Disclaimer: I do not own Max or any of the other maximum ride characters. James Patterson does.
Chapter 1:
I glanced up and over at Fang who was flying to my right and up above me. His black wings caught the moonlight and the purple streak that he insisted wasn't there flashed on every downward stroke he made.
I felt the air rush through my own feathers as they beat against the wind, carrying me forward as I glided through the air. Have I ever mentioned that flying is the best thing in the world? Other than chocolate chip cookies of course.
"Max, stop staring at me." Fang's voice cut through my thoughts.
"I wasn't staring. I was just thinking, while looking in your direction." I retorted trying not to blush, embarrassed at being caught.
He just raised his eyebrow, saying silently 'whatever you say'. That was Fang alright. Mr Tall Dark say as little as possible. My second in command, my right hand man. But he was also the person who broke up my flock, our family, just a few months ago. He wasn't there when I needed him the most. I'll never forget that, and I think he knew it too.
"Max, I'm hungry." I didn't even have to look round to guess who had spoken.
"Nudge, we're flying over the middle of a forest. Do you see a McDonald's around? Or would you like to eat squirrel for dinner?"
That got 'Ews' from whole flock. Or rather the whole flock minus Fang. I glanced at him in time to see his mouth twitch. At least my sarcasm isn't wasted on him.
"Can't you just use your super speed to find a McDonald's and bring us back some food?" Gazzy asked.
"How would I carry it all?" I asked him
"Um….I hadn't thought of that." And that's why I'm the leader.
"We'll hit a town soon I'm sure. Until then, do you think you guys could just hang on for a bit?"
I rolled on my back, letting the air currents take me for a bit, so I could look at them. They all nodded. That's my flock. I rolled back over, flapping my wings once more.
Fang was rummaging in his backpack for something. He pulled out a handful of energy bars and tossed one to each of the flock. "Here guys. You can eat these until we stop."
"Hey, what about me? I need to eat too." Piped up Total.
"You can share mine." Angel said, her blond curls bouncing as she flew over to where Iggy was carrying our small annoying talking dog.
As I pulled the wrapper off my bar, Fang suddenly convulsed beside me, clutching his head and growling in pain. For him to growl it must be some serious pain. I dropped the bar and dove after him to catch him as he'd stopped flapping his wings and was plummeting towards the ground still clutching his head. Looks like this time I was the one catching him. Ironic huh?
"Iggy, take the others and land somewhere below!" I shouted over the wind as Fang fell through the air. I was flying as hard to catch up with him, but gravity was pulling him down. I managed to catch up with him, only to have to reverse me direction so we didn't hit the ground at 100mph. He was heavy. What had he been eating? Rocks?
Thankfully I managed to slow us enough so that when we hit the ground it wasn't as dog food and I landed on my feet, almost dropping Fang on the ground.
I lay him down only to find that he was out cold. Now I was confused. Wasn't I the one with the voice in my head? Wasn't I the one who had the brain attacks? How come Fang was having them?
"Max? Max!" Angel's shout made me look up and I saw the rest of my flock running towards me, everyone looking concerned at Fang. I felt guilty. Was this what I did to them when I had a brain attack? Did they always get this worried?
"Oh man, my head." Fang tried to sit up and I promptly pushed him back down. He was going to get a taste of his own medicine now. I mentally smirked, feeling it wasn't really appropriate to smirk when your best friend just fell out of the sky.
"You okay?" I asked, putting my hand on his head to feel his temperature just like Jeb used to do when we were little.
He nodded. "What happened?" He asked
"You tell me. You're the one who fell out of the sky."
"I…I don't know. One minute I'm flying the next my head feels like fireworks were set of in it and I woke up here."
"Did you see any sort of pictures? Hear any voices?" I asked
He shook his head "No. Nothing."
"Maybe it was altitude sickness or something." Iggy said. He was trying to piss Fang off, I could tell.
"It was not altitude sickness." Fang growled. That boy will admit to nothing being a weakness.
It was then that my stomach chose to remind me that we hadn't yet eaten.
"Someone's hungry." Sang Iggy, making Gazzy snicker until I glared at him. Unfortunately my glare was wasted on the blind one.
"Right then, Iggy take Angel and go and find some food. Gazzy go with Nudge and find some firewood." I said, snapping into leader mode.
Behind me I could hear Fang struggling to his feet. "I'll go with Iggy." He said.
"Oh no you won't. You'll sit right here with me." I said, no way was I letting him get back up, at least until he'd had something to eat.
"But-"
I shot him a look that said 'stop arguing or else'. Reluctantly he sat back down on the ground, while I handed Iggy the Max Ride credit card. Yep, we still have that thing, and it comes in pretty useful too, like when you want to buy things such as food.
Iggy and Angel took off into the air, letting the wind catch their wings and they soared into the sky, slowly disappearing from view. That just left me and Fang.
"So," I said, slumping down beside him. "Are you really ok? Or were you just saying that?"
He looked at me, and for a moment I got lost in his dark eyes.
"I'm fine." He said, his voice pulling me out of my daydreaming. "I was probably just-"
"Tired? Exhausted?" I raised an eyebrow; letting him know that it hadn't gone unnoticed that he frequently took a double watch.
"I was going to say thirsty. I haven't had a drink all day."
"Well then have one. There's a river just there." I pointed to the edge of the small clearing. Fang obediently got up and wandered over to it.
I watched him like a hawk, making sure he didn't suddenly keel over. In fact I was watching him so carefully that I didn't notice the person sneaking up behind me until they put their hand over my mouth and hauled me to my feet.
