Maximum Ride Fan Fiction ❯ After Armageddon ❯ Chapter Eight: I Am a Jelly Donut ( Chapter 8 )

 

After Armageddon

 

 

Chapter Eight: I am a Jelly Donut

 

Charlie

 

Fifteen minutes later Liela was lying down on a skinny hospital bed that Taylor had for emergencies. Her right hand was strapped down so she would not move it while Taylor was cutting her wrist with an over sized knife because, you know, if she did he could very well take her arm off.

Okay, so that really was not possible, but in case you have not noticed, I DO NOT like knives or surgery of any kind. You could say I was traumatized as a kid.

Liela looked a little more than nervous as Taylor filled a syringe with something that would numb her arm as well as make her a little loopy. She looked so freaked out that, for some reason that I still do not entirely understand, I went over and held her hand.

She looked grateful more then anything and she clung to my hand tighter as Taylor gave her the anesthesia. Now I know I have told you before that Taylor and I just do not get along. He thinks I am a bossy know it all and I think he's rude and obnoxious. However despite our issues with each other, I have to admit that he is a good doctor. He's been to some of the best schools, the normal ones that is, there are and he knows a lot about how the Director and Whitecoats think and act, which is useful. His parents both work high in the government, almost directly under the Dictator herself. Taylor's mom actually allowed them to turn Taylor into a non-winged bird man.

So given this lovely family history you may ask yourself why I trust him at all. Well as it turns out, he's the main reason why Aaron and I were able to escape that first time when we were five years old. Because of his powerful parentage, Taylor was able to wander through the nicer parts of the Schools since he was young. Well eventually he found a not so nice part where Aaron and I had been chucked until someone decided we could be useful. Fortunately for us, Taylor still had some morals at twelve years old and he let us out. Because he was so young, not to mention so clumsy, he was able to convince his parents that it was just an accident. I do not think he has told them about the whole I-think-the-Director-is-evil thing. In fact I think Mr. and Mrs. Rolauf think Taylor is still with his fiance, Calina, planning their wedding.

Liela suddenly giggled and I realized that the loopiness had set in. Her grip on my hand had relaxed so that it felt like I was holding a limp noodle. She giggled again as Taylor started working on her arm.

“You're funny Charlie.” She said her voice thick as if she had just woken up. I stared at her in shock having forgotten for a moment that she spoke English now.

“Funny?” I asked. “How am I funny?”

She laughed again. “You were saying ich bin ein Berliner.” (1) She kept giggling to herself.

I did not get it. “How is saying I am a Berliner funny?”

Liela only laughed harder. “That `snot what it means,” She said her words starting to slur together. “It means I am a jelly donut.”

I was not quite sure what to say to that. “So Kennedy called himself a jelly filled doughy breakfast thing?”

Liela nodded as best as she could tied to a metal table, laughing almost hysterically now.

I waited for her to calm down. Taylor ignored us completely concentrating on the explosive in Liela's arm.

“Hey Liela,” I said once her laughter had died down a little. “Why do you think you speak English now?”

She stopped laughing almost instantly. “I donno,” She said her words blending together badly. “When they putme to sleep, Is poke German an whenI wokeup, I spoke English.” She said quickly and I noticed that she was starting to cry.

“No,” I said hating it when anyone cries. “No, don't cry, Please stop, it'll be alright. It's just words, don't worry.”

She sobbed. “S'not just th' words,” She said. “S'th kidnapping an the pain an th' mean people that keep tryin' to cut me up.” Her tears splattered against the table. “I lost m'whole language. I don' remember any ofit.” She said sobbing again. “I don' e'en have my accen' anymore.”

Now she really was crying instead of just tearing up. I looked up to see how far Taylor was from being done. I watched as he pulled out a tiny black square about as big as my thumbnail. He gently placed it in a silver tray, probably praying it suddenly did not decide to go kablooie. “I'm almost done.” He told me not looking up.

Great, I just had to distract her for a few more minutes. I could do that.

“You want to know what makes up for all that?” I asked her as I wiped her face with a towel from the table behind me.

“What?” She asked miserably.

“Flying.”

The look on her face said she almost believed me. I kept talking. “I promise it'll be the best feeling you'll ever know and as soon as your wings are grown, I'll teach you how to fly.”

“You will?”

I nodded. “Yes because I certainly can't let Aaron do it. He's a terrible flying instructor.”

That got her to laugh. “I'll hold you to that promise Charlie.” She sounded drowsy, like she was either just waking up or dropping off.

“I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to fly in another day or two.” Taylor said. “Your wings are growing incredibly fast Liela. You might even be able to start practicing now, with your wings as big as they are, even if you're only airborne for a little while.” He snipped something and started rewrapping her arm. “I'm done.” He announced. He quickly untied the restraints keeping her arm on the table and the two of us helped her to sit up.

“Give her a few minutes and she'll be back to normal.” He said before taking my bag from the floor and stuffing a couple of pill bottles and the bandages Aaron had just walked in with.

“So what did I miss?” He asked changing back into that oh so childish human self of his.

“Not much.” I told him steadying a still wobbly Liela.

A loud siren suddenly started wailing and a flashing light covered everything in red, kind of like those military movies you see where they have to go to dep con seven or whatever because of aliens.

Taylor swore and zipped my bag up before throwing it over the table at me. He hauled Liela up on her feet shoved us all toward the door.

“That's the alarm. They'll be looking for you and I would not be surprised if they found this place so you three have to leave now.” We were almost to the door when we heard a loud bang from just outside. I stopped so fast that Liela ran into me.

“Oh goody,” Aaron said. “I got here just in time.”

There was another bang as someone threw themselves against the door trying to break it down. Taylor swore again, realizing that if something did not change soon, he was going to be caught. The Director would probably put two and two together and figure out that he was really working for the Phoenix. Once she found out all of his dirty little secrets she would probably find my family as well which meant she would finally realize that Cal was the daughter of Maximum and Fang Ride and that the rest of my family was just as embroiled in the rebellion as I was.

I spied some rope handing on a chair for one reason or another. “Hey Aaron, grab that will you?” I told him.

“Sit down.” I ordered Taylor shoving him into a chair. He opened his mouth to argue but another bang silenced him. Aaron started wrapping the rope around my soon to be brother-in-law and I quickly started to help him.

“I've always wanted to do this.” I told him smiling despite the danger.

Our visitors slammed into the door again and this time splinters flew off in all directions. There was a nasty cracking noise that made Liela scream. The door was going to snap soon if that crack was any sign I thought to myself as I wound the rope around Taylor.

“Who is it?” Aaron called as he blindfolded and gagged Taylor. I tied the last knot tight for good measure, that and because I wanted to, then I grabbed my backpack and took hold of Liela's hand. She seemed to be well enough to walk a straight line and she followed me quickly, Aaron right behind her as we went through the door Taylor had tried to force us through earlier.

I slammed the door closed behind me, Aaron taking the lead with Liela still in the between us. There was not a room beyond the door, just a skinny winding tunnel that, hopefully, led to the outside. We ran as fast as we could away from the wire room and the Flyboys and Whitecoats that were trying to break the door down. Our shoes sent echoes down the hall, hurting our over sensitive ears.

An even louder noise told us that the intruders had finally busted down the first door and had decided to take a crack at the one I had closed just moments before. Naturally the door lost the fight and the echoes around us grew louder as more people began to chase us down the restricting corridor. I chanced a look behind me and saw that a mob of Flyboys were charging furiously after us.

I quickly looked forward again. “Go faster!” I yelled knowing that they would catch us soon if we did not get out of this tight space. The walls were far too close for me to fly and Liela and Aaron were too heavy combined so I could not carry them, which would let us go faster then running on our own six feet.

“Look!” Liela shouted pointing ahead of us at the tiny square of light that was swiftly growing larger as we ran.

“Get outside!” I yelled not needing to look back to know that the Flyboys were only a wings length behind us and still gaining. Aaron put on an extra bust of speed and Liela struggled to keep up. The three of us flew, not literally, out of the window-like opening a few second sooner then the Flyboys. It was just enough time for Aaron and me to reorient ourselves and get ready to face the Flyboys. I made sure Liela was behind us, but I did not have time for anything else as the metal Erasers leapt out of the hole, silver claws ready to rip us apart.

Unfortunately, I have a very low tolerance for pain and I had already used up my quota of the day by this point, so I dodged the robot's attack. I threw my hand upward in a punch that hit the Flyboy right under his chin, knocking his head back and snapping a few of his internal wires. He fell back, crashing into two others on his way down. Another one flew at me from the side and I ducked letting him fly head first into the tree on the far side and watched for a brief moment as fireworks exploded out of his back. Then I noticed the Flyboy that was trying to corner Liela. I knocked him over the head to get his attention as Liela shook from head to toe with her back against a tree. The tin can stood up quicker then I thought he would and he punched me in the stomach. I lost my breath and doubled over in pain unable to breathe. I remember seeing pretty multi-colored stars that kept changing colors like something you would see on TV. It was only when my lungs started to burn that I remembered to breathe in. As soon as I did the stars disappeared and I saw the Flyboy who had hit me reach out and grab me by the collar of my shirt. He lifted me high enough that my feet dangled an inch or two above the ground. I was still too dazed to try and do something myself and I saw Aaron was too busy fighting off three other Flyboys all on his own, so he could not help me.

Unfortunately for me that meant Liela was the only one who could save me if I did not do something myself. I kicked the Flyboy hard in the stomach but almost broke my foot on his metal exterior, which completely defeated the point of kicking him since I was the one that got hurt. Really the only response the Flyboy had was to move his hands from my collar to my neck.

Joy. I was going to die unless Liela did something.

I caught sight of Leila's stark white terrified face as she backed up, away from the Flyboy.

Okay scratch off any help from her, I'm dead.

Two fright filled seconds later, something big whacked into the Flyboy holding me and I dropped to the ground with a thump. I sat gasping and coughing trying to remember how to breathe. When the black spots finally faded from my eyes, I saw with absolute shock that Liela was standing over me still looking terrified but armed with a sturdy tree branch that had been knocked to the ground by the Flyboy that had ran into the tree.

Aaron suddenly appeared next to, having disentangled himself from the mob of Flyboys that had pinned him into a corner earlier.

“Come on!” He said urgently shoving me forward and grabbing Liela's wrist to drag her after him. It did not take her long to figure out how to run again. The three of us ran pell-mell through the woods that concealed the School, dodging trees and jumping over bushes. Crashes behind us told me that the Flyboys were quickly following us.

“We can't outrun them!” I shouted wishing with all my birdie heart that Liela could fly. It was easier to deal with Flyboys when they were trying to divide their attention between flying decently and chasing a quickly moving object.

Aaron smiled at me mischievously, making me wonder what the heck he had done to our robotic friends. “Ah don't worry about that too much.” He told me, only increasing my suspicion. “Just put as much distance between us and them.”

I pushed myself to go faster. Rabbit-boy had no problem going faster but Liela was starting to fall behind us. “Don't leave me behind!” She screamed, terrified of going back to the School even though she had probably only been there for two or three days.

She did not have to worry about being left behind for long.

The three of us skidded to a halt as a deep awning chasm suddenly appeared before us. I looked over my shoulder afraid that it would not take too long for our pursuers to catch up. We could not jump, especially since Liela would just fall right to the bottom of the cliff side that enclosed the gorge. I would not have enough time to catch both her and Aaron, much less carry their combined weight.

“Jump!” Aaron yelled and then hurled himself into the air.

It was nice to know we were thinking the same thing.

“Spread your wings as far as they will go and try to keep them out as long as you can.” I quickly ordered Liela. I saw her nod and then followed Aaron off the side of the steep rock wall.

Quickly I unfurled my own wings and then dove to catch Aaron who was currently a little white puffball falling to his doom. Then I soared back up, ready to try and do the same for Liela.

I was surprised to see that she only hesitated a second before leaping off the cliff. Most girls who had just been shoved into this kind of situation would have stood there stupidly and gotten caught. Liela however seemed to be more trusting than those other girls and she jumped with her arms out above her head like Superman.

She thrust out her wings just a little too quickly, snapping them out to her sides to try and catch the air that would buoy her up in the air.

It might have worked, but a loud fiery blast suddenly exploded outward, its hot air disrupting her already fragile flight pattern. She scrambled to throw her wings out again, but she did not know how.

So she plummeted.

I knew it was hopeless since I could not carry both her and Aaron, but I dove after her anyway.

“What the heck did you do?!” I screamed at Aaron over the roar of the wind in my ear.

“I used her chip to blow up the bad guys!” He screamed back. “Gotta problem with that?!”

“Why yes!” I told him catching sight of Liela through the wispy cloud layer. “Yes I do!”

“Just slow her down and get her to glide down!” Aaron suggested by screaming in my ear.

“That's what I had her doing before you knocked her out of the air with your toy!” I was frustrated not only with the fact that one of my friends was falling to her death, but that I could not seem to catch up with her.

Suddenly there she was not a foot away from me screaming and crying with freight. I grabbed her hand before she got away and pulled her up so that she was parallel to the ground.

“Spread your wings!” I told her.

“We already tried that!” She yelled back at me.

I was too freaked out to roll my eyes. “Well try it again!”

Her wings did not pop out like before.

“NOW!” I screamed.

The shock must have helped. Her smallish wings snapped out to either side of her body and she caught an updraft without meaning to. The force of the wind forced her up, slowing her rapid descent nearly knocking into Aaron and me. I banked to the right and flew beneath her just in case something else happened. I looked up to see how Liela was doing and to my surprise I saw that her look of freaked out fright had turned into a look of wonder and amazement. I saw her mouth move but I could not hear her over the wind.

“Okay,” I screamed up at her getting her attention. “Now just try and glide down to the ground like this,” I did not flap and instead held my wings out like she did, making only the smallest motions to keep myself up. She copied me and steadily we made our way down to the earth in large looping motions.

Her landing sounded painful but I figured it was better than the crash it could have been. Liela still had that awed expression on her face as she stood up on wobbly legs.

“I flew.” She whispered in a quiet, amazed voice.

“Yep,” Aaron said resuming his human form and placing a hand on her shoulder with a smile. “You flew. You falled first but you got the basic idea.”

I rolled my eyes at his intentional bag grammar. “You flew very well considering your wings are so tiny.” I told her walking closer to her and Aaron. “But we should leave before the School decides to send more of its goons after us.” I said as I began walking away from the cliff we had just leaped over. Aaron followed, quickly catching up with me while Liela dragged behind still in shock.

I could barely hear her quiet voice as she started to come back to reality. “Oh my goodness,” She whispered with a short laugh. “I flew.”

 

 

 

(1) Ich bin ein Berliner does mean I am a jelly donut. My German teacher told us, more than once I might add, that because Kennedy included an ein, he made himself a jelly donut instead of a man from Berlin. My own opinion is that the people were so happy that they didn't care that a pastry was talking to them.