Summary: Rachel and her flock (Kristen, Evan, Alex, and Hunter) are part of an experiment, one controlled by the evil School. They're supposed to live like normal kids, but, due to their genetic-enhancement-ness, obviously aren't. Rachel gets fed up with this whole charade and leave unexpectedly, taking her entire flock with her, but ends up getting caught by the famous Maximum Ride. How is Rachel supposed to help Max on her quest to save the world?
Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, or any part of the Maximum Ride universe no matter how much I wish I did. James Patterson does. Plus, I don't own Washington. But I do own Rachel, Kristen, Evan, Alex, and Hunter, so you can't steal them (though why you would want to, I don't know)
FYI: This is set right after MR4. My flock is new, but Max and her flock do play a part in my story, they're just not in the first chapter.
Chapter 1: Escape
Rachel POV
This has gone on for too long. Someone (mainly me) has got to stop this. I don't care what they do to me, as long as they don't touch the others. I will willingly sacrifice myself for them.
I raised my hand.
"Yes, Rachel?" the teacher called on me.
"May I go to the bathroom, Mrs. Deine?" I asked politely. Mrs. Deine reminded me to use the pass and I practically jumped out the door. Walking down the hallway, I had time to think. I thought about our life here, about how happy the others were, about how unhappy I was. Thinking about those things helped me make my latest snap decision.
I was leaving.
I started racing down the hallway at a break neck speed. I darted around one corner, left, then right, straight to Kristen's orchestra class. I was going to bring as many members of my flock with me.
There it was. I slowed to a stop in front of her classroom door. It was one of those doors with a window in it at about eye level. I peered through it, only to see Kristen playing her bass with so much enthusiasm; it made me change my mind.
About taking them with me. Now, anyways.
I was still getting them out of there, but I would wait for them after school. It was only an hour or two away, and I was very patient. Maybe I would go flying.
I turned around (again) and dashed out the nearest exit. Suddenly, I was thankful I hadn't grabbed my coat, because it would have been torn apart when I snapped my wings open.
My wings are beautiful. They're the same jet black color as my hair and about thirteen feet across, tip to tip. My wings are one of the reasons I'm stuck here. I'm also stuck here because of the School, the place that actually gave me the wings. But anyways, I was free now.
About two hours later, I returned to the school, the one we were forced to go to. I stood at the spot we usually meet at before getting on the bus.
The first thing I noticed was a cute little girl running up to meet me. She had short blond hair curled up into a ponytail on top of her head. I noticed her because I think of her as one of my own. Hunter is the youngest member of our flock, at seven years. She has been part of our flock for her whole life.
Behind her was Alex, who was ten. He has messy strawberry-blonde hair and is the palest of all of us. Then Evan, who's fourteen, only one year younger than me, came waltzing up next. He may be fourteen, but he's the tallest member of our flock at about 6'3".
Last, but definitely not least, came Kristen, my bestest friend in the entire world. She's as tall as I am, give or take a couple inches and is fifteen, like me (again).
"Guys, we're leaving," I said as soon as we were rounded up.
Being the good little people that they are, they listened and didn't ask questions, because I'm their leader and they look up to me (except for Evan, who looks down at me). Anyway, we ran (yes, ran. We can run faster than any human or any other animal we know of) to the nearest forest. With us living in Washington, it wasn't very hard.
We came to a clearing, whipped out our wings, and took of so fast; I didn't even have time to catch my breath.
We flew without talking, which is unusual for us. I don't know how long it was, but eventually it grew dark and we found a nice park to land in.
"We'll make camp here, guys," I said. I was getting tired and needed to rest. Plus, I didn't have any money on me, so we couldn't stay at a hotel or anything.
As we lay on the grass, trying to get some sleep, I couldn't help but think: We're finally free.