A/N: This is my entry for the Nevermore, last chapter contest. I hope you guys enjoy it, I sent it in today, April 7, the last day to send yours in! Did I do a good job on character personalities? That's what I had some trouble on.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does.

'If we can survive an apocalypse, what can't we do?' I think surveying my bedraggled family, which is now much larger that it had ever been before. Dodging attacks from Erasers and insane scientists seemed like a walk in the park compared to what we had just gone through.

We'd made it.

Angel and Gazzy stood solemnly, looking much older than seven and nine. Nudge, for once, was completely silent. She kept her eyes squeezed shut, like she was closing herself off from the rest of us. Iggy sat in the dirt next to Ella, who was trying not to cry. Ratchet, Star, Kate, and Holden stood in a huddle behind Fang, who had his arms crossed and his stoic expression set. My Mom, hovering near Ella, was staring off into space. We'd all made it.

Almost all...Our three losses amidst the nearly 1 million others had broken each and every one of us.

I look upwards, their faces still fresh in my mind.

Maya;

She had saved me so many times.

Only to be killed by Erasers.

Fang said it was like seeing me die. In the final moments where it really counted, she had been my sister.

I don't do sadness. I don't do that black hole of emotions. But for today, I'll make an exception, for them.

Dylan;

Always positive charged, clueless, and fearless when he needed to be. So naïve at first, but before he…left us, he'd been so much older than his ten-month-old self.

The expiration dates come when they do, I guess.

And the most confusing, backstabbing, and caring father: Jeb.

It turns out he really was the voice, and he'd only hurt us to help us. Telling us all he could, and doing everything he could to make sure I lived. In all the aftermath, Chu had used the last bit of his power to kill my father. The three people I had previously hated were now the ones that I missed the most.

"Which way should we go Max?"

I turn around to see my Angel's bright, and very much alive, blue eyes.

"East," I whisper, my voice trembling a bit, which is terrifying. "We'll go east," with that my flock takes to the sky, every one else following on foot.

This is where I belong, free, and soaring higher than the clouds.

'The maximum ride is over,' says a voice I thought was long gone.

'Long time no annoy,' I reply, now smiling.

But if it's really all over, what do I do now?

'You live Max,' his voice is only an echo.

And live I will.

Because I know that my ride is far from over.

Review if you feel like it, I love feedback!