A/N: Hi! I just came up with this one morning while still half-asleep (It seems like I get all the best ideas for stories then). This is set after The Final Warning because I haven't read past that yet and…um, here's the disclaimer!
I do not own Maximum Ride or anything I haven't written, just what I create. There. Happy now?
"Come on, slowcoaches! Catch me…if you can!" I yelled, wheeling away from the Flock.
"Oh, yeah, great idea," Iggy shouted back "chase the one with super-speed! Why didn't I think of that?" Of course, he still joined the rest of the Flock as they sped after me. We may not have been actually related, but boy, did we all have a competitive streak. I laughed, and shot up into the sky. Wow. I could never get over how much I loved that feeling.
The landscape spread out below me as I climbed. I stopped and hovered for a minute, enjoying the birds-eye view (pun intended).
A thin, silvery river snaked across the valley floor. The town was about half a mile away from it, a small, compact centre surrounded by suburban sprawl. The valley was protected by mountains on either side.
The Flock were waiting impatiently below me. I flew down to them.
"Finally!" Gazzy said. Fang, next to me, reached out and touched my hand. I frowned at him, confused and a little worried. I still wasn't sure how I felt about-
"Caught you!" he smirked. I turned to the rest of the Flock, trying to look as angry as I could. I could've sworn they all gulped. I grinned mischievously. Suddenly Nudge worked it out and sped away, shrieking. The rest got it seconds later and followed her lead. I flew after them, laughing my maddest laugh and yelling "I'm gonna catch you!"
I led the Flock to the back of a little B&B I'd spotted, and we landed and were given one of those cool double rooms that have a connecting door. Angel and Nudge raced ahead of us, and the first thing we heard were squeals of "Bunkbeds!" I smiled and followed them in.
There were three beds in both rooms; a bunkbed and a single bed.
Nudge bagsed the top bunk in one room, and Angel the other. Gazzy took the bottom bunk in Angel's room, and Iggy took the single bed, leaving Fang and me with Nudge. The girls found a TV in a cupboard in Angel's room, so we all piled in there to watch…
"American Idol? Nooooooooooooooooo!" Gazzy cried, but Angel and Nudge were already dancing around the room, singing along with the contestant. At the end of the song they were both sweating, and Angel somehow managed to get her head stuck in the neck of her jumper while trying to take it off.
"Come here, and I'll get it off." I laughed. She stumbled over to me, arms waving around comically. As I pulled it over her head, I froze. Her top had ridden up at the back, and-I put up a mindblock so she couldn't hear my thoughts. It can't be. It's not. Nonononono… printed on her back were the numbers 15/3/12. It…it was the Date, the one all Erasers had. The Expiration Date. No, I thought, not Angel.
Denial will not help anything, Maximum.
I growled under my breath. Stupid voice always stating the stupid bloody obvious like this was perfectly normal, when Angel-
"Max? What is it? Max?"
"What?" I blinked, brought back to earth by Fang's voice "Oh, um, just the Voice again. Angel, I'll just get you a plaster. You've got a graze on your back, sweetie, didn't you notice?"
Angel frowned "Um-", but I hurried her into the next room before she could finish. Grabbing a plaster, I carefully smoothed it over the Date, and we went back to the others. Fang shot me a look as I sat down, but I ignored him. I couldn't face telling him, not yet, anyway.
You will have to tell him sometime. This is important, Maximum.
You think I don't know that? We're not meant to have Expiration Dates! I don't suppose you'd tell me what's going on, Voice?
Silence. I knew it. The Voice would remain silent until I didn't need it, and then butt into our lives with some devastating piece of information or other.
"Max," Fang said quietly, moving closer so the others couldn't hear us "What did the Voice say?"
"What? Oh, nothing special, just stuff about greater responsibilities and some other crap I'm not going to take any notice of, y'know, the usual." I lied. Fang didn't look like he believed me, but I was not in the mood for answering questions. I needed time to think. I turned away and joined in with the next song, singing out of tune.
A/N: There ya go! Not the longest chapter ever written, but I wanted to set the scene in this chapter, drop the first bombshell, that sort of thing.
R&R!
