Here's the disclaimer I'm always forgetting to put: I do not own Maximum Ride at all. Never have in the past, and I never will in the future. I only own Maximum Ride School's Out Forever in hardback which my brother bought at Wal-Mart. (Even though I read it more than he does.)

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Chapter 8

Ten minutes after we arrived, camp was set up, and the kids were already in the water. Fang and I sat a little ways up on the shore, watching them laugh and splash each other. Iggy and Nudge were tackling one another and Gazzy and Angel were playing 'Marco Polo'.

"Come on, Max!" Yelled Nudge, dodging Iggy. "Come play with us!"

"I don't think-" I began, but she marched up to where Fang and I were sitting and said, "Please?" She looked at us and-oh no! She gave us the Bambi eyes. We tried to avoid her gaze, but she would not be denied.

I sighed. "Okay,"

"Fang?" She asked hopefully.

"Nah," He declined.

I leaned in close, my face inches from his. "If I have to, so do you."

He rolled his eyes and stood up as I did too. We followed Nudge down to the water and everyone had apparently decided to play the game called, 'Tackle Fang And Max'. They dived for us, and we went under and swam off in different directions, trying to confuse them. No go. Nudge and Iggy went for Fang and Gazzy and Angel went for me.

Twenty minutes later, the kids finally tired out and crashed up by the fire Fang had made. Good thing too, 'cause every time someone would say my name, I would turn my head toward them, and send little water droplets flying off my hair, making the fire hiss. That sound was getting really annoying.

I looked around at Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. Sweet, innocent, wet. Sand was already in their hair. Across from me on the other side of the fire, Iggy's eyelids were drooping. Poor Ig. He apparently hadn't gotten enough sleep last night. Well, he got less than the rest of us anyway.

Max, My annoying Voice said. Swear to me, as soon as you little 'vacation' is over, you will save the world.

What?! I yelled inside my head. This whole, 'island' thing was your idea in the first place!

Maximum, promise! Whoa, a violent tone. What a little-(insert swear word of your choice here)-. I noticed Fang looking at me; I forgot to answer back to the Voice. It got my attention though,

MAXIMUM! ANSWER ME! Ahhh, headache coming on. Thanks for that Voice.

Can it, I thought.

Not till you promise! The Voice said.

Fine, I thought. Whatever.

Okay, I had had enough from my Voice. I had made my decision, oh, three seconds ago when it gave me my little 'brain-blast'. The chip was coming out. Tonight

Maximum you had better not! You need me! You-Know-Who said.

No, I don't, I replied.

You won't be able to save the world without my guidance.

Oh pu-lease, I thought. You throwing random things at us to do isn't guidance, that's called, 'winging it'. Something I happen to know how to do fairly well, so why would I need you? I don't. Never have, never will, no way, no how, not ever. Besides, what if I don't care? I'm not the right person to be saving the world. Who cares? We'll all be dead in a hundred years anyway. Or sooner, I added to myself.

The Voice was speechless. Good.

"Problem?" Fang asked. I saw that Ig had fallen asleep. Awwwe.

"No," I said quickly. He was not gonna fond out about what I planned to do with the chip tonight. No how, no way, not ever. (A/N: I just like that phrase, lol) What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I hoped.

About two hours later, about three o' clock, Ig, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel woke up. Funny how they could time each other like that, because they wok within seconds of each other.

The first thing out of Nudge's mouth: "Max, I'm hungry."

That night, I asked for one last word with my Voice. So no Eraser's are gonna find us tonight or for the rest of the week, right?

Yes, Max, The Voice said warily. You're right. Good. I loved being right when it came to the Voice.

After Ange, Gasser, Nudge, Ig, and Fang were asleep, I fished a flashlight and Swiss Army Knife out of Fang's pack and went down by the water, about twenty yards away from my sleeping flock. I plopped down, and shined the flashlight on my arm. I used my feet to hold the light in place. I opened the knife blade, smelling to see if it was clean. (no Eraser blood, i mean. Hey-Clean and Mean rhyme, get it? Clean and Me-forget it) It smelled of alcohol. Fang knew what he was doing, keeping things clean around the little kids. I knew that the slightest bit of pressure i would apply would penetrate my skin. I made sure I could see clearly where the chip was at in my arm, then placed the knife on my forearm. I was scared. I could loose the use of my arm or even bleed to death. Too damn bad. Sure, scary, but worth it.

I applied the pressure . . . and nearly moaned in pain. This thing was sharp.

Max, don't do this ! The Voice said, but I blocked it out.

I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, but dismissed the thought. It was probably just a leaf falling from a tree. No big deal. I continued, the knife may have been sharp, but i had to work carefully and slowly. Because one little slip . . . well, i wanted to avoid that major vein running up my arm, and just because the blade hurt. No freakin' duh. I saw the movement again. I was covered in my own blood. The flashlight slipped and was no-long between my feet. \par I saw someone walking down to where I sat. \par Shit! It was Fang.

"Max?" He said curiously. "What are you doing up?" I hated lying and I had done that enough already. But it wasn't like I was gonna tell him what I was doing. Gemme a break. I was confused, angry, sorry, tired, and a bunch of other mixed emotions were running through me at that one moment. All most too much to bear. It felt as though I was cutting open my pounding heart instead of doing amateur surgery on my arm. Not a good feeling, might I add.

Fang spotted the blood's glow from the moon's light. He swore once, loudly, running foreword to me. I dropped the knife like a hot potatoe and turned my head to face him straight on.

"Fang..." I said. At a loss for words. He looked shocked, stricken, scared. I felt tears spring to my eyes. I had put him through this once, and I didn't mean to again, but I did. And there's no turning back. Stupid teenage emotions! Why are girls always the ones to cry, huh?

"What the hell are you doing?!" He said, in a shouted whisper so he wouldn't wake the others.

"Fang . . . " I repeated. God, i felt so dumb. I felt like a frickin' idiot too. I was a frickin' idiot.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He said, in the same tone as before. "You promised me!" It was then, that one fleeting thought that I had broken my biggest promise ever. I'm talkin' bigger than when me, Fang, and Iggy made a pact to be best friends forever and never let one another down.

"I-I'm sorry." I stammered, then the flood gates brokedown and I was bawling like a baby.

Half because my arm hurt like hell, and half because I regretted breaking my promise to Fang.

Fang wrapped his lean, muscular arms around me and I cried into the crook of his neck. I felt one of his hands on my back and the other stroking my hair. After a moment or two, or it could have been a century, who knows, I looked up and a couple of my tears hit my cut (More like gaping arm wound!) and it felt better. I-wait. My cut felt better. A second ago it was throbbing like there was no tomorrow, then the pain just . . . stopped. I looked down and, fang, following my gaze, did too. What we saw next shocked us into next week. The cut (gaping wound) was gone. Yep, this is not a typo. The cut had disappeared. There was only the faintest scar you could see in the moon light. Well, we could 'cuz we're mutants, but you get the picture.

"Whoa," Fang whispered in shocked awe.

We looked at each other and we both said, "Healing tears?"

Yes, Maximum, The Voice said. Congratulations on your new ability.

"I have a new ability," I said, hardly believing my own words. "I have healing tears." Then, a thought came to me. One that would change all of our lives. Well, okay, one in particular. I told Fang my plan.

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I think that's a bit bigger than some of my other chapters. Now since this is a bit of a cliffie (and you know you're dying to figure out what happens) I want at least 3 reviews before I put Chapter 9 up, please.