Chapter 59

"Up and away!" I shouted, whipping my wings out as fast as I could. But even as I said it, I could tell it was futile. Fang seemed to think the same thing.

"Not enough time," he muttered, standing with his back to mine, his fists up and his wings slightly unfurled. "Get ready to fight."

"Iggy, twelve 'o' clock," I heard Nudge murmur. "And one 'o' clock. And two 'o' clock. And – well, okay, they're everywhere, we're kind of surrounded!"

"Thanks for the tip," Iggy muttered, gritting his teeth as he pressed close to Nudge, his fists raised. I managed to catch a glimpse of Gazzy's anxious but determined expression as he moved in on the other side of me, in a fighting stance.

"What should we do?" Jaz cried, clinging to Daisy.

"Try not to get killed?" I offered. It was just like that day all those months ago, way back at Daisy's birthday party.

"Max!" Gazzy shrieked, and all of a sudden an Eraser was on top of me, shoving me to the ground. He snarled in my face and I winced – his breath smelled disgusting, like he'd just been eating trash straight out of the dumpster minutes before. I jerked my knee up and walloped him right in the stomach, and he howled in pain, giving me just enough time to roll out from under him and scramble to my feet. As I did, he snatched my ankle, but I shoved my foot backwards, kicking him in the face and knocking him out.

It wasn't like I had time to celebrate, though. Another Eraser rushed at me, taking the place of his fallen teammate, but I leaped towards him, roundhouse kicked him hard in the chest, and scrambled backwards as all the air whooshed out of his lungs and he fell back, gasping for air.

Around me, Nudge and Iggy were working as a team, their backs pressed tightly to one another as they fought back the Erasers. I caught a glimpse of Fang, quick as lightning, duck out of the way of two Erasers who crashed right into each other. Daisy and Jaz were crouched together on the ground, clutching each other and whispering with wide eyed expressions on their faces.

"I could use some help over here!" I heard the Gasman choke out. My eyes darted over to find an Eraser with his grotesque clawed hands wrapped around Gazzy's throat while Gazzy was kicking his legs and flailing his arms as hard as he could.

Nimbly, I leaped into the air and snapped out my wings, which made me wince – ugh, no more sudden unfurling! – and alighted on the Eraser's shoulders, throwing him off.

"Hey!" I shouted at him. "Pick on someone closer to your own size!"

He let go of the Gasman in an attempt to grab me, and as he did, I clasped my hands together and brought them down on his face. He howled as blood began spurting from his nose and waved his arms wildly, trying to grab me. I leaped away from him as he crashed to the ground, landing in front of Gazzy and throwing my arm out in front of him.

"You okay?" I asked, surveying the area around us. Erasers lay passed out in the dirt, but there were still more coming at us and others grinning, watching the fight, clearly meant to be backup. It boiled my blood to see them watching like it was a fun game – like we were their entertainment.

"Yeah." The Gasman wiped some blood away from his nose and furrowed his eyebrows in determination, and my heart swelled with pride. He was such a brave kid – they all were. "Thanks, Max." Then his eyes widened. "Duck!"

When the Gasman told you to duck, you dropped down to the ground like all hell was about to break loose. So that was exactly what I did.

Just in time for an ear-splitting explosion to ring out, shaking the earth below me and the entire world around me. I accidentally inhaled dust and started coughing, blinking several times as I tried to see what was going on through the huge dust cloud. "What the hell was that?" I managed to get out weakly.

Gazzy was right next to me, coughing pretty badly. Besides that and some bloody cuts on his face and arms though, I was relieved to see he was okay.

"Report!" I called out, coughing again as I shakily got to my feet. I couldn't see anything through the gigantic dust cloud around me, shaken up by that gigantic explosion.

"Here," Gazzy replied as he began coughing again.

No one else responded.

"Report!" I shouted again as the dust started to clear, the tops of trees coming into view again. Around me, I could see Erasers lying in the dirt, bloody, bruised, and passed out. I warily nudged one with my foot, and he didn't budge.

"Holy shit!" Iggy yelled.

"Iggy!" I yelled back. "Language!"

"Here," Fang grumbled from several yards away. I gasped in relief as I saw him picking his way to his feet, holding his right arm, his teeth gritted in pain. "Ouch."

"Here," Nudge mumbled from somewhere near Iggy. "Man, I'm really gonna need a shower after this."

"Yeah, and Fnick is really gonna need a doctor," Iggy replied, his fingers fluttering gently over Fang's injured arm.

"I'm fine," Fang responded, sounding annoyed as he brushed Iggy away. "Just a scratch."

Knowing Fang, 'just a scratch' could have meant his entire right arm had been cut off, but I just arched an eyebrow at him for now – we still had other things to worry about.

"What about Daisy and Jaz?" Nudge cried.

"That. Was. Insane!" I heard Jaz scream from somewhere to my right. I whirled to see her and Daisy standing on top of a fallen log. Their hair and clothes were a mess and even they hadn't managed to escape the explosion unscathed – I noticed blood running down the side of Daisy's face, and Jaz had huge scrapes on both of her knees.

"What happened?" I asked.

Iggy got a wicked grin on his face.

Oh, I knew exactly what that meant. If Iggy's inexplicable talent with explosives hadn't just saved our lives, I might be having a serious conversation with him over the fact that he either brought or created a literal bomb on our school-sponsored trip.

But that was a conversation for another time.

"That was awesome!" Gazzy shouted, high fiving Iggy.

"But where were you keeping it?" Fang asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You can thank us for that," Jaz said proudly. "Once we realized the Erasers were pretty much ignoring me, Gazzy told me about the bomb they were keeping in their tent, and-"

"You were keeping a bomb in your tent?" I shrieked at both Gazzy and Iggy. Okay, I guess we were having that conversation now.

Iggy just shrugged.

"Well, yeah," the Gasman said casually, as if a bomb was the number one camping essential.

"Okay. Whatever," I said, waving my hand dismissively.

"So then, I got the bomb, and I set it off! Just like Gazzy told me!" Jaz proclaimed. "Oh yeah, Daisy helped."

Wow. I guess Jaz was helpful sometimes. Even if I wasn't sure I liked the idea of her and Daisy playing with Iggy's homemade explosives.

"Well, uh, thanks," I said. "Now, we should probably get out of here before-"

"Before you little piggies can run away, am I right?" a voice snarled, interrupting me.

"Are you kidding me!?" Nudge shrieked.

"Are you kidding me is right," I echoed under my breath as more Erasers emerged from the woods. Did the School have a secret base out here? Where on Earth did they keep coming from?

"I can still fight," Gazzy said bravely, tapping Iggy's clenched fist.

"Me too," Nudge added.

"And us!" Daisy screamed, and Jaz nodded vigorously. I wasn't so sure about that, but at least she had the spirit.

"A few more Erasers? No big deal," Iggy said, trying to sound nonchalant.

Fang glanced at me and I locked eyes with him.

"Let's do this," he said.

"One more time," I finished.

And then, as if today couldn't possibly have had enough surprises already, Girl Scout Lady Laura walked right into the middle of the clearing.

I grimaced. "Oh, god. If she's going to tell me to start cooking dinner or something, she's got the worst possible timing."

But instead of yelling at me, Girl Scout Lady Laura turned and started yelling at the Erasers. This short, very furious lady in an ugly green Girl Scout skirt and vest turned and started yelling at the hulking, bloodthirsty wolf mutants standing around us.

"What are you doing?" she was shrieking at them. "Now is not the time for this!"

My jaw dropped. Fang looked at me, unable to hide the bewildered expression on his face.

"I told you to wait for the signal!" Laura went on, her face bright red. "You were supposed to wait until I told you!"

"Uh, what is going on?" Iggy whispered.

"I have literally no idea," Nudge murmured back.

My eyes narrowed. "I think I'm starting to get the picture."

"This is not what we rehearsed!" Laura continue to shriek at all the Erasers. "I can't believe it-"

"Sorry, boss," an Eraser said in a gruff voice, scratching the back of his neck. "I just thought we had the perfect chance to capture them now. We had them surrounded, after all."

"You-" Laura continued to scream, but I'd had enough.

"Uh, yeah, sorry to interrupt," I cut in, "but would someone explain what the hell is going on here?"

Laura swiveled to look at me. Her eyes met mine, and I scrunched my nose up at her.

"Ah, Maximum Ride," she said, smiling. I'd seen that kind of smile before. All the whitecoats at the School seemed to have the same smile. It was a cruel smile, a smile they showed off when they were talking about dissecting our brains or putting us through one awful test after another. "How long I've been waiting for this moment."

"Who are you?" I snarled. "And don't try to tell me you're some innocent Girl Scout leader. Because that was clearly a lie."

"Who I am is insignificant," Laura said. "I am here for one reason – to test you." She swept her gaze to the rest of the flock, that cruel smile still plastered on her face. "This is all part of a test, Maximum," she continued serenely. "All of it."

Okay, I know I said this would be the last chapter of this particular story arc BUT I promise it'll be concluded in the next chapter (and I'm almost done with writing the next chapter, which is like a new record!) Once again though, it doesn't mean the end to this story; I've still got plenty left to write! Thanks for checking out this fanfic and I'll see you in the next chapter!