With a hoarse, blood-muffled shout, I ran up and clapped my cupped palms around an Eraser’s furry ears. He shrieked as his eardrums popped, and he fell to his knees.
“Max!” Angel screamed, high-pitched and terrified, and I spun around. An Eraser had her by the arms, and I raced forward, jumping over Iggy, who now lay unconscious. Two Erasers fell on me, knocking me down, one pressing a heavy knee into my chest. I wheezed and struggled, and one of them cuffed my face hard, his ragged claws digging deep welts in my cheek.
Dizzily, I fell back, the two Erasers pinning me, and with uncomprehending horror I saw three other Erasers stuffing Angel, my baby, into a rough sack. She was crying and screaming, and one of them hit her.
Frantically struggling, I tried to scream but could make only a hoarse, choked cry. “Get off me, you stupid, freaking—” I choked, but I was slammed back again.
An Eraser leaned over me, smiling horribly.
“Max,” he said, and my stomach clenched—did I know him? “Good to see you again,” he went on conversationally. “You look like crap. You always acted so much better than everyone else, so this cheers me up.”
“Who are you?” I gasped, feeling cold at the center of my being.
The Eraser grinned, his long, sharp teeth barely fitting in his jaw. “You don’t recognize me? I guess I’ve grown some.”
My eyes went wide with sudden, horrified recognition.
“Ari,” I whispered, and he laughed like a mad person. Then he stood up. I saw his huge, black boot come at my head, felt my head jerk to one side, and everything went black.
My last thought was disbelief: Ari was Jeb’s son. They’d made him into an Eraser. He was seven years old.
6
“Max?” The Gasman’s voice was very young and very scared.
I heard a horrible, low moan, then realized it had come from me.
The Gasman and Fang were leaning over me, concerned expressions on their bruised, bloodied faces.
“I’m okay,” I croaked, having no idea if I was or not. Memory came rushing back, and I tried to sit up. “Where’s Angel?” My voice was strained.
Fang’s dark eyes met mine. “She’s gone. They took her.”
I thought I might faint again. I remembered being nine years old, looking out the wired-glass lab window, watching the Erasers in the semidarkness. The whitecoats had released chimpanzees onto the School grounds and let newly made Erasers loose after them. Teaching them how to hunt.
The sounds of the chimpanzees screeching in terror and pain still echoed in my mind.
That was who had Angel now.
Rage overwhelmed me—why couldn’t they have taken me instead? Why take a tiny kid? Maybe I would have had a chance—maybe.
Shakily, I got to my feet. My head was spinning, and I had to lean against Fang, hating my weakness. “We’ve got to get her,” I said urgently, trying to stay upright. “We’ve got to get her before they—” Horror-filled images flashed through my mind—Angel being chased, being hurt, being killed. I gulped, shutting them down.
“Check in, guys—are you up for a chase?” I examined the four of them. They looked like they’d been stuffed into a blender set on “chop.”
“Yes,” Nudge said in a tear-choked voice.
“I’m up,” said Iggy, a split lip making his voice thick.
The Gasman nodded solemnly at me.
To my horror, hot tears momentarily blurred my vision. I wiped them away with the back of one hand and called on fury to keep me going.
Just then Iggy cocked his head slightly. It was a clue for me to start listening intently. Then I heard it too: a faint engine noise.
“There!” Iggy said, pointing.
The five of us ran stiffly and clumsily toward the sound. A hundred yards through the woods brought us to a sharp drop-off maybe fifty feet above an old, unused logging road.