Full Summary: The Flock is just waking up after being taken by the School, again. After everyone is awake, Jeb, Anne Walker, Angel, Ari and some other whitecoats come into the room.

Max (P.O.V)

As I looked around at my Flock I assessed their injuries. I saw some bloody noses, dark purple bruises in all areas and small scratches and bruises all over there bodies. Overall, not as bad as it could have been. "Everyone ok?" I ask. Groggily they all answer in yes's, nods or grunts. Good I think to myself, because there going to have to be in order for us to get the hell out of here.

After what seemed like hours but could have minutes the door to our 'cell' opened to reveal Jeb, Anne Walker, Ari, Angel and a few other whitecoats. My breath caught in my throat as I saw Angel standing there looking at us with no expression whatsoever. My eyes than focused on the item one of the whitecoats was holding. If you guessed it was a candy cane then guess what you fail, nope it was a burning red hot Branding Rod. With my raptor vision I saw the symbol on it, it was a large I with wings on the side spread out. My mind went blank with what they were going to do to us.

Then Jeb spoke up, "Max, Iggy, Fang, Gazzy and Nudge it's good to see you. Are you alright?"

I answered, "Oh yeah Jeb were just hunky dory over here, on our Hospital beds, being Strapped Down. How about you?"

Jeb cracked a smile and strode over to my 'bed'. "Ah, Max as sarcastic as ever aren't you."

Using so much fake enthusiasm I answered, "I try my best. So what torture are you putting us through this time?"

To my surprise Jeb answered, "Well ITEX has decided that they should start marking there experiments. So you being the leader of the Flock have this wonderful privilege today."

My brain shorted out. WHAT? I thought. I tried my best to hide the fear and panic from my face that rose up inside of me. I have to stay strong for the Flock I thought, what kind of leader am I if I can't take a small branding?

I took small glances at my Flock; all there faces were masks of horror, sorrow and fear for me. I didn't meet there eyes for fear that they would see how scared and panicked I was about this.

The whitecoat with the branding rod walked over to my 'bed' and positioned the rod above my right hip right above my jeans. I immediately tensed up. Jeb walked back over to the others and then turned and faced me. Jeb gave a small nod and the whitecoat near me pressed the branding rod to my skin.

I closed my eyes the second before it came. I vowed that I wouldn't make a sound but as the pain burst through my body, my eyes flew open and I couldn't hold back my screams of agony and pain. It felt like my whole ride side of my body had been thrown into a fire. The rooms perfect silence was killed as the screams escaped my mouth. I had tears flowing freely down my face. All I could think was MAKE IT STOP! I jerked but immediately stayed as still as I could because movement made it that much worse. After what seemed like an eternity the pain just vanished for a second but then the aftershock of pain wracked my body.

My body felt like lead. I started to see black spots everywhere and then my head hit the table with a load thunk. The last thing I heard was the Flock shouting my name and swearing like sailors but I didn't care. All I could think was the pain was going away, thank god!

Gazzy (P.O.V)

MAX!, it was all I could think about. They were taking a really hot stick and putting it on her skin. The second it hit her skin she started screaming. I started yanking at my restraints just trying to get near her to somehow help her, but it was no use. I then started screaming her name and telling that damn whitecoat to stop so loud that I thought I was going to lose my voice any second. I felt tears going down my cheeks, I couldn't hold them back and looking around it told me that no one else could either.

Nudge (P.O.V)

Max, Max, Max, it kept running through my head. After what Jeb said sunk in I couldn't help the look of horror that transformed my face. When the whitecoat pressed the branding rod to Max's skin the tears burst from me. They leaked down my face faster then they ever had before. And oh god her screams, they racked my body with pity. I just wanted to reach out and hold Max like she did for me and everyone else. I started screaming Max's name and using all the swear words I heard Max say before. I yanked on my restraints but it didn't get me anywhere, so I lay there useless watching my family scream in pain.

Iggy (P.O.V)

I heard the door open and Max mouthing off to Jeb like I knew she would. But I also heard a strange noise that I couldn't exactly place. It sizzled and kind of sounded like a fire but that's impossible right? I mean they couldn't just start a fire in here. I also smelled a small amount of smoke. I started panicking but stopped when I heard Jeb say "Well ITEX has decided that they should start marking there experiments. So you being the leader of the Flock have this wonderful privilege today." Wait, what? What does he mean marking? I strained my ears to hear anything that would help me understand. I heard someone walk up to Max's table beside me. Everything was silent for a second and then the silence was shattered as I heard Max shrieking in pain. I whipped my head in her direction but I still didn't know what was going on. I started yelling Max's name and asking what the hell was going on. During it all I heard Fang mutter so softly I was just able to hear it.

"There branding her Iggy," Fang said. My mind went blank. After just that little bit of info I started thrashing on my 'bed.' I started shouting Max's name as loud as I could and swearing out Jeb and the whitecoats at the top of my lungs. Max's screams went inside my head and made tears come to my eyes just imaging how much pain she was in. The screams all of a sudden cut off and I knew they were done but then I heard a load thunk on the 'bed' that Max was on. She had passed out. My mind and mouth could only come up with one name, Max.

Fang (P.O.V)

I saw the branding rod the whitecoat was holding and could only imagine what was going to happen. Then Jeb had to speak up….No. It was all I could think after hearing what they were going to do to Max. My Max. I knew the School and ITEX was bad, but Branding a person? My face quickly changed to one of horror at what was about to happen. Then the whitecoat touched the branding rod to Max's skin.

Her screams made my head explode. I pulled at my restraints with new strength but it didn't do anything. I wanted to scream, kill all the whitecoats in my way but most of all I wanted to get to Max. I saw Iggy's confused look so I said so quietly but I knew he heard me, "There branding her Iggy." Iggy's face transformed from shock to rage in about a millisecond. He started screaming and swearing like a sailor at the top of his lungs like everyone else and tears ran down his cheeks. After seeing Iggy I looked around at the rest of the Flock. Gazzy and Nudge would have been sobbing if they weren't yelling so hard. I also saw that the whitecoats, Jeb, Anne, Angel and Ari had no expression on there faces. I felt tears run down my face.

Max's screams, everyone's expressionless faces at what was happening, and the fact that I was crying brought on a rage that I couldn't control. I thrashed so badly on my 'bed' that for a while I thought I was going to free myself. I started yelling so load that I knew that my voice would be hoarse after it. I didn't care though; all I cared about at the second was Max and the Flock. When the whitecoat stopped Max's body immediately went limp and her head thumped loudly when it hit the table. I didn't know what to say so I just kept yelling, swearing and praying to whatever god that was out there, that somehow Max would be okay.