Maximum Ride Fan Fiction ❯ Keep Breathing ❯ Life Goes On ( Chapter 2 )

Sixteen Years Ago-

“Zero, it is time for your tests.” It wasn't very difficult to pick the limp four year old up. There was no struggle, there was no fight.

“Will I get play time today?” Her brown hair was cut short around her face, obscuring her sharp green eyes.

The man didn't bother to look at her as he responded.

“Why don't you tell me?” She frowned, her brow creasing in frustration. After a tense minute she sighed helplessly.

“You know it doesn't work that way. You haven't made the decision yet.” The man gave a humorless chuckle and pressed a code into a key pad on a wall.

“6-9-7-3. You guys make those two easy.” He didn't answer her, carrying the girl into a large room, setting her down in the center on a short chair. She ruffled the feathers of her wings as she watched him leave only to reappear behind a glass wall.

“Try to stop them.” Without warning, an off-white blur shot out of the wall behind the girl, stopping a few centimeters from the back of her head. It hovered in mid-air before clattering noisily to the tile floor.

As if a switch was flipped, more plates shot towards the stationary girl. The first few were stopped, hitting the floor around her feet but after some minutes and a heavy sweat breaking out on her forehead, the flying objects began to slam and collide with her body.

She cried out when one struck her on the chin, instantly splitting the skin.

The test continued.

All of the tests.

They pushed her to her limit and dropped her on her cot when the night was over.

She curled into a ball, face bleeding, fingers and ribs broken, to cry herself to sleep under the careful watch of the scientist.

Life went on.

 

_-_

 

To give myself credit, I wasn't the one to shriek when the Mgeeks jumped onto the car. Fang and I shoved out of the door only to slam into a swarm of said enemies. I nearly saw stars when I took a fist to the temple. The Mgeek that was gripping my shoulders painfully was suddenly gone.

“Max!?” Swing around and kicking my foot out, I was able to catch the cree behind me on the ankle. It snapped and he dropped to the ground.

Fang was rolling and tumbling with two geeks, gripping one tightly around the head.

Darting under the out stretched arm of one, I landed with both feet on the shoulder of the one trying to break Fang's neck. I nearly landed on Fang's face; I would have to tell him sorry later…

“Max! Duck!” Iggy's warning came too late and I was blast head over wings into the dirt. Sitting up almost immediately I called out “Report!” Spitting out dirt and blood, I wondered briefly if my hearing was going to suffer permanently for this.

“Here.” Iggy was standing awkwardly shaking his head free of dust and guts.

“Here.” Angel and Gazzy called at the same time, both peeking out of the car. The rain was quickly soaking us and turning the dirt to mud. I looked around for Fang and cringed at the sight of him.

“Fang!” He was sitting up looking more dazed than I felt. I pumped my wings once just to get me over a mound of dead Mgeeks and to Fang as quick as possible. I tripped and nearly fell into him, but found my grounding.

It took me a minute to realize my fingers were shaking as I reached for his face. I didn't actually touch it, but my hands hovered around the burnt skin unsure of what I should do.

His t-shirt was singed around the collar and the entire right side of his neck was black. The acrid smell of burnt flesh made my head dizzy as I lightly tilted his head to the left to get a better look.

He winced and tightly gripped the wrist holding the left side of his jaw.

I was nearly sick.

The burn reached all the way up and around his ear with lines over his chin.

His eye was left untouched, but some of his eyebrow had been burnt off.

“It isn't as bad as it looks.” He murmured, forcefully removing my hands from his face. I nearly choked on my anger.

“Fang! Half of your face is burnt off! Are you insane? `It's not that bad'… you sexist pig, just because you are a guy doesn't mean you can't be in pain! Remember what happened last time you said `it isn't that bad'?” I seethed, gritting my teeth together. His dark eyes just stared into mine.

I didn't even give him a chance to say something.

“You almost bled to death! We had to call an ambulance!” My mom and Jeb stepped out of the car. Jeb all but ignored the bodies of the charred as he moved toward us. Mom looked about as horrified as physically possible.

“Let's keep moving, we'll treat the burns once we get to the house. They have a medical facility.” Anger boiled in my veins.

`Breathe Max. Killing your father won't do any one any good…' I nearly broke out in an argument with myself over the Voice's words.

The very real need to just `accidently' throw a punch at Jeb was rolling in the pit of my stomach. I clenched my fists until my nails bit into the skin.

“Max…” Fang took my elbow, pushing us forward. “…Let's go.” He glared at Jeb as well as we passed him. Once in the car the surrealism of Fang's wound hit me in the chest. I started to panic.

“Aren't we supposed to cover it, from getting infected? Does it hurt? Are you ok? I'm so sorry. If I had paying attention…” My rambling was cut off by my desperate need to breathe.

“Relax Max, it's already healing, there won't be any infection.” Still my mom and I fretted over him until he glared at the both of us and snapped at us to keep our hands to ourselves.

Before I realized it, we were stopping again.

Anger and fear spiked my adrenaline. Were we being attacked again?

`Relax Max, don't get fight-happy. Breathe, in, out. In, out.' I did as I was told by the Voice taking deep steady breaths.

As we left the car and entered the house, I couldn't help but be edgy. I ushered Angel and Nudge in before me, hanging back so that I was the last one in.

Once in the room, I nearly gagged with the intensity of the smell of bleach. As if I wasn't already upset, my eyes stung and prickled. I hope didn't make me look like I was going to cry.

A man in white jumped off the stiff looking couch and trotted towards us.

“Yes, she saw you coming.” He looked to Fang, how mouth pressed into a grim line while he nodded slowly.

“Yes, she saw that too. Come, I'll fix you up.” Fang didn't move when the man turned and started to trot away.

“Yes, No doubt she saw you hesitant. I will not harm you. I've spent my entire life protecting her. I'm only down here for you. Come, your friends can follow.” Fang and I glanced at each other and I got another sickening look at the now flaking skin on his neck. I nodded and he rolled his eyes, but moved forward.

As we progressed into the kitchen, I had to wrinkle my nose.

“How many buckets of bleach do you use in a day?” Iggy beat me to the question. The man had a bowl of the green liquid, the same color of the liquid in the video, and was dabbing it with a linen cloth against Fang's neck.

Every time he cringed, I could feel it in my chest.

Damn that had to hurt.

And he was trying to be all macho and manly.

Damn him.

“Yes, the entire house is scrubbed every morning with bleach and a wood-friendly antiseptic. We must keep the house clean for Sam.”

Sam this, Sam that… Who was this `Sam' and why did they have people bowing at their feet.

`Max…' I mentally cringed but shot back at the Voice `Yeah yeah, I know. Watch, listen, don't assume. Got it.'

`Actually, I was going to suggest you have Angel, Nudge, Gasman and Iggy wait downstairs.' Suspicion made me dart my eyes around.

`Why?' A dozen reasons to not let the kids go were filling my mind, most of them bad.

`Remember that sound in the conference room?' This time I physically cringed at the memory.

`Let's just say that there wasn't anything wrong with the video camera.' Great. Why did everything about this house mess with my senses? First it was the bleach killing my sense of smell; the siren was going to kill my hearing. What next, a blinding light? Things were not going to get any better.

“Yes, you are Maximum. She saw you, and him, alone.” What was this guy ranting on about? He was staring me in the eyes while wrapping gauze around Fangs neck.

“Who?” His gaze turned back to what his hands were doing, dutifully focusing on wrapping Fang's burns. I love being ignored, not!

He then led us to the living room.

“Yes, you'll wait here. I must return. I will fetch you when it is time.”

Mom laid her hand on my shoulder. I totally deserve props for not flinching away.

“We came all this way to see her, why can't we see her now?! Where are the police that were posted here?” A weird glint appeared in the man's eyes and I felt a chill race down my spine. It was a dead look, one I had seen many times. Most clearly was the way Ari, my half brother, eye's turned just as he died.

The man opened and closed his mouth a few times, greatly resembling a fish.

“Hey Ange, any idea what he's saying?” She rolled her eyes.

“Haha.” Just as suddenly as the weird faze came over him, it was gone.

“Yes, the master will be home tonight, he will show her to you. But he-” The man looked pointedly at Fang. “will mostly be healed by tonight; he can not be cleansed with that wound so raw. It will have to take a few hours. Until then, please wait here. Besides that, I must ask you not to go any farther than the first step of the stairs, for Sam's sake.” He turned, ascending the stairs. I was just about turning to face the flock when he stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“And yours.” A determined look settled on his face, creeping in quietly between his eyebrows. “Yes, your sakes as well.” Once again he turned and continued up the stairs.

Making sure he didn't decide to add anything else, I slowly faced the flock.

“Ok, so I known we're the mutant freaks here, but that guy is definitely a human freak.”

 

`Max, I suggest you don't do that…' When did I ever listen to what I was told? Rarely ever. And for good reason.

My instincts were what had saved our hides time and again, I wasn't about to doubt them now, and they were telling me to march up these stairs, slink through doors and find out what was being hidden in this house short of a tanked-up mutant bird kid.

“What are they going to do to me that hasn't already been done?” I tapped my foot impatiently, crossing my arms over my chest.

The Voice was quick to respond.

`Displace you.' Rolling my eyes, I threw my hands up.

“I can't argue with you if you use words I don't know!”

“Fang…is Max going crazy?” That stopped me in my tracks.

I hadn't even realized I was pacing until I stopped myself.

“No Nudge, she's just having an internal conflict with a much more intelligent her.” That was the most he had said these last few hours and he had to be mean.

“It isn't me!” His dark gaze gave nothing of the secret conversation we were having. We were both worried about sitting here in the midst of the enemy.

“Ugh!” Attempting to run a hand through my hair, I looked around. Mom and Jeb stood at the far side of the room looking out the window, Iggy was sprawled out in a chair he dragged over to a corner holding a hand to his eyes, Nudge sat scrunched up on the stiff couch next to Fang. Angel and Gazzy had fallen asleep on the other couch a little over and hour ago. We were all waiting, but we were still human, well, 98% at least.

That meant we still got tired and hungry…

`Prepare yourself. You will be displaced if you rush and you will lose him. He will choose her over you. She will mean more to him if you rush.' My heart thumped uncontrollably in my chest.

`Fang?' Why was the thought of loosing him so incredibly painful?

`Remember Max, don't rush it, and keep the Flock together.' Maybe it hurt so badly because we had been separated once and it would never happen again, I wouldn't allow it.

“Max…?” Jolting out of my mind, I scanned the room. Fang was standing next to me, a hand reached out, paused mid-air.

He must have been an entire head taller than me. Come to think of it, Iggy was taller than me too. When had they started to look down at me and me up at them? Had it happened over night or over years? It definitely felt like over night.

Nudge was peering at me from the couch with her arms wrapped around her knees, her face almost hidden behind her long dark hair. When was the last time it had been cut I wonder? Not for some years unless you count having it ripped out of sheared off with knives. The Mgeeks had started to slowly disappear but would show up out of the blue. We defeated their employer, but I think those that still existed held a grudge against us.

Our lives were not always fight or flight now-a-days, but we were still the Flock. We stuck together and were the poster kids for saving the world. And fractions of Itex are still out there, like this one.

Fang and I stared at each other, not a silent word passed between us. We just stood there is this white bleached room, waiting for our future to happen.

There was an odd silence in the room. Well, there would have been if my raptor hearing didn't pick up on the heartbeats and breaths of everyone.

“Com'on…” Fang had grabbed my hand and was easily pulling me out of the house. We were on the small porch when my senses kicked in. Digging my heels into the wood, he nearly pulled be down the stairs before stopping and turning to me.

“Where are we going?” His dark eyes scrutinized my face, probably looking for something.

It was raining again, well, more like a drizzle. Foliage surrounded us on wall sides.

Wonder if the Mgeeks were around…

“Does it matter?” I couldn't help the snort of laughter.

Of course it mattered, we had…have… responsibilities. We couldn't just disappear off the face of the earth. That just might piss a few people off.

I dropped to sit on the highest step, my jeans instantly feeling wet.

“When did this happen?” Fang plopped down next to me.

“What?”

We always did whatever we wanted. We flew where ever we wanted to go whenever we wanted to. We didn't care about responsibility save for keeping the Flock out of dog crates.

We didn't care whether we would piss people off or not.

“When did we grow up?” I could only stare at the rough grainy wood of the stairs.

I was pitifully aware of the zero distance between our bodies and the thundering of my heart.

Snap out of it Max!

This was weird and stupid.

Turning to look at him, I watched him raise his face to the clouded sky with his eyes closed.

Pulling my knees to my chest, I rested my chin on them, leaning my head on his shoulder.

A few minutes of our comfort calmed me enough to think more clearly.

His burn weighed heavily upon me now.

I had basically brushed it off.

Reaching my hand out tentatively, I lightly brushed the finger-tips of my right hand across his bandaged neck.

“Does it hurt?”

Parts of his face were still burned a deep red, but looked a lot better compared to the black it had been. He was healing.

I blinked slowly, trying to even out my fast breathing.

I was startled when he suddenly grasped my fingers tightly leaning over me, looking down at me.

“Um…uh…Fa-” I was trying to gently pull my hand away from his grip remained.

Damn!

I could feel my face heat up.

Damn him!

I could read nothing in his dark gaze.

With my hand still held tightly by his, he lowered his face to press his forehead to mine.

I nearly went cross-eyed and all I could think

I hope I don't have bad breath…

He was so close and homigod he was going to kiss me!

Here?

Now?

Please!

Lights flashed across our faces followed by the roar of an engine.

In the raining deaf space we were in, that sounds was monstrous.

Water dripped down both our faces and thrown pebbles pelted us.

Now what?!

`You're about to meet Sam. Be prepared.' Fear seized up in my stomach.

We had waited so long, why fear it now? And was Sam in that car?

Fang's hand dropped to my elbow while his other arm went across my back.

With one powerful thrust of his wings, we were both standing, ready to defend ourselves is necessary.

The silver monster had slid to a stop on the rock drive, sending those pebbles in our direction.

Without a grade entrance (yeah, right…) a man stepped out of the car.

“Ah! You!” There was no freaking way! “Why are you here!?”

He looked perplexed before understanding appeared.

“Hello Maximum. I'm surprised you remember me. It has been some years since you were in that isolation tank. And your great escape was so quick; I doubted if you had seen any of us at all.” I dropped my pointing finger and clenched my fists.

“I generally try to remember all of the people who cause me or the Flock pain.” As if nothing were wrong, which everything was right now, he moved casually towards us and jogged up the stairs.

For a scientist, he didn't look like a White coat. In fact, he wore normal, everyday jeans and leather jacket with sneakers.

It was very disconcerting.

He looked normal.

Meaning there could be White coats everywhere, we just recognize them.

Both Fang and I were so tense our muscle's knots had knots.

As if it was an everyday greeting, when he reached us, he moved to place his hand on my shoulder.

Fang beat him to it, clenching onto the man's wrist until his knuckles were white only releasing after a few terse moments.

“Temper temper. That will get you nowhere in life.” He passed us opening the door.

My eyes flashed to Fang's face.

I knew exactly what he was thinking.

Tucking my wings in tight, I shot under the man's arm to stand in front of him.

“Really? `Cause it has gotten me everything I have.” He smiled and again I found it difficult to believe this man was a White coat.

“Don't forget, I know well of your temper, you broke my eye socket when you escaped. Don't worry; I won't lay a finger on a hair of your precious baby birdies. Now move aside, my own daughter is waiting for me.” I flushed. The Flock had never been called that before. He pushed past me. Fang and I exchanged glances. Despite the circumstances there was some light humor in his eyes.

“Yeah Max, go tend to your wittle baby birdies, they'll be chirping for you soon…” I punched him in the shoulder.

`It starts now Max, it is not the time for fooling around.' He started it!

`Don't be so childish, you have things to do, now get moving.' I was tempted to resist just to spite myself, and then I realized the flaw in that. I would be spiting myself. That didn't really work.

`Just keep breathing; things are going to get overwhelming. And no punching Jeb.' I hadn't even realized I was thinking of that until the Voice said that.

`Max?' Angel. Fang and I both moved into the living room, him more silent than me.

“Batchelder! It is good to see you again. Max and the kids have grown up so fast.” Jeb and Mr. Patronizing shook hands like old friends.

“I trust Sam is doing well. With the way you keep this place sanitized, I'd be worried about her health. Has she been on her own two feet since I last saw her?” My eyes widened then narrowed.

He knew!

I was going to kill him.

There was absolutely no way I could trust him.

He had too many secrets.

`Breathe Max; killing Jeb would make you a murder and a wanted criminal.' As if that would stop me.

 

^-^_^-^_

 

We meet Sam next chapter. This was mainly a filler, me getting use to the characters and explaining Max's shaky state of mind.

She is one over-worked bird kid.

Read and review please!