Fallen
By: Alissa Matsumoto
Author's note: This is a fanfiction for the book, Maximum Ride The characters in this story belong to the amazing James Patterson but the plot is mine. The plot was also inspired by "Your Guardian Angel" by The Red jumpsuit Apparatus.
"I will never let you fall"
A robotic man-wolf hybrid, an Eraser, stood before me. The Eraser stared at me with its robotic laser eyes, its mouth visibly morphing into a muzzle of a vicious wolf and its nails growing into brutal claws. Its mouth opened, showing off its lupine teeth. It let out an earsplitting howl. The sound echoed in my ears. The army of a hundred Erasers charged toward us. Their muscles noticeably growing larger, blood lust apparent in their eyes.
Max was behind me in a fighting stance, bracing herself for the oncoming attack. This was it. It was our final battle. Either we won and the world would be saved, or we lost and billions of innocent people would die. It was all or nothing.
"Fang! There are too many of them!" Max yelled. Her hair was messy from fighting and she was out of breath from running. She was completely surrounded by Erasers, some armed with guns.
"We can win this," I said in my usual, cool, calm and collected tone. I pointed upwards to the infinite sky. Up and away, I thought. I unfurled my powerful, midnight-black wings and soared up into the heavens.
We have wings and we can fly. When we were young we had avian DNA grafted into us. We lived in dog cages in a lab where wicked scientists from a company named Itex put us through hell. Now Itex wanted to exterminate all diseases and sickness by wiping out nine tenths of the world's population. We escaped had from the lab and our mission now was to put an end to Itex and their evil plans. The army of erasers was their last defense.
Max trailed me, shooting up in the sky with her magnificent, brown-speckled wings. Wind coursed through her gold-and-pink hair. After running through the forest for the past three days, stretching out my wings and flying felt incredibly good.
"Go up eight hundred feet. The altitude will mess up there systems," Max directed, as the hoard of fifty Erasers followed with their leathery mechanical wings. Their immense bodies were not built for flying. They were slow, clumsy, and ungraceful flyers.
"I got your back," she said giving me a reassuring look. I know, I thought. I felt a smile play at the corners of my mouth. I gazed at her. Her familiar golden hair framed the angelic face I loved so much. Her cheeks were flushed from battle, making her fair skin seem even more perfect.
"Watch out!" she warned me, eyes wide as she stared at something behind me. I turned to see a wolfy paw come swinging at my face. I tucked in my wing and dropped down, but the Eraser's claw managed to cuff my cheek, leaving three long lines across half of my face.
"Thanks idiot, now I look like a kitty cat!" I yelled sarcastically. It just swung at me again. I guess they aren't programmed with a sense of humor. Below me, an Eraser grabbed one of my ankles and started to drag me down. Man, these guys are heavy! I smashed it in the head with my other foot and it fell awkwardly to the ground. I flew back up with two powerful strokes of my wings. My black hair rustled in the wind. Three Erasers approached me.
"You will lose," they droned in perfect sync, "We will win. Give up now. There is no hope." I guess they weren't programmed with a personality either.
"Oh, shut up. How many times have I heard that one?" I asked with a hint of annoyance in my voice. Too many, I answered for myself. I grabbed one Eraser and swung it into the other two. They dropped to the ground in a big furry ball.
Then I heard a gunshot.
I turned around to see that an Eraser had shot at Max. She had dodged with incredible avian speed, but even the fastest bird kid around was not faster than a bullet. It clipped her in the shoulder, just missing her wing. I flew over to her and used my momentum to knock out a couple more Erasers. I looked down to see that they did not survive the 800-foot fall. Ouch. I grabbed the neck of the Eraser that shot at Max and forced the gun out of its hands. I slammed the barrel of the gun into the back of its metal head. Behind me Max sent another Eraser falling to the ground. It hit the ground with a terrible crash. And another one bites the dust.
Two more ear-piercing shots rang through the air. I turned to see that both shots hit one of Max's wings and she was falling. Fast. She shrieked with a look of complete horror on her face as she lost altitude. I immediately tucked in my wings and dove down to catch her. Adrenaline rushed through my system as I felt the exhilarating sensation of free falling. The distance between us started to close rapidly, but the distance between her and the ground closed even more rapidly. Faster, dammit! Faster! I tucked in my wings as tightly as I could and extended my arms as far out as they would go. Max reached up to me with a sad look on her face as if she knew this would be her end. My wings ached as I tucked them even tighter into my sides.
Finally, I got a hold of her wrist and caught her with fifty feet to spare. I snapped out my wings to stop us from falling. The momentum of our fall was enough to rip my wings right off and I let out a cry of pain. Luckily my wings were still in tact. Note to self: no more sudden unfurling. My wings ached badly as I beat them to land softly on the ground. All around us were the broken pieces of fallen Erasers. Max's face was as pale as a ghost, her feathers limp and soaked with blood where the bullets had hit it.
"Thank you Fang," she sobbed as she buried her face in my chest. I held her tightly in my arms as the Erasers dropped down and surrounded us.
"I'll stand up with you forever"
Max wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. I stood up beside her, supporting her and making sure she was alright.
"Can you fight?" I asked. For as long as I had known her, Max had never left my side. I already knew she was going to say "yes" even though she was in a lot of pain.
"I can fight. I don't think I can fly though," she said. I glanced at her wing. It was bent in an awkward position and blood was spilling out of the wounds and pooling on the ground.
"You sure?" I asked.
"You bet." she replied, trying to keep her voice steady. I knew no one stronger than her. The Erasers were closing in on us now.
"Helicopter," Max whispered to me. I smirked and grabbed her wrists. I leaned back and swung her around in a circle. She kicked ferociously at the Erasers as they tried to avoid being hit. As we finished the helicopter, the Erasers we had hit fell to the ground. We effectively got rid of at least fifteen of them. We grinned at each other and slapped high-fives then turned back to battle the next round of Erasers.
"I'll be there with you through it all"
There were about twenty Erasers left. I round-housed one in the chest then swung around and clocked one in the head. An Eraser shoved me to the ground and stomped a heavy metal boot down on my back, crushing my wings. My breath left me all at once. Max quickly turned and snapped the Eraser's neck. Metal bolts and wires rained down on me.
"Nice" I said, catching my breath. My body ached all over. Pain is a message, a message that you can ignore. Max always says that, I told myself. I coughed and blood spilled out of my mouth. A nasty metallic taste filled my mouth.
"Fang!" Max cried as she looked in horror at the blood-soaked ground in front of me. An Eraser took advantage of her lowered guard, grabbed her neck, and began to squeeze the life out of her. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. I sprang up, ignoring the screaming pain in my back, and smashed the Eraser to pieces. Max fell to her hands and knees. Her breathing was uneven and her voice ragged.
"Behind you," she choked out.
Behind me, five Erasers attacked all at once. I managed to shove one down while I got pounded by the other four. One clamped down on my arm with razor-sharp teeth while others kneed me in the stomach and clocked me in the head. Another splatter of blood left my mouth as I saw stars. Max rose to her feet and took out three Erasers with one powerful kick. I stomped on the one that was on the ground and brought an elbow down on the other one that was still biting my arm. After the Eraser crumpled to the ground, I held my stomach, bent over, and coughed up more blood. My hair was matted with sweat and stuck to my face. Uh-oh this can't be good.
Max already started fending off the last ten Erasers. Together, Max and I had never lost a fight. I wasn't about to let her down now. I ran over and joined her side. I took out several Erasers by kicking one. They toppled like dominos as their circuits shorted out. Next to me, Max was sending out fast, strong punches and the Erasers were dropping one-by-one. Her lip was bleeding and she had blood running down her arms. I could see she was getting dizzy from blood loss but that didn't seem to slow her down. All but two Erasers were dead on the ground. We did it, I thought as I let out a short sigh.
Max was delivering a final blow to one Eraser. I could see her eyelids drifting shut as she struggled to stay conscious. The other Eraser behind her pulled out a gun and aimed for her head. I froze.
"Max! Move!" I yelled. It was almost too late.
The Eraser grinned and pulled the trigger. I ran to her as fast as I could as she turned around. Max's blood loss slowed her reaction. There was no way she could dodge this one. The single bullet sped towards her at an astonishing speed. With speed that only a human-avian hybrid pumped with adrenaline could manage, I stepped in the path of the bullet. It hit me—right in the chest. It took a second for my brain to process what just happened then I dropped to the ground like a rock, holding the hole in my chest. Blood ran through my fingers and pooled on the ground. Filled with rage Max easily killed the last Eraser and came rushing to my side.
"Fang!" she yelled. She dropped to her knees and pulled me up in her arms. "Are you ok, Fang?! Answer me!" she sobbed.
My shirt was soaked crimson with my blood. I tried to breathe but no breath came.
"Fang! Don't leave me!" tears ran down her cheeks and she held me tighter in her arms. "Come on, stay with me Fang," she whispered leaning her head on my shoulder. Throughout my whole life I had never seen so much pain on her face.
"I need you," she wept.
"I'm sorry Max, I'm so sorry," I whispered weakly.
I found the strength to raise my hand up and brush a tear from her eye. My eyes finally drifted shut and the world faded away. I'm sorry.
"Even if saving you sends me to heaven"