Chapter 13-The Beast
Hey everyone! Happy new year. School sucked today so I'm relieving stress.
FAX COMING UP! SPOILER ALERT!
Wait, you're supposed to put the spoiler alert before the actual spoiler…
Enjoy!
Fang (Just to add pizzazz, he's starting)
"Iggy shut up!" I quietly shouted to Iggy who was desperately trying to get the drool out of his hair, "Max, what is this thing?"
"No idea," she replies and then shoots a look at Gazzy, "Gazzy? You know this thing?"
"Nope, it's probably one of the guardians of this place."
"Thanks for telling us before hand," Max says, her voice dripping with venom, "I really appreciate it."
"No problem."
Max's eyes were full of hatred.
"Here's the plan everyone," I tell them, Max looking at me in surprise, "Everyone run that way. Gazzy, you lead. I'll stay back and buy us some time."
"Are you crazy?" Max says, keeping her eyes on the eye above us. It searched for movement, it's breath was foul, "I'm staying with you."
"Max, listen, you can't die-"
But I was cut off by her shout, "Everyone run!"
Max took out a sword from her bag and threw the bag to her mom. They obey her, running in terror. Angel was so close on Iggy's figurative tail that they were almost pressed together. Max's mom ushered them to safety.
She throws the sword to me, "Can you use it?"
"Of course, but-"
What is with her and patience? She didn't wait and then turned into a large bird with purple feathers and flew upwards, right beside the monster's face.
"Max!" I called and she squawked impatiently at me and I climbed up the side of the cave, my hands and feet searching for any small crevice. What was this thing?
My heart sank when I saw the whole thing. It was probably half the size of the palace back home. Its scales were pitch black, spiked tail and curved claws. Max was already taunting it, flying about it, diving down and clawing at its eyes. The tail swung towards me and I slashed down. Bad idea, it turned towards me, its iris swimming in its eyes, searching for me desperately. It has pretty slow reflexes, I realized.
"Max, it's slow!"
She says something that seems a lot like, "Don't you think I've already noticed that?"
Then I see something about it. Its chest heaved with every movement, but just under the skin pulsed a heart.
"Distract it, Max! I see something."
I could practically see the scowl on her lips- or beak- as she dove downwards and clung onto its ear, turning into another animal I couldn't see. It growled at her and she yelped in pain. I ran forwards and drove the sword into its massive heart and then ran to find Max.
She lay on the ground in front of me, her breathing labored.
Max
I've never been in so much pain in my life. I was bleeding from the stupid monster's claws. There was a wide gash on my leg. I wanted to shift back into my hawk form, my most familiar form, to help with the pain but I couldn't. The pain kept me grounded.
I remember when I was young and things were simple. And I didn't have the fate of an entire species on my shoulders. When I flew as free and as fast as the wind, when my family- my entire family's- laughter filled my ears. And I remember when I was happy and not broken.
Someone stepped up to me and I tried to shift to see who it was.
"No, stop Max, don't move," Fang orders, rolling my softly so I was lying on my back.
"Fang?"
"Yeah, it's me, Max," he replies, ripping a sleeve off.
"What are you doing?" I say, trying to sit up and was stopped by a pain shooting up the left side of my body.
"Don't move, Max, I'm going to tie off your wound with my sleeve, okay?"
"Wait," I stop him, "There's a bottle of Keevy's berries in my bag, go and get it, it'll help me heal quicker."
He looked a little torn for a moment, "Max, I shouldn't leave you here alone."
"Just get it, I'll be fine, I promise."
"Okay, Max," he says and disappears through a hole in the floor.
I felt so alone and vulnerable in that cave. I hate feeling vulnerable. Vulnerability is weakness and weakness earned me a chipped tooth and a permanent scar on my side. It felt like I laid their forever in a dark empty void. I was staring up at the ceiling which may as well been the starless sky, and it felt like looking into infinity. After a while I forgot all about my leg and just tried to calm my nerves. It felt like being blind. I'll admit it. The invincible Maximum Ride was terrified of being without my sight.
There were footsteps getting closer and closer and I tensed, just in case, even though I'm not able to move.
"Max," came a cautious whisper.
"Fang," I sigh in relief. The brown canvas cloth landed nest to me, pouring out a little canteen of water and a few old shirts and rags.
"Here," he crouches down next to me and pours a little bit of water on the softest cloth he can find and starts cleaning my wound. I wince at the stinging pain and he hesitates a little before I nod for him to continue. He gently rubs some of the Keevy's berries on my wound. There's a little tingling feeling and then a peaceful numbness. He ties my leg and helps me to stand, "Can you walk?"
"Yes," I say, but my leg was still weak. He caught me as I limped a little.
"It's going to be a little difficult getting you down," he jokes a little bit.
I ended up having to jump from the ledge down to his arms. And it didn't work out too well. I landed sort of on his chest instead of in his actual arms. He was muscular, but the way I landed, I brought both of us onto the ground, my body on his chest, and his lips pressed to my cheek. My eyes widen in shock. I rolled off of him and muttered an apology.
"Let's go find the rest of them," I say quietly.
He helped me walk, our map was the image of "Itex"- whatever it may be, and it was yet unknown-. We decided to follow the path that we decided on before. The last tunnel. Except the image of Itex didn't show us where the traps were. It left us stranded.
So what were we supposed to do now?