Maximum Ride is property of James Patterson. Adriana, Kai, and Lisa are property of ME! Static, Raivin, and Nacho are property of Jwan!

Hiya! Sorry for the wait! I wanted to make this chapter long. Or at least longer than the last one, that one was less than one thousand words! Anyhoo, I want a good look at Kai and I'd like to rescue the others.

Adriana's POV

I awoke on the rocky cave floor. I stretched and sifted through my bag. I got out some sodas and some chips. We'd need to stop in town and pick up some ramen, popcorn, and suddenly soup or salad. I looked at Kai's peacefully sleeping body. He was having a good dream. I didn't want to wake him. I leaned out of the mouth of the cave. Birds sang, I felt compelled to sing with them, to even dare to try and match their perfect voices but refrained. I stared longingly out at the sky. It was still pitch black but I scrutinized the horizon for the sun, that would be spying on the earth from behind a mountain anytime now. I saw it and smiled.

Suddenly I felt relatively warmer. Two arms came around my shoulders, trapping me. "Good morning, Kai. I hope I didn't wake you." He shook his head and I felt his nose trail my hair. "I have breakfast all ready." I giggled, as though chips and soda was much of a breakfast. He squeezed my shoulders and sat down next to where I'd slept. I followed. I opened my chips with a loud "pop" and dug in. "We got very close to Nevada last night, right now we're in Colorado. We can make it to California today. Then we'll plan how to break inside the School." He nodded. "I don't suppose you have a plan already, do you?" I asked. He grabbed my upper arm and smirked at me. I laughed quietly. "Brute force never works, we'd totally get caught." He shrugged. I thought it over for a moment. "I guess you have a point there. I could probably take on anyone that came my way, but what about you." He stared down at his shoes, then shook his head disdainfully. "Well…" I reached into my back pockets. "Dad gave me some guns but you have to promise to be careful with them." His eyes widened when he looked at me. I laughed. "Just because I'm nice doesn't mean I don't know how to use a gun." He took them from me and put them in his back pockets.

I tugged on the sleeve of his forest green turtle neck. "Hm… this will work." I thought aloud. He raised an eyebrow at me. "I like to wear light colors and have those around me do so as well in case someone gets hurt. Even if they're stubborn and don't want to tell anyone about it the blood will show." He nodded. "I have to wonder how the others are at the School." I sighed. I'd never been to the School but I was fully aware of what they'd done to my parents and their friends. Whatever was going on inside of that place was clearly not pleasant. Kai just shrugged. "Don't you care?! You're sister's in there! Doesn't she mean anything to you?!" He shrugged again, shook his head and shot me a crooked smile as his left hand toyed with my hair. I glared at him intently. "You're the only one who cares about me. You're the only person I care about." I saw it in his eyes and spoke his words. He nodded. I smacked his hand and put my hands on my hips as I stood. "We're leaving! NOW! We're rescuing the others!" I demanded. He got up and stretched. I launched myself into the air and snapped my wings open, ripping two gaping holes in the back of my new shirt. I moaned in my head. I tried to put on a happy face. Success. As usual. He flew up beside me, our wingtips touched. I smiled brightly at him. He returned the favor. I sighed mentally. I was too tired of this crap. I am not happy. Yet, I must not alert others of this fact or it will all just become a big jumbled mess.

We soared onward to California, no breaks in between. I would occasionally glance over at Kai to see if he was holding up well. Usually he was just casually staring off into space. We landed once we caught site of a big gray building with no signs or anything. Just a big fence with barbed wire. It looked like a jail from where we were. Then I realized, it is a jail, just not for bad people. Kai and I talked over strategy. Well, I talked; Kai made faces and gestures.

Our plan was, don't bother with the front door. Come in through the gates, bust hole in the wall and let our instincts guide us to our half avian brethren. Kai's sister was in there. He should be able to find her easier. Mom described to me just how the lot of them smelled as infants and I was going on my sense of smell alone to find them. Besides, the scents should stick out like sore thumbs amongst the smell of antiseptic, the horrible nursing home smell. I wasn't sure if they bothered to sound proof the rooms but if they hadn't I'd go on my sense of hearing as well. Any white coats that confront us, kill them. Any Erasers that dared to cross our path, kill them. My mouth watered at the thought. Some days I felt so much like mom. It pains me, people's reactions to such behavior, though, Kai, being fairly new to company of any sort, would not be one of the happier witnesses. Just killing, no fancy moves, no personal revenge or rewards, just kill them, preferably, without using my hands. I'd be much too tempted to lick them clean, at least if I lick the dagger it doesn't look as weird.

Static's POV

Lisa'd just returned from another experiment. They threw her into her dog crate. "…Lisa…?" I said quietly. She was trembling, just staring blankly out the bars into the black behind me. They never did bother to change the bulbs in these places. "Lisa?" I said a little later. I squeezed my arm through the bars of my crate. I waved it in her face. She didn't blink. "Lisa?!" I began to grow worried. On top of this, Nacho was, at the moment, being chased by Erasers outside to test his agility and Raivin was being electrocuted to measure her compatibility to… well… electricity. Nothing had been said to or about Lisa. She'd been dragged out of her cage, rougher than usual, without a word and brought back the same way. I reached through her cage bars with slight difficulty. I tapped her foot.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and tears poured over her cheeks like waterfalls. She continued to scream like this for thirty seconds straight. She paused for air. She huffed in and out, panting like a dog. Her scared eyes bore into mine.

"Lisa, it's just me, Static." Her breathing slowed and her shaking ceased.

"Static…?" She said quietly. I nodded. She smiled for a moment before biting her lip and burying her head in her knees. "Never mind, I never ever want Caixein to come to this place. I don't care who he's saving." She shivered at her own thought. The crate next to mine slammed into me.

"Raivin?" I asked quietly.

"H-hi, Static." She smiled meekly at me. Her hair was pointing every which way and I saw trails where her tears had cleaned her dirt caked cheeks.

"What did they do to you…?!" I murmured. She shrugged and widened the smile.

"I grit my teeth and bare it." She laughed but coughed at the end. I shook my head. My crate was slammed into once more, from the opposite side. My crate knocked over Raivin's and she screamed bloody murder at the surprise.

"Raivin! Raivin, it's okay!" I called to her.

"No. No, it isn't. Nothing is fine. No one is coming. Face it, Caixein doesn't give a darn for his own sister. What would he want with us? We're going to be doing this all our lives. That time will be rather short if they keep doing this to us." Nacho rambled in a hushed voice.

"Wow." Was all I could manage in the face of my friends.

Kai's POV

We approached the building. I was expecting more security from a place supposedly full of geniuses. Adriana kicked open the gate. I have to say, it was weird to see her grin like that. Her eyes widened and she changed her expression. She bit her lower lip to remind herself. Erasers came at us from all sides as we approached the wall. "Kai…" She warned. I understood. I pulled the guns from my back pocket and shot any Eraser getting to close to her or me. She punched the wall, with seemingly no effort it gave way. We climbed over the rubble and ran through the dimly lit hallways. My sister always smelled of cinnamon. I doubted that anyone in here would be making French toast or something to so I sniffed right and left, following where my body willed me. "Hey!" Adriana screamed to me. I stopped dead in my tracks. Adriana kicked open a door. It fell into the dark abyss behind it. The room was literally hundreds of feet below where the door was. I stared in awe. "Come on." She hissed, jumping down into its depths. She took flight. I did the same. She landed just behind a medium sized dog crate. Three medium sized dog crates and one large.

"People?" An adolescent male's voice came from out of the middle crate. Adriana opened the crate and had the boy that emerged open the crate beside his. Adriana took a girl from the far right crate. I began to open the one in front of me. I recognized the girl inside as my sister. I would've regretted what I was about to do if she hadn't looked so happy and relieved just then. Otherwise, I would have left her in the crate and carried her out in that.

"CAIXEIN!" She cried.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" The girl wrapped her arms around Adriana's waist and cried into her shirt. She was filthy.

Just great. I hope she doesn't stain that shirt. I don't want to buy another.

"It's okay! We're here!" Adriana patted the girl's back and stroked her hair. I tapped Adriana's calf. She turned her attention to me. I pointed to the entry. "Are you guys well enough to fly?" Adriana questioned.

"ARE WE EVER!" An extremely tall boy took to the air and flew out the entry. The rest of us followed.

Raivin's POV

Just after our escape I found myself losing altitude as well as consciousness. "Raivin?!" Static called frantically.

"It's alright. I've got her." A pair of delicate arms lifted me. I tried to thank her. "Shh. Don't say anything. You need your rest. You're merely human, anyway." A girl's silky smooth voice floated through my ears. I didn't recognize it as Lisa and figured it was the one with pink hair that'd saved us. When I awoke I was on a cave floor. My head was underneath the girl's chin. She had an arm wrapped protectively around me as she spoke softly with the others. The boy I thought to be Caixein was resting far back in the cave. I stirred. The girl gave me a concerned look, helping me rise to a seated position. "I didn't wake you, did I?" She asked, panicking. I laughed quietly.

"No, no. I'm fine. A little hungry, though." I admitted. Some soup was shoved into my hands. Ramen noodles it seemed like. I sniffed it. Chicken flavor. I didn't hesitate to dig in. "So…" I said between bites, smirking at Static's disgusted expression at my manners. "What'd I miss?" I loudly slurped up various noodles.

"My name is Adriana." Said the one with pink hair. "That's Kai." She waved a hand towards the boy that looked identical to Lisa. It had to be her brother.

"I thought his name was Caixein." Kai pursed his lips with distaste.

"He prefers to be called Kai… apparently." Lisa shrugged.

"Oh." I said quietly.

"Kai was travelling with Adriana for a few days." Static explained. I was surprised Nacho wasn't pitching in. Then I noticed he had fallen asleep with his head on Lisa's lap. "Adriana is the daughter of Kisha and Deveann Reaper." My eyes popped open.

"You?! Really?! Our mom's were best friends!" Adriana laughed. I caught a glimpse of a half smile on Kai's lips. He leaned up against the cave wall with his eyes closed and his arms crossed.

"All of our mothers were!" Adriana exclaimed. "Well, so were our fathers but… my mom didn't really get along with Mr. Ride." Adriana shrugged.

"Mom still talks about their fights." Lisa giggled. I stole another quick glance at Kai. Why was he so anti-social? Adriana followed my eyes.

"Kai, why don't you join us?" She called to him. He sighed and got up. He came over and sat next to Adriana. Lisa bit her lip. I could only imagine how she must feel. She and he were twins and the first person he decides to be nice in anyway whatsoever to was a girl he'd known for only a few days. I saw the worry behind Adriana's eyes. She knew how Lisa felt.

"You know what you need?" I asked Kai. He rose an eyebrow at me. "You need a black leather trench coat and a pair of really dark sunglasses." He scowled at me while the rest of us laughed quietly.

"Well, we need to be getting home soon. It'll take a while but I think we can stand each other for that long at least." Adriana laughed nervously, placing a hand on Kai's, trying to comfort him. Kai closed his eyes. He took in a deep breath then exhaled with content. Lisa saw the gesture and her brow creased with worry. "You guys will also need to take hot showers. We'll find a hotel when Nacho wakes up. Okay?" Adriana noticed Lisa's discontent and lifted her hand from Kai's, only for him to reach up and grab her hand.

"Okay." We all agreed. Through the afternoon we told each other about our lives and who we were.

"Okie dokie, you guys," Adriana peered out of the mouth of the cave in every direction, "we'll be leaving soon. We need to get to a city so you guys can take showers."

"What about you?" Static waved a hand at her. "Your skin is caked with blood." Adriana shrugged, still looking around.

"I'm used to it." She said quietly. I was beginning to wonder what exactly this girl did for fun. She seemed nice enough. She saved my life twice now and I hardly know her but still… Kai stood and walked up to her, pointing somewhere. "Oh! Perfect!" Adriana cried with glee. Kai grinned. "You guys, we're stealing a squad car." She told us.

"We're what?!" Static screamed.

"Cool! Let's go do it!" I shouted standing and thrusting a fist into the air.

"No way! We can't do that! We'll get arrested!" Static started to pull me back into a seated position.

"We'll just break out. It's easy. Human are like mush." There was an awkward pause after Adriana's statement. "Aw, come on! You act like I'm a cannibal or something." I rose an eyebrow at her, suddenly reminded of something my mother'd told me.

"If I'm not mistaken, your mother is." I informed her. She heaved a heavy sigh.

"That was a zombie." Static's eye bugged and I had to hold in my laughter. "And besides, if it weren't for my mother's so called cannibalism, Lisa and Kai wouldn't exist." She was still getting funny looks from the two boys that didn't know about the situation.

"Your mother is a cannibal?!" Static screeched.

"Well, she said her mother ate a zombie and I suppose that seeing as Changelums and zombies aren't the same species that would mean that her mother isn't a cannibal but never the less her mother ate a 'being' per say and I'm quite sure that it was squirming at the time. Though her mother wouldn't be classified as a cannibal the situation is still disgusting and maybe even worse than being a cannibal. On the other hand, Lisa and Kai's lives were saved by this act in some way so I don't think we have room to complain. Can we highjack the car and go to the city now, I'm hungry." Nacho said all of that in one breath.

"Uh… yeah, the car…" Adriana said, slightly surprised. "Come on, guys. We aren't getting any younger." She stretched out her wings and took off. Kai went after her. We exchanged looks of worry before following. When we landed Adriana jiggled the door handle. It was locked. She ripped the door off and let us all in in turn. "I'm fifteen, who here knows how to drive?" She looked around at all of us.

"We're all fifteen." Static said. Kai smirked climbing behind the wheel.

"You can drive?" We all said at once. Well, except Nacho, who started at the same time but went a lot faster. His grin only widened. He pulled down the visor above his head. Keys dropped into his lap. He started up the car.

"Wait! I'm riding passenger seat!" Lisa scrambled out of the car, crawled over her brother and buckled herself in. Adriana grabbed my arm, seemingly scared.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I don't think we want him as our designated driver." She said slowly, reading his mischievous grin. I understood. Just because Kai knew how to drive safely didn't mean he would. I heard the squeal of tires on the black top and we were slammed into the backs of our seats.

"Are you insane?!" Static hollered over the roar of the engine. Adriana and I laughed loudly, clinging to our armrest for support.

"TURN ON THE SIREN!" Nacho screamed.

"No! No! Don't-" Static began. Lisa reached over and turned it on. I can't tell you how exhilarating it felt just then. We heard another siren rival our own. Oh no. Real cops. I thought Kai had been going fast earlier, just then he went warp speed or something. He stomped on the gas and the car was thrust forward. I was surprised he didn't crash. "WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO DRIVE?!" Static hollered. Kai looked at him, I mean he took his eyes off the road and turned to face Static with the biggest, most evil, malicious, crooked smirk I'd ever seen. Adriana laughed again.

"Your dad?!" She questioned. Kai winked and turned back to the road. Oh gawsh, where does someone get a family like that?

"That's what you two were doing?!" Lisa screamed. I heard a chuckle. I figured it'd come from Kai but couldn't imagine him laughing in any way, shape, or form. If even possible the car went faster. Adriana hugged the arm rest.

"I'm gonna puke!" She laughed.

"Not on me!" I replied. Just then the cops pulled up next to us. They glared. Adriana leaned over and tapped Kai's shoulder.

"Pull over. We don't want to be on America's Most Wanted. Especially not for joy riding." Kai smiled slightly and cut off the engine. We were all thrown forward when the car stopped. The cops pulled up along side us. They stepped out of their car. We did the same.

"Alright you kids, up against the car." The two of them were men, I was a bit afraid but did as they said, until Adriana caught my arm.

"No. I'm armed." She dropped the dagger and the men looked down at it. "No one else is, I'm not going to get patted down by middle aged men with nothing better to do." She snarled.

"Middle aged?! I'm not a day over 20!" One cried. Now that I looked them over, they were actually really handsome. Kinda like male models. They smirked and told us to hold out our wrists. I was handcuffed to Static. Adriana was handcuffed to Lisa. Kai was handcuffed to Nacho. "To be completely correct-" I watched in horror as the two men morphed in to ugly, slobbering Erasers, "I'm not a day over 6."

There. All done. I like what's coming up and I have a plot twist coming I'm just not sure what it is yet. Anyway, please review! Kisses!