Who loses track of time? ME! Sorry.
I'm sure I could come up with a thousand excuses for not updating
one being that I was stupidly spending my March break doing an intensive swimming course, but I'll spare you the details.
As an apology, more than 3,000 words! :)
Enjoy!
Three days now, but that didn't really matter much. The fact of the matter was, everything still stung like crazy. We hadn't been bothered again since the "incident", which gave me plenty of time with my thoughts. Yeah, only with my thoughts I never seem to catch a break. Lucky me, right?
I never even gave it a thought that Zen could be the one sneaking around. No matter how strict he seemed, he was still a kid. I'd always felt like he knew me the best too. He was the fastest to catch on to what each of my looks meant, what needed to be said in one of my moods, and even simple things. I swear, I've never specifically told him little unimportant things about me like my favourite colour, things like that, but he would be able to write a book of trivia with the things he knew about me. At first I'd thought it was creepy, but soon I learned it was just Zen being Zen: The kid who hated loose ends and unanswered questions as much as he hated broccoli, which was with a strong passion.
Sometimes I thought he was just looking into my future, but even then it didn't make sense. I hadn't changed at all since he knew me. In fact, I would've thought it would be Harmony who would know me the most, being able to see my past and everything, but I guess those kinds of never came up in her visions.
These were the kinds of thoughts I tried to fill my head with, not the ones on why Zen did what he did, but the ones I'd always wondered about but never had a chance to think about. Things like that aren't really filling my head when I'm on the run or punching the face off someone, hopefully a bad guy, not my flock mates.
I barely even noticed when the doors burst open, light pooling into the room, almost timidly slipping under my boots. I hugged my knees tighter, burying my face in them. If that was the Jeb or even Angel, they were so not what I needed, especially now. But it wasn't either of them, and it only killed me more inside as Eraser's followed the now more firm and cold Zen into the room.
I peered at him from the corner of my eye. He was looking around the room, never resting his eyes on anything or anyone, just gliding them around the room, smoothly. His were like Harmony's, a grey so faded they almost seemed to change colours in different light. Right now, they seemed flushed with a drained purple, slightly staining the circumference of his irises. Finally he just stared straight forwards, seemingly ignoring the small pack of Eraser behind him. "Grab them." He said is swiftly and if you weren't listening, you probably wouldn't have noticed he said anything at all. An Eraser came up beside him and he looked up at it with his eyes, staying motionless.
"Batchelder said we only needed the girl." He said. His voice wasn't strong or clear like Ari's. It was more of a muffled and unsure tone. I wondered if Zen had fought with any of them yet. He may have been smaller, but he was still a good fighter. Guaranteed, with any of the training he did with me, he could take down at least two of the Eraser's in the pack, three was probably pushing it slightly. If he had gone at it with any of them, they probably wouldn't want to fight again, seeing as I'd taught him not to walk away from a fight with Erasers without breaking a bone of some sort to protect yourself and give you a heads up if the fight continued. Just many of my wonderful lessons that some of my flock didn't understand.
I watched as Zen turned to face the Eraser, really showing the about two foot height difference. He had to tilt his head up to see the Eraser's head, and when he did he looked even more like the kid he should've been allowed to be. "Don't make me repeat myself." He snapped, brining me into complete focus. His tone was familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was a threat, obviously, but it was quieter and not all in your face, almost like a strongly stated suggestion. "You better watch yourself, or you may be retired soon." Zen continued, ceasing looking at the tall lug as he turned away again. Now I recognised the tone, but that stung a little too, because it was mine. The Eraser fell back slightly, obeying as Zen smirked a bit smugly. "That's what I thought. Move them now." He muttered the first bit to himself before giving the command.
Behind him, the Erasers started to move uneasily, wondering which of their orders were true. As some turned to move, they ran into the others, fumbling around. It was too much to bear looking at, the corners of my mouth turned up against my will.
"I said now." Zen said, raising his voice a little, adding extra sharpness to his tone. As the Eraser's moved towards us I watched him roll his eyes with annoyance and sigh loudly, shaking his head as his back turned to us and my cage was lifted up. It was thrown onto a flatbed, right above Harmony's cage. I knew she was holding her tongue, trying not to shout at him or cry at all. And for some strange reason I felt he was doing the same. Like someone warned him not to say a word to any of us, because words don't actually mean anything. Guess how I learned that, oh yeah; my entire life seemed to prove that. And that's why none of us spoke to each other as we pushed out of the hall, wheels squeaking and swerving as we bumped through the hall way. I had thought Jace would've tried to say something, but he kept his mouth shut, not even looking like he was paying attention as he stared straight forwards, his eyes narrowed slightly with concentration. Concentration for what?
We stopped before I could think of an answer. It was sudden, not even the Eraser's seem to realise it, one running into the other with his flatbed. It was the middle of the hallway, and the closest door was more then five feet away. I peered past the cages in front of me to where Zen was stopped dead in his tracks, a hand on Scholar's cage, stopping the front flatbed from moving any further. I watched him look up quickly before his eyes snapped back forwards. But I traced his glance to the ceiling, wondering what he could possibly be looking at. And that's where it hit me. I snapped my eyes to Scholar who was also looking up, and then to Jace. He was looking at Scholar, but then glanced at me. I gave a nod of understanding, wondering if he'd been in on it the entire time. It certainly wouldn't surprise me, and it made sense on why he was so quiet.
Zen suddenly snapped around, his face stricken and serious with a concentration. "Why are we stopped?" One of the Erasers's demanded with a gruff voice. My eyes caught Zen's hand, slowly moving behind his back as he kept his mouth plastered shut. He was the little kid again, the expression on his face just like Angel's when she was small and she tried with deep concentration not to colour outside the lines in her book.
He pulled a large and metal object from behind his back and aimed it at the front Eraser quickly. A small snapping sound emitted from the object, and an even smaller bullet sized object flew out towards the Eraser. Oh yeah, earth to Max, it's a gun stupid. I didn't have time to watch it completely, and before I knew it, I was watching the Eraser stagger around with small and hazy steps before he dropped to the ground, the bullet sticking out from where it had embedded into his neck. I watched with shock as Zen looked down at him, matching my expression, but more than shocked he had a slight air of un-comfort in his eyes as they grew wider. He killed something. Zen had never even used a gun other than in Nerf gun wars with Crest and Caige, and now he's sinking bullets into people's necks? I was half expecting blood to spurt up on his face like in the movies. But there wasn't any blood, in fact, the bullet was looking rather large and was sticking out from the Eraser's neck, not looking like it had sunk in at all. He hadn't actually killed the Eraser, he'd just shot it with a tranquilizer dart.
It was strange since I'd seen even Angel, well I guess that's not really a shock – let me rephrase that, even Gazzy kill dozens of Erasers, but knowing Zen had yet to do so helped a wave of relief pass over me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" One of the Eraser's behind me snapped loudly, making Zen's eyes shoot upwards and back into focus. He pulled another dart from his pocket, but the Eraser started to charge at him too quickly. Thinking fast, I grabbed the Eraser's leg as it passed me, right above the knee. He continued to run, not noticing me, but I tugged backwards and pulled his foot out from under him. He fell forwards with a splat, his head making a large cracking noise as it hit the floor, unpleasant but still satisfying. I didn't have time to grin as another Eraser from behind started to come forwards. I looked around frantically and in the midst of my panic spotted the keys hanging off the unconscious Eraser's belt. I lunged at them, well as much as I could behind bars, and latched onto the loop just as a huge and firm paw grabbed my wrist. I could practically feel my bones crunching from the strength as he tried to claw at me with his other wrist, falling short as Zen fired another shot, giving him the same treatment as the first. I'm still debating on whether I should've been proud because he turned out to be a good shot, or because he stuck to my no "real" guns policy that most of my Flock wouldn't and didn't understand.
The Eraser's knees buckled as he started to drop, but his hand only clenched my wrist tighter, something I didn't think was possible until I felt the pain. As he lost consciousness, his dead weight pulled me off balance, landing me with a nice face full of metal bars. Gotta love that good 'ole metal smell, am I right?
I winced, my wrist on fire, feeling like it would pop off the rest of my arm at any moment. There was a loud crunching noise as half the weight released. I glanced downwards, the bars still pressing into my face, as I saw Harmony's foot retracting from where her heel had crushed the Eraser's wrist. Not the prettiest picture, but I was thankful none the least as her thin fingers pried the hairy paw off my wrist, letting it rebound upwards and hit the bars of my cage, sending my backwards again. Thanks, I really needed that, Gravity.
"Send backup to quadrant three." I saw an Eraser's shouting into his thick transmitter, the others getting ready to battle, before shot another dart, hitting him in the arm below his shoulder. Seeing him reloading again, I went to work, rushing to find the right key. I fiddled with the lock many times, but there were too many keys and it was taking too much time. Suddenly a pair of tanned fingers were practically ripping the keys from my grasp. My eyes shot upwards as I prepared to take them back, full force, but it was Zen searching through the keys.
"Here." He breathed, the adrenaline getting to him as he shoved the keys back at me, isolating the right one. He ran off to get a better shot as the Erasers as I shoed the key into my lock. The cage door clicked as I swung it open and looked around; trying to measure how much time we had before the backup arrived. My conclusion, not much.
"Think fast!" I shouted to Fang as I chucked the keys at him. I watched him catch them through his bars and go to work as I lunged myself at a nearing Eraser. The less barricading walls of meat around, the better. I threw a punch into his stomach, letting him double over in front of me. Whoever had trained these rookies obviously hadn't done a very good job of it. I raised my leg straight up in the air above the Eraser before bringing it down full force, letting it slam into the Eraser's back, the impact throwing him to the ground. Two familiar paws wrapped around my arms in my short moment of triumph. Out of habit, I raised my foot, sending my sole backwards in kicking the Eraser where it counted with out any hesitation. I turned and watch him stumble backward, wincing and moaning in pain before Crest pounced on him from behind, wrapping his arms around his neck and pulling back, throwing them both off balance,. A strange mix of rage and insane enjoyment were on Crest's face making me wonder if he'd gotten that look from Jace or if Jace had adapted it from him. Whichever way, it suited them both peculiarly well.
Sparks rose in the air behind a wave of Iggy, Scholar and Gazzy, all heir fists curled. I spotted Caige, the obvious source of the sparks, throwing small jolts and shocks at the Eraser's much too mildly. "Hit 'em harder, Caige!" I heard Jace yell as he came out from behind the cages. He threw an Eraser aside for Scholar and Nudge to tackle before he charged into another, slamming a punch under its chin. He caught me looking and gave me a small nod before lifting his foot and sunk his foot into the Eraser's stomach, letting the impact give a satisfying whoosh of air as the Eraser's breath left him and he flew backwards at me. I received Jace's invitation and raised my open hand, catching the back of the Eraser's neck before pounding his face into the ground, nearly cracking the concrete and certainly breaking his nose. Jace ran up to me, panting as he ran his fingers through his hair, getting tangle in the matted blood.
"You knew?" I demanded. It only took the two words for Jace to give me a bit of a look. His breath cut off as he swallowed, his eyes dulling slightly before he breathed heavily through his mouth again, nodding absently. A few drops of sweat dripped from his hair as he shrugged.
"A faint idea. I know him well enough, but he never told me anything." He confirmed as he glanced behind me. He suddenly curled his fists again as he squared off with a nearing Eraser. But before doing so he glanced at me, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips. "Besides," He breathed, not having time to finish his sentence as the Eraser pounced. He threw a round house kick at the Eraser. Jace's foot, seeing as his legs are much longer than mine, were able to nail the Eraser in the side of the head. The Eraser fell onto his back and I stood over him, the moans barely audible from his mouth. "He gets this from you." Jace finished before running past me, leaving me with an annoyed mood. Zen did not get this from me, at least not all of it.
"Glad to see you're getting back to normal." I muttered a bit bitterly. With slight rage I lifted my foot and stomped hard on the Eraser's chest, hearing the crack of ribs and the ear piercing whine of the pain leaving the Eraser's snout as fast as he lost consciousness. Oh battlefield, what would I do without you?
Fang suddenly dropped down beside me, looking in the same state as Jace, minus the grin. I scanned the seen as he stood, looking fro signs of escape. His heavy breaths were similar to mine, a slight raw and scratchy dryness to each pant. "You have a plan?" He practically breathed it to me as he scanned the room, most likely checking up on everyone. We had basically taken down the entire room with ease. The entirety of the two flocks were out of their cages now, most of them looking on unconscious Eraser's, making sure there wouldn't be any surprise attacks. There was a short howl as Crest took out another one with a strong kick to its head, letting the body smack hard against the ground. He took off again, pouncing one the one Iggy was squaring off with. A door would be just around the corner and we would be almost out.
I flashed Fang a grin through my heavy breaths. "Always." I replied to Fang. It wasn't much of a question anyway. Time to round up the troupes. He gave me a slight nod but a strange look filled his face. He turned from me and I peered past him, now hearing the stampeding of feet. A huge pack of at least forty Erasers came around the corner, blocking the exits. I whipped my head around in sync with Fang's, now seeing the other side being blocked with just as many.
"How about now?" Fang mumbled to me, not pulling his dark glare from the Eraser pack. I spotted Ari standing in front of the pack near the door. He flashed me a smirk, taunting as he shook a metal gun similar to Zen's in the air beside his head. He lit the fuse of my rage, and you could bet he was going to regret it.
"Working on it." I said quietly to Fang but he heard. I gave him a look and he nodded. Fighting was our only option now.
The rest of the flocks looked up, seeing with caution that we were surrounded. Slowly, they backed up to meet Fang and I. Standing in a circle with our backs to one another, we tapped the backs of one another's hand. Caige was on my right and Zen on my left. It was time. "Caige, on three." I said loudly enough for the whole flock to hear. Understanding they made gaps in between one another as Caige stepped into the middle of the circle. F he could do it during games back at the house, he could do it now.
"One!" I yelled and the entirety of the flock ducked except for Caige. With a small yell he shot out his hands, concentration filling his face. Sparks shot out from the entirety of his body, dancing down his arms in a bright light. Suddenly, he clenched both his fists and the lightning shot away instantly, shooting itself towards the Eraser's, hitting anything in it's path. It bounced off walls and the ceiling, blowing a few lights in the process, before hitting the Eraser's in front. Some of them stood completely still, paralyzed, a look of fear and confusion in their eyes while other's dropped immediately to the ground, a few twitching, sparks still jumping. Some hit a few other Erasers' if we were lucky. I looked up in time to see Caige's triumphant smile and Ari's fierce and outraged glare. He snarled and gnashed his teeth in response as we stood, ready to fight. One thing was for sure, it wasn't going to be easy.