"Mommy."

He repeated, taking another step closer. I took another step back. Was this really my child? My baby boy, a demon?

"Momma, where are you going?" He said, taking another step closer. His appearance was gruesome, but his voice was one of a two year old blonde haired blue eyed boy. Not a demon. I was shaking, and it only seemed like we were the only two people in the room. I didn't feel Fang's hands on my back and waist. I didn't feel the cold hard tile beneath me. Not the blood infested walls, floor and air.

Just his eyes. And his tiny body and soul.

He was here, because of me.

I cleared my throat, needing to speak to the boy. What was going on? "Honey? How...how do you know that I'm your mom?"

He smiled at me, his extremely sharp teeth poking through his lips. Vampire like, I could imagine him with pointy nails and bloody teeth. Well, at least he didn't have anything of mine. Not my nose, my eyes, or even my skin color. The boy was more pale than Fang. And that had to be paper to be more pale than Fang.

"Easy. I read the stuff above your head." He said, answering my quetion and taking another step closer. I stared at him. I didn't even know how to ask him, to ask the fact the he knew how to read.

"How did you learn how to read?" I asked. Frozen, I couldn't even look away from him. Why were his eyes red? I didn't have red eyes, and I don't remember Ari having them either. That's stupid, how did he...?

"I saw you. Then I taught myself. You don't like to read very much do you?"

This was endless. "How did you 'watch' me read?"

"When I was inside you, I figured out a way to see through your eyes. I saw everything." Now he was only a foot away. Still holding the bodyless arm, he acted like this was the weather. That he didn't even care how critical this time was, or how we didn't have time to play twenty questions.

A hysterical laugh threatened to escape. I hid it with a question instead. "Okay. So you can read, and you have some magical power that makes you see writing above people's heads. So," I said. Sarcasm was my defence mechanism. I couldn't help it. "What else can you do? How did you do all that?" I gestured to the mangled bodies on the floor. Looks like somebody took a knife and minced them. Finely.

"I used my hands." He said. He must've seen the extremely confused face I had on, because he added dome details. "I used my hands." he said again. As if repeating the same sentence would make me understand.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. Like I did. "Watch." He pointed at a computer nearby and it suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks. When the smoke moved away, there was a mangled piece of metal sitting there.

I shuddered. How did he do that?

"Look what else I can do," He said sweetly. Dropping the arm, he stood up straight and closed his eyes. The air around him started to shimmer, and he suddenly let out a bloodcurling scream. I cringed back into Fang, who had been speechless and cold this entire time. The rest of the group, and been hanging a few feet behind the whole scene.

After the scream ended, I could see the boy again. But, now he wasn't a boy. He was a tiny dog, an Eraser. He cracked a grin at me and loped up to my side. I couldn't move. I was still frozen.

In less than a second, he was back to himself. "Cool huh, Mom?"

I winced when he called me mom. It was unnatural, like a giraffe calling a mouse it's mother. Just wrong, and so misconstrued.

"Stop doing that, Fang!" He abruptly screamed again. I winced. The boy continued. "Stop thinking of ways to kill me! I'll kill you first. Just like I did to them!" Tears flooded my eyes, but I had no idea why. I wasn't sad, wasn't happy, wasn't glad. What was I feeling right then?

Angry. I was mad. I was enraged. Furious. Infuriated.

Mostly, I was pissed off.

This was all of Ari's fault. If he didn't do anything to me, only if he'd left me alone:

This wouldn't have happened.

I wouldn't has had a demon boy. I wouldn't have been raped a second time. I wouldn't have a dog as a son. I wouldn't be in so much stress and pain. All because of Ari.

I had to make a plan. "Okay, Fang, guys, outside."

I wasn't looking at him, but I could practically hear him roll his eyes. "Not without-"

I stared him in the eyes. "Give me a minute. Just one," I held up a finger to emphasize my point.

Fang shook his head stubbornly. I sighed. Then, using my ability to move lightning fast, I shoved him outside and locked to door. Good thing the rest of the group was already out.

"Dammit Max! Let me-" And he was cut off my Iggy and Dylan. I rolled my eyes and held in a giggle. Stupid boys.

"Fang. Shut up." Iggy said.

I glanced back, but I couldn't see them throught the heavy door. Well, time to get to business. I turned and faced my kid. He had a look on his face that I can only describe as awe.

I sighed. How to do this? What can I-

"I can help." He said. I opened my eyes and glanced down at him. Raising an eyebrow, I sat down in front of him, my legs crisscrossed.

"You must stop Maxis." This I knew. How did he know? "This room is filled with cameras. I saw everything. You must stop Maxis." He repeated. I didn't roll my eyes, surprisingly. I gave him a look, and he sighed this time.

"Look, this is my idea..." He started and I leaned in closer to hear.

How could she do this to me? I ran a hand through my hair and mentally screamed. Why would she? How dare she?

"Fang, calm down. She's fine." Iggy said easily, from the wall. Maddy nodded beside him. "Max isn't the delicate flower you've come picture her as. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself. It's her child. He won't hurt her."

Clenching and unclenching my jaw, I spoke harshly. "Ig, you don't know her like I do. She's scared on the inside. She won't hurt her kid even if he was an inch from killing her. I have to protect her. She won't hurt him, but I has a feeling he will hurt her." After finishing, I walked over to the door again and banged on it loudly. I knew Max could hear. "Let me it, Max!"

"No, Fang, don't." Iggy said, coming back to put a hand on my shoulder. "Let her do what she needs to do." I shook my head angrily. Iggy continued. "Move away from the door, she might come out any minute, and it will slam into you if you don't move. Chop, chop!"

I swatted his hand away. "Don't 'chop, chop' me."

Iggy grinned. "Just did."

I stared into his eyes and moved away from the door. I still wasn't used to him having sight. It was a great advantage, but what if he goes haywire? What if he turns into this super crazy control freak?

I was losing it. Where was Max?

Just as I thought that, the door quietly opened and Max poked her head out. Stepping out quickly, she shut the door quietly behind her.

I had a million questions. "Are you okay? What did the demon say? Why are you covered in blood? What-"

"Fang, shut up." Iggy said again. He really was getting on

my nerves.

Max looked up at me in that cute way she does. It's almost like she wanted to tease me all night and day. Just wait, one day I'll crack. Her eyelashes were so long and she looked almost...depressed. I instantly wanted to beat the crap out of that boy. Again, why was she covered in blood?

Closing the door behind her, she spoke quickly and softly, like that boy might overhear. "Okay. That kid is insane." I licked my lips and stared at her. What was the point in wasting time by stating the obvious? "I mean, he wants me to kill all of you, hide underground with him until the bombs go off, then go out and see if you survived." She closed her eyes and looked to the ceiling. "What the hell?"

"That's insane." Dylan said, putting a hand up to his forehead.

"Oh my god," Maddy added.

"Geez," Ig said.

My mind was reeling. "We have to get him to be quiet for a while, until at least we stop Maxis. He can stay-"

"With Nudge? Hell no." Iggy said, crossing his arms.

"Of course not." I reassured him. Max looked relieved too. Maddy and Dylan just looked confused. "I say.. We give the boy something to knock him out, for a few hours. Then, after we save the world, we can come back for him."

Max stared at me with her eyes wide open. Dylan looked away at Maddy, who also had her eyes wide open at me. Iggy was the only person who had an actual reaction. So, after a minute, he looked at me with a deadly seriousness that made me cringe mentally.

"Fang, that's terrible. But, we're at a desperate time. And desperate times call for desperate choices. Max, we have to do it if we will want to stop him."

I nodded silently while Max continued to stare us down. After a few minutes, she spoke, her voice wavery and fragile even.

"Okay. I seriously don't like it, but okay." Under her breath, she said: "This is so wrong."

"Honey? I have something for you," Max called out as we stepped into the room. I still had my hands behind my back holding the vial of...something. Dylan had said a big long word that was it's name, but I didn't care enough to remember it. We had found the stuff in a testing room, and Dylan had told us that it knocked out an elephant in one dose. We only needed like, an eighth of the vial.

"What is it?" The child said, coming back around from the tank. He was dry now, but still had no clothes. The tangled mess of his hair was now free of blood. I was still frozen at the sight of him, of how much resemblance he and Ari had. My hand tightened around the vial, and I glanced at Max.

"Come here," She said. The little boy ran up to her, almost suspiciously too, and she opened her arms wide. He ran into them, and closed his eyes.

Perfect.

Quickly, I bent down and pressed the needle into his shoulder. He jerked away from Max and glared at me. He lifted his hand, which was shaking terribly, and reached for the vial.

I quickly pressed down on the vial, and the weird fluid ran into the child. Immidiately he fell limp against Max, and she picked him up.

I knew Max was upset. The way she avoided eye contact was obvious to me. "I'm sorry, Max," I whispered.

She shook her head. "It had to be done."

From the hallway, Iggy yelled: "Did it work?"

We didn't answer. Instead, we stepped out of the room with the boy in her arms. Iggy immediatly shut up and looked down.

After a few minutes, we found a room with two chairs in it, those torture chairs we were in earlier. Dylan strapped the unconsious Angel into one and Max did the other.

Finally we were finished. Before Max stepped into the hallway with all of us, she ran back in and quickly jotted something down on a note. Leaving the note and walking back to us, I asked her what she wrote.

"'Don't worry. We'll be back.'" She said quietly. Maddy, Dylan, Iggy, Max and I quietly walked down the hallway. Nothing but the sounds of breathing and footsteps by this point.

"Do you guys hear that?" I said after a few minutes of walking. Nobody stopped, but then again, nobody answered. Max abruptly looked up.

"That ticking?"

"Yeah, that's what I-"

And that's when the first shots were fired.

"Oh yeah, that's it. Oh my god, that feels so good! Here, go a little left. No, your other left you dumbass. Wait, is that my right? Oops. Keep going. Who taught you how to do this? Jesus Christ, this feels like heaven."

Maxis sighed as Stella continued the heavenly massage she was giving him. Her hands were magic, de-stressing places he didn't even know he had stress. He couldn't help himself, he had to egg her on. And she couldn't even understand. That's the bad side to the collars. The girls couldn't understand anything other than commands. He sighed. Maybe he should fix that up...

Ana was washing her hands in the sink like Maxis had ordered all the girls to. When she was finished, the girl behind her, named Morgan, came up next.

That's when Ana blacked out. She had no idea what happened whenever she came to. All she knew was there was something seriously heavy on her neck, and she could barely breathe. Ana glanced around. Why did all the girls have the same collar on? Why were they just standing there dead silent?

Getting up onto her feet, Ana questioned the closest girl. "What is your name?"

"I'm not allowed to give that information away unless it is to Maxis, or granted by Maxis." Ana's head was reeling. What happened to her? She felt her head and saw a huge bump on the back, as big as an egg. What did the girl say again?

"Well," Ana started, hoping this strategy would work. "Maxis gave me permission. Answer my questions."

"My name is Morgan," The girl said, still staring straight ahead.

"What happened to me?"

"You were hit by some water when the sink broke. Then you were unconsious."

"And you didn't do anything to help me?" Ana almost screeched at her. So she was lying on the floor, unconsious, for who knows how long, and this lady didn't help her?

"I wasn't ordered to," Morgan said blankly. Ana stared her down for a minute, until Maxis's voice pierced her thoughts.

"Ladies! Come in!" He bellowed from the front cabin. Ana glanced around helplessly as the women around her started to shuffle forward.

Afer a minute, all the ladies were in the small plane room. Maxis was standing, looking out the window at the clouds. When they approached, he faced them and grinned suddenly, surprising Anaz she kept a blank face on, like all the women around her.

"Alright ladies. If the world is going to end in four hours, shouldn't we start the world earlier?"

Ana was extremely confused. The world...ending? What was going on? What was he talking about? Even all of the women had confused expressions on. Ana wasn't alone.

Silence.

He sighed. "I mean, as in repopulating the planet. It takes nine months and I don't have time to wait. I want to start. Immediatly. Alright everybody out. Everyone...except for Ana."