"Max, I'm hungry" whined Nudge.

"Yeah I know. We'll stop for some grub." I said.

I had to give that motor-mouth some food before she started whining, and I was a bit hungry too. Of course, I wouldn't admit it. I'm meant to be tough-as-nails Maximum.

Up ahead I could see a town, so I tucked in my wings and dived, the rest of the flock copying me. We were so talented, that we could understand each other without even saying anything. Yeah! Points for us!

We landed in a nearby patch of trees, tucked in our wings, and walked into the town as if we were normal. With the little, and I mean little, money we had, we bought some food from a nearby burger place. And when I mean some, I mean about three or four meals, each. And no, we're not greedy, we need to eat that much. In fact, we eat a lot. We practically wolfed it down as the hungry bird kids we are. We probably looked like homeless starving kids. Well, that is technically what we are.

We walked back to the patch of trees and launched into the air.

If you're feeling a bit confused, I'll lay it down for you--we, and by we I mean the flock, are avian-hybrids (98 human and 2 bird) brought up in The School, which is basically NOT a school at all but a freaky lab where the white coats (weird scientists with sick minds) work. We were previously being tracked down by lupine-hybrids (lupine is wolf), which were these people who looked like models but could morph into grotesque wolf-monsters.

But lately the white coats have been making newer, better and stronger versions, so we have to be very very cautious. The flock consists of me (Max), Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. Oh, and Total, except he's a mutant talking dog (long story). We're not really related, well except for Gazzy and Angel. They're the only true siblings.

Me, Fang, and Iggy are about 14; Nudge is about 11; the Gasman about 8; and Angel about 6. We aren't completely sure how old we are, because we don't know our birthdays. We chose them ourselves.

As I was off in my own little world, Fang flew up next to me.

"Yo" he said.

It took awhile for me to comprehend that he had said something.

"Hmm, what? Oh sorry." I glanced at him. Things had been weird between me and Fang for, well, ages. He was still looking at me.

" What you thinking?' he asked.

I sighed.

"I don't know, really. Just things" I answered. He looked at me but said nothing. That's Fang, the strong silent type. I sighed again, and said

"Lets find a place to spend the night".

He nodded, and we descended towards the ground.

I looked around at the other kids. They were totally wiped, and had fallen asleep. We had found I nice roomy cave in amongst the side of a massive cliff. Quite handy, if you're a bird kid that is. Angel was curled up next to Nudge, with Total in her arms. Gazzy was near Iggy, probably dreaming about, I don't know, whatever 10-year-old boys dream about. The only two people still awake were Fang, and me.

Oh great.

Fang came and sat next to me.

"So…" he said. I didn't look at him.

" So what?" I answered.

He looked at me, but I was still staring at my sneakers, finding them quite interesting at this very moment.

"Max…"

He touched my arm and I almost shivered. I didn't say anything.

"Max, I…" he trailed off.

A tear rolled down my cheek. What? Why was I crying!? What the hell?! I think Fang looked a bit taken aback, but I couldn't really tell with him. His eyes hardly ever showed emotion.

"Max, what's wrong?" he asked, his hand still on my arm. I shook my head slightly. "Nothing, I…I just…"

I couldn't talk. I just wanted to go to sleep. I sighed. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Can you take first watch?" I asked Fang, without looking at him.

He nodded. I got up and went over near Nudge and Angel and lay down with my back facing Fang.

I could still feel his gaze. God, that was embarrassing! It must be these damn bird kid hormones. I closed my eyes. Now I would never get to sleep…ZZZZZZZZ…

"Hey Max, wake up! Look at this!"

I opened my eyes to see Angel who was pointing excitedly at something. I looking in the direction of her finger, and almost gasped, and laughed at the same time. Total was flapping his new wings, which we only recently discovered, and hovering above the ground slightly. It looked so weird and funny, for a little black dog to be flying. His wings were tiny and black, and I thought he would fall to ground at any second.

I laughed a bit and Total shouted

" What are you laughing at!? Haven't you ever seen a flying talking dog?"

"I'm afraid not!" I said.

Then he fell to the ground, which was only, like, two feet below him. We all laughed, even Fang, who chuckled slightly. A rare event for Mr. Silent. I was looking at him, and I think he felt my gaze because he turned to look at me. I quickly turned back to Total, who was walking with dignity towards us.

"You kids better watch out. Someday I'll be a better flyer than all of you!" he said, "and faster if I've had some caffeine!"

We all laughed.

"Sure Total. Sure." I said. Everyone laughed. Total grunted, but chuckled at the same time, if that's possible. He trotted over to Angel and jumped into her arms.

"Okay, everyone! Lets move!" I shouted.

I ran towards the end of the cave and jumped. I fell for a while then snapped out my wings, the wonderful feeling of flying flowing through me.

The rest of the flock followed my lead, and we were off.

Where am I going you ask? I'm not exactly sure where I'm going, but I didn't tell anyone that. I'm meant to be the leader. I should always know what to do. But really, its not that simple, all this leader stuff. Sometimes you just lose it, and you let everyone down, which makes you feel really bad.

"Max, we really have to talk"

Huh? I turned my head to see Fang flying next to me. Oh.

I looked at the rest of the flock, but because Fang and me are stronger flyers, we were further ahead. I sighed.

"About what?" I asked in a casual way.

"You know what, Max" he said seriously, "Us"

Not this again. Last time we talked about Us, it ended with Fang kissing me and me flying away in terror. Gracefully, I like to think.

Thankfully, Nudge flew up to me and saved the day.

"Max…" she whined. I knew that look.

"Yeah yeah, we'll get some food" I assured her.

We flew for a while until we came to a town. Don't ask me what town, because I wouldn't know.

As before, we tucked in our wings and dived, snapping them out at the last minute so we wouldn't go splat on the ground, like bugs on the windshield of the world. See, even bird-kids can do poetry.

For variety, we decided to have Taco Bell. After ordering a mass of food, we went to our table. Some how, I ended up squished in the corner of the booth next to Fang. I stopped myself from groaning. Somehow, I don't think Fang minded.