Okay. So, one of my amazing friends had helped me write this chapter. She had actually been to Cincinnati before, so it has been a great help. (Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!) Basically, I was just supposed to edit the chapter, but I went a little overboard and rewrote most of it. Oops. Anyways, this whole chapter is dedicated to one character, Pia. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Maximum Ride does not belong to me.

Claimer: All of my OCs belong to me. (That would be Star, Lilly, and Pia. Only Pia also half belongs to my aforementioned friend, too.)

Chapter nine: Pia

Pia's POV

I crouched in the tall grass, eyes fixed on the plump little blue jay. I waited until it lowered it's head to peck at a little crumb of bread. Then, I bunched my leg muscles and leaped, feeling the satisfying pleasure of warm blood in my mouth as I clamped down on it's spine. I'll spare you the gory details but basically, I devoured the bird. Stretching, I washed myself, licking my golden-brown paw and rubbing over my broad muzzle and mane. Sighing in contentment I fell asleep, tail curled around my nose.

In the morning, I woke up only to have the sunlight searing my retina. I winced. Like, ow. I yawned, got up and morphed, wincing slightly at the transition from lion to human. I walked to a relatively reflective pond and checked my reflection, my golden-brown hair was a mess so I combed through it with my fingers/claws (Don't ask), then put it back into a ponytail and stuffed it through my Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, straightened my filthy t-shirt and stuffed my tail into the back of my pants. Isn't if fun to be a lion-kid hybrid? I then checked the orange messenger bag at my side and pulled out a map. I had stolen that map of Cincinnati from the lab that I had grown up in. Yes, I had grown up in a lab. You see, these crazy scientists had kidnapped my from my home in Cincinnati when I was three, and taken me there, to that lab in New York. They had done these cruel experiments on me, making me only 96% human... and 4% lion.

At first, I had struggled against their testing, only to find greater pain. So I had submitted reluctantly. But in the back of my mind, as I was almost driven insane I remembered my ultimate goal. When I was strong enough, I would break out of there. I would escape this living hell. I remember the day I had escaped from the lab, as clear as it was yesterday.

Start Flashback

About half a year ago, I remember sitting there in my cage, my knees against my chest as I thought about giving up, surrendering to the pain. Dying. You see, I had been ill. I had been in fatal condition from the lack of food and clean water. I hollucinated often, and felt dizzy most of the time. But then, I watched as these bird-kids had walked into the room. There had been six of them, and when I saw them coming, by heart had thudded painfully in my chest with excitement. "They are going to free me," I had thought. "I am going to be free." Instead of rescuing me however, I had watched as they printed out these papers and left. They had left me there. They could have set me free, it wouldn't have even taken that long, but instead they selfishly only thought of themselves. After they left me, I angrily punched the cage door. To my great suprise, it fell off of the cage, leaving an opening large enough for me to fit through.

I had crawled through the opening, and stood up for the first time in months. By bones ached and I felt like throwing up, but I was okay. As I heard the cry in the other room, "You killed your own brother!", I realized that this was my chance to escape. While the whitecoats were busy with the bird-kids, I could get out of here. So I snuck quietly out of the building, taking down one whitecoat and slipping his coat over my shoulders. As I made it out the door, I ran as fast as I could until the lab was miles behind. I took a deep breath of the fresh air, something I hadn't done in years as I finally realized it... I was free.

And just a few months ago, when I had been wandering the streets of New York, stealing from rich businessmen to survive, I wondered what I was going to do. I needed a home. A family. People who could protect me, people who wouldn't leave me to fend for myself. I needed to find my parents. So, I thought about who they could have been. What was my name again? I didn't remember it at all. I just knew that the scientists had called me "Experiment 314159". Hey, that sounded a lot like Pi! 3.141592653589! So I made up a name for myself. Pia. Pronounced "Pie-uh". Then, I decided I would travel back to Cincinnati and find my parents. I nodded to myself, determined to do it. And when I was determined to do something, nothing could stop me...

End flashback.

So now that I was actually in Cincinnati, I had no idea what to do. I make no sense sometimes. I had taken down so many people on my way here, tricking bus drivers, stealing from gas stations. But now that I was here, I realized that I hadn't planned this far. In truth, I hadn't thought that I would make it to Cincinnati without the whitecoats catching me. But I did. So, with my head held high, I walked down the streets of downtown Cincinnati, ready to meet my parents.

Author's Note: So? What did you think? Was it horrible? Suckish? Okay? Good? Awesome? Review and tell me, please! :)