Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I do not own Maximum Ride. I do not…I think you get the picture.

Author's Note: Okay, so, to everyone who read ADOT: Here's my new story! I actually like this one even more than ADOT so far. More action. And-insert fan girl squeal here-Faxness! Yay!

Even if you didn't read ADOT, I hope you enjoy this story!

Set After MAX. (I lied in the ADOT preview…Sorry! I get my books mixed up.)

What If I Don't Want To Be A Savior.

Epilogue: Four Months Earlier

Max POV:

I sat down in the dirt, voices swirling around me. I couldn't believe what was happening. My flock was leaving me.

We were splitting up, like we had been supposed to since the beginning. Each of us, leading our own band of mutants, defeating various branches of The School. If we were lucky, we planned to meet up again in one year. And, by then, we planned to have saved the world.

Right. No pressure.

The voices quite possibly could of actually been singular, and therefore be my voice. I really couldn't tell right then. The voices may of not even existed; maybe I was going mental.

The last option was quite possible, considering the fact that there were now five dots in the sky, slowly becoming smaller. The only people together still were Iggy and Gazzy, because Iggy needed someone to guide him.

Why was this happening, you ask? I'll give you a quick re-cap:

We were just settling into a quite lovely house, courtesy of CSM. As you could tell by the end of the last book, what you would call Fax had just began, and was just becoming-if I do say so myself-even better.

Then, Jeb came for a visit. Call me crazy, but I didn't trust him.

Anyway, Jeb decided that it was time to complete my mission. And, since I evidently wasn't doing a wonderful job, we would be forced to split up. We would each be given a map with our territory, and each place where there was a School. We would each have about ten School's to destroy, and then they would all be gone. Yes, I know you're thinking about that whole 'destroy one and two more grow back' thing. That's why we had to be sneaky, and had also been given a time plot of when we were supposed to strike. Supposedly, Jeb was going to attempt to stop the remaining ones from rebuilding. (Yes, and that would be about as likely as if I went in there, stood on top of the building, and yelled, "Okay, evil people! I command you to disable yourselves!" And if they asked what I would do, I replied, "Oh, yeah…Didn't think about that part. I'll keep standing here.")

Yes, I know you're thinking: Max actually listened to JEB? And split up the Flock? And split up her and Fang? Well, trust me, I didn't want to. But my mom and the CSM thought it was a good idea, and I trust them. I was beginning to regret that decision, since the emptiness was already cutting me to my core. (Insert my personal mental image of what, exactly, someone being cut to their core would look like. And exactly what would be a person's core? Their spine, maybe? Heart?)

I had grown up with everyone of these people, and now they were gone. Out of my life, quite possibly to never return. I mean, I know they have to leave the nest sometime (a little bird-kid corny-as-hell humor for you, there), but why now? Under these circumstances? I mean, if they were going off to live in California and be movie stars, different stories. But they were going to fight some of the most evil masterminds in all the World. And they were just kids! (Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm only as old as two of them; oh well. I put down the kid card when I was handed the mother, leader, and protector cards.)

It could have been hours or minutes that I sat there in the dirt, staring like an idiot at the sky. I don't really know. But eventually, I came to the realization that I, too, was on my own. I may have been the leader, but I was nothing without those kids.

I pulled my map out of my pocket and glanced at it. I had gotten the European area of School's, and fourteen had been located there. (Originally, Jeb was going to give the extra four to Iggy and Gazzy, since they had two members. But I hadn't allowed that to happen.) I knew which one I had to start at first, and began to calculate how long it would take me to get there from my current location. Not very long, if I took a plane, but money was limited. We had each been allotted a certain amount that could be spent on anything that we chose: food, weapons, clothes (yes, I do think Nudge will abuse this one), or medical supplies. I didn't have the heart to say that if we were injured in one of our attacks, we wouldn't need medical supplies. We'd be dead or wishing we were dead; captured.

I stood up and decided that, being the gifted hunter-gatherer I was, I would be able to spend a little food money on a plane ticket. I stood up, stretched my legs, unfurled my wings, and jumped into the air, ready to embark on the first phase of my horrifying journey.

Author's Note: Okay, so there's the first chapter! I hope you like it! Please review.

Don't like, don't read, don't review; no flames accepted. They will be deleted, or if you log in, reported.

Thanks for reading!

-N.