I've decided that this is set after Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel.

Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening

Don't you just hate it when you get woken up early? Try getting woken up by early by a crying seven year old. "What do you want, Anita?" I asked sleepily.

"Sil, Sil," my real name is Silver by the way, Silver Moon, "there's a-a," she started. "A Razen" she whispered. Well, won't that wake a person up? Knowing that somewhere nearby is a creature that has been trying to kill you for years, and you finally think you're rid of them, and they come back?

I hoped out of bed, and put on a quick pair of blue jeans, then followed Anita. I checked my watch as we were walking, and it was four AM. This had better be good. When we arrived in the living room-which had only a couch and a TV-I found that I was the last awake. I'm the freakin' leader, and yet I'm the last one notified of the crazy happenings."What's up?" I asked, now wide awake.

"Danny sensed some Razen coming about ten minutes ago. He last said that they were about ten minutes away. That was ten minutes ago, so they might be here soon." Bones said, bringing me up to date.

I looked at Danny. He stiffened. "Guys," he started. "They're-" but then the door burst open, flying off it's hinges. We barely had a door, did they have to knock it in? I mean come on. But I had no time to dwell on the sad mess of splinters that was now our door because a Razen came at me.

Now, Razen are part human, part snake. They have scales for skin, and fangs with poison in them for teeth. They were green, and were able to speak to snakes. I'll tell you now, they are not people-or things-to mess with. Unless of course they mess with you first.

The Razen tried to hit me in the stomach, but I dodged, only to get a punch in the face. That got me mad, you know? I mean all I want to do is sleep and these things come barging into my house! I roundhouse kicked my attacker in the face, but he grabbed my foot, and spun me around. Did I mention they were really good fighters? Yeah, it has something to do with the fluidity of the snake and things like that. I'm no scientist, so I'm not sure, all I know is that it makes them really hard to fight.
I pulled my leg free, stumbling forward with the momentum, but let it bring me into a Razen that I hit in the face.

My previous captor came up behind me, and tried to punch me behind the neck-that would have knocked me out-but I was ready this time, and dodged. I mean, when you don't do something for years, and then suddenly you're expected to do it again, you're going to be a little rusty. But I was ready now, and gave those Razen a fight for their money. I even had time to take a quick glance at the others.

There had been about ten Razen, and two were out cold. Bones was in battle with two, and was gaining the upper hand fast. Danny was trying to whack his Razen with a cane. Yes, he was very good at being blind, but on occasion when we were in public, we had to keep appearances, you know? Anita was trying to compel her Razen to drown himself. She's not very good at it, but she got him choking. Fudge was shocking her Razen. Did I mention she was electric, and could start a current anywhere? Even in the poor Razen's ears. And Sonny was in a knife fight with his Razen. He, by the way, is a master knife and sword user. How? Who knows, one day he just picked up a knife, and seemed to know what he was doing.

After knocking my Razen out cold, and pushing the other out the door and down the mountain we lived on, I walked back inside to see what the aftermath looked like. Our house was a mess, the wallpapered walls had blood and scratches all over them. The couch had gotten torn in half, and there was poison everywhere, the acid in it leaving holes in the shag carpeting and eating through the coffee table. Then I looked around at the crew. Bones had a scratch on his face, and Danny had a bloody nose. Fudge looked a little tired, but otherwise unscathed. Anita and Sonny also had nothing else wrong with them but a few ruffled hairs. I had a headache, but was ok.

"Silver, what are we going to do now?" Anita said in almost a whinning tone of voice. I could tell she wanted to be brave, but that the fight had really shook her up.

"We do what we have to do. We leave." Bones said. When did he become so smart? That's exactly what I was going to say, but wasn't sure how it would go over. Let's just say not very well.

"L-leave?" Danny asked unbelieving. "This is the only place we've ever been other than The Institution. How are we supposed to survive?"

"You know those kids who've been in the paper? The ones from the School? They can do it. We're in the same boat now, and we have to go somewhere else. Now, nobody knows about us yet, so we might not have to stay on the move, like them, but we have to leave this place." I said.

"How'd they even find us?" Sonny asked softly.

"That's something else we have to find out. Maybe stop at a...what are they called...library! Maybe stop at a library and do some research." Bones said.

I nodded. "Guys, get backpacks together, get food, who knows when," or if "we'll be back." I said.

Looking uncomfortable with the inevaitable, everyone left to their rooms, and started to pack. Everyone but Bones. "Am I making the right decision?" I asked him.

"Of course. You know that we can't risk getting captured. Everyone will be bummed, but they'll be safe. Jacob hasn't been here in over six months, and we have to move on/ We can think of this as an opprotunity to make a new start, a new beginning." he answered.

"I hope you're right." I muttered, then left to my room to pack.

My room was reletivly small, with black walls and carpet. I don't know why, but everyone seems to have this connection to the color that they wear: me, black; Bones, red; Danny, yellow; Fudge, pink; Sonny, purple; Anita, white. Jacobs once told us it was because of the way the chameleon DNA found a way to connect to the brain nerves that give us favorites and choices. What exactly does that entitle, I'm not sure, but it helped-according to Jacob-my decision to paint my walls black, have black carpeting, and black sheets. But I'm not emo, or goth, or anything like that. The crew loves to mess with me about that, but in all honesty, while black is my favorite color, I do like brighter colors. One of them being silver, if that's not completely ironic.

I grabbed my backpack-black, if you haven't figured out the trend-and started to put my clothes in it. I didn't pack many clothes, knowing that we would need the most room for food since we won't have much money. The only money we've had these past six months has been from a jar that we found in the back of Jacob's office after we figured he wasn't coming back. Then Sonny walked into my room.

"Silver?" he asked tentavly.

"Yes, Sonny, what is it?" I asked, turning around to look at him.

"Um, I just...I was thinking. Why don't we just try to find those bird kids you were talking about? ...Max's flock. They know how to survive, maybe if we can meet up with them, we can learn how to survive on our own, and then leave." he said.

I shook my head. "They get so much publicity." I said. "I don't want us to be around that. Nobody knows about us, and for right now, that's how it should be. Who knows, maybe we might even try to go to school."

"School? Do you think that's really a possibility?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah, I mean with Anita's mind control we might be able to have the teachers think that we have parents and stuff." I told him. Now that I really thought about it, it was a good idea. School. We'd never been to school. Actually, it might be fun.

"Wow, Silver, that sounds awesome! I vote for school!" Sonny said.

I smiled. "Well, we'll never know if you don't finish packing." I said. Sonny smiled, nodded, and ran off to pack.

I turned to my room. I'd miss this place. It was were I hid for three days when we first left The Instituion. It was were I went after Jacob had been gone for more than two weeks, and I started to feel like I had to pick up the slack. It was were I'd first saw Max's flock on my little TV, and decided then and there, that my crew and I would never have that much publicity, I didn't like how everybody seemed to know what they were doing. It was were I'd first read Fang's blog (that's a really good blog by the way) and decided the whole crew needed to keep journals. The rules are:

Nobody can touch anyone else's journal or their whole journal will be read aloud to the whole crew

Everybody should make an entry once a week to once a day

Anita is not to look into people's minds when they're writing

And that if any of these rules are broken you have to sleep outside for a week

So far these rules have been followed, and I thought the journal idea was a good one.