Chapter 5: Can't Go Back

Will POV

I felt anger surging through me. Felt the anger in my hands, turning into energy, power. Why wasn't Fang doing anything? How could he just stand there and let Ari pummel Max! I had to do something. I stepped forward, pushing Fang out of the way. Ari was leaning back to punch Max again when I shouted "Hey! Ari!" I felt power, immense power and threw a punch at him. He looked at me, snarled, and then looked surprised as he saw my fist coming towards him.

He flew back at least 10 feet, through a door, and into a wall. He'd left a massive crack running down it. Or in fact, I had. How did I hit him so hard? The feeling of surging power was subsiding. I was confused.

Then I heard an explosion. It came from the direction of the others. I looked at Fang as he looked at me, he got gone pale, paler than usual. "How did you do that?" he asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." I replied, bemused, looking at my still clenched fist. We both looked at Max, who had slumped to the floor. She had taken those punches pretty well considering it was a 7 foot werewolf who had dealt them. We both helped her up.

"Come on" she said, looking a little disoriented. "Let's catch up." She started running off towards the sound of the explosion, Fang followed. I took one last look back at Ari, who seemed unconscious, and wondered how I had hit him so hard. But there wasn't time to think about it, so I ran after Max and Fang.

We caught up to them after about 5 minutes. They seemed to have caused the explosion somehow, killing many of the whitecoats. At least I thought they caused it, I couldn't see there bodies. Then again, it would be hard to tell who anyone was if it wasn't for the white coats of the whitecoats.

When we did catch up they were staring at something. A door, an exit! "I don't know what you did back there, but whatever it was, you did it right!" said Max, to get their attention. They turned around and looked relieved to see us. I couldn't see Emily though.

"Oh I found a grenade and-" but I pushed past Max and interrupted him.

"Where's Emily? I said to Iggy. I saw Angel and Nudge look around, surprised. Had they not even realised? "Where's Emily?" I said louder this time. Had they lost her!? Was she alright?!

"I'm sorry Will. They got her before the explosion, I saw one of the whitecoats take her." said Gazzy quietly. I looked at him, and then at Iggy, trying to show him how angry I was. Then I remembered he was blind. So I shouted at him.

"You said you'd take care of her, that you wouldn't let anything happen to her!" Iggy was silent. He looked unsure of what to say. Well, I couldn't just let her be taken from me again. So, "I'm going back." I said sternly. "I'm going back for her!"

I saw Max turn her head. I was about to walk away, go back down the corridor when she said "There's no time for that now, we've got to go!" She started pushing me forward, towards the exit. What was she doing? I tried to push her off, but she just pushed harder.

"I've got to go back for her!" I shouted.

"You can't you'll be killed!" Max shouted. "Now get going!" I looked back and saw some Erasers coming. Reluctantly and shamefully, I ran after the others for the exit. Max was right behind me. The others were already outside. We ran out of the door and Max immediately shouted "Take off!" I saw them unfurl their wings. Take off! How was I going to do that?! She saw the look on my face and, still both running, she shouted "Come on just flap your wings and get some wind underneath them!" I saw the others ahead of me, already in the air, the way they flapped their wings in a regular yet precise motion. So I tried copying them.

I unfurled them, which hurt enough on its own, and then I started to flap them. They were sore and it ached a lot, but pretty soon I could feel myself lifting off the ground. Max took off and shouted back "That's it, keep going!" The erasers were inches away from me. I flapped Harder, harder still, until, I was flying! I was actually flying!

5 minutes later we were clear of the school, luckily there no flying erasers coming after us. I was struggling to keep up with the flock. I was silent, thinking. I couldn't just leave Emily behind! What was I thinking! I had to go back! I started to turn around, struggling. I wasn't very good at this flying malarkey.

Max looked back at me and called "Where are you going!"

"To get Emily!" I shouted back. Almost instantly Max was next to me, followed by Fang. Was I really that slow?

"You can't go back there! You'll be killed!" She shouted.

"I don't care! I'm going back to get my sister and you're not going to stop me!" I shouted at Max.

"No, but I will." I turned my head to see Fang pulling his arm back and then seeing his fist come into my face. Ow...

We were angels, or at least like them. Flying through the sky, over the cliffs, watching Ferries trundle along a half mile below. Behind us were the rest of the flock. I heard a noise. Like a machine. There was a flash. Then Emily was falling, I was calling out to her but she just kept falling. I stared as I watched her land in the water. Yet I did nothing. I looked around to see the flock fighting metal things, metal wolves. Then darkness.

I woke up to a blur of reddish gold, surrounded by green. Where was I, what is this place? My eyes cleared and I saw it was Max's hair. She was leaning over me, dabbing a wet flannel on my forehead. The green were trees.

"Where am I?" I asked, dazed.

"Forest." She replied, chucking my bruise. "About 30 minutes away from the School, as the mutant freak flies." I chuckled.

"How long was I out?" I asked, still a bit dizzy.

"About 6 hours. We had to carry you here you know. Fang got you bad." That bastard. I know why he did it, to protect me, but still, what a bastard.

"Where'd you get that flannel?" I asked.

"Angel and I went to a town, about a mile east. Angel got the guy at the counter to give us a major discount, if you catch my drift." I chuckled again.

Then I remembered Emily. I bolted up, almost knocking Max onto the ground.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking" said Max, easing me back onto the ground. "You can't go back for her. Not alone." I was going to protest when I realised she was right. I wouldn't have a clue what to do, which direction to go, how to find her. I needed them.

"When?" I asked. "When can we go back?"

"We talked about that while you were out. We want to help you get her back, especially Iggy, he feels responsible, but we want to have some freedom first. It's been months since we've been outside." I was going to protest, but then remembered that I needed them. For now I'd have to go along with it and hope for the best.

Iggy POV

It had been 3 days in the forest and I loved it. It was so nice to be able breath fresh, natural air, instead of clean, antiseptic air. The sounds of the birds waking you up in the morning, the noises of the forest, the feel of the ground. The only thing that would have made it better is if I could actually see it all.

I was enjoying cooking again. My skills were a little rusty considering I hadn't been able to cook for a few months but it was relaxing. When Will first saw me cooking he was shocked. He was scared to touch anything I touched. "But you're blind." he had said.

"No, really?" I said sarcastically. "You know I hadn't noticed it before but now you mention it, you're right!" I could practically hear him scowling.

"No, I mean how do you do it?" he asked.

"Not sure really, I can just feel the food, smell it and I throw in the stuff which smells and feels good, and it generally turns out well." I replied.

That was the only time over the 3 days that Will had spoken to me. He had barely spoken to anyone, but he hadn't said a word to me. He was still angry at me for letting Emily get captured. I had told him I'd keep her safe. I had let him down. I needed to clear the air somehow. It was when I was chatting to Nudge about the escape that I realised how to do that.

I heard him go walk in the direction of a small stream Angel found. I could tell it was him through the sound of his footsteps. Very light and quick footed. I decided to follow. The sound of the stream was getting louder. I had to be close now. It was then I realised the sound of his footsteps had stopped.

"What are you doing?" Will asked to my left. "Why are you following me?" I turned to face the direction where he was.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry. Sorry for letting you down. I said I'd look out for Emily, but I put her down when they found us and... There were so many sounds and so many footsteps. I couldn't... I can't..." I began to cry. "I'm so sorry Will." He was silent. I wish I could see his face. It would be so much easier to tell what he was thinking if I could just see his face.

After what seemed like an age, he spoke. "I forgive you. It's not your fault. I mean you blind; you couldn't exactly keep an eye on her. I shouldn't have stayed behind. I should have gone with her myself. It was my fault. I just wanted to get my own back. I was being selfish." He confessed. "Look where it got me." I was unsure of what to say. I still felt bad, that I was still responsible for it.

"Even though, I still feel guilty. I want to make it up to you" I said.

"Well, how are you going to do that?" He asked. "Are you going to teach me to cook?" He asked jokingly.

"No," I replied. "I'm going to teach you to fly."