Journal NOT a Diary!
Max's Journal
July 6, 2010
Petunia has chewed through her ropes, her tongue packed with splinters, and let the rest of us go. Good timing, too. The water was up to my shoulders, and the only reason Angel and Analie weren't dead was because their so light their chairs float. But the water was about to come over Analie's head.
Fang still hasn't arrived. It's been a week, and I'm starting to worry. What did the change of blue to red mist mean? What if the blue mist was really someone else's dream, or not a dream at all? Or was Fang in it with Cindy? No, I couldn't think about that. He couldn't be.
Angel, Iggy, Gazzy, and I have been flying around the room, hoping to find a weak spot in the ceiling or wall that we could break through. The room was sealed shut, no telling how thick this metal is. So that means that Fang is our only hope. If he doesn't come, we all die!
I don't even know why I'm writing in this, Els. I could just pack it into one big entry if Fang saves us. But if this room is filled, then this journal will be soaked to the point it comes apart. And it's impossible for all these pages, wet and crumbled, to be fit back together.
So that means no one will read this. No one will know how we die. If Fang just wasn't able to get to us and tells everyone his dream, everyone will think he's crazy. They'll put him in the nut house, give him special medicine and therapy he doesn't need. All because everyone refused to believe the truth.
Analie was holding tight to her mother, who was struggling to keep her above water. Analie couldn't swim, I found out, and MaryEllen was trying to teach her while the water was still low enough. If she doesn't learn, then she and her mother will both die, no doubt about it.
The flock has gills. We can survive, to an extent. But we can't forever. We need sleep, food, just like other humans. And everyone else, the true humans, will die.
"Mary Lou!" I called. "You knew this would happen?"
"No!" Mary Lou yelled. "When we upgraded this wine cellar, there were hundreds of ways she could kill us! Fire, storms, earthquakes, many more, and the outside world wouldn't be affected a bit! She didn't tell me about the water, I guess that was her own secret."
"Do you know how to stop it?" Iggy asked.
Mary Lou pursed her lips and shook her head. "Only Cindy knows."
I was flying, looking for weak points in the ceiling. I punched it with everything I had. It didn't even make a dent. I shouldn't have just shot her in the shoulder. I should have made her inches from death, where she couldn't do this. Fang would wake up demand that she open the door, and we'd be free.
But he hasn't come yet. He has to be awake, unless...
It suddenly dawned on me. He would get us if he could, but he couldn't. She must have known he would try to save us. You'll pay for that, Maximum! You all will!
If she had that pistol in her possession, she must have had more. She must have seen the mist, knew what it was. That's why he hasn't saved us, he never will.
Cindy murdered Fang.
I dropped like a stone, forgetting to flap my wings. I slammed in the water, my shoulder hitting the floor before my head. I swam back up and pushed the hair out of my eyes, my hand playing furiously with the necklace. I thought I was going to break it.
"C-Cindy!" I stuttered. "Fang! He - she - gun - powpow he go ow - and -"
"Max!" Angel yelled. "Stop! Catch your breath!"
I took a few deep breaths. I couldn't say it. I couldn't tell them Cindy killed Fang. I couldn't tell myself, or his mother, sister. "He..." I blacked out.
I woke up being carried by Iggy. The water was pretty high now, and Analie was swimming in it, laughing because of MaryEllen. She's five, if only she knew how much danger we were in.
The water is almost up to my shoulders now, and over Angel and Analie's heads, and if they want a break they have to have Iggy or Mary Lou hold them. It's almost over Gazzy's. Here's where it gets pretty tough.
-Maximum