The Runaways – Chapter 22
By MyNameIsCAL
-Max's POV-
Fang still had his arms around me when I woke up. He was awake though, his hand finding a way into mine as I turned to face him.
"Are you okay?" I asked him softly.
He gave me a shaky smile. "Yeah, I'll be alright."
We didn't talk as we got the car in order, putting the seats back into their positions and folding the blankets. Somehow Iggy had a fire going already, sitting there with Gazzy, talking quietly.
"Morning, Max," Iggy said, yawning. "Hey, Fang."
"Morning, Ig," Fang responded as he sat down.
I was about to pull out some food when I heard a car coming. Iggy had been the first to hear it, sitting up straight. A car pulled up right next to ours, one that read Park Ranger.
"Shit," Fang said under his breath. "All of you, get in the tent."
The door of the ranger's car opened, a woman stepping out in khaki attire. I scrambled into the tent, listening to the conversation.
"Well, good morning," a woman said. "We don't get too many campers out here, so I thought I'd stop by to say hello."
"Well, we were looking for a less crowded place," Fang told her.
"That's understandable," she replied. "Now, I'm required to check. Do you have your camping permit with you? You should have filled one out when entering the park."
But Fang found a lie quickly to make. "You know, actually, my parents just went to get something and they took it with them. I'm not sure when they'll be back."
"Ah, I see." I couldn't tell if she believed him or not. "Well, I'll be back in an hour or so."
"Of course, no problem," Fang said. "Have a good day."
"You too."
I heard the door slam and the car pull away. Iggy unzipped the tent, letting us out.
"We need to go," Fang said. "Now."
In a mad dash, we packed the tent. Fang directed me in the opposite direction the ranger had been driving. He was hoping she hadn't read our license plate number.
I had no idea where we were going though. Every turn we took seemed to get narrower. It was bumpy now too, looking like no one had driven here in years.
"Fang, there's a car behind us," Iggy said.
Fang turned and I looked in the rearview mirror. It was the ranger car again.
"Keep driving," Fang muttered, fumbling to get the map out. "If we have deal with her, we got lost, okay?"
"I don't think that's gonna work," Iggy muttered. "The way that car is running behind us, they're more likely trying to run us off the road or something."
I pulled over and the ranger car came to a skidding halt a few feet in front of us. The door opened and a man stepped out, two more hopping out of the back seat, all of them dressed the same. There was a woman too. I rolled down the window.
"I think we're lost," I said, trying to stick to Fang's plan, praying it might work.
"No, you're not lost," the man scoffed. "You need to come with us. All of you."
"And what authority do you have over us?" I asked. "We can't just leave our car here."
"We've contacted the police. You've violated several codes of conduct here," the man frowned.
"Well we won't come with you until the police come here," I told him.
"Then we'll take you by force." The man stuck his hand in the car, unlocking the doors, pulling me out.
-Gazzy's POV-
They threw Max onto the ground. Fang looked like it had hurt him more than it had hurt Max. He tore out of his side of the car. I opened my door, scrambling out past Iggy and Nudge.
"Gazzy, no!" Fang shouted.
One of the men grabbed me, but I kicked my foot back, hitting him between the legs. He let out a groan of pain, falling to his knees. Fang was struggling with one of the other men, trying to get to Max who was being thrown around. But I had to admit, she was a fighter too. As soon as she hit the ground, she was back up again, throwing punches.
There were more of us than there were of them, but they had more muscle, heavy and full of rage.
"There's another car coming!" Iggy shouted. "I can hear it!"
I was back to back with him and Nudge now, Angel between all of us. Men were surrounding all of us. They stared at us and we stared back at them, breathing heavily. Max and Fang were now fighting the same guy now, their motions almost looked timed, like their relationship had somehow became part of their fighting.
"You can't run from us." It was the woman, pushing her way through the five new men that had just arrived. "We will get you and take you, like you never existed. You've caused us enough trouble already. Let us put you out of your misery."
Max suddenly landed in front of us, blood spewing from her nose. But I didn't dare look down at her. Any break in our concentration was sure to be the end of us. Angel whimpered behind me as the woman pulled out a shotgun.
"In my bag," Iggy said under his breath, "there's a mini bomb I made, sorta like a grenade. Angel, we'll distract them, but you need to get it and set it off."
I felt her nod.
Before the woman could hit any of us, we broke our formation, charging at each of the men, Max grabbing the woman by the feet and they started to fight over the gun.
"RUN!" Angel screamed.
We all hit the ground, the men unaware of what was going on. Angel threw something that looked small, but the explosion was deafening.
-Fang's POV-
When the dust cleared, the only person who was left standing was the woman. She still had the shotgun, Max unconscious on the ground, knocked out by the explosion, the others still on the ground looking dazed. I ended up face to face with the gun as the woman spotted me.
"Goodbye," she hissed.
I grabbed her by the wrist, the gun going off.
"FANG!"
But the woman dropped to the floor. I hadn't done anything. She shot herself. Feeling lightheaded, I fell to the ground, the world spinning around me.
"FANG!" It had been Iggy that was shouting. Poor guy couldn't see anything, but I had to say that he put up one hell of a fight. It was the second time now that he had saved our lives.
"I'm…I'm okay," I said. "She shot herself."
I blinked a few times and things returned to normal. If someone had walked upon us now, they might think that I had killed all the motionless bodies around us, but they were only knocked out. I didn't think I could live with myself if I killed anyone.
"Get…get in the car." I stood, my bad leg shaking. It took me a while to get a grip on Max. With Gazzy's help, I got her into the car.
"Let's get out of here," I muttered, climbing into the driver's seat. "We need to find somewhere better to hide."
An hour later, we found the highway. Max came to, hand on her head, dry blood all over the front of her. I pulled over on the shoulder, turning off the ignition.
"How're you feeling?" I asked her.
She picked her head up off the chair, closing her eyes. "My head hurts, but I think I'm okay."
"We'll find a place soon to clean you up, okay?" I assured her.
Max nodded. "Is everyone else okay?"
"Better now that we know you're okay," Iggy tried to joke and Max let a weary smile slip from her lips.
We were all beaten and bruised up. Nudge was asleep, Iggy's arm around her. Angel was leaning against the window, staring out while her brother took up the rest of the seat all the way in the back, sleeping. I felt tired too and now that I thought about it, I really had no clue where I was going. For the past half hour I had started to follow the signs to California.
Max seemed to sense my feeling of being lost. "So where are we going?"
"I…I don't know," I told her.
She looked at the road, cars passing us almost lazily. There weren't too many out here. I think we were in Idaho now, or something like that.
"Well, maybe we should find a motel," she said, examining herself in the mirror.
I started the car and we headed off, dark clouds starting to hide the sun as we sped down the interstate.
So some action there. Probably more coming. New chapter should be up around the weekend, give or take a day or so.
I've got two new stories up: Meant to Be and I Love You, Maybe so check them out if you have the chance. Thanks for reading!