James Patterson - Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

I recognized Fang's face of exaggerated patience, which of course got on my last nerve.

"And there won't be any TV or cable because all the people will be dead!" I was on a roll now. "So our only entertainment will be Gazzy singing the constipation song! And there won't be amusement parks and museums and zoos and libraries and cute shoes! We'll be like cavemen, trying to weave clothes out of plant fibers. We'll have nothing! Nothing! All because you and the kids want to kick back in a La-Z-Boy during the most important time in history!"

I was practically frothing at the mouth.

Fang looked at me. "So maybe we should sign you up for a weaving class. Get a jump on all those plant fibers."

I stared at him, saw how he was trying to suppress his laughter at my vision of the apocalypse.

Something inside me snapped. My whole world had gotten turned on its head in the last twenty-four hours. Like, my old world had sucked so bad, and this world, amazingly, sucked worse.

"I hate you!" I screamed at Fang. Tucking my wings in, I aimed downward, diving toward the ground at more than two hundred miles an hour.

"No you dooonnn't!" Fang's voice spiraled away into nothingness, far above me.

Inside my head, almost drowned out by the roar of wind rushing by my ears, I heard the Voice make a tsking sound. You guys are crazy about each other, it said.

"Oh, yeah. No bedtime. It's a good thing," Gazzy sang, doing a little dance.

"Look, just because Max isn't here doesn't mean all the rules have gone out the window," Iggy said, facing him. "She left me in charge, and I'm gonna make sure to do everything she would-" He couldn't keep a straight face any longer and cracked up, bending over and clutching his stomach.

Nudge rolled her eyes, and she and Angel shared a smile. She picked up a small handful of pebbles and carefully started distributing them among other little piles.

"Mancala, huh?" Total said, lying down next to them. "Next time we're in a store, let's lift some cards. We could play Texas hold 'em. I would kick your butts." His small, shiny nose twitched as he watched them play.

"That's a good idea," said Nudge, as Angel distributed her pile, though she had no idea how Total would hold the cards. Unless he had opposable thumbs hidden under his paw fur. Which, come to think of it, he very well might. Checking behind her, she saw she had enough room to let her wings stretch out a bit, so she extended them, enjoying the feeling. "Ahh."

"I want wings," Total said, not for the first time. "If I could fly, no one would have to carry me. If they could graft wings onto those big lunking Erasers, they could definitely patch a pair onto me."

"It would hurt, Total," said Angel, studying the mancala game.

"Do you think the Erasers are really gone?" Nudge asked them. In the background, she heard Iggy saying, "No, see, you need the spark to ignite it. You need the flint to make the spark, see?"

Gazzy murmured, "Yeah, but what about the bleach?" and then their voices faded again.

Nudge sighed. This was the kind of thing she wished Max or Fang were here to handle.

"Hey, guys?" Iggy called. Nudge looked up.

"How about a little test flight?" he said. "A little wheeling-around like the hawks showed us. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," said Angel. She smiled at Nudge. "You were about to win anyway."

Nudge grinned back. "I know." Standing up, she dusted off her jeans and pulled her wings in to walk to the end of the tiny canyon.

One by one, the bird kids leaped off the ledge, falling downward for a few moments before hauling out their wings, strong, light, and catching the wind in their feathers. Nudge loved this feeling, the sensation of power and freedom, the knowledge that she could rise up from the ground like an angel. Any time she wanted to.

She smiled over at Angel, who turned to smile back at her. Then Angel's eyes went wide, and her face took on a look of horror. Nudge whirled as a large shadow blotted the light from the flock.

A wide, thick swarm of Erasers was flying right toward them. They were back!

"Seriously, we have to talk," said Fang.

I sighed, looking up at the sky. "It's just like dolphins chirping," I said regretfully, talking out loud to myself. "I hear sounds, but none of them make sense."

I put my hands on my hips and surveyed the scene below us. "No water source. Let's go."

Without waiting for him, I launched myself off the low cliff, moving my wings powerfully, heading toward the sun. We'd stopped twice already, and neither place had all the stuff we needed: close-by food source, water, safety.

This was completely pointless, as opposed to my original plan, which was completely pointed.

Without turning my head, I glanced out of the corners of my eyes to see Fang's sleek wings behind me. He was acting weird. I didn't think Fang had been replaced by a clone the way I had at one point. Yes, folks, in my life, that's actually a legitimate concern. Take a moment and count your blessings.

Maybe he really does just want to talk, said the Voice.

Oh, yeah, 'cause Fang is all about the wordy sharing of feelings, I thought back. Something's up, something he's not telling me.

And I would get it out of him at the next place we stopped. This was one mystery I could solve, even if I had to beat it out of him.

"I knew it was too good to be true," Gazzy yelled. "The Erasers' all being dead!"

"I didn't feel them coming," Angel said, confused.

Nudge's heart was pounding, the blood rushing in her ears. These Erasers moved more in sync with one another than the others they had encountered, but still awkwardly, choppily. Nudge shot a last look at Angel, then soared upward just as the Erasers hit them.

Focus. That's what Max always said. Focus.

Concentrating, Nudge dropped down on an Eraser, smashing her sneakered feet against its head. Then, whirling, she cracked the hard edge of her hand against its windpipe. The Eraser made a weird noise and started to lose altitude.

"Nudge! Watch it!" Gazzy screamed.

Wham! An iron-hard punch to the ribs knocked Nudge's breath away, and she sucked in air soundlessly, trying not to panic. Instinctively she remembered to keep moving her wings, staying aloft long enough to regain her breath.

But there was no time-the Eraser came at her again, fist cocked back to punch. At the last second, Nudge dropped suddenly, so that its big, hairy arm swished through empty air.

"Take that, sucker!" she wheezed.

Surging upward, Nudge kicked it, aiming for its stomach but actually hitting somewhat lower. The Eraser doubled over without a sound, and Nudge clasped her hands together and brought them down on the back of its neck as hard as she could.

"Ow!" Angel's cry of pain made Nudge whirl, and she saw the smallest member of the flock being held by one arm as she ineffectually tried to kick her captor.

Nudge rushed over but was beaten there by Iggy, following the sound of Angel's voice. Together they pummeled the Eraser, and Iggy chopped down on the arm holding Angel. With a strange roar, the Eraser turned and pulled back its arm, and then made an odd strangled sound.

Looking down, Nudge saw Total chomping on the Eraser's ankle, shaking his head even as he dangled there, high above the ground-with no wings.

"Get him," she whispered to Angel, who nodded and quickly dropped ten feet. The Eraser shook its leg, but Total closed his eyes and clamped down harder, growling fiercely. Judging from the other muffled sounds, he was also swearing a blue streak.

"Yo!" yelled the Gasman, catching everyone's attention. "Fire in the hole!"