Relief

Song: Someone Like You by Adele. Song suggestions! Serious! Love you peeps. :)

(A/N: So a little graphic at the end, nothing that I wouldn't say was too bad. Serious.)

Angel

I shivered on the cold concrete floor of my cell. The Flock was safe. They couldn't get the needed information out of me, ever. The tight shock collar around my neck buzzed, sending a jerk of eletricity up and down my weary limbs. My neck had a small ring of raw, red skin from the frequent shocks. My fingers were bleeding from the numerous needles inserted into them daily in the School's "research."

"Run, Subject 11! Respond!" growled a whitecoat nearby. I tried to summon enough energy to read his mind, but collapsed from the effort. The floor was smooth and cool to my cheek, contradicting the fever that now ravaged my body. My thin dress that they gave me shook. Oh, no.

A smiling Doctor, Dr. "God" as Max used to call him, stared down at me with narrowed green eyes.

"So, Subject Eleven, not doing so well, eh?" he questioned, prodding my broken leg. It was twisted funny. A female whitecoat skidded up to the Doctor, handing him a clipboard. The Doctor read it aloud.

"Blood tests, affirmative. Physical research concluding in species development to mutation progress... ah, here. No information on the Flock?" he asked the little whitecoat. She shook her little red ringlets.

"Well, that might change." he said, leaning down to my level and poking his hand out.

"Ready, Angel? We're gonna go get you some real food." he said. I cautiously took his grip, remembering the savory times when he had treated Dylan properly, which were not too many. He hoisted into his arms and carried me out of the cleared area, down a very patrolled hall, and into a smaller room with light green paint on the walls. A cozy-looking bed resided in the corner, and a little framed picture was sitting on a white plastic table. The Doctor set me down gently on the bedsheets of the bed. It was soft and warm. He handed me the picture. As I looked at it, I realized what it was a picture of. I smiled and almost laughed. It was the only picture of the Flock together, before Fang left and destroyed us. Max and he were tightly together, wings pulled in and out of vision. Iggy was waving, blankly staring off into a point just to the left of the camera. Nudge, Gazzy, and I were all giggling, staring up at the bigger kids and their feelings not so different from our own.

Then the memories of my last few months threw me back into reality.

"We were thinking, Angel, that you could -ah- tell me where the Flock is. Just so they could come and join you, to be with you again. Like this." He pointed a thumb at the picture again. I clenched my fists, my wings laying loosely behind me, too tired to move.

"No! Never! I gave you my answer months ago, but you WON'T LISTEN! NO! NO!NO!" I screamed, putting my hands over my ears. When I stopped, I took a fragile breath inward. The Doctor's lips were curled into a cynical smile. He patted me on the cheek.

"I was hoping that you would say that." he replied, snapping his fingers. Three full-grown Erasers, at least six feet seven, took hold of me. One snorted and took the first claw at my chest. Blood didn't come. I was that dehydrated. He blinked a couple times, then returned to his violence with new determination. I didn't even fight back. The second and third claws: I remembered my Flockmates. Nudge, Iggy and Fang all held special places in my heart.

The fourth and fifth claws: My chest ripped open. My breathing was labored and slower. The Eraser paused to lick his claws. I remember Gazzy, my brother. The only blood siblings in the group, we were always close. He would be broken when learning of my death.

At the sixth claw, I collapsed to the ground. My blood was slippery, and my knees couldn't pull myself up. I made wheezing sounds trying to breathe. My blond hair was dingy red-brown, crusted with blood and acids that the whitecoats added to my hair to keep it away from my face while they tested on it. Then death, peacefully and quietly, slipped into the back of my head, whispering for me to let go.

But one last thought was burned into my last thoughts. Max. My mother, my best friend, my only friend. I love you so much, Max.

The world was black.