Chapter 43 - Reminisce

I stared unseeingly out of the airplane window for an immeasurable amount of time. The flight wasn't supposed to be long — only a couple hours at the most — but with the amount I had to think about it felt like decades. We were sailing with dark clouds as a soft blanket around us. Supposedly a nice coating of snow was drifting from them, but we couldn't see any frozen fluffs from this high up.

To say that this flight home was awkward was an extreme understatement. We were in coach, the quickest seats that Jeb could buy once we hit the airport. Several people surrounded us, but since most were listening to music, reading books, or sleeping, the enclosed space was quiet. I had the window seat with Fang to my left, Jeb next to him. If there were any words that wanted to be shared between Fang and me, we couldn't speak them with Jeb there. Likewise, a conversation that I felt coming from Jeb also had to wait because of Fang. For the most part the silence was awkward, and I wished we could talk about something that didn't have to deal with the horrors of what we had been through.

The Voice had been right while we were in the Itex building. The downstairs level that we were in during our faceoff with Mr. Darnell had been a floor that led to one exit. After taking several turns through the labyrinth-like halls we came out in a dark alleyway, somewhere in the heart of New York City. I was afraid that Jeb hadn't made it out, but soon he appeared from a different direction. At the time his face and clothes were scratched up. Luckily stores hadn't closed and we ran to the nearest building to buy new clothes so we wouldn't leave in filth.

After that, we assessed the damage on ourselves. I was okay, except for some bruises on my body. The extent of Jeb's injuries was just surface scratches on his face and arms. Fang made out the worst. He more than likely had a concussion and while the cut on his head had stopped bleeding, it will probably need stitches to close properly. We didn't feel like waiting in the Emergency Room all night, so we headed to the nearest airport thanks to a cab.

It was somewhere in the early morning now after you subtracted all the time we spent waiting at the airport for our plane. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep badly, except a fear in the back of my head kept me awake. It's hard to admit this, but I was afraid to close my eyes. I'd done it once, at the airport, and regretted it instantly. The images that appeared were the frightened eyes of the mutants and the limp body of Mr. Darnell. Since then I had been willing myself awake.

Just remembering what I had witnessed — and my possible committed murder — I let out a small shudder.

Fang was acute enough to my thoughts that he knew instantly what I was thinking about. He turned his head in my direction and gave me a smirk. It would have normally cheered me up, except that it didn't reach his eyes. I knew that he had some serious issues he was thinking about, too.

But you would be too if you found out that your entire life had been planned around a specific purpose that was unknown to you. In a sense, the same situation applied to me, but I had never realized any of it until that fateful day in September when Jeb came to my home. The difference was that Fang knew that something was off and tried to change it, and yet he still never got complete control of his life. Even coming to my home was organized by Jeb. The only thing he could truly say was not planned was the death of his adopted mother, which in retrospect just downright sucked.

There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask him, and Jeb, too. I was hardly sure that this was the proper place to begin a conversation. Still, Fang knew that I wanted to have some alone time with Jeb — because who knew how much time we'll have alone back home. He smiled and wrapped one of his hands around my own and gave it a quick squeeze before rising.

"Excuse me," he mumbled. I watched his dark eyes look at me once more before he meandered out of the aisle toward the bathrooms.

That left me alone with Jeb. I gulped as he turned toward me. His face was unemotional yet stern as his brown eyes — a lot like my own — gazed into mine. It reminded me of my first day of high school just several months ago. I'm still as confused about him as I was that day, but my feelings toward him had changed somehow.

He watched me for a moment before speaking. "He's a good friend to you."

It took me a second to realize that he meant Fang. A sudden lump clogged my throat as I tried to answer him. "Yeah." I had to pause to cough. "He is."

"That was the reason I placed him with you, you know. I couldn't let him be exposed to the truth about his existence without knowing who he would have to fight against. Given the chance again, he'd chose you over them any time." His voice was a low whisper so that no one would overhear us, especially if they were pretending to sleep. Even here we can't be sure that we're completely safe.

I wondered about the extent of Jeb's knowledge of Fang's affection toward me. Heck, I didn't really even know how much he liked me. I thought we were just friends until he kissed me… I tried to stop that thought before Jeb could read it on my face. "I guess, but you know he might grow to resent it. Knowing that you set him up for that, I mean."

He smiled slyly and shook his head. "If he resented my decision, he would have tried to get out by now."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. "Jeb, let's stop with the evasions. What really happened back there? How comes the surg—" I paused by the look he shot me. "I mean, how comes it didn't happen? Why was I able to get through the building so easily? Why did you come to my rescue if you work with them?"

"Max, I don't work for them." His tone was patient, but at the same time I could hear the hurt in it. He knew that I still didn't completely trust him. "I haven't for about fifteen years, well; at least they didn't know that up until yesterday. I've always been around at several of the…locations to learn about what they were doing. In a way, I was like a spy.

"What happened was that the power outage was just enough to ruin a tightly scheduled plan made by the company. The storm delayed the flight of their special surgeons they were flying in, and therefore they had to take Fang out from under anesthesia before they gave him too much. This happened shortly after you left our conference room, so by the time you reached him he was already awake."

He stopped while the flight attendant came down the aisle. She offered us some drinks to which we both refused. We were close to landing anyway. When she walked by, he continued.

"I knew I had to help you quickly. You're too stubborn to take the easy way out, which is why you're perfect for the role you were designed for." I frowned at him, but he acted like I hadn't. I didn't like being referred to as an experiment. "I was able to take out the security guards at the central station before they could spot you."

I didn't want to think about his idea of taking out security guards, but I was glad that he'd helped me. After all the years of resenting my father, I was feeling… not exactly happy, but maybe accepting of the unfortunate DNA relation between us.

Despite my suavity with words, I was suddenly at a loss of them. "Thanks," I managed to say. And I did mean it. We were going home because of Jeb. (As much as I hated to admit it, it was true).

His eyes turned contrary. "No, thank you, Max, for taking a risk for your friend. Not many people have the courage to stand up in the face of danger, but you rose to the occasion. Now that they know that you are in existence, their focus won't solely be directed on just Fang."

"How is that a good thing?"

"It's good because they will have to divide their attention. It's not just one experiment that they want, but two of them. They might double their efforts, but your alliance will make any attempt of theirs extremely difficult. The difference will be crucial." He paused, as if checking himself, before he continued. "I'm proud of you, Max."

I was choked up, even more so than before. It was unusual of him to share his feelings with me, even on a simpler level of pride. Anyone could say that. A teacher, mentor, friend. But hearing it from him, with the passion he placed behind it, felt off. And not wrong, but just different. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

Fang returned then, to my great relief. He gave me a questioning look, to see how our conversation went, to which I responded with a slight smile. I hoped that it was enough to show him that we had a (sort of) good talk. Although I still had more questions I wanted to ask than answers received, I was willing to deal with what I was given. He nodded once and retook his seat.

The intercom clicked on and the voice of the flight attendant resounded over our sleepy bunk. "We are now descending in Baltimore. Please return to your seats and prepare for landing. Thank you for using our services."

There was an awkward silence after the announcement clicked off, to which I stared back out the window again. I watched as the little patches of what seemed to be random shapes clarified into recognizable figures, like buildings and farmlands. Once we hit the runway and came to a stop, I felt eyes watching me. When I looked back, Fang was staring at me with unreadable eyes.

I raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Nothing…" he hesitated.

"No, what did you want to say?"

He sighed in defeat, and I was glad to see that my reading-Fang's-thoughts skills were improving. "I'm glad to be coming home."

I smiled. That's probably the best thing he had ever said to me.

"Me, too."

I am gonna be gone all weekend, so don't expect any updates until some time next week. I reviewed the last chapter and I saw the one mistake, but I also wanted to point out another mistake that I've fixed. Mr. Darnell said that Max lived in Virginia, when she lives in Maryland. Don't know if anyone caught that, but I thought I'd mention it. Only the Epilogue chapters left, so I'm really excited for that.

I'll respond to some of your reviews through PM soon, but I have to go study for my Economics test!
--biteoutoflife--