The Disbanded: Divided We Stand-Chapter 23

By MyNameIsCAB

"Thanks for coming," Cal said as I helped pull a couple things out of the cars we had rented.

"No problem," I said, trying to sound like I meant it. Fang had been so resistant to come this morning.

"I can't believe Fang's meds went missing," she went on, pulled out the bags with our lunch. Somehow she had no problem with Fang's name being so unusual. I actually made the mistake of telling somebody and every time they had to say "Fang" it came out funny.

"He's not happy. I practically dragged him out of bed," I whispered so Fang wouldn't hear.

Cal sighed and closed the trunk. "You can take him back to the hotel if you want."

I shook my head. "He'll be okay."


---Fang's POV---

"I bet you the water's cold," Cal said to Ted.

Ted looked up at his from his sandwich. "Then why don't you go in."

Cal stuck her tongue out before finishing her sandwich. "Why don't you come with me?"

Ted finished his sandwich. "All right, let's go."

I watched Cal drag Ted towards the water.

"Aren't you hungry?" Max asked, holding out a sandwich.

"No," I answered.

She frowned, putting the sandwich back in the bag. "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

I shrugged.

Max stood up and adjusted the umbrella. It was cold at the beach, but somehow, the sun was still managing to blind us.

"You don't have to stay here with me," I said. "I can look after myself. Go ahead with Ted and Cal."

She let go of the umbrella and it fell back to its same position, the sun blinding me again.

"Go," I insisted.

Hesitantly, she left and headed towards the water where Ted and Cal were standing. I watched as Max and Cal pushed Ted into the water and a couple seconds later, he emerged, laughing.

Part of me wished I could be over there, having fun with them. The other half of me was more than happy to be sitting on dry land.

"Where'd everyone go?" Eli asked.

Looking up, Eli and Mike had returned from the parking lot with the other beach chairs.

"Water," I answered, pointing at them.

"Hey, what the hell is that?" Mike pointed.

I looked up. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that we were being attacked by an alien, but it was an…ERASER!

"MAX!" I shouted before screaming her name again.

The eraser was headed right towards her. It was too late already as the eraser grabbed her and they tumbled into the ocean. Mike and Eli were sprinting towards them and here I was, stranded on the beach towels, so useless.

Everyone else on the beach was screaming now. The eraser had engaged in a fist fight with Max, who was dodging the punches rather than fighting back. Cal picked up a rock and tossed it at the eraser's head. Turning around, the eraser growled at Cal, giving Max time to kick him before the eraser turned around again and threw her into the water again.

Now Ted was running. Running towards me. Why was her running away?

"Fang!" he shouted. "In my bag! My gun!"

Gun? Oh, yea, he and Max are still government agents. Ignoring the throbbing pain in my leg, I crawled towards his bag and pulled out his handgun and threw it to Ted.

"Thanks!" he shouted, running back towards the water.

Turning my attention back to Max, it looked like she and the eraser were now standing in knee deep water.

"Max, watch out!" I heard Eli say as Ted began to aim.

Ted's gun went off and all of sudden there was silence as the eraser dropped into the water. The entire beach had stopped their chaos and turned to Ted.

"I'm a federal agent!" he said, holding up his badge.

Sirens could be heard and it looked like the police had arrived. Cal and Max were heading back towards me. It looked like Max was bleeding.


---Max's POV---

"Come on, let's get back to Fang," Cal said, pulling me away from the gathering crowd. "Messina will take care of this with Eli and Mike."

I nodded, putting pressure onto the side of my shoulder. Messina's bullet had managed to graze me, but at least the eraser was dead.

"Max, are you okay?" Fang asked, a look of concern that I had never seen before from him.

"I'm fine, really," I insisted, sitting down next to him.

Cal pulled out the first aid kit. "Exactly what was that thing that attacked you?"

"An eraser," Fang answered, looking at my wound. "Human-wolf hybrids created by those crazy scientists that made us."

"I think that was a stray eraser," I added. "It seemed confused and unsure of what to do. If erasers had really been after us, they'd come in a group."

Fang seemed to agree with that as he and Cal started to bandage my shoulder. Now being out of the cold water, it felt sore. I didn't realize I was shivering until Fang pulled off his long sleeves shirt and wrapped it around me.

"Fang, you don't have to do that," I muttered, catching a glimpse of the scars on his arms.

He looked up at me and our eyes met. "Trust me, I do."