AN: Hey guys. Alright, so I have absolutely no clue where this story is going. It just kind of popped into my head. So this could be great, or it could be a total swing and a miss. Let's see where it goes! Oh, and I don't own Maximum Ride.

I was running through the halls. I could hear the Erasers crashing trhough the door, knocking it off its hinges. I kept running. It was screwed up. A sixteen-year-old mutant bird-kid on the fun for her life. I turned, scrambling down another hall way. I had to get out of the building before the bomb went off.

I burst through a set of double doors, skidding to a stop when I saw the whitecoats and Erasers in front of me. Several more came in from behind me. "Stop running." one of them ordered. I rolled my eyes. You'd think that they'd learn that I didn't do well with orders. I looked around the room, looking for a way out. That's when I saw the window in the corner of the room. I ran towards it.

I jumped and crashed through the window, bringing my arms up to protect my face. I felt several of the glass pieces cut into me, but it wasn't anything serious. I fell to the ground before getting right back up and running again. I spread my fifteen-foot wings and took off into the air.

A familiar bang sounded, and in the next second I felt a blinding pain in my side, but I didn't stop. I kept going as the building behind me exploded. And that was the end of the School. The place known as hell on earth. I sagged in the air a bit.

Catching myself, I kicked my new power into gear. I flew at around 240 mph, flying as far as I could. But, eventually, I had to stop. I found a cave and flew into it. I had no clue where I was. I just knew I needed to patch up my wound, and fast. But I didn't have the strength to move anymore, and I let the familiar dark of unconsciousness take over me.

(Fang's POV)

I was flying with the rest of the flock, my sixteen-foot black wings stroking through the air powerfully. My flock consisted of four other bird-kids.

First there was me, Fang. I had olive skin and black hair that fell into my eyes. I always wore all black. I have gills. I can also blend into the background. But I have to stay still. If I move, I become visible again. It's still pretty cool though.

Iggy is the next oldest, after me. We're both sixteen. He has strawberry blond hair, and he is the tallest member in the flock, meaning he's about six-two. He's pale, and, thanks to an experiment gone way wrong, blind. But because he was blind, his other senses increased. He's so good at taking care of himself that it's easy to forget that he was blind. And let me tell you, it was creepy how accurate he was with those murky blue eyes of his. He is our expert in fire and anything that goes boom. And he could feel colors.

Then next oldest is Nudge. She has mocha colored skin and dark hair. She has brown eyes, and is the chatterbox of the group. We call her the Nudge Channel. All Nudge, all the time. She is our computer hacker and car expert. She can attract metal to herself, and she has this strange power. She said she looked it up on the web and it has something to do with psychometric. I have no clue what that means, but it was a useful power.

Then there was ten-year-old Gazzy, or the Gasman. His nickname was pretty self-explanatory. He has blond, spiky hair and blue eyes. He is Iggy's apprentice, I guess you could say. He's always with Iggy, and they are always planning on blowing up something. He is a trooper though. He can mimic voices and make an atomic fart. And you think I'm kidding. You can actually see the green fog.

Finally, there is Angel, our eight-year-old mind reader/controller/semi-shape shifter/fish talker. Yeah, she got the power jackpot. She is Gazzy's little sister. She has curly blond hair and blue eyes. She was adorable. But I felt bad for her. She didn't have a mother figure in her life. I was like a father figure to her, but she needed someone she could talk to. A girl figure she could look up to, and go to when she needed help.

We used to live in a house, but Erasers found it a week ago, and we had to go on the run. We escaped from the School six years ago. It was a very…explosive exit.

"Fang!" Nudge called, bringing my attention back to the present.

"Find a place to stay?" I asked.

Nudge nodded. "But that's not all we found." she said. I motioned for her to lead the way. She led me to a cave. We landed to see that Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy were already inside. All of them were taking care of a girl. Her side was bleeding badly, and her breathing was labored.

The girl had dirty blond hair. She was beautiful, but her expression was pained. She was out cold. Her clothes were bloody and ripped. She looked to be about mine and Iggy's age. And she has wings. They're breath taking. They were brown. The primary feathers were streaked with black and white. The secondaries were streaked white and brown. The undersides of her wings were a soft ivory color, and over the tops and backs of them she had brown feathers that faded perfectly into the primaries. It was amazing.

I kneeled next to Iggy. "What happened?" I asked.

Iggy scowled. He frowned. "She was shot in the side. She's lost a lot of blood. If we stop the bleeding now, we can save her, but first we need to get the bullet out." he replied.

"Um, did you find her like this?" I asked.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "No, Fang, we shot her ourselves." he said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, what do we have to do?" I asked.

"First, we need to get the bullet out." he said. "But I need you to do that." he added, handing me a pair of tweezers. You'll be fine. It's not that deep."

I took the tweezers. "Are you sure that I should do this?" I asked. I was sure to keep my voice calm, but on the inside, I was freaking out.

"Yes, now get the bullet out so I can bandage her up and we can stop the bleeding." Iggy said impatiently.

I sighed, and, quickly but carefully, took out the bullet. I followed Iggy's instructions the whole time, to make sure that I didn't hurt her any worse than she already was. Then Iggy bandaged up her side.

We built a fire and set up around it. I moved the girl closer to the fire. It was cold. "I wonder what her name is." Nudge said. "Do you think she'll join our flock?"

"Not until we know her better." I said. "For all we know, she could be working for the School."

"I agree with Fang." Iggy said. "We should keep a close eye on her until we know that she won't betray us."

"But she can still hang out with us, right?" Gazzy asked.

"Or, you know, I could just read her mind and make sure she isn't evil." Angel said. She focused on Max. Her eyes widened, and they kept getting wider and wider as she listened to Max's thoughts. "Oh, wow."

"What? What is it?" Nudge asked.

"She escaped from the School six years ago, like us. She's lived on the run until earlier this month. She let Erasers kidnap her and bring her back to the School. She let them experiment on her again, until earlier today. She found a chance to place a bomb in the School and escaped before it went off, but she was shot as she was running away. Then she flew here." Angel said, looking down at the girl with awe on her face.

Suddenly, she frowned reaching down. She grabbed a neckace that I just now noticed the girl had on. It was a sliver dog tag necklace on a chain. "What does it say?" I asked.

"It says Maximum Ride. Experiment number 27547." Angel said.

Nudge touched it. Her eyes instantly closed. That was Nudge's power. She could touch something and see flashbacks of people using it or obtaining it. Nudge opened her eyes and frowned. "She didn't get it from the School. She bought it and had that stuff engraved into it. Maximum Ride is the name she gave herself. But why would she have her experiment number engraved into it?" she asked.

Angel frowned and focused on Maximum. "It was so that she wouldn't forget." she said.

"So she wouldn't forget? All she has to do is spread her wings!" Iggy said.

Angel's frown got bigger. "I don't understand it either." she said. "But it's a sentimental thing for her, so I think we should leave it alone."

Suddenly, the girl groaned and opened her eyes.