The Renegade

Chapter 5

"Angel!" I rushed up to her, my eyes and heart aching from the flock's last great adventure.

It's not over yet. I reminded myself. Angel leapt up into my arms and started to cry weakly.

"Shh… it's okay. She's gone now, you're safe." I cooed. I was so proud of my little Angel. After being in the school and now this, she still was brave and trusting enough to follow instructions at a whim.

"Thanks Max." She responded. I hugged her closer.

"Max! Fang is fighting with the girl. She kicked him hard. I hope he's okay 'cause it looked like it kind of hurt. That girl must be almost as strong as us." Nudge started.

Oh no, Fang was angry and he had someone to take it out on. This is not going to end well.

I scanned the cave. Gazzy and Nudge were watching for Fang and the girl over the cliff, Angel was standing next to me holding my hand, and Iggy was… still staring at the pile of dust where the girl had been.

"Iggy? You okay?" I asked coming over to him.

"What? Yeah, I was just… thinking." He jumped when I put my hand on his shoulder. Okay, Iggy acted weird sometimes but this was a little more than usual. He'll be okay though.

"Gazzy come over here." Gazzy came without a word after hearing the tone in my voice. "I need you to stay with your sister, okay? You can be her little body guard, okay?"

"Okay!" Gazzy's face lit up. He loved to feel like he could protect someone. I ruffled his hair and sent him and Angel off in the back of cave.

"Nudge can you just stay there and tell me when you can see Fang or the girl?" This question was almost unnecessary because she would have done it anyway but, hey, it couldn't hurt. I looked back to Iggy, trying to think of something he can do.

Maybe it would just be better to let him be. I decided.

We waited like this for only five minutes and anxiety was eating away at me already. Where was Fang? He could be hurt, I mean, we all saw those girl's claws. They could slash through anything!

Okay, just calm down, Max. You're getting ahead of yourself.

Just then a scream broke out from the woods below the cave. It was a cross between a human scream and the howl of an animal. Definitely not Fang. Good. I hope.

"Fang! It's Fang!" Nudge shouted a few minutes later. Within seconds Fang appeared over the edge holding the girl. Nudge wisely backed away from them both. We watched as the girl tapped Fang's arm a few times and he set her down, revealing the girl's mangled shoulder. She staggered over to the edge of the cliff and threw up over the side of it. I winced and turned back to Fang. He was covered in blood too.

"What did you do to her?" I asked when I saw her cough up more blood. Fang shrugged as he pulled off his bloody windbreaker. He walked back over to the girl, picked her up and brought her over to the other side of the cave in the shade. I was totally amazed. This girl who had just threatened to kill Angel was now being so obedient… it was almost unnatural. Fang laid the girl on her good shoulder.

"Do you have any supplies around here?" Fang asked her quietly.

"Yeah," the girl's voice cracked, "behind the rock. You have to… have to push it to the right then pull it out."

I was speechless. As Fang started over to the back of the cave, I rushed over to him.

"Fang… um are you sure this is the right thing to do?" I asked as quietly as I could. He looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

"What ever happened to Max: Protector of All Weak and Defenseless?"

"Yeah, but this time Angel was almost the Weak and Defenseless. She could have killed her!"

"Max, you know we can't just leave her here. She'd die!"

"I… I know but still. We still have to be careful around her." I declared, trying to sound confident.

"Max, she can barely walk," Fang said shaking my shoulders lightly, "Just trust me, okay?"

Fang followed the girl's instructions and removed a large stone in front of a smaller cavern filled with just about anything I could think of; shoes, books, a little radio, even what looked like a home-made hammock. Eventually, Fang and I sifted through it all until we found a small first aid kit. I turned around to check on the girl.

"Iggy!" Iggy was right next to her, carefully running his hands through her long brown hair.

"I think she passed out."

"No," the girl breathed, "She did not pass out." Iggy smiled and continued to run his hands though the girl's hair.

"Max," Fang whispered to me, "There's nothing to clean her cuts with."

"There should be some liquor in there." The girl said surprisingly calm. Fang and I exchanged confused looks. "What? I don't drink it. I saved it for stuff like this."

"Okay," I paused, "What's your name anyway?"

"Aven."

Author's Note: See, the whole I x OC thing that is as far as it goes. No more. Nada. Anyway, I'm glad for another kindalong chapter and I hope you are too. I'll try to update soon!