Cheating Death – Chapter 24

By MyNameIsCAL

Jeb rang the doorbell at midnight. The flock was still here, and I answered it tiredly.

"Can I come in?"

I moved out of his way and he hurried in. All of us were still awake.

"I need to talk to all of you, quickly," he said in rush.

We gathered around the kitchen table and he put his briefcase on it.

And then he pulled out a gun, shooting me in the chest. I looked down. There wasn't blood. Instead, it was a nice little dart.

I collapsed to the floor hearing five other swooshes.

I woke up in a cage, thinking this was some kind of nightmare, but it wasn't.

"Oh my God, Fang!" Nudge was in a cage across from me. "Are you okay?"

I tried lifting my head, but pain overwhelmed me.

"Max! Fang's awake!"

"Fang!"

Max was next to me in another cage.

"Fang, are you okay?" she asked me.

I lifted my head, the pain was dying down.

"You hit your head on the table when you fell," Max told me. "Iggy's still out because Jeb shot him twice and Gazzy isn't here."

Angel, what the fuck happened?

There was no response.

Crap.

"Fang, say something."

I sat up and stuck my arm through the cage, taking Max's hand. "I'm alright, Max."

She leaned her hand against one of the bars, letting out a breath.

First Angel, now Gazzy. What am I going to do? They're going to expect me to have a plan even though we haven't done anything in years. I'm not ready for this. No one should ever have to be ready for this.

That wasn't Angel's voice. I shut my eyes and I felt Max's grip tighten on my hand.

Fang, please be okay.

"I'll be okay," I heard myself respond.

She blinked. Now I'm imagining things.

"Imagining what?"

Max hesitated to ask. "Are you reading my mind?"

"I guess so," I mumbled. "I…I didn't mean to."

She shook her head.

"I can't get Angel to answer me," I muttered. "But she always kept your thoughts from me. I could read them if she wanted me to…She must not be trying to stop me now, or something's happened."

But reading people's minds was like having voices in your head. I couldn't block them out and my head was starting to hurt, making Max all concerned. I wanted to shut their thoughts out. How could Angel stand this?

"Fang…"

"Hey, Fang!"

"Can you all think about nothing?" I let go of Max's hand and covered my ears, leaning against the cage. "Please."

"Shh…Fang." Max ran her fingers through my hair. Here, talk to me. You can hear me, right?

I nodded. Yes, I can.

This is…different, she replied. Angel always had stuff to say about my thoughts.

What do you mean?

Well, most of the time, my thoughts were about you, and well, Angel was always interested in my thoughts about you.

But half the stuff you think about me I already know.

That's why it's different.

"Hey, guys, I don't mean to interrupt your conversation, but someone is coming," Nudge whispered.

I looked up. The thoughts rushing back into my head again, keeping me lying down against the cage.

See if you can hear anything from that white coat, Max seemed to whisper to me.

I nodded and focused on him, but there was nothing. It was like he was dead. I told Max, closing my eyes as the white coat spoke.

"You'll have a chance to redeem yourselves," the white coat growled. "But first we're going to run a few tests. You're first!"

He unlocked Max's cage and dragged her out. I watched helplessly.

I'll be okay, Fang. And that was the last I heard from her until she returned bloodied and bruised.

Iggy came around when Max was gone. He seemed a little dazed and still a little bit drowsy, trying to make sense of everything. Nudge explained to him what happened and he sat up, yawning.

"What, you can hear everything I'm thinking?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah, pretty much."

He blinked a few times. "That's…creepy."

I resisted the urge to get angry. Or maybe I was too weak for that.

"We'll be back in the morning!"

The white coat was back, shoving Max into her cage. Again, there was nothing from him.

I'm okay, Max assured me, and then out loud. "I saw Gazzy. He's alive, but I couldn't talk to him."

"What did they do to you?" Iggy asked because he couldn't see. I tried concentrating on Max's voice, but still, the other thoughts found their way in. We weren't the only ones here, and that didn't surprise me, but at least the thoughts I could hear the strongest came from Max, Iggy, and Nudge.

Max shivered. "They said we can save Gazzy and Angel. That if we pass their test, they'll let us go."

"That's a load of bullshit," I grunted.

"Well, we're going to have to play their game for a while if we're going to get out of here." Max reached for my hand. "And hope for the best when we've done what they want."

Thanks for reading! More soon!