Hello my fellow readers! Thanks for reviewing the last chapter. I hope you guys liked it. Sorry I've been giving you guys nothing but cliffhangers, but I've gotta stop the story at an interesting part so I could leave the story more suspenseful. But I don't think that this chapter will have a cliffhanger-like ending. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And don't forget to review!
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"Jesse!" Miles called out, staggering to his feet.
Jesse gasped. "Miles! What in the world happened to you?" she asked, running to his side, helping him up a little. She looked up at Fang and I and then over at the bloodthirsty Erasers. "Did they do this to you?" she asked Miles.
"Its okay, Jesse. I'll be fine," Miles told her.
The tallest bloodthirsty Eraser growled turning their attention to the smallest Eraser, who still had the younger kids in their clutches.
"You know what to do, Son," it told the smallest Eraser.
Son? I didn't know Erasers could have kids.
Must be another version. Eraser parents, the voice said inside my head while I held in a small chuckle.
The small Eraser nodded its head to the taller Eraser—who, I guess was its mom or dad—and dropped Kat, Nudge, Mini, and Dash to the ground, charging towards us on all fours.
"Max! Fang!" Angel called out as the bloodthirsty Eraser charged after us.
Fang and I both got into a fighting stance as the Eraser dashed our way. It reached out its right claw, slashing it our way, but Fang and I quickly split apart so that the might claw missed both of us. Fang quickly shot the Eraser with a windmill kick while I crouched to the ground, sliding my foot, knocking the Eraser in the legs.
The Eraser fell flat on the ground, but wasn't going down that easily. It quickly got back up to its feet, grabbing onto both of my shoulders and pinning me hard against the nearest wall. A clamorous bang was heard throughout the house while a few pictures that hung against the wall fell and snapped into many pieces.
The Eraser bared its penetrating teeth as it snapped right in my face as if trying to scare the crap out of me. I gave it a face that showed I wasn't scared, kicking him square in the chest. He wheezed for a second, but then looked back at me, punching me right in the face and finishing me off with a kick right in my stomach.
I breathed in a large gulp of air, my lungs feeling completely empty as I fell to the ground. The Eraser looked down at me and cackled until Fang sent a powerful punch right in the left cheek.
The Eraser staggered backwards until it got back its balance and slashed its mighty claws at Fang, who was dodging them with great speed and agility that surprised even me.
When did he get so quick?
The Eraser then began to tire of throwing its claws at Fang, trying to rip him apart and missing badly so it moved to jumping up in the air and pouncing on him.
Fang was down, an Eraser that probably out-weighed him by 150 pounds snapping at his face. Fang tried with all him might to keep the Eraser from biting his face off, but the Eraser seemed too strong.
"Fang!" I tried getting up, my breathing to slow and heavy.
"Fang!" the younger kids yelled, about to get up and run to his side before the full-grown Eraser grabbed hold of them, knocking them hard against he ground that made them slip out of consciousness.
I gasped, watching as my little Angel, Gasman, and Nudge left us and drifted into a long sleep. My babies. My family. And I couldn't do anything about it.
"Max!"
I turned towards Miles, who was now on his feet as if he had just made a full recovery. "Take care of Jesse. Make sure the Erasers don't hurt her."
I looked at Miles as if he were crazy. "What are you going to do?" I asked him, but he didn't answer.
Miles quickly spread out his dark wings, revealing them to Jesse, who gazed at them with amazement. He glanced behind his back, giving a determined smile and a wink before he flew towards the Eraser and Fang at an incredibly amazing speed that almost made me fall over.
Miles charged towards the Eraser with great force, smacking into him, and knocking him on the wooden ground so that they were in the same position Fang and the Eraser were in earlier, with Miles on top.
"This is for messing with my friends," he growled at the Eraser, raising his right fist, targeted at its face. The Eraser yelped as it saw Miles' fist coming down hard on its face, blood gushing out, splattering all over Miles' already-soaking-with-blood black T-Shirt. "This is for kicking the crap out of me," he screamed, sending another punch to the Erasers nose, making it crack in place. Miles then raised both of his hands, clasping them together and holding them above the Eraser's chest. "And this is for jacking up my hair," he stated angrily, sending his two clasped fist down hard, smacking against the Erasers chest.
The Eraser wheezed and coughed up blood until its eyes began to flutter shut as it fell unconscious.
"Alright, Miles!" I cheered, finally rising to my feet. Miles gave me a smile until he turned his attention back to Fang, who slowly rose to his feet, not taking his penetrating glare off of Miles.
Miles gave him a smirk, placing his hands on his hips. "Well, I think I deserve a little gratification for saving your sorry little ass."
Fang walked towards him, folding his arms over his chest. "The only thing you deserve is a kick in the ass." He spat.
Miles' mouth dropped as he gasped dramatically. "After I save you from practically getting your face chewed off, that's the thanks I get?" he asked. Fang nodded his head while Miles gave him a glare.
I rolled my eyes, about to stop the boys from saying anything else before their little feud got ugly, until I felt something hit me against the head; hard.
I fell to the ground; my head throbbing with excruciating pain as I turned to see who it was that hit me. My eyes widened in shock as I saw the person behind me with a golden candlestick in their hands, which was probably the hard thing that hit me.
"Jesse?"
Jesse gave me a sympathetic, yet serious glare that sent shivers down my spine. "Sorry, Max, but orders are orders."
Orders? What in the world was she talking about?
The taller Eraser looked at both of us. "You don't really think that we'd take in total strangers, do you? No way. We already knew about you and your little friends."
Holy crap. So, Jane was an Eraser? And the little Eraser . . . that was Michael!
"Oh, my God," I said in shock, looking at Eraser Michael and Eraser Jane back and forth. "Then you are—all of you are—oh, my God!"
Jesse gave me a small smile, walking towards me. "It's not all that bad, Max. I mean, sure we were experimented on at the School and given absolutely horrible test that left tainted emotional scares. But it was all worth it." She looked at her hands as she clenched them into fist. "Now, I feel more powerful than ever."
Suddenly, Jesse was hit against the head with a broken piece of picture frame that was thrown by Miles.
"You're a sick person, Jesse," he told her, giving her a dark glare.
Jesse smiled sweetly. "Aww, you don't have to sweet-talk me, Miles. I know you're disappointed. But, to be honest," Jesse stopped for a moment as she began to form into the hairy creatures that we've feared all our lives right in front of us, her clothes ripping and falling to the ground as she growled and howled her mighty Eraser call before looking back at Miles. "I never liked you."
She then charged after Miles, her claws sharpened as she brought them above her head, reading to come in contact with his face, until Fang swooped in front of Miles, taking the attack.
He screamed a traitorous yell that made my heart stop. His shirt tore open, revealing four scratches in the middle of his chest that seeped out blood. He covered his scratches with his hands as they stained with blood, falling to his knees.
I glared at Eraser Jesse, spreading my wings out and flying towards her using my sonic fast speed. My body collided with hers as we crashed right through the living room window, ending up outside in the front yard.
Glass stuck to my pajamas and some pieces even cut through my skin, but I was too furious to think about that. I punched Jesse right in the face, but she shook it off and punched me back. I glared at her, sending a kick to her right ribcage, hearing a satisfying crack. Jesse coughed up small drops of blood mixed with saliva while she clutched her side. She then scratched the side of my face, leaving three, red scratches.
I glared at her, grabbing her by the head and smacking it into the dirt ground. She struggled to break free and I felt like I was going to win this battle, until I felt sharp claws cut through the back of my pajama shirt, tearing it open into five cut lines.
I turned to see Jane slashing at me. I tried getting away, but the pain from my back was too horrible to bear, I couldn't move.
"This is the end for you, young Maximum Ride," Jane growled evilly. "Jeb will be mighty pleased when we bring you and your little flock back to the School. Very pleased indeed."
Suddenly, a loud howl arose from Jane's muzzle as she fell to the ground. I looked down at her in confusion as I saw a giant hole in the middle of her back, revealing her spinal cord. (I think that's what you call it. The bone for your spine. Correct me if I'm wrong.)
My eyes then trailed off from Jane's dead body to see Iggy and Conner high-fiving each other.
"Nice shot Conner," Iggy complimented while Conner gave him a smile.
"Iggy! Conner!" I yelled, running their side until I was stopped by being pulled back by Eraser Jesse.
She wrapped a hairy Eraser hand over my mouth while her free arm was wrapped around my neck. "Your friends may have killed my mother, but that's not going to stop me from killing you."
"Leave Max alone!"
I looked to see Angel, Gasman, and Mini standing next to Iggy and Conner.
Jesse let out a small laugh. "What are you three going to do? You're just kids."
Suddenly, I felt a chill of air blow towards us. Jesse felt it too and turned to see where it came from, only to get socked on both sides of her face at least three times before I escaped from her grasp with the help of Dash.
He crossed his arms and gave me a proud smile. "All about the speed," he said with a smirk.
Jesse growled as she charged towards us, but suddenly tripped, falling flat on her face. Giggles were heard as Mini revealed herself from behind Jesse with Angel in front of her, looking down at her.
"You're going to fall into a deep sleep for about a week and you'll forget you ever met us," she told Jesse.
"What the f—" but Jesse wasn't able to finish the rest, since she obeyed Angel's orders and fell into a deep sleep.
I looked back at all the little kids and gave them grateful smiles. "Great teamwork you guys." I thanked. They all rewarded me with a smile.
"Max!" I heard Nudge yell.
Kat poked her head through the broken window. "Fang's hurt!" she yelled, panic in her voice.
Oh, my God! Fang!
We all quickly ran back inside the house. I completely forgot that Jesse sliced Fang's stomach. That idiot! He just jumped in front of Miles and took the attack for him. Ugh! I don't care if it was to protect Miles, didn't he learn his lesson the last time that he almost didn't survive when Ari sliced him open.
When we made it inside the house, I looked down at Fang, who was holding onto Miles' shoulders for support as he got to his feet.
"You freakin' idiot! Stay down! You're really hurt and you shouldn't be standing!" Miles yelled at him.
Fang gave him a smirk. "You were in worse condition than I was earlier and you're still standing," he shot back.
"That still doesn't mean its okay for you to start moving," I told him. "You need to lie down, Fang. You're in really bad condition."
"I've been in worse," he told me.
Don't remind me.
"Just, lie down. Please." I begged.
Fang looked at me like he was trying to tell me telepathically that he was okay, but I gave him a stern look that told him that if he didn't listen to me, then he was really going to get it later, which totally worked. (Sigh) I'm getting better and better at this leader thing than I thought.
"What the hell were you thinking? That attack was meant for me, but you just jumped in and took the blow! You're such a moron!" Miles yelled at Fang.
"You're welcome!" he said sarcastically.
Miles huffed, giving Fang a glare. "I could've asked for your help, you know. You didn't have to step into the fight in order to protect me."
"And yet, I did anyway," Fang said in a mocking tone.
Miles' face turned red with anger, which slowly turned into a flushed blush.
Whoa! Miles was blushing!?!
"Thanks anyway," he said in a tone that could be mistaken as a whisper.
Fang looked surprised at what Miles said as a small smile crept across his lips. "No problem, dude."
Okay, this was weird. Just a few seconds ago, Miles was screaming furiously at Fang while Fang was giving Miles death glares and mocking remarks and now, Miles is blushing and Fang is smiling. And they're being nice to each other now! What the hell is going on?
Maybe they're gay, the Voice said, chuckling slightly.
That's the difference between you and me, Voice. I stand here completely clueless while you speak out stupid remarks or answers.
Hey, it's better than sitting there clueless
I sighed.
Miles looked up at me and then looked over at the still unconscious Eraser Michael. "I think we should head-out before 'little' Michael wakes up."
I looked back down at Fang. His wounds were still bleeding slightly, but were beginning to cease.
He noticed me looking at his wounds and got up from the ground with no problem. "I'll be fine enough to fly, Max," he reported.
I looked at Miles and then at the rest of the flock before I looked back at Fang.
"Alright. We'll head-out, but where to?" I asked.
"I think there's this park close by that I took the younger kids to. It's right across the street from a theater. We could sleep there for the night," Miles recommended.
I clasped my hands together as I got up from the ground. "The park it is."
We all headed out of the Eraser family house and soared into the night sky until we came across a large building that a tall sign indicated, 'Oxnard Performing Arts Center'. (I think that's what it's called.) To think places like these would be closed, but, get this, the gates were actually open and so was the theater.
I was big. Really big. And so warm and toasty which was good since we just freezed out butts off flying here. The little kids all picked a chair to snuggle in while the bigger kids slept on the red carpet ground, which, I had to admit, was actually pretty comfortable.
We all said goodnight to each other and stacked fist while Miles' flock gave each other high-fives and ruffled each others hair. Strange thing to do before you go to sleep, but, oh well. I guess it was just something they were use to.
I slept close to Fang and so did Miles, making sure that he was alright.
"I'm fine guys. Really," he told us.
I looked over at Miles, who just gave me a shrug and wrapped his arms around Kat and Mini, stroking their hair until they fell asleep in his arms. I couldn't help but smile at the adorable image as I slowly began to drift asleep, feeling safe and secure that I had my beloved family by my side.
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Phew. That took a while. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Get ready for the next one, which I'll post as soon as possible. But, until then, peace out!