Chapter 2
He's fine, just let him rest, my Voice said for the hundredth time, you need to look or Nudge.
"No, right now I need to take care of Gazzy! We don't even know where in the heck Nudge is!" And, of course, I had said that out loud. My flock had probably gotten used to it because no one glanced my way or asked if I was OK. I was so screwed. It was too quiet without Nudge. It scared me. A lot. I wondered what they could be doing to her poor little soul. I shuddered at the thought.
Gazzy was propped up on a tree back at by the fire. His head was bleeding slightly and his wrist was probably sprained, if not broken. Someone came and did this, and they decided to take dear Nudge back as a souvenir. How lovely.
"Max?" My baby, Angel, spoke up tentatively.
"Yeah, sweetheart?"
"What happened to Nudge?" I'm scared, Angel's angelic voice echoed in my head.
"I know, but we're gonna find her, we always do," I said. I placed a wet rag on Gazzy's head, trying to stop the bleeding. Fang had gone to get water from the crick (dirty water…) and Iggy and Angel had stayed behind with me.
I rolled onto my heels to let Iggy through. I let him fell the Gasman's head and arm. His pale hands were so light and gentle on Gazzy's head. He felt each bump and bruise. Iggy was pretty good at that, he could tell me how bad it was. I was really hoping it wouldn't be terrible. I was going to beat the bonkers out of whoever did this to the little trooper. And Nudge. Where was she? What were they doing? Oh, god.
"Gaz's wrist is defiantly broken, most likely fractured." Iggy's words ripped me out of my thoughts.
"Hmm…" I muttered. I crawled over to the backpack, and yanked out some gauze and antibiotics. The smell of the antibiotics made me want to hurl, then beat someone up, but I held down both of those urges. I went back to Gazzy and wrapped him arm in thick sheets of gauze, then dabbed antibiotic on his head wound. There was a lot of blood and I was getting kinda worried.
"Ick," Gazzy muttered. I s'pose I wasn't the only one who didn't like antibiotics.
Once the Gasman was bandaged (he looked sorta mummy-ish) and the flock was fed, we set off. I did not have a plan, but I had places we could start. Like, Germany, the School, D.C., New York, etc. Oh, yeah, that totally narrows it down and makes it so much easier to find Nudge.
Come on voice, this is when I could use your help. I was pretty darn sure it wouldn't answer, so I was surprised when I heard the annoying voice pop in my head.
What do you think? It said.
Oh, that helps so much. Truthfully, I was thinking about heading to Arizona, to se mom, and get help.
Oh, before I forget, Gazzy told me some useful information. He said that a form of robots came. The were metallic, and human-like, except their eyes were all a shiny, electric blue color. Their bodies where smooth, one curve. Totally metal and shiny. Apparently they also had shiny, pointy bat-like wings. They also had jars full of metallic things that buzzed around inside the jars. My mind had immediately flashed to the day at the Itex Corporation when the Director let those bullet-like things loose on some delicate butterflies. I cringed. Anyway, Gazzy also said they had guns. They told him not to say a word, or he and Nudge would be dead (they knew our names – I'm not sure how, but that can't be a good sign.) So he kept quiet, they took Nudge and beat him up. Then left. Gazzy said they went east, but that meant nothing. Then he screamed, and that brings us up to date.
Under feelings of rage and worry, I felt happy and free to be up in the sky. I had no plan, which normally wasn't good. I just kept flying, my heart leading the way. After about six hour of flight, the little ones were wiped, so we stopped to rest. We were in California, somewhere around Oakwood at a fancy-schmancy hotel. Thanks to Angel, we got one huge suite. It had three separate bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a Jacuzzi. Iggy and the Gasman shared a room, Nudge and I were paired, and Fang was alone.
As soon as the flock (or most of it – poor Nudge) was fed, I told everyone straight to bed. There were some complaints, but eventually I got everyone tucked in. then, I went to bed, too. About the same time as my head hit the pillow, I was so fast asleep that I could hardly believe it myself.
I'm not absolutely sure how much later it was when Fang tapped my shoulder to wake me up.
"What's goin' on?" I said drowsily. I saw him grin in the corner of my eye, and so I sat up. I hoped Nudge would keep sleeping. "Let's go," Fang muttered.
"What? Where? Why?"
"I said, let's go, as in lets go someplace because I want to and we can. We can go wherever you like," he said. Wow, that was a lot coming from Fang.
"Ok, just gimme a sec," I muttered. As soon as he was out of the room, I pulled on a pair of old sweats and a comfy blue tank top with some lacey edges on it. I pulled my curly hair out of the ponytail it was in and let it fall softly to my shoulders. Finally, I skipped (not literally) to Fang's room.
Fang and I went out the little balcony on the 6th floor room. I snapped my wings open and let them fill up with air. God, it felt so nice. Fang flew up next to me and his wing tip just brushed against mine.
We flew a while more, until we reached a park that seemed to be empty. The soft glow of the streetlights and the quiet nighttime buzz of the far-off town made it almost romantic. We screeched to a graceful stop and settled down on the soft, downy grass. I put my legs out in front of me and my arms behind my back, supporting my weight.
"So, why are we here?" I asked quietly.
"I dunno, it seemed right,"
"Oh."
"How are you, Max? You seem a little shaken up," he muttered, a look of unnecessary worry in his eyes.
"I'm okay…" I began slowly, testing the words, "I just can't believe we're back on the run again, and out to rescue one of the flock, again. It seems like we're back at the beginning."
"Yeah," He muttered. His eyes were distant; I could tell he was thinking about something else. Suddenly, without warning, he shifted his head and pulled me into a deep kiss. Again. But this time, I went with it. The soft moving of his lips, felt so… amazing. I shifted my head, and deepened the kiss. Abruptly, I felt Fang's tongue slide casually into my mouth, at which point I gasped and pulled back.
"Wow," I breathed,
"Yeah," he muttered. And that's when I felt my heart go into hyper speed and my brain starting to panic. Crap, crap, crap, crap…
I swiftly stood up, ready to take off, and leave Fang here, again. I spun around, quickly unfurled my wings, and just when I was about to take off, I felt Fang's hard grasp around my wrist. I could've fought him and fled, but I didn't. Why? You ask. I'm not sure, I still don't know why I didn't punch him, and escape to this day. But I didn't. The only thing that mattered right now was…
Fang and Me.