A second late we were laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes all over again. Fang and I leaned against each other and laughed and laughed, unable to speak, for the longest time.

I stopped laughing and turned towards Fang. He looked at me intently.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

"For what?" Fang asked.

"Making me laugh," I replied, "God knows I needed that."

"No problem," Fang said, leaning against the tree trunk behind us, "Why don't you go to sleep? I'll take first watch."

"I don't know..." I trailed off. Last time I had fallen asleep, I had been taken away to yet another lab. You'd think that I might even get used to going off to strange places I had never been to against my will, but it's a feeling you never are completely comfortable with. I wonder why?

"Don't worry, I'll keep a good eye out," Fang said.

"You always do," I said with a smile.

He returned it with a grin which made my stomach feel as if a million butterflies were flittering around in there.

"Fine, you win," I said, walking over to where the others were sleeping and curled up, "Wake me in three hours."

"Gotcha," Fang said quietly.

I woke up the next morning very sore and stiff. I got up and streched out. I saw Iggy and Gazzy sitting on one side of our camp, obviously planning something that would most likely blow something else up. Angel and Nudge were playing with Total, seeing how high he could bounce and Fang was still in the same spot I left him last night, and he was still awake.

"How come you didn't wake me up?" I asked him, sitting across from him.

"You had a rough day yesterday so I thought you should sleep as late as you needed," Fang said, looking out towards the morning sun.

"Thanks, I needed it. How about breakfast?" I asked.

"We already ate, but we saved you a delicious powerbar," Fang said with a grin, handing me the powerbar.

"Thanks," I said, consuming the bar as fast as I could.

"What's your plan for today?" asked Fang.

"I think maybe we could head east again. If we head west, Erasers won't have to go as far to try and get us. Maybe we could head towards Rhode Island."

"Pretty random, don't you think?" Fang said, looking at me.

"Yeah, but maybe randomness is exactly what we need to throw the Erasers off. Even if it really is this chip," I said angrily, throwing some rocks over the cliff.

"Max," Fang began, but I cut him off.

"Why did they do this? I mean, can't they just leave us alone? Don't they get that I don't want to save the world?" I hadn't meant to raise my voice, but I ended up shouting.

The rest of the flock looked at us.

"Having trouble?" Iggy said with a grin.

"Shut up," I said in the nicest possible way you could say that, "it's time to go. We're leaving in five."

The flock began to pack up camp and I grabbed the backpack containing all of our supplies.

"I'm carrying it this time," I told Fang with a smile, "but if you're really in the mood to carry something, there's a dog with your name on it."

He rolled his eyes at me and I shoved Total into his hands.

"Up and away guys," I said as I unfurled my wings and shot up. The rest of the flock followed within seconds and we were off. It felt soooo good to feel the wind through my hair.