A/N: I'm back! With freshly written work...

Disclaimer: Nothing you don't already know.

We'd been flying for hours, and I had a feeling that most of it was in circles. I didn't know where we were, just that we still hadn't found Max. My head was beginning to pound just a bit, and it didn't help that I was getting less and less patient with every passing "I'm hungry." I didn't even know where we were. California, for sure. Near Death Valley? The surroundings looked somewhat familiar. Were we by the School? Or closer to the border, our escape? No one had said anything for a while. When I turned around, they were all still there. Silent. Staring ahead. Nudge would usually be talking non-stop by now, but even she could only open her mouth to complain about the lack of food hundreds of feet up in the air. Total was quiet too, shifting awkwardly in the pack on Iggy's back.

My headache wasn't getting any better.

"Well…you see…it's hard to explain…but…um…Max…"

"Spit it out already!" I exasperated. Shane looked like he might've forgotten that we were on different sides for a moment.

"My God, calm down!" My gaze turned to ice, and I saw him falter a bit. Good.

"I mean…right, right. I should start by saying I'm not with Itex. Did you know about the Anti Movement?" I shook my head.

"The what?" How many evils was I supposed to save the world from?

"No, no. They're not evil," Shane said quickly. I cocked my head at him.

"Can you hear what I'm thinking?" I asked cautiously. His gaze immediately dropped.

"Max, I have to tell you something." I shrugged as if to say "Go on."

"All this time…Itex hasn't been tracking you. The Voice…none of that is Itex. The Anti Movement, we…we need you. And your flock. You guys are our key to destroying Itex. The School wasn't built for evil. It's not affiliated with Itex at all. In fact, it was made to destroy Itex. Or, more accurately, it was made to make what would destroy Itex." I opened my mouth to scream at him. I got on my feet to pound him to a bloody, twitching pulp. I even got my feet to start towards him.

And then my head exploded.

It felt like someone shot my brains out. I really actually thought my head was gone. No head, no head. Headless horseman. Headless bird-kid.

Oh, shit. It hurt like hell.

I'm pretty sure I didn't cry out, but the flock was awake anyway, crowding around me, Iggy shouting orders I couldn't understand. I wanted so badly for him to stop. My eardrums…were…bursting. Is that the word? Bursting. My head was bursting. My brains were splattering all over Nudge and Gazzy. Angel was crying. Was I bleeding? My teeth, they were growing…were they? Oh God, oh God, oh God. Save me, save me, save me. God, save them. Save us all.

Where's that gun that shot my brains out? I need it to try again. Again, again, again. Kill me, kill me, kill me. KILL ME!

"NO!" A girl screamed. I heard "Stay with us", "Please", "We're sorry! We love you, don't die". Don't die. Don't die. Don't. Please. No no no no no.

Meaning I'm not already fucking dead?

A/N: Now, what, exactly, is going on here? Thank you all SOSOSO much for the fabulous reviews!! I'm just 5 shy of 900...holy crap. That's amazing. That's so amazing, I don't even know what to say about that it's so amazing.

Actually, I have something else to say. I'm getting really into Chuck Palahniuk's writing. I don't know if any of you have read stuff by him (Fight Club, to name a really famous one) but he's awesome. I mean, I've never actually felt sick just from reading a book before. And he managed to make me kind of queasy. So anyhow. Read Palahniuk.