This Maximum Ride
Chapter 11 – Max POV
The human-wolf hybrids, as it turns out, were those bulky things that had came on the tour bus behind Jeb before. Whenever that was, anyways.
'I'm calling them Erasers.' Angel thought to me and I heard her giggle out loud.
"Take the human-avian hybrids to the cell that has been set aside." Jeb said to the guy (can he even be called a guy?) in the front, presumably the leader.
Jeb turned back to me, "Maximum, I'd like you to meet your half-brother, Ari. Ari, Maximum." Well if he could be considered a brother I guess he could be defined as a guy. Possibly.
"Lovely. I can definitely see the resemblance between us." I said sarcastically.
"Really? Because I can't." Ari snarled, totally missing my sarcasm.
"Play nice children." Jeb interrupted our conversation, if you can even call it that.
"Sorry dad." Ari said.
Pretty soon we were being rolled off into a cell somewhere in the building.
"You're lucky," I heard Ari say from above the operating table that I was still strapped down to, "Most of the experiments don't get the royal treatment."
I didn't have time to respond to him with the heavily sarcastic response I had in my mind because we were unstrapped and then left alone.
"Well this sucks." Gazzy said as we all sat down around the tiny enclosure and looked around. There was nothing in this room except our bodies. And a window, a very tiny one that you could only see outside but no one of us could manage to fit through. I bet Total couldn't even fit through that small space. And it was probably enforced with some strong material. So I'm thinking it's impossible to get out of. Besides the one window there was only one door that only opened from the other side (I'm guessing because there was no handle or anything on the side we were on and it was obviously a door because we were just rolled through it). This place was impossible to get out of. You think I'm overexaggerating about the room? Well think again because I can certainly say I'm not. But at least there was one very good thing in this room. My family. I don't know where I'd be without them. I know I'd lead one hell of a miserable life without them.
"Royal treatment, my ass." I heard come from Iggy's direction. Normally I'd be the one to yell at him for swearing but I didn't say a word to him this time. After all, my mind was still processing all of this crap.
I really would like to know how the hell we would just be kidnapped without D knowing or anyone else. What about the fans that would be at the gigs I was supposed to be playing on the tour? What will Anne think in two weeks when we don't return home? And I really would have loved the chance to confront my real mother. I have some questions that I really would like some answers to. I pushed these thoughts aside. We would be home in two weeks. I would not let my family suffer through all of this. I would get them back home. There was no doubt about it, I'd find some way to escape somehow.
"Max, look at this!" Angel yelled, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up and saw that she somehow had managed to cut two identical slots in her shirt. Actually, looking around we all had slots that had been cut out of our shirts, the whitecoats must have done it while we had been sedated. Anyway, coming out of the slots in her shirts was her own pair of fluffy, white bird wings. How was this even possible? I'm probably just dreaming, right? I have to be. I approached Angel, warning her with my eyes what I was going to do. Her head gave a little nod and my hand reached out. Almost immediately my fingers hit the feel of soft feathers. It felt like the feeling my wings (I'm guessing) on my back had felt like before, except softer. Angel's wings felt like a birds downy feathers, which I guess is appropriate because she was so young. I wondered what my wings looked like.
"Max, close your eyes and clear your mind. And then think about opening your wings. I want to try something." Angel told me.
I felt my eyes close on their own accord and I cleared my mind. I thought about the bumps in my shirt and them opening into beautiful, fully-grown wings. I felt a whoosh of air. It was barely there but I could still feel it.
"Now turn around." Angel directed. I did as she said and a few seconds later a picture popped into my mind. Only it wasn't from my eyes. It was from directly behind me, where Angel was standing. And you could see my wings from that spot. As it turns out my wings were mostly white, though they weren't as white and they didn't look as soft as Angel's were. And there were speckles of light brown all over them, it was a little bit lighter than my dirty blonde hair, which had actually been recently dyed from its original yellow-ish blonde color. Let me just say that Fang had not been happy when he saw my blonde locks had magically changed colors. My wingspan was actually pretty big, at least big compared to the size of Angel's wings. Overall, I actually liked my wings.
"Did you send me that?" I asked, turning back around.
"Yes." She beamed.
"That's an awesome power, Angel." I said. I obviously knew Angel had the ability to read minds but I wondered what powers I had, what powers everyone else had.
"We'll all find out soon, Max." Angel said, reading my mind. That was a truly freaky power, no matter how amazing it was. Angel could be listening to anyone's thoughts at absolutely any point of time. I really had to remember to keep my thought strictly G rated. Angel turned around towards Nudge.
I looked around at everyone else and noticed they were all also checking out their wings. Angel was practically petting Nudge's wings, which were a brownish color with russet streaks in random places all over them. The underside of her wings we're streaked with white, they really did look amazing.
Gazzy was also around where Nudge and Angel were. The 3 of them and Iggy almost formed a circle, but I'm pretty sure they were having separate conversations.
Gazzy had his wings spread out and his back to me. Gazzy's wings were a white-ish color. They were white but not as white as Angel's wings were. His wings seemed to match his blonde-hair-blue-eyes combination, much like Angel's did.
Iggy and Gazzy switched positions (well they didn't really move but they both turned the opposite direction they were facing), and now I could see Iggy's wings pretty clearly.
Iggy's wings we're an off-white color and in the glare of light I could see a reddish tint in them. And his wingspan looked to be about the same size as mine.
My eyes broke away from those 4 members of my family and strayed to Fang. He had his wings spread out and was facing the wall, meaning that I was able get a good look at his wings. They were absolutely incredible. I loved everything about this man. He left me breathless, even now just looking at his wings.
The length of Fang's wings was bigger than mine was, considering he was so tall, or taller than I was at least. His wings were so black that they gleamed a purple color. Like I said, incredible.
"Hey." I said to him quietly after approaching him. I ran my fingers over the feathers that made up his wings and felt him shiver beneath my touch.
He turned around and gently pressed his lips to my cheek before answering back, "Hey."
We just stood there staring into each others eyes.
I started to wonder why I wasn't freaking out about all this. I mean, I was abducted and experimented on. What would possibly make me not freak out? But I knew the answer, my family, especially Fang. I wanted to know if they were okay, if they were alive. I had to act tough for them. I had to be a leader and hide my weaknesses, ignore them completely. And I was too damn curious for my own good. I wanted some answers.
My thoughts were interrupted when the door to our cell opened. "Subject 8, AKA Iggy, is needed." A whitecoat smiling quite wickedly said.
Iggy POV
"Subject 8, AKA Iggy, is needed." I heard. My head snapped up immediately and my eyes widened. What the hell could they possibly want with me? I didn't want to leave Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, Fang, and Max. And, well, Total too. They were my family, I didn't want to go to some unknown place without them. I don't think I'd be able to handle myself.
I opened my mouth to respond but before any words could come out of my mouth I was hauled out of the cell my one of the human-wolf hybrids. I felt a hand holding both of my hands behind my back while he walked behind me. I tried to scream my no sounds would come out of my mouth. What the hell is going on? I tried to struggle against the hybrid's hold but he only applied more pressure to my wrists, making them hurt like hell.
I was led into another white room that smelled even more anticepticky than the one I woke up in who knows how long ago. I struggled some more but before I could find some way to get out of this situation I was tied down to yet another operating table. I looked around the bright room and saw that the dudes in white coats had a bunch of tools out and they looked like they were prepping for surgery. Surgery on who? Me? This is really turning out as a day in hell. I tried to struggle against my restraints. I had to get the hell out of here! Otherwise I was sure to die. And I really needed to make it home to see Ella again. I struggled even more but this time I felt a cloth right under my nose. And it smelled really strange. I think there was chloroform on it. I tried struggling once again but I could feel myself weakening. Before I knew it my movements stopped out all together and my vision went black.
Max POV
Iggy had been deposited in our cell a while ago. And he was unconscious the whole time. I felt my calm façade start to crumble. We could not survive under these conditions. What if Iggy didn't wake up? But he was still breathing so that was a good thing, right? He had to be okay. But we had to get out of here before something like this happened again, or something worse happened. I couldn't bear to lose any of my family members.
I felt tears collecting in my eyes, tears that threatened to fall. Before they could run down my face I buried my head in Fang's chest. Fang, who hadn't left my side since Iggy had been dragged out of our hellhole. I breathed in his scent to calm myself down. And it worked. No tears fell but I still kept my head pressed to Fang's chest.
"Hello?" A voice asked from where Iggy had been lying unconscious a few seconds ago.
Iggy POV
I felt myself start to come back and I thought I had woken up. It was weird, one second I was unconscious and couldn't hear a thing and then I heard the sound of Fang comforting Max.
"Hello?" I heard myself ask. What if something happened to my family? Max and Fang surely needed my help to defend Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel from this place.
Was I dead? What if that operation had gone wrong? I felt myself shoot up into a sitting position. So I wasn't unconscious anymore, if I had been I wouldn't have been able to move. But that didn't explain why I couldn't see anything. Holy crap! What the hell is wrong with me? If I had been dead I knew I'd be able to see. What happened? I honestly felt like crying. My face suddenly felt wet. I moved my hand from where it was on the ground and put it to my face. Liquid, I hadn't cried in years. This place made me vulnerable, I hated it.
"Iggy?" A voice asked hopefully, it sounded like Nudge. "Are you okay?"
"Look at me! I can't see myself and I know I look like shit! Do you think I'm okay?"
I heard a few gasps and suddenly realized what I said. I'd never so much as yelled at anyone. And I'd just yelled at sweet, innocent Nudge. Despite my predicament I felt even more horrible than I did before.
"What do you mean you can't see yourself?" Max, or at least it sounded like Max, said.
"I mean-" I started but was cut off.
"Max I don't think you'll like the string of words that were ready to come out of Iggy's mouth. He can't see anything. He's blind." By now Angel was sobbing. It sounded like everyone else was too, even Max and Fang. And if Max and Fang are crying you know you're in deep shit.
So I'm sorry for taking so long to post it but school has been really busy. Does the really long chapter make up for my absence? If it doesn't I've got another chapter already typed up and I'll post it as soon as I get some reviews. And when you review you get a quote from chapter 12.