Author's note: Yay for chapter two! I feel so special, and I wish to thank my five reviewers: Myrah (Thanx for the info...sry for the biff there...)

EdwardAddict (YES PLEASE!)

coolbeanie (Thanx soooo much!)

Anony ( ) (yeah...ur prolly right about that...)

Da Jitter Bug (thanx for the support!)

And i also want to thank the fifty-five readers I got...even tho fifty of you guys didn't review...i won't hold it against you right now. ONWARD HO!

...oh, my disclaimer, yeah...

--snags Iggy from closet--

Iggy: wait...what am i doing here? Where am i? Where's max?

Lovie: ...you are here. You are here because i want you to be...max is...indisposed as of right now. But all you have to do is say what i told you, and you can go back to your universe!

Iggy: ...but why do i have to say that?

Lovie: --smacks head off wall repeatedly-- ur as difficult as Fang sometimes, you know that!

Iggy: --grins and says nothing--

Lovie: fine, i'll say it, again! Loviegurlie (which is me) does not own any of the characters listed here, nor does she own the plot or storyline. She does own the parts of the storyline that you do not recognize. (which i call 'Fang's thoughts)

Random Quote #2:

Sometimes I get the urge to run around naked. Then I drink some Windex. It keeps me from streaking.

-anonymous

Chapter 2: Erasers and stuff

The next day we walked up and down streets, and Max hit a dead end with the Institute of Higher Living.

"What the he-eck are we supposed to do now?" she asked me. I honestly had no idea...so I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Peanut?" ...could I have been anymore retarded? Anyway, we passed some television store not long later, and I pointed them out. "Smile, you're on Candid Camera." I said. We all turned our heads away out of acute paranoia. I noticed Max wince and turn to the TVs. We followed suit, and my eyes widened. 'Good morning, Max' was on every single screen.

"Jeez," I breathed as I stopped dead in my tracks, unable to believe what I was seeing. This caused Iggy to run right into my back, and he asked what was going on while Gazzy asked Max if it was saying 'Good morning' to her. Well...there weren't many other people around us, and no others were stopped, so I could only wonder who it was talking to...sarcasm again. Suddenly, Max yelled out randomly.

"I don't want to have fun! I want some answers!" ...I'm pretty sure that people several blocks away heard that yell. Everyone just kind of stared at her...in shock and as if she were crazy.

"Max, are you okay?" Nudge asked. Max nodded, then said that we should get on the Madison Avenue bus.

"Why?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"The Voice," she mouthed, and I nodded. Great...we were following directions from something that only Max can hear, and we have no idea where it's going to take us. Lovely.

"But Max," I whispered, unable to keep myself from voicing my thoughts aloud. "What if this is all a trap?" Millions of scenarios were running through my brain, and all of them bad. But hey, she wasn't in a ball crying anymore; which was most definitely a plus.

"I don't know!" she said. "But maybe we should do what it says for awhile-to see." And man, the only thing I could think was '...to see what? If it'll take us all back to the School?'

"Do what what says?" the Gasman demanded to know. Max had started walking toward the corner and I heard myself blurt.

"Max has bee hearing a voice, inside her. We don't know what it is." So much for not worrying the others. Well, we rode the bus to a toy store...which was freaking amazing. Angel got some woman to buy her this fifty dollar bear...with her mind...which is way bad. Not too much longer after that, we were back wandering the streets again. Max suddenly said that we were surrounded-which got me doing a 360 out of paranoia, searching for Erasers and escape routes. She then continued to talk to herself, and I couldn't help but stare at her. I mean, it's kind of weird when someone you've grown up with suddenly starts talking to herself...and then demanding answers-all thanks to some voice from some chip...I think. Gazzy asked her if she was alright-which I must say, is the million dollar question when it comes to Max's well being.

"...info. This could be what we've always wanted to know." she was saying.

"'Cause we might find our parents?" Iggy half asked.

"Yes," she said. "But now we're here, and really weird things are happening, and I'm not sure-" she stopped, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which meant only one thing; Erasers.

"Hello kids!" two snarled as they jumped out of the doorway of a building. I vaguely heard Angel scream as Max spun the six-year-old and herself around before sprinting away, Iggy and me on her heels with Gazzy and Nudge on either side of us. We were darting around people and vendors (which is a lot harder than it looks like) when Max yelled for us to cross the street. We ran right in front of two taxi's...who honked angrily at us...and I heard a loud 'thunk' followed by a strangled yell. Risking a glance back, I swallowed a chuckle.

"Bicycle messenger took an Eraser out!" I shouted, and I swear I heard Max giggle. But then, out of nowhere, the other Eraser ripped Max out of Angel's grasp by her hair. The six-year-old screamed bloody murder as Max was swung over the Eraser's shoulder without so much as a pause.

I swear Max is rubbing off on me, because I made one of Max's snap decisions and ran off behind them. Angel continued to scream as I chased Max and the Eraser-whom she pummeled mercilessly. But there was no way in hell that I'd let anyone take my Max away from me...and the flock. The Eraser sped up, and Max called my name as I struggled to go faster.

"Fang!" she screamed, and I tried so hard to go faster, but as I stated before, it's really hard to run down the sidewalks of New York City because of all the people and the vendors. The Eraser suddenly fell, and I used that to my advantage as much as possible. As soon as I reached Max, I grabbed her hand tightly and pulled her up, trying to leave this guy as far behind as possible.

"Wait!" she said. "Fang-I think he's dead." I looked from the girl next to me down to the Eraser and carefully nudged him with my boot-half terrified that he'd jump up and bite me...or worse, grab Max again. The thing didn't move...or blink...or anything. I crouched down beside it, and felt for a pulse; very aware that I still held Max's hand tightly in my own. Nobody was snatching her from me like they did from Angel.

"You're right," I said as I stood...aware that the adrenaline rush I had felt was wearing off. "He's dead. What did you do to him?"

"Nothing. I was wailing on him, but it didn't do squat. Then he just went down like a ton of bricks."

It was then that the flock came tearing up to us, all wide eyed and white faced...Iggy included. Angel launched herself at Max, crying hard. Max could only hold and reassure the poor girl that she was fine. I flipped the collar back as a way to hide my emotions. That had been so freaking close. If there had been a car anywhere...but there was no need to worry myself with what didn't happen. So instead, I studied what was tattooed on the guy's neck. 11-00-07. And it was then that the cops decided to show up...sirens blaring and everything. We slowly edged away from the Eraser; making ourselves invisible in the growing crowd.

"Crazy drug addict!" I called out, and we walked away. Max put Angel down, but held the girl's hand as tightly as I had been holding our 'leader's' hand not too long before. I kept my eyes peeled for anymore Erasers, terrified that they might try and pull the same stunt twice. (But I was sticking a little closer to Max than before. No way were they gonna try and snag her again!) Very slowly my heart rate dropped back to normal as the wolf-people refused to make themselves known around us. "So he was five years old." I said quietly, letting myself ease up just a little bit...but I was still alert and on the look out for any model-type people. Max nodded in agreement.

"Made in November, year 2000, number seven of a batch. They're not lasting too long, are they?" she said. 'Thank goodness for that!' I thought. Max stopped suddenly, staring at a taxi and then glancing down at the ground. She picked something up from between the bars of a grate, tugged on my sleeve, and showed it to me. It was a card, much like the one we had snagged from that jerk in California two lifetimes ago, except it had her full name on it. Maximum Ride. I tried to keep my face blank, but my eyes bugged some.

"I can use it if I can figure out the password." she said. I could only nod dumbly.

"Okay." Glad that I'm not like Nudge, otherwise, just that one word would have sent off alarm bells in Max's head saying that I wasn't completely sure that this card was a good thing. But she pocketed it, and we entered Central Park and climbed up a particularly large tree. Max began to ask me about her voice...but lets face it. It's her voice, how would I know anything about something only she can hear? Yet being the oh so nice bird kid that I am, I at least gave her my opinion...which doesn't always amount to much.

In the morning, we were awoken my some very annoying people. "It is unlawful to climb trees in Central Park." the voice boomed. I cursed the cops mentally and wondered why they didn't have anything better to do than to look up trees in search of people. My eyes met with Max's and I know that she was trying not to roll her eyes or launch any type of insult in their general direction...which would have been rather satisfying at the moment. We climbed down like 'normal' people, and I automatically began scoping out escape routes for when Max told us to run. I remember the cops saying something about calling our parents, but you know...that would go over like a lead balloon. As soon as Max shouted, I bolted, but slowed up when I heard Angel cry out for her bear. Max grabbed the poor girl by the wrist, and eventually carried her to where I was, then tossed our six-year-old to me when she got close enough. I caught Angel with ease, and took off with her crying for the bear over my shoulder...right in my ear. I heard Max say that she'd buy a new bear, but Angel wouldn't hear it; and cried into my shoulder-arms tight around my neck-as we put more and more of a distance between us and her bear. I had to put her down eventually-have you ever tried to run with a six year old cutting off your oxygen supply? It's not easy, let me tell you. We were sprinting down the streets, desperately looking for some escape of any kind...except for flying. That would be bad

"Inside a store?" I asked as I slowed my pace so I matched Max's. "Then through the back exit?" Max seemed to ponder this for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, maybe so. Let's turn east on Fifty-first." she said, and we made the necessary adjustments to head in that direction. It wasn't long before I realized that this was a one-way, meaning we had lost the cops...for the time being. I heard Nudge ask the all important 'what now' question, and Max skidded to a halt outside a large gray building. A church. Max seemed a little apprehensive as to entering, but not me.

"Sanctuary." I whispered, hoping that she'd hear me. I think she did, because we entered. Max led us up some so that we were away from the large tour groups, and then Angel took us to the pews to pray...or something like that. We all copied what everyone else was doing in the pews; meaning we kneeled, bent our heads, clasped our hands, and closed our eyes. I listened to everyone pray...and heard them as they asked for parents, bears, being strong for and like Max, kicked the Eraser's butts, sight (Iggy) and safety. I know what you're wondering. You want to know what I prayed for. Well, I don't feel like going into detail, but I'll give you the basics. Mainly it was about the flock's safety...killing Jeb...Max...and even for my teenage mother. (which continues to surprise me to no end...I haven't the slightest idea as to why that popped into my head.) When we finally opened our eyes, I saw Max turn to me, a question on her mind.

"Should we-" she stopped, winced, and shut her eyes tightly. 'Not now...please not now...there could be Erasers anywhere...please not a head pain now...' ran through my mind over and over as I watched Max, full of worry and apprehension. We didn't need another big scene on our hands right now. That would be bad. But, lucky for us, one didn't come. Max opened her eyes slowly, and kept staring right at me.

"Can you walk?" I asked, not wanting anyone to ask why I was carrying a girl down the streets of New York. A scene that I would much rather avoid if at all possible. She nodded, and we went outside.

"I say thirty-first street, in my head. And a bunch of numbers." she said as she shaded her eyes with a hand.

"Which means..." Iggy asked cautiously.

"I don't know. Maybe the Institute is on thirty-first street?" ...more of a question than a statement.

"That would be nice. East or West?" I asked, not wanting to walk all of thirty-first street. That's a long walk.

"I don't know."

"Did you see anything else?" I asked patiently. No way did I want Max to storm of in a huff because I couldn't keep my cool, then get snagged by an Eraser and shipped off to the School. I would never be able to forgive myself if that ever happened.

"Well, a bunch of numbers, and a tall, kind of greenish building." Max replied. Nudge suggested we walk all the way down thirty-first street, something I wasn't too keen on doing, but it was our only way of finding this building. I was nervous, twitchy, and feeling rather paranoid. There was something bad dealing with the Institute...I could feel it way down in my gut. But I ignored it...we had to find the place, no matter how uneasy it made me feel.

Author's note: TA-DA! There is my second chapter! Yay! I'm trying to type these out and post them as fast as possible, but I don't know how much I have down on paper (yes, i pre-write so i can find mistakes and add as i go...so this isn't exactly what i have written down...i love to ad-lib!) I know that this chapter is shorter than the first...but im tired. and it seemed like a good place to stop! ...and remember, please review! --hugs Iggy tightly--

just think, in the time that it takes you to review, you could have saved a couple acres of the rainforest! (note: this is unproven...the author just needs to make you feel important) --lovie storms out-- LIARS!