Callie's POV

My eyes shoot open, and I almost trip over my own feet. I'm in a forest, and I'm running. Why am I running? Last thing I remember is falling asleep in someone's garage, trying to stay warm, and now I'm running for what seems to be my life. But for all I know I could be dreaming.

That's it! I'm dreaming. I'm having one of those incredibly weird dreams where I meet clowns, blow up the leaves, and forget to screw my head on the right way. After all, no one wants to be looking behind them for the rest of their lives.

BANG!

The sound of splintering wood fills my ears, and my hear beats faster. A feeling of dread creeps into my stomach, and I forget the possibility that I may be dreaming.

BANG! BANG!

After all, in dreams, don't the bullets usually miss?

A sharp pain erupted in my side, and I lost balance. Good thing I wasn't in the air, or I would have been done for.

Skidding to the ground, the skin on my hands split, and my head hit something hard. I screamed out in pain, but I knew it wouldn't make a difference. The sound of motors filled my ears, and I could swear I could hear "Eliminate! We must eliminate you!" chanted over and over again. Groaning I tried to get up, ready to fight the gun holding, weapon wielding flyboys, but before I got the chance, something long and cold bashed against my head, and everything went black.

Iggy's POV

"Max! I'm hungry!" Nudge complained for the twentieth time that minute. I could swear I was going to explode if I had to listen to her complain for a moment longer. First her wings were tired, and then Gazzy was being annoying, and now this.

"Sweetheart, we'll get something when we have the chance, but right now we are in the middle of nowhere and unless you want to make like Fang and eat some wild, raw animals, you can wait. Besides, weren't you eager to come looking for a new home with us? You could have stayed behind with Mom and Ella.

Sure she could have, but it's not bloody likely. After before we never wanted to be apart, even if it was only for a few hours.

BANG!

I stopped flying, concentrating on the sound I could swear I just heard. It sounded like a gunshot, but it was so faint, I could barely hear it.

"Iggy, what's up?" I didn't respond.

"He heard something." Angel said for me. Sometimes her mind reading could be kind of nice.

BANG! BANG!

This time it was louder, but only slightly so. There, a scream. Someone was hurt.

"Iggy, really what…hey!!" But I was gone, flying as fast as I could towards the sound. Boy Max's speed would come in handy right about now.

As I approached my destination I heard the metal sound of Flyboy's motors that I was so familiar with. They were near by, and I could hear them chanting they're monotone words, yet I was to concentrated on whoever or whatever had been hurt to decipher what they were saying.

The slightest sound of a heartbeat pumped in my ears, and I was off again, not noticing whether or not the flock had followed me.

I dipped down into the trees, still flying as fast as I could towards whoever was in trouble. Somehow I managed to dodge the trees, and I landed on the ground without stopping. I ran for a bit before I heard breathing.

Something was there, in front of me. Something alive, and breathing much like a human does but…

Oh, did I mention the flyboys? Well yeah, they were there too, and although I couldn't see them, I could tell they were about to attack me.

I was about to take my chances and beat the hell out of them, despite being blind, but it was then that Max showed up, with the rest of the flock in tow. I listened to them kicking, punching, and snapping metal spines. In any other circumstance I would have smiled, thinking of how lucky I was to have a family like this. One that would be willing to put their lives on the line to help me, even if I didn't have a good explanation for what I was doing.

Instead I was concentrating on the unfamiliar sound of breathing coming from somewhere not far off of the ground. There was someone there, and I just had to curse the stupid white coats for making me blind, because this was one of those times I really wanted to be able to see.

Metal clanked to the ground, as Fang took out the last of the Flyboys. They were all breathing heavily, and…if it's possible…I could swear I heard them all staring at something, or most likely the someone I was listening to.

"Who is she?" I heard my fateful pal Gazzy asking no one in particular. So it's a she.

"I don't know." Max sounded kind of worried, which wasn't unusual, but always made me feel queasy.

"What's she doing here? And why were the flyboys going after her? I mean, it didn't look like they wanted anything to do with us until we came. Do you think she's like us and they want her? Any way, aren't all of the flyboys supposed to be gone? I mean when we destroyed Itex they all went away. Right?"

No one bothered to stop Nudge; after all, we were all asking the same questions in our minds.

"Angel, you get anything from her?"

The sound of the air shifting back and forth came from what I expected to be Angel's direction. "N-no. She's unconscious, and not dreaming, so I don't really…I mean…"

Angel went on, but I was no longer paying attention. I bent down, near the unconscious body. The breathing was strained, as if in pain. Reaching my hand out I laid it down on something wet and…blood. She had to be bleeding pretty badly for there to be this much blood.

But something was wrong. It didn't smell like human blood, which I had smelled my fare share of times from when we ended up beating up the white coats until they bled. Yet it didn't smell like avian blood or Eraser blood. Instead it had a feline smell, mixed with…something else. What ever it was it wasn't human.

Max's POV

I don't know how Iggy knew that someone was in trouble from so far away, but this girl was bleeding badly, and who knew what would happen if she didn't get help and soon.

I couldn't see her very clearly as she was covered in blood, but I could tell she was tall, pretty, and…well that was all I could tell.

But what irked me was why she was there, and who she was. After all, the flyboys are supposed to be gone, and even if they weren't they don't go after just anyone. Wasn't that an immediate sign that she couldn't be human? Maybe I'm paranoid, but something wasn't right here.

Iggy was bending down, reaching out a hand to touch her arm, which was covered in blood. I opened my mouth to stop him, but Fang's hand on my arm stopped me. He shook his head slightly, so I gave in.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open, making Iggy jump back. Her eyes were a dark blue and seemed unfocused. Jumping to her feet she swaggered, the wound in her side causing her to fall.

"W-who…what…who are…you?" She was struggling to breath, and most likely slipping back into unconsciousness. "What…what do you want…?"

"It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to help." Iggy reached his hand out again, but before his hand could come in contact with skin she shrieked and jumped into the air with speed I didn't think possible.

With what seemed to be claws she latched onto one of the nearby trees, looking down on us. Opening her mouth she revealed a top set of deadly sharp looking fangs, and hissed at us.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nudge take a step back, and Gazzy slowly edging away. Although I didn't want to look weak, I knew the feeling, as I wanted nothing more then to get away from here.

"Please! You're hurt! We can help you!" Iggy protested, but weakly she shook her head.

"N-no. No one can help me. Just…just go a-away." Slipping, her grip on the tree weakened and I could tell it was taking all of her strength to stay up there.

Iggy shook his head, but couldn't protest any farther. After all, she didn't have any reason to trust us, nor did we her. I had half a mind to turn everyone around so we could continue on our merry way, but that's the problem with me. She didn't seem to be a threat, and she had been attacked by the flyboys so she had to be an enemy of Itex. Could I really just leave her here to die?

Well, maybe. She could be a spy from Itex, who is being tracked by the white coats and they'll find us…or maybe she's a homicidal killer who's going to kill us all in our sleep!

My imagination kept going on like this, thinking of ways this girl could be a major threat to us, but once I got to homicidal robot, Angel stamped on my foot and gave me a look.

'Max, robots don't bleed.' She thought into my mind.

Giving into this reasonable explanation I turned my mind back to reality, where a weird girl with claws and fangs was hissing at us while hanging onto a tree.

She looked around the sky, as if expecting something to come, or in out case looking for a good place to lift off through the trees. Looking a little disoriented she blinked rapidly, her eyes going wide before she fell from the tree.

It wasn't a long fall, but from the condition she was in it had to hurt pretty badly: badly enough for her not to get up.

Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge and Angel all rushed forward to see if she was all right, but Fang and I stayed behind, knowing that she could be dangerous. At least, that's why I stayed behind.

"Is she alright?" Iggy asked.

Nudge felt for a pulse, but where she learned that I have no idea. "She's alive, but she's bleeding pretty badly. Do you think we should take her to a hospital? I know that's dangerous, but she might die! What would we do then? Or should we take her back to Ella's place?"

Nudge Gazzy and Angel took to calling Mom's house "Ella's place" because they didn't feel comfortable calling her mom, and it was to difficult for them to say her name. Quite frankly I don't blame them.

"I don't know guys. I mean, we really don't know who this person is. She could be…"

"Max, come on! She needs our help! We can't just leave her here!" Angel protested, and I sighed, knowing that if I disagreed she would just use her mind powers and force me to take her back with us.

"Fine, we'll take her back to Mom's place, and get her fixed up, but that's it! After that she needs to leave.

They all agreed, but I could tell Fang was a little hesitant. Scooping her up in his arms, Iggy mutely decided that he would be the first one to carry her. Personally I thought that was a stupid idea, but I didn't protest.

We all lifted off the ground, looking around warily for more flyboys. There weren't any. Sighing I started flying in the direction of Mom's house, noticing that we were much farther away then I had planned on going. How had Iggy heard her get hurt from that far away. Even he couldn't do that, right?

I ignored the question for now and continued on my way. It was only a matter of time before I found out what I was really getting in to.

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