AN: I probably shouldn't start a new story when I already have two up. And I can barely update them often as it is. But yeah… I just had this idea in my head for a while. I'm sorry if this chapter sucks, but I usually write in 1st person, not 3rd person. This takes place after MAX. FANG hasn't come out in the U.S. yet. I know this chapter is short-ish, but I just felt that where I stopped was a good place to stop.
Disclaimer: I hold no claim to Maximum Ride.
Prologue
Dead wasn't a word Maximum Ride would use to describe her current state. The word dead was so final, it implied an end. But surely this wasn't the end of her existence. She didn't feel dead. She still felt alive. No, the word she would use to describe herself would be "stuck". Stuck in this existence until someone saved her. Max was stuck in limbo. And no, she wasn't stuck trying to walk under a pole without touching it for the rest of her sorry existence. She was stuck between life and death.
"Anyone there?' Her voice was the only sound in the empty darkness. She held her hands in front of her face to try to feel what was in front of her, but she couldn't see her hands. "Anybody?" she called out again. Her usually powerful and commanding voice sounded helpless now. Helpless and alone. Max gritted her teeth and turned in circles, hoping to find a source of light—anything that would mean an end to the darkness. She walked around, and her footsteps were soft as she explored her surroundings. She had always been sneaky and stealthy (how else was one supposed to sneak up on Iggy and Gazzy and steal their bombs from them?), but now, she almost wished she was a loud and clumsy oaf. Just for some sound in the silence that was pressing down on her. The space she was in seemed endless. No matter how far she walked, she couldn't come across a wall, or even a sharp cliff, nothing that would mean that this place had limitations. Max barely noticed that her wounds didn't hurt anymore. They had healed. Her fatal side wound was gone, vanished like it had never been there in the first place.
Suddenly, Max heard some footsteps behind her that were not her own. Loud footsteps, footsteps of someone confident enough to know that they didn't have to be quiet. Someone was approaching her. Max spun around but saw nothing. She must have been imagining it. She put one foot forward. She knew she had to find a way to get out, no matter what. Too many people wanted her alive. They needed her and she couldn't leave them. She knew he needed her. She walked in the dark for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. Time seemed to pass more slowly here, but maybe that was just Max's imagination. After a few more minutes of walking around blindly, she heard the footsteps again. This time, she was sure they were real. She turned wildly, hoping for a glimpse of another human being. It didn't even have to be another human, just another living thing to show her that she wasn't completely alone. Well, maybe living wasn't exactly the right word.
"Hello?" Max called out again, hoping against all hope that someone would answer. But this time, someone did answer.
"Maximum Ride," a voice called out from the dark. Max couldn't tell if the voice was female or male, but it was familiar somehow, though she was sure she had never met anyone with a voice like that before. She wasn't able to tell where the voice was coming from. It had seemed to surround her, coming at her from all sides.
"Who are you?" she yelled in a random direction. She didn't expect a reply. Out of all the times she had tried to see if anyone else was here, the voice had only answered once.
Which was why she was almost had a heart attack when someone actually stepped out from the dark. It was a boy, about her age. He had light brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He was pale, but not vampire-pale. His full lips and eyelashes made his face handsome. Max was instantly attracted to him for some reason she couldn't explain. She began to walk toward him—she felt an instinct to trust him. But then she stopped moving toward him and mentally scolded herself. She already had Fang. It worried her that she had to remind herself that she already had a boyfriend.
"I'm here to help you, Max," the stranger said. His voice was deep and definitely male, not like the voice she had heard before. She was confused for a moment. The boy and the voice were two different things?
"Who are you?" Max demanded of the stranger. Her usually determined and commanding voice was back. The old, indomitable Max was back. She was no longer lost and helpless. She was determined to get answers out of this stranger.
"That's for me to know and you to find out." This time, the boy sounded like the voice from before. But that was impossible. Nobody could change their voice like that, except for Gazzy. But then, a place between life and death wasn't something that would seem realistic either. Either you were alive or you were dead. You couldn't be in between. Or at least, that was what Max used to think.
Suddenly, Max realized where she had heard the voice before. It was her Voice. The Voice that had helped her so many times in the past and invaded her personal space.
"You're the Voice?" she asked, shocked. Somehow, she had never really imagined that the Voice could really be an actual person. She always thought it was just a voice. Without a body. Without a soul. But she was wrong, as she had been many times already today.
The stranger smiled. Max noticed there was a dimple on his right cheek. He had a nice smile, a smile that was infectious. It urged Max to smile with him. But she resisted. She had too many problems to smile.
"Yes, Max. I am the Voice. And I'm here to help you." This time, the boy talked in what Max began to call his "normal" voice. It was the voice he used when he wasn't being the Voice. It was the voice he had used when he had first stepped out of the darkness and spoken to her today.
"How?" Max asked, doubtful that anyone could help her. But this guy was the Voice, and he had helped her before.
He held out his hand to her, wanting her to take it. "I have something to show you, Max," he whispered.
Max stared at the hand skeptically. "Why should I trust you?" she demanded. She had never been good with trusting people before. That was what growing up in a dog crate and being experimented on by evil scientists did to people.
"Because you have nobody else to trust." The stranger's answer was short and simple. Max realized that it was the total truth. Suddenly, she felt very, very alone. Even more alone than when she had first arrived in this place, which made no sense because she wasn't alone now.
Max put her hand in the boy's hand. It was warm and soft. Max didn't know what the boy wanted to show her, but she didn't seem to care about that. All she knew was that she somehow felt safe with this stranger. In a flash of light, both the boy and Max disappeared.
The cloaked figure across the room smiled wickedly. Max had been wrong before. When she had first arrived here, she hadn't been alone. Because someone else had been in the room with her. Someone who loved the darkness more that anyone had a right too. The figure dressed in the dark cloak smiled again. Soon, she would get out of here. She would be able to go back to Earth and kill the ones who had imprisoned her here. She would get revenge. She crushed the blood red tulip she was holding in her right hand. And then, with a puff of smoke, she disappeared too.
Arizona, in front of Dr. Martinez's house
Fang looked down on the unmoving body of the only girl he could ever love. Max. There was a gaping wound in her side that was still oozing blood. Her wings were bent beyond repair. Her body was covered in dark red liquid. Fang barely registered the carnage and destruction around him. He didn't notice the fact that the M-Geeks had gone, and that the Flock was safe again, though without a leader. All he cared about was the girl in front of him. Her beautiful face was pale; she had lost blood because of yet another wound on her forehead.
Fang didn't want to touch her. He knew what that touch would confirm. But he had to make sure, anyway. He desperately hoped his suspicions were wrong. He didn't know how he would live without her.
He put his fingertips on her neck. It was cold to his touch. For a moment, he thought he could feel a pulse, but he knew it was just his imagination, the product of wishful thinking.
Maximum Ride was dead.
Fang wanted to break down and cry right then and there, but he knew he had to keep it together for the flock. He had been Max's second-in-command—he would be the leader now. He wiped away the few tears that had escaped from his eyes. He had to be strong, be emotionless, be a leader. None of the others had noticed that Max had fallen in battle yet. They were too busy examining their own wounds and rejoicing in the fact that the M-Geeks were gone. Little did they know that the M-Geeks had completed the job they had set out to do. The battle had been too chaotic to worry about anything other than keeping your own self alive.
But soon, the Flock would notice. Fang didn't know what would happen then. He stood up and clenched his fists, looking up at the sky, wishing he was flying up there with Max now. He made himself a promise.
One day, he would get his revenge. No matter the cost. He had to avenge Max's death. Even if it was the last thing he did.
AN: So, do you like it? Or hate it? Please review. Should I keep writing in 3rd person or make it easier on myself and write in 1st person?
Bob the Vampire Zombie: Urgh!
Me: That's "review" in Zombie Language.