Friends, Family, and... Feathers? Book One: Abducted By The Flock
Chapter Three:
I peer through the bars of my cage, and see a boys face. He's so strong. My one source of comfort in this place. I know him so well. His dark olive skin, the same tone as mine. His black eyes match mine exactly. Even our black hair is almost the same. I've seen his face every day in my four year life.
I slip my tiny fingers through the bars and the bot reaches out through the bars of his own cage to grasp my hand. I grin toothily (well, except my front teeth, which were knocked out after I bit a whitecoat...) and he grins back. We only ever smile at each other. He gives my hand a gentle squeeze, and I whisper, "I'm scared."
"Don't be," he says, putting on the bravest face a five-year-old can muster. "I won't let them hurt you."
I feel myself grinning stupidly at the happy memory, but apparently my subconscious isn't done yet. I begin to see another day in my mind, so vividly I can't believe I couldn't remember it before.
I back up as far as my tiny cage will allow, avoiding the whitecoat that is kneeling outside.
"Come here!" the whitecoat shouts.
"NO!" I bellow back. I feel myself threatening to tear up.
The whitecoat lunges forward and grabs my skinny wrist. He yanks me out by arm, not difficult considering I'm way underweight.
"FANG!" I bellow. His arm reaches out towards me, but the whitecoat kicks at him and he retreats.
I am dragged into an operating room. I gag at the smell. Despite my kicking, hitting, biting, and screaming, the whitecoat is able to strap me to the operating table. With the help of three other people, that is.
They don't even bother to give me anesthesia. No, they jump right in. After God knows how long of enduring horrible agony beyond the comprehension of most of you reading this, something goes wrong.
Some machine hooked up to my arm starts beeping erratically. My blood stains the not-so-white coats of these horrible people. I've lost a lot of blood. My vision begins to grow fuzzy, and finally, everything fades to black.
When I recover from my trip down memory lane, I realize I've retracted into myself. My head is cradled in my hands and my legs have curled up close to me, so I am in a ball. Heavy sobs wrack my whole body.
As I try to pull myself together, I notice Max and Fang having a quiet argument over whether it's Famg's fault that I appear to be having a meltdown.
Straightening myself out and taking a deep breath to calm myself, I launch forward at Fang.
He seems shocked when I first wrap my arms around his neck, but after a moment's hesitation he wraps his arms around my waist and returns the hug.
"God, how could I have forgotten... But I remember now... My own brother!" I murmur these fragmented thoughts in his ear as he rubs my back soothingly.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHO IS THAT GIRL?" the girl, Nudge, exclaims.
"Nudge... Cali is... Well, you see... It's kind of funny actually..." Fang can't seem to complete the thought. Finally, Max sends him a glare that screams, 'SPIT IT OUT!'
"Cali is my sister," he finally manages to spit it out.
Well, that goes over like a ton of freaking bricks.