Here's chapter two. This one isn't as long, but please, read and give some feedback. I'm not going to post Chapter Three until I get at least 5 reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or any of it's characters. That's J.P.

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My brown eyes widened in surprise, and my pure survival instincts took over me as I tried to release myself from my unknown attackers grasp. My blonde hair thrashed around my face as I threw my elbow back towards someone's ribcage. I heard a satisfyingly loud "Oof!" as someone's air was knocked out of them.

However, the hands merely tightened around me. I tried to shout out, but my scream was muffled by the large hand covering my mouth.

Break free! I thought wildly. Who was this? I knew that these were not erasers, due to the lack of furriness. Did I have a new enemy?

Well, I really didn't want to stick around to find out.

My attacker seemed almost immune to all of my struggles. Did they even have pain receptors? If this were a regular human, I would have had them on the ground, writhing in pain in seconds. But this person was fighting just as hard as I was, and somehow I was getting all the pain.

Now, get this: the person was picking me up, while walking further into the dark woods. Could the flock hear me? I doubted it. I was already nearly 100 yards away from them. But maybe if I screamed loudly enough…

Thinking fast, I fell limp and closed my eyes. If I could make them let their guard down for just a moment, maybe I could scream through the hand over my mouth…

My prayers were answered. My attacker paused and cursed under his breath. "What the - "

But I was already breaking out of his loosening grasp and throwing a perfectly aimed roundhouse kick at his head. With a sickening crack, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

So, I guess their skull was their weak point. I put that info away for later. I shouted out, "Fang! Help! Move, move, move!"

In about six seconds, I heard the sound of nearly silent sound of Fang flying hurriedly toward me.

While I tried to take a breathing down to a regular pace, I really got a look at my attacker.

He was a guy, in about his late teens, early twenties. He didn't look that muscular, but man, looks were deceiving. His tawny hair was kind of overgrown, for a guy, and he had tan skin and freckles. He didn't look evil. If I wasn't a freakishly paranoid tomboy genetic hybrid, I might've thought that he was kind of nice looking. But I knew all too well that looks meant absolutely nothing when it came to enemies.

Fang arrived just then, his dark wings the only sound in the night. His eyes flew first to the guy laying unconscious on the ground, then to me, panting, leaning over with my hands on my knees.

"Wow. Max, you okay?" He sounded anxious.

"I'm fine," I gasped out. Then I winced as a sharp pain went through my cheek.

He walked over to me, examining my face. It felt like mush, but my arms felt worse. I was going to have so many bruises; That Tawny-guy's arms were just so freakin' strong.

Still looking a little concerned for me, his eyes went back to Tawny-guy. "Itex?"

I walked and knelt down, wincing, next to the guy, and searched his pockets. Fang put his hand on my back, and leaned over my shoulder as I searched. In a wallet was an I.D. for a Mr. Julian Sexton. Then there was a work card. My eyes flashed to the logo in the middle.

I nodded. "Itex."

Fang's usually unreadable face looked tense, and so did mine. Itex knew where we were. They had nearly gotten me. We had to get out of here, quickly. This guy may have a tracker on him, and more of them would come…

I looked up into Fang's eyes, and held back a wince. Was there a part of body that wasn't bruised? However, he saw through it.

"Let's go back to the flock," He said while gently pulling me back up. "No offense, but you look like crap." I scowled at him.

"That guy was not normal, Fang. You should have seen him – I was wailing on him, and he barely even flinched! He only got hurt when I kicked him on his head." We hardly ever met anyone that could actually beat us – besides erasers. But this guy looked nothing like them. He lacked the fur and fangs and paws.

"Do you think that it's a new hybrid?" He asked as he led me back through the woods.

"Maybe. With, like, a rabid bear."

Fang chuckled, as only Fang can chuckle.

Then, I shakily ran ahead, and lifted my sore wings out, and went into the air. Fang followed suit. We were about 2 or 3 minutes away from the still sleeping flock.

"So what do you think - " I began. But then there was a stunning pain behind my eyes, and I cried out loudly.

I heard Fang shouting my name, but I was falling, falling…

Then, strong arms were around me, pulling me out of my sharp freefall. I cracked open my eyes a slit, the pain still stunning. Fang looked a little scared, and way concerned.

"Just…a headache…." I muttered incoherently.

Then, everything went black.

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So, there was chapter two. Did you like it? Was it confusing? Tell me what you think by pressing that oh-so-pretty review button at the bottom of your screen. Remember, no chapter three until I get at least 5 reviews!