Here we go again.

I ran to the edge of the cliff, jumped, and flew off the edge in a perfect, textbook dive.

And i mean literally flew.

Because there was no water beneath me. No pool, no lake, no river, just endless sky and then far below the green pinprick fields.

I let myself fall for a few seconds and then unfurled my wings and soared upwards. It felt amazing. The wind whipping my hair and the heady rush as i

climbed higher and higher through the clouds. I really love that feeling.

Then i tucked my wings in, extending them just a little to guide myself and bombed back down. I unfurled my wings suddenly, the wind caught them and

yanked me upwards. Yeowch!

Okay that was dumb. The pain in my shoulder blades subsided and i glided the last few feet to where the flock were waiting.

Fang looked at me. "What?" i cried.

He narrowed his eyes. Jeez! It would help if you actually, you know, spoke! I thought, but Fang isn't the chatty type. Big Understatement.

Still, I knew what he meant. I'm supposed to be the leader of our little gang and leaders don't shoot off into the clouds, giggling manically.

Well, most don't anyway. Especially not when they're on the run in unknown territory.

Then Nudge cannoned into me. I was knocked off balance and dropped a bit, but managed to recover and flew up to hover next to them.

"Nudge!" I snapped.

"Soz," she chirped, darting away from me. Fang raised his eyebrows. Okay. Okay, i get it! I'm the leader. The flock tend to look up to me. Well some of

them. The younger ones at any rate. I suspect Fang only went along with it because he didn't want to leave me in charge on my own. As just proved, i

can be a bit of an idiot sometimes, so its probably just as well. Even so, i was the eldest and Fang was right, as usual, Nudge's cannoning into people

was just her copying me. Oops.

Note to self: Less cannoning.

Okay. Be leaderly. Go on... Lead. I took off again, flying ahead, the flock fell in behind me. I had no idea where i was going.

"Right," I said. I stopped. "Soz?" I repeated, looking at Nudge questioningly.

"Yeah! It's what they say over here. Everyone says it," she replied excitedly, coasting along next to me.

Everyone. Who's everyone? We've only been here five minutes, we don't know Everyone. Correction, we don't know Anyone.

How does she pick up this stuff? Nudge seems to have a built in Blend meter. Which would work great if she didn't have giant bird wings.

"What does it mean?" I asked

Nudge shrugged "It means Sorry, i think,"

I nodded.

Talk the talk. Walk the Walk. I thought.

Fly the Flight. My voice said.

I sighed. It's not like I'm gonna forget that i have wings, thank you very much. Plus in mid air would be a pretty bad time to do it.

Okay. Time for a recap. Yes! I have wings! My name is Max. Maximum Ride. Like it? I chose it for myself. So did the rest of the flock. We don't have

parents so we never had names except for the ones we gave ourselves.

Theres six of us, Me, Fang and Iggy (who's blind). We're fourteen. Nudge, eleven, Gazzy, eight and Angel, who's six.

We are kids with wings. We were brought up in a science lab at a place called the school, where our DNA was genetically engineered and crossed

with a bird's to give us wings. They were also the ones that tried to enhance Iggy's eyesight and made him blind forever. So naturally, we don't really

like to talk about it. Currently the six of us are in Wales. Yup. Great Britain. Don't ask me why. I'm a little hazy on it myself. We were on our way to

Washington DC and got, well, intercepted. You guessed it. Erasers. The school got us. Long story short we took a Plane. Yeah, i know, but trust me,

even we can't fly that far. So we took a Plane, First Class. And by First Class, i mean, Cages, Baggage compartment. Nice, huh. Weirdly though, The

voice in my head had remained relatively cheerful. And it felt right.

At the other end there was a fight, which we won. And we escaped, but now we're in Wales, with no idea what the hell is going on. I mean, Wales! And since the

plane landed in a field in the middle of nowhere, i don't know where we are either.

Interesting.

What am i supposed to do now?

What do you want to do Max?

Oh yeah. And i have this voice in my head. One that's not mine, i mean. It seems to know a lot, but doesn't tell me anything. You'd think it could at least

try to be helpful, since I'm the one that has to carry it round inside my head. Yeah yeah. I know I'm crazy.

You're not crazy Max. And i am being helpful. I want to help you, you just have to trust me. This is where your path leads Max. You were meant to come to Wales. It's part of your destiny.

Yeah. And it thinks my destiny is to save the world. Thanks for the help. I'm stuck in Wales trying to look after myself and my friends. Trying to be

the leader even though i have no idea where we are or what to do. We are gonna get eaten alive here, cos unless i come up with something I'm just

gonna keep flying in a straight line until we get caught again, but don't worry everyone because i'm going to save the world. That is NOT helping. We

need a hideout or some cover or somewhere to regroup. I do not need to be told about my destiny.

Don't worry Max. Their not following you now.

Something about the way the voice said it. Their not following you. So who where they following? Were there others like us here in Britain?

Even so, i thought. We need to stop.

All you have to do is ask.

I really was mental. "Please voice, we need somewhere to lie low for a couple of hours," I whispered under my breath. I opened my eyes to see Gazzy

giving me an odd look.

"What did you s-"

The voice interrupted

No problem Max. That line of trees up ahead. Do a sharp U-turn round it.

I relayed that to the rest of the flock. Gazzy looked at me again. It was annoying me that i still couldn't quite figure out his expression.

"Is it your crazy voice again?" he asked. You know for an eight year old he's remarkably perspective. I heard Fang stifle a laugh behind me.

"Yeah it is," I replied, quickly cutting off the conversation as i swerved round the trees, bringing down a rain of leaves.

Now following the fence, take two lefts and a right. The voice commanded. I did so, the flock following my every move flawlessly.

I kept following the voice's instructions through the seemingly identical cluster of trees and then suddenly out of nowhere a smooth rock face rose up

in front of me. The forest we were in backed up against an artificial cliff face. It had been built for Rock climbing, or so the voice told me. It had been

abandoned since the owner ran out of money and now natural weathering and erosion had made it useless for anyone but really experienced climbers.

And there should be a small cave...here!

I called the rest of the flock over. It'd do for a few hours at least.

"Nice," Fang said "Homey,"

"Shut up," I said. He grinned. Glad to see he's feeling alright.

The others however, weren't as cheerful. "I need to sit down," Gazzy moaned. Angel didn't even speak, but slumped to the floor of the cave, leaning her

back against the wall, looking glum. Typically, Nudge said "I'm hungry,"

I felt so bad. I was supposed to be looking after them. "Where are we?" Iggy asked.

"We're in a cave, Ig," Gazzy said.

"Oh," he said, which made me feel worse.

"It's a nice cave though," Nudge said. I wanted the ground to swallow me.

"Sorry i couldn't do better guys, but at least its out of the way," I mumbled.

"It's fine," Fang said "what's more urgent is food," He was right, again. Fang puts things in perspective.

"I think I saw lights, of a town or something," I said "I'll go there and bring stuff back. I'll be back in a few hours,"

"What if you're not?" Iggy asked. I didn't have an answer. I didn't know what to do. Usually we had a meeting point, but i was lost. .

I pretended not to hear but i met Fang's eyes and he understood. If i don't come back, you're in charge.

A few minutes flying and it came into view. A mass of lights beneath me. A town? More lights appeared over the crest of the hill. A city?

I landed a mile or so out and peered at a road sign. It came sharply into focus. Night vision sure is handy.

"Cardiff." Never heard of it. I began to walk towards the town. I was too close to fly without the possibility of being seen. As i passed the road sign

something caught my eye. On the other side of the sign. The metal side, without writing. Someone had grafitied in bright red paint, "Torchwood". . .