We be Angels?
Can't. Keep. Running.
I was panting, clutching a stitch at my side. The others weren't fairing much better either, especially the younger ones. We don't usually run such long distances, seeing as flying is a lot more convenient. However, in the middle of suburbia whipping out our wings was out of the question.
"We - need - to - rest," I said between gasps.
"This isn't the best place to do it," Fang wheezed next to me.
He was right. We were now on a giant field with very few trees, not many people and only one building, an austere church. We were sitting ducks.
I could hear the distant wail of police cars. Staying here wasn't an option. I looked to the sky. It was an accursedly bright and sunny day today. Whilst these were wonderful flying conditions it meant that we'd be way too easy to see. There was only one real hiding option here – the church.
From where we were standing the church was silhouetted against the sun so it was shadowed by its own darkness. It looked more like a sinister evil tower rather than a sanctuary or the house of God. It cast its blackness over almost half the field, creeping towards out worn out sneakers. It stopped there though. Perhaps it was waiting for us to make the next move. Or maybe it was my paranoid phobia of buildings that could potentially be used to trap us in.
The police sirens got distinctively louder. Fang nudged my arm. Despite the wonderful aura the church was giving me we dived into the cover of the shadows towards the entrance. I quickly absorbed some of the grotesque gargoyles guarding the entrance before stepping in. They reminded me of some of the more deformed experiments of the School.
"Nice," Gazzy stated as soon as we got inside.
As soon as I took in our bearings I had to agree. As far as buildings go, this wasn't too bad. My claustrophobia went away as soon as I took in the amount of space the church had on the inside. I guess it's because buildings for us are giant cages; all you need to do is seal all the doors and you're trapped. Nevertheless you could feel the space in this church, thanks to the high cavernous ceiling. And there weren't too many people about here either, just a few tourists and worshippers. This place had a nice, calm ambient atmosphere, created by the candles and the texture of the flagstones.
The School had none of that. It had low ceilings and the walls that I saw day in and day out for the first ten years of my life were whitewashed and blank. They had no life in them and they smelled of chemicals. And the whitecoats... don't get me started on the whitecoats. Or the cages. I shuddered. I didn't want to think about those cramped cages. Despite having escaped I guess they have remained in my head.
"Oh my God, this is so beautiful," Nudge breathed.
"Really?" Iggy asked, slightly annoyed he couldn't see it. Why? Well, he has the slight problem of being blind, thanks to an experiment to improve his vision. Oops. "What does it look like?"
"Really old. Ancient. There are beautiful stone carvings all along the walls and pretty stain glasses. It's got a really nice high ceiling. Ooh, they've got carvings and the ceiling too! I bet we could fly in here," Nudge gushed.
"Don't try it," I advised to Gazzy and Angel who looked like they were rearing to go. "We're hiding, remember?"
They gave me innocent smiles. Well, they were little kids after all. Angel was only six and Gazzy was eight.
"Max, do you think we could live here?" Nudge asked. "Churches take in the homeless right? We could say 'sanctuary' and we'd stay, right?"
"I don't think we'd get to live in the church and have free reign over it," I said, imagining us flying about inside. I have to admit, as a shelter it would have been pretty good.
"Awe, we could be like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and live in the bell tower," Gazzy suggested enthusiastically.
"Yeah, except this isn't the Notre Dame. And we don't know if this church has a bell tower," I said, bursting his bubble.
Hmm. If the church knew of our freaky mutations would they shelter us or trap us inside like the dear old Hunchback, never to see the light of day? Or would they throw us to the mobs with pitchforks?
The six of us walked down the wooden pews to the altar at the front of the church. Suddenly, Angel asked, "Can we pray?"
I started. I guess she wanted to try out what all the other adults were doing. She had never prayed before. None of us had really decided whether we really believed in God. I shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"
Angel, Gazzy and Nudge quickly knelt down and not very subtly observed the real worshippers. Thank god all the real worshippers' eyes were closed so they couldn't see the amateur prayers who just might be parodying them. But we couldn't be any worse than some of the obnoxious tourists clicking away and talking loudly, could we?
"Max," Angel called out, gesturing to a spot next to her. I exchanged a glance with Fang and we took our positions at the front of the church, with Iggy following our footsteps silently and without struggle. Meh. We had nothing else to do.
Sunlight glared into my eyes in this position. I glanced up to find the source and gasped. There was a beautiful round stain glass of an angel in front of me. She had her wings spread out to catch the sunlight and her arms spread open like a mother waiting to catch her child. Like a typical angel she had a benevolent expression on her face. Our faces were a little dirty from having to sleep in the subway and hardened from our experience with other humans. She was exactly like us – but not like us at all. People adored angels. But us? We have spent the past few days chased by cops and mad scientists, scientists who have absolutely no notion of respect. They would torture us, and pick us apart until we die in the name of science.
What about if normal, regular people found about us? I think all hell would break loose. There were all sorts of concern with Dolly the sheep and what kind of hell scientists could bring out of their hands. Heh heh, Oh my, what could they do with human genetics now? they cried. Clone us?Oh if only they knew what had already been done. We might be labelled abominations or atrocities to God, a mockery of this heavenly creature the angel. Who knows? Maybe I was too quick to say that people would react the worst, but at the same time, our experiences with other people didn't leave the best impression on me.
"Police! Stop where you are!" The police burst into the church, ruining the peaceful atmosphere. All the innocent bystanders jumped back, startled. To be honest, I was a bit startled too – I didn't think the police would want to risk their reputation in the church. But maybe the scientists had told them we were mass murderers or something. The tourists, of course, were taking photos, more fascinated than ever.
"Where can we go?" Iggy asked quietly.
I glanced around us, doing a quick scan of the entire church. Of course, whenever entering a building we always researched for possible escape routes. But from what I could see most of them were now being clogged up by men, and women, in black suits. While we were quietly hanging out in the church they must have surrounded the place. Eurgh! I was so stupid, I should have thought of this. But then again I didn't think the scientists at the School wanted to throw up such a big ruckus. I glanced behind us and froze. The angel in the stain glass was gone, replaced by a man in the clouds pulling another naked man, his assets concealed by the typical Roman Cloth around the loins, to the sky. I smiled. Well, that's exactly what we'd do, take to the sky.
"Up and away," I said to the flock. "into the big stain glass. Now!"
Fang leapt into the air, his dark feathered wings lashing out before catching flight and smashed through the glass. Tourists, worshippers and police gasped and screamed. The police clearly hadn't been told of our abilities – one of them dropped his walkie talkie and stared open mouthed at us. It was tempting to just walk over to him and shut it for him. A number of them were pointing, backing away and falling over at the sight of us. The tourists, of course, were still taking pictures, which is something I was definitely going to regret later. But all in all, it was actually pretty funny.
Glass tinkled and rained over us and the flagstones. Hopefully none of the flock got cut but I would have to make sure of that later. Ouch. That must have hurt Fang. One by one, I snatched Angel and Gazzy and hurled them out the window. Nudge took the hint and followed suit. Iggy, with his phenomenal sense of direction, also followed. He must have followed the sound of the crash that Fang made or something.
"My God!" a woman screamed. "They're angels!"
I snorted. Lady, if you knew anything about us you would not say we were angels.
"They just broke the stain glass!" a man in robes said in indignant fury. "That's a priceless piece of work!"
"Is it the apocalypse or something?" another man who had fallen to his knees asked.
So. This is how the world would react if they found out about us. Very reassuring. With the snap of my wings I caught the updraft and joined my flock outside.
A/N: Initially, this wasn't supposed to be a fan fiction - I was just going to use the element of the fact they were mutants with wings - which was pretty much the whole thing so I thought I may as well make this a fanfiction. Nevertheless, I've tried to make this broad enough for people who haven't read Maximum Ride to understand, hence why it's mostly pretty basic.
To the hardcore Maximum Ride readers, I hope I didn't dumb it down too much for you guys. Most of you will probably notice the resemblance between this church scene and the one in The Angel Experiment. However, I've never been to a church in New York so I used my own experiences as a tourist in England walking around churches to substantiate it. I took a terrible shot of it - because the sunlight was behind the church making it look intriguingly sinister. Nevertheless, it was much of the inspiration.
You're probably wondering why I chose to re-write the church scene this way. Well, I guess with Maximum Ride I had certain expectations. It had such an interesting premise - Kids with wings! They resembled angels, and I felt that James Patterson could have gone on a real thought provoking angle with that. But he didn't. It was just bam bam bam with the action, so I thought I'd try to slide some thoughts into this. I hope it's not too religious and preachy.
To the people who don't read Maximum Ride, I'd like your thoughts on whether I've made it broad enough to understand what's happening. I initially didn't want to stick this into fanfiction and put it into perspectives. And I wouldn't mind your thoughts on my grammar and its flow as a story.