A/N: So. Here is the long awaited chapter. There's a reason it took so long, and the reason is this:

I asked for 10 reviews on chapter 13. Seven people did what I asked and reviewed chapter 13. Here's why I asked for ten reviews on chapter 13 and not this chapter: well, now you can't review this one, can you? If you reviewed the author's note instead of the actual chapter, now you can't review this. So I don't expect any reviews for this one. However, if you didn't review it already, it'd be nice if you could review it anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.

Max shushes everyone while Gaz starts whimpering. The guy in the car's eyes bug, and he floors the accelerator. His car soars forward, spraying the pavement with dirt and gravel. Ari gives an insane cackle and his car jumps after the jerk. Five half-seconds later, the sound is gone.

"He gets around," I murmur. Underneath my calm mask, my emotions are roiling. Every time I see Ari, I get all tingly and cold, like I have a fever. My whole body aches, and my fists long to be connected to his jaw. Or nose. Or cheek. Or gut. Really anywhere is fine, actually.

"Was Ari's hair green?" Max asks, her brow knitting.

"Yep," says Nudge. An awkward silence falls over us as we all realize something at the same time. Our heads slowly turn toward each other and then swivel to the ATM, like some sort of black-and-white show.

The ATM is beeping quietly. A human wouldn't be able to hear it from this distance. But we wouldn't be here if we were human. I tap Iggy's hand twice and we slink across the pavement. I fill Iggy in on the way, poor blind boy. He has absolutely no idea what's going on.

Once we get to the ATM, we stand up and look at it idiotically. I think Nudge even blinked a few times in bewilderment. Max's hand hovers over the screen, so I decide to suggest something to her. Best thing I've said all day, really.

"Get cash."

"You think?" Max sneers. But her hand doesn't move. The Gasman turns his big blue eyes on her and spurts one word:

"Hurry."

After that little wisdom nugget, Max finally pushes the withdrawal button, stabbing it with her middle finger. (Yeah, she uses her middle finger to point and press things. She also uses it to flick me off.)

PLEASE ENTER THE AMOUNT YOU WISH TO WITHDRAW.

She pauses. "Sixty dollars?" The finger hovers. I snort.

"He was a total jerk," I inform her. I gesture to the machine. "Take him for all he's got!"

She grins. "You are evil. I like that." The one comment leaves me feeling like a balloon as the middle finger stabs its way through the transaction. Just to make things clear, I use my index finger to point and press, like a normal person. However, I reserve the middle one for pointing at Max and pressing Iggy.

Nudge does a little dance around the island that the ATM is parked on. "Oh, yeah, oh, yeah," she shouts, waving her arms in the air. "We're ri-ich, we're gonna buy a ca-ar, oh, yeah!"

Max frowns at the screen after a moment. I rip my eyes away from Nudge, giving my head a little shake, and look at the screen that she's focusing on so intently.

"PLEASE ENTER YOUR PIN NUMBER TO COMPLETE THE TRANSACTION," I read out loud, and watch Nudge out of the corner of my eye as her arms wilt slowly and her happy movements slow to a stop.

"Oh, no," Max groans next to me. "Did anyone see it?"

"I heard it," Iggy says slowly. We pounce.

"I think if we put in the wrong code more than twice it shuts down and swallows the card," I say thoughtfully, trying to sound smart. I saw that on TV, I think. When I was 13.

"Can you do it?" Max asks Iggy sincerely. Behind her, I crack up silently. Iggy hears me and his blind eyes flick toward me before focusing on Max's...chest. I cringe.

He closes his eyes and then turns to the keyboard, placing his fingers on the keypad and spreading them out so that he can feel which pad is which, fingering the Braille dots. I make a note of that as he says, "Um, I'll try..."

"It's okay, Ig," I say reassuringly. "Just give it your best shot."

Max scowls.

Iggy presses five buttons hesitantly, his pianist fingers spidering over the keys. I inhale and hold it...

ACCESS DENIED. PLEASE CHECK YOUR PIN AND TRY AGAIN.

"Shit," I murmur under my breath.

"Try again," Max urges tensely. "You've got the best ears on the planet."

...I hate to say it, but Max might actually be right about that one.

Iggy takes a deep breath. His fingers spread out over the keys again, stroking each one before pushing it down surely. The look of intense concentration melts off his face and he steps away. Even if he got it right, that was the last chance he had to do it. According to something I may or may not have seen on TV when I was 13.

The silence is a lead ball in my belly for about five half-seconds. (Like how I keep working that in there?) Then the ATM whirrs, and bills begin spewing out of it.

"Yes!" I punch the air. "Freaks rule."

"Grab it and go!" Max orders, and Nudge shoves the bills in her pocket. We begin to sprint away when the ATM beeps behind us. We pause.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS. PLEASE TAKE YOUR CARD.

"Okay, thank you," Max says, grabbing the card. And then we book it.

Once we're safely in the woods behind the station, I take the money from Nudge and begin combing through it. "Too bad we couldn't get more," I muse.

"Let's go back to the gas station and buy a bunch of food," Nudge says longingly. But Max shakes her head, her straw-colored hair sweeping in front of her face.

"No," she sighs, "People there may have already seen us. We've got to get out of here."

I shove the money into my pocket and glance into the parking lot. A red van pulls up. A young man opens the door, climbs out, and punches in a time card. Then he disappears inside.

I glance at Max, and see that she's thinking the same thing as I am. Then her eyebrows crease.

"Money from a jerk is one thing," she says. "A car from just a guy is something else."

"We'd only need to borrow it for a few hours," I convince her. "We could leave some money as a rental fee."

Gazzy perks up. "Are we stealing that car?" he asks eagerly. "Let's."

Max frowns. "No. We're sort of thinking about borrowing it." She closes her eyes, appearing to have some sort of internal battle. I lean on a tree trunk and fold my arms, looking down at her.

"That's like Grand Theft Auto," Gazzy interjects. "I saw it on TV. It's popular with kids."

"Better borrow it soon," Iggy advises, cocking his head. "I hear a chopper."

Nudge starts, looking scared. She wilts into my side.

Max opens her eyes. "Okay," she says, marching across the parking lot. We follow hesitantly after her, looking around constantly. Iggy pulls out his paperclips and unlocks the handle lock, climbing into the front and pushing his foot down on the gas. I climb into the passenger seat as Max lifts the hood, obscuring her and the other two from our vision.

Iggy looks tense, gripping the wheel with his pale fingers. "I don't like this," he confides. "We're wasting too much time."

I nod and play with the hem of my T-shirt. After a moment, I look up. "What's with Max, do you think?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since she got back from wherever she went, she's sure been acting strange." I twist the shirt in my fingers. "You know?"

He frowns, his foot still pinning the accelerator to the floor. "Yeah, kind of," he says. "Almost like she's –"

The engine roars, cutting him off. Max slams down the hood, chasing Iggy out of the driver's seat, and piles everyone into the back. She climbs in herself and looks at me for a moment. I stare back unblinkingly until she looks over at the controls.

Then I realize something.

"Oh, my God," I say. "None of us have ever driven before."

Ok. There you go. Happy?