Chapter 15

Brigid's arm lifted and aimed straight at me. My heart literally stuttered to a stop in fear. "Goodbye Max," Brigid whispered. Nudge's eyes stared at me tears and terror in the chocolate irises. Mela and A.J. were screaming at Brigid to stop. Fang, a set of anger in his frown, took one step and blocked me from Brigid's aim.

"Fang," I hissed, "Don't." I wasn't going to lose him. His dark eyes peered at me over his shoulder. I knew what he was saying, thinking, all in that one moment. He was doing what I'd do for him, if his life had been the one in danger.

From where we all stood, I could barely see over Fang's shoulder. The one exit was the door which we had entered from. Fang stepped towards Brigid away from the entrance. I stepped with him. "Mommy," Mela cried.

"Fang, I'll hurt you too," Brigid warned. From the look on her face I could tell she was serious too. "Just get out of the way," she ordered.

"No," Fang growled. Nudge was whimpering beside me. Fang lifted his arms a bit and stretched out his wings. I couldn't see Brigid anymore.

"Fang, stop," I finally ordered. I pushed his wing aside and stepped forward. Brigid smirked as Fang panicked and stared at me. "Brigid just let them go, please." Brigid lifted her gun and pointed the barrel right at my heart. Mela and A.J. began pleading with Brigid as well to let them go. I stepped forward and away from Fang so that he couldn't step in front of me. There were only a few feet in front of me.

"Oh my god," Future Nudge had found us. She stood at the entrance staring at all of us. She made her way into the room. Brigid didn't respond to this, instead she stared intently forward at me as her eyes tightened. The gun was triggered off thoughts so I wouldn't stand a chance responding or trying to get hit somewhere less vital such as my arm.

"Brigid, I'm sorry." Then, I heard the bang of the gun but even before that, Future Nudge was running and she was there in front of me just as the bullet was fired. Her body went rigid and stiff quickly and fell backwards into my trembling arms.

Fang lunged forward at the shocked Brigid. Mela and A.J. ran forward as Fang applied so much force into pushing her that she hit the wall and passed out. I rested Future's Nudge head on my lap and felt tears coming. All of us surrounded her.

"We heard a gun," suddenly Iggy and Gazzy were in the room as well. They slowly stepped forward. Iggy shook his head, "No, not Nudge." His eyes went to the present Nudge who was crying, staring down at herself.

"Nudge, you shouldn't have done that," I informed her, trying my best to keep my tough leader voice from shaking and giving up. I ran a hand through her thick curly hair. Another hand pressed on the wound in her chest.

"It's all right," her eyes fluttered, "Change the future and technically, I was never here. Put Brigid away in jail. Mela and A.J., if you decide to have children, won't go back in time. You won't die. Just promise me one thing," she lifted her hand and I instantly grabbed it in mine.

"Anything Nudge, anything for you," I whispered. All the flock stared on. Mela and A.J. were in Fang's arms. Iggy was protecting Nudge. Gazzy was here. Only Angel was back holding off the M-Geeks but I felt her intruding in on my thoughts.

"You have a power Max, but it has to be activated. Brigid knew how to, I'm not sure if she did or not, but if you're close to death then you can steal the flock's powers and our life. That's why you left us. Fang only stayed because he loved you too much to. Just, don't leave. We need you. We'll always need you." I almost dropped her hand in shock. I nodded my head. Never leave the flock, that sounded reasonably fair. Nudge smiled, "Well, goodbye." Instead of dying, Nudge slowly began to disappear.

"Mommy!" I heard Mela scream. A.J. whimpered. I stared up at them. They were disappearing too. They seemed panicked.

"Don't worry, I'll see you soon all right?" They nodded their heads. They weren't dying and they weren't in danger, the future was just changing is all. There was a different path for us now that Nudge had changed it. "You did it Nudge, it was all you, I'm so proud of you." I received once last smile before I sat on the ground with no sign of the future Nudge around me. Fang's arms dropped to his side.

I stood up and shook my wings a bit. A single tear drop fell from my eyes, I was missing my children already. Fang, as if reading my mind, went to me and whispered, "We'll have them soon, all right?" I nodded my head before turning my attention to Brigid.

"Probably should call the cops," Iggy pointed out. Thank you Mr. Obvious, I thought. I stared at Nudge- reminding myself I hadn't lost her. "Oh, and Angel mentioned in my head about an M-Geek situation."

"What about the ones chasing you and Gazzy?" I asked. I received a look that told me not to ask. "I'm surprised we don't have to call the cops with the mess you two probably made. You guys take the M-Geeks, I'll watch Brigid." They all nodded their heads and ran off except for Iggy and Fang. I watched as Iggy went over to Brigid and did something with her arm. "What are you doing?"

"In case she wakes up and decides it would be fun to shot you, I disabled the arm. She can't shoot." Iggy then ran off leaving Fang and I alone. I kept my eyes on sleeping Brigid.

"Hey, after this, we'll go back to our safe house, forever. No more enemies." Fang wrapped me into a quick hug. "And in the end, I still love you Maximum Ride." He kissed my forehead. I shut my eyes and leaned into his touch. Then, he backed away and ran off down the hall to go help my flock.

I went and sat beside Brigid. She was pretty with her red straight hair and the edge of freckles along her nose. I watched as she moaned and groaned from where she lay. She had a deep gash above her eyebrow from when Fang pushed her into the wall. Her eyes opened and she glared at me. "Don't try shooting me, Iggy disabled your gun." She didn't not believe me for a change and instead closed her eyes.

I stood up and went to stand outside the door. She wouldn't be hurting anyone now and there was no other way out except for where I stood with my back facing her. I didn't even take the time to realize that maybe Brigid was smart enough to figure out what Iggy had done to her gun. She had lived with the machine for less than two years now. I heard her crying though and, if I didn't have raptor hearing wouldn't have heard her, she whispered, "Die Max."

The gun rang out but Iggy must've screwed with her aim because I was merely skimmed on my side. I turned to face her, my eyes dark and glaring at her. It was worse than the look I gave Iggy when he used my favorite tee shirt to wipe up a potato salad explosion. In one quick motion, I was in front of her. "You are a disgrace to red-heads," and then, I socked her right in the face.

She was out for the count.

A/N

Sorry, I wanted to post yesterday but I originally had Brigid killing herself and then I was like…no, too dark for my story and Max never got a chance to hit her so here is the re-edited version. Hoped you like it. Sorry guys but I think only a few more chapters after this. I'm working on my first M rated Maximum Ride. Once this story is done, I will start to post it. I'll let you know.