AN: Ok could you reviewer's please tell me whether you want me to stop it at this chapter or continue until whenever I finish it (probably one or two chapters ahead) most probably when Max's parents get home
Thankyou all who have reviewed this story. I've been amazed (and really happy) that so many of you have taken the time to write them. I didn't think that even that many people would want to read it. :)
I ended up taking the night shift right until dawn, I couldn't sleep so I thought that I'd let those who could rest. I hated the school and Itex and everything else connected to this so much! Every time we were happy or settled into a nice normal life they had to come in and ruin it. I sighed. I guess normal was not meant to be our life style so back on the road - well more like air although with Ella I wasn't sure what we could do – we would probably have to go. I had our backpacks ready and Iggy had those explosives somewhere. This was going to be just like old times. Except now we had so much more to leave behind.
Fang started to rub my wings like he always does when I get extremely worked up about something and I gave another sigh.
"Was it wrong for us to try and live a normal life? It just seems like we've just caused a lot more pain when we have to go."
"We don't have to go anywhere for the moment. Like you said before this might have just been something left from before. We know that Itex and the School are ruined and the last time we saw Eraser's they were just a small group who had escaped their termination and were just trying to make a final attempt to get us even though their expiration dates were almost up." Fang looked into my eyes, "You heard them say they were the last and we know they're gone. They were too old to fight properly so they probably went for fright tactics. Only problem was they weren't very good. Yeah you go in and out your window but you're paying attention to your landing not to the surroundings." I gave Fang a small smile; he made this sound so possible that everything could be alright. He pulled the blanket up over me. "Come on get a bit of rest before everyone's awake, I'll keep next watch. Everything will seem much better once you've had some rest."
Somehow I did end up getting some sleep but I woke up when I felt the other's start to stir. I took a deep breath and looked around at the Flock, and I think Fang was right we would get through this and there were reasons to believe this was from before and that we did not need to run. Wow what a bit of sleep could do for you.
I saw Iggy and the Gasman start to get up and so I stretched and slid out of Fangs embrace and softly off the bed, hoping not to wake the others. Fang would keep an eye on them while we were downstairs.
"Hey guy," I tried to give them a confident smile. "For just in case could you two grab your bags and get those explosives somewhere we could reach in a hurry? And Iggy a really big breakfast please, just in case we need it." They nodded glumly as they headed off and I went into Ella's room and grabbed out the lightest back pack she had and started filling it with the necessitates. It didn't take long and I quickly went round to my room grabbing my own bag and my stash of money plus that lovely credit card – which I hoped would still work – before heading downstairs to grab some food for Ella's bag and see if Iggy wanted any help with breakfast.
Just as I finished Ella's bag the rest of the Flock came downstairs, bags in hand. I had to smile knowing that they already knew everything to do. I could even see how even though we were together as a group they were still slightly paired off. This pairing system really came in strong after I was swapped with a clone; none of us wanted something like that to happen again. Then I saw Ella watching us and I went over to give her a hug. This must be so terrifying for her.
"You guys look so calm about this," Ella said with slight hysteria in her voice and I shook my head as I sat her down in the kitchen by her bag.
"Not really," I said. "It's just easier to work things out when you're calm and I guess we've had just a bit of practice." Ella played with the strap of her bag.
"Yeah but now have to do all this with me in the way and I'm going to be useless." I frowned at Ella.
"You won't be useless and don't think this is the first time we've had some one new with us. We've had Ari -"
"He could fly," Ella interrupted.
"Total can't fly," I said and I heard him over on Angel's lap say,
"I wish I could though."
Ella sighed,
"You're comparing me to a dog." I rolled my eyes.
"No I'm just saying we've had different things come and go with the Flock and you won't be any different. You're just new that's all and that's fine because we don't even know if we have to leave yet. You will be fine just don't panic and just follow what we do if there's a crisis." I pointed down at her bag. "And always know where this is. It has everything you need to survive if we had to leave." Ella subconsciously pulled the bag closer and then looked up at me with a thought.
"I have some money I've been collecting for like ages up in my cupboard. Should I grab it?" I nodded.
"Yeah you should and that goes for the rest of you too. If you've left any money in your rooms go up and grab it now." I looked up at the clock. Five minutes until we could call mum and dad.
It seemed like forever before mum picked up her phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi mum it's just me Max," I said hoping that I sounded normal.
"Oh hey Max. We're sorry we had to leave without any warning but there was a huge incident a while away and it was going to take almost a day to get here so we had to leave immediately."
"But you guy's are alright?" I asked. The was a short pause before she answered.
"Yeah we're fine honey but I have to go they've got another problem. Have fun with your holiday," she said quickly before she hung up. I had no time to ask what had happened or what city they were in. I looked up at the nervous faces waiting for me to speak and I sighed.
"We're not leaving yet but be on full alert. As much as I hate this we can not tell mum or dad what's happened, I have no idea what they're doing and I wasn't able to get any info off mum except that they're alright." Everyone relaxed slightly but then Ella frowned.
"Couldn't someone have made her say that?" I shook my head.
"No the background sound was too noisy they're probably in some kind of building a really busy one. Someone would have noticed or she would be in a more quiet area where no one would hear if there were any loud noises." This blast of information seemed to ease Ella's concern and she turned across to Fang who started to explain how to defend against Eraser's. I walked over to Iggy and helped serve up the food. He'd been really quiet over here while the rest of the Flock muttered away over by the table.
"At least you'll have an excuse to use explosives," I said trying cheer him up and he nodded and I could see a small smile growing on his lips as he sat down next to Gazzy.
After breakfast Fang looked across at me.
"So what's the plan for today?"
"Stay here I guess. Fill Ella in on everything she needs to know and I want to have a look around the property and see if we can find anything that looks suspicious." Fang nodded in agreement.
"We should head off around midday. We'll have the best advantage with light if they look up we might spot the glare of binoculars or something and the sun will make it hard for them to look up for long periods of time." I gave him a quick smile as I stood up collecting our plates.
"Then it's set. Let hope we find nothing."
Like planned Fang and I headed out searching for any signs of trouble around the property. We knew this would take a while since we now had even more land then at Anne's place so we had grabbed our mobiles for in case Ella called. We'd left the rest of the Flock at home to 'rest up' for a while trusting Angel to pick up on any new comers and if she didn't, the last time I'd seen Iggy and Gazzy they had been trying to convince Ella to help them make smoke bombs. So we'd defiantly receive some kind of signal from the house.
We were about to finally head back up to the house when something caught my attention down at the trees by the creek. The tip of my wing brushed against Fangs and we swooped down into the trees and walked over to whatever I'd seen by the creek.
Silently we walked over to the water. I could see someone, something, pacing back and forth by the water and as we got closer it spun around with a wolfy grin on its face. Yep you guessed it. The Erasers were back. Well one of them anyway.
"I am here to kill you!" said the Eraser.
"No duh," I said to myself. "We thought you'd come for tea." I cautiously looked around for any others.
"I am the last of my kind." Well that answered my question I thought to myself and Fang and I got ready to fight but instead the Eraser kept talking. "I am the strongest, the smartest. When we were taken to be killed did I accept this? No, I am better than them all and it is my destiny to kill you." I shot a quick glance at Fang. What was this Eraser trying to do? Bore us to death with long speeches and an oversized ego?
"When you are gone I will be their last creation the last piece of their work and will have proved my worth to other companies, countries even; that are stronger than Itex and will not be destroyed. So now it's time for your crummy lives to end and don't bother asking for mercy."
"Showtime," I muttered to Fang as the Eraser ran towards us. I pulled my arm back about to punch his jaw but before I could even touch him, he suddenly collapsed. Fang and I looked over at each other confused. The Eraser wasn't moving and Fang cautiously bent down and sure enough there was its expiration date, and it said today.
Fang stood up and began to laugh. I looked at him confused and not to mention slightly worried about his sanity.
"Well that was easy," he laughed and I couldn't help but laugh too.
"We didn't even have to touch him. Man we're getting good," I said with a grin and Fang shook his head.
"You know, with the amount of times Ari's come back from the dead I actually was half expecting it to be him."
"Would that be such a bad thing?" Ari asked from a tree above, making us jump in surprise. I swore as I looked up and saw the Gasman grinning up in a tree.
"That was not funny," I growled at Gazzy but I was too relieved that we were safe to really be angry. Fang shook out his wings,
"Come on; let's get back to the house."
As we were flying I looked over to the Gasman.
"Why did you come down here? I told you all to stay up at the house."
"We saw you two go down by the creek and we didn't like you guys doing this on your own because no one knew how many Erasers would be there and so I kinda left for in case you needed some, 'explosive' help." He replied and I shook my head. Any excuse would do for using their bombs even if that meant trouble later. Then an idea came to me.
"Yeah well sorry there was no need for your expertise but, if you want to take Iggy down there later and maybe you could use something to get rid of the body before mum and dad get home?"
Gazzy grinned and mock saluted me before flying up to the head of our group. Fang smirked at me and I shrugged. Something positive might as well come from this for at least a couple of us.
It wasn't long before we were home and I knocked as I opened the front door. There was no need. As soon as I'd stepped inside I was attacked by hugs from Nudge and Angel. I noticed Gazzy head straight for Iggy and soon they were quietly forming a plan. I looked around and saw a pale but relieved Ella sitting near by. I gave her a smile.
"Everything is fine and we are staying!" There was a cheer from the crowd as we went over to the lounge.
"What was down there?" Total asked as he jumped up on my lap.
"One seriously old and crazy Eraser. But thanks to his big ego and even larger speech; I can now say we have proof from the enemy that the School and Itex are finished for good."