MAX
Iggy and I were kept sprinting until we were safely out of sight of the school, then we took to the skies. Every stroke of my wings brought unbelievable pain to my shoulder, not to mention I was trembling uncontrollably. I urged myself not to think about what had happened at school. Eventually the pain was so bad that I missed a few down-strokes and lost some altitude.
I signaled to land towards Iggy and he gestured towards a clearing and we banked towards it. I landed sloppily and sat against a tree with my unhurt arm and wings around me. Iggy landed a moment later and he crouched down in front of me, wings spread wide.
"Max?" He asked, concerned.
I felt something wet slip down my cheek and I brought my knees up to my chin.
"My arm hurts..." I said, although that wasn't the only thing. Jane was dead.
"Let me look at it?" He asked.
I nodded and folded my wings back. He lightly brushed my hair to the side and felt along my shoulder and upper arm. His touch was so light that I barely felt any additional pain.
"It's dislocated, I'm going to need to put it back into place. I'm surprised you aren't in more pain." He mused as he got in position and looked for my confirmation.
"Okay." I whispered.
He gave me his arm to squeeze in case the pain was bad.. He tugged, it hurt. Badly.
"Ow." He said with a smile, gesturing to his arm.
I had dug my nails deep into his skin.
"Sorry."
He shook it off. My shoulder felt so much better!
"How do you know all this stuff?" I asked after a few quiet heartbeats, referring to the first aid and survival skills he'd loosely shared with me since I first met him.
"My parents sent me to a boarding school in Canada that taught those kinds of things."
"Why?"
He shrugged, "I got into fights a lot." He was silent for a moment, looking past me. "…should of..." Iggy muttered, barely audible.
"What?" I asked.
Iggy's eyes suddenly turned dark and he clenched his fists until his knuckles were white. He was shaking.
"Iggy?"
"Next time I see him. I will kill him." Iggy swore.
I reached out and tenderly touched his arm. He jumped and looked in my direction with his eyes unfocused. His pupils were dilated, nearly to the rims. He looked like he didn't recognize me. The look on his face… I don't know how to describe it. Iggy inched towards me and stooped down so that we were on the same level. Just staring into my eyes like he could see the entire universe in them. I could hear his erratic heartbeat and see his quick shallow breathes.
"Max…" He said as if he just figured out who I was.
"Iggy!" I shouted to get his attention.
He jerked back and quickly shut his eyes, holding them with his fingers like they were pain.
"Are you alright?" I asked as I stood and helped him up.
He turned and wouldn't look me in the eyes.
"Let's—get going. Ari is probably worried." Iggy said and without waiting for a response he turned and jumped into the air, propelling himself up with his wings.
A good fifteen minutes later we landed on the roof of the parking garage and I shuffled over to Ari, who had fallen asleep. I shook him awake and he yawned and stretched.
"Where the hell were you guys?" He asked, a little angry.
"I put Max's shoulder back in place, then it took us awhile to stock up supplies and get over here." Iggy explained.
There was a weird air between Iggy and I. Ari noticed for sure.
"Ohhhhh." Ari said suddenly, winking and nudging in our direction.
That pervert.
"Just shut up," I huffed as I rolled my eyes and pulled out a map Iggy had snagged from his house. "Where do you guys want to go? I'm thinking Florida."
Ari shrugged.
"Why Florida?" Iggy asked.
"Uhm, beaches."
He smiled a little and shrugged.
"Up to you boss."
I looked at the map and measured with my finger. It's over a thousand miles to get to St. Augustine. That would probably take us 12-15 hours if we could maintain 80 mph. Not including breaks. It'd probably take us about two days. Six hours of hardcore flying would definitely make me so sore that I'd want to crawl in a hole and die. But for Florida beaches?
Totally worth it.
"Let's go to St. Augustine." I suggested with a smile.
Ari looked pretty bummed out, but before I could ask him what was up he turned and launched himself off the parking garage and flew into the air. Guess it was decided then.
Around three hours later we landed in Florence, Alabama, smack dab in sweet home suburbia. We were in a cleared out plot of land, probably about to be built into a strip mall or a cluster of generic homes. It was nice and out of sight though. We walked the rest of the way to a nearby McDonalds.
My shoulders and my upper back was aching a bit. But I knew the real pain would start tomorrow morning. I stretched as we walked. I'd been trying to keep my thoughts off of all things Jane, and it had been working pretty well so far. I followed the boys into the restaurant. It was pretty empty so there was no line, thank god. I was starving.
I ordered two McChickens, a double quarter pounder, two large fries, an oreo McFlurry, and a chocolate milk. The cashier didn't even look fazed.
I love fast-food's simplicity.
We took the food to go and walked over to a nearby park. We sat on the swings while we munched and watched a few little kids chase each other around while they screamed—who needs T.V. anyway?
"Bathroom." Iggy said as he scampered towards one of the portapotties.
I glanced at Ari who was moving the gravel around with his shoe, being all angsty.
"What's up?" I asked him between bites.
"Not your IQ." He replied.
"Oh you're nice." I huffed as I twisted my swing away from him.
"And you're a shitty therapist." He muttered.
I swung back around to face him and crossed my arms, nearly knocking over my fries.
"Would you prefer the cold shoulder to the face?" I spat.
"As long as it doesn't end up in my crotch."
"You're impossible!"
"That's what I aim for."
I grabbed my remaining food and stood, ready to leave him to rot.
"Idiot."
I stalked off before he could reply and finished off my burger. I jumped over the fence around the baseball field and walked towards the jungle gym on the opposite side. I heard a crack and looked to my right, startled.
There was a boy with a baseball bat held loosely in his left hand, the other shielding his eyes as he followed his ball as it arched across the side. Triple homerun? I don't know what they'd call that. The boy frowned and padded over to the pitcher, who had their back to me.
"That one really sucked." I heard him say.
The pitcher shrugged and toyed with another one of their baseballs.
"There's someone watching us by the way." The pitcher mumbled, barely audible from so far away. I have kick ass hearing though.
The boy leaned to the side and took a look at me. He had spikey blonde hair that was attempting to escape his beanie and a deepish tan. The boy gestured for me to come over, so I did. The pitcher turned around once I got close and I was surprised to see that they were actually a girl.
"Why're you watching us?" The boy asked, he looked maybe a year younger than me.
"Cause I can." I said bluntly. No wonder Ari calls me socially inept.
The girl looked like the same age as the boy but she had darker skin and messy black curls. She crossed her arms and sized me up.
"Who are you?" I asked after a few awkward seconds.
"He's Gaz, I'm Monique. You better call me Nudge though."
"I'm Max." I said, not bothering to comment on their odd names. I was traveling with a guy who wanted to be called Iggy after all.
"You from here?" Gaz asked as he picked his bag back up.
"No. Me and my friends are from Missouri."
"We aren't either." Nudge said with a lopsided smile.
"Where are you guys from?" I asked conversationally.
"He's from D.C. and I'm from New Mexico." She replied.
"Oh," I said nicely. "My friends are probably looking for me.
"I bet they are." Gaz muttered as he gave Nudge a look.
"Unfortunately they aren't going to find you." Nudge smirked as I felt my blood freeze.
Before I could respond Gaz lifted his bat and swung it against my skull, hard. I sunk to my knees and everything went black.
God damn it.