Before We Dive In. . .

This fanfiction starts after the book Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, after the Flock temporarily split up over the issue of Ari's joining them and Max's group (Max, Nudge, Angel, and Total) destroying Itex's headquarters in Germany. Fang's group (Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy) had been on the West cost of the USA, kicking Flyboy butt and rallying the troops (the readers of Fang's blog) to attack anything Itex. Which is exactly what happened.

Anyway, if you're reading this, you should know all the haps from Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. If not, GO READ IT. I'm not big on rehashing.

Another important thing: I'm introducing my own original character into the plotline and most of this fanfiction will be from her point of view. Her name's Miri. The rest you'll learn soon enough.

Rated T for swearing and mild (according to me) violence. Nothing worse than High School, really, but I feel I must say that.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's probably not mine. Remember that, b'cause I'm not in the mood to be chased by creepy business men in suits today. Or any other day, for that matter.

Prologue • Miri

It was dark in my cell, as usual. They hated it when I could see, because then I had a better chance of attacking them. They always had on their night-vision goggles so they could come into the pitch-freaking-dark and stick me with something to make me sleep and, next thing I knew, I was strapped to a table in some sterile room, prodded with an electric prong to get me running on a treadmill, thrown into a rat maze with an oven-heated floor to keep me moving, or whatever other tortures they might be up for that particular day.

I was sitting quietly in the corner, knees against my chest, wings loose and hanging down on either side of me, just waiting for the door to open. It was that time of day again, I knew, but they were late. Why? Who knows. Maybe they were arguing over whether they wanted to toss me in with a bunch of those wolf-bird-robot-things or seal me in an airtight room and see how long it took for me to pass out from lack of oxygen. Either way, whatever was coming wasn't going to be fun.

Suddenly, the lights above me flickered to life, blinding me. I wrapped my auburn-colored wings around me, disappearing in my own dark, feathery world. I expected somebody to come in and want to examine my pupils or something, but nothing happened. I stayed as I was, waiting for pain.

Then, out in the hall, I could hear shouting and cursing. The loudest voice was recognizably female, and very much pissed. She spoke in more of a snarl than anything. "Let me out of this damn cage so I can kill you, you white-coated bastards!"

Not a very convincing argument, I thought to myself. I realized the yelling was getting louder and I could hear the wheels of one of the carts they used to transport cages stop just outside of my cell. I did what I'd done before when one of them would come in: I dropped onto my side and draped a wing over my front, hiding and waiting, as always.

The sixteen bolts on my door were slid open quickly and precisely, then the door was pushed open. With a clang, a thud, and an angry shout, the door was closed again just as quickly. I heard banging on the door, hammering and angry as hell. Whoever had just been out in the hall telling off the lab people was now in my cell. I barely dared to breathe, not wanting to anger her further as she screamed wordlessly at the locked door.

I don't know how long it was, but the girl finally stopped slamming into the door and yelling at nothing. Time had never meant much to me in here anyways, but the last little while had been nerve-wracking, and I was guessing it had taken at least forty minutes for the girl to calm down. I decided to risk a peek from under my wing.

Wrong move. Just as I lifted my makeshift curtain, the girl swung around. If looks could kill, I would've died right then. The rage and hate contained in her eyes was horrible. But, as soon as I let my wing drop back down, I heard her call out, much more gently "Oh, I won't hurt you, whoever you are. You don't have to hide."

I made no move at all and, with a sigh, I heard the girl get up and walk over to me, plopping down about a foot away. I counted to ten and lifted my wing again. She wasn't watching me, exactly, but I knew she could tell what I was doing. Feeling somewhat safe, I took the time to give her a good once-over.

She was tall and skinny, but the muscular kind of skinny. Her hair was stained with mud and blood, but I could see some blond strands that weren't harmed. Her eyes, much softer and more friendly now, were medium brown and lively. She wore a ripped windbreaker, dirt-covered jeans, and a pair of beat-up sneakers. Overall, she looked like someone who had very recently gone through hell.

Once I reached the above conclusion, I decided that, since I wasn't dead yet, this girl wasn't planning on killing me. With that in mind, I sat up, letting my wings fall to the floor once again. "Who are you?" I asked, proud that my voice didn't crack, considering how terrified I was.

Her head whipped around in surprise. "I didn't think you'd be able to speak." She stated. "Good thing you can; might relieve some of the boredom of captivity." She held out a hand and said "The names Maximum Ride, but my friends call me Max."

I took Max's hand and shook it, controlling my shuddering to an absolute minimum. She noticed, but said nothing. "They call me 771M-649I-R170-5I24, but that's a little long." I told her, repeating my experiment number by heart. "There are only four letters in there though: M-I-R-I. So, I started calling myself Miri for short." I pronounced my self-given name like "eerie" with an "M" at the beginning.

Max let go of my hand. "Good enough for me." She jiggled her shoulders and her windbreaker fell off, exposing brown and white wings with black speckles. "As you can see, I'm quite a bit like you. Guess that's why they tossed me in here."

I couldn't help but stare at her wings. I'd never wings on any of the other experiments; I'd been thinking I was all alone in that sense. The only other winged things here were those robot guys, but they didn't count, since they weren't alive and all.

Max made herself comfortable, leaning back on the wall next to me. She was about to close her eyes, but then shot straight up as if she'd been stung. "How old are you?" she asked suddenly.

I cocked my head to the side, thinking. I'd heard the scientists mention my age a few times before. "I think I'm either fourteen or fifteen. You?"

She nodded. "The same." Max rubbed her arm, where I could see a large, blue-ish purple bruise laid across her skin. "How long've you been in this hell hole?"

I tilted my head to face the ceiling and let my eyes fall shut. "Forever." I whispered. "I've never been able to leave."

Max leapt back onto her feet, startling me, then stood in front of me, holding out her hand and motioning for me to stand. "Then we'll have to fix that, won't we?"

This is the first fanfiction I've ever posted, so please tell me whatcha like, whatcha hate, and what I could do better. Reviews to me are like bacon to velociraptors: 100% AWESOME. Share the bacon-equal review love, people! And don't actually try to feed the velociraptors. That's a good way to lose your. . .well, everything.

~N~