Disclaimer: I do not own any characters mentioned in the following fanfic. They belong to James Patterson.
Name: Leaders May Fall
Chapter Name: Reunion
Max's P.O.V. Contains FAX. (It will increase as we get further into the story.)
Angel was the first to enter, her eyes shining. "Max!" she shouted, gleefully jumping towards me. She sat down and gave me a huge hug around the neck. Total followed after her, his tail wagging so fast I thought it would fall off at any moment. Gazzy and Iggy dashed in next, followed quickly by Nudge. Pretty soon I was covered by the flock, all of them trying to hug me at the same time.
Fang rolled his eyes and clapped his hands. "Alright, alright. Don't squeeze her to death."
The flock, all laughing, untangled themselves from me. I smiled at all of them, happy to see that they weren't hurt, spare a few scratches. After the joy of the reunion, it got straight to business.
"Okay," Fang started, leaning towards me slightly. "Are you sure you don't remember anything about the fight?"
I could feel every pair of eyes focused on me, waiting for my reaction.
I closed my eyes and sighed, searching my memory. "No... Wait... I thought I saw... a flash of white...? Or maybe light blue. I'm not sure..." I mumbled slowly, focusing as hard as I could. "Then, a sharp pain... and nothing"
I opened my eyes and found Fang's face once again very close. For a moment, I held my breath. Both of us just stared with a strange expression. I could feel an odd tingling sensation in my body, almost drawing me closer to him.
"A flash? I think I saw something like that but I thought it was the reflection of one of the Flyboys," Nudge said, breaking the tense atmosphere. Fang quickly moved away, his eyes avoiding me and instead focusing on Nudge.
"Yeah! Me too!" Gazzy said, his eyes brightening.
"What do you think it means...?" Igyy asked, scratching his head in thought.
No one had an answer.
I looked over at Fang to see his reaction. His face was calm and collected, not revealing anything. I wish I could copy that look. As if he felt me staring, he locked eyes with me again. My stomach did flips inside me. The lightning that flashed throughout my body returned and for a moment, I could feel myself preparing to get up and move towards him...
Suddenly, Total's stomach grumbled. "Hey, can we eat yet?"
Fang rolled his eyes and looked at the dog, breaking the mood once again. "Well, I suppose we should go to town. After all, we ran out of supplies..." He looked down at me, his eyes torn between a decision.
"Oh, go on without me. I'll be find. After all, we need supplies," I urged, not even glancing towards him. I would have offered to go, but I knew that Fang would be watching me the whole time and I wouldn't want to look into his bright eyes again. "And besides, I have this bleeding wound on my head. I can't exactly walk into the mini-mart without attracting attention, right?"
Fang nodded, agreeing with my decision. "Alright, Total and Iggy, you stay here with Max."
Iggy grumbled and kicked the dirt, but he sat down anyways next to me.
"Sorry," I whispered.
Iggy shrugged and gave me a tiny smile. "It's not your fault."
Total curled up under on of my arms and I rolled my eyes.
Fang checked the flock, going over the escape plan incase something happened, then ran out of the cave and jumped into the sky, the others following. The three of us watched them go, all of us longing to join in. Briefly, I wondered how much they could carry and how much money they had to spend. My attention was elsewhere, so I didn't notice a figure standing in the cave's mouth until I heard Iggy's gasp...