"They're never coming for you, you may as well give up now." The voice was cold and soft-spoken. He held the needle close to her throat and the blonde glared at him defiantly. She had claw marks that marred her once clear face; they were red showing that it was recent. Her lip was busted and her bare arms were covered in scars both new and old. Her brown eyes were dull but they still held a spark of anger and determination as she clenched her jaw and tugged at her restraints. Her back ached from being strapped down so tightly on the cold, metallic table. Her shirt was torn and stained in blood as were her shorts. Her long hair was somewhat matted and she had gotten thinner from lack of nourishment.
"No, my family will come for me." She insisted stubbornly but she was on the brink of insanity. Her eyes had adjusted to the large, blinding light that stood over her; this wasn't the first time she had been trapped in the research room. She didn't know how long she'd been trapped in the school, days, weeks, months, it felt like years. Each day wearing her down like someone would the soles of their shoes by constantly running in them. She hated feeling the hopeless atmosphere, watching other experiments die, taking a beating anytime she talked back, and constantly thrown into the training room with other experiments for observation. A large part of her wanted the flock to save her, but at the same time she didn't, she didn't want Fang to bring them here and risk their safety. She didn't want any of them to sleep in dog crates anymore. And that's what got her through the long days, knowing that the flock wasn't crammed inside a cage like rabid animals.
The man let out a bone-chilling laugh,"It's been three months Max, they're not coming for you! You've been abandoned. If they miraculously attempted to safe you they'd be trapped here as well. Funny how they forget their savior so easily, I mean, you sacrificed yourself for them. We both know Angel should have been here, not you." He had a sadistic smile on his face making Max feel sick to her stomach. She didn't want to believe the flock had so easily given up on her but it's been three months and no sight of them. It was for best, she tried telling herself but it hurt knowing that they hadn't even been spotted near the school or anything.
The white coat was ominously leaning over her, smugness radiated off of him like heat from a heater. He was bald and had a shaggy, black beard. He wore dark tinted glasses that covered his eyes. He was lanky and tall, but despite his lack of muscle and strength Max still saw him as a threat.
"Well she's not! I am!" She smiled wryly despite her entire body aching,"As Britney Spears once said, hit me with your best shot!" She spat in his face and he instantly recoiled. She smirked, she had to keep mentally fighting or she'd be broken. It's come to the point where she had to force herself to be witty and snappy and humorous. It was hard to swallow that she was trapped here again but she couldn't sit back and wallow in grief of being physically and mentally beat. She had to survive. She was glad she took Angel's place; she didn't want her little girl to be here.
The man looked furious, a vein appeared on his forehead and he held the needle tightly,"I can't wait to break you Max, it won't take much longer." He spat and rammed the needle into her arm. She let out a cry of pain and her back arched slightly. There was a burning sensation that quickly spread throughout her body and she shook violently. What was happening to her? The scientist laughed and her vision became blurry before she blacked out. Maybe she'd get lucky and they'd kill her.
There was a loud clang and Max leapt to her feet, her ears rang and she covered her them. What was that?
"Here's your food freak." A gruff voice muttered as he slid her food into the cage, two eggs and a piece of dry toast. She already knew the food tasted like dirt, she only ate if she was starving…which was all the time.
She opened her eyes immediately and glared at the scientist,"At least I don't steal babies and experiment on them like a creep." She shot back and the man merely snorted before leaving the room."Wait! I request butter! You serve me remember Dexter!" She yelled and couldn't help but snicker a little at her taunt. That's how lonely she felt, on a daily bases she talked to herself knowing she was the only one who would listen, laughing at her own thoughts and at night she would occasionally let a few tears slide down her cheeks. She was tough around everyone else and she'd never express her grief in front of the white coats, that would show weakness and she needed to be strong, she had to show them that they couldn't break her so easily. She would sometimes pretend the flock was with her and imagine them saying things and interacting with her. It was nice but she knew she was living in a dream, reality was too much of a nightmare for her.
She felt slightly betrayed by the fact that the flock hadn't come for her, she knew it was unsafe but she wished they attempted to save her. It's been three months! Three months of loneliness, beatings, mental torment, and slight trauma as Erasers slaughtered failed experiments right in front of her. They would mercilessly rip out their hearts or bite their throats until they stopped struggling. They'd do it in front of her cage just because they knew she couldn't handle it. She'd look away and get chills as they let out screams from being ripped to shreds. She could still hear them. Bones snapping, skin tearing, screams that pierced the air with eeriness and suffering. She wished she was with Angel right now and lovingly doting on her, ruffle Gazzy's hair and warn him about his extreme pranks, hear Nudge never stop talking about boys and shopping, get shown up by blind Iggy in cooking, and to be in Fang's brooding presence. She craved that more than she did a normal bed, good food, a shower, and feeling slightly safe. Her heart ached with longing and it was painful to deal with.
With a weary sigh Max sat up and suddenly a thousand smells washed over her nose, it smelled terrible and she let out a gagging noise. She could smell everything from urine, to sweat, to BO, to blood, to dead corpses. She plugged her nose and frowned, this was definitely new. Usually she couldn't smell things this well. She rubbed her eyes and noticed that she could see amazingly well in the dark, musty room.
"Bout time you woke up." A voice chuckled and she snorted before looking at her new cage partner. Most of the time none of them stayed long and it didn't surprise her when any of them randomly appeared.
"Who are you? What's your weird DNA stuff?" She found that she could see the boy perfectly in the dark. He had sandy, blonde hair. He had broad shoulders and was smiling at her widely. His face was riddled in scars as well was his arms, it was obvious that he and been in here a long time as well. He looked to be around her age.
"Dylan, I can't really see you but I've heard a lot about you Max, you really bug the Erasers and scientists I hear. I'm like you, wings and all." He shrugged and Max felt slightly thrilled that there was someone else like her. She knew that she shouldn't get attached; she did the first time when they threw an experiment in there with her. A little boy, age six, mixed with a bison. He was with her for weeks and his name was Jack. He was like Gazzy, so full of mirth and happiness despite the awful situation they were in. Whenever an Eraser or scientist would walk in he snuggled into her side and she'd protect him. They would stay up talking about escaping and being happy, Max swore she would never leave him. She had begun to love him; he gave her something to hope for. Then one day they took him...she never saw him after that. She lapsed into a depression and she had to force herself to get over Jack. She vowed to stay away from anyone else, just for the sake of her survival.
Before she could speak the cage flew open and two Erasers grabbed her, she jumped and tried to resist them,"Let me go you oversized mutts!" She yelled and one of them reached out to grab her throat. Her instincts overcame her and she bit his hand as hard as possible. The Eraser let out a roar and blood seeped into Max's mouth, it was disgusting but she didn't let go. The other wolf man gave her a hard smack for the face and she yelped and unclamped her jaws from his hand. Her cheek stung and she was seeing stars.
"Hey leave her alone!" Dylan yelled and the unharmed Eraser snarled at him in return. Max was grateful that the boy stood up for her but it was fruitless seeing as he was locked in the cage.
She recognized the Eraser that hit her as Ari,"Always making things difficult Max! You're just going to the training room!" He laughed and she cringed, she hated it there. Ari snatched her hands and the other Eraser grabbed her feet. She had almost escaped from lack of secureness by the Erasers so now they had to be even more careful around her. She didn't attempt to struggle this time as they made their way to the training room.
"Hey Ari, do you ever wonder how you can be so ugly? And annoying?" Max asked nonchalantly as she dangled from the way they were holding her.
Ari snorted,"Better than being weak and stupid enough to sacrifice myself for others."
Max frowned,"I'm not weak. And you sacrifice your life trying to hunt us for the white coats. You guys could kill all of them you know, free the experiments. You're just as trapped as I am." She murmured, if she wanted to get out of here she needed to make new plans. Maybe she could talk to Dylan? They could devise some special plan to escape. She was loosing hope by the day and she knew there was a slim chance she could escape. Maybe she could get close to a white coat...gosh that sounded like an awful plan seeing as she hated every one of them and vice versa.
Ari let out a growl,"Shut up." He muttered before they entered the training room. It wasn't much, it was a giant room that was bare, they would put her in here and sick the Erasers on her to see how long she could hold them off. The scientists would sit and observe her through another room, what kept her from them was a glass window which was somehow unbreakable (she's tried several times to break it) leading her to believe it wasn't glass. They would speak through an intercom to her and give her instructions for certain things they wanted her to do. The room was entirely white and sometimes it was hard to see. The Erasers shoved Max into the room and slammed the steel door shut. Max knew the drill and walked to the center of the room, the scientists watched her carefully and to her annoyance they began scribbling on clipboards.
"Are you kidding me? Are we grading my walking now?" She snapped angrily and they looked up at her before back down at their clipboards. She sighed, she hated this place, if she could she would have set the entire place on fire.
One of the woman scientists leaned forward,"Good morning test subject. Can you tell me how you're feeling at the moment?" She asked and Max rolled his eyes, she would have thought they'd learn not to ask her questions anymore. The white coat adjusted her glasses as she stared at Max intently; it was like she was waiting for a baby to say their first words, except the woman had no affection for her whatsoever.
"I feel like you're the dumbest person on the planet. I'm trapped in hell with halfwits like you, how do you think I feel? I actually think you're dumbing me down." She said snidely while crossing her arms over her chest,"Now shut up with the stupid questions and tell me what to do. My name is Max by the way, what's yours? Four eyes?" One of the male white coats started laughing making Four eyes smack his shoulder and glare at him.
The woman turned her attention back to Max,"Very well. You will run through an obstacle course as quickly as possible, then afterwards we want to test your climbing abilities-"
Max cut her off,"You're an idiot. How are you considered a scientist! Why would I work on climbing skills when I have wings? Is this your first day on the job or something?" The man started laughing again and all scientists glared at him. Max felt pretty accomplished that she had made a white coat genuinely laugh, usually she made them laugh cruelly but this guy had a sense of humor.
A different man took the microphone from the woman before speaking into it,"Max we've added to your DNA and we'd like to see how well its worked out." Max froze, that explained the night vision, hearing, and sense of smell. They made her even more of a freak then she already was and she felt like someone had socked her in the stomach. She found it hard to breathe, not only was she stuck here, the flock wouldn't come for her, and Jack was most likely dead, but now she had more animal DNA in her.
"What did you mix me with!" She roared and her disbelief quickly morphed into rage. "You're all sick! I was normal! I was human! I'm still a human and you treat me like crap, like a beaten down dog just because you throw animal stuff in me! Humans are animals too!" She screamed and gripped her hair tightly before pacing the room angrily. They added more crap to her and now she was queen of the freaks!
"Calm down, you don't want us to send in the shock rods do you?" He warned and she stopped pacing before glaring murderously at him. The shock rods were four Erasers that came in with electric sticks and beat her with them if she performed a task incorrectly, didn't preform the task at all, or mouthed off too much. They were trying to do everything in their power to break her but they'd have to try a lot harder to do so. She kept quiet and the man continued,"We mixed you with a tiger. This will make you more agile and more in tune with your surroundings. You'll be a lot stronger and faster, more efficient when killing. You're the first subject we've tested this on. We're not sure how this will work out." He shrugged but all the white coats looked eager to see Max in action. She scowled, she was like the freak show at the circus, people just wanted to see her do something weird and cool. Tiger, they mixed her with a cat. Why would they try to make her more advanced when they knew she loathed all of them? Before she had more time to think it through a large obstacle course appeared, she didn't remember seeing it when she walked in and didn't know how they had done that.
She just shook her head before turning to her assignment,"When I get out of here, I'm going to come back and kill all of you." She vowed before sprinting towards the obstacles. The first one was a small, wooden tunnel that was pretty wide. She didn't feel in control of her body as she dove to the floor with ease and rolled under the tunnel. She popped up and looked at the wooden wall in front of her.
"No use of wings Max or we'll bring in the shock rods." The man warned and Max didn't pay him any mind as claws unsheathed themselves from her fingernails and toenails. She didn't get the luxury of shoes at the school, which was unfortunate, nor did she have time to be surprised about her new claws. She jumped and hooked her claws into the wall before climbing. It took quite a bit of strength for her to claw her way to the top. Her muscles ached and she noticed that there was a long drop from atop the wall. She saw a bar waiting halfway down for her, it was hooked to a large metal pole sticking out of the ground. With a mighty leap she soared and for a moment she wondered if she was flying. She hadn't gotten to fly for three months; any attempt would lead to a beating. The air hitting her face made her smile but her small pleasure ended too soon as gravity took its toll. She reached out and grabbed the bar before swinging forward and to everyone's shock she landed on all fours perfectly.
"Excellent job, see you didn't need wings." The white coat encouraged as Max ran forward like a tiger would. Hearing this made her tick and suddenly she didn't care if they sent in shock rods. Why was she suddenly obedient towards them, she knew she'd feel a lot of pain but she couldn't stop fighting. She was a tiger and she would kill them, she didn't have to listen to anyone! She didn't usually think this way, the killing part, but maybe it was the adrenaline mixed with anger and her new DNA that made her act so enraged and defiant. She pounced onto a log and leaped into the air, she unfurled her wings making them rip her shirt even more than it already was. She gave a strong flap and relished the feeling of the wind ruffling her feathers. She hadn't felt this free in such a long time. She had noticed that her wings were a different color rather than their previous brown they were now black like a tiger's stripes.
The man looked infuriated,"Max get down and put your wings away. Finish the obstacle course-" He was cut off by a loud roar that erupted from the blonde's lips. This shocked all the scientists into silence; Max continued surprising herself today. She remained in the air while glaring daggers at the white coats, her claws were extended and her teeth were bared. Her canines had grown ten centimeters, just like a tigers, and she yelled profanities at the white coats. She felt powerful as she landed onto the ground with her wings still outstretched and her fangs and claws out. She stalked towards the window and continued screaming at them until she heard footsteps approaching the steel door. She felt as though the tiger was controlling her body as her ears twitched and she crouched in a defensive position. She began growling and she tucked her wings in.
Suddenly the door burst open and three Erasers walked in but they were weaponless,"Max we don't wish to hurt you. We'll have to contain you temporarily before sending you back to your cage. If you just calm down and come quietly we won't punish you later." The man, she decided to call him Bob because he looked like a Bob, said threateningly.
Max laughed,"I'm not afraid of you!" She bellowed before lunging towards the first Eraser and sinking her claws in his chest, she brought her claws down with great power across his face. Her speed surprised everyone. He screamed and she heard the other Erasers rush towards her. She jumped off of him and pounced onto his friend. He fell to the ground and she drove her claws into his heart with tremendous force making him go limp. She heard one of them take a step towards her and she rolled to the side before standing to her feet. She took a hard swing with her fist but he caught it and was about to crush it before she kicked him where the sun don't shine. He let out a howl and she wrenched her hand free before grabbing his neck and smashing his face into the glass that the white coats hid behind. The glass didn't even crack but it was enough to make the white coats jump in fear.
She looked at them coldly and bared her teeth at them,"Let me go now." She said slowly before putting her other hand on the Eraser's head and with a quick jerk she twisted it. There was a loud snap making the white coats jump again. She shoved the dead body away from her and let out another roar. She wanted out of the prison she was being held in, she didn't belong here.
She wasn't typically like this but she had lost it. This time when more Erasers flooded into the room with shock rods she didn't resist, one of them hit her in the stomach making her fall to one knee and shake from the electricity. She didn't take her eyes off the people observing her, another rod hit her in her back. She fell to the ground and shook from the searing hot pain that erupted into her body. Finally one came down on the back of her head and she fell unconscious.
"You remember the plan right Dylan?" Jeb asked and the blonde nodded from his cage,"Remember you're her soul mate. You're literally made for Max. I injected you with bear DNA so you're strong enough to fight with her. You guys need to get out of here tonight understand? They'll use you two to be perfect soldiers, if they have you two well...we're in big trouble. You two would be pros at slaughtering and...you're more advanced then those stupid mutts. They're already inventing things to control you two with." Jeb said grimly and Dylan nodded again,"Good, protect my daughter at all costs." Jeb murmured,"Don't go back to the flock immediately, lay low because they don't care about the flock as much as they do you two. You lead them there and they'll take all of you and most likely kill Max's companions. Make sure she lives."
Dylan smiled slightly,"Don't worry sir, no one will touch her with me around."
He glared at him,"Don't get any ideas, touch her in any inappropriate way and you'll be sorry." Jeb snapped, Max was still his daughter and he was protective of her.
Dylan laughed,"I understand. I won't."
"And remember, you have to lie if she asks. I haven't been here the entire time, I just came to save her understand? Don't let it slip out that I'm still working here." Jeb warned and Dylan nodded seriously. Jeb stood up and ducked behind a couple of dog crates once the doors opened. Dylan couldn't see very well but he could make out two Erasers dragging a limp body. They made a beeline for his cage and his eyes widened once he realized that the body was Max. They opened the cage door; one of them kicked Dylan in the face for being too close to the entrance. He recoiled and fell backwards, his eye was throbbing painfully and he grunted. The Erasers, surprisingly, set Max down gently and shut the cage door. Once they left Dylan scrambled over to Max quickly and tilted her head up slightly, he couldn't see in the dark much to his frustration.
He didn't instantly love Max because she was his soul mate, he didn't even know her. But he knew she would come to love him and he her. He already liked her tough personality,"Max, Max wake up." He whispered urgently but she was out cold.
Suddenly Jeb opened the cage,"Carry her, you have the strength. Just get her out of here. Explain to her what happened, stay in a wooded area the many scents will confuse the Erasers." Jeb swallowed thickly,"Tell her I love her okay?"
Dylan scooped Max into his arms bridal style and exited the cage,"I will. Please just get us out of here sir." He begged; Dylan too had been in school for a while. It wasn't pleasant at all. Jeb led the way and Dylan followed closely. Once more light shown on the trio Dylan took a good look at Max for the first time. Scars marked her face and arms and her matted, blonde hair had streaks of blood in it. Her cheeks were a rosy red and her lips were curved in a small smile, she muttered something before leaning her head against his chest. He smiled softly, she wasn't gorgeous but she was pretty, he wondered how she looked when she was nice and cleaned up. He was glad she wasn't extremely attractive at the moment with a nice clear face, because if she were then how would she be able to relate to his scars and physical pain? It showed that she was a constant fighter, just like him.
Man I've been gone a while. Sorry I've been really busy. I love Maximum Ride. I'm leaving Percy Jackson to my sister. SO tell me what you think! Review!