Jake

Pure adrenaline was all I felt. No fear of the massive trailing creatures. Just the window I had always wanted so badly to jump through. White hallway after white hallway flashed past me-and there was what I waited for. The small window at the end of the hall. I listened for a final moment to Chi's calls of encouragement from far behind me, and then threw every pound of my (small) weight through glass, praying there was no wire. Thankfully there wasn't and I found myself steadily falling fifteen feet or so from the 6th floor were I had jumped from. And suddenly-snap. My large, charcoal black wings spread their full 14-foot length. I heaved them up and down until the harsh, uneven beats became smooth and regular. I had done it. Was it really that easy? No. It would not be the last I would see of the hulking newest model of the no longer even relatively human Erasers and their sick-minded creators. The school was not going down that easily. And I still had to go back and rescue Chi, but not with out some help from previous escapees. The escapees that I was determined to find. Luckily, I knew exactly where to go.

Chi

Well, that was that. Jake was gone. She had safely leapt out of the window right before the Erasers could grab her. I was happy that she was finally out of this place. She deserved it. Jake was the cruelest hybrid in our bunch of eight bird-kids. As an extremely young child, some scientists and a few Erasers had broken into her house, killed her parents, and kidnapped her. Once she was back at the School, avian DNA and some DNA from Max, Fang, Gazzy, Angel, Nudge and me had somehow been fused onto her already human body. Because of this, Jake had to experience the excruciating pain of having wings grow out of her back instead of being born with them, and not having any living family to go back to upon escape. But even though I knew all that, I still felt sorry for myself. Because now I had absolutely no one. Max and the others had escaped a few years ago, leaving just Jake and me, but now that Jake was gone…I was completely alone in the horrifying world of the School. A few minutes later, after thinking all of this over again, I cried myself into one of the most unsatisfactory sleeps I would ever have.

The next morning, I was woken by someone shaking the ever-living crap out of me. "Wake up Number Seven, it's time for your eye operation." Grumbled a scientist I didn't recognize. If you're wondering why I'm called #7, it's because I am the seventh mutant in the bird-kid batch. Max is #1, Jake is #8, etc., etc. But the scientist's comment also reminded me of a horrifying fact that I had stupidly overlooked…two of the bird mutants had been selected many years previous for an "eye-enhancing operation". Me, and Iggy, who had gone blind as the result. God knows how that "enhancement" would affect me…

"Number Seven! Get out of your cage!" He reached into his pocket to pull out a tazer, when a hand stopped him. I peered out of my cage. It was Jeb Batchelder, the man who headed the "bird-kid experiment", as we called it. He had always been nice to us; he had given us our names, schooled us, taught us how to speak, and for some reason Jake claimed he had helped the other six of us escape. He dismissed the other scientist and looked down at me with a friendly smile. "Hello there, Chi, (Jeb was the only one at the School who called us by our names), Would you come out of your cage please?" I did as I was told. "Jeb? What if the same thing that happened to Iggy happens to me? I don't want to go blind…" Jeb smiled and began to lead me down the hall to the operating room. "Don't worry Chi, our technology is much more advanced now, and just in case anything does go wrong, we'll only operate on one of your eyes, so the other will be just fine." I bit my lip. Jeb continued, "And you'll be asleep too, so you won't feel any pain." He unlocked the door to the operating room, led me inside, and motioned for me to climb onto the operating table. As more scientists filed into the room, I said a prayer for Max, and her flock, Jake, and myself, just in case I never woke up from this operation. Jeb suddenly pressed a mask to my face. "Ok now, breathe in and count to ten." I nodded. One, two, three, four, fi… The last thing I saw was a gloved hand come at my eye with a sharp tool. Then everything faded to black.

Max

Fang and I sat hand and hand, my head on his hard, comfortable shoulder, on the soft white sand with the heat of the midday sun pouring warm rays on my body still wet from our time in the ocean.

I am pretty sure that was the most amazing sentence I have ever had the pleasure to think. Fang pulled his face down so I could see his eyes and looked at me lightly quizzically. "So?" I sat up a bit confused. "So, what?" I responded. Fang rolled his eyes and continued. "So, what's the plan? Don't tell me you have been spending a week at the beach without coming up with 'a plan'." I blushed a bit, "The Max I have come to now is slowly disappearing." He said with fake sorrow, and then flashed another of his uncommon smiles. "Well first of all I wanted to talk to the flock first about what they think," I swiftly lied. I really should get rid of that bad habit. "And two, I could second that. What was that two whole full sentences?" I joked with a wide smile on my face. Fang shrugged, obviously now self-conscious about how much he was speaking. Too bad. I think I was kind of enjoying the talkative Fang.

"Lets go for a fly." I suddenly blurted out, breaking the comfortable silence. Fangs face lit up a good bit more than he would ever admit to and I could not help but laugh. "The whole flock, you love struck little boy." I smacked him (softly) on the back of his head. I stood up, brushing the sand of my legs as I yelled for the kids. Nudge and Angel came running up from the sand castle they were creating, Iggy and Gazzy ran up and I could have sworn Gazzy was hiding something behind his back, but for the sake of my sanity I chose to ignore it. I could tell Fang was a still a little disappointed, so I decided to make it up to him. But as I fell down slightly to fly closer to him we both noticed an odd figure in the distance. It obviously had wings, but it was way to big to be a hawk and too small to be an Eraser-which we had not seen in God knows how long. "On guard everyone!" I shouted so they could all hear. I heard varying sighs of disappointment as they all looked up and prepared themselves for a fight-which was the most likely of scenarios.

Jake

I flapped my wings, pain from my cramped muscles shooting from my back all the way to my thighs. I groaned and tried to fly closer to Max and my other old friends, who were already in the air, and from their stances, I was relieved to know that they had seen me. But I was losing strength. I had flown for at least three days straight from Death Valley to Orlando. And the trek was taking its toll. I was losing altitude, and my wing beats were becoming more and more haggard. Luckily, the flock had begun to advance towards me; Max must have recognized me. But my relief was short-lived. My vision was getting blurrier and blurrier, and my wings could not move anymore. My wings folded in, and I began to fall at an astonishing speed towards the ocean below.

Max

"It's Jake! Everyone-quick! Grab her before she hits the water!" The six of us immediately swooped in, me in the lead of course, going at one of my rare breakneck speeds. Jake was only feet from the water when we grabbed her and flew her back to the beach. She had been unconscious for almost a good half hour when she finally bolted upright, her eyes wide in horror. Seeing us sitting around her though, she sighed in relief and lay back down.

Jake

"Hey guys," I said, my voice slightly hoarse from the lack of water. "How goes it?" Max smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Long time no see, Jake." "Hi Jake!" Said Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge. Iggy smiled, and Fang just grunted. I gave a weak smile and slowly sat up again. Supporting myself against the rock behind me. "It's nice to see everyone out of cages and on a beautiful beach," I joked. Everyone laughed except Fang, who only cracked a smile. Max spoke again. "I can't believe you flew all the way here without stopping. How'd you escape?" "I nicked the keys from one of the lab workers that got too close," I said with an air of pride. Then Nudge asked the question I had been dreading. "Wasn't there another girl too? Chi, I think? What about her? Is she okay?" I frowned and put my head on my knees. Angel quickly read my mind and said, "Jake wasn't able to save her, and she's still back at that…um, word-I-can't-say place." She read more. "Oh no! And she had to go through an eye-enhancement surgery too?" Iggy's eyes immediately widened. I tried as hard as I could to hold back my tears, but it was impossible. I shoved my head farther down behind my knees so they wouldn't see me crying, but my voice gave it away. "I couldn't save her…she could be dead or blind or worse by now…" I felt a hand on my shoulder and presumed it to be Max's. I looked up and was surprised to see that the hand was Iggy's. I was still a bit shocked by this when Max spoke a moment later. "Don't worry Jake. We'll get her back." "I'm glad you say that," I replied, "Because that's why I came here. I can't break into that place by myself."

Chi

"Number Seven, wake up. Keep your eyes closed." Since there was a hand clamped over my face, I couldn't open my eyes anyway, but I just nodded. The darkness was a bit overwhelming though, because I had no idea if I still had my vision. The hand was slowly removed. "Open your left eye." Tentatively, I did as I was told. To my relief, I could see perfectly, and my vision was still as normal as it had been. "Now slowly open your other eye." I bit my lip, and slowly opened my right eye, which was stinging a little. As soon as it was fully opened, I gasped. My vision was slightly tinted with red, but I could see everything. From the wrinkles in someone's face and the detail of their eye to fine print on a clipboard seven feet away. Before I could stop myself, I had bolted upright and said, "This is spectacular!" The scientists eyed me curiously, but the surgeons had a smug look on their faces. The man that had instructed me to open my eyes grimaced and spoke harshly to me. "This isn't some treat for you Number Seven! Your eyesight is for our purposes only." In a darker tone of voice, he added," No matter what they may be." With that, he motioned for me to be put back in my cage. An Eraser in human form, who I hadn't noticed before, moved from the shadows and approached me. I saw Jeb flinch as the hulking man dragged me off the operating table and down the hall, back to the dimly lit room with my dog crate in it. As I was shoved inside, I meekly prayed for my sake. Where are you Jake? If you don't save me, who will? If anyone ever will…

Little did I know that my rescue would come sooner than I thought.

Max

Fang and I flew slow circles in the air, looking down at the Lake Mead, and occasionally glancing over to the outcropping where Jake and Iggy were babysitting the little ones. Completely at random, I spoke to Fang. "So what do you think of Jake? She's really grown up." I sighed. "But I guess all of us have." I looked at Fang, whose wing-beats had suddenly slowed. He hovered in the air, glowering at the landscape below us.

Fang

I still found it hard to believe that Jake was still alive, and that she had gone through so much trouble to come back to us was astounding. And Max was right, she had grown up. The first person I had spoke to when we were old enough to talk, the innocent little girl who would hold my hand through the gaps in the crate whenever I was sad, my first friend, was vastly different from the Jake that I'd seen today. The only similarity was her spunk and her ember-colored hair. And her love for me, which I hoped only I had noticed. I don't know why, but every time she had tried to reach out to me since we'd saved her, anger flooded through me. I suppose it was because one side of me wanted to shout that all of the intimate moments that Jake and I had had when we were little and back at the School were over and weren't coming back, and that wasn't it obvious that I loved Max now? However the other side of me wanted to push away the anger, and walk over to Jake and tell her how much I'd missed her and worried about her, and how happy I was that she was okay. But I had the unfortunate feeling that the anger would prevail. Besides, showing Jake how much I cared for her would only complicate everything with the flock, and more importantly, it would break Max's heart.

Max. I suddenly realized that she had somewhat asked me a question, and I had been glaring angrily at Lake Mead for a good three minutes. I snapped my head up and instantly met her confused gaze. Seeing my look of embarrassment, she instantly started laughing. "Zoning out again Fang?" Just hearing her laugh made me feel better. I realized then that was proof enough that I loved Max more than Jake. "Yeah," I said, finally answering Max's question. "She has." Max nodded, a laugh still caught in her mouth. An updraft suddenly blew Max's flaxen hair into her brown eyes, and before she could do it herself, I flew closer and brushed the wavy strands out of her face. She blushed, and then I knew for sure. No matter how painful it would be for Jake if or when she found out, I loved Max, and Max alone.

Jake

I had been watching Fang and Max circle each other romantically for about twenty minutes, and I suddenly leapt to me feet with a surge of jealousy. Feeling me get up, Iggy grabbed my ankle. "Take it easy there, Jake! Getting up that fast is going to make you-" Before he could finish, my head began to swim, and I rocked back on my heels. I didn't notice Iggy had moved to catch my fall until I was in his arms. "…Dizzy," he finished. I heard Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge laugh. I felt sort of awkward being this close to Iggy, but I was too sick to move, and his arms were sort of comfortable, I hated to admit. I also honestly didn't remember the last time someone had held me like this, and I involuntarily found myself leaning into him. His voice jolted me back to the situation at hand. "Wow. You're hair is so…Red," he said, curling it through his fingers (Max had told me about everyone's new powers, and Iggy could sense colors by touch). I gave a weak laugh, and quickly pulled away, glad that Iggy couldn't see me blushing. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know," I added sarcastically. I heard him laugh, and when I looked back at him, I saw that he was blushing too. He blushed even more furiously as he spoke. "And don't pull away so quickly. Unless I touch your hair, I…I can't see what you look like." By that time, my cheeks were probably the color of my hair, and before I knew it, I had thrown myself off the outcropping and into the air.

I pumped my wings, which weren't sore anymore after three days of rest, until I was directly beneath Max and Fang. "Hey guys. Beautiful up here, huh?" Max nodded and smiled in her usual friendly manner. "Yeah, totally." I glanced at Fang, who had a pained expression on his face that I didn't recognize. I frowned. Why was he avoiding me? I was just being nice. Ignoring this, I looked back at Max. "I'm really sorry that I have to drag all of you guys back to that hellhole." Max nodded. "Don't worry. This isn't the first rescue mission that we've endured. Angel was captured a few months ago, and when we went back to get her, all of us ended up getting thrown back in cages again." My eyes widened. "You were back at the School? But Chi and I never saw any of you…" Max nodded again. "We were kept in a separate building, but Angel read Chi's mind and told us you were still there." I was about to speak again, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang start to circle downwards; away from us, away from me. I bit my lip and couldn't help but turn my entire head towards him. I wanted to call out, but I was too heartbroken. A tear slipped from my eye. "You're lucky you have him," I said to Max, not bothering to conceal my sadness. Max looked clueless for a second and then looked down. "Yeah," she said, "Sometimes I think I don't deserve him." Well you don't deserve him, I thought. But it wasn't until I saw Max's shocked expression that I realized I had actually said those words. Her expression quickly turned to fury and she shouted, "What are you talking about? You haven't even seen us for four and a half years! How would you know anything?!" I didn't know that she'd hit me until my nose began throbbing and I felt blood trickle down my lip. I was surging with anger, and as I threw a punch at her, I shouted, "Well excuse me for BEING IN A FRIGGIN' CAGE for all those years!" I was pleased with my fist as it made contact with her cheek. Seething, she zoomed forward and blacked my eye. I prepared myself for a punch to her ribs when she suddenly spun around back of me and kneed me in the spine. Excruciating pain shot through me, and I was momentarily paralyzed. But even if I hadn't been paralyzed, I couldn't stop her from then delivering a final blow to the back of my head. Broken and bloodied, my wings folded, and I shot downwards towards the surface of Lake Mead. Before I could make impact though, I lost consciousness.

Iggy

I sat by the fire, listening to Fang, Nudge, Iggy, and Angel talk and joke with each other, about to fall asleep, when two things happened. First, I was pushed out of the way by what had to be
Fang as he bolted into the air, and second, Angel and Nudge screamed "Jake!" As soon as I heard her name, I threw myself into the air and snapped my wings out, not knowing where I was going, just intent on saving Jake from whatever predicament she was in now. But then I realized, I couldn't save her. I didn't even know where I was going! I hovered in the air, about to give up, when a hand grabbed my own and Nudge's voice broke my thoughts. "Come on Iggy, I'll bring you to where she is!" Thank god for Nudge. I flapped my wings as fast as I could, clutching Nudge's hand tightly, as she pulled me along. We were pulled to an abrupt stop though, and I heard Angel and Nudge cry out. "Jake! Poor Jake! What happened to you?" I reached out blindly, groping for a lock of Jake's hair. I finally got a hold of some, and sighed. "Geez, Jake, what did you do?!" Jake's right eye was black, her lip and nose were bleeding, and she was bent back at an odd angle, as if something was wrong with her spine. Fang, who was slightly blurry in my color only vision, held Jake delicately in his arms, and looked down at her unconscious body as if it was a young child who had scraped their knee.