Chapter 6 – Make that seven

"I need all of you. I love you all. But five of us, or three of us, or two of us isn't us. Us is all six."

Fang was examining his sneakers with great interest. Iggy was nervously tapping long white fingers against his leg. But my little guys got what I was saying. Nudge threw her arms around my neck.

"I love you too Max! I love all of us too."

I looked up and Angel caught my eye. She was staring back at the cave's main entrance.

"Angel, sweetie, what's wrong?" I asked, unwrapping Nudge's arms so that I could breath.

She turned to me, a confused look on her face. "There's someone out there."

Within seconds I had pushed the flock behind me, facing towards the cave's mouth, ready to fight anything that came through.

"If it's erasers," I warned, as we all backed further away "Up and away through the back. Don't wait."

Lets hope the hawks don't mind us passing through their nesting area. I stood in a fighting stance, ready to deal any eraser a dish of crème de la fist.

A tall silhouette emerged and staggered into the cave. In an instant, I leapt forwards with a roundhouse kick. The figure barely had time to react, barely dodging to the side in time before jumping back into the light. I was stunned to see, not an Eraser but a teenage boy. What the heck? He was perhaps an inch shorter than me with short brown hair and dark blue eyes that frantically scanned me. He wore plain white T-shirt and trousers both of which were dirty and tattered. I was shocked to see a huge red stain on his left side.

I slowly stepped forward, holding my hand out in the universal sign for 'Wow Nelly, lets calm down here for a second.' But instead the boy crouched down defensively, growling like an animal and to my surprise, unfurled a pair of wings! That's right, wings. About a thirteen-foot wingspan. They had black feathers closest to his body fading to grey ends.

"Jeez," Angel gasped, as the flock backed up even further.

Another bird kid? I had no idea we weren't the only ones. None of us did.

Suddenly the boy choked, his face twisting from anger to pain. He stumbled forwards a couple of steps before falling. I just managed to catch him before he nosedived but one of his wings slapped me painfully in the face. Fang and Nudge rushed over to help. Together we laid him against the cave wall, Nudge straightening out his wings so they wouldn't be crushed.

I slowly lifted up the edge of his shirt to inspect his wound. Suffice it to say that I gagged whilst Nudge ran out of the cave hand over her mouth. It was a real mess. It looked like a bullet had caught him, thankfully missing anything important but still carving deep into his side. This was why I hated guns!

"He's hurt really bad," I said, rummaging through my backpack.

"I can see that," Fang stated calmly.

"So can I," chirped Iggy.

"Not now Ig!" I turned around angrily "This is serious. You guys should probably leave, this is pretty gruesome."

"Well how am I supposed to see what's happening," Iggy asked bitterly as Gazzy started to explain to him as they walked outside. Now it was just me, Fang and our injured friend here. Or foe. I wasn't too sure yet.

Fang grabbed a towel out of his bag, wrapped it up and pressed it against the wound. The boy jerked violently, groaning, his pain written all over his face.

"Food…" he gasped, his eyes opened but seemed vacant and dim.

"Not now," I told him "Later. Too busy saving your life."

What was I doing? I couldn't just slap a bandage on this and make it all better. Even though Fang was applying pressure, it wouldn't stop the bleeding completely, plus there was the risk of infection. Think Max, think.

"Food…" he turned his face towards me, his eyes focusing on mine. "…to heal…"

"What's your plan?" asked Fang. Leave it to him to lay all the responsibility on me.

I kept still, the boy's eyes still staring deeply into my own. Something in them told me to listen.

"Ple-please…trust me-" he stuttered, before coughing weakly, falling back against the wall. I just stared at him.

Then all of a sudden, I kicked into life. I reached into my bag and pulled out a couple of chocolate bars and ripped off the wrappers.

"What are you doing?" Fang asked quizzically.

"Trusting him," I answered, before practically stuffing the chocolate into the boy's mouth.

After a few seconds he chewed quickly, devouring both bars in moments. I took another two bars and fed them to him. I grabbed a carton of juice and held it to his lips. He grasped it weakly in his hand and drained the whole thing, dropping it to the side.

He closed his eyes and then his whole body tensed. For a few tense minutes, nothing happened. Fang and I shared an uncertain look then I watched astounded as the wound slowly began to close up. I turned to Fang and saw his eyes widen by a millimeter so I could tell he was shocked as well. The boy groaned with the effort as the wound finally closed. The skin was still mutilated but the bleeding had stopped.

The boy released a long, deep breath and slowly opened his eyes again. He turned to me and I stared at him, bewildered.

"Thanks," he whispered.

Then he fainted.