And I want to say, I don't own any of the character. James Patterson is amazing! But I did make the plot itself. Okay, here we go…

"Is she okay?"

"Will she wake up soon?"

"How bad is it?"

I awoke sometime during the day to faint whispers all around be. I couldn't tell who it was, or where they were coming from. All I could remember before blacking out against a tree was someone calling my name and running towards me.

Though I wasn't quite sure of were I was, I didn't want to open my eyes; I was scared of what I might find.

A few seconds after I woke up, a wave of pain came over me. I felt as if I'd been chopped up and put into a blender. My legs and arms throbbed, my stomach stung, and my head was spinning around in circles. I let out a deep moan, and opened my eyes a little. I saw that I was in a corner of what looked to be a cave. I was also on top of a blanket, and my leg was propped up on a stack of pillows. It was cool, and there was a slight breeze coming from somewhere. I shivered a little as the breeze swept across my skin. I then realized that I felt very bare for some reason. I looked down and saw that I was laying there in only my underwear and night shirt, which was rolled up revealing my bare and wounded stomach. I panicked and jumped up to cover myself (which I might add, hurt unbelievably!).

"Max, you're up!"

I looked to my side and saw Nudge running over. She looked tired, but happy. I was so relieved to see her smiling face, and not a whitecoat. I wanted to cry when I saw her, but I knew that if I did, my tears would only sting my face, doubling the pain that I already was in.

"Oh, and don't worry, nobody's here except me. Well, Iggy did come in to fix your hip, it was displaced, but he can't see anyways! I'm so happy to see you!"

I sighed and tried to crack a weak smile; that only made my nose throb.

"How's the pain? You don't look as bad as you did yesterday."

I looked at her confused, "I's not good. Yester-day?"

I jumped a little at the sound of my voice, it sounded so hoarse, and rough. It sounded like it wasn't really me talking.

"Yeah, you were asleep since yesterday afternoon. When you came back here, you were all covered in blood. If Fang hadn't gone back for you, you'd have been...well it would have been worse."

"F-Fang was there?"

My stomach did a flip. It was Fang there when I passed out. He actually came back for me. I didn't think he would, since I'd told him not to.

"Yeah, he carried you hear. He was so worried; we all were."

Nudge's eyes filled with sadness. I felt bad to have made them all worry like that.

"Nudge, I'm sorry. Where is everyone?"

"They all went out to find dinner with Fang. They will be back soon. Do you think you'll be strong enough to see everyone?"

"Of course, I- I think I can move a little. Um, Nudge, do you think you can get me some water?"

"Sure; you just rest, and try not to move. I'll be right back."

I watched her walk away towards the front of the cave, until I knew she couldn't see me. I wanted to see if I really could move, because I had no idea. I tried lifting my arms up, they hurt, but I was able to move them. I then tried to sit up. I started to lift my head slowly off the ground, that wasn't too bad. So far, so good, I thought to my self as I started to lift my back. I was about half way up, but then my stomach started to really sting. I couldn't help but moan from frustration.

It sucked that I was stuck like this, it ruined everything. And worst of all, Ari did it. But, he wasn't like the normal Eraser Ari, he was scarier. He became creepier since I last saw him.

"Things are going to be changing Max. Get ready, because there is more to come."

"Shut up for a while, okay?" I whispered to it out loud.

This is so stupid. Everything seemed better, and now this? What else could there be? The Erasers already flew, and now they're suddenly indestructible? This isn't supposed to be happening. I tried to keep everyone safe, but I only ended up hurting myself. And now, things are going to get worse for us?

"Here you go Max!" Nudge said, pulling me back to reality.

I took the water and started to practically inhale it. I was so thirsty; I finished it in two gulps.

I looked at her and asked, "When do you think everybody will be back?"

"Well, actually, they're already here. I told them to stay outside until you said they could come in. They are all really excited that you are awake. They brought back some hotdogs and buns. We were going to have a cookout, but only if you are okay. I mean, I don't want you to be in pain or anything. It must be bad though, because you're-"

"Nudge," I said finally, "You can let them in. But, can you, help me get my shorts on?"

I was embarrassed to ask her for help like that, especially for this. But, I could barely move. Thankfully, she just smiled and carefully helped me put them on. Then I rolled down my shirt slowly. It was difficult, but I tried to be careful and make sure that I didn't touch any of my wounds.

When I was finally done, I took the pillows out from under my leg, and put them under my head so I could sit up a little. Nudge ran outside and told everyone to come in.

Angel and Gazzy sprinted in and sat next to me beaming. Iggy came jogging in after them smiling, and then Fang slowly walked in looking at his feet with crossed arms.

I noticed him, but forgot about it once I saw Gazzy and Angel. They made sure not to pounce on me, which I was happy about. They just took both of my hands and squeezed them tightly. Angel then started to cry a little.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. It did hurt like hell, but I was so overwhelmed by seeing them all. I ruffled Gazzy's hair, and rubbed Angel's cheek. Iggy came and sat down on the other side of me. He 'looked' at me with his light blue, sightless eyes and a smile that lit up his whole face. I took his hand and held it tight.

He smiled even bigger and asked, "So, how's your hip? Personally, I feel like I did an alright job."

"It's perfect, thanks." I said, but I felt badly about everything. "I'm really sorry you guys, I didn't want it to happen like this."

I started to cry a little. I hated crying more than anything, but this time, I didn't care.

"We know. I love you Max." Angel said.

"Me too. But, don't let it happen again." Gazzy said jokingly.

"Yeah. So now, do you mind if we all eat now?" Iggy said.

"Yeah, you guys go set it up over there." I laughed, taking over the leader role again.

They all went over to get out the hot dogs, and they started to make a small fire. Fang just stood there against the wall, not moving at all.

"Hey." He finally said, not looking up from the ground.

"Hey." I said. I didn't really know what else to say. He didn't seem to be very responsive, so I didn't want to be like, 'hey, thanks for going back for me, and carrying me here, even though you got my blood all over yourself'. Yeah, that doesn't seem like the right thing to say right now.

"Um," he said while clearing his throat, "How are you, uh, doing?"

"Okay, thanks." I said awkwardly. This was a very smooth conversation (sarcasm).

Before he could say anything else, Gazzy ran over and said that the fire was ready.

"I can make you some Max, and then we can all come and eat it with you."

"Yeah, sure, that would be awesome. Oh, and can I have like, six, if you don't mind."

He laughed, "No problem, we have a lot of hotdogs." He ran away.

Fang looked over at the fire, and then down at the ground again and said, "Well, I guess I should go over and make a hotdog." He tried to chuckle a little, but I could tell it was fake. He then walked away slowly over towards the fire.

I closed my eyes for a minute, or two, and tried to soak everything in. I never realized how thankful I am for these kids. I love them so much, and I wished that I could give them everything, and anything, in the world. But, these thoughts just made me feel worse. I knew that I couldn't give them everything; that was pretty much impossible right now.

"You are special, and you can do more than you think you can."

'Okay, I got it, thanks. Now, go away.' I thought to myself.

"Dinner!" Iggy called out.

Everyone came over with handfuls of hotdogs and plopped down all around me. Gazzy handed me six hotdogs. I was so hungry; I stuffed a whole hotdog in my mouth and swallowed. Everyone looked at me shocked. I just smiled and kept on eating.

We had a great dinner together. Everyone was in a good mood, except Fang of course. He just sat in the back and looked down at his feet while he ate. When Iggy or Gazzy cracked a joke, he looked up at me for a few seconds, and then looked right back down. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed.

After dinner, everyone was stuffed, including me. We all decided to hit the hay. So we stacked fists and tapped once. Then everybody went to their blankets and fell right to sleep. I guess everyone was tired from the busy, and emotional, day.

I tried to close my eyes to sleep, but I didn't feel very tired. I tried to think of something well, like at the beach the other day. But everything I thought about brought my thoughts right back to the fight with Ari. When Ari said 'Cool new feature' just kept playing over and over in my head.

After I opened my eyes, I realized there was something moving near me. I looked up and saw Fang sitting a few feet away by himself. He looked so serious just sitting there in the dark and looking out toward the night sky. He seemed to be thinking about something.

"Hey, what are you doing up?" I said, trying to sound normal.

"Nothing; I just can't sleep." He said not looking at me. I started to get frustrated.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just thinking." He said with a bit of an attitude.

"If you're so fine, then why aren't you looking at me? You haven't said more than like, five words to me. I'm trying to say thank-you to you, but you-"

"Max, stop; I'm sorry. I'm just, ugh, I don't know."

I was starting to get annoyed now.

"Fang, I'm sorry to. And, thank-you for going back for me. I know I was stupid to take on Ari alone. But still-"

"Max, just be quiet for a second," he said to me in a soft tone. "It's just that you really scared me yesterday. I- I thought you were going to, you know, die."

I looked at him shocked. I scared Fang. That never happens, except that one time when I tried cutting the chip out of my arm, but still.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I-"

"What happened to you? You've never gotten hurt like that from Ari. I, I just saw you there all covered in blood against that tree. And Ari was just standing there. But you, you were a mess."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to put it.

"Well, I did put up a good fight. And so did Ari. But, he was different, like creepier." I tried to say more, but my word got all tangled up. 'Cool new feature' popped into my head again.

"Okay, well, I'm not sure how many Erasers there are like this, but he-"

"Say it already Max." Fang said anxiously.

"Ari said that he was indestructible." I said. Fang just looked at me blankly, with his dark eyes wide.

"I smashed a big rock into his head and he bled, but wasn't hurt. I couldn't fight him." I started to tear up a little bit. I tried to suck it back in, but I didn't do a very good job at it.

Fang looked at me worried. He moved a little bit closer to me and he put his hand on top of mine.

"It's okay, we will try to do something, I have no idea what, but we will. You know, you don't always have to do everything alone."

"I know, I guess."

Fang then did something unexpected; he leaned in toward me and kissed my cheek.

"Ow!" I said. He had kissed me right on a bruise.

"Oh, sorry." He said, blushing furiously.

We both started laughing, as he brushed a hair from my face. He smiled so brightly, his dark eyes showing so much happiness.

"Well Fang, I guess you're stuck with me forever."

"Great." He said jokingly, still smiling.

"Get used to change Max. There is more to come. Be ready."

Okay everybody. Thank-you for reviewing, and for the tips! R&R please!

It's not over yet for the flock…