Nudge was starting to get worried. It had been two days and Max, Fang, and Iggy still hadn't shown up. Where could they be? Well, she thought, Fang did say he was going to find Max. And he brought along Iggy, so the mission should have flown by.
What happened?
"Nudge, Nudge, Nudge, Nudge," Rose sang from the couch. "Nu-udge! I wanna eat more peanut buttter!" Nudge grinned. If a little girl could get high off of sugar and peanut butter, that girl was definitely Rose Ride.
"Sweetheart," Nudge started, coming toward the child, "You've had like, seven jars. You should be lucky that you're just a girl. Because when you're a girl, you don't have to worry about your weight. You can enjoy all the peanut butter you want. But no, whenever you become a woman, your body decides to turn and gain all the fat it wants. Now, I know all the guys don't like a fat girl. And, if I ate seven jars of peanut butter, I'd have to walk like, a billion miles to walk it off. And then that would make me hungry. So then I'd have to eat celery. Because when you eat celery, you burn more calories chewing than you gain from it. Not saying that I can't have peanut butter with my celery. But if I did that, then-"
"NUDGE! SHUT THE HELL UP!" Gazzy screamed at her from the couch. She frowned and continued on, oblivious to the look his face. He rolled his eyes and went to his room, slamming the door.
"Okay, where was I? And Gaz," She yelled up to his room. "I do not tolerate profanity!"
"Hell isn't a bad word, it's in the bible!" He yelled back.
"You don't even read the bible, you retard!"
"Hey! Max says you can't say retard!" He said, opening his door and stickng his head out. He imitated Nudge's voice perfectly. "Retard. Reeeetard. You can't say that!"
"Just shut up!" Nudge snapped back at him. Rose had inched her way off the couch and was only a few feet away from the kitchen cabinets. "Okay, again, where was I?"
"Oh yeah! If I ate peanut butter with my celery, then the whole point would go to waste. There would not even be reasonable. And you with the peanut butter! I had no idea we had that much peanut butter in the house in the first place! Where did it all come from? It's not like I went out and bought it. Fang...actually I don't know. Hey Gazzy! Does Fang like peanut butter? Because if he did-" Nudge continued on, not noticing that Rose had left the room.
Rose gave a sigh of relief. Thank the lord she had the brains to leave the room. Now, where was that heavenly stuff? She quickly searched the cabinets and sighed. It was all gone! What happened to all of it?
Flaring out her tiny wings, Rose steadily beat herself into the air. She was getting the hang of this, at least that's what she thought. Scanning the top cabinets she came to the same conclusion.
Somebody ate all the peanut butter!
Breathing out heavily and stomping her tiny feet, she marched over to the fridge to see if there was any in there. Slamming open the door, she analyzed the shelves and screamed mentally.
No! This was a nightmare!
Lowering herself to the ground, Rose huffed to herself. What kind of house doesn't have peanut butter? Apparently, this one.
With a depressed sigh, Rose shuffled to the living room. "...So then I was watching the movie, and I was like: 'No! Edward, you can't leave!' and he was like: 'I have to, it's for Bella's own good.' and I was like: 'Who cares about Bella? She belongs with Edward anyway. I totally want Jacob, because he's sooo-"
"Nudge." Rose said, coming over to slap the girl's knee. She blinked and looked at Rose, then flashed a grin. "Oh, hiya Rose! Where'd you go? How long have you been gone? Wait, so does that mean I've been blabbing to myself the whole time? Why didn't you tell me? What if I looked like a big idiot! I probably did, because who talks to themselves when they're alone in a room with-"
Rose helped herself up onto Nudge's lap and placed a hand on Nudge's cheek. "Please be quiet Nudge, Nudge. I want to watch the movie."
"Okay, but I'm not going to make any more popcorn. I swear, it's like you inhale the stuff." Nudge said, and settled back onto the recliner.
Rose rolled her eyes and placed her head onto Nudge's shoulder. The next thing she'd have to talk about was the fact that the house didn't have anymore peanut butter.
Pitiful. What's the point in living if you can't have peanut butter?
"Is this really the entrance?" I asked, glancing around the yet again empty room. It only had a solitary door at the end of it, and that door looked like it could barely fit two people, much less five.
"Yup, as far I can remember." Maddy said as she walked up to it.
"Alright, Iggy, set the bomb. And let's get out of here." I said, glancing back at the group behind me. Everyboy nodded. Except for Fang.
"Wait, Iggy, don't. Max, I have something to tell you." Fang said, his hand tightening around mine. He let go, and rubbed his face with both of his hands. "Earlier, when Ig and I came in for you, right before we were captured-" He frowned at the way he worded it, but then continued. "I saw Angel. She was here."
I was incredulous. "What? Why would Angel be down here?"
He shrugged. "I know what I saw," He said.
I gave him an odd look. What if he was just imagining it? There was absolutely no way Angel would be down here. Why would she be? It was unreasonable. "Fang, are you-"
"I'm positive. If I didn't see her, I wouldn't want you down here a second longer." His eyes sparkled and he gently pushed me towards the elevator. "Go, I'll be there in a few minutes."
I rolled my eyes and walked right back up next to him. "Fang, if you're staying, then so am I," I motioned Maddy forward. "But Maddy, Dylan and Iggy should go. They don't need to be down here any more."
"Actually," Dylan said, and grinned crookedly. "We can't leave until you do," Maddy nodded beside him. "Plus, our mission was to retrieve you three safely."
"Well, now that we're together and all good, you both can go." I tried to usher them out, but they stood firm.
"We're not leaving til you're up there," Iggy said. I sighed and took a deep breath.
"Okay, apparently we're all going to stay down here." I gave the three of them a look. "And we're going to find Angel." Everybody nodded.
Suddenly a thought hit me, and I crumpled to my knees. How could I forget? What was wrong with me?
My baby.
How could I forget about him?
Fang quickly dropped down to my side and worriedly asked me questions. "Max, are you okay? What just happened? Is it the Voice?"
"No," I whimpered, and shut my eyes. "Fang, my baby. My baby." This whole time, I had forgotten about him. What kind of a person am I?
Fang froze beside me. "You still want that monster?"
I shook my head no, but answered yes. I couldn't abandon him, I never could.
After a minute, I shakily stood back up and gazed at our little group. "I need to get Angel. I also need to get my baby. We must hurry, and we can't waste any time. Let's go."
After an hour of searching, I finally found a hallway with two people in it. But, the problem was the fact that they were unconsious. That wouldn't help my case at all. The first guard I recognized from before, Jacob. The second one, might have been the other one wheeling Fang in. I really didn't know.
"They're knocked out," Dylan said, kneeling beside Jacob.
Maddy slapped his arm. "Thank you, Einstein." He flashed a wolfish grin, and turned back towards Fang and I. "What do you guys think happened?"
"Let's find out," I said, taking a few steps over to the man. Holding out my hand, Fang gave me a water bottle from Iggy's backback. I dumped the water onto Jacob, and he spluttered awake.
"What happened to you?" I immediately asked him, after shaking the hair out of my eyes.
"Max? How did you-"
"We didn't wake you up for questions. Answer me. Who knocked you out?"
"Ugh, it was this demon girl. She had the wierdest eyes, and she had Ana behind her. All it took-"
"Give me more details of the girl." I demanded.
"Um, blonde hair, maybe a twelve year old? I don't..."
I looked back at Fang and heaved a sigh. He was right. Angel was down here. Now, what to do with Jacob? As if he heard my thoughts, Fang flashed a smile and reached down. After effectively knocking the guy out again, we got up and promptly left.
Now how do we find her?
I mulled over that for a few minutes as the five of us trudged down the hallway. Maddy and Dylan were checking all of the doors as we passed, and all of them were empty.
Except one.
I peeked my head in whenever Dylan pulled me to the side to inform me. The room had many monitors, with all types of information sprawled across. There were some labcoats, who were also mulling over the computers and the data.
Then I saw him. "Maxis," I whispered.
As if he heard me, his head whipped up and he gave me a chilling glare. Good thing I had Fang next to me. We stared him down until he broke out into a sudden grin. I blinked a few times, surprised at the sudden change.
"Ah, here they are! The stars of the night! About time you showed up! You're just in time to witness the show," He said, and clapped his hands. We were suddenly pulled over by an unseen force, and I couldn't move a muscle. What the heck? We looked across the room, and I gasped.
Angel! She was strapped to one of those terrible chairs we had been in earlier. Screaming in agony, her tiny body spasmed with pain. My eyes watered uncontrollably, and I screamed out at Maxis. "No! You can't do that to her! She's just a little girl! Let me take it for her, just stop it!" Deja vu, anyone?
Maxis laughed. "Whatever you like, girly."
Fang shook his head angrily. The force had let up, now we could speak and move our heads. "No, let me in."
"Too late. First come, first serve." Maxis mumbled, and picked me up. I still couldn't move against him, and he quickly strapped me into a chair.
"Angel, you're free to go now," Maxis called out to her. Angel simply stood up and stretched, grinning now. I stared at her like a retarded fish. Wait...was she in on this?
"Thank you, Maxis. My throat was getting hoarse from all that screaming." Theatrically stretching, she jumped up and ran to him. He grinned and ruffled her hair.
"No, thank you and your amazing actressing skills." He said back to Angel.
She smiled up at him and turned to me. "This really is for your own good, Max." Then she blocked my mind out from hers.
Electric shocks ran through my veins and I cursed out loud before quieting myself. Fang was going crazy, trying to fight against the force that was holding him down. I looked over at him and smiled weakly. He slumped against the wall and took area deep breaths.
"You see Max, I have this grand plan. And I'm going to tell all of you because I know you won't share a word. Because I'm going to kill all of you tonight." He evilly smirked. "This was a revenge plan. You know why? Because. The US NASA wouldn't accept my plans. My plans were genius! They would be pricy, sure, but that is what always happens in the US. My plan was perfect, wonderful. Amazing. But they turned it down."
"So I'm going to get my revenge." He started pacing in front of me. "I have set three atomic bombs in every continent on the planet Earth. At midnight, all of the bombs will be set off, which will end the world. Why? Because, if my plan doesn't get approved, nobody else's will. Nobody but me will achieve sucess!"
This was insane. I choked out a few words: "But, if you blow up the world, you'll die too,"
"That's where you're wrong. I have set up another underground facility in Africa that will supply me of all the essentials that I will need. Me and my new wives, we will repopulate the world. We will create a new one, one that is better, and more fair. With a goverment that will surely pass this sapling of a 'government' we have here."
"That's disgusting! Who in their right mind would want to 'repopulate' with a sick man like you?" I spit at him. Eew.
"Ever heard of polygamy? Not only will I have this woman-" He held out his arms ans another woman stepped out of the shadows and into them. She had long, lucious blonde hair, and beautiful eyes. "Ana!" I heard Iggy gasp. I gaped my mouth open again. What had gotten into her head? Why was she..? Eeew.
Maxis continued. "But I have many more." With that, about a dozen women came up behind him and all of them smiled mischeviously. I grimaced. One thing I noticed about them was the fact that all of them had the exact same black collar-like device on their necks.
"What are those collars? I asked him, squintng my eyes.
"Ah, you are a smart girl. These collars control them. They will do as I please. And with this one, she's special. Ana, show them," The woman stepped forward and turned her back. Then she spread her wings. All five of my group gasped, and stared. They looked just so painful, like somebody had played god and had some super glue at hand. It was hard and even painful to look at.
"So, as you can see, you are at my mercy. I can do whatever I like with you." Maxis suddenly grinned again. "At this moment it it almost six o' clock. That means I have six hours to get down to Africa. I will leave all of you here with your own devices, so enjoy the last six hours of your lives." And with that, he left with his crowd of zombie women.
I felt the tears silently roll down my cheeks. I was supposed to be the saviour. I failed. I failed the world, and all the living people who are doomed. I shook my head, trying to persuade myself that it wasn't real. That this was only a big long nightmare that was supposed to end right now.
But I couldn't even convince myself. I had six hours. I was in an underground facility, with five of my group members. My own closest sister, Angel, had betrayed me. Fang and I had just made up and we didn't even get to experience anything together. This was the end. Just six hours.
And time was ticking away.