Flee

72 hours earlier

Kiki's POV

Oh crap! I thought as I saw the Erasers encroaching in around us. I surveyed the area around us looking for any gaps those idiots may have left us.

"Well, well, if it isn't little Maxie and her brood of followers. I see you've added a new addition" Ari announced as he came out from behind a few Erasers in front of him.

I looked over at Max and saw her face go from confusion into a glare as she tensed even more, waiting for an attack.

"Well, seems you just couldn't stay dead, could you? I guess like father like son, hmm? What happened, you use a clone to face me instead?" Max sneered at him.

At this Ari barked out a laugh "Oh, I assure you Max, I am no clone, and I just couldn't wait to come back for round two. Father gave me a new neck and jumpstarted my heart back up, now I'm as good as new and stronger than ever!" He sneered triumphantly.

While Ari was busy ranting, I was searching for escape routes. I had found at least three holes in their formation around us, but none of them were big enough for all of us to get through unless there was a distraction... I knew exactly what to do.

"Now I will-"

"Hey, fleabag, are you going to attack us or bore us to death with your rant?!" I yelled at him.

I started running at him full speed and suddenly turned invisible. I punched him in the jaw with a right jab and followed it with three more punches and a kick to the abdomen. I backed off a few feet and looked around again.

Guys, head towards your four o'clock. The Erasers have left an opening for you. I thought at them.

Max turned her head towards the direction I instructed and gave them a signal. Suddenly, there was a paw squeezing around my throat, suffocating me. I started gasping for breath and my panic rose further when I saw that none of the flock had left.

We're no leaving you, Kiki, Max has a plan I heard Angel's voice say to me.

"You little shrimp! I admit you caught me off guard with your first attack, but you can't fool my nose." Ari growled angrily at me while squeezing tighter. I couldn't breathe and I knew I wasn't invisible anymore because of the smirk Ari was giving me.

Kiki, we've got your back Angel thought to me Max wants to know if you have enough energy to manipulate Ari's mind?

I gave a slight nod and focused on controlling Ari's movements. I could feel my power working as I forced Ari's hand loose around my neck and I round house kicked him into the ground. I stood up and my vision started going fuzzy. I shook my head and looked around for the Flock.

"Go! I'm right behind you!" I shouted at Max when I found her.

She nodded her head once and gave the signal for a U&A. Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge took off through the gap left by the other Erasers. As I ran towards them, I felt a sudden grip around my arm that disappeared a second later. I turned my head to see Fang kill the Eraser that had almost caught me. he looked up and gave me a slight nod before following behind me. I finally reached the gap and could feel Max and Fang taking off behind me.

I let out a sigh of relief, thinking we were safe, when I saw Gazzy suddenly drop ahead of us. Max, Fang, and I sped up to close the distance between us and the younger kids and see what happened.

When we reached them we saw Gazzy had a gunshot through his top right wing and another bullet had barely grazed his left wing. Angel was staring down holding back tears in her eyes while trying to comfort Nudge at the same time. Iggy was examining the wounds and trying to figure out how to stop the bleeding.

Dangit I thought to myself we were almost free I looked behind us and saw that we had made a good two or three miles on the Erasers but it won't take long for them to make up the distance.

"Is there anything you can do Ig?" Max asked slightly panicked.

"I don't know, Max. I mean both wounds are through and through so nothing is lodged in there, but there's no way he can fly and folding his wings is definitely out of the question. His wings are too wide to run through the trees without getting even more damaged and putting him in more pain!" Iggy exclaimed desperately.

"We can't leave him behind. That would be wrong and-"

"Stop! Nudge we're not leaving him behind. There is no way Max would leave any of you behind, and I would die before letting them take any of you back" I interrupted Nudge's rant.

The Flock stared at me with a mixture of awe, trust, and shock on their faces. Since I had already thought through a full plan to get us out while the others were focusing on their man down, I decided to take the lead.

"Gazzy, do you think you could handle being flown out?" I asked.

"I think I can handle it, just as long as my wings don't get jostled too much." He responded, putting on a brave face. Max was right, he really is a trooper.

"Ok, Iggy, Nudge, I'm gonna need you two to get on each side of Gazzy and when I say lift take off at the same time. Try not to move out of sync or you'll cause Gazzy more pain." I commanded the two birdkids.

They looked in Max's direction waiting for her approval. She gave Nudge a nod, and Nudge tapped Iggy twice to convey Max's decision. I was hurt and annoyed by their lack of trust in me, but I understood their caution to following orders from people other than Max or Fang.

"Good. Angel, you're going to take the lead and then Nudge and Iggy will follow with Gazzy. Max, Fang and I wi-"

My sentence was cut short when I felt strong paws grasp me around my arms and I was yanked backwards off balance. Crap, I thought I had a few more seconds I thought to myself, aggravated that I had let the Erasers not only catch up to us but also catch us off guard.

"Iggy! Nudge! Get Gazzy out now!" I yelled at them, not waiting for a response as I attempted to fight my way out of the Eraser's grasp. I saw as more Erasers surrounded us again and started attacking Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge.

I stopped struggling and closed my eyes concentrating on where the younger kids were. Soon, I sensed the familiar pull in my stomach as I felt my body teleport to the new destination. I opened my eyes to see the stunned faces of my enemies and allies. Ignoring the oncoming nausea building in me, I used the Erasers' shock to my advantage and took out the five Erasers surrounding us.

Immediately, I turned to the younger kids "Run, NOW!" I commanded, and they wasted no time in listening to my directions this time. I watched them take off, and turned just in time to get a solid right hook in my left temple. I looked up at the Eraser and pushed into his head and started controlling his movements. He ran over to Max and Fang and took out the Erasers they were fighting, then he reached up and twisted his neck with a loud 'snap'.

"Let's go you guys!" I yelled desperately towards them. We started running in the opposite direction, leading the Erasers away from Gazzy, Iggy, Angel and Nudge. As we neared a clearing, I heard the trees rustle around us and swung around to punch the Eraser who had caught up to us in its snout. Before I could finish my swing, I straightened my fist past the intruder's head, throwing my shoulder out of socket due to lack of contact.

"Crap, what are you doing here, Angel?" I gritted out, as I popped my shoulder back into place. " You should be with the others."

"I decided to find you guys and make sure the Erasers didn't follow the others" She defended "Nudge and Iggy were helping Gazzy, and I couldn't do anything but get in the way, and I wanted to help and be useful, and I was worried about you guys." She said with pleading eyes.

"Angel-" Max started to reprimand her, but stopped when we heard growling and trees rustling about 100 yards away.

"Let's talk about this later" Fang spoke up as he urged us towards the clearing in the distance.

We sprinted away from the sound of the approaching Erasers and as we came up to the clearing, Max signaled us to U&A. As we ascended towards our freedom, a high pitched squeal stopped our ascent. I looked down and saw an Eraser had grabbed hold of Angel mid take-off and pulled back down to the ground, trying to restrain her with his five buddies. Max shot toward the Eraser grabbing Angel and slammed him into the ground, breaking his spine. As Fang and I warded off the other five Erasers, I could tell that we had lost our chance of escaping to safety with minimal injury as the Erasers cornered us against the edge of the thick tree line.

Max we've lost our chance for a clean getaway. What do we do? I asked frantically while preparing for the Erasers to attack from all sides.

Keep calm Kiki, link us up and I'll give everyone the plan She replied with an authoritative tone.

We're linked. What's the plan boss?

We're gonna hafta fight our way through them and try to lose them through the woods. It'll be ok, We can still fly faster than they run. We just have to stay on our toes with all these trees. On my signal, Kiki and Angel take off into the forest behind us and fly low. Fang and I will hold off the Erasers until you tell us your at least 100 yards out and we'll follow. Don't stop for any reason!

Though I didn't like the plan, Max left no room for argument and I had no other plan to counter with, so all I could do was wait for the signal. We all looked around as the Erasers closed in on us, and when one of them got within ten feet of us, Max and Fang charged forward and I grabbed Angel, turned into the tree line, and we started running for our lives.