Disclaimer: Why do I have to put these things on every chapter? I. Don't. Own. This.
And then everything exploded.
There was a loud noise, louder than anything Iggy or the Gasman had ever managed to create. Fang instinctively reached out to grab my arm, and then we were thrown backwards by a wall of force. My winds crumpled suddenly and painfully against my back. Everything around me was gray and smoky; my ears were ringing from the noise. Fang's hand was tight around my arm, and he pulled me closer to him so we wouldn't separate as we were flung through the air.
Panic set in as we whipped back uncontrollably. ANGEL! I screamed in my mind, but I couldn't even hear myself thinking, much less her response. If there was one.
The wind howled through my ears and my eyes were quenched shut, stinging with dust. Sharp pieces of metal and glass whipped against my skin; I gasped and clutched Fang's arm tighter.
Then we were falling. My wings felt like huge slabs of pain, and I didn't even make an effort to fly. My eyes were still closed, but I could feel how fast we were going. I'm going to die, I realized passively. We're all going to die.
And then Fang shot his wings out, still holding me up. I could practically hear the pain as his wing joints overextended slightly, then cracked back into place. We slowed, but didn't stop, hitting the unforgivable ground abruptly.
We landed side by side in the dirt. My wings throbbed with a sharp, piercing pain; I pictured them mangled and broken.
My brain was a mess of emotions, but the first coherent thought I had was of the rest of my flock. ANGEL! I thought again, filling the feeling with as much urgency as I could. There was nothing. Nothing.
"Max?" Fang asked cautiously, as disheveled as I'd ever heard him, considering we'd just been through an explosion. I managed a sort of grunt in return, cracking my eyes open to reassure him that I was alive. I could hear him slowly and purposefully raise into a sitting position.
I took a deep, experimental breath and coughed painfully. Fang glanced at me, alarmed. "'s just the dust," I whispered, my voice cracking. I didn't sit up. ANGEL! I tried again.
"You're calling for her, aren't you?" Fang said softly. I nodded, still lying on my side in the dust.
"Nothing," he said, reading the look on my face. It wasn't a question.
"Nothing," I rasped.
He nodded, eyes blank, and we sat there in silence while black smoke billowed above our heads. Then Fang seemed to spring into action.
"Can you sit up?" he asked.
Well. I thought that I could sit up, if I wanted to. But I couldn't quite summon the energy to do much of anything. "Don't want to," I muttered, turning my face towards the ground. Without my flock to take care of, I was useless.
Fang gently gripped my shoulders and lifted me into a sitting position. I raised my head to look at his face. His hair was… windblown, to put it mildly, and his face was bloodied from a cut above his eye.
"Okay," he said, pulling out his backpack. Fang always had his backpack, thank god. And his backpack always had our first aid kit. I guess paranoia pays off, eventually.
He rolled up the sleeve of my sweatshirt, exposing a deep gash. Now that I thought about it, my arm was throbbing.
"Could need stitches," he said concisely. I winced at the thought. "I'll just wrap it up for now," he decided, looking up at me for confirmation. I nodded slightly, but it all seemed far away. Had the flock gotten away? What about Iggy, at work?
I cringed as Fang rinsed the cut with alcohol. Had it even been possible for them to get out of the city that quickly? Had Fang and I only survived because we'd been in the air, away from the explosion?
"They could have gotten out," said Fang, wrapping my arm in gauze. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"You think?" My voice was louder this time, but still close to a whisper.
He looked at me, and for once his eyes weren't shielded. I saw the doubt clouding them, the sorrow, and the hope. But most of all I knew that he was lying for me. Angel's voice in our heads had cut off with the explosion, and she hadn't made contact since. I saw in Fang's eyes that he thought it was over.
Then he tugged at the gauze, tying it tightly, and the moment was over.
Nudge opened her eyes. Everything around her was dark. Her entire body felt as though it had been flattened, like in the cartoons she used to watch on TV. A wide-eyed Gazzy was leaning over her, and Angel seemed to be sleeping at her side.
Wordlessly, Nudge rolled onto her side, every muscle in her body protesting. She reached her hand under Angel's chin and placed two fingers by the side of her neck.
There was a pulse.
Author's Note: This was more difficult to write than I thought it would be, so sorry if it's not so great, in addition to not being very long. I had to update since so many people reviewed! Thanks to senoritasophia13, mfinga12, anon, missCeilidh, RippedIntoPieces, Monkey-is-the-magic-word, Kristin, Sylent-blue-wings, and catwithabook for reviewing. I really appreciate it.
So... someone asked me what happened to Total. The truth is, I don't particularly enjoy Total's character, and he's even more obnoxious when I try to write him. I'm just going to say that, tragically, Total expired about 3 years prior to the events in this story, much to the heartbreak of the flock, Angel most of all. By this time, though, they've pretty much gotten over it. Sorry- I'm heartless.
As for any potential faxness... What do you think?
I'll update again after there are a total of 35 reviews. There are 27 right now, so that shouldn't take too long. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!