Max's Shadow
Chapter 3
Max disappeared first. At first, none of them thought of it as a disappearance. They were all used to one of them being taken away for extensive studies. Especially Max. And Angel.
She was just a baby, Angel was. Fang's cage was next to hers now. She didn't cry much though. Max always joked that it worked well for the two of them. He didn't talk and she didn't cry. A match.
"Max..." Fang whispered, laying down in his cage.
Angel had been the next to go. Still not unusual. She was so young, but so powerful. Max once told him that she had heard Jeb talking one day and heard him say that Angel had telepathy. Fang didn't know what that was and when Max asked Jeb later, he yelled at them for interfering.
Even with the two of them gone, Fang didn't think much. Until three days later when Gazzy was taken from them. The Gasman. Fang liked him. Sort of. He was funny at times. The little boy stank horribly though. Still, the children were used to all sorts of rank odors. The Gasman would always be the supreme ruler of all things rancid however.
Now there were only three of them. Him, Iggy, and Nudge. She was pretty nice too. She was loud though. She knew more words than Fang did and he was far older than her. Max seemed to like her enough. Still, Fang thought that maybe he could learn to like her, maybe, if she just stopped saying so many things.
When over a week had passed, Fang new they had been left behind. The quiet one, the blind one, and then…whatever Nudge was. The annoying one? Sure. Fang could understand why they'd leave her behind. And Iggy? He liked him and everything, but it made sense too. Still though, Fang always thought of himself as pretty important. Or at least Max told him that he was. She did it a lot. She liked complimenting him. He was pretty good at taking them too, if he could say so himself.
"They left us."
"No," Nudge said, shaking her little head back and forth. She was only about six, maybe seven. "Max always comes back."
"Well, she ain't this time," Iggy said with confidence. That's one thing that Fang envied the other boy for. His confidence. Even when he knew he was completely wrong, Iggy would fight for his point. With Whitecoats, Jeb, even Max. Iggy was the real deal.
"Yes," Nudge sad, nodding her head this time. "Max always comes-"
"Well, she ain't! Don't you get that." Iggy sat back in his cage, frowning slightly. "It's probably all your fault."
"No."
"Totally is. Ain't mine. Everyone likes me." Iggy shook his head. "What do you think then, Fang?"
He just laid on the floor of his cage, staring at the empty one across from him. That was the one Max had been using previously. She had been for the past few months. They'd just stare at each other all day. You know, playing the staring game. Fang always one. He always one the quiet game too. Max called him a cheater a lot even though he wasn't sure how you could cheat at those kinds of games.
Oh, and he wasn't a cheater. That was a big thing too.
"See?" Iggy went on. "Fang's all upset 'cause they left him behind. It's okay, Fang. I mean, if they left me behind, then there was no way you were going to make the cut."
Nudge humphed. "Then how comes they taked Gazzy?"
"Hmmm. Good point." Iggy sat up a little bit taller, bumping his head on the top bars of his cage. Rubbing his head then, he said, "They must be coming back for me then."
Sighing, Fang shifted onto his other side to stare at Angel's empty cage. He really wished Max would come back. He didn't really do well without her. None of them did. She was the one that always made sure they got fed, got their cages changed after they had an accident, made sure they got bandages for cuts. She was real good about that kinda stuff. Not Fang though. He was good at taking the things Max got for him though. And he was real good at following the orders he handed down. Those things he was just about awesome at.
"When they do come and get me, don't you guys start that crying or whatever. I'm sorry that you can't come with us," Iggy went on. "Really. I mean, it sucks, you know? I'd fight for ya, but hey, easy come easy go."
Nudge frowned at him. "What's that mean?"
"I dunno. I heard someone say it 'fore. So now I say it."
"Oh."
"All I mean is, hey, you guys have been cool. Nudge, Fang. Still, it's 'bout not getting killed."
"Killed," Nudge whispered. They all knew what that word meant. Death. Expired. Gone. Those were words they were very familiar with. "I don't wanna gets killed."
"Life sucks," Iggy told her simply, a mantra that they had all adopted at a young age. "Just try and make yourself useful, huh? When I'm gone? I don't want you to die or nothing, but without us around, you and him ain't going to be worth much. Let them add an extra arm to you or something. Another eyeball. Something."
Nudge moaned, clearly not liking the sound of any of that. "Do I gotta?"
"If you wanna survived," Iggy said with a certainty of a madman. "Now don't go crying on me, Nudge. I was like that too, when I let them do this to me. Make it to where I can't see no mores. But hey, I got through it. You'll look good with a third eye. Really, you-"
"Iggy, shut up."
He frowned then. "What'd you say, Fang?"
He pushed up slowly from his laying position, moving to sit then. "If you don't shut up, I will go over there and make you."
"Why don't you try then?"
"I will, Iggy," he threatened. "Making Nudge all upset and stuff. I don't care if you're just trying to make yourself feel better or not. You be quiet. Ain't nobody gonna hurt us, Nudge. We don't need Jeb and we definitely don't need Max."
It was a nice thing to say, a valiant thing, but they all knew he was doing the same thing Iggy was when he told the other two they were going to die; trying to make himself feel better.
The three children spend the rest of the day in silence, ignoring one another. Well, at least Fang and Iggy were ignoring one another. Nudge tried many times to spark up a conversation, but neither would bite. Eventually she gave up and went to sleep along with the other children.
They stayed that way for awhile, all resting in an uneasy sleep. That is until the room they were held in became lit up. Other animals and captives roused from their sleep, roaring in the displeasure. The light was quickly flicked back off, a slight giggle following it.
Fang, ever the observant one, sat up at the noise, never a light sleeper. "Ari?"
Another giggle. That one got Iggy and Nudge up. They all knew Ari. He was an annoying little pest to the oldest three, especially Max. She loathed the boy, though Fang never quite knew why. He seemed nice enough to Fang. Then again, Fang thought everyone was pretty dang nice so long as they weren't cutting his insides up in the name of science.
"What are you doing here, Ari?" Iggy asked before yawning. Nudge began to giggle along with the young boy, knowing that he was at least fun unlike the two guys she was now stuck with. "Max ain't here."
"Where?" The boy had come to stand in front of Fang's cage then, staring in at him. He always seemed to know the most about the girl he loved to bother. "Where?"
"I dunno," Fang said, staring into his eyes. "Your dad took her away. Do you know where she is?"
"I know."
"Then how come you asked?"
The boy shrugged. "Wanna know if you know."
"Well, we don't," Iggy said, not one to kid around when his freaking life was on the line. "Now tell us where she and the others are. Now. Else we ain't gonna be so nice."
"You be quiet, Iggy," Fang warned again, not looking away from the boy in front of him. "Where's the others, Ari?"
"I take you."
"You'll take us? How you gonna get us out?" Iggy was never too good at following orders. Especially ones from stupid Fang. "Ari?"
"Max send. I come." The boy reached into his pocket then, holding out a set of keys.
"Max sent you?" Fang frowned, suspicious. He liked Ari and everything, but come on. He wasn't stupid. At least not fully so. "Really?"
The boy nodded. "Leave morning. Come get you."
"Leaving?" Iggy rattled the bars of his cage then. "Let us out, Ari. Now!"
"Uh-oh," Nudge giggled. "Hurry."
Ari, dutiful as ever, began to unlock their cages, ignoring the cries of all the other creatures in the room. He only ever messed with Max and her friends. His father told him that Max was pretty dang important and that he wasn't supposed to bother her much. For that reason alone he did it, as no child likes doing what they are told.
"Now what?" Iggy grumbled after Ari helped him from his cage. None of the kids thought to help the other people trapped even though they held the master key; growing up as they had, empathy wasn't their friend or even acquaintance.
"Can you take us to Max, Ari?" Fang stared at him. If Max was leaving in the morning, this was probably their last chance. Fang in all his ten years had never known a Whitecoat to be forgetful. Jeb was leaving them behind for a reason. And he didn't like it. Max, Angel, and the Gasman certainly weren't family, but they were something. And Fang planned on keeping that something.
"Mmmhmm." Ari smiled at him before turning to leave. "C'mon."
Fang looked to his right, ready to share a look with his usually ever-present friend, only she wasn't there. Dejected, he quickly moved to follow Ari, letting Nudge deal with leading the blind or in this case Iggy.
"Where is everybody?" Fang mumbled to Ari not soon after they left the room. The halls seemed pretty damn empty. They only had to hide in an alcove once and that was just for one of the Erasers was walking passed. It was on thing to get caught sneaking around by a Whitecoat, but it was a whole other to get caught by a freaking Eraser.
"I no know." Ari was no longer having fun. Erasers scared all the children, but him in particular. Where as Max and her friends were safe from their torment in most cases, Ari wasn't. Jeb was too protective over his son or so it seemed to Fang. Far more interested in Max. Always interested in Max.
Not that Fang was jealous. Because he wasn't. Max wasn't that great. Not to anyone else. Just Jeb. And Fang didn't want Jeb's attention or anything. He didn't. God.
The halls were mostly dark and Fang figured it was night. There was typically a night shift though of Whitecoats and Erasers that did their dirty business in the cover of darkness. Still, if they were going to get through without any complications, who was he to judge?
"Here," Ari said when they came to a door. "In here."
"What's in here? What is here? Fang?"
He ignored Iggy though as he moved to open the door. Turning the knob, he found it unlocked and for a sinking moment feared that Ari had led them into some kind of a trap. Growing up in a School, trust wasn't an easy thing to come by. Still, when Fang turned and looked at the younger boy's face, he couldn't even begin to think he had betrayed them. In no way did Fang trust the kid, but he didn't distrust him either. Ari fell into that murky area. It could go either way really.
"Ain't we going in?" Nudge asked Fang then, looking around. Even at seven she knew better than to just stand around. That was a sure fire way to get caught sneaking around. They did that a lot, snuck around. Not too much recently though, since Angel showed up and everything. Don't get her wrong, Nudge liked the little girl and everything. She just complicated things heavily. Little did Nudge know that the oldest boys thought that about all the younger children.
"Go in where?" Iggy was easily irritated in these kind of situations. It was a hard thing to get used to after all, not having eye sight after having it your whole life. Almost like getting your hand chopped off. Granted, it would have to be chopped off by an evil rouge scientist that went wrong somewhere along the way in hopes of helping mankind, but it was an easy drift to catch.
Fang nodded at Nudge then, still not talking to Iggy. He was a butthead after all. Slowly inching the door opened, he was shocked to find the room empty save a few boxes. Before he had a chance to turn and glare at Ari for tricking them, he smelt it. It was the strong odor of rotten eggs.
The Gasman.
"Max? Gazzy?" Fang walked slowly into the dark room, shocked when a head poked out of one of the cardboard boxes. Then when he recognized who it was, he smiled, rushing over to her side.
"Angel," he said as the toddler giggled. "What are you doing in there?"
She reached out for him to pick her up, but that was in vain as Fang never did those sorts of things. That was Max's department.
"Fang?"
The box next to Angel opened and Max climbed out. "Oh, good. You guys made it."
He just stared at her. "Are you guys playing a game? Where's Gazzy?"
"Here!"
Going over to another box, Nudge giggled as she opened the flaps to reveal the little boy. "Hi."
"Hi."
"Come on, Iggy, come in," Max called to him. And shut the door. We have to hurry."
"What's going on?" Fang asked.
"You guys are going to have to share boxes with us."
"Huh?"
"Iggy, you go with Gasman and Nudge, you go with Angel." It went without saying who Fang would be with. "There should be enough room if you squeeze."
"Where are we going though?" Fang asked again, slightly annoyed. "Max?"
"Jeb's taking us home."
"Home?" Fang repeated slowly, the word unfamiliar to him. "What do you mean?"
"He's taking us out of here," she told him hurriedly. "Tomorrow."
"To where?"
"Home."
"What's that?"
"It's where the Whitecoats go when they're not here," she told him. The she reached out and hugged him for, probably, the first time since they were little kids. He just stood still though, not moving to hug her back. It was a worthless gesture to him, but she seemed to get something out of it. "I thought you weren't coming."
"Jeb didn't get us."
"He don't want you," she told him.
Cut him deep.
"It's okay though," Max said, going over to help her into the box with Angel, even giving the little girl a kiss while she was at it. Max liked the younger kids the most or so Fang always figured. "I made Ari go get you. He's getting left behind too, I think. For awhile at least. I mean, Jeb can't leave him behind, can he?"
Fang frowned then. Ari! He had forgotten to thank the boy. Turning to do so, Fang found the door shut and only the Flock left in the room. Where had the little boy gone off to? Maybe if Fang knew that was the alst time he'd ever see the boy for a long time and the last time that the two were even remotely friendly with one another he might have grieved a little more than he did. At the moment though, he was more concerned with getting everyone settled in their boxes, his brain quickly shifting back to attack mode. Somewhere in his subconscious, he honestly thought that Jeb would bring Ari along. Why wouldn't he? If this home was what Max said it was, that was the exact place you'd take your only son.
"What were you guys thinking?" Max whispered to Fang not soon after they were all snug in their own box. They were cramped in there really and probably should have switched out so they were each with one of the younger children, but neither wanted to. There was much to discuss, after all.
"That you guys left us to die."
"Oh." Max smiled at him in the darkness. "You know I wouldn't do that."
"How come you were so sure that Jeb wasn't going to come get us?"
"Because he told me he wasn't," Max said bluntly, not needing to worry about his feelings. "He said all he needed was the three of us. I tried to argue, but he wasn't in too good a mood."
"He ain't ever."
Max shrugged. "I just knew I had to get you guys. If Ari didn't get it done, I wouldn't have gone. I'd have gotten out of the box and went to get you myself."
"Why are we in boxes anyways?"
"Jeb said that these other boxes are full of stuff that he'd delivering somewhere. He said that they'll put us on the truck and that people will think we're cars that go."
"Go where?"
"That's what he called it. Cargo."
"Hmmm." Fang shifted slightly in the box, Max's dirty socks not smelling too good to him. It beat the heck out of what Iggy was going to have to put up with the whole way there though. "So this home then."
"Jeb makes it sound real cool," Max assured him, nodding her head in that posed way she had. It was so much different than Iggy's façade of confidence. Hers were genuine. Fang knew that from experience. "Says that we won't be in cages."
"We won't?"
"Nope."
"There where will we sleep?" This was an honest worry of Fang's. They had only ever lived in cages and other cells. The thought of something else worried him. In his experience, things didn't get better; they only got worse.
"In beds."
"Like the things they cut us open on?"
Max frowned as she had not thought of that. "He didn't make it sound bad."
"I dunno, Max. This place don't sound too good."
"There's more stuff though, Fang."
"Like what?"
"Something called TV, he said."
"What's that?"
"He said it's like those little box things they're always messing with, but better."
"Computers?"
She shrugged. "I guess."
"Max," he scolded. "Computers is where they keep info on us."
"I know that."
"Well these TVs just sound worse than those."
"He said you watch them."
"Like the cameras they tape us with?"
"Shut up, Fang," she hissed at him. "You're trying to ruin everything."
"I don't wanna leave here," Fang told her then. They had been transferred to other Schools before, but this home place sounded like the crème de crème of torture chambers. "I don't wanna."
'Well, you have to, so get over it. Jeb told us me-"
"Told you," Fang repeated dryly. "He was gonna leave me here, Max. Me, Iggy, and Nudge. We ain't no good and he was going to leave us because of it."
"No."
"Yes, he was." Fang already had his knees pulled to his chest when he moved to lay his head down on top of them. "He was going to leave us. What if this place ain't got no room for us?"
"Then we'll share a cage."
"You said they won't have-"
"A bed then," she retorted. "Stop being difficult."
"I ain't tryin' to be," he reasoned. "I'm just-"
"If you don't want to go, Fang, 'cause you're a big scaredy cat-"
"I am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too, are too, are too!"
He let out a long huff then, glaring heavily at the girl he had only moment ago been so happy to see. "You don't know nothing, Max."
"Then stay. I don't want you to go anymore."
"Maybe I will then. Stay."
"Good."
"It'll be a lot better without you. I'll be lots happier."
'I'll be happy that you'll be happy."
"Alright then."
"Fine."
Neither moved to open the flaps though and let him out. Instead Fang just shifted away from her, not too happy with his valiant leader anymore.
At some point Fang must have drifted off. When he awoke, he could hear the sound of tape as someone no doubt closed the box. His eyes fell to Max who was holding a finger to her lips, wanting him to stay silent. Then, nodding at three little holes on the bottom, she mouthed something about breathing. Fang just nodded, his dark eyes staying locked with her brown ones as suddenly the box was lifted and carried. He could only hope that Iggy had been able to keep Gazzy silent and that the girls were in too deep a sleep to make a sound.
They were carried for a while, all the children getting jostled mercilessly. Still, Fang and Max remained silent and touched a little as possible. They were both angry with one another and it showed. Fang just couldn't understand how Max didn't see this as a bad thing. By the same token, she couldn't grasp how he didn't realize what a good thing it was. Forever polar opposites.
"When we get to the home," Max whispered after they had been placed on what they assumed was a truck and all was quiet. "You stay far away from me."
"Gladly."
"'cause you ruin everything."
"Whatever."
Their eyes locked again for a moment before Fang shifted, looking off. "You say a home is where the scientists go when they ain't here, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Then this is our home," he told her. "We don't like it much, but it is."
"It's not a good home," Max told him simply, Stockholm clearly not a syndrome she suffered from. "Jeb can give us one."
"I don't think so."
"That's why I'm leader, Fang," she told him simply as they were suddenly lurched forwards, the truck they had been loaded into now in motion. "Because you can't make good decisions for yourself. I can. I always have and always will."
"Guess so," he muttered, still not meeting her eyes. She had a point after all. She was the one that made all the tough choices in his life. Ever since he could remember. "I just don't wanna be goin' somewhere worser than her."
"The place won't be worser, Fang," she insisted. "Jeb says-"
"Jeb says, Jeb says." Fang had had about enough out of her and her precious Jeb. "Jeb was going to leave me behind, Max. Why should I trust him?"
"Because I do," she told him simply. "And you trust me, don't you?"
That was a no brainer.
"Then you trust my decisions," she said when he gave a slight nod. "And I'm choosing this."
"You're leader," he mumbled. "But leaders aren't always right."
"I'm wrong sometimes," Max admitted. "And if I'm not wrong about this. You just have to trust me. You said that you do."
"I do."
"Then stop being difficult."
"I'll try."
It was a long time for the two of them, sitting there in silken from that point forth until the truck finally stopped moving. The second it had though, they heard a car door slam no doubt from the cab of the truck and then the sound of the sliding door behind open. Of course Jeb opened Max's box first. Of course.
"What the hell have you done, Max?"
She and Fang were both blinking in the suddenly light. "Tryin' to sleep."
"What is he doing here?"
Max looked to Fang. "I brought him. And Iggy and Nudge. We're family. Forever."
"You brought them all," Jeb said slowly.
"Well, duh." Max stood from the box, yawning. "Are we home yet?"
"No, just on the side of the road. Stay in your box."
"I don't wanna."
"Sit."
Grumbling, Max did so. "Well, I'm sure the others want out too."
"Why did you bring him, Max? Any of them? I told you-"
"You told me to leave them," she said. "But before that you told me they were mine. My Flock. That I was their leader. A leader don't leave people behind. Ever."
"And who taught you that?"
"No one."
"That's right, Max. Because everyone's left you behind your whole life. You-"
"I've been left behind 'cause ain't nobody ever gonna lead me." She was nothing if she wasn't cocky. "And I'll never leave myself behind. So I'm fine."
Fang looked up at Jeb's face and, though it was partially shaded by the sunlight, he could see enough to tell that the anger he clearly had had about Max stowing the others away was fading into something else. Something he hadn't seen much of in his life. Admiration? No. Pride? Maybe.
"So they can stay then?" Max asked after a moment. "Huh?"
Jeb was silent for a moment, watching the two of them. Then slowly, he began to shut the box again. "A person isn't much, I suppose, without their shadow."
This one really got away from me. Had two different parts to it, one saved on the computer and one saved on a flashdrive from writing during school, and didn't realize how long it was until I put them together. It's not long by any account for me, but for this story it's a little lengthy. Anyways, I'm thinking two more short chapters of this and then I'm done. Hope they don't take as long to get up.