Erasers on the Beach by aznjtgirl

disclaimer: characters and everything belong to the amazing James Patterson. The dialogue is taken straight from the book. This is chapters 116-118.

I'm kind of new to the Maximum Ride stuff, so bear with me if it sucks.

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I woke with a start when Max jumped into hyperdrive. I processed Angel taking to the sky first after hearing a voice and feeling Max move. I was too delirious for the moment to notice Angel's expression, but Max did and I looked at her when she gasped.

And then I noticed our surroundings and immediately understood. Erasers were all over the place, hundreds of them. They were crawling all over the beach. I sat up as Ari leaned down to talk to Max. An Eraser put his foot on my chest to keep me down and I strained my ears to listen.

"You're so pretty when you're sleeping-and your mouth is shut. But what a shame to cut your hair," he whispered. I couldn't stop my blood from boiling-how dare he talk to her like that?

"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," she spat. I could see her struggling and I couldn't help thinking , 'Way to go Max!'

Ari was laughing. Then he did the unthinkable. He reached down with his claw and stroked her face.

"I like 'em feisty," he said.

That did it. I shoved the Eraser's boot off my chest and roared, "Get off her!" I dove at Ari, roaring with fury. I knew he was strong, but at the moment, my anger was stronger. I knew my feral avian instincts were kicking in as he and I wrestled for the upper-hand.

Max was calling out an order, but I couldn't hear her. I tried my best to punch, kick, scratch and bite at every opportunity, but Ari was winning. Already, I could feel bruises forming along my torso. My wings snapped in to my body tightly and I tackled him as best as I could. My head went down and collided with his stomach.

Max was screaming something again. I tried to process it, but I couldn't tell what she was saying. In that split second of divided concentration, Ari seized an opportunity and lashed out at my face. I felt his claws rake deep into my cheek; I knew they would become nasty scars.

Punching, kicking, diving, dodging, I looked for an open chance. Ari's defense was ultimate though; he hit me multiple times before I could hit him. My hits didn't even do anything.

But his defense wasn't as ultimate as I thought! I saw my opening and I took it. Moments later, he was howling; I'd hit his collarbone hard.

And then it was like time was going in slow motion. I saw things happening, but my body wouldn't move. Ari snapped his teeth at me and clocked me on the side of the head. Stars burst in my vision as my head snapped sideways. And then blackness surrounded me.

I was told later that Ari grabbed my head and banged it on the rock multiple times. Somehow, I managed to gain consciousness through this again; my dark eyes fluttered weakly and I saw Ari above me.

Thinking fast, I grabbed a handful of sand and tossed it into Ari's face. Momentarily blinded, I took my chance and kicked him hard in the chest. It would have incapacitated Max or Iggy completely, but Ari merely staggered a few steps, coughing a little.

And then with lightening speed, he brought his elbow up and caught me square in the face. I felt the nasty red liquid flooding my mouth as I lost a few teeth. The blow cost me though; I fell to the sand again and blacked out.

What seemed like a few minutes later, I heard Max's voice distantly. "Fang, you have to wake up," she whispered.

I could hear the others talking too. My body was moving, but I wasn't moving it. I wondered what had happened, but my brain was too scrambled to string coherent sentences together.

"We could carry him, you and me," Iggy said. I was a little more awake now; it was easier to process his longer fingers skimming over my body. I knew he was checking to see how bad my injuries were.

"Where to? It's not like we can check him into a hospital," said Max. That did it; there was no way I was endangering the group by going to the hospital.

"No hospi'l," I muttered. I hadn't opened my eyes yet; I had just noticed a blinding headache and I knew the sunlight would make it worse. I felt the blood in my mouth.

"Fang! How bad?" Max asked.

"Pre'y bad," I said thickly. The blood was making it a little hard to talk and I wondered how I would get rid of it. I shifted my head against whatever I was resting on. From what I could tell, it was Max's lap.

"Don't move!" Ignoring her, I forced the blood out of my mouth. I felt a tooth rolling around in it. Raising a hand, I spit that out too.

I opened my eyes blearily to see Max staring down at me with her deep brown eyes swirling with concern.

"Tooth," I explained. "Feel like crap." I guess I still couldn't string coherent sentences together and I wondered where the headache was coming from. I touched the back of my head gingerly, feeling the bumps and bruises; oh yeah, that would do it.

I saw Max attempt to smile through the intense pain. "You look like a kitty cat," she said, drawing invisible lines across her face. In a flash, I remembered Ari slashing my face when I had tried to listen to her screams and scowled deeply.

"Fang, just live okay?" she said, her voice breaking. "Live and be okay."

Suddenly and abruptly, she leaned down and pressed her lips to mine. This time, I definitely couldn't string coherent thoughts together. The pressure faded as soon as it had come and my split lip cried out in pain.

"Ow," I said, reaching up to touch it. And then I realized what had happened and our eyes met in extreme shock.

I didn't know who else was there. I knew Iggy would be wondering what had happened, but I couldn't be too sure about everyone else. I saw her face turning bright red. I figured I should act normal and sort this out later. Right now, I needed to see what kind of shape the flock was in.

Slowly, but surely, I pushed myself upright. It was pretty hard; the pain in my head had increased with the amount of light intake. I clenched my jaw at the pain radiating from the rest of my body and I could feel myself sweating it out.

"Man this feels pretty bad," I said weakly, coughing. I hated myself for the weakness, but I couldn't help it; you would be the same if a fully-grown Eraser had just beat you up. I knew Max would understand by my words just how much pain I was in.

I saw Angel rushing back with water. I was glad she'd missed that moment; there was no need for her to have seen it, or anyone for that matter. I stood up awkwardly and accepted the water. I swished some of it in my mouth and then spit it out.

"I'm going to kill Ari," I said.

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And that's where chapter 118 ends guys. Thanks for reading. Drop a review?