The Last Flight (A Maximum Ride fanfiction)

TLF Chapter 13.

Max checked him over, cleaning and bandaging wounds, wiping the blood from his face, hands and torso, and to her surprise, washing the tan right from his skin.

"He isn't tanned at all! He's just covered in dirt!" Angel proclaimed, "He's even dirtier than Gazzy!"

Angel decided David was cute ... Under all the blood and grime.

He was simply younger version of Fang with sandy blonde hair and freckles. And Angel LOVED freckles. There had been many times she wished she herself had freckles. She thought they were neat.

She brushed her hair behind her ear and helped Max put one of Gazzy's clean T-shirt on David, because his had been torn beyond repair.

"How old is he, Ange?"

"He just turned seven yesterday."

"So he's about a year younger than you," She took his un-bandaged right hand, rubbing it between her own, trying to coax him into awareness.

As if he could hear her thoughts his eyes sprang open and he stared up at her in horror. "Where am I? Where's Aaron?"

Max gently stroked his hand, "You're safe ... the others went to find Aaron and bring him here."

David struggled for a moment but a dazed expression came over his face and he relaxed, caught in Angel's mind control.

"You don't understand," He whispered weakly.

"What is it?" Max breathed, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

He took a shuddering breath and turned his eyes to Angel. "We're all going to die."

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Blood ran from a nasty gash on the side of his head, he didn't look to be too badly injured, minus of course a few missing feathers and scratches on his hands and arms.

Aaron looked young, his jaws and chin covered with a thin layer of hair, much like Fang's. With his eyes closed Aaron didn't look a day over seventeen...

But as Fang drew closer, fearing his brother was dead he realized something startling ... Aaron was snoring.

"He's asleep!" Nudge said loudly.

Fang dropped to his knees by Aaron and politely began shaking the daylights out of him. "WAKE UP!"

Aaron's whole body went rigid, his eyes flew open and his hands jerked up, tightening themselves around Fang's neck in a vice like grip.

Fang tried to call for help but he couldn't force air past the knot Aaron was trying to tie in his throat. He was frightened, terribly so and the fact he was able to admit to himself that he was scared caused the emotion to triple in intensity. His vision was going gray and Aaron's grip on his neck was so tight he could almost feel the pressure on his spine.

Don't let me die like this! Please, don't let my own brother kill me, I love him too much to put that kind of burden on him!

And he felt particularly odd. As if he'd just opened a box and found answers to every question he'd ever asked. A sudden, eerie calm fell over him and for half a second he didn't mind that Aaron was choking him to death. He was dying and he didn't care, death would be so much easier to deal with, he wouldn't feel anything if he died, he wouldn't experience the resounding sadness and fear that suddenly gripped him-

Or the longing to see Max's face just ... one ... more ... time...

He heard Nudge scream somewhere in the distance and he pictured the scene he and Aaron created on the desert floor. A bleeding frantic bird-boy choking another bird-boy who was putting up no fight whatsoever.

And it all came crashing back.

Fang struggled back through the curtains of unconsciousness that were layering themselves upon him and did the only thing he could do. He weakly grabbed both of Aaron's little fingers and bent them backward with all his quickly waning strength, prying his brother's hands away from his windpipe.

The pain brought him back and Aaron's eyes focused on the person he was strangling. He stared in horror at the dark-haired, winged apparition before him then released the boy by throwing him away. And scuttled back to about 5 feet away, his face was sheet white. He hugged his knee while rocking back and forth.

Fang dropped back on his behind his hands to his neck gasping. "What was that for!"

There was a horrible screeching sound from above and Fang stared in awe as the suspended motor home broke free of the cliff and started falling, quite fast straight at Aaron. His brother was going to be squashed!

"GO!" He screamed at the others and then dove at Aaron his wings beating the air the tips of his feathers kicking up a whirlwind of dirt.

Aaron gave a frightened gasp as Fang grabbed him under his arms and swept him up as easily as if he weighed nothing at all.

The motor home hit and exploded. A mushroom cloud of flames boiled upward nearly enveloping Fang as he zoomed a good hundred yards into the sky.

The shock wave that came with the explosion almost knocked him out of the air and Aaron screamed in his ear, though all he heard was the near deafening 'BOOM!' of the demolished automobile.

"PUT ME DOWN, OH GOD IN HEAVEN, PUT ME DOWN!" Aaron bellowed in a thick British accent, clawing at Fang like an angry cat.

Fang shook his head and release him.

Aaron wing beating was miss sync, his face look like he was strungling just to keep them beating. After a few moment of strungling in mid-air. Aaron face went ash grey, his eye lid flutter as he began to fall.

" AARON!" Fang scream, he angled his wing down just in time to scoop his brother up. He then quickly fly to where Nudge, Iggy and Gasman were waiting. Just in time before his grip loosen, Aaron fall down 6 feet above the ground in a crumbled heap of tattered feather. Thanks God that Iggy catch him just him time or the poor bird kid would've have brain damage adding to his list of injuries.

"Oh my gosh, it's he ok?" Nudge began to fuss, she decide that behind the blood and dirt grime red-brown hair, Aaron was cute worthy.

" His heartbeat is steady, he's just exhausted that's all" Iggy reassured her.

"Good." Fang said breathlessly, at least his brother is alive. His injuries would've healed up in no time.