Twenty Seven

Max POV

It was nearly 5 in the morning and I was up for my portion of the watch. The snow had stopped falling at last and the blizzard seemed to have come to a stand still. The small cabin was warm, however, thanks to the fire still smoldering in the fireplace. I sat on the couch across from the one Fang slept on. The fire crackled calmly; it was the quietest it had been for us in days. I saw Fang shift on the couch, rolling onto his side so he faced me now. He had his left wing fanned out across the couch's side. In the fire light, I could see the red markings going across his neck and trailing down his collar bone. They were the same red markings I had seen back at moms house, his allergic reaction to the drug they had been testing.

My mind wandered to the school's goons who were tracking us. I wondered why they hadn't tried to move in on us, and why their plan was to just watch or terrorize us. Fang thought they were only here to wear us down, prevent us from getting to the school to get Iggy, but they could easily prevent it all together by killing us both. I felt the back of my neck prickle and I wasn't sure if it was just anticipation or if there really was something wrong. I stood. I trained my ears on every little sound, desperate to pick up on anything. This is a time where Iggy's ears would have come in handy. I could hear the crackling of the fire, the creaking of the wood floor beneath my feet, Fang's steady breathing. But I then heard a sound from outside, a sound like footsteps. I reached out and lightly touched Fang's arm, he awoke instantly.

"What's wrong?" He whispered, sitting up. I swallowed hard, not saying anything. Perhaps it was my tired mind playing tricks on me. Fang's head turned towards another faint pitter patter outside, and I knew I wasn't crazy. He stood next to me and I tried to peer out the windows, but they were covered in thick frost and snow.

"Something is here." I said quietly. Maybe it was a deer outside or another small animal? The only way out of this cabin was through the front door, these windows were too small for either of us to fit through. There was a knock on the door just then. Fang and I froze and I held my breath. I wasn't sure what to do.

"Little pigs, let me in." I heard an all too familiar voice coo from behind the old wood, and it made my blood freeze in my veins. Fang clenched his jaw next to me, and I felt him go rigid. "It's a cold night out tonight." With a huge smash, the door was ripped from its hinges and thrown into the cabin, clattering to the floor in splinters. In its place stood a tall, dark, and shaggy man. His face was fully morphed into teeth and fur and beady yellow eyes. I hadn't seen Ari in over a year, but here he was, standing before us.

"Looks like you got them cornered." Another voice said behind him, and I could barely make out the outline of a second and third Eraser behind Ari. "We could always roast them."

"You have your orders. And I have mine. But it doesn't mean we can't have a little fun." Ari snapped, a growl escaping his throat. He had orders to be here. From his father?

"Orders to kill?" I spit and Ari's toothy smile widened, then faltered as his eyes moved to Fang.

"Unfortunately not."

Fang POV

My heart hammered in my chest as I stared at Ari. I could hear his goons surrounding the small cabin outside. He claimed he wasn't here to kill us, but I didn't buy it for a second. I hadn't seen him in so long that I had nearly forgotten he existed. Why was he tracking us, and why would he now make an appearance? My frame was tense and my blood sang with adrenaline. For a few seconds it was quiet, no one spoke.

"Jeb said to warn you two." An Eraser behind Ari finally said. My eyes locked onto the creature. "About coming any nearer the facility."

"Warn us?"

"That if you go back he won't bother you."

"Fat chance. And leave Iggy to die?" Max growled dangerously.

"The boy, you won't need to worry anymore. He expired weeks ago." The Eraser smiled wide, his yellow fangs glistening. Ari matched the grin but Max seemed to snap, launching herself towards the large wolf men. I immediately followed her. She locked herself onto Ari and managed to land a massive punch to his snout, blood exploding from the blow. With a scream and a howl, Ari lunged at her. I decked the second and third Eraser hard, the second one falling to the ground out cold. I could hear Ari's backup moving in, about 5 or 6 others.

"No kill orders!? How about I strangle you!" Max cursed and slammed one of the wooden chairs into Ari's back. It exploded across the kitchen. Everything was a blur. I made my way outside and managed to burn my way through 4 of the Erasers. The last two I managed to take out with the shovel sitting against the cabin. I ran back inside, panting as I tried to help Max. She and Ari both were bloody and screaming, locked in a deadly dual.

Max POV

I felt some of Ari's teeth come loose as I rammed my fist again into his ugly head. He was making this fight seem all too easy honestly and it made me worry. He suddenly whirled away from me and grabbed Fang's shirt, literally throwing him across the room. Fang smashed into one of the windows next to me, the shards of glass shattering as they hit the floor and scattered at our feet. Fang was dazed but still managed to get to his feet. I jumped onto Ari's back, wrapping my arm around his throat. Ari wailed and backed up, his clawed hands raking the sky as he tried to reach me. He stepped into the fireplace, a flaming log rolling out onto the wooden floor and up against one of the couches, igniting it. I leapt off Ari's back and grabbed the log from its cool end, smashing it against his face.

"Max, we gotta get out of here." Fang panted and I could see he was bleeding. Ari was dazed on the ground, but now the cabin was alight. The fire crawler its way up the curtains, along the floor, up the walls, and engulfed the couches and chairs. The room was filling with smoke and breathing felt nearly impossible. Ari's hand shot out and grabbed my leg as I tried to turn and run, making me fall hard. I kicked back at him, one foot landing sharply in his eye. He got up and grabbed my shoulders, throwing me into the broken glass from the window. The flames were dangerously close, another minute and we'd be engulfed as well.

Ari was struggling to move as well now. He actually ran out of the burning cabin and fell into the snow, gagging from the smoke and ash. Confused more than ever, I saw him disappear into the trees beyond the cabin as we too tried to exit the wreckage. I coughed hard, my windpipe feeling seared and tight. Fang stumbled out of the cabin behind me, his face streaked black with ash.

"What just happened?" I asked in between coughing fits and ragged breaths. We stopped about 200 feet or so from the now billowing cabin fire. Smoke poured from the now shattered windows and the bright orange flames lit up the dark trees around us in an eerie orange glow. Fang was leaning on his knees, coughing so hard I thought he would crack a rib. He couldn't even answer my question. I noticed the blood dripping now from his right shoulder. It was where he had hit the glass window first. I straightened up some and reached out, turning him so I could see better. His frame was shaking and he actually went down on his knees, leaning back against a tree.

"That's a nasty cut." I said, examining the injury. He nodded and leaned his head against the trunk, closing his eyes. His breaths were just as shaky and ragged as mine. The snow was at least a foot deep but felt nice against our hot skin. The heat of the fire was more than enough to block the frigid air from meeting us. Once we had managed to get our breathing under control, Fang slowly got to his feet and tested his wings. They weren't broken or injured, but that's when I noticed some of his flight feathers on his left were singed.

"I don't think you can fly with that." I said quietly as he extended the wing to see it. Most of the lower and largest feathers were burned and damaged. He would have to wait till they regrew before he'd be able to fly. Which really put a nail in our plan. I opened my own wings and examined my own feathers. My breath hitched in my throat when I noticed that my feathers too had been scorched in the fire and extreme heat. We were land locked, in the middle of the ski resort in Missouri, in the dead of winter. Perhaps people would be up here in the morning for the weekend?

"We could steal a car." Fang offered, his voice tired. I looked over at him, his dark eyes meeting mine through strands of black hair. "The weekend travelers. The shops open for the weekend as well."

"That's our best shot." I agreed and looked back at the smoldering pile of rubble that used to be the cabin. "Where did Ari come from, and why did he attack?"

"To slow us down." Fang coughed again. "Make sure we don't reach the school."

"He said Iggy was-"

"Ig's fine." Fang breathed carefully. He began walking into the trees where Ari had disappeared. "Ari was trying to scare you."

"There, see that glow over the hill? That's the town waking up." I said, pointing. Fang nodded and trodded through the deep snow, starting to shiver in the freezing air. Neither of us had our coats now either, thanks to an unexpected visitor. Fang had only his thin t shirt, which frankly was worn out and thread barren. I had a long sleeved shirt that was slightly thicker but was still no protection against the night air.

As we got over the small hill, I could see the small town fairly close now. The sun was beginning to rise above the snow covered pines but its bright glow did nothing to warm us. My hand touched my jean pocket, and I felt the outline of the small visa card mom had given me. It had about 100 bucks on it, meant for emergencies just like this. I never took it out of my pocket, because I knew I would lose it if I ever did. It had survived the greyhound bus crash and now the cabin burning down. We neared the small town now.

"You alright?" I asked Fang, seeing him pause in the snow. His shoulder had stopped bleeding but he held it against his side carefully, not jarring it best he could. It probably hurt something awful. Fang nodded, his jaw tight. His face was still streaked with soot and I wondered what the people of this town would say when they saw us. I could hear the alarms of a fire truck and an ambulance wailing up the road next to us, responding to our cabin. Surely they would know it was where we had just come from.

"Hold on." I said, stopping Fang as I reached out to touch his arm. I picked up a handful of snow and rubbed it against my face, taking off all the dried on soot best I could. Fang did the same. Our first stop would be the small trucker stop, a triple T, on the outskirts of the town. I wanted to wash all this soot off and get a more winter worthy shirt for both of us.