Chapter Three: In Which We Get Lucky Beyond All Reason and I Have a Freaky Dream
I turned to see a young boy with dark hair who looked about nine tugging on his mom's shirtsleeve. She looked at us, her mouth a perfect, almost comical, "O" of surprise. A few other people had turned to look. I was about ready to give the up and away order, when I heard another voice.
"Yeah, so what if it's them?" A guy with the word 'Ghosts' on his jacket was standing up and walking toward us from his table across the room. He had black, spiked hair, and was flanked by two guys in jackets like his. "Just let 'em eat, they get enough trouble."
People shook their heads and looked away.
"Keez!" Said Fang, slapping the new guy a high-five. How did they know each other?
"Max, this is Keez. We met him in L.A. He helped us out." Iggy told me, sensing my confusion.
"So, you're Max." Keez said, plopping himself down at an empty seat at the table next to us. A fourth guy came; bringing the plates the group had obviously left at their old table. "Fang here couldn't seem to shut up about you." He shot a coy glance at Fang, who suddenly became absorbed by his food.
"Really?" I said, "I find that kind of hard to believe."
Keez shrugged. "Still, he talked about all of you quite a bit. And this guy, Ari, who he didn't speak too well of. Where is this Ari?"
"He's dead." My face became as stony as my tone.
"What? How?" One guy said.
"He expired." Angel said. "And, no, Max never kissed him."
The guy looked at Angel with a scared expression. He must not have known that she could read his thoughts.
"Angel, no reading minds of people you don't know." I muttered in an undertone. Ew, this - er thought I'd kissed Ari? Gross.
"Ah, you're Angel." Keez nodded. "Cool. Mind reader, that's just so awesome. You must be Nudge, and that's Total." He continued, nodding to each in turn.
"Yup, dead on." Gazzy said. "I guess we described them okay."
"Yeah. So, what would the flock be doing in Virginia?" Keez questioned, swallowing a bite.
"Hostage sitch." Iggy said, "These flyboys have old friends of ours. Only, Max and Fang know them best."
"Yup, Max knows Sam real well." Fang muttered, obviously under the impression that I couldn't hear him.
Keez raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment one it.
"So, anyway the Ghosts can be of service?" he asked instead.
"Yeah." I said. "Wanna hit apart some flyboys?"
"Dude, you know it!" Mr. Max Kissed Ari said. "By the way, the name's Matt." He had short, dark brown hair and was of a skinny build. In fact, all four of them were pretty dang skinny.
"Sting." The guy across from him said. He had a flop of blonde-highlighted black hair over one of his eyes.
"Oh, yeah. I'm Soda. Short for Soda-Pop." The guy on Keez's right said. His hair was spiked, using scarlet gel.
"Soda-Pop?" Nudge asked. "That's so cool! I like that a lot, but it's a boy's name. Oh, well, I like Nudge just fine. But Tiffany Krystal is a good name too."
"Nudge, slow down and eat." I said.
We each went back up for three more heaping plate-fulls and two helpings of dessert.
"Man." Keez said as we walked out. "You guys can pack it in!"
Gasman gave a loud, obnoxious belch.
"Yup."
"Eww, Gazzy!" Nudge said, "That's totally gross. Besides, this is how you do it." She gave a longer, deeper belch.
"Guys, knock it off." I said.
"Okay, Max." Nudge said, skipping ahead of me.
"Hey, you guys need a place to crash?" Keez asked.
"Yup." I said. "A place to crash would be perfect."
"Come with us, then." Soda said, loping ahead. He was a joking, fun loving guy who never seemed to sit still or stop talking.
Soda only went a few feet from the restaurant before we came to what seemed to be a simple piece of metal lying on the ground. Keez and Sting lifted the metal, which turned out to be on hinges. It led down into a tunnel, almost like a sewer tunnel, but lacking the sewer. The tunnel led to a concrete lined circular room, almost identical to that of the subway. It was lit with a couple of fires in barrels, and cots and inflatable mattresses were scattered about. A couple of people, one with shoulder length, black blonde streaked hair, the other with shorter, cropped, purple hair. The one with purple hair pinned his opponent and stood, enjoying the smattered applause from the other three kids gathered around.
"Hey, Tonks!" Keez called.
The person, who I had thought was a boy, ran up and jumped into Keez's arms.
"Hey, Keez." The person said, in a very feminine voice. The short cropped hair and wrestling had thrown me off. There was a girl in this gang! "Who are these guys?" she asked, removing herself from Keez.
"The legendary flock."
Tonks' mouth dropped.
"You're lyin' to me, Keez."
"No, I'm not," he laughed, "Besides, I promised I would never lie to you, remember?"
"True." Tonks was looking at each of us in turn. "So, you guys really are the flock…Wow. I'm Tonks. Well, my real name is Eleanor, but I called myself Tonks after a book character. I hate the name Eleanor, so I changed it."
"Man, what were your parents thinking?" Gazzy said, walking around the small camp and introducing himself.
"Dunno, and I probably never will. See, I'm an orphan. Ditched the orphanage a couple years ago."
"Why didn't you stay?" I asked, sitting on one of the cots.
"Jeez, are you kidding me? I hated the confinement and rules. Besides, I met Keez one day and was never the same. He helped bust me out." She gave Keez a huge grin.
"Stop with the hero stories, Tonks. I only opened the window."
"Psh. Fine. Hey, Max, wanna wrestle? I just have to see if you're as good as Keez says you are."
"Okay." This was probably going to be easy. After all, she was human. And I was Max. Do the math.
We got into the middle of all the cots, the others sitting around to watch. Keez looked like a twitchy, nervous wreck. I guess he thought I was going to hurt Tonks. I wasn't, I was just going to kick her butt. She crouched in front of me, a grin playing on her face. I was motionless, then pounced in an instant. She hardly moved, maybe scooted half an inch, and I went past her. She was on my back, putting me into the best half nelson I've ever seen. It wasn't good enough, though. I threw her off, thinking that she was going to land flat on her back and make an easy pin. She did the opposite, she managed to twist in mid-air and land on her feet. She put one hand on my shoulder and squeezed, launching herself over me as she did so. I don't even know what happened, but my arm went limp as a rag doll. She landed like a cat, and planted a sharp jab near my ribs under the same arm. I crumpled. What the heck!? She had me pinned in seconds.
"How did you DO that?" I said. I lost to a normal human! I was freekin' MAX! No one beat me, not even…ME!
"Pressure points. You hit 'em right, and then the nerves just go totally dead. Sting taught me how to do it."
"When will I be able to move again?" I couldn't move, at least not my arms.
"About five minutes. I didn't really hit them that hard."
"You got lucky." Keez said, putting his arm around Tonks. "I startled her once, and I was out for a full hour."
She smiled sheepishly, but didn't say anything.
Five minutes passed, and I got up to find a cot to lay on. We talked for I don't know how long, and soon The Gasman, Nudge, Angel, and Iggy were all out like lights. The Ghosts had settled down, too. Tonks had fallen asleep leaning on Keez.
Fang was looking at the two with…something in his eyes. I couldn't tell what it was, regret? I had no idea. I rolled over to sleep, and the thoughts raced in my head. I tried to shake them away, but they didn't leave, and I drifted into black nothing.
"What the heck are you doing?"
"Helping you change your mind."
Fang titled my chin up and kissed me, leaving me with no mind to change. I kissed him back, never wanting to part. Yet, the need for air made us part, which was not cool.
I leaned against Fang.
"I think you just officially changed my mind." I smiled.
"Good." Fang put his strong arms around me.
"Disgusting." A flyboy spat from the cave entrance. Don't ask, because I don't know how it got there, either.
Fang ran, aiming a kick at its chest. The Flyboy caught his leg and slammed him to the ground. Then he flew off, still holding Fang. I ran to the edge of the cave, and they were both gone, as though they were sucked into the inky blackness.
"It will be too late." The voice echoed inside my head over and over again.