Critical Condition

Chapter 4

Max POV

Nudge woke me up from running into the room carrying a large plate of blueberry pancakes. Her motor mouth was spewing hundreds of works a second and my sleepy mind couldn't keep up with her. I yawned and held up a finger and she smiled wide, holding the plate out to me.

"Flock meeting, now, boys' room." I managed to get out and her smile never faltered as she bounded out of the room, pancakes and all. I rolled out of the warm bed, snakes of anxiety already beginning to creep in. All of this seemed way to good to be true, and in those cases, it usually is. I'd group everyone together and go over the plan for the day and we'd be gone within the hour. But first, I wanted to talk to mom.

"Guys, please, the pancakes are great, but now let's focus." I felt like I was herding cats at the moment as everyone talked at once. Fang leaned against the wall by the door, silent as ever. Iggy and Gazzy finally brought their attention to me.

"We're really leaving?" Angel asked. Her condition had improved ten fold and I felt comfortable with her being able to fly the rest of the way to moms house.

"Not quite. Fang, I've got a task for you." I said and he glanced over at me. "You need to go into town and call mom. Let her know about all of this, Ben, and that we're on our way."

"Aye aye." he said sarcastically and opened the door to leave. Angel jumped up and started to give me puppy dog eyes.

"Can I go with Fang? Please?" she begged and I groaned as I fell into her gaze. I shooed her away and with a squeal, she raced after Fang.

"Ig, I want you to start getting all our stuff together. We leave as soon as Fang gets back." I ordered and he nodded. Gazzy stood to help him.

"What should I do, Max?" Nudge tugged on my pant leg.

"You can help me figure out our flight path." I patted her head and her eyes beamed. With everyone tasked and disbursed, I felt a little more at ease. Until there was a knock at the door.

"You kids need anything?" Ben's voice asked and both Nudge and I froze. It wasn't Ben's voice at all, but a much deeper and gruffer one. We looked at each other and watched as the door slowly opened.

Fang POV

"Fang? Are we calling her on a pay phone?" Angel asked, flying up next to me. I looked over at her and nodded. She smiled and flew strong ahead of me with her blonde curls blowing in the wind. She seemed to be doing much better than two nights ago, where she was barely able to stay conscious. We had just left Ben's strange house and now that we were higher up, I realized that it really was in the middle of no where with no neighboring houses.

"You remember the number?" I asked.

"Of course!" Angel was happy to be out of the house. The storms had let up for the moment, we might be lucky to get a head start on them this afternoon. The sky was still dark and cloudy but I was grateful to not have the burning sun on my back.

We had flown for about half an hour before I began to see the edges of civilization again. We both aimed downwards and landed just outside of a large warehouse on the edge of town. I scanned the area for both danger and a pay phone; I'm quite the multitasker.

"Fang, there's one!" Angel skipped over to it and dug into her pocket for the last of her change. I stood behind her, still scanning the sidewalks for any strange characters. My nerves were on high alert. "Hello Dr. Martinez!" Angel said happily and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least we had coms with her. "Yes, everyone is ok, but we have a bunch to tell you!" "Angel, there's a time limit." I reminded her.

"We got stuck in a really bad storm here, but a really nice man let us stay at his house. His name is Ben and says he knows you." Angel continued. But her face fell and began to grow afraid as I heard Dr. Martinez on the other side. "I don't know Ben...wouldn't tell anyone...leave at once..." was all I could pick up before I took the phone from Angel quickly. "Who is Ben?" I asked curtly. "Fang, oh thank goodness, I was beginning to think Angel was by herself. I wouldn't tell anyone about you guys, I don't know any Ben either. You need to leave immediately, it's not safe!" She said quickly. I nodded and my eyes did another sweep over the area. "He said he used to work with you at your clinic. Max and the others are still there."

"That's not right, please, leave as soon as you can!" Dr. Martinez said and the line suddenly went dead. Our time had expired. I dropped the phone and took Angel's hand, quickly moving back towards the old warehouse. "Who is Ben?" Angel asked scared as we took off. We didn't have a moment to loose. "We don't know, and we're not sticking around to find out." "I couldn't get any thoughts from him either." Angel said and I grit my teeth. "You couldn't have told us this earlier?" "I didn't think it mattered!" Angel was trembling as she flew.

"We'll get Max and the others." I said, regretting my tone. We flew as fast as we could and we soon came to Ben's house again. Only what I saw made my heart freeze. Black plumes of smoke billowed out from charred holes in the roof, the front door was no longer a door, but a gaping smoldering hole. The windows were smashed, pieces of the house were scattered across the front yard. Ben's truck was gone. "Max!" Angel cried and quickly descended towards the house. "Angel, wait!" I yelled but she was gone. I bolted after her as she landed clumsily by the house. I landed hard next to her, my shoes skidding on the gravel. "No ones here..." She breathed.

...

Max POV

Nudge and I stood in fighting stances as the door slowly creaked open. Ben stood in the doorway but had a horrible gleam in his eyes, one that I had seen before. It was the look of a predator who had cornered its prey. I whirled around to bolt for the window but just as I did, a large body crashed through it. Now standing in front of me where two fully morphed Erasers.

"Run!" I yelled and Nudge was already one step ahead of me. She had planted a hard round house kick straight into Ben's chest, sending him flying against the wall. We ran from the small room to find Iggy and Gazzy back to back holding their own against three other Erasers. "Max, they're everywhere!" Iggy yelled, his voice strained as he pushed an Eraser through the door of Ben's bedroom. Another jumped onto his back and they both went crashing down. I punched an Eraser square in his horrible snout, teeth flying and and a scream ringing out. The wind was knocked out of me as Ben had regained his footing and had brought the small recliner chair down into my back. Who was this guy, Superman?

"Up and away!" I wheezed and tried to stand. Ben dropped onto me, his hands around my throat. He wasn't some typical human, but was wicked strong and a tank. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gazzy throwing small balls into every room, jamming some into the mouths of unsuspecting Erasers. Oh no. BOOM!! 

Multiple explosions echoed throughout the house as Gazzys grenades began to go off. A fire engulfed the kitchen and began to creep along the walls. Gazzy grabbed Nudges hand and dragged her out towards the newly formed hole where the door used to be. Iggy drop kicked Ben off of me, air rushing into my lungs at last. I lay like a dead fish for a moment as my senses came back to me. Iggy dragged me to my feet, only to be dropped to the ground by a massive blow to the head, an Eraser standing over him with a large wrench. Iggy was out cold, bleeding.

"Gasman!" I chocked out but saw that he too had gone down, unconscious outside in the gravel. An Eraser stood over his small body, his mouth wide open in a toothy grin. Nudge was pounding her fists against his body. Black smoke poured out of the house now, making breathing impossible. The Eraser grabbed Iggy and myself in each clawed hand and drug us out into the dirt next to Gazzy. In the chaos and smoke, I only saw the metallic flash of the wrench before everything went black.