"I guess this is a bit like the Hunger Games."
"How so?" Fang's lips curl into that adorable half-smile.
"You know, the School being the evil, twisted Captiol, the CSM being the oppressed districts of Panem." I look down at my legs dangling aimlessly over the edge of the balcony, the city spread out endlessly before me, like a blanket of tiny twinkling stars.
"I guess you're right." Fang is predictably silent for a few moments. "So how do we fit in?"
"You're Peeta, I'm Katniss."I say.
"Nah, I'm more like Gale," Fang says. "Peeta is too perfect. Dylan can be Peeta."
"Fine, Dylan is Peeta."
"Dylan's more like Finnick really, when you think about it."
"Personality wise, yeah. But given the circumstances..."
"Yeah, he has to be Peeta. Iggy is Finnick."
"That makes Ella ... Annie."
"Nudge is Rue, Angel is Prim."
"And Gazzy?" I ask. We're both silent for a moment, thinking about where the Gasman fits into the story.
Fang says, almost inaudibly, "If Nudge is Rue, Angel is Prim... then Gazzy must be the boy from the clearing."
I can barely keep from crying, the pain of the loss of the younger kids is almost unbearable. "You mean the one with the girl who was turned into an Avox?"
"Yeah," Fang whispers. "Him."
We're both silent for a long while. I think that Jeb is definitely President Snow, but I don't say it aloud. Just the mention of him is enough to set Fang off lately. Instead I say. "What about Max?"
Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking Wait! Stop! Hang on a second. If I'm not Max, who am I? Well, my name is Gem and mine is a very long story. More on that later. Basically, Nudge, Angel and the Gasman we're killed by Jeb. The rest of us are on the run from the School, until further notice. They want me dead. And Fang, though I'm not sure why. Fang and Dylan get along now, because we made a pact which is, in a nutshell, Max and Dylan, Me and Fang. Everyone's happy. Sort of. Sound different? I thought so. So, I guess now is a good time to tell you this isn't the story you know. This is completely and utterly different. No, this isn't the story of Maximum Ride. This is the story of me, Gem.
"I dunno about Max." I say, "I mean, if Dylan is Peeta, then Max should be Katniss."
"But, Gale loves Katniss way more than Peeta does."
"That's up to you to decide." Fang says. "We'd better be getting back."
Wordlessly, we both drop off the edge of the balcony and unfurl our wings, both jet black and invisible against the starless night sky. Our camp is about a kilometre into the mountains surrounding the city and neither of us says a word all the way there.
When we arrive, Max, Iggy, Dylan and Ella are slumped against the fallen logs surrounding our tiny, almost non-existent clearing. Ella is warming her hands by the fire looking as exhausted as ever. Months of being on the run haven't been enough to get her used to life in the wilderness.
"Finally, I was beginning to think something happened to you!" Ella exclaims.
"You're paranoid." I say. "We were just taking time out."
"Is that code for making out?" Iggy yawns.
I laugh. Iggy can always make you feel better. He has a way with words. "Not quite, Iggy. Just talking. I didn't realise we were so late."
Dylan glances at his battered watch. "It's about half past seven."
"You're not really that late." Max adds. "What'd you get?"
Fang takes a seat near the fire and pulls out the various canned foods we'd managed to scavenge. "Alright!" Dylan says, reaching for a can of Ravioli.
I take a seat beside Ella who is roasting a can of beans in the fire. I find a can of tinned asparagus and begin to eat it slowly. This food has to last us until we can stop and make camp again, and we never know when that will be.
The light from the fire is enough to light up our whole clearing. We all sit soaking up the warmth and light and eating our canned food. I begin to think about my Hunger Games theory. I know about it because before the younger ones were killed, we went to high school like normal kids. I read all the books and watched the movie. "I have this theory," I say aloud.
"Yeah?" Dylan says. He's giving me that look that makes me think he's not over me. "Let's hear it."
"It's just, it's like the Hunger Games, our lives."
"You mean we're tributes in the School's games?" Iggy says looking up.
"I was thinking more along the lines of us being the rebels."
"And we're rebelling against the Capitol or in our case, the School." Fang adds.
"But like Iggy said, it's also like the games themselves." Max says. "Chances are only one of you two will survive this."
"Katniss and Peeta survived, by pretending they were madly in love." I point out. "And we don't even have to pretend."
"Yeah, but the sad thing is, the capitol had more compassion than the school does." Fang stares into the darkness of the woods around us. "You should get some sleep."
"We all should." Dylan announces, "I'll take first watch."
High above the clearing, curled up in a tree for the night, I feel more like Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games than ever. Fang is in a fork a few metres above me. Sometime around midnight, after Max takes Dylan's place, Fang slips down to my branch. "Can't sleep?" I ask.
"Can't stop thinking," he says.
"About what?"
"Well, if there can only be one victor, so to speak, I just ... I want it to be you."
