Maximum Ride Fan Fiction ❯ After Armageddon ❯ Chapter Six: Dinner and a Late Night Chat ( Chapter 6 )

 

After Armageddon

 

 

Chapter Six: Dinner and a Late Night Chat

 

Charlie Ride

 

A few days later, Aaron, me, and the new girl were sitting around a campfire in a sandy bottomed cave somewhere near California, or as I liked to call it, the root of all evil.

It was my turn to figure out what to make for dinner and my choices were roughly mystery soup, fresh grass, or dirt. I didn't mind cooking really because the other alternative was trying to teach Liela some form of English. Aaron was definitely better at it then I was. He had more patience with the redundant speaking then I did I guess.

“Hey Charlie,” Aaron said not looking up from the ground where he was scratching our three names in dirt. “The Whitecoat that found Oz before the mystery woman thought he was dead right?”

“I think so. Why?” I asked wondering where he was going with this as I added some flakey stuff that looked like dirt to our mystery food. I tasted the concoction on a whim and suddenly wondered if maybe it had not been dirt after all.

“Well I was thinking that if this lady was able to help Oz when one of the Whitecoats couldn't then maybe she could help Rebecca.”

Crud. I should have realized he would bring this up and thought about it before. Then I would have a decent answer and not look stupid. I hate looking stupid.

“I don't know.” I said truthfully. It was not a very leader-like answer but I honestly did not know if Rebecca was still alive. Even miracle workers would not be able to bring her back if she was.

Liela looked back and forth between us. “Rebecca?” She asked in her thick accent.

Aaron immediately cheered up, always happy to boast about the younger girl.

“Rebecca's my sister.” He said slowly, careful to enunciate each word clearly. It did not help. Liela still looked confused.

“Okay,” Aaron said picking up the stick again and wiping away our names with his foot. “This is me. Aaron.” He said drawing a little square in the dirt. Although she was still confused (so was I), Liela did seem to understand that Aaron was a square.

Ha. Aaron was a square.

Okay you're right, not funny.

Back to the story, Aaron drew anther square and two circles around his. Then he connected each square to one circle so they were parallel. Then he added one vertical line that connected the sets.

“That,” Aaron said pointing with his stick at the other square, “Is my dad.”

Liela did not get it.

“My dad.” Aaron repeated trying to think of different words for dad. “Uh, daddy, pop, papa-”

“Papa?” Liela asked uncertainly.

I could not take it anymore. “Father.” I yelled across the fire.

Liela's face lit up with understanding and she nodded and smiled. “Vater, ja. Vater.” She pointed to the second square.

“And that,” Aaron continued pointing at the circle next to his dad's, “Is my mother.”

“Mutter.” Liela said with a smile. “Und das ist Rebecca?” She asked pointing to the last circle that sat next to Aaron's.

“Ja, I mean yes,” Aaron said scratching his head in embarrassment. “That's my sister, Rebecca.”

“Wo ist deine Schwester Rebecca?” Now it was our turn to be confused. “Uh…wo…” Liela held up her hands palm up at shoulder level like she was asking why, but I figured “Why is Rebecca?” did not make any sense. She tried again. She shaded her eyes and looked around saying “Wo ist Rebecca?” and then she clapped and whistled like she was searching for a dog.

“Hey!” Aaron said taking offence at the comparison. “My sister is not a dog!”

Liela laughed even though she probably did not understand what he said.

“I think she wants to know where Rebecca is Aaron, not what she is.”

“Ohhh,” He said sounding like a five year old. “Well that makes more sense.”

“Even if both are valid questions.” I grumbled as I handed Aaron and Liela what was supposed to soup.

“Oh don't be such a pessimist Charlie.” Aaron said tasting the thick bowl of sludge that was in front of him. “Although I can see where you get it if this is all you eat.” He laughed and I looked up. “I don't think she likes it either.” Aaron said as Liela looked at her dinner. She looked like she was going to be sick as she let thick globs of…something drop back down. The `spelunk' sound it made almost made me sick too.

Disgusted with my-uh…soup, Liela put her bowl down and stalked over to the fire. After she basically shooed me away like Grandma in the kitchen she dug into the bag with the food Grandma had packed for us before our scrambled escape. She pulled out a couple bottles of I do not know what and then, very hesitantly, she tasted the soup.

The look on her face was priceless. I swear she was about to puke but fortunately she only gagged.

Aaron and I both laughed. “I don't think she likes your cooking Charlie.”

“Yeah,” I said as Liela started to add bits and pieces from the other bottles. “I think it's more of an acquired taste.”

Liela handed me a bowl of new soup. I hate to say I was suspicious, especially now when I know how good of a cook Liela is.

Aaron, Liela, and I ate something that did not taste like rubber and I was amazed that my taste buds still lived. Well actually I was amazed that nothing bad had happened. This was the second time in a week where my friends and I had been able to sit in a tense calm because Itex had not reared its ugly, mutant, genetically enhanced head to try and catch us. I was sure it would not last long. After all nothing decent did.

That included Liela's food. I swear it was gone faster then I could fly with super speed.

“Oh that was good.” Aaron groaned as he lay down to sleep. “I'm stuffed. I don't think I'll ever eat again.”

I laughed. “Yeah right, you'll be hungry again in an hour.”

But in an hour he was fast asleep so it did not matter. I was on watch first that night, so I sat and listened for trouble as my friends slept.

It must have been almost midnight when Liela woke up. She tossed and turned for a little while before finally giving up and coming to sit by me on the grass.

“Can't sleep?” I asked not expecting an answer. To my surprise I kind of got one. Granted it was more of a grunt of pain than words, but still.

I looked over at her and saw her face was white and damp from sweat. She was rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her torso.

“Are you okay? I asked putting a hand on her shoulder to turn her to face me and she nearly screamed. “Oh,” I said in understanding. Went to fin the special bird-girl pain killers that Grandma had made sure to put in my backpack. “Here.” I said making sure to stick the bluish pills right under her nose so she was sure to see them. She grabbed them with a shaky hand and stuffed them into her mouth as quickly as she could. I moved to take the jacket off that Cal had given her and she shrieked again.

“I'm just going to look at your wings.” I said, but she did not seem to realize what I was saying. “Your wings.” I said again. I spread my own feathers far enough for her to see and then pointed at her back. After that she tried to take the jacket off herself, but only ended up hurting herself, so I helped in the end.

Grandma had already warned me that Liela's wings were going to grow amazingly fast, which was why they felt like someone had stuck a screwdriver between her shoulders and tried to cut some pretty picture in her back.

Fortunately for me Liela's back did not look like someone had stabbed her with a blunt pointed object, otherwise I think I may have thrown up whatever was left of dinner. Instead, it looked like a pillow had exploded in her back. Already her wings were about four feet across. They were tiny compared to the fourteen foot wingspan she would have soon. What feathers she had shaded from the gray-white that most chicks have when they're young to a brownish gold that was the same color as her hair.

“You're going to have pretty wings Liela.” I told her even though she did not know what I was saying. But then again, I do no think that I would have said it if she could.

Liela smiled at me like she knew what I said anyway as Grandma's pills began to kick in. I handed her a paper napkin I had stuffed in my pocket the last time I had actually been in `civilization' so she could dry her eyes.

“So you really can't understand me?” I asked just to be sure even though she had not really said a word of English that Aaron or I had not said first over the past three days. “You're not playing some kid of joke?” She smiled again and I noticed that some of the pain had left her features. “In that case,” I said when she did not say anything. “I'm going to tell you something important, but you can't tell Aaron.” She stared at me after hearing Aaron's name and pointed to where he was sleeping.

“No,” I said and held my finger to my lips like I was telling her to be quiet. She put her hands in her lap and watched me.

“I don't think Rebecca's alive.” I told her keeping my voice low in case Aaron really was awake. “I think if she was she would have escaped or been rescued by now. Plus, we haven't heard anything about her in three years.” I slumped forward, my head suddenly filled with gruesome images of experiments, alive or not, and the horrible creatures that had made them.

“I mean,” I said jerking myself up. “If my parents couldn't survive the School, then how is a six year old supposed to?”

“Parents?” Liela asked uncertainly, probably remembering our earlier conversation about family.

I nodded. “Yeah, my mom and dad were part of the first Flock. They were the oldest out of the six, so they were the leaders. The other four, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel were kind of my aunts and uncles. Iggy is actually Will's dad, which is part of the reason we say we're cousins. Of course, Ella was my mom's half-sister, so we really are related.”

“Was heissen sie?” Liela suddenly asked. I looked at her funny and she pointed to herself. “Ich heisse Liela.” Then she pointed at me. “Du heisst Charlie. Was heissen deine Mutti und Vati?”

I put my super brain to work and finally guessed she was asking for their names. “My mom's name was Max, Maximum Ride,” I said emphasizing her name. “And my dad's name was Fang.”

“Max,” She said drawing out the `a'. “Und Fang.” She smiled all of a sudden. “Und dann Cal und Charlie.”

“Yes,” I said. “But don't talk about Cal too much okay? The School still doesn't know that she's my sister just like they don't know that Will is Iggy's son. All the experimentation on the general public has made it easier for Cal and Will to hide as everyday mutant but if the School ever finds out that they aren't then they will capture them so fast that it wouldn't be funny. Actually it wouldn't be funny anyway because the sickos would turn them into genetic fodder. They would take them apart understand?” Liela shook her head. “Do not talk,” I said slowly as I mimed the words. “About Cal or Will. It is dangerous.”

I think she got the gist as a terrified look entered her blue eyes and she said something way to fast for me to even try and understand.

“Good.” I said anyway. “Now you should probably go back to sleep.” She yawned as I spoke. We both stood and walked over to the spot where our fire had been. I woke Aaron for his turn as watch rabbit and then climbed a short sturdy tree so I could sleep on one of its thick branches.

“Guten nacht Charlie.” Liela called up to me from the ground.

“Good night Liela.” I said actually glad that I had told someone about my fears for Rebecca.

“Good ni-ight.” Aaron called from his place in a tone that implied he thought Liela and I were going to start kissing or something.

“Guten nacht Aaron.” Liela said, already half asleep, not noticing the mischief in Aaron's voice.

I heard him snicker to himself. “Charlie and Liela sittin' in a tree, K - I - S - S - I - N - ”

“Shut up.” I said and threw something at him. Liela giggled in her sleep as I missed. It was not long before I was out too.

The next morning, we were all tangled up in nets.