Ok, Hi, I'm Sarah, aka Sari. I've been on Fan Fiction for about a year now, but I haven't posted anything since like last year. This is a Maximum Ride story, and I guess you could say it is a prelude to the story I am writing now. The story I am working on right now has been a work-in-progress since September. It is a really long story, and I guess I wanted to write this so that people would be watching me or something for when my big story debuts. Without Further Ado, this is Fighter, by me, Sari. Please comment and favorite me in your authors so you can be notified when I post my big story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or any of the Characters.

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I was thrown onto the padded floor, and the door was slammed shut behind me. I jumped to my feet and started pounding on the door. There was wolfish laughter from behind it. I let out a shriek of rage. The padded white walls of my personal prison cell felt like they were closing in around me. I punched the wall, hard, but it didn't do anything other than give me a sore hand. It was a small space, only about the size of a closet, but padded with this uncomfortable white cloth stuff from floor to ceiling. Think mental hospital room. But I'm not mental. Not yet, anyway. I started to pace. I had to get out of this room.

"Calm down, 2184," the overhead speaker said to me.

"I'm not a number!" I yelled back at it. "My name is Max!" I waited, but the voice didn't answer me. My name is Max, short for Maximum. Maximum Ride. That's my full name. I don't know my real name, so I named myself. And right now, I was really pissed off. This was the fourth time this week I was in this room. 'Isolation', they called it. Some people here get in trouble on purpose just so they can get thrown into here. It's a lot more comfortable than our 'rooms', which are actually dog crates. Like the ones you buy at Pet Co. But the isolation room is just that. Isolation. Which I could not stand. Anyway. They said it was because I had tried to escape earlier today. The truth is, everyone in this place is trying to escape. I'm at this horrible lab called The School. It's not like a regular school. It doesn't even resemble the kind of school that you probably go to. That would be a walk in the park compared to what I'm dealing with. No, at this School, a group of evil scientists perform sick experiments on kids. Most of them are little kids. I am only eleven, and I'm one of 'the old ones'.

EARIER TODAY

This morning I woke up to a blinding light. This was my usual wake up call. A scientist opened my crate and dragged me past a thousand other dog crates and into a solid white and sterile room, and then took a sample of my blood, my heart rate, blood pressure, all that medical information. Then I was placed on a cool metal table and forced into some leather straps. Most days, I would have fought the bindings. Most days, I would have been stubborn. But not today. I was too tired today. Immediately, a white coat, as I call them, stuck an IV into my arm and a strange colored liquid started pumping into me.

"Today, we will be testing M2184's digestive track. Using these chemicals," he gestured to my IV, "we will be able to see how the chemicals move through M2184's body." The younger white coats nodded excitedly. I assumed they were interns. Do evil scientists have interns? I don't know. They left me alone in the lab room. Why am I in this place, you might ask? It's not like I wanted to be here. I am trapped here. I was born here. I'll probably die here, for all I know. But mostly, I'm here because I'm special. Or so they tell me. More on that later.

So far, I have been what they call a Grade A fighter. Anywhere in the School they took me, I'd fight them and try to get away. I had gotten close before. Once, I even made it into the School yard, which isn't as nice as it sounds. Trust me. Lately, though, they had a new system of guards. They call them Erasers. Strange name, right? It suits them perfectly. Their job is to erase anything that causes problems. By erase, I mean kill. Eat. Catch my drift? I know what you're probably thinking. But they are much worse than whatever you can think of. See, these scientists like to play with DNA. And it's not always human DNA that they mess with. Erasers are a mix. They are half human, and half wolf, with the ability to morph back and forward as they please. In human form, they look like models, tall, thin, perfect skin and teeth. But in wolf form, they are really disgustingly terrifying. They are basically human sized wolves, complete with six inch fangs. And lately, the white coats have been giving them guns.

As for me, I'm not exactly what you'd call normal either. I'm not as hideous as an Eraser, but I'm not totally human either. I'm an avian-human hybrid. Avian means bird. That means I've got wings. My wings are a brown and tan color, and I think they are kind of amazing. Unfortunately, I've never been able to fly. I don't even know if I can. The School has never given me that kind of freedom.

I watched as the liquid from the IV slowly dripped into my arm. I was sick of being tested on. My whole life, I had lived in a dog crate or the isolation room. Every morning they tested me. They ran me through mazes like a rat. They tested my intelligence. They forced me to lift hundreds of pounds and I never got a reward. I was told my reward was not being retired. That's what they call it when they kill you. The metal door of the room opened again. I smiled. It was Jeb. Jeb Bachelor was the only nice white coat. He smiled at me and called me by my real name. He treated me like I was more than an experiment, and he was the one who told me to keep fighting.

"Hey Max, how are you today?" He asked me.

"I'd be better if they weren't pumping chemicals into me," I replied. He checked my pulse and wrote something down on his clip board.

"Just hold out a little longer. You're almost done with your testing today." He said.

"I'm tired of fighting. I am pretty sure I'm never going to get out of here, so what's the point in even trying to escape? I'm going to die here."

"Never loose your fight, Maximum. I know you can escape. The minute you lose your fight is the minute that they have won." After hearing those words every day for six years now, I was starting to believe that they weren't so true. Yes, that's right. I've been trying to get out of here for six years now. Suddenly, there was the sound of running feet from the hallway. Jeb looked up, alarmed. The door to the lab suddenly flew open.

"Bachelor," a tall woman with long black hair pushed the door open. She looked panicked. "The surgery with I2186 was a complete failure. They are still in the O.R. We accidentally made him blind."

"Is that the night-vision enhancing surgery?" Jeb asked.

"Yes. He's going crazy. We're afraid he may damage the equipment." Yes, you heard right. They just accidentally made some poor boy blind and they are more worried about the equipment than they are about him. Jeb left me to go tend to the 'situation'. Again, I was alone. Thankfully, the white coats hadn't tried any crazy surgeries like that on me.

Later that day, after I had been x-rayed and examined by the white coats, I was released from the leather straps holding me to the table and an Eraser dragged me back to the fourth floor lab. The fourth floor lab is basically a room filled with dog crates. Hundreds of them. And all of the dog crates held other experiments like me. That's where I slept every night.

"Gonna try to escape again, M2184?" He said, taunting me with my number. His foul breath smelled like meat. He held me roughly by the arm. "This time, I won't be so nice. I skipped breakfast, so I'm real hungry," the Eraser growled. He drags his teeth along my arm, not enough to make me bleed but enough to hurt. As he walked me to my crate, he turned and opened another dog crate across from mine. Out of the crate came a little boy. He looked to be about five, and he seemed normal. Then again, so did I. Until I opened my wings.

"G2188, you're scheduled for the treadmill today. Six hours of uphill running on level ten. Sounds like fun," the demon growled. The little boy whimpered then started to cry.

"Are you joking? There's no way he can run level ten!" I cried. The Eraser bared his sharp teeth.

"I wouldn't give me an excuse to hurt you," he hissed. The little boy came up behind me and clutched onto my hospital gown.

"He's only a little kid!" I yelled, protectively putting myself between him and the Eraser. For the first time in days, I was fighting again. Not for me this time, but for someone else I didn't even know. The Eraser threw me aside and grabbed the kid by his hair. I was furious. So I did the first thing that came to my mind. I punched him as hard as I could in the face. The Eraser only stumbled, but at least he let go of the boy. Then he came at me. His claws swiped my cheek before I could dodge them, and I felt blood. I kicked him hard in the stomach and he fell flat on his face. I think I knocked him out cold. A white coat ran into the room. He took one look at the Eraser and his eyes grew wide.

"What the-" he began, but he didn't get any further because I rammed the flat of my hand under his chin and he spun and hit the floor too. The little boy was crying again. I knelt beside him. His blonde hair was sticking up at crazy angles.

"What's your name?" I asked, whipping his tears away with my finger.

"Gazzy," he said hesitantly. "But they call me the Gasman." I didn't even want to know why they called him that.

"I'm Max," I said. "And I say we try to escape from this place. What do you say?" I asked. He hesitated, and then looked to the empty crate next to his. I was surprised when he shook his head.

"I can't," he said, backing away into his crate. "My sister. She's still here."

"We'll find her. We can bring her with us," I said.

"No," he said shaking his head. "She's three. She's too little." Three years old? The School was experimenting on babies now? They really were sick. An alarm went off. They knew that I had knocked out the Eraser and the white coat. "You should go," he said softly, climbing back into the crate. I didn't want to leave him, but I was fairly sure that he wouldn't come with me, so I turned and ran out the door. I turned down the hallways: right, left, left again. I was in a new part of the School that I hadn't seen before.

"You there! Stop!" A white coat yelled behind me. Naturally, I didn't stop. I ran faster. My bare feet pounded on the cold floor as I threw open the door to the stairs. Three white coats were chasing me now, probably wishing that they hadn't made me run on the treadmill so much. They were all panting and holding their sides. I ran down the stairs as quickly as I could. Just as I reached the first landing, the door to the third floor flew open in front of me, almost hitting me in the face. An Eraser jumped into my path. Not even slowing down, I pushed the door back as hard as I could, and it swung back and hit him in the face. I kept running. I considered throwing out my wings and trying to fly down the stairwell, but considering that I had never flown before, I decided against it.

The second floor now. Above me, I heard the Eraser howling and the white coat's feet as they attempted to chase me down the steps. The alarm was still sounding. I could see the door to the first floor now. It was feet away. And hopefully, my freedom was too. When I reached it, I pulled it open and found myself in another hallway. From the other end, white coats and Erasers were running towards me. I glanced to my left, then to my right, and saw a door there labeled 'Emergency Exit', which sounded good to me. I yanked it open and for the first time in a long time, I felt the warm breeze on my face. The sun was blinding to my eyes, but it felt great on my skin. The grass tickled my bare feet. Not that I had time to enjoy it though. All that stood between me and my long awaited freedom was a big, twelve foot wall with barbed wire on top, seven Erasers, and ten white coats, give or take a few. And then the door opened behind me, and several more Erasers and white coats that had been chasing me came outside, panting and struggling for breath.

It was then that I realized that I was in the School Yard again. This is where the Erasers had been trained to bring down and kill their prey, which is probably why they were laughing.

"M2184. You cannot escape," a voice said over the loud speaker. The Erasers edged closer to me. I looked around frantically, searching for a way out, but saw none. "If you refuse to be taken inside, the Erasers will take you." The speaker warned. I saw Jeb step out from behind a white coat.

"Please, Max," he said. He said. Yeah, the one who told me just thirty minutes ago that I had to escape. For my moment's hesitation, an Eraser jumped on me, pinning me down to the ground. Then I was roughly dragged to my feet then held in place by four Erasers. "You don't want to be eaten, Maximum," Jeb whispered as he passed me on his way back inside. "I'll get you out of here." He swore, so only I could hear.

PRESENT

So that's why I am in here. In stupid Isolation. I stretched m wings out behind me and leaned against the wall. I wondered what Jeb meant by 'I'll get you out of here'. Did he mean, literally, that he would help me escape? Where would I go? What would I do, all by myself in the big world? I then realized that I was never going to escape from the school. No matter what, there would always be some Eraser or some white coat that would trap me here. I would never get further than the School Yard. It was pointless, really, to even try to escape. All that it did was earn me 24 hours in the Isolation room, by myself with only my thoughts, no food or water, and extra vigorous workouts when my time was up. So again, I gave up on trying to escape. It was with these thoughts that I fell into a restless sleep.

----x----

I awoke with a start. From the hallway outside of my room, I heard people. I had probably only been in the Isolation room for four hours now, so they couldn't possibly be coming to let me out yet. I stood up and watched the door with anticipation. It was opened and a boy who looked normal enough was thrown inside the room with me by an Eraser. The Eraser told him to 'play nice', then slammed the door closed. The boy, who I assumed was about my age, jumped to his feet and started to pound on the door, as I had done awhile ago.

"It won't work," I said to him. He ignored me and kept beating on the door. He pulled back, his fist bleeding and the cloth of the door bloodied as well. He frantically looked up and scanned the ceiling, looking for a way out, I assumed. I sat in the corner, watching him search. His emo style blackish brown hair fell across his dark eyes. I wondered what kind of experiment he was, and what he had done to end up in isolation with me. But more than that, I wondered why he was in MY isolation room. It wasn't Isolation if someone was with you. He began to tear at the walls, but he barley made a scratch. His eyes were cold and determined.

"You don't know that," he told me, now panting heavily. He threw himself at the wall, again and again. Finally, twenty minutes later, he sat down, in the corner opposite mine. He looked frustrated but not beaten down. He had dried blood on his lip and he closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

"Who are you?" I asked. He didn't reply. Instead he searched the room with his eyes, still looking for some escape. I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back against the padded wall. Obviously, he wasn't a big talker. Maybe an hour passed before he spoke to me.

"You're the one they are talking about, aren't you." He said softly, so that I almost thought I imagined it. I opened my eyes and looked at him, and saw he was looking at me. "You took out five Erasers and made it to the School Yard before they caught you. It took four to hold you down." I nodded, stunned, not knowing how else to reply. Apparently I was becoming a legend. He fell silent again, staring at the ceiling.

"What are you in here for?" I asked.

"Tried to escape while they were all busy bringing you to Isolation." he said.

"Isn't really isolation, is it? I mean, you're in here with me."

"All the rooms were full. They thought we'd have something in common." He said, staring at me again. I wrapped my arms around my legs, suddenly chilled by his stare. He made me nervous, for some reason. What did he mean, something in common? That we both had tried to escape? Seeing my puzzled expression, he moved his shoulders around and I gasped. Two wings, identical to mine but in a shiny black, unfurled from his back. They were strong and majestic, and I was in awe as I spread my own brown wings. I had thought of the possibility of there being more experiments like me, but I didn't think I'd ever get to meet one of them.

"Fang," he said, softly, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Max," I said. He stood up again, and began to feel the walls, looking for a weak spot. "Do you really think you can escape?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, looking at me. "Don't you?" I shook my head.

"I did, for a long time, but not anymore. I've been here my whole life. I don't know anything else."

"Never give up, Max," he said. "That's what they want." For some reason, watching him search the room for the millionth time, I felt my hope restored. I felt my fight coming back. With a rush of bravery and restoration, I believed him.

----x----

Fang, my new friend and I, slept leaning against the wall facing the door. Hearing something, I opened my eyes and shot out my hand, grabbing Fang's arm. He opened his eyes sleepily, and looked at me. I nodded at the door and stood up, dragging him with me. The door opened, and several Erasers stood there. They grabbed hold of us and led us to a laboratory, where there was four other kids, all in various places around the room.

"Max!" I heard, and turned just in time to see Gazzy throw himself at me in a hug. I hugged him back, and looked at the other kids. There was a little girl holding onto Gazzy's hand, with curly blonde hair. She was wearing nothing except a diaper and she had her thumb in her mouth. There was another boy, sitting next to the window, which had chicken wire in it. He looked at me with blank eyes, and he didn't appear to see me. He had reddish blonde hair and he was tall and thin. There was another girl as well, who was African American and had big bushy dark brown hair. Oh, and another thing: they all had wings, just like Fang and I. The little girl holding Gazzy's hand, who I assumed to be his little sister, had pure white wings, like an angel. Gazzy himself had wing's like his sister's, but they were a more cream color. The little African American girl had brown wings like mine, but they were much darker. And the strange boy by the window had tan wings.

"You guys are to be held in here together from now on," a white coat told us, before closing the metal door.

"So I guess you got captured then," Gazzy said, sounding truly sad for me.

"Yeah," I said.

"This is my sister," Gazzy said, pushing the little one in front of him. She stood shakily on her feet. "Her name's Angel," he said. It was the perfect name for her, I realized. She looked like an angel, with her pure white wings and curly blonde hair. "That's Nudge," he said, pointing to the other girl, "and that's Iggy," he said, pointing to the boy by the window. "He's blind," Gazzy whispered to Fang and I. "Don't say anything about it." He must be the boy from the experiment a yesterday, the reason Jeb had run out on me for. I wondered how much equipment he had damaged, and hoped it was a lot. I looked at Fang, and he shrugged, so we sat down on the counter top.

"I'm Max, and this is Fang," I said, looking at the others. Nudge, I think her name is called, came closer to us, and Angel crawled onto my lap. Gazzy sat next to Fang, and even Iggy came closer to us." And I say we escape." Together, we'd have a chance. I was a fighter. We all were. And we would escape.

----x----

There it is. I'm not happy with the end, but it will suffice. Please Review and favorite me, so you can read my big story, coming soon!

Sari