Seventeen

Jeb POV

I had the flock separated into their own testing labs, each with a different purpose. I'd have Angel exercise her mental capabilities, Max was fighting, Nudge would swim, and the Gasman was my baseline control. Iggy would be undergoing flight tests. So far they had all run their baselines and were recovering in their cells. Being in the arena for so long had helped simulate conditions during war time, and how well starving soldiers could perform.

Fang was starting his cold temperature test this morning. The room would be a chilly -10 degrees, and I was particularly anxious about this one. I shoved the door open, seeing Fang restrained on the table as the doctors readied their equipment. The viewing window of the test room had frost forming on the glass and I ordered a volunteer to go prepare it. A doctor strapped the EKG band around Fangs chest and glanced at the tablet. The fast, steady beeps across its screen were normal.

"Ready?" I asked him, but he just set his jaw, glaring at me. I noticed redness around his neck and going down his right collar bone. I reached up and Fang tensed as I pulled down his collar, seeing the redness continue down his chest.

"We've already recorded it, sir. Possible allergic reaction." The doctor told me but I frowned.

"To the drug?"

"Either the drug or the sedatives." She hesitated as she finished the sentence. "It's not severe."

"I won't have my best test ruined. Double check his bloodwork." I glared at her and she handed me the clipboard.

"We already have. He checks out, and we're proceeding." She was unfazed. I ignored her and picked up the tablet as she wheeled Fang into the test room. He was unhooked and he was locked into the room by the doctor. The treadmill was started up. Fangs breath came out in clouds in front of him as he walked.

"Raising speed level." The doctor said as she dialed up the treadmill. Now all we had to do was sit and wait.

It had been 30 minutes and Fang was doing well so far. His breathing rate was in time with his feet hitting the ground, and didn't look to be slowing down. But I had noticed that he would occasionally cough or look paler than normal. 31 minutes in. Fang was slowing down, a vacant look on his face, his breathing now sounding strained. I got up and set the treadmill to a walking pace.

"Sir, something is wrong." The doctor next to me said, concern in her voice now. Fang's strained breathing had turned into wheezing, and he stopped walking, going down onto his knees. He collapsed altogether 32 minutes in and the doctors were scrambling. They opened the doors as I looked over his vital signs. He was flatlining, and was no longer breathing.

"Get a pulse on him! Get the ICU prepped." I barked orders and watched the doctors work on Fang's motionless form. I didn't understand how this could have happened. Was it his minor reaction to the drug earlier? I saw the EKG monitor pick up a faint heartbeat as last.

"He dies, and you die." I yelled at the doctor. Her face was grim as she had the whitecoats wheel Fang off on a gurney. She had seen his reaction to the drug and still sent him in. I knew I should have waited another day.

Fang POV

I opened my eyes groggily. Everything was blurry and warped but I could still make out the gray walls of a hospital room. I was strapped down to a gurney I quickly found out, with an IV and heart monitor beeping next to me. I didn't know the school had a hospital for their experiments. I had always assumed that when a mutant died or was on its way out, they just let it happen. I guess Jeb thought I was special.

The last thing I could remember was feeling lightheaded on the treadmill but after that point was gone. I felt so much better now though, it was like night and day. I tested my restrains once again, feeling that they had some give. The door opened just then and a woman walked in, one whom I didn't recognize. She worked in silence, checking over the paperwork on a desk next to me and looking over my vitals.

"What happened?" I asked, not expecting an answer. The woman actually jumped, looking at me in surprise.

"Sorry, they didn't tell me you could talk." She flushed in embarrassment. She was speaking to me like I was an actual person. Perhaps I could use this to my advantage. "You flatlined in the test room."

"I died?" I tried to make my voice sound afraid, to which she sighed and nodded. "But you saved me?"

"I didn't. Dr. Ude did." She said as she worked on my IV line. She moved onto my restraints. She actually loosened one up as she tried to take my blood pressure. I yanked hard on the restraint and my arm was suddenly free. The woman jumped back in surprise but I grabbed her coat and threw her against the desk, knocking her out cold as her head hit the corner. Working quickly, I undid the rest of my restraints, knowing that backup would be close behind her. I jumped off the bed, pulled out the IV, and looked down at the woman.

"Give Dr. Ude my thanks." I said and slipped out the door silently.

'Fang!' I nearly jumped as Angel's voice echoed in my head. I walked carefully through the dim hallways. It must have been the night shift working here. I stopped by a corner and crouched down.

'Angel? Where are you?' I asked mentally, scanning the room ahead of me. There was no one here much to my relief. Tables and chairs filled the space with even a vending machine in the corner. A break room?

'The room to your left. They have us all separated.' Angel said and I locked onto the door I needed to go through. I silently moved through it and shut it behind me. I turned to see Angel sitting in her cell, one identical to the one I had spent time in.

"Are you ok?" She asked me immediately. "You disappeared for a few minutes."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get you out." I tried to pry on the strong metal lock but nothing would budge. Everything was electronically sealed.

"It's pointless, the only way it opens is with a password." Angel sighed but I shook my head. There had to be a simpler way. Most huge facilities like this had a fail safe, something that would open doors under certain circumstances. I looked around me, trying to find an emergency switch or something that could work. My eyes landed on the smoke detector mounted to the ceiling.

I turned on my heel and out into the break room again. There, I ripped open the cabinets, searching for materials. Angel stayed quiet but she was confused. I finally found what I was looking for; matches and paper. I moved back into the room. Seeing my idea, Angel sent me several images mentally. They were the locations of everyone else, and fortunately, they weren't far away. Several floors up actually. I struck a match.

Jeb POV

The fire alarms began to clang. Confused, I set up from my work desk, and walked out to the main hallway. Red lights flashed and the alarms threatened to rupture my eardrums. I was here working late on paperwork, along with several other scientists.

"The fire alarms only go off in real emergencies." A doctor told me as he walked up to me. "We need to evacuate."

"Check the flock first." I ordered but he frowned.

"Sir, they are replaceable. We, and this facility, aren't." He didn't move.

"Pack your bags, you've been replaced." I growled at him and pushed him aside, moving towards Fang's room. That's when I began to see the smoke running out from the bottom of doors. There really was a fire. How could this have happened. I began to run, hoping that the smoke hadn't reached his room. But as I tried to open the door, the superheated doorknob seared my palm, giving me my answer. I cursed and threw myself against the door, breaking it inwards. Fang's bed was empty, and I found the corpse of the new intern on the floor. The fire had spread along the walls of the room and now were moving quickly outwards.

"Damnit!" I yelled and ran out of the room. I saw a flash of white ahead of me down the hallway. I ran after it, recognizing Angel's white wings. This was Fang's doing.

Fang POV

I coughed hard as we moved through the smoke filled hallways. The fire set in Angel's cell room had traveled much faster than I had anticipated but we were still somewhat ahead of it. The fire hadn't reached our point yet, but the smoke did. We rounded a corner just as I heard a shout from behind us. Panicking, I moved faster towards Nudge's cell room. Everyone's doors should have unlocked due to the alarms.

"Fang!" I heard Nudge voice squeak as I opened the door. It had been locked from the outside. Her room was nearly filled with smoke and I pulled her out quickly. We continued our way down the hallways. A hand on my shoulder stopped me and pulled me around to face its owner.

"You guys aren't going anywhere!" Jeb roared, but I had already punched him in the face. He was now on the ground looking up at me with angry eyes.

"You guys find Max and the others!" I yelled at Angel, who dragged Nudge away. "I'll handle this lowlife."

"I hope you're happy with this destruction, Fang. You've destroyed the future." Jeb stood carefully, his nose broken and bleeding. The heat of the fire was getting closer. I grabbed his shirt and dragged him into Nudge's cell room.

"I am more than that." I hissed. "I just saved the lives of my family, and everyone else's." I broke the window with my elbow and jumped onto the sill, forcing Jeb up with me.

"We'll find you again." Jeb tried to reason, his eyes looking down at the ground nervously. I pulled him forward and he yelled in panic, now dangling from my arm out over the edge. He held onto my wrist frantically.

"Your new drug will only benefit one person." I growled, letting all of my hatred and anger spill into my words. "And you're looking at him."

"It's a part of you now though, Fang. You can never be without it. My work will continue on." He smiled but I let go. Not looking to see the end of his fall, I turned and began my search for the flock. Even if he survived the fall, the flames would soon finish him off. My heart held no mercy or remorse for his demise.

'Fang, we have everyone except for Iggy. He's not here!' Angel's voice sounded panicked. She sent me a mental image of where they were. They had made it out of the school's flaming wreckage and were now in the treeline just outside of it. Everyone except Iggy. I couldn't understand why they would have us five here and move him somewhere else. But so long as he wasn't in this place when it turned to ash, I was ok with that. I jumped out a shattered window and unfurled my wings. I rose on the hot air rising above the fireball below me.

Max POV

I stood on the thick tree branch and watched the smoldering wreckage of the school slowly burn. Chemicals in storerooms burst and gave more fuel to the flames and a great, black smoke plume filled the air stories high. I saw a small black spot rise above the building and knew it was Fang. I looked around at my family. Everyone was soot streaked and dirty, but alive. I still didn't feel like this was real. I felt like as soon as we tried to fly, we'd run into an invisible wall or ceiling.

"Where could they have put Iggy?" Nudge asked me, tears streaking her face. I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"I don't know, honey. But we'll find him." I tried to reassure her. I looked back towards Fang as he got closer. His huge black wings were fanned out as he braked, stopping just in front of us. He hovered there until I jumped out into the air.

"Let's get as far away from this place as we can." I said and Gazzy cheered. We veered away from the black fireball, pouring on the speed. With the school in flames, the whitecoats would return quickly to survey the damage. And hunt down those who escaped.