A/N This chapter was posted previously but I decided to rewrite the first few paragraphs. I have also re-edited and re-written various parts of other chapters because I disliked some part of them. Enjoy this chapter, there will be another author's note at the end.

"Max!" Fang yelled. The keys landed loudly at his feet. I focused all of my attention on Fang and he looked tense and determined. He was taking out his unused pistol. In my peripheral vision I noticed the director lifting up a gun and pointing it towards me. I jumped forward and rolled in front of her desk, I was quick but not quick enough.

I heard guns fire off from both sides. As I was jumping, a bullet pierced through middle of my right bicep. Slowly the red liquid stained my arm, I saw Fang laying on the ground on his left side holding onto his right thigh. His gun was outstretched with his other hand. He fired another shot and seized pulling the trigger. He nodded his head at me to signal it was over. I peered around the desk and checked if the director was still there.

She had a small pistol dangling from her hand and her chest slowly went up and down. Her left pants leg was pulled up revealing a holster. She was unconscious, blood seeping from holes in her lower abdomen, left shoulder, and one from a bullet that grazed the left side of her neck. I slowly stood up keeping pressure on my fresh wound, as did Fang. He struggled to stand and frowned slightly. His way of grunting in pain. Fang took his hand off of his thigh temporarily and I noticed a bullet had barely grazed his leg.

"God dammit." I muttered. That manipulative bitch had just tried to kill me. Again! I moved my eyes over to where Iggy was. He was lying stiffly upon the floor, making himself as flat as possible with his face planted into the carpet. "It's OK, Iggy. It's over." I assured him. He started to get up off the ground. Soon, we all started walking toward each other, me grabbing my arm along the way.

"What the hell happened?!" Iggy asked angrily.

"The director tried to kill Max," Fang informed Iggy, when turning to me he asked, "Are you OK?"

"I'll live." I said shortly. Great, I was answering questions just like Fang now. He was looking at me with concern in his eyes and glancing worriedly at my arm, but nonetheless remained silent. He knelt down to pick up the keys and got back up.

"Well we got half of the job done." He stated while having the keys in grasp. I got another idea.

"Iggy, do you think you crack the safe?" I asked with hope. He really was our only chance now. If he could not do it, then he would knowingly die. Fang and I's fate could still be in danger also. Iggy was contemplating an answer to my question

"I might be able to but I don't really know," he replied cautiously. I told Fang with body movements to lead Iggy to the safe, and he got the message. He limped away, guiding Iggy to his task. I turned away and quickly went to the task of checking each supposedly dead body for a pulse. I wanted to make sure that there would be no more surprises. No one in the room besides me, the remaining members of the flock, and the director were alive. I thought about killing the director but I could not go through with it.

When I was done checking with that, I heard Iggy curse loudly. I walked swiftly to his side. They had already found the correct key for the first lock and Iggy had failed his first attempt to open the combination lock.

"Hold on for a sec Iggy." I told him. Iggy backed his hand off the lock and I set it so the zero and the bold line on top lined up. "Take your time Ig, don't rush this." Iggy nodded and started his second attempt.

*****

I twisted the knob on the safe slowly, trying to feel the click of the first number. I had done this before but it took five tries to get it the last time. The last time though had been under less stressful circumstances. I twisted the dial even slower now, as I estimated I was at least half way through the wheel of marks and numbers. I leaned closer to the safe to try to hear the click set off. A second later, I felt a prominent jar in the lock and heard a soft click. First number down.

I kept one finger on one point of the lock and turned the dial with another finger, not stopping until both fingers were aligned perfectly again. I started on the second number even slower than the previous one, and leaned even closer. A few seconds later, I felt the same jar in movement and heard the annoying little tiny click. Second number down. I started going clockwise again with the same method as before.

The final click occurred. The last number was down. I took my hands off the lock abruptly and nodded slowly to show Max and Fang I was done, and then backed away a few inches. I heard a twist of the key, a turn of the handle, and the swing of the safe door opening. It was open.

*****

Iggy had done it. I could barely describe that momentary feeling of relief I had just had. It felt so good even to have any sense of relief. All of my anger, resentment, and hatred seemed to flow out of me right at that moment. I felt as if I had been with Fang and Iggy all along and none of the people I had loved and cared about had met their demise. Even the hole my arm seemed to not hurt, least for a few seconds. Everything at that moment made me feel like I had a normal teenager's life.

Fang was holding some of the vaccinations. There were dozens of them in all, but only three were needed at this moment. Both of us, Fang and I, took one of the automatic injection things. I read the directions on the side of one of the injections. I pulled up Fang's sleeve, took the plastic thing off of the end, pressed other end harshly down onto his bicep (the needle was inside of it and came out when you pressed down on it) before Fang could say a word or present any objection.

I knew he had massive hatred of needles, no use in prolonging the experience for him. He repeated the process for me. I did the same task for Iggy. Fang stuffed some of the unused vaccinations into a thermos he had in his backpack; he took five in all. It was all the thermos could hold.

"What do we do now?" Iggy asked.

"I don't know, but maybe we should get out of here." I recommended. I walked over to the closed blinds that covered the window and raised them. There was no way in opening the window. I finally was hearing people rush down the hallway outside, Iggy probably hearing them long before me.

I hurriedly took my gun out again. I shot out five times in a large triangular pattern, to weaken the glass. I then put the gun in the small of my back, and jumped through the center of the triangle I had outlined with bullets, the glass collapsing with me.

The others followed me out into to the open air; I felt it rush quickly through my wings, something I had not experienced since I was fourteen years old. We flew fast towards somewhere... anywhere. I had no idea of what was next or where we were going, but at least we would live to see another day. We were all, at this moment, as free as a genetic mutant freak could be.

A/N First I'm sorry for my prolonged absence. I just had no desire to write for a while, last night I actually had to re-read this story to get in the mood to write it. I am in the right mindset now so I will continue to end sooner or later. By the way, the more reviews you give me the more I will want to write this -hint hint-.