Theyarehuman
Max wakes up in a lab.
Smoothskin blondebrowngraywhiteblackhair coldeyesandfrozenhearts
She is alone.
Atleasttheothersareokay
Her arms and legs and head are held down at one-two-three-six-nine-ten points.
Whatdoyouwantfromme whatdoyouwant
The last thing she remembers is flying. Her Flock was with her. Are they safe?
IamMAXIMUMRIDE andyoucannotholdme
A door opens.
MynameisMAX andthatisonething youcannevertakeaway
A man in a doctor's mask-die, whitecoat, ihavedied athousanddeathsatyourhands andyoushalldieatmine-holds a needle.
MynameisMAXIMUM andihavelivedathousandlives
andyoucannottakethataway
A dull pinch at the skin inside her forearm, she knows the feel of needles well. It doesn't even register as pain anymore. She laughs at pain-just signals from nerves to her brain ignore the messenger heisofnomatter because yourFLOCKISINDANGER.
MYNAMEISMAXIMUMRIDE ANDIHAVEKNOWNTHESKY
andthatiswhatyoucannever takeaway
The world is fading around her, but slowly. The whitecoat doesn't leave right away.
iwillhavevengeance
She looks him right in the eye and smiles.
andastheworldendedaroundher shedied
She can see it in his eyes, the fear of prey before the predator.
becauseshediesfree becausethereisalwaysachoice becauseshediesonherownterms
She is helpless but not powerless, not as long as that flicker of prey-fear remains, and it will always remain because
TheyAreHuman
and she
IsNot
The world ends around her and the void closes in.
Max wakes up again, like she always does. It takes longer, she can tell-they've upped the dosage, changed meds, because she keeps building up a resistance.
She's too dangerous to keep conscious, they've learned that at least. Because (no place in the world can hold all the sky) she's just that special. She escapes, or tries to. She's been here a long time. Months? Maybe. A year? No. The Flock would never let her-
WHATHASHAPPENEDTOMYFLOCK
She hasn't thought about them in a while, her thoughts too consumed with hate and anger and the fear of a (wolf backed into a corner) (bird tethered to the earth whereisthesky?) little girl. Where are they, what happened when she was taken. Are they-
Oh.
Max's entire body convulses; that's the first sign the whitecoats get the she's awake. She's been suppressing her heart and breathing and passing off her thoughts as dreamwaves, but now it is different.
2% bird 2% freak 2% not human 2% that gave them free license to experiment. 2% was all it took to give them wings and 2% was all it took to end them.
a date on the back of your neck, this is the day you die
deoxyribonucleic acid made of four nitrogen bases-adenine paired with thymine guanine paired with cytosine-phosphate and ribose sugar
a double helix
unraveling
rejecting the foreign DNA, finally
thisisnotmeanttobeapartofme getitoutgetitoutGETITOUT
Fulfilling the genetic imperative to strengthen the species-youaredefective andyoushallnotlive toreproduceandweaken
How can humans not hate that which is different, when it is built into their very life-threads?
Bodies acting without will, cells dying all to get rid of 2% that was bird-and-not-human.
They have always wanted wings. They tell stories of angels-iknewarealANGELonce shewaskindascary butcuteandsweet andilovedher-and tell themselves to reach for the impossible because if they look up they never have to look down and see their roots are in the ground.
whyamistillalive?
Save the world, Max.
shecan'tevensaveherFLOCK
You're the only one who can.
And she doesn't care. Her Flock is gone andyetsomehowshestilllives and so what if the world ends? It can go to Hell for all she cares she'sbeenthereit'snicethistimeofyear because as far as she's concerned it is no longer worth saving.
You are human and she is something new, something that has never before existed and never will again.
You are human and she is not. Her species dies with her and as far as Nature is concerned she must protect her species as you do yours simply by existing.
Humankind dreamed of angels to save them when the world ended (Ragnarok, Apocalypse, The End Not To Be Continued).
You never thought the angel would rather watch them burn, or that she would be the one to strike the match that lit the sky aflame.