"Well, Max. How have you been doing?" Jeb asked, seemingly placid. I could do nothing but whimper, still in shock of being at the School, seeing Jeb. "It looks like being in Forks toned your feistiness down a notch."
Then I snapped back to reality. I glared harshly at Jeb. "Oh, my mistake. There it is, the famous Maximum Ride glare."
"Why am I here?" I growled through clenched jaws.
"Why not? Max, this is your home. You don't belong in Forks, or any other city-"
"Shut up!" I yelled at him. "This is not my home, and it never will be. How dare you even say that?"
"Sweetie, everybody here is just like you, creations, experiments," Jeb's last word was harsh. "Outcasts."
"Answer my first question! Why did you bring me here?" I barked.
Jeb smiled, and it made my blood boil. "Well, if you can remember, a little while ago, you let all of our little experiments loose. Some didn't matter, they would die on their own anyways. But on the other hand, you let some run free that were very precious to us. You left, the flock left, and we lost all of that DNA. Of course we would do something about it. You must know us well enough by now, Max."
"I hate you," I spit out. "I absolutely can't stand the sight of you. I hate you."
"Ah, Max, hate is such a strong word. It's definitely not a term to use against your own father, right?"
My glare hardened. "You're no father of mine."
But Jeb had already turned on his heel and started walking out. "It was good talking to you again, sweets. Get some rest, because you know what'll happen next."
I heard the heavy door slam shut with a sound that bounced around the room.
I sighed, closing my eyes, thinking of a way to break out again. Then a small voice asked, "Maximum?"
I opened my eyes again, turning my head to the left where I heard the voice. I didn't even notice anybody else in the room.
It was a small, weak-looking girl. She had vibrant green eyes that lit up her young, pretty face, but her brown, wavy hair was dirty and tangled, and her skin was cut in many places. She was tied up, similar to me.
"You… Didn't I?" I trailed off when she nodded.
"You helped me escape that time before. Everyone was leaving and running, but I was still in the middle of experimenting. All the surgeons had left to find you guys, but I was still on the operation bed. I was screaming, and I thought nobody could hear me. But then," she offered a weak, toothless smile. "You found me."
I remembered that time. It was actually a coincidence that I was down by the Deathrooms (Or actually, as she called them, "Operation Rooms") because I was trying to sweep some first-aid stuff for the injured folk, since it was a violent escape. Then I heard this loud screaming and wailing, and it seemed like it was losing its drive. I pushed into the room and saw this girl on the bed, tears falling out of her eyes, and her eyes- they seemed so happy to see someone.
Of course, I cut off the straps tying her to the bed and lifted her out of the School, and the entire time, she was crying, telling me how thankful she was for me.
"Yeah, I remember you," I said. "You never told me your name."
"My name is Maeve," she said.
"That's an interesting name," I replied.
The corner of her dry lip went up. "Thank you, Maximum. It's Irish."
"Oh, you can just call me Max," I insisted.
"Can I call you Maximum, though? I think it really defines you the best."
"Um, sure, I guess," I said, shrugging. For a second, I looked past Maeve and saw that there were more experiments lined up. I looked to my right, though, and saw none. I guess Jeb wanted to see me first every single time he walked into this miserable room.
"So," I said, trying to make conversation with Maeve. "What's your strength?"
"Nothing," she replied.
"Nothing? There has to be something."
"Well, it's nothing to be proud of," she sighed. "I can't do much."
"It's still something," I pointed out.
"Fine, I can turn into a cat," she said, sounding shy.
I had to say, I was surprised. I knew the School gave humans animal features up to 2%, but never did I think that they would turn it up to almost 50%.
At my silence, Maeve laughed without any positivity. "I told you it was nothing. I'm just one of the useless experiments. They're probably just waiting for the perfect time to kill me off."
"Hey, don't say that. They won't kill you off, if they were going to, they would have done so a long time ago. And I was just wondering, what percent are you Feline?"
"About 43.37%," she said. "Not that much."
"Are you kidding? That's a whole lot!"
"Not really, most new kids here average to around 70%," Maeve said. "I once knew a guy who was almost 85% canine. You could look at him and passed him off as a normal bulldog at first glance, but if you look again, you can see some human features."
"Why are they raising the percentages by so much? I'm only 2% Avian."
"Probably because you can go out and pass as an average human. But they realized that the more we look like animals, the higher chance of people reporting it if we manage to break out, and then it's easier for them to find us."
If you ignore the fact about what we're talking about, it's actually quite funny that we are conversing while strapped tightly to two separate operation beds.
We conversed for a long time, maybe through the night, because the lights went out. Still, we kept talking. Eventually, we both fell asleep, Maeve first, and then I drifted off too.
The next morning, I woke up to find that Maeve's bed was gone. I looked to my right, back to my left, but no sign of Maeve. I guess they took her out to experiment on her. The thing was, I wasn't going to be able to save her halfway through her surgery.
She didn't come back. I thought the worst, assuming that she had been, well, you know. I sniffled a little. Even though I didn't know her well, I knew that she was a great kid. If she hadn't been experimented on, hadn't been born during this time, she could had so much more to life.
Jake looked furiously all day and night for her, beyond the borders of Washington, hoping to feel a sense of her anywhere. After looking through her house, he felt that she wasn't anywhere near him. Where had she gone, and why didn't she tell him? And how could he have not woken up to her leaving? He wanted to beat himself up, but decided that he shouldn't waste any time- especially if Max was in danger.
He was in the meadow where he encountered Max after running away for a while. It was in California, and Jacob started searching to the east. Little did he know, Max was right there, in Death Valley, California.
I grunted. I used all of my strength to push against the tight bindings, but I couldn't get through. Relaxing back into the bed, I groaned. How was I going to get out? I'm sure there's a security camera in the room, so even if I did manage to break this thing, by the time I finish, all the Whitecoats will be down here, strapping me back up in no time.
I felt eyes watching me. I looked to where Maeve's bed used to be. There was a new guy there now, with huge, black eyes looking at me with curiosity. I was tempted to ask him what his problem was, but then I didn't. He was probably really scared, too.
I heard footsteps again. I prepared a glare, thinking that it was Jeb again.
"What do you want, Jeb?" I bit out.
A familiar, but different voice chuckled. "Well, Max, it may surprise you to see that I am not who you think I am."
My gaze snapped to the speaker. No, it wasn't Jeb at all. It was Sam, smirking at me. Honestly, I couldn't tell if I should be relieved that it wasn't Jeb, or if I should have my guard up and watching his every move. That stupid, sweet face of his can deceive anybody.
"Sam? What are you doing here?"
"I don't know, I was hoping you could answer that."
"What?"
Sam started pacing around my bed. "I knew from the day I saw you in that parking lot that you were the one I was told to find. Those scientists told me to follow you, catch you off guard and then to bring you here.
"They threatened me with the one person in my life that I couldn't stand to lose, and so I did it without even knowing the reason why. So here's my question for you," and he leaned into my face. "What is it about you that these scientists want?"
"How did they know that I was in Forks?" I asked, ignoring his question.
"Max, you didn't answer my question," he said, wagging his finger in my face. "I can't give you any answers without getting mine first."
"Well, then I guess both of us aren't going to be satisfied," I said. He had to know that I was an experiment. He just didn't know how important I was yet. And this could possibly become something I can use later on.
Sam stood up, glaring down at me. "Well, then Max, I guess you're going to be staying here until you start talking."
"And what makes you think that you actually have any power in what happens to me? After all, they did threaten you, and I'm sure if you do anything wrong, they will use that threat again."
He continued to glare at my face, and I guess he was just all talk. "I'll be back, Max." And with that, he turned around quickly and left the room, slamming the heavy metal door behind him.
I sighed. Welcome back to the life of an experiment, Max.
