Disclaimer: I'm watching Saw right now. I can't think of a creative disclaimer, I'm so very engrossed. I don't own Maximum Ride. Read and review plz! Xoxo Nico'sGirl
I fall back to where Mayzie is flying. Her face is pale and strained as she flaps her wings. Its obvious that she hardly ever flies. I should probably teach her a thing or two before she falls out of the sky like a rock. "Mayzie," I say, and she turns her head, breathing heavily, "Take us to the last place you saw Tamarind."
She nods happily, "Yeah, okay. We were crashing in a park not far from here."
After about two minutes, we reach the park. Its about 20 acres, a big rectangle with a little wooded area and a sculpture garden. There are benches scattered along the brick path and the outside of the big grassy area. We land outside the woods, and then continue on foot down the path. My stomach tickles. I'm nervous. I'm blindly following the lead of some girl I just met! Am I concussed? But its so hard to resist Mayzie's big, hurt eyes.
Mayzie lets out a little gasp and then runs forward amazingly fast for someone of her size. There's a tree up ahead, an enormous one, with thick, long branches. One branch stretches all the way across the path to the other side, mingling with branches from the other trees. Its wide enough for someone to lie down on and not fear of falling off. A shredded red bedroll hangs from the limb. Mayzie puts one thin hand to her mouth, and the other strokes the bedroll. There are blood spatters on the bark.
I reach out and touch the blood. "Hey, guys, its still warm. As in fresh! They're not far from here. Angel, what are you picking up?"
Angel closes her eyes in concentration and Nudge strokes her hand along the branch, shuddering. "They left about a minute and a half ago. Tamarind put up a huge fight. They went up the path that way." Nudge says, pointing toward the rear exit of the park. Angel nods.
"Yeah, I can hear them, Max!" She says. "They're putting him into a van. And… Max?" Her big eyes look like little pools of worry. I kneel down next to her and put my hands on her shoulders.
"What is it sweetie?" I try not to let my desperation show in my voice. We're so close, so close!
"The Erasers are back." She says, her voice trembling. I look up at the Flock. Iggy and Gazzy both have their mouths open in an "oh my God" expression. Nudge looks at her feet and Fang just shrugs in a way that says, "It had to happen sooner or later".
"Angel? Are they the… same? I thought they were obsolete?" Just when everything seemed to be working out, this had to happen. We just never get lucky, do we?
"No, no. They're different. They're more in control and they don't have wings, cuz I guess that just didn't work and… They're smoother, I guess. More efficient." Angel says, her blue eyes filled up with concern. "And they don't really… Max, what's it called when you can decide things for yourself?"
"Umm, free will, honey?" I say in a shaky voice. Where is this going, exactly?
"Yeah, they have that but its really weak, and its like the School is controlling them to do what they want. And a few Erasers aren't as convinced, but they can't do much to stop themselves form doing all the bad things."
"All right, Angel." I say as I stand up and look at the Flock, "Maybe we can take out a couple of these new robot Eraser things while we save Tamarind. Okay, Flock, and Mayzie, let's move!"
We did an up and away and followed the street. There was one of those creepy white vans that always make you think of kidnappers and rapists on the road below us. I saw the logo for the Institute of Higher Living on the side using my raptor vision, so I gave the signal for us to nosedive. In strict, practiced formation, we all dipped toward the creeper van. Well, Mayzie wasn't too practiced, but she followed our lead. Fang, Angel, and Gazzy landed on the roof of the van with a muted thud. Iggy, Nudge, Mayzie, and I follow behind the van. The van speeds up, making breakneck turns and going over 80. Angel slides off the roof and onto the hood of the kidnapper van, her back pressing up on the windshield. The van swerves as it tries to dislodge Angel, but she holds on like Gorilla Glue.
Max, they're blocking my signals, I can't get them to stop! Angel's annoyed thoughts reach me.
Aw, crap. This just keeps getting worse. My pissed offed-ness gives me a spurt of energy that allows me to reach the handles of the doors on the back of the van. I hold on, then slow my wings down a little, which causes the door to jerk open. The drivers are apparently freaking out about losing any of their precious cargo. The van slows down very quickly, which cause me, Mayzie, Nudge, and Iggy to tumble inside, since we're still flying fast.
Once we get to our feet, I look around. There are bunches of what look like weapons, and a table bolted to the wall and covered with a plastic case so none of the little beakers and vials and monitors fall out due to the van's motion. And next to the table there's a… TANK. Its filled with water. Just like the one I was trapped in at Itex in Florida.
Oh my God. I feel myself reeling where I stand. "He's in the water! Get him out!" I bark.
Mayzie shows a surprising amount of pep by jumping into the tank with Tamarind. She pulls his upper body out of the water, and Nudge rips the sensors off his bare chest. The monitors fizz then make that annoying flatline noise. Iggy helps the frail Mayzie lift her brother out of the dark tank and onto the floor.
The whole time, he's been pretty out of it, his eyelids fluttering. But the second he touches the bumpy floor of the van and feels the movement of the vehicle, he starts screaming like a little schoolgirl.
I wince. I know what he's feeling. When I came out the tank, everything I touched felt like fire for a few seconds.
Tamarind is now just whimpering a little and shaking violently. I take my first good look at him.
He looks a lot like his sister. I'm guessing that they're twins. They are both pretty pale with black hair, except his is in no way as long as hers, but longish by guy standards, I guess. I'm not exactly a teen beauty expert. He doesn't look so powerful, not powerful enough for the school to be interested in him.
"Mayzie, oh my God, Mayzie!" Tamarind gasps and then bursts into tears. I'm a little surprised, cuz, you know, I've never seen a fifteen year old guy cry before, but I don't say anything. I let them have their moment. Mayzie rubs her twin's hair tenderly.
"As your older sister, I felt the obligation to come back for you." She says with a grin.
"3 damn minutes older, May." He mutters into her soaked turtleneck sweater.
"Tam, can you fly?" she says, "Tam, we have to get out of here." Tam wipes his eyes and nods. He spreads his wings shakily and, following behind us. He almost hits the ground when he takes off, but picks himself up before he splats.
Angel, Gazzy, and Fang stop harassing the drivers and take off with us. Fang swoops down to my right. "Max, what's the plan?"
Right, right, the plan. I shrug, and say what I always do when I really don't have a plan. "Mom's house in Arizona. We need time to rest up and stuff." That answer seems to please him, since he nods the goes back to his place in our formation.
I squint at the sunset as I fly home.