***Chapter nine! I've been really excited to upload this chap. I know all of you readers probably have a couple of questions, and don't worry, they will get answered. It feels so good to build up suspense! Anyways, there will be more frequent updates these few days, I hope. Thanks for reading this authors note crap!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Max R.!

Let's go on with the story.***

The escape!

Fang POV

"It's... it's true. They are d-d-dead. I saw how it happened. They showed me the video of them. They were in a c-c-cave, and... Gen-77 kids attacked and pushed Nudge down, and Nudge's windbreaker wasn't on, and then Gazzy tried to carry her, and Ella tried to carry him, and Iggy tried to carry them all and they all sunk to rock bottom. Their... Their b-b-blood..." Max said, and started sobbing all over again. Wait, why were they in a cave? Oh no. No way in hell did Max leave the Flock alone. No way. My dark eyes met hers, and she flinched.

"How could you? How could you... you just left them, like that? You tortured me about leaving you, and you leave them first chance you get? I left to protect your filthy ass... and now I know I was right to." Max shuddered, and fell to the ground. Her head hit rock bottom, and a loud clank filled the silence passing through us. That, and my eyes sending laser beams at her.

She removed her pocket knife, and stared blankly at her wrist. Before I could get this through my head, she slit open her wrist, and blood flowed out. She repeated this act until I managed to get the knife out of her grip. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I..." Pause. "I have no one. And I don't deserve to live. Give me the knife so I can kill myself."

"No." Her eyes went wide.

"Fine. So be it. There are other ways to suicide, you know."

"I won't let you. I am not going to be the person dealing with all the pain while you're dead. If you kill yourself, kill me too." (A/N: I know- very suicidal. But they'll become better.)

"No. I won't kill you. And I won't kill myself. But just so you know, I am like a ghost. I have no emotions anymore. Just self pity. Self pity because I chose you over the safety of my flock. People say true love hurts. Well this true love just killed me." True love, huh? She was dark red by the time she finished. Since when was Max this dramatic? Okay, this is the real Max though, so don't get any Max III ideas. Or Max IV.

"You picked me? Great achievement. Now we're both A, stuck in a dog crate and B, suicidal!"

"Don't blame me! You know you love me!" Okay, believe it or not, I blushed.

"I DO NOT!" I yelled. Lies, I said to myself.

"I can tell when you lie! I admitted I still love you! And you do too, or else you wouldn't have stopped me from cutting my wrists!"

"I am your best friend!" I yelled back. She nodded.

"Of course. I forgot. I forgot that... Never mind." That Max, always knows how to get to me.

"Forgot what? That I 'm still your friend?"

"No, that..." Building up suspense, huh Max? She knows how much I hate suspense.

"TELL ME!"

"That you don't care whether I am alive or dead anymore!" A tear escaped her heavy eyelids, and she wiped it off. "Why me?" she mumbled softly. "Why... me...?" she repeated, this time her head in her lap. I put my arm around her, and she yanked it off.

"Fang, don't pretend. Either you're in, or out. And you made it pretty damn clear you want out. There's no middle." Actually, there was, but I knew Max knew that, so there was no point in pointing that out.

"Fine. If you want me out that bad..." I distanced myself from her physically, but I couldn't think of anyone other than her for the rest of the night. The result? I was damn tired when they woke me up for the so-called mazes that she told me about.

"G' Morning, Fang!" she said, clearly forgetting the night before. "Right," she said quickly, and made space for me to get out.

"Let's get this over with," I said to myself. They locked the crate, and I saw a flash of blonde through the chimney that made me want to hurl. Guess who it was? Dylan! "What the fu-" I started, but the cold floor made me shiver. WTF was he doing here? And following behind was... Max? No, it was Maya. Why was Maya with him? I followed my "leader", questions swarming through my head.

Maya POV

I held Dylan's hand as we carefully balanced ourselves on the roof, trying to find a way in. I felt like a spy... It was really cool. The chimney was spitting out warm air, and that seemed pretty good in the bitter cold outside. The trees were changing colors. Guess what? It's autumn. (A/N: I know Maya is annoying, but isn't she supposed to be?)

"Let's head over there!" I said, pointing to the brick chimney. He nodded, and didn't let my hand go as we made it over to the other side of the slanted roof, where the chimney stood. "So much better..." The warm air made blood flow through my face again. As I went in deeper to get warmer, I witnessed something from the chimney. It was a crate in front of a white wall. Why could I see Fang there? "Dylan, look!" I pointed at the crate. His eyes went wide.

"That's our way in." He looked through the chimney. When he turned, I took one more look. Fang followed some well-built guy. Dylan picked me up. "Ready?" I nodded, and looked straight down. "Don't make a noise!" Dylan whispered as he dropped me through. I resisted an urge to scream as I went straight down.

"Max!" I said, and she looked up at me. She scrunched her eyes in disgust.

"Ugh, you. What are you doing here?" she said in a bored voice.

"Well, I am here to save you and get you the hell outta here!" I said. I smiled at her, and called Dylan. "Down, Dyl!" I yelled up the chimney. He dropped quietly, and started to pick the lock, when Max stopped him.

"Fang's still out. We have to wait for him to come back. You both can hide inside the chimney. They don't generally come here."

"K," I said, and made my way over. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, Fang came, looking exhausted as hell. We let him go inside, and then made our way over.

"Hi!" I said to Fang.

"Maya, isn't Dylan with you?"

"Yeah. Dyl?" I said, and Dylan made his way over.

"Hey Max! Fang."

"Pick the lock already!" Fang said. Dylan started picking, and Fang and Max made their way out. We flew out the chimney in harmony, and flew with all our energy to the nearest state, which was Oregon. Things were about to get really messy. Let's wait and watch!

***Chapter 9 ends. ):

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