Chapter Two: Food, Glorious Food!
Okay…Too late how? I was sure Fang wasn't going to have a girlfriend snag him away anytime soon. Or possibly ever, for that matter. Unless the Voice was implying that Lissa would still want Fang… And to be with her, Fang would have to leave the flock. Which he'd never do. I hoped, anyway.
I shrugged it off and led the flock to an empty lot in the small Virginia town. By my best guess, we could reach Anne's within thirty minutes in the morning. The flyboys had used Fang's Blog to inform us Sam and the Red Haired Wonder about three days ago. According to the message they left, we had five days to save the captives. The flyboys obviously didn't know where we were or how fast we flew, because five days was actually a really long period of time in which to get to Anne's from New York.
We began walking in the direction of the 'Golden Corral' sign. As we approached, I heard Iggy.
"I smell food," he said, "And lots of it!"
"Where?" I asked. If it was away from the corral place, we were gonna take a detour. Sorry, Nudge.
He pointed right ahead of us, to the direction of the sign. Which I found really odd. Why would there be food at a corral? Unless if was, like, animal food, which I wasn't going to eat in a million years, no matter how hungry I was. And let me tell you, I am far from a picky eater.
"Ok, that's where we're going. We'll check it out if it's on the way." I said, looking around, memorizing alleyways and street names. Yes, I am paranoid.
"But we're still gonna go to the Golden Corral, right, Max? You said we would." Angel said, looking at me with her wide, blue eyes.
"Yeah, Max, please?" I heard Nudge. I tried not to look, but turned around before I could stop myself. There she was, pouring on the Bambi eyes. Dang it, I always fell for Bambi eyes.
"We will Nudge," I said, hating myself. "I promise we will, but if food comes along first, we'll eat and then go. Does that sound like a plan?"
"Okay, Max!" they said in unison, bright grins on their faces.
I started walking again, facing front. Fang was giving me a raised eyebrow.
"You're gonna let them go? Who are you and what have you done with the real, up tight, Max?" he said.
"I'm curious, too. Besides, we still have another three days to get to Anne's and save Sam and The Red…Lissa."
"The Red what?" he asked.
"The Red Haired Wonder." I shot at him, my temper rising. "You remember her, don't you. I don't think you'd forget her lips that easily!"
"Yeah. Like you remember Sam's. I'm just hoping you remember someone else's." he said evenly, his face showing no emotion, as always. Though I could have sworn I saw a flicker of hurt in his dark brown eyes, but it was gone so fast I must have imagined it. I was going to retaliate, but couldn't find any ammo to use. Why was he always the one who brought up when we'd kissed in the past? And why did it always make me shut up? Jeezum, it made me feel like an idiot.
I looked at Gazzy and Iggy, who were on my other side and slightly behind me. The two were talking like they always did, and occasionally shot nervous glances my way.
"Gasman, Iggy, no bombs unless we have flyboys drop in. None, and I mean it." I told them, suspicious immediately. Those two found so much trouble! I mean, more than the rest of us found on a daily basis, which was quite a lot.
"Ok, Max." Gazzy said.
"Yeah, Mom." Iggy said, a smile on his face.
I put a twang into my voice. "Ya'll better listen t'me, son."
Iggy laughed, so did Gazzy and I. Those two had lots of sarcasm in them, but I had more.
Soon we spotted the building of the Golden Corral. There were lots of cars in a parking lot, and the smell of food was coming from the building. It was a restaurant.
"Sorry, Nudge, no animals." I said, turning to her.
She shrugged, giving me a grin.
"Who cares! Food!" she said. "I'm starving."
"Fang," I said, "Do you still have the guide dog disguise we used at Disney World?"
Fang wordlessly pulled the little vest out of his pack and tossed it to the Gasman, who began putting it onto Total.
"How much food do you think they'll have, Max? Will we be able to eat a lot?" Angel asked, hugging Celeste close. Personally, I was amazed that the bear was still in one piece after all that it'd been through.
"I don't know." I told her, peering through the windows of the restaurant. "I think it's a buffet or something." There were a lot of people moving to these centered tables with bowls and stuff on them, and I couldn't see many waiters.
"So there's no waiters, right? None to take our orders and be all snooty?" Iggy asked.
"Nope." I said, "I see some, but none are taking orders. Just getting people refills and stuff like that."
"So it's not going to end up like in New York?"
"I don't think so, Ig." I said. I remembered the incident and almost laughed. The memory of the waiter Jason (or was it Justin? Whatever.) with olive oil dripping down his face was hilarious.
"It doesn't look busy." Gazzy said. "We won't attract too much attention."
"Good point, Gazzy." I said, "Keep your eyes peeled, though."
"Dude, I've told you before, you're turning into a Maxlet." Iggy said.
I almost fired back, but stopped myself.
"I still have a couple hundred bucks left from when we were in New York." I said, changing the subject. "It should be enough to feed all of us. Let's go, guys."
Fang was silent, which was usual for him, but this time it bothered me. I could almost feel his cold anger rolling off of him. I knew that what I'd said had bugged him, it was supposed to, but I didn't think it'd gotten to him that much. It obviously had. He lagged behind, keeping as much distance between him and me as possible, and I have to admit, it hurt. He was even last into the restaurant.
Which was really awesome, if you want to know. I was also pretty cheap. We were given our drinks and a big stack of plates; afterwards our waitress guided us to a table. Yeah, we did have a waitress, but she only refilled drinks and brought some rolls to our table.
"What'll we do if she comes back and accuses us of wasting food?" Iggy asked, bringing up a good point.
"I met a girl in my class in Virginia who fasted, which meant she didn't eat for a while because of her religion." Nudge said, "Do you think we could say we did that? Would it work?"
"Nudge," I said, "You are a genius! That's perfect! Okay, guys, eat as much as you need to. And remember: We were fasting."
"All right!" Said Iggy, "Show me to the food, Gasman!"
"What, I can't help you?" Total muttered. I shot him the 'shut your furry trap' look.
Gasman led Iggy off to one of the tables (well, they were more like counters with the bowls sunk into them), Angel and Nudge went to the salad counter, and Fang went to where they were grilling steaks. Near the grill, a guy was cutting slices off of a big piece of meant with a carving knife. I had no clue what the meat was, but I made a beeline for it all the same.
"How much do you want?" the man said, picking up his carving knife.
"A slice about this thick, please." I said, motioning with my fingers about two inches apart.
"Are you sure you can eat all that, miss?" he said, looking at me doubtfully.
"My family and I have been fasting for about five days in order to raise money." I told him, putting on my most sincere face, lying as only I knew how to do.
"Ah, I see." He said, and, to my surprise, put a little more on my plate than I'd asked for. Which was really great. I went along the counters, heaping rice, corn, potatoes, and a lot of other things onto my plate. It was awesome!
I went back to the table to find Angel and Nudge already sitting there, their plates loaded with salad and different fruits.
"Still on a veggie kick?" I asked Nudge.
"Nope." She said after swallowing a huge bite. "I just wanted salad, it's good. And I need it, it gives me energy." Angel was nodding with every word she said, chewing a piece of melon.
Gazzy and Iggy returned to the table, followed closely by Fang.
"This place rules!" Said Gazzy with a mouthful of pizza.
"I second that emotion." Iggy agreed, looking contented as he bit into a chicken wing.
"Humph. Why don't I get any?" Total muttered. Angel passed him some of her meatball under the table.
Fang stayed stony and silent, stabbing his green beans as though each had done him a personal wrong. I was scared he would break his plate.
"Fang," I murmured, "Calm down. I'm sorry about earlier. Don't kill your plate, ok?"
I got a low growl-like grunt in response, which I took to mean 'Whatever you say, Max.'
"Mom, Mom, it's those bird-kids!" I heard a voice behind us say.