Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride – All rights belong to James Patterson

Chapter 4 Nudge read.

By dusk we'd crossed over a chunk of Pennsylvania, and a thin spit of ocean twined bellow us, between New Jersey and Delaware. "Look at this, kids, we're learning geography!" Fang called out with mock excitement. "Did you really not learn geography at the E-house?" Ella asked and Nudge bounced in her chair. "Here! Here!" she said before eagerly continuing. Since we'd never been to school, most of what we'd learned was from television or the Internet. And, these days, from the little know-it-all Voice in my head. "Ooh," Ella said. "Right."

Soon we'd be over Washington DC. Which was pretty much where my plan stopped. For tonight, all I was worried about was food and a place to sleep. "You'd never guess that that night we slept in a hospital and the next in beds of our own," Gasman said, causing those of us in the know to chuckle then fall silent at the memories of Camp Agent. Tomorrow I would have time to study the info we'd gotten from the Institute. I'd been so thrilled when we'd hacked into the Institute's computers. Pages of information about our actual parents had scrolled across the screen. I'd managed to print out a bunch of it before we'd been interrupted.

Who knew – by this time tomorrow we might be on someone's doorstep, about to come face-to-face with the parents who had lost us so long ago. "Not exactly how you imagined it, I suppose?" Fang asked. I shook my head. It sent shivers down my spine.

I was tired. We were all tired. SO when I did an automatic 360 and saw a weird dark cloud heading toward us, my groan was deep and sincere.

"Fang! What's that? Behind us, at ten o'clock." "Not good, whatever happens next is not good," Mom surmised.

He frowned, checking it out. "Too fast for a storm cloud. Too small, too quiet for choppers. Not birds –too lumpy." He looked at me. "I give up. What is it?"

"Trouble," I said grimly. "Angel! Get out of the way. Guys, heads up! We've got company!"

We swung around to face whatever was coming. Fast!

"Flying monkeys?" The Gasman called out a guess. "Like The Wizard of Oz?"

It dawned on me then. "No," I said tersely. "Worse. Flying Erasers." "Of course they are," Ella said as Nudge handed the book to the Gasman. "Because, they're always being upgraded to match whatever you're doing – right? Ugh, this is twisted."

I nodded, trying to stay calm and collected – but even though I knew what was coming and knew that it was all going to end right, I couldn't stop the helpless feeling that had taken root within me once I realized I couldn't do anything to help Fang. I felt his arms wrap around me and barely noticed the Gasman starting to read.

Chapter 5 he said.

Yep. Flying Erasers. These Erasers had wings, which was a new and revolting development on the Eraser front. "Hard to believe it," Mom said, covering her mouth as Gazzy read. Half-wolf, half-human, and now half-avian? That couldn't be a happy mix. "Obviously, it wasn't, as they were discontinued and 'retired'," Nudge said, disgusted. And they were headed our way at about eighty miles an hour.

"Erasers, version 6.5," Fang said.

Split up, Max. Think 3-D, said my Voice.

"Split up!" I ordered. "Nudge! Gazzy! Nine o'clock! Angel, up top. Move it! Iggy and Fang, flank me from below! Fang, ditch the dog!" "Sorry, Total," I said to the black furball who was baring his teeth at me, earning a few laughs amid the tense atmosphere.

"Nooo, Fang!" screeched Angel.

The Erasers slowed as we fanned out, their huge, heavy looking wings backbeating the air. It was almost pitch-black now, with no moon and no city lights below. I was still able to see their teeth, their pointed fangs, their smiles of excitement. They were on a hunt - it was party time! "Fight mode, activated," Gasman added, changing his voice to sound like a robot commander,

Here we go, I thought, feeling adrenaline speeding up my heart. I launched myself at the biggest one, swinging my feet under me to smash against his chest. He rolled back but righted himself and came at me again, claws slashing the air.

I bobbed, feeling his paws whip right past my face. I turned sharply just in time to have a hard, hairy fist crash into my head.

I dropped ten feet quickly, then surged back up on the offensive.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Fang clap both hands hard against an Eraser's furry ears. The Eraser screamed, holding his head, and started to lose altitude. Fang had Total in his backpack. He rolled out of harm's way, and I took his place, catching another Eraser in the mouth with a hard side kick. "Good teamwork," Jeb applauded.

I grabbed one of his arms, twisting it violently in back of him. It was harder in the air, but then I heard a loud pop. Mom and Ella winced.

The Eraser screamed and dropped, careening downward until he caught himself and flew clumsily away, one arm dangling.

Above me an Eraser lashed out at Nudge, but she dodged out of the way.

Max? Size isn't everything, said the Voice. Gazzer handed the book off to Angel.

Chapter 6 she read.

I got it! The Erasers were bigger and heavier, their wings almost twice as long as ours. But in the air, those were liabilities. "Well, obviously," said Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy in unison.

Panting, I ducked as an Eraser swung a black-booted foot at my side, catching me in the ribs but not too hard.

I zipped in and dealt out some powerful punches of my own, knocking his head sideways, then I flitted out of reach.

Compared to the Erasers, we were nimble little stinging wasps, and they were clunky, slow, awkward flying cows. "Pretty accurate description," Jeb said. I snickered.

"I like Fang's better," I said causing Fang to turn and glare at me, and the rest to just wonder what it was.

Two Erasers ganged up on me, but I shot straight up like an arrow, just in time for them to smash into each other.

I laughed as I saw Gazzy roll completely over like a fighter plane, smacking an Eraser in the jaw on the turn. The Eraser swung a hard punch, landing it on Gazzy's thigh, and Gazzy winced, then launched a side kick at the Eraser's hand which snapped back. "Those were the good ol' days," Gazzy said.

"What? The days when we could actually injure the Erasers pretty easily?" Iggy asked.

"Yup."

"You call that pretty easy?" Ella asked. "Do I even want to know what comes after them?"

I shrugged. "Probably not, but you will if you stick with us for the readings."

"Ugh," Nudge said, "remember the Flyboys? Or the robot clones from Antarctica?"

"Why don't we stick with the adventure at hand?" Mom suggested warily, not wanting to get too far ahead yet.

How many of them were there? I couldn't tell – everything was happening at once. Ten?

Nudge, my Voice said, and then I heard Nudge cry out.

An Eraser had her tight in his arms, his fangs moving toward her neck. His teeth were just starting to scrape her skin when I dropped on him from above. I wrapped one arm around his neck and yanked hard, hearing him gag and choke. Grabbing my wrist with my other hand, I yanked harder until he let Nudge drop away from him. Nudge shivered delicately, rubbing her neck as if she could feel his teeth there even now.

"Scat!" I told her, and, coughing, she swooped away from the fight. My Eraser was still struggling but starting to weaken. "You better get your guys out of here," I snarled into his ear. "We're kicking your hairy butts." "As you always would be – when not beyond reasonably outnumbered," Jeb said, trying for the 'proud parent' façade. I narrowed my eyes, not appreciating his knowing that I could be overcome.

"Wow, you're just gonna let him say you can't take on the world like that?" Ella said, incredulous.

"Just because I didn't say anything doesn't mean I like it," I said. "I may have saved the world, but I was captured a few times in the process. I know I can't take on everyone, but I can take on more than most."

"You're gonna fall now," I heard Angel say in a normal voice. I swung my head to see her gravely watching an Eraser who looked confused, paralyzed. Angel shifted her gaze to the dark water below. Fear entered the Eraser's eyes, and his wings folded. He dropped like a rock. "Though, with Angel, we can take on absolutely everyone, right?" I said.

Angel beamed at me then continued to read.

"You're getting scary, you know that?" I said to Angel, not really kidding. I mean, making an Eraser drop right out of the sky just by telling him to – jeez.

And Iggy, said the Voice. I veered off to help Iggy, who was in tight hand-to-hand with an Eraser.

"Ig!" I called, as he grabbed the Eraser's shirt.

"Max, get out of here!" Iggy yelled, and released the shirt, letting himself fall quickly out of reach.

I had time to think Uh-oh, and then the small explosive Iggy had stuck down the Eraser's shirt detonated, leaving an ugly gaping hole in his chest. Shrieking, the Eraser plummeted heavily downward.

And how did Iggy manage to stash his seemingly endless supply of explosives on his person without my even having a clue? Got me.

"You . . . are . . . a . . . fridge . . . with wings," Fang ground out, punching an Eraser hard with every word. "We're . . . freaking . . . ballet . . . dancers."

Take a deep breath, Max, said my Voice, and I obeyed without question.

At that moment, I felt a blow to my back, between my wings, that knocked the wind out of me. I rolled, belly-up, using the oxygen I'd just gotten, trying to suck in more air.

Whirling, I snapped both feet out in a hard kick into the Eraser's face, then froze in shock. Ari!"That's – wait – what?" Ella said, having never met him herself she must have been so confused. I laughed airily.

"Let's just say I didn't knock him out for too long, okay El?" I asked and she looked back and forth between, me, Fang, Jeb, and Iggy, before sighing and focusing on the story.

He wheeled backward and I floundered away, wheezing and hoping I wouldn't pass out. Ari! But he was dead – I'd killed him. Hadn't I?

Ari lunged at Fang, just as I yelled "Fang!" Ari managed to take a swipe at Fang's side, shredding his jacket. Fang winced and I wrapped one of my arms around him, holding him close to me.

Drawing back, gasping, I took stock of the situation. The few remaining Erasers were falling back, retreating. Below, I saw a white splash as an Eraser hit the ocean. That had to hurt. Iggy, Gasman and Fang all flinched – Fang had told me about their dive to the ocean before meeting us after Germany. The three of them had smacked water pretty hard.

Now it was just Ari against us. He looked around, then fell back as well, closer to his squad.

The six of us slowly regrouped as Ari began to fly clumsily away, his enormous wings working hard to keep his heavy body aloft. His squad surrounded him, a bunch of huge, hairy crows gone wrong.

"We'll be back!" he snarled.

It was really Ari's voice.

"Boy, you just can't kill people like you used to," said Fang. "Ain't that the truth?" I muttered and earned worried laughs from Mom and Ella and snickers from the others.

AN:

I hope you enjoyed this week's segment of MRAOA – Part II! Coming up next? The Hospital and the Agents.

For those of you that are new on this adventure, it's about to get really crazy up in here, so hold on tight.

Until next time,

~Jezabel Raewin