Well, here's my first ever Maximum Ride fanfic. This is my newest favorite book, and I couldn't wait for the third, so I'm writing this. No it will not be as good as anything by James Patterson, and no I do not expect it to be, lol. Just thought I'd take a wild stab at it. I'll post chapter 2 if I get any reviews. R&R and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the main storyline. I do not own Itex...basically I don't own anything from the book, lol.

Part 1- Migrating...North?

1

Don't you just love the feeling of a cool mountain breeze rustling your feathers about ten thousand feet in the sky? Oh wait...I guess you wouldn't, would you? Oh well. Maybe this is the kind of things other people only dream about. But my flock and I...well...we dream of being other people. And they dream of being us. It's kinda continuous, don't you think?

Oh yeah, I guess I should start by saying I'm Max, short for Maximum Ride. Of course if you're reading this, you probably already know that. Basically, my flock and I are six perfectly normal kids who have been to school and have eaten regular food and have lived in an enormous house near Washington D.C. But there is still that itsy-bitsy-teeny-tiny problem that keeps us from being perfectly normal. We were grafted with avian DNA when we were born. We're human-avian recombinant life-forms. And in case that didn't make sense, let me simplify it. We have wings, among other powers, but we'll get to that later.

"How much longer?" Iggy was getting tired, I could tell by the slight frustration and whine in his voice. I glanced over to see him lightly keeping the tip of his right wing in line with Nudge's left wing. Jeez, for being blind most of his life, that kid flew better than me most of the time.

Nudge shot her infamous Bambi-eye look at me and also started whining. "Yeah Max. I'm getting hungry. Can't we just stop somewhere in D.C. to eat? Remember when we stayed there with Anne? We went to that really really good resteraunt and had all those hamburgers. What was it called? Remember that Max?"

"That was a McDonald's, Nudge," I said with irritation showing in my voice. I know, I'm supposed to be the big tough leader of the flock that can withstand a child talking at 100 miles an hour, but sometimes that girl just makes you want to tear your hair out!

Oops. Angel must've been listening in on my thoughts (one of her amazing powers) because she turned and frowned at me, but then broke it with a slight smile. Total, her small, black, and talking dog, looked from her small face to mine and tried to understand what we were thinking, then gave up and curled back up in Angel's arms.

"We'll stop for breakfast pretty soon," I said, trying to sound leader-y again. I stole a quick glance at Fang and the Gasman, who were flying right alongside each other a few feet away from me. Gasman was hardly paying attention to what I'd said, or maybe he hadn't even heard. But Fang was giving me his "tell-them-you're-sorry-because-we-both-know-you-are" look. Ok, so I made that one up. But that's what he was thinking. I think.

"I'm sorry guys, I know it's cold up here, and I know it's freaking December, but we've got to keep moving." Silently I cursed myself for sounding so demanding, then decided it would need to be that way for a while. "We need to be as far away from Itex as we possibly can right now, just in case the Erasers are going to try tracking us anytime soon, which we all know they will."

"But why north?" Gasman's voice came in from behind me now. "I mean, why couldn't we go to San Diego or Mall of America or something?"

"Gazzy, you know there's too many people there. We need to bunker down somewhere remote and safe for now, where the Erasers won't be as likely to find us." Then I remembered how stupid that sounded. I remembered how they were probably tracking us by the small chip in my arm. I sighed. "Again guys, I'm really really sorry from the bottom of my heart, but this is the safest way to be right now."

Well, that put an end to that conversation. After that, no one else spoke for at least another hour, which was about the time we found a small town on the edge of Pennsylvania that we raided for breakfast. Ok, maybe not "raided", but you know what I mean.

After slamming down my fifth or sixth hash brown from McDonald's, I excused myself from our table to go to the bathroom.

It was happening again. The heat strokes. The skull-smashing pain erupting in my skull. The visions.

Pay attention, I think my Voice said during the brain attack. Yes, I do have a Voice in my head, and yes there's a good possibility I'm losing my mind, to answer any questions that may bring. The truth is a lot closer than you think. You just need to learn to pay attention. That's the only way you'll ever accomplish your destiny.

Great, there it went again with its destiny rant. I didn't bother trying to make some comment to it, and instead leaned over the bathroom sink to splash cold water on my face. When I looked up into the mirror, I almost screamed. Eraser Max was back. Except this time, when I looked back at my hands, they were still hairy and had now grown sharp claws. 'Oh crap' would've been an understatement at that point.