Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Maximum Ride characters, all of that is owned by the wonderful James Patterson

Chapter 21

Despite the fact that I had been there about a month I had yet to explore anything other than the house. There were the bedrooms upstairs; my room, then the bathroom, and at the end of the hall, "the room", as I had begun to call it. I stayed as far away from that room as I could. At night sometimes I felt like I could hear his parents walking the corridors, whispering to one another, sometimes I begged them to save me, but they never did.

At the bottom of the house was a living room with an immense DVD collections, I'm talking over 300 hundred DVD's, some dating all the way back to the late 60's. It was crazy, and the TV was so monstrously huge you could barely notice anything else. Next to that was a front parlor room with nothing put old furniture covered in plastic that reeked of dust. Behind that was the dining room with tall dark wooden chairs and the longest table I had ever seen, and yet there were only four chairs. It was weird, in a sad way. And beyond that room was the kitchen where I shared all of my meals with Dylan. He always tried really hard to force small talk on me, asking about how my day was and what foods he should make next. It was beyond irritating. Usually I would just eat my meal in silence and then run back up to my room after I was done.

I never thought it would happen, but I was actually used to Dylan's constant presence in the house. I would walk right by him on the way to the living room without even flinching. He no longer bothered me and made me feel uncomfortable. In fact he did his best to try and make it feel homey. One day I was humming a song under my breath and the next day I could hear it playing from the kitchen. If he wasn't a psychotic kidnapper, it would have almost been sweet.

We never talked about what happened that day in "the room", or what happened in the bathroom later. It was the elephant in the room, but I didn't want to talk about it and I knew he wouldn't ask.

On the second week of my stay I had found some pencils and paper hidden away at the back of the vanity behind the unlimited shades of eyeshadow that I would never use. Some of them were broken and smashed from my first night here when I tore the room to shreds. I used the pencils and paper to document my stay. I had never been a huge writer and diaries weren't really my thing but hey, better late than never right?

Unfortunately writing a diary entry only took so long and I couldn't draw so I had about ten hours in my day that I needed to fill with…something.

The clock on my wall said twelve sharp, it was only noon. I had woken up around seven and written for about an hour. I couldn't stand to watch the clock tick by and any more TV was going to make my head turn to mush, so I forced myself to go back to sleep. I read somewhere that sleeping too much was a sign of depression, I was definitely depressed.

It was only noon and thanks to that nap I was now wide awake and wired. I forced myself up out of bed and immediately made it up. What can I say, old habits die hard, and Jeb didn't raise a slob.

I threw on some clothes that I dug out of the closet, just some simple cutoff jeans and black V-neck tee. As usual I just threw my hair up into a messy braid and left my face bare. There was no reason to put on makeup here, not that I really did anyway, makeup was Nudge's thing. Gosh I missed Nudge like crazy. I had to stop thinking about her or I was going to burst into tears.

I wanted to go outside. I needed fresh air, I felt like a dying flower. I knew that there was no way I would be able to escape through the woods, but maybe I would run across someone who could help me. Dylan had said we were the only ones around for miles upon miles, and maybe he was right, but I couldn't help hoping.

I figured I could at least try to go outside and hike through the woods, if anything the worst Dylan would do is stop me. And I could handle that, I wasn't scared anymore. I was too tired and too sad to be scared.

I had just reached the door to the patio when I heard his voice behind me.

"Where are you going?" Dylan asked me cautiously, inching his way closer to me as if I was a wounded animal. I continued on, opening the door and swinging it wide so that the sun hit my pale face.

"Out." I muttered softly, reveling in the feel of the sun kissing my skin.

"Maximum, I've told you, there's nothing out there for miles. You won't run into anyone, you'll just get lost in the woods and I'll have to come save you." he explained gently, trying not the hurt my feelings. He reached out to touch my arm but stopped a few centimeters short and let it drop.

"I just need to be outside; I need to feel air run through my hair." I whispered sadly, I could hear the brokenness in my voice and I knew he could hear it too.

"You could get hurt Maximum, you could even die." Dylan said worriedly.

"It wouldn't be the worst thing to happen." I breathed out. And with that I took a step out onto the porch. The sun bathed my skin in warmth and I sighed in pure ecstasy. I never imagined the sun could feel so good.

"At least let me come with you." he begged desperately, continuing to follow behind me as I stepped off of the porch and onto the dirt road surrounding the property. I just shrugged and kept walking. I reached the edge of the forest and stopped short pausing only long enough to take a deep breath and build up some courage. Then I continued on with Dylan shuffling along behind me.

I wasn't sure how long we had been walking but I was covered head to toe in sweat, it was everywhere, inside of my elbows to the back of my knees. I was exhausted. I was practically delirious with exhaustion. I was so thirsty my throat was completely dry. I wasn't even paying attention to the path anymore; I was just focusing on making myself walk a straight line, which is why I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

"Fuck!" I screamed out as I tripped over something on the path. I lost my balance and tried to reach out and grab onto a branch or anything but grabbing nothing. I heard a faint crack and then a sharp pain shot up my foot from my heel to my calf. When I finally came too after falling I looked for what had tripped me and came face to face with a brown snake covered and dark brown diamonds along its back. It reared its head up and hissed at me, its eyes narrowing in pure anger and hatred.

"Maximum don't move and stay quiet! It's a copperhead." Dylan whispered sharply. My eyes widened and I glanced up at him, my face full of fear, and gave him the slightest nod, so small I wondered if he even registered it. The snake hissed louder forcing me to stare back at it to watch its every move. Its head reared back. I could feel the beads of sweat dripping from my forehead onto the soft dirt. The copperheads tongue poked out of its mouth, slithering to and fro, smelling the scent of my fear. I couldn't move, I couldn't blink, I couldn't think. All I could do was stare and pray it didn't strike.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Dylan inching his way behind the snake, moving so incredibly slow I almost thought I had imagined it. The snake threw its head back higher and hissed louder, its tail beginning to flick back and forth at a rapid pace. Its beady eyes had moved from mine and settled on an open patch of skin on my ankle.

"One the count of three I want you to move as far out of range as fast as you can." he forced out between his teeth, quieter than even the quietest whisper, his lips barley quivering.

"One." The snake reared back.

"Two." It's hissing stopped completely, its mouth open exposing its sharp fangs practically dripping with poison.

"Three." It struck.

As soon as I heard the word come out of Dylan's mouth I rolled as fast as I could praying the snake hadn't gotten to me. Another sharp pain shot up my ankle and I screamed out in pain. Even in pain I didn't stop rolling until I knew I was far enough away. When I finally stopped and looked up the first thing I noticed was the snakes open mouth suspended in midair a couple feet away. Behind the snake was Dylan clutching the back of its head, its tail swinging wildly through the air attempting to grab onto something.

"Did it get you?" Dylan asked sharply, completely out of breath. I searched my ankle all over but I couldn't find any pierce marks, the pain in my ankle must have just been a side effect of the fall. Dylan's eyes were so full of worry that it almost shocked me that he seemed to care so much about me.

"No, I'm okay." I called back to him. Dylan nodded at me and then reached down to finally grab the tail of the snake gaining complete control over the reptile.

"What are you going to do with the snake?" I asked him slowly, hoping he wasn't going to kill it. It wasn't the snakes fault that I tripped over it, I should have been paying attention, it was just protecting its home from an outsider, me.

"Whatever you want me to do Maximum." Dylan offered.

"Please release it, I know it seems stupid but it should be free, this is its home." I told him, hoping he would listen.

"Okay I'll be right back, just stay there." he responded immediately. He walked off the path and into the woods. I counted off the seconds in my head. I had just reached ten minutes when I saw him emerge again from the woods.

"It's getting late, we should go back, and you're injured." Dylan said softly, coming over to where I was still sitting on the ground. Dirt covered my shorts and my black tee was even darker from sweat. I knew he was right, no one was in these woods except us, and my ankle had already swelled up to the size of a baseball, I needed help, I needed his help.

"Let's go back." I sighed, attempting to push myself up onto one leg. I had managed to stand up but the second I put weight on my ankle I felt the sharp pain shoot up.

"Shit." I muttered to myself standing in the middle of the path like a bright pink flamingo, one leg up.

"Let me help you Maximum." Dylan spoke, coming closer to me and holding out his hand, silently asking me to trust him to lead us back to the house.

I paused. I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to the house without him. I had to accept his help.

Against my better judgment, I took his hand. Without even breaking a sweat Dylan reached down and lifted my legs up so that he was carrying me bridal style through the forest. As Dylan carried me home it had dawned on me that he had just saved my life. He could have just let the snake bite me and be done with it but he had risked his life by tackling the snake and praying it didn't bite him or me. Dylan had saved my life.

I'm not sure how long he carried me, I had fallen asleep after a while, the setting sun luring me to sleep as it peaked through the trees, and my ankle no longer hurt since it was suspended in the air. When I awoke my head was resting on his chest, my body cradled into his, I looked up and noticed he was just coming out of the forest, walking the last couple of feet to the house.

"Hey Dylan?" I asked him, my voice husky with sleep.

"Yes Maximum." he responded gently, speaking softly into my ear.

"Thank you for saving my life." I told him.

"I would do anything for you Maximum." he commented softly. Then right as I started nodding off again, I was almost sure I heard him say it, so quiet I almost missed it.

"I love you."