While I loved, loved, LOVED the Maximum Ride series, I always wondered how it would be if the Erasers just… gave up. If there wasn't the weird, creepy Voices. All that stuff. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! There's gonna be a heck of a lot of Fax, and some possible other romances budding up… we'll see. –The Sayler

Just FYI, all of the kids are the ages they were in The Angel Experiment (Angel was six, Gazzy was eight, Nudge eleven, and the other three 14).

(When it's in first person= Max. Third person= Fang. Or another member of the flock, occasionally.)

I soared through Death Valley, my heart feeling like it was about to explode. It was all strangely different and incredibly, impossibly wonderful- the flying in open air, the absence of constant pain, and looking at the group of old friends beside me without having bars separating us.

Everyone looked exhilarated. Even Fang was smiling, making the whole skyline seem brighter.

"Where did Jeb say we were heading?" Iggy shouted through the wind. He looked a little lost. I don't think he'd ever flown in an unconfined space while he's blind.

"Somewhere in Colorado…" I recited the coordinates.

Iggy nodded. He asked, not for the first time, "Where do'ya think Jeb is?"

I didn't answer. I honestly didn't know. I turned to Fang helplessly. Nudge and Gazzy were also looking at me expectantly. Angel, already knowing how in-the-dark we were, just kept steadily flying, her wings the color of clouds.

Fang sighed. "We don't know."

Jeb was supposed to meet us at a solitary, abandoned gas station. We'd waited for a full day, but no one had shown up. Angel and Gazzy had been close to tears, begging us to stay a day longer. "He didn't have any in-intention to not meet us here! I could read his thoughts." Angel had begged me.

I'd been disappointed, but firm. "If we stay any longer, we'll run out of food and the School will find us. I'm sorry, Ange."

I was a bit worried, but shoved it to the side. How could I worry about that when I was finally free? It was the most amazing feeling- we could do anything, and say anything, and we wouldn't have a stinging knock-out shot, or a whip descend on us.

Fang was staring at me, I could feel it. I struggled not to blush, wondering if the deep friendship we'd developed in the School still applied here. I dared to glance one more time over at him- he had a slight quirk on the side of his mouth, not as happy as the smile he'd worn before, but amused and questioning.

I breathed in and out, synchronizing my lungs with my wings. "Let's just get to the house first. Then we'll decide everything there."

I heard grunts of agreement. We headed towards Colorado.

…

Fang looked at Max again, still trying to figure out why he couldn't look away. Her dark hair streamed out behind her like a cloud, and her face was flushed with excitement. Her eyes reminded him of warmth, and her lean, strong, slender body was suspended by her powerful wings. She was beautiful, like she always was. But her face- it was different. Gone was the tense and depressed resistance. She looked relaxed and hopeful.

He sighed silently. She was his best friend. That wasn't going to change- right?

…

The house was hard to spot. But I say that like a good thing, since we did eventually find it, hidden in the thick forest of mountains. Horrible Erasers and white-coats would just find it that much more difficult to track us down.

I flapped above the mansion-sized house, holding the shiny key up to the sun. Jeb had given it to me right before we'd activated our escape plan, 'just in case'. I had a bad feeling he thought this would happen.

…

"This place rocks!" Gazzy was in a state of glee. "I call the orange room, with the blue rocket ships on the ceiling!"

Iggy said quickly, "Then I get the smaller room with the little desktop computer in it."

"Darn," Nudge said, her dark face turning into a pout. "I wanted the computer!" Then she brightened. "Wait- the lavender room had a pink laptop on the cute little desk! And my own bathroom! Dibs! Fang, you can have the midnight blue room- it's attached with a door through Iggy's and Gazzy's room on the second floor. Angel gets the room Jeb put all those stuffed animals in, of course, and Max gets the big green room."

The kids had toured the house with lightning speed.

I clapped my hand with my awesome leader mojo. "Okay, you guys. Powwow."

We all decided to use the spacious living room as a meeting area. "All right," I began briskly. "I bet Jeb will show up eventually. But for now we're going to hang out here. I checked the cellar- there's enough food in there to last us years. And we've got Wi-Fi. And there are miles of mountains and wilderness isolating us. So what do you say?"

The flock cheered.

We all scrambled into the kitchen. I had thoughtfully set out the foods that had looked the most delicious and put them on the table.

Iggy walked over to the counter, while the rest of us stood there helplessly, having no idea how to cook. The blind kid waved us away. "I got this. You all sit at the table." I looked at him, dumbfounded, as he began to throw together cans of food and feel through the cabinets for a pot or pan.

We all fell upon the food and water like hyenas, wolfing everything down, even the leafy greens. There were sardines, pasta, beans, salad, scrambled eggs, bacon, Snickers bars, and ice cream. I moaned as I finished off my third helping of eggs.

"Tastes… so… good." The Gasman said in between mouthfuls.

Angel stood up after we were all done stuffing our faces. "I'm tired, Max." Can you tuck me in?

"Yeah, guys. Let's get some sleep." I walked everyone up to the second floor, holding Angel's hand. Iggy and Gazzy were talking sleepily about all of the test explosions they could try out this far away from other people. "… And the house, of course," Iggy added hastily, after catching a glimpse of my face.

The boys walked into their side of the second floor, and us girls into ours. I picked up a couple of stuffed animals and hauled them onto Angel's bed. She carefully tucked each of them in under the covers. Max. This place is safe. Can we stay? For a long time?

I smiled. "We're going to stay here for as long as we can, Ange."

Nudge was already asleep, so I just turned off the light and went into my room. It was the biggest, with green walls and white carpeting. I looked in the closet- it was full of clothes, ranging from skirts and dresses to T-shirts and jeans. There was a black tank top and pajama pants, so I put them on and threw myself into bed.

"Night, Max."

I nearly jumped out of my skin. But it was only Fang, saying the thing we said to each other each night at the School.

"G'night Fang."

He stood, framing the doorway, looking at me. I got out of bed and went over to him before he walked away. It felt so bizarre to see him so relaxed. His torso was hard, I thought in surprise. And he had gotten so tall…

I reached out for him, putting my arms around his chest and over his shoulder, and hugged him. He seemed surprised, but he put his tan, strong arms around my waist. It lasted for a couple of seconds, with us just listening to each other's breathing. I pulled away. "We should stay here," I said.

He didn't look so impassive anymore. "Yes."

And then he turned and walked into his room.

It was already feeling natural- living here, carefree, and the happiest I've ever been in my abused life. But I would never take it for granted.

Never.

I PROMISE THERE WILL BE FAX! But I want to keep it a bit slow. Trust me, it'll work. Please review! You have no idea- it only takes you a couple of seconds to type out what you HONESTLY think, and us authors(Yes, I'm talking to all of the authors of fanfiction out there reading this! You guys know!) find it amazing. Tell me what you HONESTLY think! I don't care if it's praise or harsh criticism (but please don't just shout out that you hate it- tell me why, too.), just tell me!

And I don't want to be those people that say they're not going to post the next chapter until I get a certain number of reviews, but I'm going to be. Sorry.

So I'll put the bar at… 15 reviews! PLEASE! I'm very stubborn. Way too stubborn than I should be. SO REVIEW! Pretty please? I already have the second chapter typed up, so now it's all up to you!

-The Sayler