A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in so long. College is rough. Whew. But I'm going to try and keep updating at least once a month. I know that isn't much, but I'm paying for college. Until fanfiction can pay me for writing, (not that they would if they could), school is my priority.
Special thanks to FaxFiction and a guest for reviewing! I know I've said it before, but y'all have great timing. I always get reviews on those days when I need them most. They give me the best warm and fuzzy feelings. Thank you!
"I'm right here."
It's like all of the air is sucked out of the room. The only sound is that of the bunker door slamming shut, followed by the soft tapping of feet on the metal staircase. Axel lowers the knife to his side but tightens his hold on Nick. Not that Nick is going anywhere.
The woman who swings around the corner clutches a pistol in her right hand, but I know enough about firearms to know that firing one in this tiny room underground would be about as safe as letting me cook. (Read: deadly). Her long dark hair has been tossed into a messy ponytail, and she wears the same bullet-belt I spotted in the fight a few days ago.
Bess regards the room with a cool air, nodding faintly to the men sitting against the wall behind her, until her eyes land on Nick. They narrow.
Axel sniggers. "So glad you decided to join us."
She calmly takes a few steps forward, raising her gun to aim at his head. "Cut the crap, Axel." He stiffens. "Yeah, I know who you are. And you," she gestures to the lackeys pinning me to the floor, "I know who you are, too."
"But we don't have the pleasure of knowing who you are, sweetheart," Axel says. "Nicky here claimed that he was the leader, which is ridiculous, of course, and your boys weren't cooperating—"
"I didn't come here to listen to you blabbering. I'm Bess. You want information? I'm willing to give it to you, but you have to let Nick go, first." Seeing me, she adds as an afterthought, "and his girlfriend."
"I am not—"
"I'll let the chick go, but Nick stays with me until we're through."
"That wasn't the deal."
"The deal is off. You're late, your son's girlfriend showed up, and, frankly, I hold all of the cards right now. So you can tell me what I want to hear or I will kill your son and make you watch. Got it?"
Bess grinds her jaw in anger. But then she makes eye contact with Nick and her face softens somewhat. Axel impatiently raises the knife again and drives a shallow gash into Nick's forearm. "Got it?!"
Bess huffs air through her nose in defeat. "Fine."
Axel grins like the Grinch. "Excellent. Boys, would you be so kind?" The hands holding me down suddenly begin dragging me towards that meeting room.
Bess protests. "What are you doing? That's not—"
Axel responds lightly. "A fighter, that one. Can't have her interfering with our 'negotiations.' So she'll hang out in there until we're done." I'm unceremoniously flung into the room, and the door slams shut behind me. The lock clicks. I aggressively knock on the door a couple of times, but I'm pretty sure my kind of mutant strength isn't the kind that can punch through three inches of steel.
When the door is proven not to budge, I take in my surroundings better. At least I'm alone in the room. I mean, if I were locked in here with some crazy dude or a skeleton or something it'd be weird. As it is, I'm just underground locked by myself in a dim metal room without any windows or a way out and is the room getting smaller or is that just me?
I pace to keep myself from thinking about it too hard.
"Tell me what you want." Oh, so the steel is apocalypse-proof but not sound-proof? That's a nice feature.
"Two things. First, the drugs."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play coy with me, old lady." Nick huffs in thinly-concealed pain, and my brain instantly plays flashbacks from my recent nightmares. Or maybe actual memories. I don't know.
"Wait. What about them?"
"The recipe. The dealers. Everything."
"Even I don't know that—"
"You'd better figure it out soon."
A pause. "Fine. This is everything I have." There's rustling, and what sounds like an envelope opening.
"Good enough. Now item two."
"What is it?"
"Where is our leader?"
. . .
"What?"
"You heard me. Where is our leader?"
"How should I know?" Well, this is an interesting development. I press against the door as though it will help me hear better.
"You and your filthy gang members took him, and I want to know where—"
"I didn't order anybody to kidnap your leader, and my subordinates aren't stupid enough to cross me like that."
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider? Because Nick isn't looking too good. I don't know how well he would take another cut like this."
"Stop! I had nothing to do with your leader! Why don't you ask the guy with the flamethrower. Isn't he supposed to be second in command?"
"Oh, that's cute. Tell me where they are, both of them." So they're both missing?
"I don't know."
"Does this jog any memories?"
"Stop! I have no idea where-"
"TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!" Oh crap. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. This isn't going to end well. This is—
A distinctive thud.
"NICK!"
My heart skips a beat. I violently yank on the doorknob, hoping it will magically loosen and open up to me. On the other side of the steel, I can hear chaos. The external bunker door opens and closes. A gun is fired. "Not in here you idiot!" More scuffling, panting, banging, in rhythm with the hammering of my heart.
The doorknob twists in my hands, and the door swings open from the outside. I pounce into the fray without a second thought. It's a jumble of bodies in too little space, somewhere between extreme Twister and the crowd at a heavy metal concert. All of the men who had been sitting by the wall fight with tooth and nail, pulling no punches. My first thought is to get to Nick. From what I can tell, he's still handcuffed in the corner of the room. I'll have to fight through the crowd to get to him.
I can do that.
I dodge a gun-wielding fist and sweep out my attacker's feet. He falls into some guy on my right, who thrusts a knife towards me as he is thrown off balance. With a simple twist, I pull the knife from his hands. A weapon could be handy, trying to move through this crowd. I lunge towards Nick again, but two fighting gang members block the way. Frustrated, I push between the two, nearly getting stabbed in the process. Oops.
The next three minutes are spent whirling, ducking, and lunging my way through a maze of bodies. Finally, I see Nick.
Oh, no.
He hangs limply from the ceiling, his head drooping. A knife—my knife—has been planted in his abdomen, only the hilt sticking out.
I break into a sprint, not caring who can see my insane mutant abilities. "Nick!" When I reach him and see the amount of blood soaking his shirt, my stomach flips. I tug on his handcuffs, even though I know how pointless it is. If birdkids had the ability to break handcuffs, well, a lot of my problems would have been solved a long time ago. "Nick! Can you hear me?" Another yank. I need the keys!
"Not so fast!" And I'm flying sideways, propelled by Axel's meaty arm. I catch myself on the wall and launch towards Fang again.
I mean—never mind.
I grab Nick's shoulders and shake him, probably more forcibly than what would be recommended for someone in his condition. But, by golly, it works. He doesn't lift his head, but his eyes flutter open. Thank God.
Something grabs my hair and pulls me backwards. Dang it, I knew I needed a haircut. Almost without thinking about it, I chop the excess off with the knife in my hand. I whip around with a snarl. Axel stumbles backwards, still grasping my mangy locks in his hand. A jingling catches my attention, and then I notice the lanyard hanging out of Axel's pocket. A set of keys merrily clink against one another as he shifts his weight into a sloppy defensive position.
He notices me staring, and his lips twist into that wicked grin of his. "Come on, then."
I roll my eyes. Crack! My kick probably knocks out a few of his teeth, ruining his ugly smirk. He recovers quickly and uses his momentum to swing a heavy fist in my direction. I duck beneath it and ram my full body into his side, shifting his weight into his heels. He tries to grab me, but I slip through his grip as easily as youth slipped through Prince William's hair. While Axel is still off balance, I aim a few punches at his head, hoping to knock him out. He escapes the brunt of each blow; I only manage to clip him.
Man, I'm out of shape.
We slowly move our way into the thick of the brawl. While I'm distracted with Axel, I don't notice the man behind me until he's kicked the backs of my knees. I fall forwards, but tuck into a ball and somersault my way back to my feet. I misjudge my space, though, and rise much closer to Axel than I would like. I use it to my advantage to slice the lanyard attaching the keys to his pocket with my knife. They fly across the room. When I lunge to catch them, Axel drives his elbow into that tender spot in my ribs.
"Gah!" The pain shoots through my entire body, and it hurts to breathe. I shift intentions and back away from Axel. He hurdles towards me like a wind-up toy. And incredibly strong, arrogant, smug wind-up toy. I have no choice but to work on the defensive while I try to catch my breath. Granted, he's no Eraser, but my still-scabbed-over arms are going to be several shades of blue tomorrow. Then my back hits the wall, and I realize I've run out of room.
This was his intention, of course. Axel smiles a crooked grin—I notice with pride that, indeed, one of his front teeth is missing—and winds his whole body up to drive into what he must have figured out is my weak spot.
"Hey!" I glance past Axel and watch Bess toss the keys towards me. Luckily, I have the reflexes to catch them and dodge Axel at the same time. Axel's fist leaves a dent in the wall. He growls and turns on his heel to face Bess. I start to help, but Bess says, "Help Nick. I'll take care of this lunk." Without a second's hesitation, I comply.
Nick's eyes have closed again. "Nick! Wake up!" He doesn't respond. I notice that he's gone pale. The blood has spread down to his pants. Oh, gosh. It takes a few tries to find the keys that unlock his handcuffs. Once I release him, I carefully lower him to the ground. The jostling seems to wake him up; he opens his eyes half way.
"Good, Nick. Stay with me!" I rip his shirt open around the stab wound. If I learned one thing from life experience, it's that wounds bleed more when there's nothing blocking the blood flow; for now, the knife stays in. Nick tries to lift his head, but I carefully push it back down. If he sees this, he'll freak out. I need his heart rate slow so he doesn't bleed out.
I rip the bottom of my T-shirt off and I wad it up around the knife. When I add pressure, Nick moans through his gag. Realizing this, I remove it. He coughs shallowly.
I glance back at Bess. Dang, no wonder she's the leader. She's managing to hold her own against the Hulk. I turn back to Nick, who has turned another shade whiter. The material under my hands has soaked through with blood already. If I don't get him out of here soon. . . no, I'm not going to let that happen. I grab Nick's hands, clammy and shaking, and place them over his wound. "I need you to press down, okay? It will help stop the bleeding." Nick nods, and the trembling slows as he applies pressure. "Good. Everything is going to be okay. Now, this may hurt a little bit." I slide my arms beneath his knees and shoulders and carefully lift. He squints his eyes shut and moans, but is otherwise unresponsive. "Stay with me, Nick. I've got you."
Gosh, this hurts. My ribs feel like they're on fire. I grit my teeth and make my way across the bunker floor as quickly as I can without jostling Nick too much. Most of the fighters have left; only a handful of Reds and Shades remain, with Axel and Bess nowhere in sight. They pay me no attention as I climb the stairs and throw the bunker door open with my shoulders.
Axel is waiting outside. I manage to climb out of the bunker before he charges. With no spare hands to fight, I have no choice but to sprint past him. Under normal circumstances, this should put plenty of distance between Axel and me in a matter of seconds, but these aren't normal circumstances. My ribs burn and Nick is dead weight in my arms. Gosh, where is Bess? I hear the all-too familiar click of a gun. Outside of the bunker, firearms are much more accurate.
A bullet ricochets off some rubble near me. I veer to the right. I don't even know where I'm going from here; I just need to get Nick to safety. No, to a hospital. His hand slips off his stomach. I look down and realize that his eyes have slipped shut again. "Nick! Don't you dare! Stay with me!" They open a crack but remain unfocused. Another bullet whizzes past my head, and I change directions again.
Headlights suddenly materialize from the small road, half-blinding me. I run away from the car, but instead of following me it chases Axel back. When my eyes adjust, I realize who's behind the wheel.
And I don't believe it.
Nick's mom pulls the car back around to me. She opens the door and leaps from the driver's seat. "Get in! Take Nicholas!" We both duck behind the car as Axel pelts the metal siding with bullets.
"What?" I adjust the dressings on Nick's wounds. When his mom sees them, her eyes brim with tears.
"Oh my God. . . Bess told me—it was a short call, just a minute ago—and it ended abruptly and I had to come help. . ."
"Okay." She obviously needs somebody to tell her what to do. "We're going to take him to the hospital. You drive. Do you have a gun?"
She nods and extracts a pistol from beneath the driver's seat. I try to open the back door to the car, but bullets pelt the car too close for comfort. I duck back down, Nick still in my arms. His eyes are shut again. "Nick? Come on, stay with me." But this time, it doesn't work. I tighten my grip. This whole situation is like a ticking time bomb; wait too long, and Axel and his goons will have this car surrounded or Nick will bleed out right here in my arms. Whichever comes first.
I don't notice the change in Nick's mom's face. "There's a letter in the cabin."
"A letter—what?"
"From Bess. Find it." Then she stands up, into the line of fire, raises the gun, and shoots. The sound of gunfire drowns out everything else for a moment, and I do nothing but watch as red blooms across her sweatshirt. She stays standing, shooting at the gunmen. I think she actually hits a few.
When they stop to reload, Nick's mother sways and hits the ground. She looks at me with glassy eyes. "Go. Take Nick." When she coughs, blood trickles from the corner of her mouth. "Tell him—tell him—"
I swallow against the lump in my throat. "I will." Not wanting to waste the time she bought us, I throw Nick into the back seat-as carefully as I can-and take my place behind the wheel of the vehicle.
It only takes a few tries to figure out how to make the thing move, and the tires spin, and then I'm driving down the pitch-black forest road, my fingers white-knuckling the steering wheel.
"Nick, stay with me. Come on, only a few more minutes. You're going to be okay."
I glance at him in the rear view mirror. He's white and still. I slam the gas pedal.
"Please don't die."
A/N: That was so much fun! Definitely one of my favorite chapters to write. Will Max make it to the hospital on time? What happened to Bess? And, good grief, what about the Flock? All I can say is to stay tuned!
By the way, you should totally review. Just saying.