I don't own Maximum Ride.
Have you ever been in a situation out of your control? Where it feels like you can't breathe, and you suddenly get these hot flashes, yet you're breaking out in a cold sweat. You can't move, and you become terrified of the light, of the sounds, of the smells, everything. And suddenly, it all becomes too much, and you turn to run… only to be blocked on all sides by dangerous and less-than-human monsters who are trying to take you back to the place you've been running from for years. No? I have.
My name is Asikis, and I have a problem that most people will never have to worry about. No, I am not an alcoholic, and I have never intentionally – or willingly – taken drugs. I am not addicted to anything, except maybe chocolate. But that's hardly lethal, is it? So, you must be wondering, what is this problem of mine?
Well, you see, ever since I can remember, I've been able to tell when someone is going to die. I can tell you anything and everything about anyone, except myself. And, the strangest part is… I'm not human. Not entirely, anyway. The wings might be a hint. And the talons. And the fangs. What am I forgetting? Oh, yeah! The ability to, well, unravel things with my mind. Trust me, it's not a pretty sight, and you do not want to be on the receiving end.
But none of that is really a problem for me. Honestly, I can't imagine life any other way. So why am I complaining? Well… I have no idea. And that is a problem. I have no idea about why I am like this, or who did this to me. Because it isn't natural, that much I remember. Not that I remember much else….
When I was really little, like maybe three or four, I was in a building, surrounded by white walls. There were these doctorish people around me, and they injected me with something. I was terrified, and it hurt really bad, so I accidentally used that unraveling technique of mine on all of the doctors, and the ceiling, and I flew away. I don't remember anything before that, not a shadow of memory. Just that, and it's enough to make me choke.
Ever since then, though, these things have been chasing me, stalking me. Trying to take me back. I can't let that happen. The monsters have a proper name, I guess. They're called Erasers, don't ask me why. They pretty much look like runway models until they spot me, and then thy turn into these wolfish type things. Genetic tampering at it's finest.
As far as I knew, the Erasers were created specifically to find me. It sounds selfish, I know, but I had absolutely no idea if there were others like me, other escapees. How could I? So you can imagine my surprise when, after almost a year with no sign of them, I see an Eraser running straight… past me. No threats, no bruises, no nothing. All he did was pass me.
So, naturally, I turned around to see exactly what he was after. And then I almost unraveled the whole city in anger. Almost. Instead, I settled for all of the Erasers I could feel in the area. Why, you ask? Oh, I don't know, the sight of some oversized wolf rocketing to attack a little girl might have set me off. Maybe, just a little, you know. Of course, then said little girl looked directly at me, and I tried to read her death date. I couldn't.
Wondering if maybe my little sonar-type-thing was failing me, I checked everything else. Her name was Angel, she was six and a half years old, she had a little brown bear name Celeste tucked into her waistband, she had a talking dog named Total, she could read minds, she had a nine-foot wingspan… wait, what? I listened in further. She was two percent Bubo scandiacus, or Snowy Owl for those of you who don't speak dead languages. She traveled with five other children, of which she was the youngest. She grew up in a lab, thus the Erasers coming after her….
By now I had spotted the others of her group, and little Angel was walking towards me, a look of determination on her young face. This made me slightly nervous. If she could read my mind, she might be able to control it too. Would I notice if she did? I'd never been faced with such a situation, and I didn't know how to react. And by now the others were following her…. Now this is the situation I described earlier, where I'm suddenly very afraid, and I want to run away. Only now I knew there were no Erasers in my path that I would have to cut down. So I followed my instincts, and I ran full tilt into the New York crowd, knowing full well that the six children were following me. Wonderful.
Angel's POV
I'm not real sure why she ran away. She helped us when she… what did she call it… unraveled? When she stopped the Erasers. I was just going to go thank her, and maybe ask why she knew so much about me. She couldn't read my mind, after all. But when I started to go up to her, Max followed me, and everybody followed Max, and the girl got scared. So now I had to run after her, and didn't she know that you can't hide from a mind-reader? Maybe she won't be so afraid when Max saves the world….
I finally caught up to her when she stopped in an alley a few blocks away. She was about to fly over the fence, too. Why is there always a fence in the alley during a chase? You always see them in the movies, someone runs from something, and they turn into an alley and get blocked by a fence, which they have to climb over whatever they're running from finds them. And now I sound like Nudge. I giggled at myself and smiled at the girl.
"Thank you for getting rid of the Erasers. I'm Angel. What's your name?" I asked her. She was still afraid, and she wrapped her arms around her middle and backed up to the fence, looking from me to rest of the Flock and back to me again. I sighed. "We won't hurt you," I said, making her laugh.
Dear little girl, I'm hardly worried about myself getting hurt, she thought to me. I wondered what she meant until I remembered what she did to the Erasers. It probably hurt them a whole bunch. I really didn't want her to do that to me, I thought, shivering a little.
"I am Asikis. It's very nice to meet you, Angel," please don't tell them about my Sight. I smiled and nodded.
"You too!" Max cleared her throat behind me, and I turned around.
"Uh, Angel? Do you mind telling us what's going on?" Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that.
"Max, Asikis stopped all of the Erasers! I wanted to come and talk to her," I told her. She narrowed her eyes into little slits and looked back at Asikis.
"Really?" Does she check out? Why did she help us? Wait, how did she do that?
I sighed again. Maybe she should be the one explaining all of this, and not a six-year-old girl with wings….
I honestly don't mind flames. They just mean that people have mental issues. Oh, wait....