All at once, things exploded.

Jeb spun around, and hit the ground clutching his right shoulder.

Brium fired again and again, and I had very little idea what was happening. The Eraser replacements began attacking, and I saw Fang kick one in its head.

One launched itself at me and I hit out reflexively with my good hand, punching it across its face.

And let me tell you, that hurt.

A lot.

"Ow!" I said, thinking of nothing else clever to say at the time.

I looked up quickly to see even more Eraser replacements launching themselves in the air to attack us.

Then something buzzed by my ear.

"Move!" I heard Brium snap, and I was suddenly lifted off my feet and the whole world was a blur. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, taking cover behind the truck.

"What the--" I was starting to get really pissed off at this point with my lack of control recently.

It was really starting to grate on me. I mean, really.

"Stay down," Brium said, as I looked around to gather my bearings.

I was being ordered. Someone was ordering me around.

"Just who do you think you are?!" I shouted at Brium.

He glanced at me and smiled.

"Not now. You can yell at me later," he smiled. He raised his voice. "Fang? Are you still with us?"

"Yeah," I heard Fang mutter from… under the truck.

How in the world had he gotten there? The truck was lower to the ground than most semis, and there were plates, maybe meant for armor, going down from the main part of the trailer, leaving only two feet or so of space to crawl under the thing. How had Fang done that so fast?

Anyway, it didn't matter. All that matter was that was getting ridiculous! We had to rescue the others! They were right in front of us!

Now we needed to--

"Fang, work your way to the end of the truck, and get that door open. I'll cover you," Fang raised his voice again. "One more still has a tranquilizer gun, and I'm not sure if the others picked up the dropped ones. Caution, please."

"Got it," Fang shouted back.

And then it occurred to me, as Brium was looking around for another target, of what just happened.

"Oh my God…" I said, getting as low as I could and waiting for the Eraser replacements to come get us.

"You shot Jeb!"

"Wasn't the first time," Brium responded casually. "If he doesn't shape up, it won't be the last."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I didn't play that way. My flock didn't play that way. If we did stuff like that, we'd be no better than the Whitecoats! I have a no gun policy for a reason!

Like always, a million thoughts were running through my brain all at once. Wonderful thoughts such as: Were we going to be able to rescue the flock? They're right there for Christ sake! Were the Eraser replacement robot thingies going to kill us? Was Angel pretending or had she been brainwashed? Was I going insane? Did Fang actually care about me? And either way, what kind of game was he playing?

And who the hell is Brium?

The truck was giving us cover, but soon the Eraser replacements would be all over us. We hadn't been here long, and had probably surprised them with our insanely quick disappearing skills. Or rather, Brium's insane 'grab Max and run' skills. Either way, they'd soon figure out what had happened, and when they did we'd be in trouble.

And before I could think about anything else, Brium had zipped right by me and moved with immense grace to the back of the truck, where the doors could be opened.

"Stay out of sight for a second, Max," he said as he passed me.

The hell I would.

"Fang?" he shouted when he arrived at the back of the truck's trailer.

"Yeah?!" Fang's voice was muffled from being under the truck.

"You ready?!"

"Yeah!"

I followed Brium and managed to catch a glimpse of his face. He smiling again. It was like everything was funny to this guy.

He raised his gun.

"Go!"

And Brium sprung from behind the truck, firing twice. He vanished from view.

Two more shots.

And I followed. It only took a moment to get to the end of the trailer, and to race out. I was going to help Fang get that door open.

Another gunshot.

"Fang, I'm coming! We have to do this quick!"

There was only one problem; when I got there, Fang was on the ground right at the foot of the door.

He wasn't moving.

Another two shots

"Fang!" I shouted, racing to him.

I was just about to arrive where Fang was when Brium appeared again, backing up quickly, gun raised.

He fired again into what I could now see was a crowd of those Eraser-bots.

And once again, to my complete dismay, Brium grabbed me and yanked be back behind the cover of the truck.

"What are you doing!" I shouted, trying to break free of his grip. "Fang's out there! He's hurt!"

"Fang's fine!" Brium hissed. "They got him with a dart; he's asleep. He's probably safer than we are."

"What about the others!" I said trying to break free of his grip once again.

"Door's locked. Thought we might get lucky; thought wrong," Brium said.

I was about to say 'Just shoot the damn lock', but movement caught my attention and I turned to see one of the Eraser-bots coming towards us from behind the truck were we had just been moments before.

In one of the fastest moves I've ever seen anyone do, Brium let me go, swung around, caught the Eraser-bot with his left hand, grabbing its head, and he fired once into it's right eye.

Brium let the Eraser-bot drop to the ground, as sparks burst from its eye, and smoke began rising out of its fake fur.

"Brium!"

Jeb's voice.

"Are you up again, Jeb?" Brium shouted back. "Did I not shoot you hard enough?"

That's right. He had shot Jeb.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Brium said quietly, giving a smile. "He always is."

"You're outnumbered and surrounded! There's no way out!"

"Hasn't ever impaired me before!" Brium shouted back.

"I need to get to Fang," I said, trying to move past Brium again. He blocked me.

Again.

And he dragged me, and I was struggling like a maniac so it wasn't easy, to the front of the truck.

"Let me go!"

Like that would stop this guy.

"They've got him. He's been moved him behind their lines. We can't get to him."

I considered punching him in the face, but something stopped me.

I don't know what did, but something stopped me.

"All right, new plan," Brium muttered to me.

"Throw the gun out here and come out Brium!" Jeb's voice drifted to us again. "Max! You, too!"

Oh, so Brium gets first mention?! That really pissed me off.

Brium arrived at the cab of the truck, and glanced to his side to make sure none of the Eraser-bots were trying to flank us.

I was tempted right then to sprint back to check if Fang was really gone from where he had been, but something told me Brium was telling the truth.

I stayed where I was, crouching down and waiting.

I knew that at this point, I alone couldn't save my flock. I couldn't save Fang, either. Doing anything at this moment would be pointless; there were too many of them. And if I fell, then who would save the flock? Brium? I wasn't putting any faith in that guy. Sorry.

"Max, keep an eye on our flanks, please," Brium mounted the truck, carrying the gun carefully, and pried the door open, snapping the gun up as he did so.

His eyes widened slightly, and without a sound he dropped quickly to the ground.

Just as numerous darts were fired past, coming from the cab itself. The darts made the exact sound I had heard right before Brium had pulled me behind the truck.

I had just missed being hit by a tranquilizer dart.

Brium stood up, checked that he was sufficient under cover, and looked at me.

"Keys aren't there. I could hotwire it, but not under fire like that." He looked sullen. "They might have us, here."

"Bullshit!" I shouted back. We Aren't giving up! The flock's right there!" I pointed to the truck.

Brium stared at me for a few moments. "Bang on the truck, Max. See if they answer."

All right, fine.

I did.

I pounded on the truck with my good right hand, which still hurt from punching that Eraser-bot.

"Iggy! You there!? Nudge! Gasman! I pounded harder and harder on the side of the truck.

They didn't answer.

"There's a couple of them in there. Put the flock under as soon as you got their attention the first time. Door's locked, they have Fang, and as soon as Jeb gets tired of pleading with us, which will be quite soon I imagine, they're going to rush us, and we can't stop them," Brium said.

I looked back, deciding that for this time only, I would reconsider one of my rules.

"What about your gun? Just shoot them!"

Brium smiled.; always smiling. "I could shoot one more, then that option's gone."

I blinked.

He had only one more bullet.

"This is your last chance, you two!" Jeb's voice drifted over again.

For the billionth time today, I wasn't able to give a smart-ass response.

Brium looked over my shoulder, snapped the gun up and fired.

And my world went black.

Author's Note:

Well, stuff's happening, anyway.

Hope everyone's still enjoying the story.

Has anyone read Final Warning yet? Heard it sucked big time.