DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride, and I did kinda use the beginning, but trust me, it pulls off almost instantly.

Chapter 1

The thing about iminent death is that it really snaps everything into perspective. No shoes? No problem. No clothes? That can wait- sorta.
Behind me are... well... you guessed it, Erasers. Half-man, half-wolf. And guess what they had? Guns. Oh yeah, guns. And what else? Dogs. I can outrun Erasers, but not dogs. Especially not brainwashed dogs that think I'm a squishy toy.
I looked behind me, my red hair streaming. Good, they were hot on my tail. I got ready to stop dead, but tripped on a root. Note to self: Don't trip over roots before anticlimaxes.
The Erasers surrounded me, three of them pointed guns down at me and I stared coldly up the barrels. No bullets. As usual. They's gotten used to my anticlimaxes lately. Within moments I was laughing, slung over an Eraser's shoulder. He groaned.
"She's gonna make me deaf, Damian." He grumbled.
The lead Eraser, Damian, pulled the trigger on his gun and a bang sounded.
"Shoot me." I said, grinning.
Damian, who hated my guts, was determined to make a show. He shoved the barrel up against my nose. "I will." He said, adjusting his finger. I motioned with my hand for him to get on with it.
He backed away and pulled the trigger. A bang sounded again.
"Pretty little noisemaker you got there." I smirked.
"I just shot a little low." he grumbled.
"Pretty bad excuse, 'cause if you'd shot any lower, Frank's shoulder woulda exploded." I laughed. He chucked his gun against a tree, breaking it in two. The tree, not the gun.

Back at the New High School (yes New with a capital N), the whitecoat in charge of me looked at me scornfully. "Why do you keep doing this, Ashlyn?" He asked.
"Because. I. Like. ANTICLIMAXES!" I punctuated "anticlimaxes" with a high kick to his chin. He slumped to the ground. Ha. Point for me.
I slammed open the door to the room with a bang and sprinted down the hall with a high laugh. As I ran past a group of Erasers. A new one whose name was Liam jumped up and grabbed his gun, but Damian placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down.
"Ashlyn does this daily. She'll be back by nightfall. She has nowhere to go." He assured.
"I'm gonna see for myself." He said, getting up anyway and grabbing his gun.
Damian thought I'd be back by night because nobody ever clothed me. This time I'd be gone by the time Liam could get outside. Ashlyn: 2, Erasers: 0.
As I slammed open the doors to the facility, I unfurled my wings and pushed down hard, speeding into the sky. My wings looked like the wings of a Ferruginous Hawk, only 13 feet long. I went fast and took the route through the forest. In moments I was hovering over night time Denver, Colorado. Oh, didn't I mention the School was replaced by a different facility? More on that later. First priority was clothes. I spotted a fully stocked clothesline. Good.
I slipped on the undergarments and green T-Shirt, black skirt with white streaks on the side and then found some Puma socks on the porch next to black Uggs. Bonus point to me for the Uggs.
As I was turning around to leave when I spotted a hairbrush and hairband. Extra points, still.

When I finished with my hair and FINALLY unfurled my wings to go, the sliding porch door opened behind me and a girl came running out.
Crap, I don't have time for publicity.
As I was lifting off I heard her shout, "MAX! YOU'RE BACK!"
Slightly intregued, I fell back to the ground again. I turned to face her. "My name's not max. It's Ashlyn." I said.
"Oh. But you have wings like Max." She said.
"Listen, kid, I have no idea who Max is." I said. "And other people have wings."
"Oh. I thought you might have known her. Well, my name's Ella." She said, holding her hand out in a friendly manner. "I moved out here about a month ago."

I looked back regrettingly. Ella had been so nice, but I had to go. I couldn't let the Erasers get her and her mom.
At least I got some interesting info. There was a flock of six bird kids roaming around. I was gonna find them.
As I veered left, I looked over at a billboard for a Brad Paisley concert with The Band Perry and Scotty McCreery. I was so there. As I started to turn toward the billboard to get a better look at it, two dark shapes started moving on the top of the billboard. They had wings.