Holy crap, I CAN make a decent-sized chapter! le gasp lol Anyway, here's chapter 26, R&R and enjoy!
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26
But nothing happened. There was a click from Roland's gun, and then silence. I took the opportunity to spring forward using my arms and knocked Roland to the ground. I was clutching his legs together as he writhed and tried to break free of my grasp.
"Maximum, you don't know what you're doing, stop this right now!" Roland screamed, pulling something out of his jacket's left pocket; a combat knife. A long, sharp, razor-edged combat knife that gleamed as the light of the dining room reflected off of it. I looked into the killer's eyes and noticed he had completely gone insane at this point (not that I thought he was truly "sane" before now). His eyes were black holes that burned with intense fires of hatred, and I could see he wanted to plunge that knife into me and kill me with it.
I let go and rolled backwards, just as Roland slammed the knife right where my head had been a moment before. There was a scraping sound as the blade struck the tile floor, leaving a spray of sparks in its wake. Okay, now I knew for certain I didn't want to get hit by a weapon that sharp.
"You say I can't kill you, but I'll show you, I'll kill all of you! I created you, Maximum, and I can destroy you!" Roland's voice was getting closer, and acting on impulse, I flung myself back the way I had come…right under Roland's legs. Without putting much thought into it, I grabbed his free hand from below and pulled him to the ground, so his face slammed into the toe of my sneakers. Ouch.
"Max, say something!" It was Iggy. "I can't find you!"
"Over here!" I shouted, and immediately Iggy was dashing forward until he was right next to me. He leaned over, lightly skimmed his fingers over my face to make sure it was I, and then waited for instructions. "You said the cage was left open?" I asked quietly. Luckily, the blow from my shoe-tip had apparently rendered Roland immobile for the moment, so we could devise what to do. Iggy nodded. "Good. Go wake up Nudge and Angel, and then get back here on the double. I'll grab Fang and we can get out of here."
"But how?" Iggy was already heading for the door, using his amazing memory to plan which way it was to the cage.
"Just trust me!" I shouted back, and then quickly scurried out from underneath Roland's body, which had yet to move since his fall. I stared at him for only a moment, and then took the knife from his hand as carefully as I could and placed it cautiously in my jeans pocket. Just in case.
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In just a few short minutes, the flock and I were off, running through the halls of the vast School, which we had known as our "home" for the last twenty-four hours. With Fang's unconscious body arched across my shoulders I finally found what I was looking for; a window. It was just outside the dining room. I had remembered seeing it, a window in a huge sunroom off the main hall of the School, when I was being taken to see Roland just a little while ago. So much had happened in that short time.
But no time to think about that now. I knew that the moment Roland woke up he would call every Eraser he had in his arsenal to attack us, and then we'd be royally screwed. Unless, of course, we were somewhere safe.
After a moment of hesitation from Nudge, who didn't enjoy the idea of smashing through a glass window, we took off. I was the first to go, quickly unfolding my wings so they opened up behind Fang, and then crashing my head against the glass. Surprisingly it shattered easily, and as the flock gathered with me outside, hovering in mid-air, I noticed the School was amazingly quiet. It was the middle of the day, and the sky was clear, opening a path for the sun to warm my feathers. Ah, it felt great. And there were no Erasers. Aside from the fact that there was a madman bent on world destruction chasing us, it felt like a normal day.
"It's cold out here," said Iggy. I had almost forgotten that it was the end of December, and winter was rearing its head over Colorado again. But I didn't mind. Being locked up in the School made the sun's rays feel spectacular, and the snow on the ground did nothing to change that feeling for me.
Total popped his head out of Fang's backpack, which Angel was now carrying, along with Celeste. "Is it winter? We should celebrate Christmas!"
I grinned at the tiny black dog. How he knew about Christmas I didn't care to ask, but I knew I would have to say something soon or Angel would begin plotting a party with the dog soon. "Maybe we can. But I have something else important to do right now."
"What is it?" asked Iggy.
"I…I want to go back to Ella's house." I waited a moment for a response, but the flock, even Iggy, just stared at me in confusion. "Roland told me some things about Ella's mom that I don't want to believe…but I need to be sure."
Angel glided silently towards me and hugged me around the waist. "We'll go with you."
I patted the small girl's head. "Thank you, sweetie."
When I was finished telling the flock of my plan, we headed out. We would stop at the hawk's cave again, the same one Fang and Nudge had stayed at so long ago when they waited for me to return, and then tomorrow we would fly to Ella's house. It was the best idea I'd had in a long time.
As we flew, Iggy moved towards me, brushing his wingtips against mine to follow. He silently came closer until he was right next to me. I was about to ask what he needed, but he broke the awkward silence. "So, how did you know the gun was out of bullets? Back at the School?"
I grinned, even though I knew he couldn't see it. "I didn't." We both laughed a bit. "Good guess, huh?"
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End of Part 3 (and yes I know i'm making the parts really really short, i'm not good at this, lol)