Chapter 1
"There should be a restaurant around here somewhere." Max looked at the map and kept turning it this way and that, finally she gave up and tossed into a trash can. Gazzy (a.k.a. The Gasman for reasons to horrible to be told) pulled it back and gave it a quick look.
"There's an Italian restaurant called Mario's around the corner." As he said it he pointed to a spot on the map. Nudge, who was standing behind him, peered over his shoulder and her face lighted up.
"I love Italian food! It reminds me of France," She looked upward as if she were dreaming of being back in the, oh so beautiful city of lights. "Please can we go? Oh, please Max?" I crossed my arms and assumed a thinking position as I walked toward her, Gazzy, and the map. I gave a quick glance at the map and went hmmmm…, I could tell the suspense was getting to the flock because Angel was fidgeting around with her feet, Iggy was picking his nose and hoping to find gold, Dylan was staring at me contently, no doubt day-dreaming about kissing me again, and Nudge was practically jumping over Gazzy.
"Well," I paused to get everyone's attention. "It looks like a pretty secluded spot and I'm hungry so, sure, what the hey!" Everybody either gave a grunt or nod of approval except for Nudge whose response was a bazillion thank you's. We all walked toward and around the turn and quickly found the restaurant called Mario's. All of a sudden, a girl burst through the door in a flurry of brown, gray, and a tannish color, and behind her lo and behold came out a dozen or more robot erasers.
"See you later Mario!" she yelled, her voice sounded strangely familiar. I realized that the flock had stopped dead and were now staring in sheer terror at the robots. Even though I didn't trust my voice I heard it tell Angel to call Fang and his gang and have them rendezvous with us here because things were about to get interesting. I was right, big time.
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The robot erasers surrounded the girl in a heavily guarded circle. She had an annoyed scowl on her face.
"I guess this is what I get for actually trying to enjoy a meal for once in my life!" I was surprised at how normal this girl, with jeans cut to her knees and a raggedy mud-splattered gray t-shirt, sounded. Even when the robots raised their guns to her head, she remained perfectly calm and collected.
"Maximum Ride, come with us or pay the consequences." All the robots spoke at the exact same time and, wait, did they say maximum ride? They thought she was me? Those robots really are stupid.
"Uhm… if I refuse, what would the consequence be exactly?"
"Immediate Death" My eyes widened. Great, this complete stranger was going to be killed because some idiot robots thought she was me.
Things are not always what they seem.
Voice? Nice of you to show up, but I'm going to go save an innocent person's life now.
I tensed and started going toward the girl and the idiot robots but a hand stopped me in my tracks. I opened my mouth to protest but then saw that dark, black hair and even darker, blacker eyes made me shut my mouth. It was Fang. He beckoned with a swift movement of his head toward the girls and the robots. I turned my attention back to the scene only to see, after a few seconds of deadly silence, the girl was looking as if she was thinking the offer over. Was she completely nuts?
"You will come with us, or be terminated."
The girl shrugged off what they said and crossed her arms, then she gave the robots a sweet smile of innocence and said as her final answer;
"No."