Here is chapter 2. I hope you enjoy!

Angel. I thought. I folded my wings in and dive-bombed straight down. I reached her less than 100 feet from the sandy desert ground. My arms reached under her and I made a not-so-perfect landing.

"Angel," I said alarmingly. That's when I noticed the circle of blood around her lower abdomen. Fear spiked in my spine and I felt sick.

Angel had been shot. Twice.

I heard the faint footsteps of the flocks' landings behind me.

"The rest of them retreated as if they got a signal to return," Fang said from behind me. But he stopped cold when he saw what lay in my arms.

The whole flock was gathered around Angel and I, staring terrified at the damage.

"Max," Angel croaked but I shushed her and said,

" Don't talk. Just breath. We are going to fix you up. Don't worry. You're going to be fine." I felt as if I was reassuring myself more than Angel. "Get me some cloth," I demanded and Dylan ripped off the arm of his jacket and gave it to me. I wrapped it around her waist and tied it tightly, pressing on the wounds to stop the bleeding but within seconds the cloth was soaked and my hands red with blood.

Then it dawned on me. The thing plowing into me was Angel. She knew that the Eraser was going to fire and pushed me out of the way causing her to get shot.

I felt tears stinging in the back of my eyes and my throat became clogged.

Gazzy took Angel's hand saying, "Max can call her mom or something. She's a vet right? Dr. Martinez will fix you. You'll be fine." But I heard the crack in his voice, the slight hesitation between words. He knew too that this might be it.

"Max," Angel tried again. "Max, Max, Max. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"No sweetie. You don't have to be sorry about anything. You did great today. You just need to hang in there until we can get help," My hands were trembling and every bone in my body ached.

I saw her eyes begin to roll into the back of her head and I squeezed her hand.

"Angel! Angel! Come on Angel! Stay with me! Speak to me Angel!" I felt the tears pouring down my face now. My voice was shaking and my heart wrenched.

"I'm sorry," Angel breathed.

And then she was gone.

I gripped her face in my hands and shook. Trying to bring life back into her.

"Angel! Angel! Angel, no! Don't do this! Not right now! I cant-" The sobs finally came over me and I couldn't control myself. "Angel, Angel, Angel," I found myself muttering.

The Gasman was crying now too, still holding on to his sister's hand.

Total came running over and licked Angel's face until he collapsed on her chest.

Nudge looked utterly shocked. Tears streaked her face but not a single sound came from her.

Iggy, Fang, and Dylan were the only ones who weren't crying. I saw Fang's face and knew immediately that he was screaming inside. His lips pursed together, almost white, the blood completely drained from his face.

We sat there for what seemed like hours crying over Angel's body. When I finally regained my composure I sat up straight and lifted Angel's body from my lap.

Gazzy was still a complete mess, shouting out for his sister to come back. I'd never seen him like this.

I shut Angel's eyes and pushed some hair off her forehead. I then pried the Gasman from her body and looked at him dead in the eye. He could hardly keep eye contact for 3 seconds before he burst into tears again. I brought him into my arms and hugged him tight, trying to take away some of the pain. Soon we were all in one big group hug around Angel's body.

When we finally broke apart I looked at them all, bruised and devastated, Gazzy still trying to calm his tears.

I finally spoke, my voice hoarse, "We need to bury her."