Maximum Ride Story-
Chapter 1-
"Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!"
I pushed my legs, faster, my breath coming out in silver clouds, slightly obscuring my vision. I ducked under branches and brambles, not moving enough to avoid scratches and injuries but enough to keep me from getting tangled.
"Move legs! MOVE!" I mentally urged my limbs, they seemed to respond and I got a new burst of speed, my lungs and legs were on fire and the cold stung my bare arms and (once again) legs.
"DON'T LET HER SHIFT!" A voice boomed behind me. I slowed a little bit, why hadn't I thought of that earlier? I lifted my nose to the air and sniffed, there were animal trails all over the place, all heading towards one area mostly, I could also smell open air, which meant…a field.
As I ran I focused on my back, thinking of the skin opening and allowing my extra limbs to grow and for my other features in this form to disappear. There was a sharp stab of pain and my hearing became slightly dulled and I stumbled, a new weight on my back and my means of balance gone. I swore once and picked up the pace,
"RUNNING!" I shouted randomly to myself as I saw the clearing ahead. I cheered and skidded into the middle of it, turning and waiting, just so I could give my attackers a message.
The three big burly, yet strangely model like, men came bolting into the clearing, stopping a good distance from me with snarls.
"I HOPE THEY GIVE YOU HELL FOR MISSING ME AGAIN!" With that I spread my large black wings and pushing them roughly against the air, my strange few long red primary feathers catching the wind sending me shooting into the air, laughing like the mad woman I was. They howled in anger and a few idiots tried to jump and grab my feet, even though I was way out of their reach. I shot through the cold air, my shredded shirt and shorts flapping in the wind.
Of course, five minutes after getting into the air I was freezing. I started shivering uncontrollably and glanced below me, looking for a safe place to land without getting caught.
My sharp golden eyes focused in on a small hut, it looked like no one had been there for a while and, as I circled closer to it, didn't catch the scent of any one in there, just the slight scent of rats. I landed about ten yards away and tucked my wings away, focusing on my other form for the land.
I slunk quietly through the leaves, no making a sound as I went. As I got nearer I noticed how dead tired I was and yawned, coming up to the door and looking at the lock with bleary eyes. With another wide yawn I poked at the lock with one of my long, pointy cat like black nails until I heard a click and walked in.
The place was indeed old, dust covered everything and smelled stale. I sneeze and rubbed my nose, walking over to the middle of the floor and plopping down, curling up just like that, my long dark golden tail resting over my face.
The next morning I woke to a wonderful warming feeling across my body. I let out a strange little mewl like noise and stretched luxuriously, blinking lazily and blowing a strand of my black, silver and gold hair from my face as I squinted at the sun, my slitted pupils narrowing against the light.
"It's been too long since I woke up when I felt like it." I thought happily and jumped up, walking over to the cupboard and cheering, there was a nice selection of dried, canned and non-spoilable foods. There was also working water BONUS! I hummed a useless tune as I unwrapped my wonderful breakfast of s'mores Pop tarts and chews on it cheerfully, the tip of my tail curling slightly to avoid dragging on the ground.
I wandered around the house, looking for anything interesting to do, all I did was come up with some books and a deck of cards, and to my joy, some clothes.
I kept humming my tune as I flipped through the outfits, trying to find something I wanted.
I finally found a red short sleeve shirt with some band on it that had a black skull with two bat wings branching off of it, it fit me perfectly. I then found a pair of black skinny jeans that I was forced to cut a small hole in the back in for my tail and finally a black leather jacket and black fingerless gloves to replace my olds one that were in very bad shape. The shirt I cut slits in for when I was in my bird form and it was thankfully long enough to cover the hole in my pants. I kept wandering around and found a plain old black backpack and stuffed it full of clothes, an extra pair of pants and shirt and slung it over my back, not at all disturbed by the weight.
After I was dressed I shifted forms, spreading my wings and holding them lazily behind me, going over to the window and leaping out, I didn't want to stay in one place for to long.
That day I flew high in the sky for hours, only stopping when nature called or when I got a little hungry, though in the school I had gotten used to not eating much and I was able to work hard without eating much, unlike the first generation Bird kids. When the sun was setting I looked around for a place to stay and landed at a secluded cave, I shifted into my land form and curled up again, falling asleep.
If anyone's wondering, I have three forms. One in my air form, that one has my wings, another is my land form, which is my cat form, this includes dark gold ears and tail, even more advanced senses and claws. My final form is my battle form. This form is my most dangerous and most obvious. When I need this form diamond hard silver scales form a protective layer over my arms, legs, chest and framed my face like a mask. I also get greater speed, more strength and poison in two fangs that grow in my mouth and my nails. The poison is deadly ad one tiny scratch can be fatal.
So now you know.
The next day I woke up, took to the sky and kept flying, I had nowhere in mind, just not the School…they had tried to shove me into a Small…A SMALL! That and all the tests, the pain…the killing they forced me to do, it was horrid.
That was how my life went for three days, fly, find a place to sleep, sleep, get up, fly more, repeat, until something interesting finally happened. I was relaxing in a tree when I heard what sounded like a group of people crashing through the trees. I looked down with little interest, not caring enough to help.
A few minutes later a boy, a little younger than me, with dirty brown hair came bolting through the forest followed a little bit after by…ERASERS!
Okay, now I cared.
I tensed, my tail flicking in aggravation and my ears pricked. He seemed to sense me for he looked up, his fearful green eyes meeting my predatory golden ones. His eyes widened even more, thinking I was after him and screamed, running faster. I sighed and jumped skillfully from branch to branch, quickly getting lower and gaining on him. He heard the branches rustle and I could hear his breathing pick up.
With another shock of pain I had wings again, I had gotten much better at my transformations, I swooped down and grabbed him under the arms, lifting him into the air without any effort.
"LET GO OF ME! I'M NOT GOING BACK! I'M NOT!" he roared, thrashing and trying to land a hit on me.
"THEN DON'T MAKE ME DROP YOU!" I snarled back, starting to lose altitude before picking up, then dropping, so we were going very jerkily.
"WHY WOULD I LET YOU TAKE ME BACK THERE I'D RATHER DIE!" I growled
"I'm not taking you to the School, I'm saving you from the Erasers!" he stilled and I was able to fly so much easier than before.
"Oh…then Thank you." I grunted in acknowledgement.
"So did you have any place you were planning on going to?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yah, I was going to look for the Flock or Fang's Gang." I frowned down at him,
"The Flock…Fang's Gang?" I asked and tilted to the side, aiming towards a vent I could see.
"Yah! The Flock group of mutant bird kids and Fang's Gang is just a group of mutans! The birds were the second best experiments ever made! Save for the Chimera of course." I scoffed and nodded,
"No on beats the Chimera in freakism." I growled, the boy nodded in agreement and sighed,
"I can't really join the Flock though, since I don't have wings…well at least not bird wings." My eyes narrowed and I back pedaled, stopping us,
"You have wings kid?" he glared at me, seeing he was only a year or two younger than me age but nodded,
"Yah, Bat wings." I sighed,
"THEN FLY!" I threw him into the air in front of me. He yelped and plummeted about fifty feet before getting his wings open and stopped struggling, retuning to face me.
"You didn't have to throw me!" he snarled. I just smirked and took off flying, wheeling circles around him,
"Lighten up! You're free! I've been free for a long time and now we're going to find a group of people like us!" I cheered. The boy looked at me strangely,
"Are you bi-polar?" I smirked,
"I'm actually not to sure, I just think I have very sudden mood swings. So what do you know about the Flock, Fang's Gang…" I hesitated, curious about something, "And the Chimera." He nodded and we started flying in a random direction.
"Well, the Flock has six members in it, all bird kids. Their leader, Maximum Ride, is more like their mother and leads everyone like a family. And Fang used to be a member of the Flock but he left and started the other group." I sighed,
"A family…that would be nice, I wonder why Fang left." I breathed, lazily gliding on a thermal. "And the Chimera?" He went slightly pale,
"It's a beast! They combined three different animal DNAs into it, so now it's only about 95% human! Unlike most of us who are 98%, like you and me." I twitched slightly and nodded,
"But what makes it so bad?" he glanced around, as if expecting the monster to appear,
"They said when it gets Mad it goes into a primal instinct like thing and just loses control, killing everything in sight." I winced again and swallowed,
"Oh, that does sound terrible." He nodded,
"Oh! By the way, what's your name? I'm Bruce Wayne!" I laughed,
"Like Batman, of course. Well, I don't actually have a name, but you can call me…Eris." Bruce nodded,
"Good to meet you Eris! Thanks again for saving me." I nodded and slipped into silence, thinking over what he had just said.
We flew for a while until I noticed Bruce starting to slip, falling a little before groaning and picking himself back up. I blinked at him in confusion before I realized he was tired.
"Oh! Let's find a place to sleep for the night." I offered, I was barely tired but I looked around, trying to find a suitable place to land. There was a nice cliff off to the side of a waterfall that looked like it could fit us. I pointed down to it and dived, pulling up and back pedaling just in time to land silently on the ground and step out of the way for Bruce. Of course as soon I stepped back just enough I heard a quick intake of breath and a stone move, I spun around just in time to see a body flying at me.
I yelped in shock and hit the ground, staring up a milky white eyes that were narrowed in fear and anger.
"I'm not here to hurt you!" I shouted, trying to stand up just as Bruce swooped in, shrieking in terror and turning around to fly back out.
"Wait! Bruce!" I stopped him. He fell into a loose defensive position, shaking in fear.
"Who are you?" the boy pinning me snarled. He was tall, lanky and pale, everything about him was pale from his pale red blonde hair to his pale blue eyes.
"I'm Eris, my friend is Bruce, we're not here to hurt anyone, we just need a place to stay." I said in a low soothing tone I used to use on the other mutants who were in pain, close to death or terrified.
"How'd you get up here? There's no trails." He asked, keeping his voice strong though I could smell his fear.
"We…uh…flew?" I said, slightly awkwardly. The kid sighed and leaned back,
"So you're mutant freaks, like me." I nodded,
"Yup, I have bird wings, Bruce has bat wings." The kid smirked,
"Bruce…like Bruce Wayne?" Bruce nodded enthusiastically.
"Yup!" he cheered.
"So, who are you fellow freak of nature?" I asked with a laugh, he hesitated, obviously being the untrusting kind.
"I'm Iggy." He said slowly. I smiled,
"Nice to meetcha Iggy. What happened to you? You look a little…beat up." And so he did, his lip was smothered in blood, there were scratches and bruises all over his face and his eye was slightly swollen.
"Erasers." Bruce and I hummed in sympathy.
"I just escaped from mine today, Eris scared the crap out of me but saved me." I rolled my eyes,
"Yah, you thought I was taking you back, some way to thank me." I snapped.
"Well I think you got your payback!" he snapped back, Iggy looked about two inches to the left of my face,
"What'd you do?" I smirked,
"Well, since I was carrying him, I didn't know he had wings, but when I found out he did I threw him." Iggy laughed,
"Nice one. So where are you off to?" I shrugged,
"We're trying to find the Flock or Fang's Gang." Iggy's eyes snapped over to Bruce, only about an inch off.
"Why?" I answered this time,
"Well…we don't really have anywhere else to go and we heard the Flock is like a family, so maybe they'd be willing to help us out and if not the other group may." I explained.
"I'm sure they would…do either of you happen to have any food?" I nodded and reached behind me, testing something. I grabbed a can of raviolis, my bottle of water and a few packs of ramen noodles holding it out silently to Iggy. He didn't react,
"Hey Iggy?" he looked at me,
"Are you blind?" he nodded, glaring at empty air,
"They tried to fix my night vision, ended up blind." I made a soft clucking noise of sympathy.
"They've been up to a lot, they even figured out how to bind more than one type of DNA into an egg." I growled. His pale eyes widened,
"Really?! B-But what?!" I opened my mouth to speak but Bruce beat me to it.
"The Chimera! It's the scariest thing they've created yet! It has the DNA of a cat, a bird and a snake!" Iggy whistled,
"I wonder what they would look like." I looked away,
"If you could see you'd know." I thought to myself and yawned, curling up by the fire, annoyed I was going to have to stay in my air form, my land form was so much more comfortable to sleep in, oh well.