Fang swooped above the tree tops faster and faster. How long had he been looking for Max? Ten, fifteen minutes? It seemed like an eternity. He looked down at the trees, hoping to see some sort of sign; a flash of cocoa brown fur, a rustling branch, even . . . a moan of pain. Fang shuttered and shook the thought out of his mind.
Finally, at the center of the forest he spotted an unmoving, dirty brown lump. Fang immediately dove towards it at top speed, flaring his black wings out at the last second. He hit the ground hard, but managed to stay upright. In the middle of a small clearing, lay Max.
Fang rushed over to his friend's side. Her fur was matted and sticky with blood. The ground was stained red. Max's breathing was rapped and irregular, and it shuddered in her chest. Fang franticly felt for a pulse. He finally found it, a faint, weak rhythm on her neck.
"Max, oh Max." Fang whispered as he saw the huge bite marks in her arm. Blood seeped out of it and onto the ground, where it was absorbed. His eyes teared. How could he have let this happen?! Fang reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pull out Dr. Martinez's cell phone, which he had grabbed on the way out of the house. Hang on Max.
"Hello?" Dr. Martinez's voice called sleepily from the other end of the phone.
"Dr. Martinez, this is Fang. I've found Max. She's hurt really bad."
"Oh no. Fang, describe the injury to me. Leave nothing out."
"Well, to start, she's sort of half-Eraser, half-human." Dr. Martinez inhaled deeply.
"Continue." she requested.
"There is a big chunk of flesh missing from her arm; I mean a REALLY big piece. She's lying on her side in pool of blood. Oh, and she's unconscious."
"Fang, I want you to find a piece of cloth, anything, and press it into the wound. Apply as much pressure as you need to to stop the bleeding. I am coming to pick you up. Where are you?"
"I'm in the middle of the forest behind your house. Not sure where."
"There's a park behind the forest. I am going to drive over there and then come find you. Also, I am sending your family out to find you. And most importantly, DO NOT LEAVE MAX."
Dr. Martinez hung up the phone, leaving Fang - and Max - alone in the forest. Fang ripped a piece of his black t-shirt off and stuffed it into Max's wound. The dark cloth turned darker as it soaked up blood. Fang had been sitting with Max for about three minutes when he heard Iggy's voice ringing out over the tree tops.
"Fang!" Iggy called. He was echoed by Nudge's, Gazzy's, Angel's, and even Total's voices.
"I'm over here!" Fang cried back, his voice thick with tears.
Iggy's acute hearing homed in on Fang's voice like a missile and soon the other members of the Flock landed in the clearing.
"Fang!" Angel cried and ran over to him. Tears were running down her cheeks. She hugged him tightly. Nudge and Gazzy came over and joined in until Iggy pulled all three of them away.
"How bad is it?" Iggy asked.
"Really bad." Fang replied. "Angel? Could you try to send Iggy a mental image?"
"I've never done it before, but I'll try." Angel frowned and appeared to be concentrating really hard. "Did it work?" she asked Iggy.
"Yeah, it did." Iggy was crying.
"Fang? Nudge asked. "Is Max going to . . . die?"
Fang looked at her sadly. "I don't know."
By the time Dr. Martinez had reached the park, the five members of the Flock had transported Max's limp body out of the forest and into the parking lot. Fang was worried. Max was losing more and more Eraser hair and becoming more and more human. But the human Max was deathly pale, like all of her blood had leaked out of her body, which it probably had.
Max's body, which was very corpse-like, was lifted into the back to the Martinez's van, and Dr. Martinez rushed them away to the veterinary clinic where she worked. Fang sat next to Max in the back, gently stroking her hair and trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. The ride seemed to last forever, but finally, they pulled into the parking lot of the "Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic."
After that, Dr. Martinez was all business. She brought out a small silver gurney and placed Max's body on it. Since it was designed for animals, Max's long legs hung off of one end and her hair off of the other. Fang walked by the gurney the entire time, holding Max's clammy hand. Please be alright Max. I don't know what I'd do without you.
Max was wheeled into a white operating room. Fang froze for a brief second, inhaling the traumatizing scents of lab-like sterileness, but he followed Max almost immediately. All of those smell brought back bad memories from his childhood, but Fang brushed them away. Max was the only thing that mattered right now.
Fang couldn't help thinking of how blind he had been, fighting Max and not recognizing her. He had almost killed her! But didn't matter much anymore, because Max might die anyway.