A/N: ...I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!!! I really did get caught up in senior year, and then the excitement of college. :P I'll update another chapter of this tonight, I promise. Hope that the time between updates didn't sway you away from this story... . I WILL finish it, I swear!


The School

Chapter 7

I groaned, awaking slower than usual. And louder. What was that about? Thinking hard, I closed my eyes again and clutched my throbbing head. Sure, I'd had headaches, but this one seemed different. I took in a deep breath of air and almost hurled.

I remembered that smell. Antiseptics; so heavy that it can personally guarantee that I will never set foot in a hospital unless it was for one of my flock members, and only as a last resort. My skin crawled as my eyes popped open, staring at my surroundings. Brown dog cage, medium sized, surrounded by other brown dog cages of all different sizes. I noticed several other mutants staring at me silently, and I shuddered involuntarily.

Just perfect. I was glad that I had put myself on the line to save my flock, but come on! Can't you cut a girl a break once in a while? Like fleeing for our lives weren't enough, but now I had to go and get kidnapped and brought back to the one place I would gladly burn to the ground.

The School.

Seriously. Don't those scientists have anything better to do with their time? Put it towards something useful, people! And no, that doesn't include mutating little kids to be used as worldwide weapons to take over the world. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Anyway, I was trying to stay calm despite my situation. I was valuable. They wouldn't kill me right away. Even though that didn't reassure me any, being as in a few days time, I would totally welcome death. That was like, automatic knowledge. I'd lived here long enough to know that I never wanted to come back.

Sweat was rolling down my face in no time. I wiped it off, taking deep breaths, but all that did was fill my lungs with that sickly smell, and I was squirming because of it. My cage was much too small; I couldn't stand up, couldn't sit up, could only lie curled in a tight ball watching out the front. I almost envied the boy sitting next to me, about the size of a toddler, though he was in a large sized cart. I didn't know why he got such a big one, but as I watched, he sneezed and grew twice his size, looking miserable.

Okay, so maybe I didn't envy him as much as I thought.

A noise jerked me out of my pity-fest, and I whirled around, trying to mentally prepare myself for what was next. There was a whitecoat, carrying a clipboard. He stopped in front of my cage and opened the latch.

"Get out, Subject Six. We have some tests for you," he stated, sounding bored, though his excited eyes betrayed the tone. I climbed out and glared at him.

"Maximum," I corrected.

He stared at me.

"I'm Maximum Ride, not 'subject whatever'," I didn't care that I was getting cross. Let my anger manifest into a guillotine and chop his head off.

…Okay, maybe that was a bit much. But let something very bad happen to him.

The whitecoat said nothing, only led me out of the room. I swallowed hard and followed him, only one thought comforting me.

At least it's me, and not one of the flock.


A/N: Again, so sorry for the lengthy delay. I'll be posting a lot more frequently from now on, and hopefully it'll be done before the end of summer... :)