Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.

Swift's POV

Darkness. That is all I see here. I know that if I could see right now, all I would see is more mutants, and more pain. Suddenly, a scent reaches my nose. Smoke! My head shoots up and now I can hear a commotion outside of the room. I feel my brother, Sprint, shifting around somewhere besides me. I know he can smell and hear what I am too. I nudge him, and whisper an idea to him. at the same time, throw our selves against the wall of the dog crate. It fell to the floor with a loud CRASH. The cage broke open and we crawled out. I looked towards the door. I could see a flickering light in the crack between it and the floor. Fire? I point towards it, and we race towards the door. Just before we reach it, a voice called out to us.

"Please, take me with you!" the young girl cried. I wished I could help all of the other kids, but the smoke is beginning to seep under the door more than ever. But, if we can save even one...

I nodded to my brother, and, together, we stepped forward and lifted the latch on her crate.

"Come on," I told her. I opened the door and Sprint and I raced out, the girl at our heels. As the three of us raced for the exit, I caught a glimpse of a girl through the flames.She looked about 14 or 15, and I wonder, how old am I? 10? The girl had curly light brown hair with blonde streaks in it and tanned skin. I can see the large wings on her back. As we kept running, I heard her call out, "Fang, get Angel and get out!" I vaguely remember the white coats talking about a girl of this description. Could this be the oh-so-famous, oh-so-great Maximum Ride?

Thump Thump Thump.

My feet pounded against the pavement in time with my heartbeats as I ran, my long, curly, dirty-blonde hair streaming out behind me. I looked back. The eraser was still right on my tail. Why couldn't I lose this guy?

There was a sudden blur, and a boy appeared out of nowhere, knocking the eraser to the ground. The boy had dirty blonde hair a little lighter than mine, and green eyes. It was my twin brother, Sprint.

"Is that the last one?" I asked.

"Yep." A girl stepped out from a nearby alley. She had straight, light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, hazel eyes, and was wearing a brown leather jacket.

"Warble, thank gosh you're here," I said with relief. Warble had escaped from the school with Sprint and I when we were all 10 years old. We were all 14 now.

"What, you think I can't take care of myself?" she says sarcastically. She knew this wasn't true.

I smiled grimly. "I'm just afraid that one of these days we won't be so lucky and the erasers will catch us. I don't want to be hunted anymore."

"None of us do. But what can we do about it?" asked Sprint.

"We can fight," answered Warble, after a small period of time.

"But we're just three mutant kids with no parents, no anything!" Sprint argued.

"Then we'll find more 'mutant kids'" I said. "and then we'll get rid of the School, and Itex, once and for all, or die trying!"

It's a bit short, I know, but please, R&R. If you have any suggestions for other characters, let me know.