Maximum Ride isn't mine, and neither are Erasers, mutant flying bird kids, or whitecoats.

Aspen IS mine, and so is Conner, Robin, Aspen, Reuben, and all the other freaks in here.

...I am getting seriously sick and tired of writing that. sigh.


Chapter eleven: This weird one...

"So, I'll take the first watch tonight. You didn't do that too well last night, did you?" Robin chuckled. Conner scowled. "They came from behind me... they were quieter than I expected." I was confused. "What are you talking about?" Robin turned to me, her face suddenly dark. "We were attacked last night by a huge group of Erasers while Conner was supposed to be keeping watch."

Conner suddenly turned back to her, angry. "You wouldn't have been able to do anything more than I did. I was tired, and there were so many of them! And there was this weird one..."

Suddenly I was more attentive. He must have been talking about me. I was the only different one.

Conner continued, not noticing my sudden increase in interest. "It was so weird... it was an Eraser, but not an Eraser, you know? I mean it had the fangs, and the claws, and the wings, and the bad attitude and everything, but it was different. It was like, smaller and faster. And I think it was a girl."

"A girl? There aren't girl Erasers." Robin interrupted. Conner nodded. "I know. That's what's been confusing me. And it... she... whatever. It was trying so hard to get me... harder than any of the other Erasers. I got out of the Institute, past a huge group of Erasers without much more than a scratch. And this one..." He stopped. "Never mind. It's not important. Just weird."

Robin was panicking. "WHAT? What did it do to you Conner? Are you okay? What happened? Did it..."

"Shut up, Robin, I'm okay." Robin's hysterics calmed. "It just grazed my arm, okay?" "Let me see it, " Robin demanded. "No." "But, Conner, you're hurt! You need to let me..." Conner shook his head stubbornly. "Robin, you'll just make a big deal out of it. You overreact to everything." She glowered. "Let me fix it. You'll get an infection." Conner sighed. "Fine. Bandage it up or whatever."

Robin tore off an edge of the blanket she was sitting on. "Take your jacket off." Conner unzipped his black sweatshirt and pulled off the right sleeve. He gingerly pulled the other one off, wincing. I gasped. The gash went deep into his flesh, tearing deep into the muscle. Had I done that?

"It's not as bad as it looks," he said reassuringly, to Robin and I. Robin's eyes looked panicked and afraid.

He was lying; I knew that much.

Robin relaxed slightly at his false assurance. "Robin, can you get me some water? There's a stream nearby..."

"Um, sure." I found a rusty bucket by the door and took it outside. Anything to get away from them... from his blood.

I was a hunter. The sight and smell of blood always brought out the worst- the Eraser- in me. I could NOT let them see me as the very monster that had caused the problem that they were trusting me to help fix. Somehow I couldn't see that as beneficial. Call me a pessimist.

I found the small stream easily. Too quickly. I filled the bucket, then sat on a mossy rock. I calmed myself down, regaining as much control as I could. My reflection stared back at me from the bucket with red-gold eyes. She looked worried. "It's okay," I told her. "I can stay in control. I won't even stay in there very long. I'll... stay outside and keep watch." The girl in the bucket seemed content with that plan. I nodded to her, and she returned the gesture. "Let's get this over with."

I carried the bucket back into the shack just as the rain started coming down. Lightning forked through the sky, followed ominously close by its thunderous boom. So much for going back outside.

"What took you so long?" Robin demanded. She still looked pretty worried. I imagined how much more worried she'd be if she knew the answer to that.

"I had some- uh, difficulty finding the stream," I lied. "Hmph. Well, get that water over here," she said, buying it. "I need to clean the wound. Quick!" Conner grumbled something about overreactions while I brought the bucket over to her. I walked over to a corner while she soaked her rag in the water. "Where are you going?" Conner asked me. "Blood makes me... uh, queasy," I lied again. He nodded, wincing as Robin cleaned his wound.

I felt guilty for the lies, for how easily they believed me. It wasn't just them, I hated lying even to the other Erasers. I wasn't sure why... they (the other Erasers) lied all the time and didn't have problems with it. Maybe that was the reason; that Erasers lie. I hated being one of them, and lying made me like them. Or maybe because nobody could really lie to me. Maybe that was why it made it so much harder for me to lie and see others believe it. Or maybe it was just because I was the "weird one."

Conner inhaled sharply. "Sorry, Conner." Robin didn't look up from his injury. "Aspen?" "Yeah, Robin?" It was weird, calling someone by name instead of "Moron," or "Idiot," or something along those lines. "Can you like, distract Conner? He's concentrating too much on what I'm doing." "Oh... okay."

I walked over and sat next to him. "So... am I distracting?" He smiled. "Yeah..." His expression was soft, despite what Robin was doing. Out of the corner of my eye, here expression was hard. It was quiet for a while. Conner kept looking at me. I kept looking back. His eyes were so blue... Robin coughed. We snapped out of it, and Conner turned red.

A sharp scraping noise on the wall next to me pulled me out of my thoughts before they could form completely. Robin didn't notice, too caught up in her work. Conner lifted his head, having heard it like me. I put my weak human ear up against the wall, listening. I heard the faint murmur of voices. I couldn't tell if they were male or female, Eraser or human. I needed to see. I lifted myself up off the floor and peeked just over the windowsill.

Through a hole in the broken glass, I saw nine Erasers, all staring directly at me.


To be honest, it doesn't take me very long for me to write a chapter... they're pretty short, if you haven't noticed. But I don't feel like even starting if nobody will tell me what they think!! This is my first story that I've ever actually written down... I rarely make it past the planning stage... I'm too lazy to write it down most of the time. I just liked my idea for this one so much that I had to write it down. Or I'd forget it. Haha. So you'd better review, or I will be extremely disappointed. Maybe I'll cry...

Just tell me how I can make it better!! Or say that you like it or SOMETHING! I'm BEGGING you, people! (Whom I will probably never see in my life...) Tell me it sucks! I don't care! For real this time, I want more than two reviews before I move on. And I'm sorry, but each review only counts for one review. ) (Haha I made him drool)

And yes, I'm aware of my evil cliffy. That was fully intentional. Mwahahaha!

-Deji

PS-Thanks much to all of you (meaning like, three. At most.) that have been consistantly sending me reviews! I love you all! -Mass hug-