a/n: This, my friends, is my first ever Fan Fiction! Woot! Read and review, please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I /do/ own Lai, though. I also own my notebooks, my backpack, and my frog. My frog's name is Hula.

Chapter One – Lai's Point of View

"This one here, she's a real special thing." I heard one say, could see his long white coat brushing the floor.

"She used to be, at least. Avian-human. You can see her wings- the left one is the broken one." He continued, seemingly teaching a class. My fists clenched angrily, my left wing in searing pain.

"Sadly, fixing her would be a waste of resources. This course will show you how we retire our failed experiments." He bent down, his eyes full of hatred. What had I ever done to him? Been born, I guessed.

"Come on, small thing." He reached in, grabbing my wing, and my five year old mind tried to stop me from screaming in pain and rage. I failed.

An almost silent alarm went off, and suddenly he let me go, backing away. "They're here." He said. "Our instructions are to let them through." He didn't seem to like the idea. Who could these people be? Something bad, I was sure. Maybe even worse than white coats. I cowered in fear: he'd left my cage open, but I didn't dare run… I was scared, the white coats had left, these new comers couldn't be good.

Six kids entered the room- mangy looking, I observed. Who were they?

"Kids don't belong in cages." I heard a voice say from somewhere near me, and then locks started popping: I liked these kids.