Chapter 38 – Black

At some point when my mind had gotten out of its stupor-like state, I realized what was going on. The tree house was shaking… and wobbling unsteadily, too. At least I wasn't imagining it as a result of some embarrassing overreaction to the fact that I was actually kissing my foster brother — which just suddenly sounded wrong, very wrong. So before you go off questioning my sanity, I had some business to take care of.

I pulled back from Fang, partly to see if he had noticed and partly because I needed to breathe. "Did you feel that?" I gasped, letting air flow into my lungs again. The night around us was tense, as if the atmosphere was holding its breath in anticipation.

Before he could reply, a huge crack sounded as the wall we were leaning on cracked open. The wood splintered and fell around us as the wind blew violently. My arms reflexively wrapped around my head. When the debris stopped flying I looked up and stifled a gasp.

A huge, yellow-fanged, furry face was staring at the two of us hungrily. A wolfy grin was plastered on its ugly face. "Was I interrupting? Don't mind me."

I wanted to smash his muzzle into the back of his head, but Fang pulled me back toward the other wall. We scrambled, sticking close, when a huge puff of moist, odorous breath wafted above us. We peered upward, already knowing what to expect. Another huge Eraser was looking through the cut-out window.

"The two love birds are together. Isn't that sweet?" The two Erasers cackled throatily.

"You ready?" Fang whispered in my ear.

I looked into his black eyes, matching the shade of the sky outside. All the awkwardness I was feeling before with him was gone. It was replaced by a dire need to survive and get away from these big, nasty creatures that find pleasure in torturing us. What was their problem? What did Itex have against us? I finally nodded once, and then we sprung.

It was definitely hard, fighting two large wolves that could easily take up most of the space in this small tree house. Somehow we managed to make it work. I leapt up, spinning around, and instinctively punched the Eraser in the nose. It growled and flinched back from the window. Fang was engaged with the other one behind me and from the sound of it neither had the upper hand.

The Eraser I'd just struck only got pissed. He ripped the wooden boards away easily, as if this had been constructed of Popsicle sticks. He crept into the crowded space, his muzzle dripping with drool and froth. I backed away but tripped over a stray board, causing me to fall onto the chilly ground. Before I could recover I was instantly dragged out of the tree house by my hair. A cry escaped from my lips and tears threatened to spill from my eyes. Oh, God, I felt so weak. I hated it. He hauled me out through the hole he'd created, into the arctic air, and held me over the snow-covered ground thirty feet below.

If there had ever been a time in my life when I was truly afraid, it was now. I had never been a situation like this, where I felt moments away from death. What were they going to do? We hadn't done anything to them! It wasn't fair.

"Max!" Fang shouted, moving toward me. I was facing the inside of the house— my beloved childhood hangout that was now just a shredded memory. It was broken, pummeled, and useless. It didn't matter what happened to it though if I wasn't alive to use it again.

I wish there could have been a way for Fang to save me, but he really had no chance. The other Eraser, who was on the floor, grabbed Fang's ankle and drug him down. The Eraser pounced on top of him and smashed his head unto the wood twice. The first time Fang grunted on impact, but the second time he was silent, lying limply like a rag doll. I noticed a trail of dark liquid flowing from his nose and mouth.

Oh, no, please, no.

It didn't matter that I could have been dropped to a certain death at any moment, or that I could be puppy chow in the matter of seconds. It didn't matter that things were going to be different between us for a while because of that kiss. It didn't matter that I didn't know his true intentions. All I wanted was to make sure that he was okay.

I struggled under the Eraser's grasp, swinging my dangling legs frantically. As much as I wanted to get to Fang, I couldn't do any damage to the hulking monster restraining me. I was seeing red though, and it was giving me a boost of adrenaline.

An odd, repetitive humming noise sounded in the distance and was continually growing louder. I couldn't turn around to see the source but I was certain that it was a helicopter. The Eraser sitting on top of an unconscious Fang looked up expectedly toward the sky. The cold, frigid air was slinking its way back into my body, and eventually my panicked kicks stopped to allow myself to shiver.

I was pulled away from the open air and thrown on the ground next to Fang. My breath whooshed out painfully. "You'll be very still," he warned me. "Unless you want your neck snapped."

I gulped but said nothing. I had to stay aware of what was going on for Fang. Part of me wanted to look over at him now, to make sure that he was still breathing, but I couldn't show the Eraser's any weakness. All I could do was watch, wait, and shiver.

A strong force pulsated through the darkness, blowing the stagnant, frosty air into my eyes, which watered automatically. When I could adjust to the wind I noticed the large helicopter floating over the line of trees. Its lights weren't on, but it was hard not to mistake that giant shape in the sky or the sound of spinning propellers. I waited anxiously for what was about to happen.

Seemingly out of nowhere, more Erasers poured unto the mangled tree house. They appeared excited, a little too pleased for my taste. What were they going to do?

"Well, look what we have here," one rumbled, followed by an array of scratchy voices in reply.

"We finally got Subject 2075. The Director will be pleased."

"What are we going to do with the other one?"

"She knows too much," one said levelly, in a voice that sounded more human than wolf. "She has to come with us. We'll see what we can do with her. After all, she was messing with the wrong crowd."

It was then that I realized exactly who was speaking. My eyes widened with shock, but before I could spit any out any of the hatred that was boiling inside of me, Mr. Darnell appeared in my vision, hovering over me in Eraser form. "I warned you not to interfere, but you never learn your lesson." His hand, carrying something I couldn't make out, floated above my face. He pressed it to my nose, and then my world went black.

Congrats Fang's Stalker for being reviewer 500!! Celebrate wisely with Fang! Runswithvamp, haha, yeah I thought so too. Fuzzylogic, a "heart-to-heart" will happen, but not any time soon. There's got to be tons of action in between then and now. Although that convo will never go exactly as planned... *sighs*. Oh well. I'm glad everyone liked last chapter, and I'm sorry this one was short. I had a very bad week so writing didn't come very easily.

Soooo, I need to work on the other stories, although I really want to keep updating this one. I've been considering rewriting chapter 8 of Ghost of Me because that really wasn't how I wanted the chapter to go, so now I have to rethink the next one. Uh... I do have the ending to Winning Bid planned, so I should jump on that too. However, let's stick with the basics... Vote for me on the yolasite MR Awards!! This story is nominated for best MR fanfic, so I'm seriously excited. I'm posting a new poll that is completely irrelevant to any of my fanfics, but I'm bored and I need something to do.

Review Please!
--biteoutoflfie--