I groaned in agony and tried to take the pain away from my leg. The hard cave walls and floor seemed to be cutting into me at all angles and I couldn't breathe. Some healing powers would come in handy right about now, I thought to myself.
On top of that, I had no idea where the flock had gotten to and couldn't stop myself worrying. If only I could get myself the hell out of here then I could find them and everything would be good.
If they were still kickin', where the heck were they? I mean, here I am sitting in a cave and heavily injured with no food or water, and they're not looking for me? They obviously must have some good reason – hopefully not one that involved any of them being harmed – but dang, could I go for a huge cheeseburger right then.
We had been separated only maybe a day ago – well, it was daytime when I fell asleep and it's daytime now, so that's what I'm going by, anyways. Flyboys were attacking.
Sitting here, though, isolated, wishing Fang would show up with the flock and – ugh – rescue me, the whole event seemed like a huge, unrealistic dream. We'd been in the middle of fighting the huge swarm of flyboys that had decided to drop in on our nice gathering when I'd gotten surrounded and beat up a little too badly.
I was bleeding, and heavily, and was pretty sure I'd broken my leg. There were flyboys surrounding me, I couldn't see the flock…and then, suddenly, I was away from the fight. Someone who had been holding me had laid me here in the cave.
"Fang," I had muttered, to my extreme embarrassment.
"No, nitwit, it's me." Max II. I had seen her when the flyboys landed. How she could still be working for Itex was completely mind-blowing. Like, evil organization, hellooo. The look in her eyes when she landed was not one that looked like she was going to kill us all, though. Maybe she had been sent here, or something?
I didn't bother trying to wrap my mind around it. The more important issue was my flock and the danger I had been in moments before.
"What are you doing with me?" I demanded harshly.
It seemed as if she had come to my rescue. Whatever she had been wearing was stained with what looked suspiciously like my blood. This was not good.
"I don't want to just leave you here, but if we wait for the flyboys, you're going to be dead meat," she said. "If the flyboys think I'm you they'll attack me instead. I'll kick their butts and I'll get your little friends to come get you after, if you haven't managed to screw it up somehow already. Got it?"
I was confused. "Why are you trying to help me?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Do you want me to kill you now instead?"
"Like you could."
"Look at you, laying there all wounded on the floor. Come on, you couldn't even handle a few robots and you think you can take me on? Please." With that, she abruptly jumped out of the cave and down to where I assumed the fight was still going on.
Hours passed, and I grew more concerned. Either the flock had been taken back to the school, or they had managed to hold off the flyboys for now. So right now I either had to save them or wonder why they didn't care that I wasn't there.
Maybe something more serious was going on – maybe somebody else had gotten hurt. Maybe they needed to go the – gulp – hospital again, and were forced to leave me behind. This was assuming they knew where I was.
That was when I realized how stupid I had actually been. Max II had set me up. Instead of taking me to the school, she'd caught me at my weakest and left me somewhere to die. Then she'd either convince the flock not to look for me or have her little drone army lock them up.
Basically, any way you looked at it, I was screwed.
--
"I think we should go for a flight."
Angel could barely register that Fang had spoken – she'd grown accustomed to his silence lately.
Everyone, a little in shock, kind of nodded their heads, and they walked out the front door and around the house, where they could take off and fly where nobody could see them.
As Fang was taking off, Nudge suddenly shouted, "No!"
He only looked at her quizzically.
She seemed embarrassed, but continued. "I mean, I don't think we should fly without Max. It seems…wrong. I won't do it."
"Does that mean you're not going to fly ever again?" Iggy voice was bitingly sarcastic.
Nudge just shook her head adamantly.
Angel heard Fang debating in his head over what to say, and thought he might have sighed a little.
"Nudge, do you think Max would have wanted you to stop flying?" Angel could tell he really didn't want to use that card. It seemed to solidify things in his mind, making their lives like some cheesy Full House episode.
Slowly Nudge shook her head, arguing with herself. "She wouldn't but…it's still wrong, Fang. What if she's still alive and we're off flying?"
Fang's expression became grim. "Nudge, you saw –"
"I know I saw, but it could have been –"
"You guys, STOP," Angel said, not able to bear it anymore. "Max is alive. Max isn't dead."
Fang closed his eyes and sighed again. "Angel, I know you're hurting right now. We all are, but –"
"But I know it, Fang!" she shouted, tears coming to her eyes. "I know it! I'm not lying. I don't know how she did it, but…but…"
Fang gripped Angel's shoulders. "She was fighting a flyboy and her neck snapped, Angel. There's no way you can recover from that, unless you happen to be a mutant wolf controlled by an evil organization."
Angel cried harder. "She's alive, Fang! We need to find her!"
In his mind, he was firmly resisting the urge to shake her. Instead, he looked her squarely in the eyes and still avoided her comment.
"We're going inside, guys. We'll fly another day."
--
I shoved myself up, grimacing. I could do this. Find the flock, recover, get food, save them…except not in that order.
Using the cave wall to support myself, I maneuvered my way to the cave entrance, where my leg gave out and I collapsed, grimacing. When I looked up, though, there was a bigger reason to be horrified. A scene of total destruction lay before me. Dead – broken flyboys lay all over, metal limbs torn from their bodies with wires covering the ground. I could see dark blood stains in various places, which made me worry about the flock even more.
I hobbled out into the scene and noticed something odd off to the side.
It looked odd, because it was the only color I could see anywhere near. When I came closer, I realized there were piles and piles of wildflowers gathered around a patch of raised ground. Lying on the dirt were 6 feathers all arranged in a kind of a star, and I realized there was one for each of the flock. I saw the white of Angel's wings, the brown of Nudge's, the midnight black of Fang's, the gray of Iggy's, and the light tan color of Gazzy's, all resting together. There was another, in the center, that I recognized as my own, mixed tan and white and black.
A horrible thought shot through me then – were the flock buried here? I noticed a note lying on the ground next to the feathers and was almost scared to read it in case it confirmed my fear. My stomach clenching, I picked it up and read:
Here lies Maximum Ride, leader, mother, daughter.
I almost gasped. I wasn't dead. I was sitting right here. Did that mean Max II… I stopped thinking about it, turning back to the note, recognizing Fang's neat handwriting.
Dear Max,
That beginning sounded corny, but we've never written anything like this before. Basically, Maximum Ride, the one person we can't live without, is gone forever. She's here, under all these ridiculous flowers. Sorry, Max, wherever you are, if you can see this, but Angel insisted we get flowers and put them here. Hope you can't smell them down there – up there – wherever.
We know you can't read this, but in case you're looking down from wherever, we all just wanted to write something…commemorate you – her – whoever's going to read this needs to know this, that Maximum Ride was a brilliant, brave, strong, caring person who was important to all of us.
We wanted to say that we're going to miss her, never forget her, though we might try sometimes. That everything she meant to us, everything we did together, everything -
After that, the handwriting changed and I remembered Nudge's curly scrawl. The paper was stained with tears.
Fang won't write this anymore. Says he can't. But Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and I wanted to say that Max was the one person we can – could – count on since ever. She saved us, she fed us, she clothed us, she was like our mom. I hope wherever she is she's not still worrying about us. She deserves a break.
We don't know what to say anymore. All of us are crying now, except for Fang, except he's barely opened his mouth since he was digging the grave. Since he's not talking, I'll talk for him. He loved her – he loved you, Max. Well, we all loved you. But, you know, you guys were best friends and…well, I'd probably just be lying to make you feel better if I said Fang's going to smile ever again. Iggy won't crack a joke for a long while, Gazzy won't make a bomb, I might not even talk…let's just hope Angel will start breathing through all the crying.
This could go on for hours – you know me. We love you so much, Max. We still can't believe you're gone. If anyone ever reads this, think about the kind of person you are and know that Max was ten times better than you'll ever be.
Goodbye,
The Flock.
My breathing was shallow and strained. There was no doubt this was written by the flock…they thought I was dead. The had no idea that I was sitting there, waiting for them.
Then I realized what I should have gotten instinctively. They were sure I was dead. That meant there was a body. That meant –
I dug into the ground, knowing what I was going to find.
Sure enough, I found her. When I did, I could barely look, and despite the fact that I'd never really liked Max II, it hurt to see her blank and unseeing eyes. I found myself tearing up – she had died to save me, died to keep the flock from losing me.
And the flock thought I was dead anyway.
I took the note they had written, folded it, and put it in my pocket. It hurt me to be reminded of their sadness, but it served as a motivator. I needed to find them. I needed to get to them and tell them I wasn't dead. The problem was finding them – Fang was in charge ,and I knew he would do what was best for everyone while I was gone.
It didn't seem to me like a big deal right then – the flock though I was gone, but I knew I wasn't, of course. But then I realized – what must Fang, Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy be thinking? What if Fang really wasn't smiling, and Nudge wasn't talking, and Gazzy wasn't making bombs, and Iggy wasn't cracking jokes?
This wasn't about finding them. This was about saving them. In a weird, twisted way.
Flock, here I come.
-o0o-o0o-o0o-o0o-
Fang flew higher and higher, letting the wind ruffle his feathers, disappearing into the night. Right now, he didn't care about the flock, he didn't care about Max, he didn't care about anything. He was nothing, he was invisible, just a dark shape moving through a dark sky.
The feeling wasn't good, exactly, but the nothingness was almost a reprieve from everything else he'd been feeling the past few days. He needed an escape from all the grief, the emptiness…so if the flock wouldn't let him fly with him, he would do it by himself.
As he flew higher and the sky grew blacker, Fang started getting colder. Soon, his body was like an icicle. It was okay, though – the numbness on the outside matched that of his insides.
Fang, where are you? It was Angel, calling him.
He didn't reply, but flew faster, farther away from the house.
Fang? We need you here. Please.
How had she known he was going to run away? He hadn't even thought it. Soon, he would be far enough away that she couldn't read his mind at all.
Sorry, Angel, he thought, stopping and turning back to the house, then sped away again.
He didn't know where he was going. Somewhere far away. Somewhere he could stay the night and get away from the flock, their grief, their pity, their anger. No. He needed to be by himself, just for once.