Chapter 24- Sweet Dreams

A/N: Happy new year everybody!

They came. They came and took the flock, all of us. The School. We're in cages and our hands are bound by thick rope. I can't get them out. I've rubbed my wrists raw and bleeding from trying. The door opens, erasers and Whitecoats crowd closer, taunting and jeering, closer still till all I see is white cloth and fur, the odd flash of teeth.

They pull Midnight from her cage, I see the guns outside. I'm screaming and screaming, begging for all our lives and then just hers. They don't stop. We hear the shot and it's all over.

They walk back in to our small room. I don't know what colour it is there are so many bodies in it, writhing and moving, covering up the walls with their shadows. They come back for Iggy. There's so much screaming now, we're all shouting for him, even if he can't see us. Nudge and Rae reach from their cage to grab at him, they cling for a while and then their hands are beaten back. I see him smile a little and reach out to their cage. His fingers brush Rae's bruised still outstretched hand. She reaches farther but it's too late. The shot sounds. He's already gone.

I shift in my cage and hit something. I turn. It's Max. Silent tears are pouring down her sallow cheeks; her eyes are bright with pain. I bundle her close in my arms and kiss her softly. My tears mix with hers. I don't tell her it will be okay. It won't.

One by one, they come for us. I shout and scream until my voice is cracked and my mouth tastes bloody. My nose is filled with the smell of it. I beg for all their lives and then just the smaller ones, Alex, Rue, Angel, Gazzy and Nudge. The older ones don't care. They're begging for them too.

It's just me and Max now. I kiss and kiss her, knowing one of us is next. I tell her I'll see her soon, that I love her. She nods and repeats the words, holding on to me so tightly. I grip her hand and wait for the inevitable, my heart already breaking. It takes five minutes to prise all but our hands away. No amount of beating will make us let go. So they break her wrists. Her grip goes slack. I cling on. Finally they kick me away from her. I scramble up but the cage door is locked. By the time the gun sounds my heart is two lead pieces on the floor of my stomach.

The next few minutes of waiting are the longest of my life. I make a decision. They finally come for me and I explode from my cage. I'm not dying alone. I'm taking all these bastards with me. I Shift and suddenly it's a wolf fighting wolf men.

Pain. Shooting through my leg. I feel my body morph back. There's a long silver knife running through my lower left leg. Something green smeared on it. Poison, to force me to change back. I slump slightly, grit my teeth and yank. It tears free with a spray of blood. I get on my knees and force myself to my feet. My leg buckles. I stumble, but stay upright, the knife gripped loosely in my hand.

I'm halfway to the guns and already dying. They move forward in waves, claws grabbing. I slash at them but soon they force the knife from my hand and throw me to the ground in front of the Whitecoat holding the gun.

I look up. It's Jeb. He's grinning. I painfully start to get to my feet. They converge; he holds them back with the wave of an arm. I stretch out my wings. It could be for the last time. I stand there, bloody and broken but still standing. Alone. But not for long. He shoots.

He shoots.

He shoots.

I jolt awake with the shot still echoing in my ears, the feeling of blood running down my leg still there. I'm alive and still in the camp beside the lake. I scramble up. The Flock lie sleeping peacefully around me. All but one.

Angel is kicking and scrabbling on the ground, her blanket thrown off. She's whimpering and whispering 'take me instead'. Familiar or what. I hurry over and shake her awake.

"Angel, its Fang. Angel wake up!" Her eyes snap open, traces of black still in them. I couldn't keep the sense of dejavu from taking over for just a second.

"Fang! You're alive!"

"She flung herself at me. I caught her in a hug.

"Good to know Angel." She let out a small shaky laugh.

"I had the worst bad dream ever. The School came and got us and then-"

"Took us out one by one and shot us?" She flinched at my bluntness, but nodded, eyes wide.

"I had the same dream Angel." She laid her head on my shoulder.

"It was awful. They killed you first and Max went crazy. They killed Gazzy in front of me. I was last to go."

"That's not how mine was. I was last to die in my own dream."

"Did you take some of them with you? You did in my dream. So did Max and all the older kids. The younger kids tried, but…" I quickly cut in.

"Yes Angel. I took most of them with me." She grinned; an evil, vengeful grin and I let her. In fact, I grinned with her.

"When I was sent out there were only two erasers and the gunman left but…"

"It was Jeb." She nodded then stilled and we sat in silence for the next hour, until the first person woke. _

For the next few days the nightmares spread from person to person. The second night Max and I comforted Gazzy and Angel. Talking after they fell asleep, we figured the root of the dreams was Angel, but there was no way to stop it. Even Angel didn't have a clue. She got more anxious and jumpy as the days went on, insisting we leave. As the nightmares spread, I couldn't help but agree with her. Of course, we couldn't leave just yet. Alex wasn't fit to be moved, she could barely walk as it was, plus Nudge had yet to arrive.

The morning of day four without Nudge had me just about to go after her when the crack of a twig drew my attention over to a familiar dark skinned, stick like figure in tasteful trainers.

"Nudge!"

"Fang!" She ran to me and slung her arms around my waist. I petted her head awkwardly.

"Missed you kid." She smiled up at me. "How'd it go?"

"Great! The principal was all like 'whoa!' cause of the amount of kids you know? And a lot of them seem to have made friends already and their real lucky, the school I mean because all of them can speak though none of them do it half as much as me and you know how much I love talking so I started talking to them though Max would've said it was more like at them but they didn't seem to mind and…" I tuned her out pretty soon as you can imagine. It was a short walk to the clearing I called 'camp'. The flock plus extra's all crowded Nudge. She was happy for the attention, chatting away at anyone who would listen.

Our good luck continued with Iggy declaring later on that day that Alex could be moved. We packed up quickly and left, flying for maybe two hours north to a slightly thicker forest. Angel, Gazzy, Rae and I were the last to go to bed that night, worried the nightmares would continue. They never got any easier to deal with.

That night was no different. The only change being I was woken from my own hell by a kick in the back. It was Max. She was crying in her sleep. I turned and tried to shake her awake. She lashed out at me and I grabbed at her arms. She squirmed against my grip.

"No, no, no." She whimpered, struggling and kicking. I pinned her legs with my knees.

"Max, it's just me, Max! Max its Fang." She stopped fighting so suddenly I almost fell over. Instead, I unpinned her legs and let her fall against me, my arms naturally wrapping around her waist. She was sobbing into my shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm alive, we're all alive, everyone's fine." I repeated the words over and over, mumbling them into her hair until she quieted.

"We need to go Fang. We need to get farther away." She finally said.

"We will." I rubbed her back. "In the morning." I lay down, cradling her, and she rested her forehead against my chest, using my upper arm as a pillow. She fidgeted, every move caused her hair to brush against my arm and tickle me.

"Can you please stop fidgeting! What is wrong with my arm?" I whispered at her after the seventh time she'd shifted position. A small stain of pink formed on the apples of her cheeks.

"They're, eh, too hard."

"What?"

"The muscles in your arms are too hard!" She whispered ferociously back. "They're like rock!"

I stared at her incredulously. "You're complaining?"

"Yes!" She hissed. I smirked.

"Well then I definitely won't recommend sleeping on my stomach." She glared at me.

"You are incredible!" Her look of annoyance changed to curiosity as she gave my abdomen an experimental poke.

"I know."

"Fang!"

"Dudes" Crux waved to get our attention. "Interesting as it is, your lovers quarrel is gonna wake up the kids, so if you wouldn't mind keeping it down?"

"Uh, sure." He nodded his thanks and went back to keeping watch. I turned back to Max.

"So back to how incredible I am…" Needless to say Max hit me upside the head. And then I kissed her. Revenge, sweet revenge. We fell asleep with our legs entangled and our hands entwined. Neither of us had any more nightmares. We were however woken rather rudely by a blind pyromaniac and his pyrokinetic sidekick.

"Aw they look so cute!"

"Well I wouldn't know, now would I?"

"Sorry Iggy. I always forget." Rae's voice was gentle. I cracked my eyes open. Max eyelids fluttered up. A disgruntled expression manifested on her face.

"Iggy." She muttered, squinting and moving to shade her eyes from the too-bright sunlight.

"Let me finish for Max." I pulled myself into a sitting position and shot him and Rae a glare. "You are, collectively, dead."

"Woops," quipped Iggy. "Guess we got them a little too early."

"Damn straight." Max sat up beside me. We got to our feet facing off against the two of them.

"Shit," mumbled Iggy at Rae. "They're doing the double glare of doom, aren't they?"

"Yup." Gulped Rae.

"Bacon Iggy. Now. And you may live to see another day." Max rubbed her eyes as she spoke.

"Sir, yes sir!" He ran over to the fire before she could hit him, Rae at his heels, chuckling darkly. I started humming 'Love is in the air' as I passed him. He stiffened and it was my turn to chuckle darkly. He grabbed my arm.

"It is not like that." He ground out. "She's my friend. I do not like her that way."

"Of course you don't. Do you want to know what she looks like?" His reply was immediate.

"Yes, please."

"She's really pretty Ig. Sorta curly dark brown hair. Pale skin with a few freckles. Yellowy gold eyes. Tall and thin." He was practically drooling by the time I'd finished. I patted him on the shoulder.

"Sure you don't like her Ig. And that's why the bacon's burning." I walked away laughing as he scrambled to save the bacon.

Revenge, sweet revenge.

A/N: We're almost there people! The end is in sight. So review and become a source of my happiness!