Chapter 16

Sorry it took so long to get this up. I had writer's block and was working on my other fanfiction story. But here it is. This story isn't going to last much longer. A few chapters, maybe 5 at the most.

Also, I was really disappointed with Chapter 15's reviews. I hardly got any!!! This time, I will not post the next chapter until I get 150 total reviews!! I only got 4 when I posted Chapter 15. Step it up people!! I LOVE REVIEWS! And reviews get you chapters.

Here it is. Chapter 16

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(Max POV)

I flew back to the clearing, trying to push away my lonely thoughts. Thoughts that destroyed my hope. If there was any. I wiped my face on my sleeve. Hopefully, the flock wouldn't notice that I had been crying.

It felt good to be flying again. My wings were stiff from disuse. I hadn't flown with my own wings in days. Soaring above the clouds was like therapy to me. Muscles relax and stress falls away. I twirled and dived, like the way Fang does it. A tear slid my face. Fang. God, I miss him. But it wouldn't be long now. We would get him back.

I landed in the clearing to find everyone asleep in the tree's. Good. They needed their rest. Tomorrow, we were going to rip a building apart stone by stone.

As I reduced the fire to smoldering coals, my tired limbs gave out. I dropped to the ground and the last thing I saw was darkness. Night.

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I was being suffocated. I couldn't breathe. Intense light flickered through my eyelids. Heat pressed in from everywhere. A scream pierced my hearing and eyes snapped open.

Smoke wafted in the air, smothering everything. It consumed the forest, the clearing. I coughed violently, pushing my self up onto my knee's. Fire raged all over. The forest was a blaze. It pressed in on me. The heat was becoming unbearable. I heard another scream.

"Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, Iggy!" I yelled above the sounds of burning wood. A guy's voice screamed. Then another. Terror encased my heart. Where were they?

"There she is! Get her!" someone yelled. I whipped around to find white coats closing in. Or rather, the fire was circling me and they were feeding it. I snapped out me wings only to have them burnt. A cry escaped my lips. Quickly, I jumped into the air to escape the flames. The white coats stood on the ground, untouched by the smoke and fire, yelling at me.

Turning my face to the open sky, I flew off to find my flock. I had to rip a piece of my shirt, so I could cover my mouth and nose. Else, I would drop dead from smoke inhalation. Still coughing, I called their names. Not once did they answer. The smoke became so thick, I could barely see. My skin felt like it was melting.

Finally, I saw something. A huge tree. The flames had just begun to lick it's trunk. And I saw a foot, dangling from one of the branches. I crashed into the tree, light headed from lack of oxygen. And what I saw killed me. Nudge was slung over a branch, her body covered in blood. Her back was facing me. Her shirt had been torn open, and her wings.....her wings were gone. All that remained was bleeding stumps sticking out of her back. They had chopped her wings off. I screamed.

"NUDGE! NO!" I screamed, crawling over to her. She laid unmoving, as if dead. I turned her over. Her eyes were wide and vacant, her mouth open in a silent scream. "NUDGE!"

Suddenly, she gasped and grabbed my shirt. Her breathe came in short, small gasps. Burns and cuts riddled her body.

"M-Max! T-They cut off my wings! They...They...Help me! Where were you? We looked you and we couldn't find you! Why did you leave us!!?? WHY??!! THEY CUT OFF MY WINGS!" Nudge sobbed. Her grip loosened on my shirt.

"Nudge, I'll get you out! I'll save you, okay? Tell where the others are! We have to find them! Then I will take of you!" I cried, tears pouring down my face. Nudge's face twisted in pain.

"They're dead! They killed them!! They took Iggy first! The white coats! They came in the middle of the night, and set the forest on fire! We never saw them coming! They...they took Iggy and cut off his wings, then killed him. Next to go Gazzy! They did the same. When...When they got to Angel, she fought and fought and fought. But they overpowered her! They cut off her wings one by one! She screamed your name, over and over again! The white coats dumped her body, along with Iggy's and Gazzy's in this tree. Next, they took me. They did the same! THEY CUT OFF OUR WINGS!! I pretended to be dead, and they threw me in here! WHERE DID YOU GO??!! WE NEEDED YOU AND YOU LEFT US!!" Nudge screamed. She let go of my shirt and looked down at the flames crawling up the tree.

"No! Nudge, I'm sure they were just pretending to be dead! Where are they!!??" I yelled, shaking her. She sobbed even harder and turned her haunted face toward me. Her finger shook as she pointed upward. I looked up. And screamed again.

Gazzy, Iggy, Angel's faces looked down upon me and Nudge. At once, I knew that they were dead. Their eyes saw nothing, their mouths were still open from their last screams. Blood dripped from their bodies.

Nudge grasped my shirt again. I looked down at her, the horror clear in my face. My flock. Dead. Why was I still alive? What went wrong?

"W-Why? We needed y-you...why? ....why..." Nudge's eyes glassed over and her hand fell back down. Her breath left her, and her heart beat for the final time. My anguished scream echoed through the charred forest.

The flames were already reaching towards me. I jumped into the sky, sobbing and coughing. An awful sight met my gaze. From my altitude, you could see the whole forest. All I saw was fire.

A scream brought my attention. A thought flashed through my grieving mind. Fang. Perhaps they hadn't killed him yet. Perhaps it wasn't too late. I flew north of the tree. There was a small patch of land that was not on fire.

When I got there, I hovered over a death scene. The white coats and Fang were inside a clear dome of some sort. They had Fang chained and beaten. He was shouting curses at them. I landed on the dome and beat my fists on it, trying to get in.

"FANG!! FANG!!!!" I screamed, pounding the dome. He looked up, his eyes full of tears.

"MAX! HELP ME!!" he yelled. One of the white coats stepped forward, a knife in his hand. I watched in disgust as they cut off Fang's wings. He screamed my name and fell forward. I shouted and kept punching the dome. But nothing I did would break it.

"Do you see what happens when you mess with us, Max? Your flock is dead, your stone is dead. You are dead!" one of the white coats shouted. I couldn't see which one. Screaming, I watched Fang's chest heave with the force of his gasps, then stop moving. He was dead. I went mad. Wanting to end the nightmare, I flew straight into the flames and....

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I woke with a cry. Sweat covered me and was soaked in my hair. Tears mixed with it. It had only been a nightmare. Just nightmare. I looked up into the tree's. My flock was sleeping peacefully. The dream entered my mind. It was time to get out of here. I roused them from their sleep, and we took off.

Off to save Fang.

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I'm pretty sure that I freaked you out. Sorry. I promise not to do it again. Please, Please review!!!! I love reviews!!! Bye!