Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. All rights go to James Patterson.
Chapter 1
"Carrot."
"Tuna."
"Apricot."
"Taco."
"Omelet."
"Turkey."
"Yogurt."
"…T…uh…tamale."
"Eggplant."
"That's not fair Nudge!" the Gasman finally exclaimed exasperated. He pouted and looked at her sourly. "You keep making me do t's. That's cheating!"
While Nudge had been whip lashing out her foods cheerfully, the Gasman had struggled far more with the game. He had calculated determinedly, but after 10 minutes of nothing but t's, he seemed to have had his last straw with Nudge and her methods.
She grinned at him sweetly. "The game has no rules," she told him firmly. "You could have done it to me."
In my opinion, agreeing to play any type of word game with Nudge was a bad idea to begin with. I knew it wouldn't end well when I heard her conning him into playing with her 15 minutes ago.
Now I watched as the Gasman glared at her angrily and flew as far away from her as possible, sulking and muttering to himself quietly.
"It's alright Gazzy," I heard Iggy say to him with mock sympathy. "Nudge's motor mouth gets the best of all of us."
Nudge stuck her tongue out at Iggy and turned to talk to Angel, her hands already moving to the rhythm of her word flow.
I rolled my eyes at the scene of my flock and turned my attention back to the skies. Although the sky was clear, I could sense the small signs that a storm was coming. If we kept on our course and continued to pass over the endless miles of farm land beneath us, we could outrun the storm due to hit this region later.
"Smells like rain," Fang said to me as he came over, aligned with my thoughts once again.
"Yeah. I think we can beat it though," I said with an optimistic smile. " The storm won't hit for a few hours and we'll be long gone by then."
Fang nodded and focused his intense gaze ahead. I also looked up ahead, convinced that our brief conversation had just crossed into comfortable silence.
"When we get there," Fang began, as I raised my eyebrows at him in surprise, "what do you think we'll- I mean, what will we…." He trailed off in uncertainty.
"I don't know what will happen Fang. I'm not sure what we'll find or do. But there's always a plan," I finished confidently.
Now it was his turn to raise his eyebrows at me. Apparently my 'there's always a plan' motto didn't work as well on him.
"We're together. We've made it this far and I can see the outlines of the puzzle starting to fit together. That's enough for me. I know we can do this and I've accepted that I have to."
Fang's expression softened. I could see something akin to concern flash across his face.
Then he recomposed his features to their standard unreadable expression and said, "I'm in if you're in boss."
I gave him a faint smile and returned my focus to what came next. Somewhere up ahead, waiting for us, was the California border line and the school that had once held us it's personal prisoners. It was time to put an end to the facility that seemed to weigh most heavily in all of our minds. The building that literally brought back our living nightmares loomed thousands of miles ahead. My flock was ready for this. I was ready for this.
"Don't make the scene of your misery the focal point of your energy Max," the Voice warned.
I shrugged, seeing the school in my mind though a haze of anger and hatred, and let the memories flow through my mind dragging me in further to the remembering. From somewhere far away, I could hear Nudge's steady voice, Angel's soft giggles, Iggy and Gazzy's mutual conversation, and Fang's silence buzzing louder than anything else.
