Chapter Fifteen: Plans Unfold

We all turn to face Angel, and stare at her. I don't think anyone can talk because no one does. Everyone just stares at Angel.

She has to be kidding! We just got rid of a ton of Erasers five days ago! We can't be fighting them again.

I get a grip on myself and ask Angel the question on everyone's mind. "What trouble?"

She sighs and says, "I don't know. I just heard a thought saying that the things flying in the sky will be dead soon. I don't have anymore information then that, but I thought that it would be better to be on our guard than not be expecting anything."

"Good idea, but next time, warn us before you do that." She looks down but nods. "It's okay Angel, you just surprised us, that's all." She looks me in the eye and then nods. "Good, now, let's get going!" We all continue on our way.

After about an hour and a half we arrive above Edmonton. We are all out of food and it's getting close to dusk, so I decide we should land, get some food, and find a place to sleep. We get down there and find a McDonalds, go inside, order, pay with my Max Ride card, and sit down to eat.

After eating for a few minutes, the Nudge Channel turns on. "So… What are we going to do next? I mean, I know we have a map to Jasper and then of what Jasper looks like so that we can find Candex, but what are we going to do when we get there? Getting captured again wouldn't be fun… I think we should come up with a plan, don't you agree?" She looks at Max and me expectantly.

I swallow my mouthful of burger before answering. "We do need a plan, but how about we finish eating before we talk about it?"

"Oh… Good point. Sorry!" She takes another bite of burger.

We all finish eating, throw out the trash, and go outside before anyone talks again. It's Iggy who speaks first. "Where are we going to sleep?"

"I think I saw a small forest just outside of town with trees big enough for us," Fang says.

"Let's go to that forest and then we can talk about that Nudge said before," I say. Everyone mutters an agreement and a few minutes later we are all settling in to trees. "Okay. Any ideas of what to do are welcome."

It's silent for a few minutes as everyone thinks. The only ideas I have will mean we all get captured which, as Nudge said, isn't fun.

"Can we just bomb the buildings?" Gazzy sounds hopeful.

"Oh yeah! Let's do that, please Max!" Great, Gazzy got Iggy into the idea of just blowing them up.

Well, I've got to stop this before it gets out of hand. "Only as a last resort, so keep some big enough bombs hidden just in case. Make sure they are remote controlled please!" They both look sad but don't complain.

"Some of us could get captured on purpose," Icarus starts, "and then using Angel and Ozy to communicate between the two groups, we can do an inside and outside attack."

It's silent for a few minutes while we all think this one over. I think it's an excellent idea, but the groups would have to be each Flock.

"I see no faults, but my Flock will go in and yours will stay out. If we mix the groups then they will realize something is up, but if we are separate then maybe it will make them think we split up or something."

Matthew says, "Between you two, we have our brains of the group, so let's use this as our plan. Max, your Flock will always go in first to see if the building is there, and if it is, pretend to fight but get captured. If it's not, have Angel send Ozy a message so that we can all fight together if Erasers show up or something."

Max smiles and tells her brother, "You were wrong. Between you three we have our plan ready and not that hard to understand." Everyone nods with her except Icarus, Matthew, and me.

I don't want to say what's on my mind, but I think that if I don't say it, it could ruin the plan. "Guys?" Everyone turns to face me. "We are leaving out one very major fact."

"What is that major fact?" Gazzy asks.

"What happens if both groups get caught? What will we do then? I have a good feeling that if my Flock gets captured they will give us Total, but if you guys get caught, I don't think they will let us get together again. They will probably keep us separated until they can think of a way to dispose of us."

They all look at me in a way that tells me they hadn't seen that idea, but they could see it happening now that I've said it. They are hit by the truth that this could be dangerous in more ways than they really wanted to realize. They truly don't want to believe me (and I can't blame them), but they know that there is no way around it. This plan is not foolproof. If we aren't careful then it will backfire on us, and there is a very good chance of it backfiring.

Frannie speaks up for the first time in a long time, "We will just have to try to get back together and if it's hopeless, then save our own lives and try to meet up at a town far enough away they won't expect it, but close enough that we can get back to Jasper if needed. I think we should meet at Edson because it's smallish so that they won't guess we're there, but it's only an hour or so away for us in the air. I think it's about two hours from Jasper to Edson in car if we are forced to use one."

Everyone stares at her for a few moments before I look over at Max. That's when it hit me. The reason she hasn't talked much is that she's the other Flock's Fang. The silent, but very helpful one. That's why even her own Flock is staring at her right now. They just aren't used to her talking so much. I guess that explains why she has the same power as Fang.

I guess what she said is the best way to go because it would give us a meeting place as well as an idea of what to do in the situation where we find both groups captured. "I think that's an excellent and the best idea got a problem like that. Now that we have most of the lose ends tied up, let's sleep."

I notice most of the younger ones are barely staying awake, so I'm prepared to just let them go to sleep, but first we have to decide watch.

Max decides for us really. "Matthew, first watch; Icarus, second watch with Iggy if Iggy wants to because two sets of excellent ears are better than one; and I'll take the last watch."

I just nod, stack hands with my Flock, lie down, and fall asleep. I hadn't even realized that I hadn't gotten more than fifteen hours of sleep in the past five days. I was exhausted, which would explain why Max made it her Flock's job to keep watch tonight. I don't really mind because I know that if anything happens, Iggy will hear it and wake me up.

I wake up the next morning with more energy then I've had this past week. I hadn't even realized I had needed more sleep, so this really did help. I guess it's a good thing Max had noticed what I couldn't. Okay, time to be a mom to these kids that don't want to wake up.

I wake all of the kids up and have Iggy start our fire up again. We take out some chips and find some popcorn. Iggy cooks the popcorn, we eat, and then get ready to go. We all take off and start to fly, all being unusually quiet.

I look at the faces of my Flock and see determination on all of them. When I look at Max and her Flock, I see some sadness, some guilt, and even a little fear. They haven't done this sort of thing in years, but they are determined and totally with us.

When we get to Edson, we go down to grab some food and then get up again. After flying for about half an hour we pass over Hinton, the last city before Jasper.

We continue onto Jasper, and everyone is being quiet, but still talking in their small groups they've formed. Angel, Ozy, and Frannie are one group. Gazzy, Nudge, Peter, and Wendy are the other. The rest of us are just flying around on our own, sometimes getting into pairs to talk. It's nice and peaceful, even if the mood is a little tense.

That's when we get to Jasper. We land just past it and then start to look at the map again.

"I think we should start there, at the one farthest away. I mean, if we work our way towards Jasper then maybe it will be easier. I also think that they will be at the farthest place they can be from civilization. Anyone agree with me? Huh?" Can you guess? Nudge of course.

"I agree with you Nudge, but please keep the Nudge Channel off for now, okay?" I say.

She looks down, sighs, and says, "Okay Max."

"Thanks. Now, I really do agree with her on this one because they would most likely try to be away from detection, meaning farthest away from here." I look around to see what everyone else thinks. They all nod. "Let's get going then."

We all take off, being silent this time because we want to move fast and stealthily. We get close to the spot before anyone talks. Nudge is the first, of course. "Shouldn't we separate now since we made that plan last night that says that we would go in first?"

Max is the one to reply. "We did agree to that, so I think my Flock and I should get out of here now, before we are too close for them to see us together."

Everyone nods and I say, "Go, but stay close enough to the area so that we can call you and you can be there to help us in less than three minutes." She nods and then motions for her Flock to follow her. She gives my Flock and me one last wave and then they go in a different direction. "Let's go guys." They follow me.

We land in the first area where Candex of the Rockies could be and realize just then that this is going to be a very long and hard next few days.

I know some of you probably hate me because I left it there, but I wanted to leave all the fighting for the next chapter. Trust me, there will be action. I just hope you enjoyed it.

1,053 Hits and 83 Reviews!!! That was excellent! It got over 1,000 Hits on the day I updated and the 80 Reviews I wanted were there the same day. Can we try for 95 Reviews maybe? Let's try.

Please Review!!! The button is right below this message. Anyone can review, even people who don't have accounts. Just put in a review, and if you don't have an account, put in a name. Please Just Review!

Edited: 10/10/09