Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride even though it rocks!! )
Chapter 1
It blinked. Every time that It opened Its eyes, It was here. Still. It narrowed Its eyes in anger and shifted to a slightly more comfortable position. It was living in the same cage that It had for years; painfully long years. Each day was full of testing. Testing what? It wondered. How quickly I'll die?
A door across the room swung open. A well-groomed man with a clean whitecoat that reached his knees walked inside. Even though It did not know the schedule for testing, It could tell that it was It's turn. Sure enough, the whitecoat walked briskly across the room. Two Erasers followed him in. He unlocked the door to It's cage and reached inside. It shrank against the wall. Then, as quick as a flash, It lunged forward and sunk It's teeth deep in the whitecoat's hand. He yelped and leapt back, yanking his hand from It's clutches. One of the Erasers thrust his hand inside and proceeded to drag It out by It's hair. It twisted and kicked, but the Eraser had a firm grip. He scooped It up and carried It out of the room. The other two followed as he made his way down the windowless corridor.
It gave up all hopes of struggle and lay docile in the Eraser's arms. They had told It when It was younger that she was a girl. They had told It that she was special, and should be proud. But the whitecoats had always called her an It, and that was her name now; she was no longer a her, a female. It was It - and that was all It would ever be.
The door to a lab room swung open and the Eraser carrying It entered. The room was full of whitecoats, all holding clipboards and talking to each other. The Eraser set It face down on a metal table that was located in the very center of the room. Automatically, metal cuffs fastened around It's wrists and ankles, holding It in place. A helmet-like object was stuffed deliberately onto It's head. A black visor scrolled down to cover It's face. Immediately, all sound and sight was cut off. It was floating in empty blackness. Slowly, It became aware that It was standing beside a river in a forest. The water rushed past It and disappeared between the trees and on into the darkness. The sudden appearance of It's senses was confusing. How did I get here? It bent down and stuck It's hand in the rushing water. The river was ice cold and quite real. It frowned and sat back on It's heels. What is going on?
In real life, the whitecoats sat around the table where It lay. A Plexiglas wall had been set up 12 feet away from the table and encircled it entirely. A large screen showed a small girl sitting by a river, frowning and muttering to herself. The whitecoats were glancing back and forth between It on the table and the It on the screen, occasionally scribbling notes on their clipboards. The It on the table's mouth was moving. The restrainers had fallen away. The whitecoats watched the screen intensely as the scene began to change.
It suddenly stood up. Something was rustling in the brush ahead. It creped cautiously forward, not even noticing the water rising up to It's knees. It waded all the way across the river, scarcely making a sound. The rustling disappeared. It froze, and then walked quickly the rest of the way. It searched the brush, but nothing out of the ordinary was there. Up ahead, the tall grass swayed. It went there too and found nothing. It steadily followed the moving foliage, intent on finding the cause of the movement. It didn't even stop to ask why It was following something so irrelevant to the pressing matter of how It had got to this strange dreamworld. The rustling finally stopped, and It stepped out of the recently moving undergrowth to find that It was standing on the edge of a grassy clearing that ended abruptly with a sharp drop-off. It walked over to the edge and looked over. A mile below It's feet, the floor of the canyon was littered with tall pointed rocks. It stared in awe at the beautiful sight and was so engrossed that It did not hear the Eraser creep up.
"You fell right into the trap," whispered a voice right next to It's ear. It jumped around, forgetting where It was. It's back foot hit solid air and It fell backward. It smashed into part of the jagged cliff and kept on falling. It's heart was pounding a mile a second as It plummeted toward the ground.
The whitecoats watched intently as the Eraser stalked behind It. He lingered in the brush until It had looked over the edge, then tiptoed up behind her and whispered something. It leapt back with a startled yell and tripped over the edge of the cliff. All of the whitecoats looked expectantly at the It lying on the table. It was twisting and writhing, then suddenly two wings that had been folded carefully along It's spine snapped open, and hit the Plexiglas. The helmet popped off It's head and It's eyes flew open. It sat up slowly and gingerly refolded the dark, almost black leathery wings. The membrane was stretched tightly between frail bony frames. Hunger had made the wings thin and scruffy.
The whitecoats were stunned into silence. Then they leapt up and started to hurry around the room, shouting orders like "Attach the cardiovascular shock absorption wires!" and "Did you see the reflexes It had?!"
Even though the Plexiglas chamber was supposed to be sound proof, It could hear ever word. It wanted to run and escape the tests that It knew would follow the virtual nightmare. But after the fear, It was so fatigued that It could barely stand up. Sure enough, the metal handcuffs were refastening around It's wrists. Long coils of wire descended from the ceiling and wound their way toward It like snakes.
It stumbled off the table and tried to put as much distance as possible between It and the wires. The handcuffs limited It's moving, allowing the wires drag It back to the table. It used every last scrap of energy to fight off the coils. It squirmed, ripped, and bit the wires in vain attempt to stop them. But the wires had the upper hand and It was now a pincushion for them to insert. It had two stuck in each arm. Wires with suction cups on the ends attached themselves the It's chest. An IV was implanted into the back of It's hand. Before the testing had even begun, It passed on the table.
How was that? I love cliffhangers! Please review! Thanks!