Angel_ A Maximum Ride Novel Part 9

"You made us promise never to mention his name!" she said. I hate it when they throw unhelpful details in my face.

Dylan stepped away looking a little wounded, and I actually had to keep myself from pulling him back toward me. As if I didn't have enough to deal with-now my heart felt like it had been run through a meat grinder.

I gritted my teeth. "Show me."

Angel went in the house to get our laptop, then brought it outside. I watched over her shoulder as she called up Fang's blog and clicked on a video link. I held my breath while it played. It was grainy, poor quality, like it had been shot on someone's cell phone. It showed a hotel room and several older kids sitting around, some watching the news on TV in the background. I stared at their faces but hadn't seen one of them before.

Then Fang and someone else came into the picture. The camera panned up to reveal her face, and I gasped. There I was, in a strange hotel room! Fang was grinning in that slightly crooked way that made my heart beat faster, and I grinned back and aimed a can of Cheez Whiz at him. He playfully opened his mouth, and the other kids laughed. Then the on-screen me actually shot Cheez Whiz into his mouth. We laughed some more, then I shot Cheez Whiz into my own mouth.

Except that it had never happened. I had no memory of that day. Weirdly, on the TV they were watching, the date that had flashed in front of the news was... today. Just a few hours ago.

I stared at Angel. "And I don't remember this cute little scene because...?" Then it hit me, before she even answered. And my stomach dropped down somewhere around my knees.

"Max II."

Angel nodded and paused the video.

I stared at the computer screen, my face frozen, laughing into Fang's face. He was looking at her exactly the way he used to look at me. I hadn't thought I could possibly feel worse about the whole Fang fiasco, but I'd been wrong.

Not only had he left, but he'd replaced me. Like, immediately. Replaced me with an exact copy of me. How unfair was that? I mean, even if I could replace Fang with an identical but more reasonable copy of Fang, I wou- "What's that?" Dylan pointed at the computer.

I blinked, feeling like I'd been dipped into a fresh vat of pain. My gaze numbly followed his finger, then I saw the small TV screen in the background.

"What?" I could barely get the word out. I just wanted to go stand in a hot shower and not think.

"Look," said Dylan.

"Oh, my gosh," said Angel. She let the video resume.

I swallowed and tried to focus. Then I saw it: on the TV in Fang's hotel room was a breaking news report. The headline was "The Doomsday Group: The Earth or Us?"

Fang pointed at the TV and said something I couldn't make out. The other kids nodded.

Dylan, Angel, and I looked at one another. I felt like we were the only sane people left in a crazy, unpredictable world. Which means you should be afraid. Very, very afraid.

"What's going on?" I wondered aloud, frustrated.

"Whatever it is, it looks like Fang wants to find out too," said Angel.

I clenched my jaw. "Okay. Tomorrow. School."

36.

"BUT WHY ARE you going if we can't go?" Nudge asked for the third time.

I covered my eyes with my hands, trying to relieve my throbbing headache. I had gotten practically no sleep last night, what with everybody acting like Pod People and then seeing Fang and his Max replacement living it up online. Plus, Total had insisted on staying at the foot of my bed, and he talked in his sleep-about his honeymoon. Frankly, TMI.

"You know why, Nudge," I said under my breath. "I need to see what's making the kids all Looney Tunes, get to the root of this Boom Boom Cult." I saw Ella eyeing me from across the room. "I'm really interested in learning about their cause," I said loudly, trying to sound sincere, which, let's face it, is a stretch for me.

"Angel and Dylan are going," Nudge pointed out.

"Angel can read minds," I said under my breath again. "Might be useful for getting in. And I... need Dylan there. For support." He gave me one of his dazzling smiles from across the room. I wolfed down a banana, ignoring the critical look on Nudge's face.

"Nudge can come!" zombie Ella piped up. "Everyone can come. The Doomsday Group will set us free."

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's going to be beautiful. We get it. They're not coming." I turned to Nudge, lowering my voice. "Look, they got to Ella and Iggy. They could get to you too. It's too risky if we all go."

"But you already left us once," Nudge whined. "Gazzy's staring into s.p.a.ce, all traumatized from almost letting Jeb die, and I don't want to stay here alone. Please. Please. I need you, Max." I need you, Max."

She sure knew how to rip my heart out and stomp all over it.

"I'm really sorry, kiddo," I said, my voice softening. "I know you guys have had a rough couple of days. But you won't be alone. My mom's here. Jeb's here. Gazzy's here."

"I'm here. What, don't I count?" Total said, sulking.

"See, you've got Total too. We'll be back soon," I told Nudge. "Let's jet, kids."

Ella attended a local public school. The campus consisted of a bunch of one-story buildings painted white that were cl.u.s.tered around a big courtyard, with footpaths leading from one building to the next. As schools go, it wasn't awful. I didn't know what I expected to find, San Quentin? Considering our history with schools, that wasn't much of a stretch for me.

For a few moments we stood in front of the school, mapping the layout in our minds. Ella and Iggy were holding hands, which would have been kind of adorable if they weren't all dead-eyed and brainsucked. Then the front door of one of the buildings opened, and we braced ourselves.

I looked at Dylan. "I've got your back," we both said together. He laughed, and I rolled my eyes. Partly at him and partly at myself for feeling all fluttery again.

Students and the occasional teacher began to stream out through the door, moving quietly into the courtyard. Every one of them was smiling and content-looking, if not grinning like a hyena. These were mainly teenagers, people. It was gross.

"Okay," I whispered to Dylan and Angel. "Let's spread out. Keep your wits about you, and avoid becoming zombified or whatever. Let's do this."

The kids gathered in groups or in pairs. I heard a lot of talk about caring for the planet and saving the world, but, come on, there had to be more to it than that.

"h.e.l.lo," one girl said to me brightly, grabbing both of my hands. These people did not grasp the concept of personal s.p.a.ce.

"h.e.l.lo," I said, mimicking her cheery tone, which, I bet you've already guessed, was not superconvincing.

"I'm so glad you came to orientation!" She beamed at me.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "No prob. Doomsday's been my specialty for, like, ever."

She c.o.c.ked her head, her eyes boring into mine. "Do you want to be my friend? I want to be your friend. We need you to follow the One Light. With an earth cleanse, we'll all be free. We need you to accept the message and join us. Do you accept it?"

She blinked like a possessed doll, and I looked around. Where was Angel? And Dylan? "Let's back up a smidge. Remind me what the message is."

"The message is-"

"Max!" Dylan called me over.

"Hold that thought," I wriggled out of the girl's grasp and found Dylan talking to a tall boy with a Zac Efron smile.

"Josh, this is Max. Max, Josh is going to get us more flyers to hand out." Dylan had the gla.s.s-eyed, c.o.c.ked-head look down perfectly. With his movie-star looks, pearly white smile, and smooth face, it was seriously creepy. It almost seemed like...

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes when Josh turned away from us to grab the flyers. It was such a dorky move that I should have felt sorry for him, but it was genuinely... cute. Focus, Max! Focus, Max! I mentally kicked myself. This was not exactly the time to get mushy. I mentally kicked myself. This was not exactly the time to get mushy.

"Here you guys go." Josh loaded our arms with the colorful stacks of paper. "Remember, we need to make sure everyone joins," he looked at us earnestly. "We have to save the planet."

The gathering was starting to pulse and get louder, kids shouting stuff about beauty and freedom. All eeriness aside, what they were saying didn't actually sound that bad. Wasn't this what my own mission had been for years and years?

"Tell me, Josh, do you know who the flyers came from in the first place? Who's in charge around here?" I asked.

"They came from the One Light," he said. "You know that."

"Oh, yeah," I mumbled. We had to figure out this whole One Light business, ASAP.

Everyone is affected, Angel broke into my thoughts from across the square. Angel broke into my thoughts from across the square. I'm getting bombarded with thoughts, and they're all jumbled, chaotic, violent. I'm getting bombarded with thoughts, and they're all jumbled, chaotic, violent. She looked over at me, panic in her eyes. She looked over at me, panic in her eyes. But Max, this is big. Worse than genocide. We're talking humanicide. Total extermination! But Max, this is big. Worse than genocide. We're talking humanicide. Total extermination!

I looked around for my own zombies. Ella was chanting, then she pumped a fist in the air, which a bunch of kids instantly copied. I tried to get to her, but Botboy Josh grabbed my arm, hard, and stepped closer to me, flashing those crazy eyes.

"I don't think you want to do that, Hoss," Dylan growled, sounding like he might go grizzly on the kid. Josh's smile never faltered, but he let go of me, and I spun around toward the mob, trying to see where Ella had gone. I was taller than many of these kids, but when I got up on tiptoe and peered around, I still couldn't see my sister's dark head anywhere. She'd been swallowed up.

I spotted Iggy just a few yards away, though, so I nodded at Dylan, and we made our way toward him.

"The Doomsday Group is the hope of tomorrow," someone said, and there were shouts of agreement. Another kid said, "Save the planet!" Then somebody added, "Kill the humans."

Something in my brain finally clicked, and then it seemed so freaking obvious. The 'noids back at the school. The delirious kid in the desert. "The Earth or Us." And now these kids. Desert Boy was right: the end was near.

"Kill the humans," Iggy shrieked, unfolding his giant wings.

"Oh, Ig," I whispered. "No."

37.

"WE NEED TO get out of here, now," Dylan said under his breath.

But the cult was already swarming around Iggy.

"He's the new generation," I heard someone say. "He's the future." It was like they wanted him to be their leader.

"Iggy! Iggy!" kids were chanting, closing in on us. They were touching his face, stroking his wings. "He's the future."

Some girls sobbed as if he were Robert Pattinson or something. "I want to be you," they said, weeping, their painted-on smiles making the whole scene even weirder. "Can you sign my flyer?"

"I'll take out my eyes," one psycho volunteered happily. "I want to be blind like Iggy."

"This is bad," Angel said next to me. "Max, this is really, really really bad." I gave her a look that said, "Like, bad." I gave her a look that said, "Like, you think?! you think?!"

Normally, I follow the "no birdkid or flock relative left behind" rule. For all I knew, Ella was about to gouge out her eyes too. But I was being swept up in a crowd of insane, horrifying zombies, all chanting about saving the planet and murdering about seven billion people to do it.

So I made a fast, horrible decision.

"On the count of three, we grab Iggy and blow this popsicle stand," I yelled. "One, two, three!"

Dylan, Angel, and I broke away from the group and pounded across the school parking lot until we had room to jump in the air to get aloft. This, obviously, prompted a new round of murmurs about us being the future, which we'd heard before, but it felt a bit less... flattering than it usually did.

Dylan and I swooped over Iggy, grabbed him under the arms, and lifted him up, just like the flying monkeys did to Dorothy in Oz.

"Let me go," Iggy said. "I am the future!" He squirmed a bit and kicked his legs. I held on tighter. He's tall but superskinny, so we could carry him without too much trouble.

I sighed. "Right now, Ig, the Magic 8 Ball of your future says 'Signs point to nutso.' "

Angel scanned the ground below. "I don't see Ella anywhere!"

"I can't believe we just... left her there," Dylan said. I shot him a look. I was the flock leader. I knew I'd made the right call in the moment, and I didn't need anyone's approval. But it still stung not to have him on my side.

"Maybe, just maybe, we can convince Mom and Jeb to come back and get Ella," I said. "First, though, let's get Iggy away from that creepy crowd!"

"They weren't creepy," Iggy said, trying to flail. "They want to build a new society, a better society, after the world ends. And all we have to do is kill all the humans." He smiled up at us.

"Okay," I said. "I'm picking up on a couple of problem phrases. Like, 'after the world ends' and the 'kill all the humans' part."

"There's no problem," Iggy said.

"We have to deprogram him!" Angel yelled frantically.

Iggy blinked and, with his face still blank and happy, babbled about killing everyone. I couldn't even see my Iggy anymore. It was terrifying.

We'll save you, Ig. If you're in there, we'll save you.

38.

IGGY HUNG LIMPLY between Dylan and me, like he'd forgotten he could fly too. At last, my mom's house came into view, and we began our descent. When I saw Total out front waiting for us, my stomach knotted up.

"Where's Ella?" he asked right away.