A/N: WOW! I got a bunch more hits than I was expecting! Thank you all so much! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
*Important Side Note: I made a geographical error in Chapter 3 when Max said she was in the middle of Nevada, halfway to Lake Mead…she was really in Utah. I just caught on to that. Sorry for the confusion! =P*
Disclaimer: I'm not J.P.
Chapter Five: I-15
Max POV
It was about 10 in the morning, and I had been flying since last night. I was still in Utah I assumed, and was currently soaring over Interstate 15.
That is, until I blacked-out and nearly fell out of the sky.
I don't know what hit me, maybe a cold, wet, random cloud, a stray paintball (ha, right), or I could've even hit another bird, but something snapped me back into consciousness enough that I realized that I needed to land, and pronto.
So, less gracefully than what I usually am, I descended behind a small diner and ruled out that my stomach was attempting, and nearly succeeding, in devouring and digesting itself.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking, "But Max, you've gone day's just eating garbage! Why is it just hitting you?"
Well, let me explain this all to you: I need 3,000 calories a day. Which, up until recently, recently being the last week of my life, I've been getting that or more. Then I quit eating all together because I honestly just couldn't keep it all down. I know it sounds gross, but whatever. So then my body goes into survival mode again, only to be disturbed by eating about a gallon and a half of macaroni. Only to go out and burn all those calories just taken in by flying at abnormal speeds and not having quite enough go-juice.
In other words: I was working without any fuel.
Which doesn't end well, especially when you're a bird-kid.
Which in turn leads us back to the present problem: me finding food and keeping it down.
Oh, joy.
I tied my windbreaker around my shoulders after a couple seconds of allowing my wings to cool and headed around the front of this little-bitty truck-stop-like diner that I had just landed behind.
I pushed-open the dingy glass door and walked in. An old bell rang as I entered and all the heads in the restaurant, all five of them, turned to see who was entering.
It was one of those really old-fashioned diner-restaurant things like you see in old films like The Twilight Zone, or something to that nature. There were four booths, two double-seater tables, and a bar wrap-around with the classic red and white striped stools. A TV that looked like it was straight out of the 80's was barely mounted on the ceiling at one end of the bar.
I nearly leapt out of my skin when a short old woman walked up and tapped me on the shoulder.
"I didn't mean to scare you, Honey, but would you like a seat?"
"Oh, uh, yes, thank you."
She smiled and looked like one of those nice old grannies you see in a Better Housekeeping magazine that always have cookies ready for their grandkids.
I was lead over to a booth in the corner and given a menu.
"Just give me a holler when you're ready." She said.
I nodded and opened up the menu. I really hadn't planned on stopping to eat anywhere, but I was liable to fall out of the sky and become a genuine Max-pancake if I didn't get something into me soon.
All of the meals were very reasonably priced, so I would probably be getting more than one combo.
I folded my menu and the old lady smiled and made her way over to me.
"Good morning, Miss, what can I get you today?"
"Uh, I'll have the all-you-can-eat pancakes, milk, and four eggs please."
"And how many pancakes would you like to start off with sweetie?"
"Uhm, five to start please."
She smiled kindly and nodded, "Okay, we'll have it all out for you in a jiffy."
What was a jiffy? Like, is it really in the dictionary?
I leaned back against the booth and checked all my surroundings again. No one morphing into Erasers, in fact, three of the five original people in the diner had left and it was just me and an old couple sitting in the very far other side of the restaurant. I leaned my head against the old wood frame of the bench and closed my eyes. When was the last time I had a proper nights' sleep? I couldn't close my eyes anymore without seeing everything I didn't want to at this very moment of my life.
I saw the beach, when I made fun of Fang for his scratches that Ari had given him. I told him he looked like a kitty-cat and he gave me a death glare. I told him to just live, just live and be okay. I kissed him that night.
He kissed me in a cave, trying to help me change my mind. The fire was dancing in front of us and his hands were on me. He was touching me so gently, but I could feel every callus, every scrape, everything.
We kissed each other in the desert in Mexico the night we flew away from the safe-house for a while.
He held my hand on the airplane when everything seemed to be catapulting way out of control.
He held me when I tried to saw the chip out of my arm.
He caught me in midair the day my head first felt like it'd explode when the Voice first came.
He gave me his shoulder to cry on the day of my brother's funeral.
He made me feel like more than a tool for saving the world, he treated me like I was actually human.
Ha, that's an oxymoron.
We knew each other better than we knew our own selves sometimes. Most times…
I drew in a staggered breath and opened my eyes. My hands were folded in front of me on the table and my ring was glittering in the sunlight. Its silver caught little rays of light ever so often and threw little reflections onto the ceiling. The jewel in the center practically glowed with the bright light.
"That's a very pretty ring. You don't seem like quite the jewelry type, it must be special, hm?"
I looked up and the waitress was setting a plate stacked with pancakes and a plate of eggs on my table. She left the pitcher of milk next to a glass. Then she pulled a fast one on me and sat across from me at the table.
"Now, I don't mean to pry or anything, but my nieces sent me pictures from Mexico of an air show, and you look an awful lot like that girl."
"Well, I am Maximum Ride." I said with a smile.
"Well, I'll be. A famous child sittin' in my diner. I couldn't be more honored. I'll let you finish your breakfast, if you need any more please don't hesitate to ask." She patted my hand and stood-up and started to walk away.
Now, I'm not normally a talkative person when it comes to emotions, but a lot was changing recently.
"This ring is really special."
"Hm? Were you talking to me, Maximum?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, you can call me Max. And yes, this ring is very sentimental to me."
"I see. Was it an heirloom?"
I laughed. "Not exactly, more like a…gift."
"I see. It's a gorgeous piece of jewelry. Whoever gave it to you had great taste. That's this month's birthstone, isn't it?"
"I think so. I'm not too good with that kind of stuff."
"Who was it from?" she asked almost hesitantly.
I sat there and thought for a moment, trying to figure out how I would introduce him.
"An old friend. He's missing right now, and that's what I'm doing here."
Recognition clouded her eyes like she knew exactly what I was going through and she nodded.
"I see." She shifted the tray into her other hand and held up her tanned right hand, reveling a large turquoise ring with coral and tiger's eye stone surrounding it. The ring itself made her hand look tinier than it was.
"It's beautiful." I remarked.
"It's from a lost friend as well. He moved away when we were both 16, I haven't seen him since, but a part of me is always hopeful that somehow, someday he will show-up here. But that dreams been unchanged for near 55 years. I just hope he's living a good life."
"I hope it doesn't take that long to find him…" I pondered aloud, mostly to myself.
The old lady, her nametag I just caught a glimpse of read MAGGIE, seemed lost in thought for a minute until she looked back to me and patted my shoulder, "Best start eatin' before it gets too cold."
I smiled and began to eat my first good, complete meal in about a week.
-_-_-_-
I finished off about ten pancakes, four glasses of milk, and four eggs in all by the end of breakfast. About now it was 11 o'clock AM.
I thanked Maggie as I left the diner and I also left her a tip, a rare occurrence for me.
Rounding the back of the restaurant, I snapped out my wings and took off into the air, looking down just in time to see Maggie shading her eyes to look up at me through the back window of her diner. I smiled inside and once I was at a fair altitude I burst into hyperdrive and was at Lake Mead and the cave in seconds.
I landed evenly, but staggered a bit to catch my footing. I inhaled deeply and almost felt the memories flood back to me. A hawk screeched over my head and I let my wings back out so it could remember my scent.
After exploring the little cave, I went to sit on the edge of the cliff and leaned back, having my hands and arms support my body weight.
I closed my eyes and attempted to relax for a minute.
Until I shifted my hands and got stabbed by something.
I jerked sideways to turn and see what had lodged itself into my finger, and began to panic for a moment when I realized that it was a fang on a snake jaw.
"AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
I shook my hand and the jaw fell to the dust. I jammed my finger in my mouth and tried to make the bleeding stop when it hit me:
That was the top part of a snake jaw.
I pulled my necklace out of my shirt where I'd tucked it in for safe keeping during the flight, bent down to pick up the top, and pieced them together.
They fit to a T.
Which could only mean one thing:
This was Fang's snake jaw.
Whaaaaat?
I dropped to my knees and started to cry as I remembered the birthday party we all pitched-in on and the matched necklaces Angel had made Fang and I. the bottom part of the jaw was mine, the top part his.
I clutched the jaw gently in my hands as I began to ball even more until it really hit me:
Fang has been here in the past week. Which meant he was still within flying distance.
Which meant that if he logged onto the Blog, even the slightest hint could tell us where he was.
With a sudden burst of energy I didn't know I was capable of having anymore I jumped to my feet and secured the jaw into my zipper-pocket and took-off towards home.
Now I had a new plan.
A/N: Wow, this was almost 2,000 words… Thanks for reading! Reviews motivate me and get you more chapters!!! Thank you again, take care. Keep reading!
~hawkstar2~