Chello readers! I'm back with another amazing chapter!
Yea...
Anyways, there's a lot of switching POV's and I apologize in advance for any confusion.
And also this chapter made me tear up a little bit, and I was writing it so... yea tissues are a good idea.
But please read and review! This is one of the last chapters so do it while you can! (Oh and sorry for any medically incorrect events)
Oh and disclaimer: I do not own the song in this chapter, and also I do not own Maximum Ride, or else Dylan would be quite dead. And fax would rule the land. :)
About an hour later, Nudge was standing in the park, waiting for a miracle.
"Nudge?" Fang strode up to the girl, panic, fear and guilt clear in his face. "We need to help her."
Nudge nodded, keeping her cool. She didn't need too panic. No, not now.
"Iggy should be here soon." Nudge turned as soon as the words left her mouth. Iggy was running at top speed towards them. It was obvious he was angry. He looked about ready to kill somebody.
"Where is Max?" The red faced boy spat out through gritted teeth.
"At her house." Fang's face was grim. "With her parents."
"And why are we still here? Let's go!" Iggy turned and began to run in the general direction of Max's house.
Fang stared after him, wondering how he didn't realize what good friends Max had. How close they were. They were two hundred times better than any friend he had ever had.
"Let's go." Fang and Nude turned to follow the sprinting boy. "Let's save her."
MAXIMUM RIDE
MAX POV
"Let go of her," I said, deadly calm and quiet. My voice seemed to flow through the room, strangely tranquil.
Valencia looked at me, confusion and that always present anger clear on her face. She didn't seem to understand the fact that I was fighting back. It seemed like such an alien idea to both of them.
"What?" Her voice sounded odd, as if she were a child saying they understood something they don't understand at all.
"Leave Angel alone," I commanded. Again my voice was weirdly calm. I think I saw everything clearly in my mind. A moment of clarity.
"No."
When the second blow landed on my sister I went feral. I ran at Valencia, pushing her down into Jeb, making Angel tumble onto the ground. I rushed to her, only calming down when I saw she was dazed but almost unscathed.
"You bitch!" Valencia rose from the ground, eyes narrowed to slits. He anger was so great that I could practically feel it in the air.
"I told you to let her go," I reminded, keeping my voice calm.
Valencia slapped at my cheek, sending my head towards the far wall. I heard a popping sound and I knew some bone had taken the sudden repositioning badly. "You do not tell me what to do." She pulled my head to hers so I was forced to look into her fiery, hate filled eyes. "I am your mother and you will do what I say."
"No." I was done with her claiming to be my mother. Maybe she was biologically, but never in my heart or mind will she be my mom. "You will never ever be my mother."
A rage fueled scream sounded from her throat as she threw herself at me, slamming me back against a wall. I heard the sound of my head connecting with the hard material, but the pain never did come to nag me. I just stood up and glared.
"Valencia," I said, standing tall. "I hate you. Honestly. I will never forgive you for these acts of complete hatred and anger. But I do not believe in fighting. You have made me feel like hitting is the most inhumane crime a person can commit. So that is why I won't hurt you. It will be your realization of what a monster you are that will send you cowering on the ground, like the true fool you are."
Valencia seemed to gape at me for a second before lunging. I thought she would strike me, but instead her hands seized Angel.
"No!" My voice came out in a ragged sob.
The both of them slapped and punched her. My legs jumped forward and I was getting thrown around like a rag doll. Somehow I found Angel and I was curled around her, letting my body take the blows. She cannot be harmed while I'm here.
"You. Bitch. Why. Were. You. Born?" Jeb pounded out, saying each word with a swing.
The words hurt, but I let them go in one ear and pass out another. I am Maximum.
Angel was struggling against me, obviously not wanting me to take this for her. I shushed her and held tighter, not letting a single fist land on her.
"Maxie," Jeb taunted. "let your little sister out, we want to play."
The words simply made me cling to her with more strength.
"Jeb! Valencia! Stop!" Angel was screaming over and over, writhing in my grip. I had to hold tighter as soon as the punches got harder, Angel wanted to get out.
I was slumping nearer to the ground with every punch now. I couldn't take much longer of this. Usually it's a few punches, a taunt, then a kick. Maybe a few knives. Or a bat. Never this continuous beating.
I was going to give in. I was going to fall. I am going to die.
MAXIMUM RIDE
THIRD PERSON POV
"Come on!" Iggy shouted, turning his head backwards to the two teenagers behind him.
"Iggy!" Nudge yelled in reply. "We want to save her just as much as you, but we can't sprint like this for much longer!"
Fang nodded, unable to get another word out. He didn't know how his companions were doing this with such composure. He was going to hit the deck amy second.
Iggy slowed down, just enough for Fang to get a few much needed breaths in.
Fang recognized the street they were on. They'd be there any minute now. His mind pieced together a tearful reunion. One where he shoved aside Max's parents heroically, saving both Max's and Angel's lives. He pictured a huge hug from Angel as she cried into his shoulder and Max pressing her lips to his.
But of course as the threesome neared their destination, his perfect scene crumbled to dust.
"That's it!" Fang's entire arm shot up, pointing desperately at the grey, average house. How could something so normal be harboring something so horrid, he wondered.
Fang ran to the door, pouring on the speed, unable to stop even if he tried. It was almost like the house was a magnet, pulling him towards it, and its inhabitants.
"Max!" Fang cried as he ran through the door. The word left his mouth at the same time a sickening crack rang out through the house.
MAXIMUM RIDE
*A few moments earlier*
MAX POV
I felt my knees weakening. I knew I would fall to the ground, unwillingly releasing Angel as I did so.
"Stop it! Please!" Angel's scream had a sense of finality to it, and the two demons paused in their sickening work. "Just let us go!" Now her voice was a sob, and she pulled out of my feeble arms. "Why did you do this to us?"
Valencia looked at the girl for a second, guilt and comprehension sweeping across her face. I thought she'd realized how much wrong she had done and that she'd end this madness. But I was wrong. Those emotions were as fleeting as they come.
"Why are you so imperfect?" Valencia asked instead of answering directly.
Then Jeb seized the blonde girl.
I tried to tear her from his grasp, I really did, but their relentless beating and just his sheer stretch and size prevented me from doing so. I was like an flea, while he compared to a rhino. There was no way I could win.
Jeb brought Angel over to the coffee table, only to taunt me, show me how easily he could take her away from the safety of my arms.
Then, while I watched in horror, he dropped her carelessly. Her body seemingly floated through the air. Time had slowed down, making her fall even more painful. I had to sit through every second of her journey to the ground, watch her rush to the floor while Valencia held me back.
"No! Angel no!"
Her head hit the coffee table just as mine whipped to the door, which had just opened. Fang rushed through in time to see me witness Angel's neck snap, bending at an impossible angel, for her head had hit the table with such speed and force.
Jeb had broken her neck.
MAXIMUM RIDE
THIRD PERSON POV
Valencia stared at the unmoving girl that was sprawled across the floor. They had just killed Angel.
Yes, she knew that it had been Jeb to actually do it, but her part in these crimes was clear. She had done just as much as her husband.
She gazed down at the writing, screaming, sobbing girl in her arms. Her eyes trailed down the cuts and bruises she had just made. She had done that to her daughter.
In that moment, Max looked so broken and hopeless, Valencia couldn't function. She had caused this. She was a monster.
She weakened her hold on Max, just as some boy slammed into her full force, making her release the girl.
Thrashing, Valencia struggled, only to give up moments later, to watch the heart breaking scene playing out in front of her.
She saw her husband still fighting, but a pasty, blonde boy restrained him. She was almost relieved, knowing they couldn't harm their children anymore.
She hated herself, as she fully realized what crimes she had committed over the years.
And as Valencia began to cry, the first tears she had she in many years, she knew it was too late to help or solve amy of the problems she had caused.
All of her actions could not be helped anymore. Anything she had done was permanent.
She hadn't just left scars on her daughters, she had left scars in the world.
And as she watched her daughter die, silent apologies passed through her lips. She wished she was the one dying instead of her daughter.
Her last thought before she shut the world out was: Why do the angels always die instead of the monsters?
MAXIMUM RIDE
MAX POV
Fang rushed at my mother, forcing her to release me from her grasp.
When I fell at Angel's body the tears were already pouring from my eyes, and I was murmuring over and over how much I loved her and how sorry I was for not saving her.
Her eyes fluttered and I saw that by some miracle she was alive. I didn't know how this was possible, but she was hanging on by an unwinding thread.
"Call 911!" I shrieked, not caring who did it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Iggy holding back Jeb and Fang holding back Valencia as Nudge dialed Fang's phone.
"Angel?" My voice was a broken whisper.
"Maxie?" I could barely hear her, and her eyes refused to focus on anything. "I love you, Maxie."
She knew what had happened. She knew was going to die. Just like I knew, except she was willing to accept that fact.
"I love you too, baby girl," I told her, seeing my tears drip onto her cheeks. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."
"No, no," She gasped out, "you did more than save me, Maxie. I wouldn't have even made it this far without you." She shushed me when I tried to speak. "Besides, I'll be a real Angel now. With Alyssa and Dawn."
I had no idea how Angel knew about Dawn, but I forced out a smile. The last face my baby would see will not be my crying one.
So, as I smiled through the tears I said my last word to my life line. "I love you, my darling Angel. Stay happy in heaven, and always remember that I loved you back then, I love you now, and I'll love you always."
Angel smiled back at me as she whispered her last words and her eyes fluttered shut. "I love you too, Maxie. Thank you for being my angel."
While her life faded out of her, I decided one last song was needed. Maybe we weren't in the trees, but this is needed.
Carry You Home by James Blunt
Trouble is her only friend, and he's back again
Makes her bald and older, than it really is
And she says its high time, she went away
No one's got much to say, in this town.
Trouble is the only way is down, down, down
As strong as you were, tender you'll go, I'm watching you breathing, for the last time
A song for your heart, but when it is quiet
I'll know what it means and I'll carry you home
I'll carry you home
If she had wings she would fly away
And another day, God will give her some
Trouble is the only way is down, down, down
Strong as you were, tender you'll go
I'm watching you breathing for the last time
A song for your heart, but when it is quiet, I'll know what it means
And I'll carry you home
I'll carry you home
And it's all gone pretty, and you'll love the city at night
And someone's little girl is taken from the world tonight
And the stars and stripes
As strong as you were, tender you'll go, I'm watching you breathing for the last time
A song for your heart, but when it is quiet, I'll know what it means
And I'll carry you home
As strong as you were, tender you'll go
I'm watching you breathing for the last time
A song for your heart, but when it is quiet
I'll know what it means
And I'll carry you home
I'll carry you home
And as her last breath left her body, I cried.
My lifeline had been severed.
My reason to live was gone.
My rope, the one that tethered me to sanity, had been cut.
My baby, my darling, my angel, was dead.