Chapter 43: Trust Me

Max softly called out his name, but in the quiet of the room, it almost sounded as if she had yelled it. Fang was sitting in the middle of the room with his hands tied behind his back by chains around a thick steel pole. The pole itself was a pillar that went all the way from the floor to the ceiling to ensure that Fang couldn't escape. The room still had a touch of elegance, but it felt gloomy and constricting. The walls were a dark steely gray and it was half the size of mine. There was no furniture to be found here, but unlike my holding cell, there was one large arched glass window on the wall behind him that showed a view of a seemingly unending forest with a sky dyed with orange and red. Pity and anger rang through me as I stared on at the scene. Cruel…that was the only thing that came to my mind as I watched them dangle Fang's freedom in his face.

I focused my attention on Fang. His back was facing the window so that he didn't have to look at the window and although he was sitting on the ground, he didn't look like he was in pain. In fact, he didn't look hurt at all, to my relief. When he saw who had walked through the door, he stood up with relative ease, sliding his cuffed hands up the pole as he stood. However, he still hadn't responded to Max's greeting and instead stared at her expressionlessly. Max closed the door behind her and walked towards him, almost shyly; my perception of her being an evil wretch who only felt the need to torture and kill almost seemed unfounded. "How are you holding up?" she asked gently.

Fan, still unresponsive, was eyeing Max with apprehension. Sensing this, Max came to a stop a few feet away from him, possibly to give him some sense of ease, or maybe for her own personal reasons; I couldn't fathom what she was thinking. There was a silence that fell upon them and Max looked down at her scuffed sneakers, most likely trying to find the words that she wanted to say.

"I didn't-" she faltered as if she had lost her nerve, but pressed on. "-I didn't want you to get caught…to be here…". Max clenched her jaw and took a deep breath before finally plucking up the courage that she needed to look Fang straight in the eyes. "I wanted to keep you safe so that you could live your life with some freedom, out there in the world."

Fang scoffed and rolled his eyes as he muttered under his breath. "Freedom she says."

"It's true!" insisted Max, her volume rising as she became defensive. "I know it was far from perfect or glamorous, but it was better than this! I've managed to keep you safe and out of the radar after I left. Whenever you poked your nose way too close to something you shouldn't, there were always people to stop you. Did you not realize how easy it would be for us to find all of you and take you out? And yet here you are, still alive. You have me to thank for that."

Fang listened silently to Max's confession as tepidly as some girls would watch a sports game. But I couldn't help but wonder why she would feel the need to tell him all of this. What did she think she would get in return? His trust?

And better yet, why did she betray them if she wanted to keep them alive?

Max registered Fang's expression, but she still had more to get off of her chest. "I get that you don't trust me. You have every right not to. But like it or not, I have saved your ass more times than you know. But you just make it so…so hard! It's as if you naturally find and cling to trouble with a capital T. You and I both know that the Organization would love to get their grubby hands on Angel and throw the rest of your ragtag group into the ocean. What kills me is that you know this, and yet you drag yourself down by staying with your useless Flock-"

At the mention of his family, Fang's attention became fully riveted. He straightened his back, his muscles tensing and his eyes pulsing with anger. His facial features had darkened into something so threatening that it even frightened me. I had never seen him like this before. And even though I was witnessing this from the eyes of another, it still felt as if his hatred was directed at me. "Get out." Fang cut off Max's monologue with a cold swiftness, but Max pressed on, seeming completely unfazed by his tone.

"No, you're going to listen to what I have to say!" Max demanded. "The Flock is your family. I get it. And I've managed to keep you all alive so far even though you're better off without them. But, of course, you couldn't keep it that way. You just had to take in the first mutant freak that you stumbled across!" She threw up her hands in exasperation and her words were becoming more heated as she spoke. "Tell me something. Is she a replacement for me? To keep your little 'family' together? Because that's the only possible reason I can think of as to why you would hang around with someone who is such a hazard to your way of life."

I flinched at her venomous words as my heart squeezed tightly in my chest. Thinking about being a replacement was one thing, hearing it out loud from someone else was another thing entirely. It made the feeling more concrete and much too real.

"You're all about staying low key, being out of the spotlight. She and her sister are both desperately wanted by the Organization. You used to want to stay away from conspicuous things, not join their death sentences." Max's anger had finally ebbed as she said her piece, and it made me think about how hot headed and quick tempered she was.

But then again, I'm kind of like that too. I grimaced at the similarity - it wasn't helping to ease the previous insult.

Silence soon followed after Max's rant as she waited for a response, but the only one that she received, in true Fang style, was nothing but dead air. A minute had passed and Max began to fidget, probably digesting what she had said in her worked up state.

"Well?"

Fang stared straight at her with complete pity and sadness in his eyes. "Who are you?" he questioned.

Max blinked once, not expecting this to be the first words that he said, then cocked her head to the side. "Come again?"

"You say you're Max, but you are definitely not her. The Max I knew was loving and kind, and she cared for her family. But I have no idea who…or what you are."

Max seemed to hesitate, I guess pondering what to say next, but immediately shook her head in frustration. "Look, I promise I'll tell you everything, truth and all. But now is clearly not the time, if you haven't noticed," she said, eyeing Fang's restraints conspicuously. "I know you think I'm a terrible person, but you're just gonna have to trust me on this one. I can get you out of here. We can go somewhere where they won't find us and just live out the rest of our lives. I know it won't be like before, with 6 others to worry about. It'll be just you and me…" Max's sentence trailed off toward the end, and I could tell that she was remembering something. Something that made me grateful that I couldn't hear her thoughts. "…All you gotta do is say yes. We'll get up and go. Right now."

I felt like barfing. She had practically asked for him to run away with her. And in a way, I almost felt sorry for Max. No matter what they had in the past, there was no way that Fang would abandon his family and say yes to her...right?

"You and me, huh," said Fang softly. He sounded as if he was reminiscing as well. I anxiously waited for the answer that I expected, the one that I really wanted him to say.

Max said nothing, trying to be patient for his reply. But that soon began to wear thin as the seconds slowly ticked by in silence. "Not trying to rush you or anything, but there is a time limit here."

Fang maintained his composure, but his eyes were filled with a deep sadness and pain that betrayed him. "Was everything...?" The croaked, unfinished question dangled in the air and Max waited expectantly for him to finish his thought, but I could tell what he wanted to ask. The one thought that I could see was still eating at him, even at this very moment: was everything a lie? He closed his eyes and shook his head to get rid of the thought; he was afraid to hear the answer. "I can't do that."

Max seemed dismayed at Fang's refusal but she had at least braced herself for it. She sighed heavily. "Why not?"

Fang couldn't even look at her anymore and instead looked at the floor. "You're not our Max anymore...you're not my Max..." was his soft reply.

Max was clearly baffled. She tried to grasp the correct words to say, but they never seemed to materialize. And just as quickly as bafflement overcame her, anger soon took its place. "If that's what you're so hung up on, then grow a pair, Fang! The Max you knew is dead. Poof! Gone." She did a little animated flick of her fingers to add some emphasis to her words. Then, like an emotional unpredictable summer rainstorm, Max closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose to try to manage her temper. "You've changed, too. You've always been caring in your own way, but you never used to be such a bleeding heart. And I don't think you really understand what that chick got you into." Max looked squarely at Fang to drive the point across. "These people here are no joke. They. Will. Kill you. Maybe use you as a play-thing, but ultimately, you will die. They only care about two things – those freak-of-nature sisters, and Angel. That's it! The rest of you might as well be pieces of scrap meat." Her voice rose in incredulous anger once more. "Plus, why are you getting yourself caught and risking your life for them? What does she mean to you? Absolutely nothing! You just fucking met her! It took me months when we first met for you to even say a single word to me, and now you're all buddy-buddy with a bitch you barely know. Even if she is supposed to be my replacement or whatever to you, she's definitely not worth dying for. Hell, I'll kill her myself if that makes it easier for you to drop her like a hot potato."

The longer she talked, the more callous Fang looked. Her jealousy was just as bad as her desperation, and neither one were working in her favor right now. I did have to admit though that I kind of liked the fact that Fang was getting angry on my behalf and hating Max more and more because of it. But the sound of knocking on the door interrupted me from dwelling on the matter.

At first I thought the sound came from the room that they were in, but that didn't seem right - Max was still yelling, neither of them had turned their attention to the sound, and the noise itself sounded tunnel-like. Did they not hear it or are they just not paying attention?

"Hey, I'm coming in," said a familiar voice with that same distant echo. It was then that I realized that the sound was coming from where my body was - in the room that I should be in.

Well that's not good.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the feeling of returning to my own body, willing it to work without the need to remember the direction of where I came from. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it had become - when I opened my eyes once more, I was back in my own body and staring blankly at the person who was just coming through my door. I grimaced, but only for a second, as I took in Leo's figure.

His back was to me as he wheeled in a serving tray on wheels, but as he turned to look at me, he raised an eyebrow at the way I was seated on the bed. "I see you're still up to your tricks."

Internally, I frowned. He was only in here for a moment and he already knew that I was up to something. Regardless of what he said, I was still quick to defend myself. "I'm merely meditating. Helps me think better, ya' know? You should try it sometime."

Leo didn't reply, but just wheeled the cart closer to me. I watched him closely, half expecting him to be as antagonizing as Max was earlier. But his lax demeanor told me otherwise and my tension receded for the moment. Leo walked more than half way into the room, stopping parallel to the bathroom door, which was more than enough for me to reach the cart. Clearly he was not fazed by how fast I could close the distance between us.

"Here's some food, courtesy of your captors." I gave a cursory glance at the objects on the cart. There were four platters that had expensive looking silver covers that concealed what was underneath. But the delectable smell still wafted through my nose, and the inside of my mouth grew increasingly wet with saliva.

Holy cow, is all of that food?! Are they planning on fattening me up?

"Hurry up with that," Leo said over his shoulder as he made his way back to the door. "You don't have much time."

His last statement brought my attention away from the thoughts of food. "Wait..." I called out, but Leo was already closing the door behind him. What the hell did he mean by that? I wondered as I stared at the plated offerings. It looked innocent enough, but that same thought had gotten me in trouble many times before. I stood up and walked slowly toward the cart, being overly suspicious about the whole set-up.

After a few minutes of prodding the platters and checking the cart for anything suspicious, I shrugged. Really, what's the worse that they can do to me? They need me alive so that they can run their sick tests on me. But the more I thought about it, the less confident I was about them doing me any harm at all. I opened the first lid slowly, almost expecting a creepy jack-in-the-box to pop out. But what was under the lid was indeed a piping hot plate filled to the brim with different types of foods made my mouth water: mashed potatoes with thick gravy sliding down the sides, golden fried chicken, toasted bread, steaming white rice, juicy looking beef cutlets; the list seemed to be endless.

After recovering from my shock, I opened up the lid that sat next to it. In it was a mound of sugary treats, from fudge covered brownies with large spongy marshmallows to soft, colorful sugar cookies. Now how could I have possibly said no to all of that?

Like the glutton that I was, I grabbed the plate filled with food, ignoring the napkins and utensils in the process, and polished off anything that my fingers landed on. It was only after I got through a rack of ribs and several legs of chicken that I began reaching for the tableware like a civilized human being. It took me about a span of five minutes before the plate was completely clean, minus any bones that were left behind. After a few large belches to make some room in my bloated stomach, I grabbed a cookie off of the next plate and began munching on it absentmindedly.

Wow, I didn't even realize how hungry I was. Now I can think better. I grabbed another sugar cookie and began nibbling around the edges as I reached for one of the silver platters that were underneath the food trays, curious as to what else I was being given now that I had been fed. I uncovered the one right under the platter of food and immediately came to a full stop; sitting on the platter was a set of clean folded clothes – tan cargo pants with a simple white form-fitting tank top and a plain sports bra of the same color. I raised a curious eyebrow at the thought that this was probably not Jake's doing; he would have chosen something closer to my disliking.

My hunch was proven correct when I uncovered the final platter. Underneath the cover laid a piece of paper covered with squiggles and lines with arrows and very crude drawings. My best guess was that it was some kind of map, although by the looks of it I couldn't tell how helpful it would actually be. And laying right beside it was a ring of slim silver keys.

"Someone…wants me to escape…" I said in shock. It was then that I recalled Leo's words – that I didn't have much time. Did he plan this? I started to wonder, but immediately shook the thought out of my head. I didn't have the time to contemplate which side he was on. I had already wasted enough of it stuffing my face. I took the ring of keys and tried two on my shackles before the lock gave way. The shackles thumped loudly against the floor. I sat for a minute to gently rub and massage some feeling back into my ankles before grabbing the clothes.

"Time to get to work."

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