To those of you new to BoaF: WELCOME~ I thoroughly hope you enjoy this story and will come to love it as much as I do. Though be warned there will be violence (nothing truly gruesome, mind you), mild language (with RARE precision F-strikes as the situation calls for it), and (as this isn't a lot of people's cups of tea) OC's. The narrator is in fact an OC, and not some AU Max as this story follows canon. While there will of course be mild changes to scenes and events, with original scenes thrown in, as what happens whenever you add a character, the plot itself will not change. However, I'm telling you now that Book Three (set during Nevermore) will go past the book, and I will probably be twisting some stuff around to help clean up the all-too rushed and ass pull-ish ending JP gave MR.

On a semi-unrelated note for those of you who are or are interested in writing fanfiction, I am a beta-reader, if you're interested. Though remember that any mistakes you catch here are because I myself don't have a beta-reader. ^^;

As you've all probably noticed, I deleted all the old chapters. It was only because I don't want to cause any plot holes/contradiction nor do I want to deter new readers.

Also, the BoaF tumblr is at:

mrboaf

The Maximum Ride series rightfully belongs to its creator, James Patterson. I only own any and all original characters, scenes, and events not shown or depicted in the books.

Reviews are always appreciated~

Run, I urged myself silently, bare feet slapping against the white floor as I tried to remember where the nearest exit was. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, a reminder that no it's not over yet.

I rammed into a whitecoat as I passed, slamming him against the wall and sending the shock cuff in his hands clattering to the ground. But I only heard it happen – the speed at which my legs were pumping sent me hallways down by the time the whitecoat started screaming for the Erasers to come.

Just like the dozen other whitecoats that I had crossed.

"Look, sweetie," she had said hurriedly, crouching to get a more level look into my cage, not even two hours ago. "When they come to get you, just run. Push past them and run. Run and don't look back."

With that, she had left, leaving me more confused over her words than why she had taken the risk to see me again.

Then two, fully-morphed Erasers rushed out of an upcoming corridor.

Don't look back, I echoed, pushing my legs faster and forcing back the shrieks of sheer terror and panic that rose up when I saw the canine men, the wolf men. I slipped between them, breaking one's kneecap with a sharp kick and knocking the other out with a swift elbow to the temple.

I ran down the way they came, weaving around anyone I came across instead of losing speed running them down. And that's what I kept doing – running as I searched for an exit, failing, and running again.

Just running running running.

Run, damn it! I snapped at myself, hissing lowly when a fallen Eraser managed to nick my leg with a poorly aimed bullet.

Then, before I knew it, I was out.

I ignored the urge to look around and take in the beauty of it all –the pure, natural air uncorrupted by anti-septic, the faintest colors shown in the grayscale of night, the moon and stars shining in the dark sky– and instead took a running leap, snapping my wings open and propelling myself upward and into the air.

But there was no ceiling that limited my height, and within seconds I was soaring dozens, hundreds, of feet in the cool air. Adrenaline draining out of my system, I looked down in shock, disbelief, and who knew how many other emotions down at the School, now only a small dot on the landscape.

Tiny slivers of moonlight reflected off of what I thought was air until it hit me. I gently touched my cheek, feeling a stream of warm, salty tears slip down my face. But I wasn't sad, I wasn't in pain, and as a matter of fact, I was probably closer to feeling "happy" than I ever had before.

The muscled in my face started to twinge, and then pull, turning my mouth upward in what I assumed was a smile, or maybe a grin.

My shoulders started shaking, and without realizing what I was doing I threw my head back.

Then, for the first time in my life, I didn't giggle, I didn't snort – I laughed.