that wasn't anything new. "The Erasers were chasing me… with dogs. And one of the Erasers caught me."
"Which we all know would never happen."
"Right, because I'm just amazing like that. But it seemed so real. Not your usual 'dream being real' thing. I mean, when I stepped on a rock, I felt pain. Every branch that I ran into made me bleed, and that hurt a little. And then when it shot me… I felt it." I leaned my head on Fang's shoulder and felt tears come to my eyes.
"Don't worry about it Max. It was only a dream," Fang said in that 'I'm an understanding person in a non-understanding' way of his.
"Yeah, I realize that now, a little late though." The sun was slowly rising over the mountains. "And I know that they won't hurt us anymore… that they can't. But it's the fact we grew up in fear, always waiting for them to strike and kill us. I think it will take a while to grow used to not having them around anymore."
I want to feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear
without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
where the streets have no name
Yeah, I said it, it's finally true. They aren't around anymore. And we all know what they I'm talking about… It's all of them: ITEX, the white coats, the Erasers, all of them are gone. For the first time ever, we are safe. And people still don't know about us. We don't exist in any minds except for a few: Ella's, Dr. Martinez's, the few who actually saw us that time in that New York restaurant, and the ones from the hospital who helped us out when Fang was hurt.
It still makes my skin crawl me out when I think that. We are safe.
No Max, there will always be someone out there trying to hurt you, the Voice chimed in.
I'd been hoping that the Voice would disappear along with them, but- luckily for me- it stayed. It still bought pain and confusion, but not as often anymore.
Yeah Voice, trust me, you've told me that enough. I get it; we aren't actually safe, I thought. But for now, let us just think we're safe. We can't ever be normal, so this is the best thing ever to happen to us. And then it was peacefully silent.
But I knew at least two had made it through the final battle: Jeb and Ari. We hadn't seen them alive, but we hadn't seen them dead either. In fact, they hadn't shown their ugly faces in about four months. We did see one old friend alive: my clone.
I ignored her as best I could; out of sight, out of mind, or so I hoped that the saying was true. And I haven't seen her since that time, out of the corner of my eye, when I saw that flash of blonde hair running by us during a battle. I really hoped we never saw her again.
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We're still building
Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do
After the final battle, we'd all been pretty… beat up would be such an understatement. But, thankfully, all of us had lived. And we didn't need a hospital or anything. We're hardcore, we healed eventually.
There were, and always will be, scars. But they're like memories in the way you need to have some. It's like the damn Voice that I can't seem to shake- or cut out for that matter.
But we've settled down I guess, for a while anyway, in a mountain range. We found an old, rundown hunting lodge that looked as if it hadn't been used in about a hundred years. It took fixing up and all, but it's become sort of like we've lived there our whole lives.
And we can go strawberry picking without worrying about Eraser attacks now.
The city's aflood
And our love turns to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust
I'll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name
And there's Fang and me… in love… totally. I don't think I'd know what to do without him being there. And I'm not just saying that to be all gushy and lovey-dovey. I seriously mean it. It's like, the Flock is part of me and everything, but he's what holds me together.
There were so many times I thought of quitting, just giving up.
I'm so glad he convinced me otherwise, because it's amazing how great it feels to be free. Sure, I'll probably have nightmares for the rest of my life- however long that may be- but it's definitely worth it. I'd have nightmares constantly for as long as I live as long as those… freaks never touch me or my Flock again.
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We're still building
Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do
Our love turns to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, and I see love
See our love turn to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do
We're free
