A.N- First of all Girlygamer77, it means a lot to me that you like my story so much and I actually LOVE that you write so much. It gives me the warm fuzzies that you would take the time to write so much; well any review does, actually. I don't care how short or long the review that you all give me is, it still makes me happy and lets me know that you all want more (thank you also to the others that reviewed, love you all!). Oh and Burnin'blackandblue, I did mean it as in 'pedophile', but then I noticed the Spanish meaning after I looked over it.

I also love the suggestions because they give me ideas on what you guys want. So write those to your hearts' content! For example the different POV suggestion (I will do another POV in the next chapter just for the suggestion), and more action (I'll add some more struggle and fight from Max soon).

One more thing! You all need to remember (if you forgot through some insane and horrible accident between last chapter and now) Max is pregnant, and I'm pretty sure I've added a few things in the past that suggest she's pretty protective of the baby and is being more aware of her (and the baby's) limits. So that's why she's being a little giving-up-y (yeah, that's a word now…), but she's still Maximum Ride and that means she'll put up a fight when it really matters. Alright, I'm done with my ramblings- On with the story!

The Calm Before The Storm

Four days later… (I'm keeping track of the date btw. It should be April 3rd now)

I wake up to a ticking noise, and fling my arms to the sides out of instinct. I used to do that a lot if someone woke me up, while we were on the run. I'm not sure why, but I did and it became a habit. I guess it was out of self-protection maybe?

I feel like I'm talking to myself…

Anyway! I sit up in my white hospital bed, gasping. I had been having a nightmare right before waking up. It was about Angel-

I was wondering around the Itex building, trying to find Kate, when I came across a door that was emanating a very bright, white light. I stopped in front of that door and opened it without hesitation. I saw a little girl with blonde curls that went down to her lower back. She was standing on top of a medal stepping stool, leaning over someone who was lying on a hospital bed, unconscious.

The little blonde girl slowly looked back to me, from the unconscious girl on the bed in front of her. I noticed that the girl on the bed was none other than Kate.

'Kate! I found you!' I thought to myself. Then I looked back to the blonde. She was looking at me now, holding a syringe with a smile. "What did you do to her Angel?" I asked, without any emotion other than curiosity.

"I'm fixing it Max." She told me with a forced smile plastered on her face.

"But Kate doesn't need fixing Angel." I told her.

"The baby needs fixing, Max." She cleared up. "The new world won't have room for normal humans, and this baby is more like Ratchet than Kate." She told me, the fake smile turning to a sad one. "The baby has to die." She added.

"I thought you were fixing the baby." I tell her.

"They told me he'd be a problem, so I'm fixing the situation, not the baby. The world is already too populated Max, we can't just fix everyone, there's too many people to fix. They want to repopulate the world with only us who are already fixed or talented in any way, and our offspring who are born better." She explains. "There's no room for the normals, Max. The world doesn't want them, Max." She tells me, a smile on her face, and then plunges the needle into Kate's stomach without looking back.

I woke up after that, with a few questions about it. First of all, why wasn't I scared or angry? I usually felt emotions when I had dreams, but this time I felt almost nothing. Secondly, why didn't I object to what was happening? I'd just let Angel go on with killing the unborn baby without a second thought. And third of all, why did I react to seeing Angel again like she'd never left? I hadn't acted surprised at all to seeing Angel, or to her going through with orders of killing. It all felt like everything was normal, nothing out of the ordinary.

They were all pointless questions and not worth the thought, it was only a dream after all, so I try to forget it all. I scoot to the side of the bed and sit on edge. I look up to the source of the ticking.

It was a stupid round, white clock with a black rim that the room had come with. I think they'd made its ticking extra loud just to torture me. I'm sure the room was sound proof because there were no sounds coming in. The only sounds were the occasional movement from me, and of course that content ticking.

I would just sit here sometimes, trying to think of an escape plan, but get distracted by the ticking and just end up screaming in frustration at the clock and at myself.

We could be here for a long time. It all really depended on me, whether we got out here quickly or not. If I didn't get a grip soon, then we were most likely stuck here for a while. At least until The Voice managed to figure out which Itex building we were sent to and a way to get us out. The Voice had spies throughout most of the Itex branches, except for small places that we'd be least likely to get sent to. But it all required time to figure out and The Voice always thinks about all the possible outcomes before going through with something. They'd been working for their plan for years after all, and they wouldn't do anything thoughtlessly this far into things.

I'd been waiting for them, The Voice and the Flock I mean, to contact me in my head, but I guess they were just leaving it as a last resort or something; in case they really couldn't find where we were. Maybe they were trying to be cautious, in case anyone read my mind and tried to block them or something. I really don't know… I'd had a few days to think about this and I really haven't gotten anywhere…

This whole time I'd been sitting on my bed with my forearms resting on my thighs, hunchbacked, while my head was down and I looked at the floor. Now I look up to the camera, in one of the corner of my room closest to the door, and ask "Can I take a walk?"

I'd been keeping track of the days and asking to go out as much as possible. Which they surprisingly said yes to… With the company of that lady: Zaila, of course. She was actually pretty cool in my book. She would let me go anywhere I wanted and look into any room I desired. She even talked to me. I thought it was strange at first, but now I think of it as the highlight of my day. It's what helps me stay sane after hours upon hours of solitude (and ticking, can't forget the ticking). And on top of all that, I was gaining knowledge about where everything was and committing it to memory for thinking of an escape route.

My door opens and Zaila takes a step forward, with a smile. "Hey Max, you ready?" she asks me.

I nod at her and get up, walking to the door without a word. She might be super nice, but she's still part of Itex and I bet she's just been order to monitor my reactions to things I see around here.

I think that they were just monitoring my behavior while I was here because they hadn't come to check on me after that first day. That I remember of anyway. Who knows what they could have done to me really. I mean they could have another experiment like Xavier that wipes your memory and can replaces it with something else of their choosing.

What if they really had done that, and did something to my baby? I'd rip their heads off if they touched my baby. What if they took him out of me already and just put a fake baby back in, to see what my body would do and see how the baby would react out of my body?

"It's okay, Max. Calm down, they haven't done anything at all like that, trust me." Zaila tells me, as we walk down the well lit, grey hall. Oh yeah, did I mention she's a mind reader? She was like Angel and could read and send thoughts, along with controlling actions.

That's one of the reasons I trusted her, somewhat, because she'd told me a lot about herself. She'd told me her power, how long she'd been with Itex, how she had no family and that Itex had taken her in as a baby (which I bet was a lie from Itex and she'd actually been stolen or bought like most of the flock). She'd said how she was regarded as the most powerful mind reader Itex had and that no one could block their minds from her (something we used to be able to do to Angel sometimes), but she could block her mind off from other mind readers though.

"So where do you want to go today, Max?" Zaila asks me.

"I don't care." I say. Then I think about it and ask, "Are there windows anywhere?"

"Yeah, we have windows. We'll have to walk a little bit to get to them though, since we're in the center of the building." She tells me, nonchalantly as we keep walking.

I smile at her, "I don't mind." I tell her and look forward again.

Later that day.,.

Now back in my room, I could finally start thinking of good escape plans. So I knew around how big this building was now, thanks to Zaila.

She'd told me earlier that I was in the center of this building, which makes sense since I was a pretty valuable experiment. Yeah, I know that that sounded pretty cocky, but it's kind of true. We (the Flock) were one of their first successful experiments and now one of us (cough, cough, me) was pregnant, and that had probably never happened to their experiments since they rarely manage to escape, and make it.

Being in the center though, meant that there would be more guards to get through. So that'd be a problem. I did manage to figure out how far the way out would be, so that was good. When we went to the windows, I saw a door close to one of them. It might have only been one, but where there was one, there would most likely be more. Also, with my raptor vision, I saw that the windows were single paned and not reinforced. Pretty stupid, if you ask me… Kate could probably just flick the things and they'd shatter.

So now that I had an escape route, I'd need to find Kate somehow…

A.N- Sneaky Max, she's been gathering info for a while so she can make a plan (but will it really be that easy?). Let's see what happens next…

Question of the update: What if you were Max and you found out that Fang was actually in control of himself when the baby thing happened. What if he told you that he'd made a deal with Itex (pretending that Dr. GH had nothing to do with this) to make a child and then give him away to them, all in exchange for their freedoms. What would your reaction be?

I love reading your all's responses for my questions. They entertain me and this one will probably be very entertainingXD

Love,

~L