Max POV

School is such a drag. Sitting in a room full of other freaks of nature for 6 hours a day is not what I had in mind when it comes to higher education, but Dr. Martinez insisted and had signed us up the instant we got to her home. Now it was my job to not only help guide Iggy to his special classes for the blind, but also to show Fang around the campus. Everyone here were also genetic mutants, which made me feel all that worse. The only normal people around here were brainwashed adults who's single goal was to brainwash everyone else. For everyone who was normal, they all knew that they'd die one way or another, that they were unnecessary in a world of genetic modification. That included Dr. Martinez, though she embraced the situation with an open mind.

I sat at my desk, absentmindedly tapping my pencil as I waited for the bell to ring. Fang sat next to me fidgeting as well. Bird kids don't do well in crowded, cramped spaces. The bells rang and I shot up out of my seat almost as fast as Fang did. We were the first ones out the double doors and I quickly swerved down a hallway to find Iggy. Fang was on my heels and spotted him before I did.

"Ig, here!" I said and awkwardly put down my waving hand, forgetting once again that the gesture was useless in this situation. Iggy's head turned and looked at my chest, the best he could do in a crowded, noisy room, which was still pretty impressive. I took his hand and turned on my heel back towards the exit. The swarm of kids around us talking and laughing was giving me a headache, not to mention nauseous as I saw Ben, a human fish hybrid. He floundered along, tubes and hoses pumping water through his gilled face and mucos dripping from his semi scaled skin.

"You think Dr. Martinez will have dinner ready by the time we get back?" Iggy asked, weaving his way behind me through kids with his hand still in mine. I rolled my eyes. Iggy was hungry all the time, I mean literally ALL THE TIME. It was all the guy talked about I felt.

"Probably, knowing your appetite Ig." I said and pushed the doors open at last. We burst from the crowded building into the fresh air and sunlight. I let go of Iggy's hand but not before tapping it twice. We'd do an up and away. I adjusted my backpack and allowed my wings to extend slightly. All three of us jumped into the air at once, wings out wide. There was a series of shouts and calls as the grounded student waved and yelled. Having wings at school was certainly enough to stand out and become popular overnight, but at the same time it put a target on our backs. Not everyone shared the same enthusiasm and most actually hated us for our relations to Able, the winged city.

I landed outside of Dr. Martinez's house the same way I had for the past 6 years. Iggy and Fang fallowed me inside and I chucked my backpack onto the open couch by the door.

"How was school, Max?" Dr. Martinez asked from the kitchen. She was cooking some kind of casserole it looked like, much to the joy of Iggy, who bounded in with a fork for a taste test.

"Boring as usual." I sighed and flopped into the recliner chair. I propped my feet up on the small coffee table. Fang sat in the couch next to my bag.

"You won't have to do it that much longer." She reassured. Iggy sat down next to Fang with his prize; a slice of steaming hot pasta casserole. "Is anyone else hungry?"

We ate around the dinner table like the civilized family we were. We talked about school, the weather, the evening chores, and easily finished off the entire casserole in a matter of minutes. I leaned back into my chair and set down my silverware onto my plate as Dr. Martinez picked up the empty plates. A loud knock on the door made her stop suddenly, nearly dropping them. We all froze, staring at the door, senses on high alert. In Drexen, unless you were expecting company, random knocks at the door were rarely a good thing.

"You kids head upstairs, quickly." Dr. Martinez was just as paranoid and we quickly obeyed. I stopped at the top of the stairs and peered down through the barred banister. Iggy sat behind me and listened with his finely tuned ears, Fang leaned over my shoulder and watched as Dr. Martinez slowly opened the door. She left the chain latch in place and looked through the small crack.

"Good evening Dr. Martinez." a man in a suit stood with his equally dressed partner. They looked like they were straight out of an FBI movie.

"Good evening. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Dr. Martinez said cautiously.

"We are here to inform you that your contract with the City of Able has expired. Your foster children must be returned to the custody of the Institute for Higher Learning immediately."

"My contract is a lifetime document. You have no authority here." Dr. Martinez said sternly. "Please leave my property or I will have the police here."

"Ma'am, we are the police." The suited man showed her his badge, his ID reading Matt Hudson. I was beginning to panic. Able wanted us back? For what? I had never heard of children going back for any reason, in fact, it was a crime punishable by death to ever return. I glanced back at Fang nervously, who was just as tense as I was. Iggy had his eyes closed, listening intently to the conversation.

"Dr. Martinez, for the safety of yourself and the children, I advice you open this door immediately."

"Safety? Do you plan on murdering my family if I refuse?" Dr. Martinez was buying time I realized all at once. We had to get out of here, now. I quickly pushed Fang back and hurried up the stairs. There was a window in my bedroom we could use to escape of we needed to.

"Max, hurry!" Iggy shouted as I heard a loud crash from downstairs. I threw open the window as gun shots began to pop.

"Go, now!" I yelled and pushed Fang out the window, his wings lifting him high into the sky. Thundering footsteps pounded up the stairs and another shot rang out, this time pain exploding in my right shoulder. I cried out in pain, gripping my shoulder as blood seeped through my fingers. Iggy stood between me and the armed men fighting them off best he could.

"Max, get out of here!" he shouted, punching one in the jaw and teeth clattered onto the ground. The second suited man took the butt of his gun and bashed Iggy's head, knocking him unconscious.

"Max! Jump!" Fang called from outside as he circled the house. I looked out the window, then back at Iggy's battered body on the bedroom floor. The men took aim once again and I was suddenly forced into an impossible decision. I only had a split second to react. I ducked and flung myself out the open window as more bullets zinged past me. Fang was waiting on the roof.

"We have to leave! Now!" he yelled and took off again. I quickly followed, pumping my wings hard to gain altitude. Dr. Martinez's property was now overrun with more men in suits. It looked like something out of an action movie where SWAT guys storm the place. We bolted out of there, not daring to look back or slow down.

We flew as fast as we could for over half an hour, but eventually we had to rest. We touched down on the top of an old abandoned building about 60 miles from Dr. Martinez's house. Fang landed hard next to me, panting hard, and keeping his wings out to cool down. I began to pace the small area, cursing under my breath.

"Damnit! How could we just leave Iggy there!?" I yelled, kicking some old chunks of concrete. I immediately regretted it as I banged my toe against the sharp edge.

"We didn't have a choice." Fang said as he finally began to catch his breath. "Its better to be alive now and rescue him later."

"But they could be doing anything to him!" I continued to rant. My horrible memories of that place, the Institute in Able, it still gave me nightmares. Nothing but test tubes, cleaning solutions, needles, whitecoats, metal lab tables, cages...

"Just take a breath. We need to get as much land between us and them as possible." I had never heard Fang talk this much in one day, hell, the whole two months he had been here so far. I took his advice and inhaled deeply, trying to calm my chaotic heartbeat.

"They took Iggy to Able, we've got to go after him. There's no time to lose!" I jumped off the edge of the roof, unfurling my wings once again. A quick glance back showed Fang behind me. Although I had no idea where Able was, or what we'd find there after all these years, I knew I at least needed to get to another main city. And the closest dome was due east, 1,000 miles of rocky mountains and cold forests; the City of Stronton.

...

Fang POV

Max flew ahead of me, keeping her wings out wide and level with the wind currents carrying us. It was the fastest, most efficient way of long distance travel. We had been airborne for nearly 5 hours and I wasn't sure how much ground we had covered. The flight had gone by in mostly silence, only the occasional question between us. The ground below us was still the hard, packed down red dirt of the desert and I began to really understand just how long this mission was going to take. Not only did we need to safely navigate to Able, but we also had to break Iggy out and make the entire trip back, without being killed.

"The edge of the dome is up ahead." Max said suddenly. I peered ahead at the huge sloping, clear wall about a mile in front of us. There was only one way in and one way out of these domed cities. We landed carefully on the roof of a tall building, doing our best to stay out of sight. The sun was beginning to set and the cold night of the desert was creeping in. My legs felt rubbery and tingly after such a long flight and I tried to shake them out best I could.

Below us was the huge metal gate that was the entrance and exit of Drexen. Armed guards dotted the perimeter, the occasional dog roamed the streets. Drexen hadn't had any visitors for many years, but they were people bold enough to venture beyond its borders. Those people mainly consisted of adventure maniacs and environmentalists trying to recover the land outside the dome. You needed to act and look the part; something neither of us were.

"Great." Max groaned, sitting down in the fine silt of the rooftop. "How are we gonna get out, much less get into Able?"

"Ig could have blown a hole through." I joked but Max shot me a glare. I scanned the area around us. Few buildings covered the landscape, they were mostly factories and office buildings. But the one that stood out the most to me was the burger joint not 500 feet from us. I could smell the French fries from here. A quick glance at Max showed me that she too had spotted the wonderful place.

"Holy moly." She breathed, standing again to get a better look. "I didn't know we had one of those here."

"We don't have any money, do we?" I asked as my stomach growled loudly.

"Nope. But I've got another idea." Max said and slipped off the edge of the roof. I jumped after her as she glided down behind the burger joint into an alley. I landed quietly next to her. In front of us was the large door to the back entrance of the building. We silently moved inside and found ourselves standing in the back storage room. On either side of us lay shelves upon shelves of burger buns, plasticwear, and cups.

"Max, what plan is this?" I whispered as she carefully moved further ahead. She didn't answer and casually walked out the swinging double doors into the main guest lobby. There was a massive line of people waiting to place their orders as Max took her place by the pickup window.

"Just act as if you belong, and you will." she winked and I mentally rolled my eyes. Stealing food right out of the pickup line, classy.

"Order number 12!" a woman wearing a red and white striped uniform shouted, placing a bag on the counter. Max didn't go for it. She was waiting for a large order to come out.

"Did you hear about those two idiots who got caught digging under the wall?" a man in front of me said to his wife. She turned to look at him with a shocked expression, a hand on her chest.

"Yes, they were arrested just outside the gate. Terrible really, why don't people just buy a permit?" She answered and my mind began to process what I had just heard. Digging under the wall?

"If you ask me, they got what they deserved." the man picked up his order and sauntered out with his wife still gossiping about the stowaway men.

"Order number 15!" Two large bags were thunked onto the countertop. Max casually walked up, grabbed both bags and quickly began walking out the door. I was right behind her as my initial scan of the building showed two men who were standing rather confused at the counter. We made a beeline for the alley just as they turned and spotted us. We unfurled our wings and shot up towards the roof of the office building in front of us, fries spilling out of the bags. We landed ungracefully and sat down against the air conditioning unit in the middle of the roof. Max handed me a bag as she began rummaging through the other.

"Did you hear that man? Some morons tried dogging under the wall yesterday." I said as I pulled a burger from its wrapper. Max didn't waste time in mowing through a pile of fries.

"I heard. I wanna check it out tonight. Sounds like out best bet to get out of here."

"That tunnel is gonna be crawling with guards."

"We can handle it. If I can steal 30 bucks worth of burgers right out from under that guys nose, I can get past a few guards." Max chomped into a burger.

Half an hour later we lay on the roof watching the stars slowly begin to appear. Full, exhausted, and feeling like a sack of wet concrete, I mentally groaned as Max sat up abruptly.

"We need to check out that spot, before we can't move anymore." she yawned and zipped her hoodie up more. I forced myself to stand next to her. The buildings around us glowed with the light from windows, the guards continued to march back and forth along the streets, and one particular section of the domes wall was blocked off with yellow and black tape.

"Just wait until the gaurd passes by, we can dive down and slip through unnoticed." Max said quietly, bracing to jump on the roofs edge. I watched the guard stop by the tape, slowly walk around it, and stepped behind the corner of another building. Both Max and I jumped in unison. We dove silently and landed by the tape in seconds. Max quickly ducked into the damp hole carved down into the earth and I was glued to her back. We scrambled down deeper and tripped over several tree roots and landed in a pile at the deepest point out of breath. I picked myself up and peered through the darkness.

"It's this way. But be slow. Go airborne as soon as you see light." Max whispered and I nodded. We crept forward through the damp tunnel, my hand running along the wall for balance. Light began to seep into the narrow passageway and Max stopped by the exit.

"Get ready." She breathed and jumped out in a burst of speed. I sprang out and shot out my wings as fast as I could, souring into the air next to her. We rocketed out of the area before anyone had seen what had happened. After a few minutes of flight we landed in a dead tree about a mile from the dome. I landed on a thick, leafless branch and panted hard, my heart pounding in my chest as I leaned against the trunk. I sat down and leaned into the crook of a branch best I could. Max was across from me on the same branch.

"We made it." I breathed and she nodded, staring out into the wide openness around us. It felt strange to be outside of the dome. To not be surrounded and totally free made me feel vulnerable but invigorated. The moon had climbed into the night sky high above us and I felt exhausted.

"Get some sleep. We leave at dawn." Max said quietly and jumped into the branch above me. I heard a sigh and a loud yawn, then silence. I closed my eyes and sighed, shutting down my mind from the constant onslaught of anxiety associated with out ultimate destination.