I housed a giant bite of sausage, wanting desperately for there not to be a catch, for once.
“Hmm?” Mom asked, too innocently.
“Like, is this how it all ends?” I asked. “No more experiments? No more running? Happily ever after, sleeping under the stars in our beautiful tree houses, living carefree in our island paradise?”
My mom smiled, but her eyes said something different.
“I wish, Max… I hope. God, I hope.” Her glance flicked to Pierpont, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “But…”
“But what?” Fang asked accusingly, tensing beside me.
“This is your new world. Your new community,” my mom said. “But it’s a community for…”
“The ones who will survive,” Pierpont finished her sentence gravely.
“Wait,” Fang said, dropping his fork. “The ones who what?”
I looked at my mom in alarm, and she nodded sadly. I’d been hearing about the world ending for so long, had been preparing for this moment for years, but it still hit me like a rock falling out of the sky. “Can someone tell us what’s going on?” I asked, my voice rising. “Can someone, for once, please just be honest with us?”
“Where do I even start?” My mom sighed.
“How about with the part we know—that the 99 Percenters want to save the earth and its environment through the genocide of… well, almost the entire human race. So, what exactly is their plan?”
My mom took a deep breath. I knew this was going to be hard to listen to, and I took Fang’s hand.
“They’ve been working for years on developing a form of avian flu that has a terrifying ability to quickly mutate and has been manufactured to mimic other, even deadlier, viruses, ebola among them.” Mom looked me in the eye, letting her words sink in. “The virus is called H8E, but it’s known among the 99 Percenters as ‘The Finisher.’ ”
“So we’re more susceptible to it because we’re bird kids?” I asked.
“No, actually,” Mom said, smiling. “It seems counterintuitive, but because of your mixed DNA, you kids have a natural immunity to it that we haven’t seen in any other species. Of course, Ella and Nino and I, and some of the other enhanced kids—and Jeb, of course—aren’t immune.”
My heart jumped into my throat.
“And if, by some fluke and despite our precautions, the virus spread to this island and we became infected, and the virus then mutated after evolving through the simple human system—”
“You don’t have to worry about that, Maximum,” Pierpont cut in, waving at my mom to shut up. I narrowed my eyes at him. “We’ve been working for years—since before you were born—to create a safe refuge for those who have the most hope of surviving and continuing the human race. We believe that you children will absolutely thrive here.”
“Wow, and here I would’ve thought that if you knew a biotoxin was being manufactured for decades, you might’ve been spending that time trying to create a vaccine or something,” I said dryly.
Pierpont took off his chic safari hat and ran his hands through his short, silvery hair.
“It mutates too fast for that, Max,” my mom said, unfazed as usual by my insolent audacity.
“On the surface, of course, you have a tropical paradise,” Pierpont continued, gesturing widely at the waterfall. “But should the worst occur, you will be safe inside a luxurious city of caves protected by a force field created with the latest technology. A complex system of passages will allow you to live quite comfortably belowground.”
“You mean until the biotoxin becomes extinct, along with the rest of the human race?” Fang asked.
Mom and Pierpont were quiet, which I took as a “yes.”
“So… what exactly does this ultimate toxin do?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know. But I had to find out. I didn’t want any more secrets.
My mom studied her notebook. Then her eyes flicked to Ella, who was splashing in the waterfall. Then she stared down at her shoes. Mom was one tough cookie. If she couldn’t say it outright, it was way worse than I’d thought.
“Just give it to us straight,” I said, huddling closer to Fang, who wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “We can handle it.”
“Okay.” She sighed and started to read. “The toxin is first inhaled and moves through the lungs, causing a slight cough and, in some cases, a rash. The cells multiply, creating internal fissures in the organs and hemorrhaging into the bloodstream. A short time later, boils appear on the skin’s surface. When the boils burst, the wounds weep, shedding billions of the highly contagious cells and infecting, basically, anyone in the vicinity.” Mom cleared her throat. “At this point, with so many open sores secreting contagion, the victim will likely develop a staph infection that will quickly progress to necrotizing fasciitis, literally rotting the skin off the body in a matter of days.”
So, to break it down: You breathe in this little villain, and it basically liquefies your organs, then moves to your bloodstream, and then rots off the surface of your skin until you’re a bleeding, writhing mass of agony, all while infecting everyone around you in every way possible.
I felt bile rising in my throat. Fang’s face had gone white, and I could feel him shivering. “Mark,” he said under his breath. “The contagion…”
We were remembering the same thing: Mark’s last words at the hospital where Angel had been held captive. “Mom,” I said, “could the… threat have been released already?”
My mother didn’t flinch. She obviously knew the answer. And she was going to tell it to me straight.
“Yes,” my mom said softly. “The toxin itself will kill almost all of the population on its own. But based on the agonizing effects it has on the human body, we estimate that at least half of the deaths will be from suicide.”
I let out a slow, unsteady breath.
It was so much worse than I could’ve imagined.
78
LATER THAT NIGHT—after I’d finally been able to put all of what I’d learned out of my mind for a few blessedly peaceful moments—Fang crept across the branch connecting our tree houses.
He gave a low whistle. “Penthouse, eh?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, watching the lithe movements of Fang’s body as he surveyed my new digs, his glossy black wings folded behind him. “Honeymoon suite.”
Fang turned around and cocked an eyebrow, and my stomach leaped. “Well, in that case…” He strode toward me and, in one slick move, picked me up. He carried me out to a giant hammock on one of the balconies. I think we’ve established that I’m not the type of girl who needs to actually be swept off her feet, but the suggestion in his mischievous eyes was enough to make even the most cynical assassin woozy.
We settled in together, and I was incredibly aware of the heat coming from Fang’s body, which was pressed against mine as we snuggled.
He nuzzled my neck, inhaling deeply. “Mmm. You smell so good.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, smirking. “I call this new perfume ‘Le Jungle grime et tropical BO.’ ”
“Dirt and sweat. Very sexy.”
I laughed, but Fang’s voice was husky, and he was already leaning closer. Then his soft lips were on mine.
Everything in my body was buzzing, aching for more, but there was a kernel of guilt buried underneath it that I just couldn’t ignore.
“Fang,” I whispered.
“Mmm?” Fang mumbled, his lips brushing my neck and sending shivers through me.
I kissed him again. Lately, my life felt like a freaking rags-to-riches fairy tale, complete with the perfect guy whispering sweet nothings in my ear. This felt so easy. So right. So overdue. Everything was finally as it should be. Except…
The flip side of that was that while we were here, in paradise, chosen to be saved, humanity was about to be wiped out. It was so completely screwed up.
I sighed, pulling away from Fang’s embrace. “I’m sorry. I just keep thinking about what my mom said. Trying to make sense of it.”
>
“I know,” Fang said softly, brushing my knotted hair out of my eyes. “I was trying not to think about it, pretend it wasn’t happening, but it’s always there now, isn’t it? I keep thinking of my blog, all those kids reading it, dying in the way that Dr. M. described. It’s, like, totally… incomprehensible.” I couldn’t tell if it was him or me who was trembling.
I was so frustrated I wanted to scream. “We’ve been searching for something like this forever—safety, a place that could finally, really be home. And now that we have it, it’s at the expense of everyone else’s survival.”
“Welcome to the real world,” Fang said, bitterness creeping into his voice. “Where kids are raised in cages, six-year-olds are tortured for the ‘betterment of science’ ”—we both stiffened, thinking of Angel—“and a group of genocidal wackjobs can wipe out the entire planet with a bug cooked up in someone’s kitchen.”
Fang and I were silent for a long time, the trees casting shadows on our faces and the knowledge of the world’s imminent doom sitting like the Grand Canyon between us. The moon shone down on us, a giant eye, a quiet witness.
I thought back to those miserable early days in the cages at the School and the short-lived freedom afterward, when Fang just felt like a brother and Jeb actually felt like a father. When I barely knew how to survive, let alone fight. When I first heard my Voice telling me I had to save the world.
How long ago those days felt now.
“I just feel so, so old now,” I said, looking up through the leaves at the sky with its endless stars. “Like… twenty-one or something.”
Fang snickered. “We could always create a new birthday for ourselves,” he said, reminding me that we’d done that once.
“Seriously. How ridiculous is it that we can’t legally drink alcohol, but the fate of the whole freaking world is on our shoulders?”
Fang shifted in the hammock so he could peer down at my face in the moonlight, a wry half smile on his lips. “Since when do you care about what’s legal?” I jabbed him in the ribs. Then his gravelly voice turned serious again, and I felt like he was looking right into me. “Also, saving the world isn’t on us anymore, Max,” Fang said. “Or you. We’re past that.”
I blinked up at him and felt the last three years of my life fall away in shreds.
He was right, of course. But if I wasn’t supposed to save the world…
Then who is Maximum Ride?
79
FANG WRAPPED HIS strong, sinewy arms around me. He stroked the spot between my wings as we swayed in the hammock in the cool night air. My whole body screamed to just drown in this moment with Fang, in his love—one hundred percent mine now, finally—but my conscience just wouldn’t shut up.
“I know I should be grateful,” I said after a few moments, my mind whirring. “But to be honest, I kind of resent Nino Pierpont—and even my mom—for protecting us, for saving only us. Like just because others don’t have wings or aren’t enhanced they’re not superior enough to live?”
“It’s so frustrating,” Fang said, sighing. “We’ve spent our whole lives either being totally exploited or trying to protect other people. And this time, there’s no way to save them, no one to kill.”
“We’re powerless.” I sighed. We’re all aware of my control issues.
“It kills me,” he agreed. “But I do know that we were brought here, that we were saved, so that you could help this island full of kids who need you. You’re one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met, Maximum Ride. You’re also incredibly intelligent, and beautiful, and charming when you want to be, which is probably why you can manipulate people into doing what you want most of the time.”
“I’m not manip—” I protested.
“But those qualities also make you a brilliant leader,” Fang interrupted. “And an awesome fighter. That’s why you were chosen for this—to lead the new generation.”
“And meanwhile the rest of the world’s just screwed?” I said.
“Maybe.” His soft feathers brushed against my skin, enveloping us. “But if the world’s doomed either way, maybe we can have this one night of our lives to just be together and forget that anyone else exists. To just be happy.”
I was quiet for a moment. Just be happy. How I ached for that freedom.
“Max?”
“Hmm?”
Fang lifted my chin and looked down at me intently. He took a deep breath. “I’ve waited my whole life to be with you. Do you get that?”
My heart fluttered as I nodded. I did. I felt exactly the same way.
“So can’t we just enjoy this? Just for a little while?”
Fang’s eyes were liquid black in the darkness, that familiar lopsided little smile playing across his lips. His lips… My heart raced as he leaned in again, never taking his eyes from my face. Then those perfect lips met mine in the softest, most tender kiss, and I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweetness of him.
When I finally opened my eyes again, dazed with happiness, Fang looked shocked, almost pained, like he’d just realized something.
“What?” I asked, nervous.
“Nothing. I just…” His voice was hoarse. “This is everything. You’re all I need.”
Then Fang’s lips crashed into mine again, even more passionately, almost desperately. I kissed him back fiercely. I felt his fingers tangle in my hair, then his hands moving over my stomach, my hips, pulling me closer.
I pressed against him, our legs twisted in the hammock. My entire body was shaking as I kissed him deeper, with a desire—a need—I didn’t even know I had. I wasn’t actually positive I was even breathing.
Fang held me tightly, like he’d never, ever let go again, and we kissed for what felt like an eternity, for all of those tense moments that had been building between us for years, and for every second we’d been apart. We kissed like we were inhaling each other, like we would live and die in this moment.
We kissed like the world was ending.
80
AND THEN, SUDDENLY, it was like the world really was ending.
Without warning, an explosion tore through my tree house, dangerously rocking the structure like an earthquake. Adrenaline overloaded my system and Fang and I scrambled to untwist from the hammock and ran inside. Our senses were hammered from all sides: Glass shattering. Wood splintering. Someone crashing toward us with the force of a tornado. What on earth—
“GET OUT!” someone yelled at full volume. “GET OUT NOW!”
A tall figure emerged from the shadows, looking totally strung out and insane and desperate.
I nearly shrieked in fury. After ruining everything else, now he was ruining my perfect night with Fang.
“Dylan!” I exploded at him. “What are you even doing here? On our island?”
“Max! Just give me a chance to explain—”
“A chance?” My mouth hung open. I could not believe what I was hearing. “How dare you. You went ballistic!” I yelled. “You abandoned the flock. And, oh, yeah, you TRIED TO KILL FANG! You don’t get anything, do you? There are no more chances!”
“But this is it!” Dylan persisted. “I saw something, in the sky.” His eyes were wild. “We have to get out right now!”
“No. You need to get out,” Fang said in a low voice. He stepped closer so that his face was inches from Dylan’s. “Now.”
Dylan didn’t flinch, but grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me toward the door. Fang shot forward, batting his hand away. Fang’s face was warped with anger, his body rigid and his wings spread wide. He looked deadly.
Things were spiraling out of control.
“Look, I know things haven’t been the best between us lately,” Dylan said, backtracking. “But you guys just have to trust me—”
“Trust you?” Fang almost spit. “Why should we trust you?”
“Because I have always, always had Max’s best interests at heart,” Dylan answered. Fang scoffed, but Dylan continued, his voice rising. “Because every second you stay he
re you’re putting her at risk—putting everyone at risk. Do you really want that on your shoulders? Don’t you care about her at all?”
“Enough!” I yelled, stepping between them. “Okay,” I snapped, pointing to Dylan. “You have sixty seconds. Start talking. Now.”
Dylan swallowed. “I saw something. In the sky,” he said, breathing heavily, trying to speak coherently. “I don’t know how to explain. We have to get to the caves, get all the kids out. Now.”
I shook my head. “It’s okay. We know about the plague and the 99% Plan. This place was built to protect us. We’re safe.”
“Even if no one else is,” Fang muttered from behind me.
“None of that matters!” Dylan shrieked. His eyes were wild, crazed. He looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. “This isn’t a plague. Not even close.”
I put a hand on his arm to try to calm him. After everything we’d been through, it still hurt to see him like this. “You… saw something in the sky,” I said gently, trying to make sense of what he was saying. “Did it have wings? Was it a jet? A flyboy?”
“No, nothing like that.” Dylan shook his head. “It’s something… big. And it’s moving too fast for me to clearly see what it is. But it’s headed this way.”
Fang walked to the window and peered out. I looked at him questioningly, but he shook his head. “Sky’s totally clear. The leaves are still—there’s not even any wind. Are you sure you didn’t just see a shooting star, buddy?” Fang asked dryly.
Dylan’s eyes hardened, his jaw tightening. “It was no everyday shooting star.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, thinking.
I glanced back at Fang and saw his eyes flashing threateningly through his curtain of dark hair. He was rational to a fault. My real “other half.”
And then there was Dylan, in front of me, looking all broken and insane and like he really needed me.
“Do you not hear what I’m telling you?” Dylan asked in frustration. “Max, I was created to protect you.”
Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure Page 17