Aj: Meant to update yesterday, but my mom decided for some reason to try and kill me.

Anika: She didn't try to kill you. She took you shopping!

Aj: So you see my point.

Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm Maximum Freaking Ride.

If I wasn't so miserable, I swear my adrenaline hype would have caused me to start singing that at full volume, in that tone death way of mine. Fortunately for the world, even my adrenaline hype couldn't get my mind off of Fang, and how I was possibly going to get him back. This was all an experiment set up by Grey, who was like an uber white coat. If I knew white coats, which I unfortunately did, they always improve experiments if the previous one has failed. The tower was a failure, moderately, so that meant Grey was going to have everything improved. That meant he would have the brain washing improved too.

I remembered when I had escaped from the isolation tank and had seen all of the brainwashed mutants—who just all happened to be avian experiments—and they had been even further gone than my flock had been. They had also had only Grey's uniforms on. The way the brain washings had worked before was that there was always some object that sent out the brain waves that controlled them. It wouldn't work if the person wasn't broken though, or else the brain waves would be strong enough to fight against Grey.

There was so much wrong with this scenario that I wanted to scream in frustration. Fang had nothing special on him; there was no pattern this time. Grey had found a different, more efficient way to make sure the dozens of mutants he had gathered up would forever have no free will. Not only that, Grey would have had to break Fang, which is nearly impossible. Just finding out that Grey was Fang's father wouldn't break him; it would hurt him, but it would never break him. That left the question of what Grey could have possibly done to break Fang. And if he could break Fang, why couldn't he break me?

Nothing added up or tied together. I heaved a heavy breath, still continuing to run as I realized my disadvantage. I had thought I would have been able to use what I had already found out in Grey's first experiment to save everyone, but it was starting to make sense. I was going to have to start at the very beginning. I knew nothing except for minor details. The minor details didn't get me any closer to saving my flock.

My feet were still pounding against the soft ground, not sure where I was going. Eventually, I would run into another test. Nothing could be worse than what I had just faced. Grey was capable of a whole lot, but taking away my family was a big mistake. I would find him, and killing him seemed a whole lot easier with every second that went by. Before I could, I had to find my flock, find a way to save Fang, and then find a way out of here.

With a shaky breath that sounded more like a wheeze, my legs suddenly gave out beneath me. I spiraled to the ground, with my arms laid out in front of me. My legs ached as if ten hippos had stomped all over them. I guess the adrenaline had finally worn off, only to be replaced my pain, exhaustion, and stress. Here's a math lesson: add all of those three things together and what do you get? A very cranky Max. What makes an even crankier Max, if possible? A large, oily being squirming around my fingers. I opened my eyes briefly, despite how much sleep was screaming at me, and held in a scream at what I saw. A snake.

I recoiled and jumped to my feet so quickly I could have made The Flash look like an amateur. There was just one little garden snake in front of me, hissing dangerously. Or, at least he was dangerous to me. What he was in front of was much worse. If I hadn't collapsed where I had, I would have landed in the giant pit full of snakes in front of me. There had to be at least a hundred snakes of all different sizes, species, and colors in the pit. Behind it was a dead end. I could just turn to the left passageway, right next to me. In fact, I would have if it weren't for what was on the other side of the pit. Tied up, gagged, beaten, and terrified was Nudge.

I glanced at the pit again, seeing if there was a way around it that I could take to save her. It stretched out twenty feet in front of me; it's sides filling up the entire trail. If I was going to save Nudge, my fashionista, I was going to have to cross the river of snakes. My skin began to crawl and bile rose up in my throat as I thought of having to face the slimy, squirming, legless forms known as snakes. I hated them; I admit that I feared them a little. But even with all of my hatred and fear combined, I loved Nudge more. I inched my way over to the edge of the pit, attempting to not hyperventilate. Come on, Max. They're in zoos, that means plenty of people have faced them and have been fine.

My pep talk was destroyed by Grey popping in and giving me a pep talk of his own. That's the spirit, Maximum. Just think about that, all of the snakes aren't poisonous, except for the one Black Mamba. Don't get bitten by that snake, or you will certainly die in fifteen minutes to three hours. I couldn't do this, my throat was clogging up and I had involuntarily taken a step back. My eyes traced a black flash, and spotted the very Black Mamba snake Grey had taunted me about. I looked at Nudge one more time and knew I had no choice. If it was between my life and hers, I wouldn't pick me.

I closed my eyes and jumped, causing the hissing and movements around me to quicken. One step at a time, I progressed further, not daring to open my eyes or I would freeze. My mind flashed to when I was back at the school, after I had escaped from the isolation tank the first time. The school had given me an illusion of snakes, and made me walk through it to save my flock. I hadn't known they were fake then; I had thought they were one hundred percent real. I just cared about saving my flock. Same goes for right now.

With slightly more confidence in my stride, I waded my way through the pit, feeling as I was in an Indiana Jones movie. I made sure I didn't move too fast and didn't raise my feet, to try and stay on their good sides. Even though there were only about a hundred, it felt as if thousands were slivering all around me and over my feet. I shuddered in repulsion, but continued on, knowing I had to save Nudge. I chanted it over and over in my head, drilling it into my brain.

That was until one of the snakes bit me on my thigh. My eyes shot wide open, trying to see which snake had tried to make me their dinner. I would have felt some kind of reaction if it were the Black Mamba, right? Or was it still too soon? I let out a sigh of relief as I caught a glimpse of another snake with my blood dripping from their fangs. I wanted to kill the demon reptile and see if it regretted trying to see how well I tasted, but I had more important things to do. With a limp, I continued the rest of the four feet to where the edge of the pit was, hoping no other snakes had gotten the idea of a Max buffet.

When I had reached the side, I hoisted myself carefully onto surface level, gently shaking off snakes while trying to avoid getting bitten again. After I was snake free, I spun towards Nudge and nearly sprinted over to where she hung, her arms bound to a pole about three feet above my head. I stood up on my tippy toes and hurriedly undid her bounds, smiling despite everything at the excited glean in her eyes as she had finally noticed me. Muffled noises came from her gagged mouth, already trying to talk at inhuman speeds.

I finished untying her in record time and moved on to her gag hesitantly. She pouted and undid it herself, then opened her mouth, about to begin the Nudge Channel.

"Nudge, I love you but can you hold on until we get to the other side?" She nodded agreeably and, before anything else, gave me a tight hug that I returned with ease. Don't go thinking I've gone soft or anything, but being reunited with one of the members of my flock made me realize how much I truly missed them. Not just in the maze either. I'd wished that they hadn't come after me here, but the truth was, we were stronger together than anything. Not just physically either.

Taking my hand, we slowly stepped back towards the pit. I gave her hand a tight squeeze in reassurance, even though I was the one with a snake issue. Then we both gently eased ourselves into the sea of snakes, repeating the process I had just completed, only a little faster because when together, we felt slightly safer; more invincible. We were fine, until we reached the final three feet. We both froze, not daring to move another step. In front of us, was the Black Mamba, hissing and prepared to strike.

"Nudge, on the count of three, I'm going to throw you to the ledge and you are going to get as far away from the pit as possible. Understand?" I muttered, just low enough for her to hear. I didn't want our voices to make the snake attack more quickly. She nodded tightly, so that her neck barely moved.

"One," I muttered, and then in a flash, propelled her skinny form over the ledge, where she landed in an ungraceful roll. But she was safe. I wasn't. The Black Mamba had been shocked by the movement and sprang towards where my left arm would be. In a quick movement that surprised even myself, I had it gripped in between in fingers, where it's jaw was trapped between my thumb and another finger. It squirmed, attempting to get free, but I just squeezed tighter until the snake's struggle suddenly slacked and I felt the bone beneath my finger soften. I had cracked his skull. Would it be morbid of me to grin at the thought of offing one of the snakes that were sent from the pits of hell?

I flung the dead snake's body into the pile, far away. Unfortunately, this caused a chain reaction amongst the other cold-blooded creatures and they began to attack. All around me, snakes began to plunge their ice-cold fangs into my skin. I grunted, trying not to show more of a reaction and bolted out of the pit. Once I was out, I had to rip the snakes that were clutching on for dear life off of me and fling them into the pit.

"Ow." I stated, turning to face Nudge. She sprang towards me faster than the Black Mamba had and wrapped her skinny arms around my waist, burying her head into my shoulder as she shook. I returned the hug, but I wasn't thinking about the exhilarating feel of being reunited with at least one of my flock. But I tossed my thoughts aside, not wanting to think about—it—and decided to enjoy the hug, because I wouldn't be this happy for a while, if ever.

Aj: In the Next Chapter we'll get to see more into Fang and Regan, Max 2 (I refuse to call her Maya!) and Angel, and Omega!

Anika: Questions of the Chapter:

Who do you want to be the first to die?

What mental tortures do you want to see the mutants face?

1-3 reviews: Updated a week later.

4-5 reviews: Updated 3-4 days later

5+ reviews: Updated the next day or in the same day.

Later guys!-Anika.