HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL PEEPS! Can you guys believe this! This story is nearly over! Is that amazing or is that AMAZING! Since we're almost wrapping up, I BEG you guys to keep with me and read this story to the end. I mean you did already read 22 chapters, so why stop there! Anyway, here's another chappy for you guys and I hope you all enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the characters. All I own is this plot and my intense pride over almost finishing this thing.
DAY OF DEATH
I'll spare you the gloomy, miserable details of the last week of my life. I mean, come on. None of it was eventful or important. All I did was mope and pack and mope and eat and mope again. Oh, and did I mention that I moped? Yeah, there was a LOT of hormones that nobody had time to deal with, least of all me.
A week after I had broken up with Fang, I finally got myself together enough to finish packing and fine tuning our escape plan. It was a pretty good plan all things considered. It was a Monday, which meant that Jeb would leave early, allowing Ari and me to pack up as much supplies as possible without him knowing. Once we were all ready to go, Ari and I would head downtown and rent a car (using Jeb's credit card, of course) and get as much mileage between us and Eastdale as possible. Nice and simple, with no room for error and no room for complications.
The plan was foolproof. The plan was perfect. At least, it was supposed to be.
As I crept down the stairs and peeked around the corner, I realized that Ari and I might have a problem.
To my horror, I saw Jeb passed out on the couch, beer in hand and only wearing underwear. He might as well have built a barricade in front of the door and strapped Ari and I down with titanium chains that read in blood red font "There is no escape". Dramatic images aside, we were completely and royally screwed.
FANG POV
I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I couldn't breathe. All I could do was think about Max. About how she smelled. About how she felt. About how she ruffled my hair and kissed me. About how she looked the last time I saw her, tears streaming down her face and sea salt clinging to her hair. About how she left me and about how I don't know why.
Why? I questioned myself for the bajillionth time. What did I do? Why did she leave me? Just…why?
From the moment I met her, Max was a puzzle that I was convinced I'd be able to figure out. I was arrogantly confident that all it would take would be time and a little bit of charm and I'd finally understand her. But after a ton of charm and quite a bit of time, I was only more confused. If there was one thing that I had learned about the girl I loved it was that she wasn't a puzzle; she was a maze. And I was hopelessly, hopelessly lost.
Knock. Knock.
"FANG! GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE AND EAT SOME FOOD!" My mom pounded on the door harder. "FANG, I MEAN NOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!"
Groaning, I rolled out of bed and marched over to the door. Throwing it open, I snapped, "WHAT." To my slight satisfaction, I saw my mom recoil. I couldn't really blame her. I probably had bags under my eyes and I most likely smelled like sewage puking on sewage. Yup, every girl's Prince Charming.
"Okay, first, don't use that tone on ME, young man," my mom waggled her finger in my face after she had recovered from the initial shock I had caused her. "Second: Take a shower and then come and grab some grub."
Rolling my eyes, I looked down at my mom. She was a stout woman and even though she was short, she gave off a persona that practically screamed, "You may be taller than me, but you will always be beneath me". Always, except for when she was tired. Like right now. Right now she slouched like a sloth and moved a tad bit slower than one, giving everyone the stinky eye and passing out snide remarks like coupons.
Now when your mom tells you to do something and that something is in the way of teenage brooding and sulking, there is only one real response you can give. "Why?" I asked as I crossed my arms.
"Because you're going outside. Right now," she answered.
"Why?"
"Because you're smelly and gross and you need some sunshine."
"Why?"
"Because you've been inside for the past week and as far as I know, the only time when you come out of your room is when you need to take a crap or you want some food, both of which is rare. Just hurry up and get out."
"Why?"
"BECAUSE I'M YOUR MOTHER DAMMIT AND IF I SAY GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, THEN YOU DAMN WELL BETTER BE OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU GOT IT!" My mom's face was beet red and she was in her gorilla stance: feet spread apart, hands clenched in fists, furious anger simmering off of her.
I paused and looked at her. Silence seemed to flood the hallway as I stared down my mom.
"Why?" I said with a smirk.
With a mighty roar, she screamed with frustration, stepped into my room, grabbed me by the ear, pulled me kicking and screaming down the stairs, and literally threw me out the front door. "DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU'VE TAKEN A SHOWER!" And with that my mom locked me out of the house.
"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE A SHOWER IF YOU LOCKED ME OUT OF THE HOUSE!" I yelled at the door.
"I DON'T KNOW. YOU FIGURE SOMETHING OUT, GENIUS!" My mom's muffled voice came through the door and I'm pretty sure that I could hear my family laughing at me.
"Stupid, little…" I muttered curses under my breath as I kicked at the ground. Seeing that they were not going to let me back in, I groaned and walked down the steps.
Shower, shower, I thought to myself. Where can I take a nice hot shower without looking like a creeper?
As I walked throughout the streets of my neighbor, I noticed that the houses got smaller and less magnificent until they were quaint little town houses. Without realizing it, I had walked into Iggy's neighborhood. As I walked up to his house, I said a silent thank you to my subconscious for being such a genius. Knocking on the door, I stepped back and waited for Iggy to answer. After a minute, I frowned. Knocking again (but a little louder) I waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing.
Gritting my teeth with irritation, I knocked and rang the doorbell simultaneously for a solid three minutes. To my satisfaction, I could hear footsteps on the other side and I could feel myself smirking.
The door opened to a very groggy, very cranky Iggy. "WHAT DO YOU WANT, ASSHOLE."
"I need to use your shower." I said simply.
"USE YOUR OWN SHOWER, GENIUS." Iggy made to slam the door shut, but I jammed my foot in before he could.
"I would if I could, but my mom kicked me out of the house." I said blankly.
"AND WHO'S FAULT IS THAT?!" Iggy jiggled the door and tried to kick my foot out of the way, but I held tight.
Rolling my eyes, I said, "Look, are you going to help me or not?"
Giving an overdramatic sigh, Iggy threw open the door and gave me a scowl. Narrowing his eyes, he took in my stained t-shirt, mused up hair, and fowl stench. "You smell like shit."
"Tell me something I don't know." I grumbled as I shoved my way in and shut the door behind me.
After a shower and some food (do Twinkies count as food?), I found myself lounging on Iggy's bed.
"Dude." Iggy stood in front of my lounging body and crossed his arms. "Stop sulking on my bed."
"I'm not sulking. I'm lounging." I grunted.
"No, idiot. You're sulking in a no sulk-zone and I would really appreciate it if you stopped." I just glared at him. "Now you're glaring."
"I'm not glaring at you. I'm just looking at you intensely."
"Nope, that is a definite glare." Placing his hand on his chin, Iggy muttered, "I deduce that you are 63% irritated and rising. I would diagnose you take a few chill pills. In fact, why don't you overdose on them?"
"What kind of quacked out doctor are you supposed to be?" I arched my eyebrow.
"The kind without any real schooling. Well, not yet, anyway." Iggy scratched his head on that last part.
"Oh yeah, aren't you going to become a doctor?" I remember.
"Yup, I'm gonna be an ophthalmologist! Just think about it, Fang. Soon all the bespectacled beauties are gonna be knocking at my door," Iggy practically salivated. "IT'S GONNA BE GREAT!"
Looking at him, I realized that it wasn't the first time I thought of him as an idiot and I knew for sure that it wouldn't be the last. "Idiot." I grumbled and rolled onto my back.
"Damn, Fang. Back at it again with that shitty attitude." Iggy laughed.
"I don't have a shitty attitude." I could practically feel my veins popping.
"But you're getting irritated." Iggy protested.
"I'm not getting irritated!" Yup, there were definitely two veins popping now.
"You're right! You're just sulking."
"I'M NOT—" Before I could blow my top too far off, I took a deep breath and gave Iggy my best death glare. "Why don't you take a short walk off of a long cliff?"
"You said that wrong." Iggy corrected me.
"WHATEVER!" I threw my hands into the air and rolled away from Iggy so that I was facing the wall.
For a moment, there was silence. Then I heard Iggy walk to the bed and felt the springs coil as he sat down. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." I muttered.
Another pause. "Is it Max?"
I stiffened. These days, just hearing her name overwhelms me with a cacophony of emotions. Some anger, others confusion, but none as strong as love. Inhale. Exhale. Sitting up, I swung my legs off of the bed and sat up next to Iggy. "It's just…I don't understand. One minute we were happy and in love and the next she says that she can't love me. I mean what the hell is that about?!" Turning to Iggy, I looked to him for help. "You've known each other for years, right? Has she always been like this?"
Iggy answered my question with another question. "Like what?"
Raking my brain, I searched for the words to describe it. "…Cryptic. Like, like she's hiding something. Like she isn't fully there when we're with her. Instead she's somewhere else entirely, and that somewhere else is horrible. Whenever I look at her, I see pain in her eyes and I just…I just want to understand and help her, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it." Iggy nodded. "But the thing is, Max's life is…complicated."
"What do you mean by complicated?"
"It's…hard to explain." Iggy narrowed his eyes.
"Then explain," I said as I narrowed my own eyes.
"The thing is…when Max was about ten or so, she and her mom got into a terrible car crash and Max had to watch her mom die right in front of her. It really messed her up and since then, she's always kept everyone at an arms distance away, as if she's afraid that they'll get up and die on her again or something." Iggy answered my question carefully, albeit cautiously. I mean, don't get me wrong, his answer made perfect sense. I mean if I were to see my mom die right in front of me, I would be hella traumatized, even if she annoys me endlessly. But even still, I felt as if there was something off about what Iggy said, like there was something more that he wasn't telling me.
"So that's the whole reason why Max acts the way she does?" I asked with an arched eyebrow.
Iggy hesitated. It was for a millisecond and practically undetectable if you didn't know him, but it was there. "Yup."
He's lying. Just roll with it for now and confront him when the moment is right. "Okay. How about Max's dad?"
Now Iggy's tension was clearly visible and I could see a few beads of sweat trickle down his neck. "Wh-what about him?"
"Well…what's he like? How did he take his wife's death? Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen him in person." And it was true; I hadn't seen Max's dad. I never thought it to be strange or even really thought about it until then.
"Oh, he's all right. He's a bit of a stiff at times, but he loves his kids very, very, VERY much." Iggy nodded for emphasis, but from my point of view, it looked like Iggy was almost trying to convince himself of this fact. "He's gone a lot because of his job, so that might be why you haven't seen him around." At this point, I could have used a butter knife to cut through Iggy's tension. The perfect time to strike.
"Liar."
"Huh?" I'm pretty sure that Iggy wasn't breathing anymore.
"Max told me that her dad lost his job a couple of months ago and according to her, he still hasn't found one. Which means that you're lying to me." Scowling, I folded my arms and glared at Iggy.
Sweat was dribbling down his face in buckets now and his eyes were clouded with worry. After a long moment of silence, he muttered, "Max is going to kill me."
"Yes, yes she will. And so will I if you don't fess up and tell me the truth. What is going on with Max!" Standing up, I practically tower over Iggy's hunched form. "Tell me. NOW."
"Okay, okay. Fine. But before I do, promise me that you won't do anything crazy like murder Jeb or Max or, more importantly me."
I could feel my eyebrows crease together in confusion. "What does Max's dad have anything to do with this?"
"I'll explain it all, but first you have to promise me."
I took a moment to consider and shrug. "Depends on what you tell me."
Iggy took a deep breath and, with the theatrical sigh of an actor or at most a teenage drama queen, explained everything in detail to me. By the end of this revelation, I could feel the boiling rage pouring throughout me and my seething anger scraping like sandpaper inside my veins. Silently, I turned around and punched Iggy's wall to let out some of my anger. Tiny spider web cracks formed around my fist and the wall caved slightly inwards. As expected this did nothing to soothe my temper. If anything, it made it worse because now my hand was most likely broken.
"What are you going to do?" Iggy asked in a tired voice.
Turning around, I grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall. Hard. I saw him wince in pain, but I didn't care. The howls of my wrath was screaming in my ears, drowning out everything else. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" My voice was quiet and deadly. If I wasn't so pissed at that moment, I probably would have been impressed by how much of a badass I sounded.
"I found out about two weeks ago, plus Max made me swear not to tell anyone."
"To hell with that."
"If I had told anyone she would have murdered me."
"I'm about to murder you."
"True."
"Plus you just told me."
"Also true."
"So therefore you should go die."
"Okay, I deserve that."
"You're damn straight you deserve that. There is no excuse for you not telling anyone, Iggy."
"I know, I know. It's just that...you should have seen the look on her face. It was…sadness. Grief. And above all else, desperation. Desperation to protect what's left of her family. And although she says that the only reason she doesn't tell on Jeb is because she doesn't want to be separated from Ari, I feel—no, I know—that that's not all. Even though he's done nothing but hurt her, she still cares about him. I mean, he is her father after all. I just figured that I'd let Max spend her last days with her family as a whole not having to deal with paper work, legal custody, and jail time. And then once she was long gone, I was gonna give the police an anonymous tip about Jeb so they could send his rotten ass to jail. Max and Ari would be together, Jeb would be in jail, happy ending for all." Iggy's face looked so hopeful of this fantasy that it almost pained me to bring him back to reality.
"Except that's not how it works, Iggy. Jeb has been hurting Max and Ari for a very long time. What makes you think that he wouldn't hurt them again during these past two weeks? How do you know Jeb won't find out about Max and Ari's escape plan? There are so many things that could go wrong and there are so many things that have already. I'm all about happy endings and things going well, but there is no room for positive thinking in this situation." Pulling him off of the wall, I leave him—crumpled shirt and all—behind me as I start to exit his room.
"Where are you going?" Iggy asked as he followed me out the door and outside.
"Me?" I stopped and turned to look at him. "I'm going to go kill the son of a bitch. And then I'm gonna shake some sense into Max. And then I'm gonna come back here so that I can kill you, skin you, and hang yo ass on my wall as a trophy, you little weasel." Turning back around, I ran down the sidewalk and towards Max's house.
Marching towards Max's house, I was strong. Confident. Unstoppable. I was a man on a mission that he was determined to see succeed. Reaching her doorstep, I was conflicted. Insecure. I had absolutely no idea what I should do next. So I rang the doorbell. And then I began to sweat. What am I gonna say to her, "Oh hey, I heard that you might be running away from your abusive father. Sounds rough. Wanna get coffee?" A) She'd kill me B) she'd kill me and C) she'd DESTROY me. And what am I going to do if her dad was the one who answers the door? I can't just walk right up to him and say, "Good afternoon, sir?" and then punch him in the face. If anything I'd have to get to know him, warm up to him, and flash some natural Fang-charm. And then—OH MY GOD WHAT AM I SAYING?! I AM SO ROYALLY FUCKED—
And then the door opened.
MAX POV
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the doorbell ring. Racing downstairs to answer it before whoever was there could see Jeb post drunken stupor, I flew downstairs and flung open the door.
Standing there in front of me was the one person I wanted to see even less than Jeb (and yes that is possible). Fang. He looked good for someone who had just been broken up with a week ago. Of course his hair was disheveled (when is it not), his eyes were bloodshot, and his breath was hitched and catching. But then again, he smelled of pine wood, musk, and Fang. His boyishly full lips were stretched into a thin line, his jaw was set, and his eyes hardened with determination. Even still I could see a hint of softness in his core, like the ooey-gooey goodness at the center of a caramel candy. Now that I was looking at him—and I mean really looking at him—I noticed that compared to a couple months ago, his shoulders had widened, his legs became less lanky, and God his chest—MAX STOP YOURSELF! The Voice scolded me. You're drooling!
Trying to discreetly wipe the saliva from my lips, I tried to compose myself without looking like I needed to compose myself. Clearing my throat, I said, "Fang."
"Max." Even though his face was void of emotion, I could tell in a slight hitch in his voice that he was surprised by the coldness in my voice.
"What do you want?" I asked clippedly, not wanting to disappoint his stoic impression of me.
Clearing his own throat this time, Fang lowered his voice and said, "Can I come in?"
"No."
"Max, I need to come in." Fang's voice was filled with such urgency and desperation that it broke my heart. Again.
Sighing and cursing myself silently, I moved aside and beckoned him inside. Swiftly ushering him upstairs and into my room, I didn't allow his eyes to roam too far so that they didn't see Jeb or any beer bottles. I practically shoved him into my room and locked the door after him.
Ari sat in the middle of floor looking up at us in confusion and anxiety. "What's he doing here?"
Frowning, Fang muttered, "Well, hello to you too, kiddo."
"What is he doing here?" Ari ignored Fang and pressed his question with more earnest.
"We're about to find out." I answered him. Turning back to Fang, I crossed my arms and tried to look as hostile as possible to the man that I loved. "Spill. What do you want?"
For a split second, Fang hesitated. Swallowing what I could only imagine to be his regrets and misgivings, he whispered, "I know."
I could feel the hairs on my arms bristle and I couldn't help but give a weak smile. "You know what?"
Once again, Fang looked uncertain what to say and almost afraid of what he had to say. "I know about Jeb. About what he does to you guys. About the fact that you're about to run away. I know everything."
Glancing down, I saw Ari's face morph in horror behind Fang and tears stream down his face. I felt identical tears streaming down my own cheeks, and I knew that I couldn't keep up the charade any longer.
Wiping my face, I put my hands in my head and sighed. "Ari, how about you go to your own room." Silently, he rose off of the floor and walked out. When the door shut, I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed again. "I'm gonna kill, Iggy." I could feel the strength going out of my legs so I plopped down on my bed.
"There's no need. I already told him to commit seppuku." Fang plopped down on my bed next to me.
"That's great. Maybe you should join him." I muttered.
"Sorry, I can't. My schedule is full, but maybe another time?" Fang snorted. When he saw that I wasn't laughing, his sass dried up and his face became serious once again. "Max, you can't run away—"
"Oh and what would you suggest me do, huh?! Wait obediently for Jeb to beat Ari so badly that he can't walk again? How many times do you think I can watch that man, that bastard of a father beat up my brother? How many times do you think I can force a smile on my face while I piece him back together? How many times until Jeb screams too much or hits too hard, or just completely snaps? How will I pick up the pieces then?"
"Max, there are better ways than running away—"
"Like what?" I hiss. "What you are implying is that I have options and a choice and I can assure that I have neither of these things. My back is to the wall. Hell, I busted through the damn wall a long time ago. Now the question is less of "Where will I go?" and more like "How far will I sink through?"
"If you're sinking then I'll help you out of the mud. If your back is to the wall, then I'll bulldoze it and expand it, allowing you to have more room to breathe. I can't guarantee answers to your questions, but what I can guarantee is that if you run away now, you will regret it for the rest of you and Ari's lives. How do you think Ari will feel bouncing from place to place, ducking through alleyways and tight spaces to stay low and avoid the system? How do you think the both of you will feel if you leave everything behind? I mean yeah, sure, you'll be leaving the pain and your troubles, but new ones will always resurface. If you guys leave, then you'll be leaving your friends, your education, your chance at a normal life, and—and me. You'll be leaving all of us behind you may not see it now, but the road to where you're heading is very, very lonely." Fang spoke with so much passion and intensity. I was enraptured by his words. I tried to not listen because I knew his words would make me doubt myself and my plan, but I knew that that wasn't going to happen. Knowing that he had my attention, Fang took a deep breath, sunk to his knees, and continued. "Max…I love you. I'm not afraid to say it and I will never be ashamed of it either. I love you. I love you to the moon and back. I love you more than I love myself. I love you so much that it hurts and I wonder if I'm going insane. But despite all of it, I love you anyway and because of that I want to live my life with you. I want to laugh and cry with you. I want to have a family together and grow old together. I want everything life has to offer with you. I don't have a ring yet because I didn't know I'd be doing this here and now, but I'll ask it anyway. Maximum Ride, will you marry me?"
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. All I could do was sob. This was supposed to be a happy moment, but how could I be happy when the love of my life proposed to me and I can't even say yes?
"Fang…" I choked out over my tears. "You're just making it worse…"
"How? By telling you I love you? By trying my best to make you stay? Because if that's what you mean by making things worse, then by all means, let me be the bad guy. If that's the price I have to pay to make you stay, then I am more than willing to pay it." Fang shifted closer to me and wrapped his arms around me. At first I tried to push him away by hitting and swearing at him. But eventually my sobs washed away any words and actions I could think of and I just melted into his arms.
"I'm sorry. I can't." I managed to say through hiccupping sobs. "I'm so, so sorry. I can't. You have no idea how much I wish that I could, but I can't. Ari is my family, so I have to put him first and above all else. I am so sorry."
"Well…," Fang began. "If you can't stay with me, then how about I go with you."
"What?" I sniffled. Pulling away, I looked at Fang's face to see if he was serious, and was surprised and alarmed to find that he was deadly so. "Fang, you can't just up and leave your family. Not even for me."
"Yes I can and I will if you leave, Maximum Ride. Even if I don't go with you, you can be damn well sure that I will go after you. Like it or not, Max, but I'm not going anywhere." Fang's steely eyes proved to me that he wasn't just saying this to sound brave. He meant it.
Putting my hands to my forehead, I tried to rub away the growing headache in my temple. "Look, Fang. Can we talk about this some other time? I'm tired, I have a headache, and both are because of you right now, so could you please just leave me to think for a while?"
Fang's face lit up with hope. "So does that mean that you won't go?"
"For today. So can you please just leave already?" I snapped. "I have a lot to deal with already without you handing out proposals like coupons."
Grinning like a fool, he leaned in and gave me a short, passionate kiss. I felt a familiar fire reignite in my chest and I sank into it for all of its five seconds. "I wasn't kidding about marrying me."
Blushing profusely, I shrugged it off. "Sure you were."
Chuckling to himself, he stepped toward the door leading out of my room. "Wait!" I said as loudly as I dared. Freezing up, Fang turned halfway around in spot and lifted an eyebrow to me. "It would be best if you went out the window, since Jeb might be awake downstairs." Flashing me a quick smile, he walked past me and opened my window. Before leaving, he turned to look at me and said, "See you tomorrow."
And even though I knew I had lied to him about staying for the night, I couldn't help but feel a little hope in the last lie I ever told him. "See you tomorrow."
As he left, he gently shut close the window and he was gone. No more than a minute after, Ari slipped through my door silently and asked, "Are we really going to stay one more night?"
"No," I whispered as a single tear fell down my face. "No we aren't."
As night neared closer and closer, my anxiety grew worse. I worried about every single step in the plan and I worried about what would happen if the plan went wrong and I worried even more about what would happen if the plan went right. What then? The Voice asked. "Then, we live." I muttered to myself.
The time finally came for us to leave and be free of this hell hole. As Ari and I snuck through the hallways, I relived every good and bad memory I had of the place. As we passed Jeb's door, I placed an ear to it and listened for the sounds of his snores. There was nothing. Frowning, I shrugged. Nothing is better than something, the Voice cooed. One step at a time, we crept down the stairs and closer to the door. Step by step. Breathe by breathe. Seconds ticked past like hours, minutes dragged on like days. I had to force the instinct to just flat out run to the door and pace myself. Finally we passed the living room, and one quick glance into it saw what I feared worse: Jeb sitting in a chair, with the TV blaring 2 Fast and 2 Furious. That would explain why you didn't hear anything, the Voice quipped. Shut up, I snapped at it.
From what I saw, Jeb wasn't moving. Hell I could barely hear him breathing. Maybe, he's dead? I couldn't help but hope. But as we reached the door and I was just about to turn it, Jeb breathed, "You know what disappoints me most about you kids?"
Instantly, I felt Ari begin to tremble. Turning around, I placed Ari behind me and pushed him towards the door. "And what's that, Jeb?"
Standing up, he walked towards calmly. In one hand he held an empty beer bottle. "It's the fact that I'm not surprised that my own kids would try to abandon me. The fact that you are trying to leave doesn't surprise me because it proves to me something that I've known all along: that you are cowards. You are pathetic. You are not my children. You are nothing to me."
I calmly stepped in front of him and met him head on. "The difference between me and you, Jeb, is that I realized all of that plus more about you a long, long time ago. You are not my father. You cannot scare us. You cannot hurt us. You cannot control us any longer. You are the one who is nothing, not us." I barely got another word out as Jeb took the bottle and broke it over my side. Crying out, I felt myself start to crumple towards the floor. As I fell, I kicked out my leg and landed a solid kick inside the flesh of Jeb's stomach. Wheezing like an old man, he doubled over and clutched his gut.
Struggling to get up, I gratefully accepted help from Ari as he practically dragged me up, ushering me to the door. Just as I was standing up, I heard Jeb growl and felt his leechy hand wrap around my arm and yank me backwards. I cried out in pain as he slammed me against the wall, grinding my already bruised ribs into the hard partition.
"Max!" Ari yelled as he ran to me, but as Jeb held onto me with one hand, he smacked Ari in the face with the beer bottle, leaving an angry streak of blood across his face. Turning back to me, he grinned with a mouth full of yellow, foul teeth. "Time to die," Jeb rasped into my ear. Raising the bottle up to my throat, Jeb was about to cut across my gullet just as the doorbell rang. Leaning back, Jeb tried to peer through the door from a distance. "What in the hell—" and that's all that Jeb had time to say before the door blew up.
FANG POV
So let me explain myself. Yes. I blew up Max's door with Iggy's help. And yes. The explosives we used were most likely illegal. And yes. I may or may not have sort of kind of been stalking Max. But don't you worry. I had a good reason for all of these things and the ends always justifies the means, right? Right?
You're probably really confused by what is exactly happening right now. So let me start from where you last saw me, climbing out of Max's room.
As I shimmied down the drainpipe, I frowned up at Max's window. She would never agree to stay so easily. Which left only one plausible explanation: she lied.
Once I figured that out, I reckoned that I wait until she and Ari were about to skip town, stroll up to them all cool and collected, and guilt trip them into staying. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, right? WRONG. You see, the thing was that Max and Ari didn't plan to leave until hours later, and it wasn't like I could just sit still in the bushes for six hours straight with no provisions and no means of entertainment.
So, I called the one person who I knew could entertain me the most (that and I knew that he owed me a favor BIG TIME): Iggy.
"'Ello?" A lazy voice sounded through the phone.
"Iggy. Get your butt down here to Max's house. Now."
"What? Why?"
"Because we're gonna have a little stake-out."
"Eh?"
"Just get your scrawny butt down here, would ya?" I sighed in irritation and hung up.
The crunch of a stepped on twig perked my interest and I looked up to see Iggy traipsing across Max's yard carefree. Swearing, I reach out a hand and grab him as he walks past me.
"Woah!" He screamed and I covered his mouth before he could make too much noise. I turned him over so that he was facing me and placed a finger in front of my mouth. Eventually he caught on and when I felt it was safe, I took my hand away from his mouth. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!"
"Shhhhhhhhh," I hissed as I covered his mouth again. "Stop. Screaming." Once again, I took a chance and uncovered his mouth to reveal a nasty scowl.
"Your hand tastes like ass." Iggy seethed. Rolling my eyes, I move over and give him some space to sit up. "So…what does Operation Stakeout entail?"
"Operation what now?"
This time it was Iggy's turn to roll his eyes. "You know, Operation Stakeout? The thing that we're doing right now? The reason why we're in front of Max's house and look like freaking Peeping Toms hiding in the freaking bushes like freaking idiots. You know, that thing?"
"Yeah, I catch your drift. Basically what we're doing is just staking out Max and seeing if she lied to me earlier about staying."
"Okay….how long is that gonna take?" Iggy asked.
Sighing, I leaned back into part of the bushes and said, "I don't know. A couple of hours, maybe? Either way, we're staying here until midnight at least."
"Ugh, that BLOWS." Iggy flopped down into the grass and rolled around in misery.
"Yeah, well get used to it." I mutter with my eyes closed. For a while everything is silent except for Iggy's childish groans of boredom. After about ten minutes, I hear clicking sounds and I can't help but open my eyes. Big mistake.
Sitting next to me, I see that Iggy is holding a very large, very dangerous alarm clock shaped bomb.
"WHAT THE HELL!" I scramble to my feet and back away rather quickly.
"SHHHHHHHHH! You'll blow our cover." Iggy chides me as he goes back to fiddling with the bomb.
"Wh-wh-what the hell, man? Why do you have a freaking bomb with you?" I stammer as I crouch back down.
"Well, you said that we would be here for a while, so I figured, I might as well get some work done!" At the look of alarm on my face, Iggy raised his oil streaked hands in a calming gesture. "Relax, dude. The charges are diffused and the only way for this baby to blow is if I flip the switch. There is absolutely nothing to worry about."
Still very wary of the bomb, I try to take his advice and relax a little bit more. It doesn't help. "Whatever, as long as that thing doesn't blow up in my face," I try to sound cool, but fail miserably due to the squeak of terror evident in my voice. Scowling at myself, I lay down and tried to catch up on some z's.
As Iggy tinkered with his "toy" and I dozed off, the hours passed by in a blur. When the street lights came on, I was about to give up and go home, when all of a sudden, I heard a thump. At first I didn't think anything of it, but then I heard another thump, and another one even louder, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.
Bolting up, I peered through the window, and sure enough I saw Max on the floor and her bastard of a father Jeb standing over her with a broken bottle and a crazed grin.
Cursing, I ran to the door and tried to kick it down, but to no avail. Max's door was made of solid oak and weighed a ton. With an impatient sigh, I turned to Iggy.
"Iggy does that bomb of yours work?" I asked.
"Yeah, why do you…" Iggy's eyes opened wide and a wicked grin crossed his face. "Gotcha."
In less than a minute, Iggy had wired the door with the bomb and the two of us crouched behind the bush just as the door was blown off its hinges. Wasting no time, I bolted through the smoke and ran straight up to Jeb.
"What in the-" was all he managed to choke out before I decked his ass. With an oomph, the breath was knocked out of him and he landed on the floor awkwardly. Mercilessly, I kicked the bastard over and over again.
Just as I was about to smash Jeb's ugly mug to pieces, I feel thin, shaking hands wrap around my torso and pull me off of him. At first I'm confused on why I was not trying to murder Jeb anymore, but then I heard her voice and it made me want to weep.
"Fang. Please stop. Please." Max's voice was trembling even more than her arms. I turned to see blood drippling down her sides and tears stained her cheeks. Gently, I cupped her face in my hands. I felt like she was going to break. "Can we go? Please?"
Nodding—I couldn't trust myself to speak—I took her hand and was about to pull her away when I heard a small click behind me. Turning in what felt like slow motion, I saw Jeb on his knees, his face a mask full of rage, and tiny, silver pistol engulfed by his meaty hands. Jeb's face was covered in bruises and two of his teeth were knocked out. Grinning through the blood, I watched in horror as Jeb pulled the trigger just as Max screamed.
MAX POV
The first thing I notice is the blood. It's not as red like it is in the movies. It's so dark that it looks black. And it's thick too. Dark, thick, and everywhere. It was on the floor, on the walls, in parts of Iggy's hair, and it absolutely covered Fang. His hands and clothes were caked in blood and it mixed with the tears streaking down is face. That's right, I thought. Jeb had just tried to shoot Fang. In panic, I looked Fang up and down, and to much relief, I didn't see a puncture wound anywhere. But if Fang wasn't shot, then where was all this blood coming from?
I looked down and I saw the blood was mainly pooling around me, and it all kept pulsing out of a tiny hole right under my ribs…and I remembered:
Fang was holding me, when all of a sudden, I saw Jeb out of the corner of my eye. He was on his knees and he was holding a pistol…the twin gun to the one my mother used to always carry with her. In horror, I watched as Jeb fired the gun at the man I loved. With a scream, I pushed Fang out of the way and…I was shot.
I was dying.
In utter disbelief, I watched as more and more blood pulsed out of me. You'd expect me to be writhing in pain, screaming in agony and anguish, right? Except…I didn't. More like I couldn't. I was trapped in my own body, unable to move or to do anything about what was happening around me. All I could do was watch as my situation descended into even more chaos. Iggy tackled Jeb and proceeded to beat the living shit out of him. Ari ran out of the house, just in time to meet the growing crowd full of concerned neighbors outside our house.
"Max!" Fang scrambled off of the floor. "Max! Max!" Even through my numbness, I could feel his hands on me, pressing down on the hole in my stomach. In remorse, Fang forced back a sob as the blood bled through his hands and continued to spill on the floor.
"Max, are you ok…" Iggy trailed off when he could see that I, clearly, was not. "Oh my God…" Iggy dropped to his knees on the other side of me, and frantically tried to help Fang stop the bleeding.
"I-Iggy. Fang." I barely could speak and I called their names with the little puffs of air that I had left. "P-Please stop." I didn't have the strength to tell them how useless their efforts was. I didn't have the strength to reassure them that I wasn't in pain. I didn't have the strength to tell them that I was going to die no matter what they did. But I did have the strength to say my goodbyes.
"I-Iggy. You…you are more than a f-friend to me. You are a brother. You have looked out for me and Ari for as lo-long as we can remember. Th-thank you for dealing with all my bull-bullshit for the past 18 years. I love you man." Iggy grabbed my hand and sobbed bitterly into it. I gave him a weak smile and continued. "As my final favor for you, I ask that you make s-sure that Ari doesn't come in here. I would hate for him to se-see me like this."
Trying to reign control of his tears, Iggy leaned over me and planted a kiss on my forehead. Leaning back up, he whispered, "I love you, too, Maxi-Pad." Iggy stood up and walked out of my house to find Ari. With a sigh, I resigned myself to say my final and my hardest goodbye: Fang.
FANG POV
She was growing colder. Her skin was pale, her lips were chapped, and her normal vibrant eyes were dulling alarmingly fast. I knew she was dying. I knew that I didn't have that much time with her left. But I couldn't find the words to express my sorrow, express my grief, or to express how much I loved her. For once in my life, I was speechless.
"Fang, I love you. All I can say is that I l-love you. You are my life, you are my world, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have always loved you, even when we first met. I loved you then, I love you now, and I will love you forever. If given the opportunity to go back and do-do it all over again, I would. I regret nothing and I have loved every second of my life w-with you. So please, my love, don't blame yourself. Don't build a wall between yourself and the w-world. Be happy and live." I couldn't say anymore, so I just allowed myself to be held by Fang.
"Max, there is no way in hell that I will let you die here. We have gone through way too much for it all to be thrown away now. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You survived the death of your mother. You've survived Jeb. Hell, you've survived HIGH SCHOOL. If you can survive all of that, then you can survive this."
"Fang-" I tried to choke out, but he wouldn't let me.
"Promise me. Promise me that you won't die. Promise me that you'll get better. Promise me that you'll grow up and be happy. Promise me that you'll marry me and we'll have a life together, that we'll have a happily ever after. Promise me Max." Fang couldn't hold back his tears anymore and they slid down his face and onto mine.
"I-I promise." Max whispered just as I heard sirens
MAX POV
Sirens were the last thing I heard before I blacked out. One minute I'm in my body and the next thing I know, I'm looking down at everything from an "out of body" perspective. I watch as the police show up. They place me on a stretcher and wheel me to the ambulance. As I pass the crowd of people, I see Ari screaming at the top of his lungs. It takes me a while to realize that he's not just screaming gibberish, he's screaming words. "Max! Max! Oh, please wake up, don't leave me! I need you Max!" The rest was lost in the wailing of sirens and all the commotion. As I take one last glance back, I see that a police woman has taken Ari in her arms and is trying to comfort him to no avail. Iggy hovers nearby and tries to stand strong for Ari, but I still notice his lip quivering as he cries silently. My spirit moves on.
Next to me—well, my body—is Fang. He clings onto my hand and chokes out encouragements, saying how I'm going to be okay, how I'm going to live, how I'm going to keep my promise. But we both know that this promise was nothing but a lie to cover up the pain.
We reach the ambulance and the paramedics busily hook me up to all sorts of machines including a heart monitor. In despair I watch as it records the unsteady pulses of my failing heart.
My heart sinks as the pulses get smaller and shorter until they fade into one steady, final line.
The last thing I see is Fang cupping my face into his hands with his tears flowing down my face. My world goes black.
My name was Maximum Ride, and this was the story of how I died.
Please R&R this story and have an awesome day, guys!
Watch the skies,
Doctor Bessy