I do not own Maximum Ride! I do own make characters, but only half of Itron since I wasn't the one who created Itex.

WARNING! POV'S MAY CHANGE! Again...

We walked from cage to cage seeing different cute little animals in each cages. We say kittens, puppies, iguanas, birds. All attached with their own crazy personal story about how they came to the shelter. Itex, I mean, Itron was pulling out all the stops to convince people that they were just another generous organization.

I walked over to Salem who was looking at a little Scottish terrier. She probably didn't know I was behind her, because she started talking to the dog.

"Hi," she said to the dog. "Can you talk, little guy?"

I cocked an eyebrow, but watched to see if she was up to something. Salem was strange kid. She could be talking about stocks and company merges with expertise that no twelve year old should possess. The next minute she's talking to dogs expecting them to talk back.

"Is your name Total?" she whispered. The dog cocked his head and whined.

"Just bark once for yes," Salem begged. The dog growled. I guess that was a no. Salem sighed and jumped as she backed right into me.

"Oh! Hi," she said.

"Hi," I said back to her. Eric joined us with a great big smile on his face.

"What's with you?" I asked. Eric shrugged not so innocently.

"Oh, nothing," he said. Then suddenly about thirty dogs ran right behind them howling and knocking over trash cans on the ground. People ran out of the way grabbing their children and dropping their belongings. That Eric was a sneaky little guy. My brow furrowed.

"You set a bunch of dogs free?" I said.

"I'm not going to leave them here with Itex... I mean, Itron. Is it just me or does Itron sound like a Transformer's name?" he asked.

"I wouldn't know," I said giving him a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look.

A sound made me, Salem, and Eric turn in the same direction. It was the sound of metal creaking. It was faint. But it was there. Only our sensitive ears could have made out the noise.

"Don't worry," Eric said. "Carnival rides aren't exactly the best oiled machines out there."

"Okay," I said accepting his answer.

Tarzan's POV:

Hey guys. Tarzan here. I'll be taking over because...Well, you'll see. I'm a big guy. I don't blend in well in a crowd. So people can't help but look at me oddly as I lead an ecstatic eight year old with one hand and I'm holding a baby in the other.

"Wow!" Taz cried.

Hm, he said a new word, I thought blandly to myself. I'd have to tell Cat. With Lexi's debit card we bought tickets. I handed the debit card. The ticket guy shook his head.

"Kids are free. Courtesy of Itron," he said. The kids around us cheered. When we got in line there were a few couples, but mostly estatic kids like Kitten.

"This is going to be fun," Kitten said assured.

"I don't know," I said. "I'm kind of against being locked up in metal crates." Kitten started to make her eyes big and watery again. In case I was changing my mind. "Don't worry, Kit. I'll still go on. But I won't like it." Kitten stood in front of me completely excited. Every muscle was tensed like she was doing everything she could to keep from jumping out of her skin in a fit of joy.

How can you blame her. None of us had real childhoods.

The worker guy opened the crate for us and let us in. We sat down and I placed Taz on the seat beside me. He toddled up to the cage and pointed to something.

"Dah!" he shouted. Kitten looked in the direction he was pointing.

"Look! I can see Cat, Eric, and Salem!" Kitten said. I nodded along with her as our carraige started to make its way to the top. It was a long way up. I was starting to feel anxious. That's when we all heard it. The metal creaked and groaned loudly. Kitten turned toward me.

I tried to keep my head up high. Had to be a good leader.

"What was that?" Kitten asked. Then the carraige jolted. My heart sank. I had this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that was almost always right. The same feeling I got the second Cat said good bye to me with the intention to go kill herself.

"Uh oh," Taz said. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with that feeling. But when two kids look at you with that worried look on their faces. The same ones you'd seen on every mutant in the School you grew up in, you can't help but feel the need to change that look.

"It's probably noth-" There was a very distinct ting sound that grabbed my attention. I looked out the little bars and saw a pin falling to the ground. "Damn it!" I cried, scaring the kids in the process. Cat would get mad at me for cussing in front of the kids, but I felt it was appropriate. I grabbed Taz and Kitten pulling them close.

"Hold on to something," I said following my gut.

"Why?" Kitten asked shakily. Then the carriage jolted. The metal groaned and then suddenly we were spinning much, much faster.

Cat's POV:

The final snap was what made me turn around. The ferris wheel fell off its supports onto the ground. The kids inside started to scream. People watched horrifically as the ferris wheel teetered a moment and then started spin much like a wheel is supposed to on the ground. It was moving wildly across the fair, crushing hot dog stands, probably some innocent people, and game booths.

"Tarzan!" I gasped. "Tarzan, Kitten, and Taz might have been in there!" Salem and Eric didn't try to stop my hysterics as I fell on all fours to get better speed. If people were in my way, I didn't hesitate to phase right through them (careful of my untransparent left foot). Salem and Eric were following me as fast as they could, but neither of them could run as fast as me.

I made my way easily to the front of the crowd that was surrounding the wreckage. What I saw horrified me. Each swinging carraige was on fire. I covered my mouth in shock as the police watching the whole thing barked orders. Fire trucks swung around the entrance of the fair.

People screamed. And my sensitive ears could hear everyone. Even the policeman who was getting a closer look at the disaster.

"Oh God," said the man. "No one's coming out of this alive." And no matter how many panicked voices I heard, I could not hear Tarzan, Kitten, or Taz.

Don't worry guys. Remember, I always have a plan.