Alright, so this is a new fanfic. I kind of ran out of ideas for my Upon Wings of Fire fanfic, and the Storming Wings fanfic is giving me writer's block, so I'll write this one in the hope of getting ideas and ridding myself of writer's block. We'll just see how it goes.
Disclaimer: I may be a guy, but I'm not James Patterson. Q.E.D I don't own Maximum Ride.
Claimer: All OC's belong to me.
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I woke up to my combo alarm clock/Ipod speakers blaring out music. I hit snooze about five times before finally getting tired of it and getting out of bed. I shoved on some jeans and a t-shirt, and wormed my way out of my room and going downstairs to get some breakfast. Once that was done, I grabbed my backpack and headed outside, waiting for the bus to take me to school.
Oh yeah, I guess introductions would be really nice. I'm Joseph Cryonas, just an average high school sophomore in California. My parents weren't movie stars, and none of my friends' parents were either. Just a bunch of average kids in Los Angeles, city of the stars.
I even look pretty average, to boot. Sure, I'm about six feet tall, but that's the only thing about me that's cool. My eyes are boring old brown, my hair is boring old brown, my skin tone is only slightly tan, and I'm not the strongest, fastest, or most athletic person in the school. I'm one of the smarter ones, to be sure, but that didn't win any popularity points.
Throughout the school day, I dealt with people either ignoring me, being rude to me, or just flat-out going out of their way to annoy me. It sucked. That's what my life was like. Sucky. Really sucky.
But this is Los Angeles. This is one of the strangest cities on the planet, where all sorts of crazy stuff goes down. And sure enough, crazy stuff went down. And I don't think very many people out there can say that they've experienced something crazier than I did.
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I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I couldn't tell whether or not this was a dream, or whether it was real. But all I did know is that it was a nightmare. So that meant it was just a dream, right?
In this weird waking dream, I had been on my way to the bus stop when a black van pulled up next to me, and strange people poured out of it, injected something into the back of my neck, and pulled me inside. I went unconscious in the van.
The next thing I knew in the dream, I was strapped down to some table, while somebody was examining my body and injecting tons of needles into my arms. I'm not sure what he was doing, or what the needles were for, because right then the dream blacked out again, and I reappeared in a dog cage.
In the dog cage, I was surrounded by even more dog cages, all filled with people… or creatures that resembled people, actually. There were men in white lab coats walking around the area, writing stuff on clipboards. I remember looking up at one and asking him to get me out of there, and he just walked right on by without another word. The dream blacked out again… and that was it.
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I woke up in a cold sweat. Phew, I thought, it was only a dream. Just a really, really bad dream that I hope I don't ever have again.
I checked the clock: 5:30. My alarm hadn't even gone off yet. Why was I awake then?
I scrambled out of bed, put some clothing on, and went downstairs to get some breakfast. I don't know why, but I was incredibly hungry right then. I wound up eating an entire box of cereal, which was really weird. I'd never eaten that much in one sitting before.
I went upstairs to go brush my teeth, and when I saw myself in the mirror, I froze. I blinked. I blinked again. I tried to see if I was wearing contact lenses of some sort. Nothing. I pinched myself; I was awake all right. But that wasn't possible!
My eyes had become an ice-blue color overnight. I don't mean blue like most people, but these were like an icy-blue color. Imagine a glacier. Put some blue in it. That's what color my eyes were, and there weren't colored contacts in there or anything!
I was too freaked to respond. I sat back down on my bed, opened up my computer, and started to search for anything that would make your eye color change. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. After a while, I put down the computer, and five minutes later I headed towards the bus stop. I tried to avoid eye contact with anybody, and the few people that did notice my eyes said something along the lines of nice contacts. I didn't get what was going on.
At school, I just couldn't get a normal day. Marco, the jackass of the school, just had to choose a sophomore to try and beat up today. Well what do you know; I'm the lucky sophomore!
I had just finished closing my locker after grabbing my books at the end of the day when I felt something strange going on behind me. I don't know how to describe what I felt, but I rolled quickly to the left, and just barely avoided Marco's fist.
"What do you want Marco?"
"Nothin, homie! I just want some cash! Think ya can spare some for yo homie?"
I spit. "My homie? Like I'd ever hang around scum of the earth like you. They make toothpaste for a reason, you know."
That witty comment definitely wasn't the best idea. "You asked for it, homes. Now come and take your beating!"
Marco came at me with what I guessed was all of his force, but something was off. Either he had gotten really weak and really slow all of a sudden… or I'd gotten really strong and fast. None of his blows were hitting me; I was dodging out of the way with insanely fast reflexes, and I had no idea how I was doing it!
Eventually I got tired of playing keep away, and decided maybe I'd try stopping him. I dodged a left hook of his, and followed up with my right fist straight into his chest. I heard something like bones cracking, and Marco was sent flying back five feet across the hallway!
I heard murmurs of excitement from everybody in the halls of Beverly Hills High. I didn't know how I did what I had just done; I'd never done any weight training of any sort, nor were my reflexes ever as good as they had been just now. What the hell had happened?
"Hey Joseph, what happened here?" I turned around and saw Will, the class president. He was one of the more popular people here, simply because he had an amicable personality.
"I… I don't know," I said. "All of a sudden Marco comes at me, and I was able to dodge every blow he threw, and I know my reflexes aren't that fast, and then I hit him in the chest with a punch, and I think I cracked a rib or two, but I know I'm not that strong… I've got to get out of here. I've caused too much of a scene."
With that, I grabbed my backpack and bolted out of there, straight to the bus. I rode the bus home, wondering what the hell had just happened. I got a few claps on the back from people on the bus telling me it was about time somebody knocked some sense into Marco, but I wasn't so sure. I was more scared than anything. What the hell was happening to me? First my eye color changes overnight, and then suddenly I'm super fast and super strong? What else was different?
When I got home, I headed straight for the shower. I turned it as hot as I could, and stepped in. That's when the weirdness pretty much culminated.
I reached up to scrub my back, and felt something… how should I say this… feathery. Yeah, that's right: feathery. I reached up around my back, and the feathery feeling was everywhere. I reached up over my shoulders, and my hand touched something that wasn't there the night before.
I felt a joint coming out of my back. What the hell?... I could tell it was attached to my body, and that the skin by the joint changed seamlessly into feathers. I knew that there were muscles in it, and I tried to extend them.
I wasn't quite sure how to react. I was standing in the shower, had felt something weird on my back, and next thing I knew… I had wings.
Well what do you know… it's a cliffhanger. The Flock will eventually come into the story. That means later on, for those who can't read in between the lines.
As usual, read & review. Thanks!
