I don't own anything guys, well apart from Zip. Rated for safety!

I woke with a start as two fingers lightly tapped my shoulder. I knew who it was because he was on first watch, he had agreed to first watch. It was Fang, but why was he waking me up? I sat up silently, I'm a light sleeper as it is, and Fang knew it. Allowing my eyes to focus, I stared at Fang's shadowy figure knelt before me. Once he was focused and I could see him in the little light left from the fire, I frowned at him, glancing at the kids and Iggy, not one of them had stirred, not even Iggy. I wasn't surprised; we had been flying for ages beforehand.

"What is it?" I asked in a whisper, but Fang just pressed a finger to his lips, looking into the forest. I stiffened, but once I saw there was nothing there, I listened as well. For a moment I couldn't hear anything and I just frowned a little more. But as I strained to hear, I heard what Fang had been indicating to; there was a scuffling sound of someone, or something, moving in the trees. I stiffened, looking to Fang, he just nodded a little. Whatever it, or whoever it was, they were really close.

Instantly I leant over and tapped Iggy's hand twice, he sat up but made no sound. Why was it that when we touched him he woke? I tapped his hand again and he nodded, making no sounds, but leaning over and waking the kids. I woke Angel who was sleeping beside me, telling her to be silent by pressing my finger to my lips. She nodded eyes wide as she tried to focus on their minds. I was guessing Flyboys, but then they wouldn't have made this much noise, the only other thing was Erasers, and I was probably guessing right to be honest with you. Angel nodded to my thoughts and I groaned instantly, everyone turned to look at me. I thought that they'd been given up on? I guess not!

Ah, yeah, little bit of background info on us. I'm Max, fourteen years old, leader of The Flock, a group of kids with bird DNA. Yes it is as freaky as it sounds, we all have wings. Fang is my best friend, also the same age, he's second in command. Iggy is also the same age, and also blind, but don't start feeling sorry for the blind guy, trust me; he's just like the rest of us, a strong fighter and has the most amazing talents. Nudge is next; she's eleven and a complete motor mouth, which is a whiz with computers, any computers. Gasman, it isn't worth asking, is eight and can do impressions of anyone. And then there's six year old Angel, she has too many abilities to list, but mind reading is one.

"It's Erasers," I told the others, glancing at Angel, who nodded a little. Iggy groaned, as did Gasman, but then excitement showed on both of their faces. Yeah great, that meant explosives, it always did. "Alright, we can try and get out of here, or we can face them." I was opting for the facing them idea, I needed to kick some Eraser butt, but if we could run, then I'd do that.

No-one had a chance to answer, because there was muffled cry of pain, one that wasn't from an Eraser. "Ok, that settles it; someone is getting grief from them." I whispered, heading for the trees and slipping into the shadows. I heard the Flock follow me, it would have been easier to take to the sky, but I wasn't going to take the chance.

The shuffles grew closer, and then was an 'oof' as someone took a blow, to the stomach it sounded. It also sounded like an Eraser; I smiled, whoever it was they were putting up one hell of a good fight. I listened carefully, creeping forwards slightly, the Flock right behind me.

That's when the fight came into view and I gasped in shock. A winged girl, with shockingly long blonde hair was fighting with a group of Erasers, but she was losing. Blood was running down her cheek and her shirt was ripped in several places. The scary thing was, I knew her, and we all did. It was Zip! I glanced at Angel, she looked just as shocked as I did, we all thought Zip was dead, we all believed that Zip was dead, but Angel nodded.

I looked to Fang now; he was frozen in shock and horror, staring at the girl in front of us, battling for her life. His unreadable face was quite readable now, I knew why. When we left the School, or rather escaped, Fang found out that Zip was in fact his sister, his twin sister. You wouldn't think it if you saw them, trust me, they're completely opposite. Fang is mysterious and quiet, with dark hair, ect, whereas Zip is lively, bubbly, blonde and completely mad. I swear she'd be a fair match for Nudge in a talking competition.

Zip was with us when we were in cages, well half of the time she was. See Zip has the weird ability to escape from whatever is holding her. No matter how big the lock, she'd get out of it. She was forever escaping from where she was held. She was amazing at it, but she never got far. Eventually they gave up with her, and once when she escaped, she tried to get us out as well, they sent the Erasers after her.

We had watched in horror as she was nearly torn to pieces in front of our eyes, then dragged away, barely breathing, we thought her to be dead. Now we were watching the same sort of situation. Zip had been part of our family when we were trapped there, not a main part of our family, because Jeb moved us away and that became the main family. But she was still our family, now even more so as she was Fang's twin sister. But did she even know that? No-one knows how Zip got her name, she was called something before that, but no-one knew what. Zip had always just been, well Zip.

I heard Gazzy telling Iggy and he froze in horror as well. I winced a little, Iggy had been close to Zip when they were in cages, and she had broken him out a fair few times. I knew that they were closer than ever before she had been destroyed right in front of us, well maybe not destroyed after all. This had to be hard for both of the guys.

I turned my attention back to the fight, there were so many of them, just watching for their chance, like it was a game. It made my blood boil and I clenched my fists. Zip landed a nice kick in one of their throats, causing the Eraser to gag and fall forwards, but another took his place. She was struck again, falling to her knees and taking a deep breath, not bothering to get up. She thought it was over, they pinned her arms.

That was enough for Fang; he took off into the air, rushing through the branches. Iggy was a split second behind him, following the sound of the branches. I followed, along with the kids. I just hoped we would get out of this…