'Damn it,' he sighed. 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" ― Gabriel García Márquez,

The General in His Labyrinth

Straight and Fast – Alaska Young

(Looking For Alaska, John Green)

The Labyrinth:

Las Vegas, Nevada

Max

"Hello?"

Hello, hello…

The echoes died quickly, telling me how alone I really was.

Wherever I was.

I had been so stupid!

Maybe Holden could find the others.

Iggy had been right. It haunted me.

Now the flock had two to worry about instead of one.

I stood up. It looked like the same hallway I had been in, but it didn't feel the same. Was it safer to walk or run? Stay put? I couldn't see cameras in the corners or the ceiling, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

It dawned on me that I was cold. Maybe I'd been cold for a while. Now I was shivering, even with my jacket on. That was important, right? My brain struggled to piece together what was happening, what should happen next.

I swiveled around, looking at all my options. Both ends of the hallway looked the same. Both broke off and turned somewhere, I didn't know. Then it sunk in. I felt strange, directionless. I had no sense of direction.

Panic rose in my chest, rising with the urge to run. I had to get it together. I had to be Max.

"Max!"

The girlish voice echoed around one of the turns. I faced the direction. No matter what was wrong with me, I could still fight.

"Max!"

I took a step forward. The voice…I knew that sweet airy voice. But she shouldn't be here.

"Max, are you okay?"

I ran forward without thinking about it. "Ella!" I called when I got to the corner.

She grinned at me. I had forgotten how small she was. How young. There were freckles on her nose like she'd spent the summer playing outside. I paused, unsure what to say to her about where we were. I didn't know how to save her.

"Look what I have!" Ella gestured.

"Oh, Ella," I breathed, so afraid for her.

She had tawny, speckled wings arcing away from her shoulders and the silliest beatific grin on her face. "Look, I can fly!" She said.

She made a weak attempt at gaining altitude, but she didn't know how to fly. Ella's crumpled form on the floor broke my heart. I crouched next to her.

"Ella, I'm so sorry. I'll teach you. It's going to be okay."

Her eyes opened and she whimpered, "Max, it hurts."

I reached out to help her up and she screamed. I jerked back my hands.

"It's your fault!"

Ella glared at me and scuttled away, leaving the deep dark blood trails that don't mean anything good. The lights flickered spastically. It blinded my raptor vision for a moment.

"Ella?" I screeched into the void.

The hallway was empty. There were no streaks of Ella's blood. There was no Ella.

I jogged down the hallway, following the twists and turns. Maybe I could find her. Maybe I could help her. I reached a dead end, and the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven. "Mom?" I whispered at the tall, thin woman with her back to me.

She turned around.

"Mom! I saw Ella, we have to find her." I frantically tried to get closer.

"You're not my child."

I froze. "It's me. It's M-Max," my voice wobbled.

"Where's my daughter?" Dr. Martinez barked and lunged at me.

I jumped to the side, reflexes doing what my brain couldn't handle. She bullishly came at me again.

"Mom, please, it's me! It's Max!" I pleaded.

"You're not mine," Dr. Martinez snarled and the lights flickered.

She was gone. All the hate in the world crushed in on me. Was it all fake? Ella was hurt because of me. Dr. Martinez wasn't my mom. I hadn't realized how much I needed that.

I didn't have a mom anymore.

I didn't move, didn't wipe the tears off my face. I didn't know what was true anymore, but there was someone I could blame for that. It would feel good.

"I don't care!" I yelled.

They were always listening.

"You can try to drive me crazy. You can do whatever you want. I don't care anymore!"

I shook my fist at the ceiling, yelling every last insult I could think of.

"Maximum. That's not what I taught you to do."

"Get away from me, Jeb," I spat.

"But Max, this is a test. Everything is."

"This is a sick game of yours. Leave me alone!"

I looked up from the floor. Calm, collected Jeb, a wild-eyed Dr. Martinez, and the blood-streaked Ella stood side by side. Judge and jury at my trial. "You're not real!" I shrieked, running away, letting the fear guide my footfalls under the flickering lights.

So many faces, all mocking me. All part of the lies.

"Go on a date with me," Sam asked.

Brigid Dwyer sneered at me.

Dr. Gunther-Hagen held up a spitting, glittering needle.

They were all here. I couldn't escape.

Tracey the reporter asked over and over if I could really fly.

Anne Walker held out a glass pan of something moldy and green.

Ter Borcht's pale, watery blue eyes disintegrated in my face.

Lies, lies, lies!

I ran, and the lights flickered.

More bodies, trying to grab me. To hurt me.

I shoved at them, trying to keep running. It wasn't the flock. Not that too. I could get away and they couldn't hurt me.

"You're not real," I sobbed, pushing their hands away.

Even the flock…it broke the last bits of my heart.

I was alone.

Someone bear hugged me from behind, pulling me into the darkness. I struggled, kicking and jabbing, but the monster held me too tight.

"Not real! Leave me alone!"

The monster held me tighter and I became aware of strangled words whispered in my ear.

"Max. Max! Calm down. We're real Max. Stop. It's okay. I've got you. Calm down now."

It was comforting. A soothing voice that I liked hearing, a strong touch I liked feeling. I was being held, and none of the others had touched me. I trusted this, the only person I have ever trusted.

I hung limply in his arms. "None of it was real Fang," I muttered, staring blankly at the hard, unending concrete floor.

"I don't have a mother. Don't have a sister."

Fang didn't speak and I didn't move, couldn't stop talking.

"Anne, Chu, Brigid, Sam…it was all theirs. We're all just rats in the maze."

I thought maybe I was already crazy. Fang didn't say anything. He was already holding me up, but he spun me around and turned holding me into a hug. The tighter he held me, the less pain I felt.

My flock circled around us and for once even Iggy's sarcastic streak was laid to rest. We just held each other, a giant flock hug. It made me sane again.

Eventually we broke apart and ended up sitting on the floor. Fang had his arm on my shoulder inviting me into his warmth. I had settled Gazzy into my lap just like I would for Angel. He didn't fight me. Iggy didn't make fun of it. I had Nudge curled into my other side and Iggy faced us all. I reached forward and grasped his hand in my own. It was right to be connected.

Somehow, I didn't know when, someone had pulled Maya into our group and now she settled next to Iggy, their shoulders brushing. Only Dylan hung back, separated by inches from our safety net.

No one wanted to talk about how we got here or what would happen next. Instead I focused on Gazzy and told him stories as if it was his bedtime and we were normal.

Tears pooled in my eyes as I whispered to them all the story of the first time Gazzy cleared out the E House with one of his bio-bomb intestinal explosions. Fang picked up the thread next and recounted my first cooking failure, a bowl of macaroni and cheese. Iggy took over with the time he and Gazzy had to grow their eyebrows back after they got their hands on those firecrackers. Nudge haltingly described our last birthday party. I grinned at Maya.

"Remember when we tried to kill each other?"

Maya laughed and continued the story. Our short screwed up story. There were good memories, even in the darkness, even if none of it was real. I held onto the memories. To make them mean something. Fang's hand found mine. That was real, what I felt for him. No one could take that away.

Eventually it seemed all the stories had been told. Everyone was silent, but ready. We could face together whatever came at us. We always would.

Fang whispered in my ear during a lull in the conversation, "Where's Holden?"

I swallowed. "We got separated. Maybe he's on their side?"

His arm around my shoulder tightened and I thought I saw just the slightest widening of his eyes. I was learning to read him, but there wasn't some deep dark revelation in his face. All that was there was just the smallest hint that I wasn't the only one here with guilt eating them from the inside out. Holden was someone he had brought in. I tried to smile, be brave Max, but Fang was already retreated into his own world.

Silence. The lights flickered ominously.

We got to our feet, but I still held Iggy and Fang's hands clenched in mine and when we stood, they all followed. It seemed like the ending we had always known was coming was here for us, but with my family I was calm and ready.

A polished, well dressed man with a severe part in his oiled hair and a white lab coat stepped forward. He looked familiar, but he was too clean, too precise.

"Maximum Ride," he grinned savagely.

The cat had the canary cornered and he knew it.

"Your involvement in Apotheosis is at this moment terminated. We thank you for your contributions and trust you are aware of the enormous pain in the ass you have been. It is now my pleasure to announce your," he paused, revealing perfect teeth in a jack 'o' lantern grin, "expiration."

A/N: I sincerely think this chapter is one the best things I have ever written in my entire life as far as creative writing goes. The whole point of the story comes together for me in this chapter. I am so elated at this moment. Also, read books by John Green – they make the world better. Review?