Ok, this story is on the Maximum Ride message board and it got quite a HUGE response there, so I though I would go ahead and post it here. I hope you enjoy it and come check out the MR board if you haven't already.

Disclaimer: James Patterson is the mastermind of MR, not me. I simply play around with the characters.

Prisoner-Chapter 1

"Did you know that wasn't me, the other Max?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Right away."

"How?" I persisted. "We look identical. She even had identical scars and scratches. She was wearing my clothes. How could you tell us apart?"

He turned to me and grinned, making my world brighter. "She offered to cook breakfast."

A second later we were laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes all over again. Fang and I leaned against each other and laughed and laughed, unable to speak, for the longest time.

When our laughter finally died down I looked over at Fang, he didn't turn to meet my gaze, instead just asked, "What?"

"I don't know what happens next." I replied truthfully. I couldn't believe I had just admitted that. Why do I always show Fang my weaknesses? I quickly tried to recover. "I mean, we could go find a cave somewhere or we could try to find out more information on our parents."

Fang shrugged. "It's your call."

I sighed and stood up. "You should get some sleep, I'll take first watch."

Fang looked up at me. "Max, you're the one who needs to…"

I quickly interrupted him. "I won't be able to sleep, not for awhile anyway."

"Why?" He asked looking over at me.

"Well let's see, the last time I slept I was taken from the flock and put in some kind of tank, while some fake Max did a poor imitation of me." I sounded sarcastic and bitter, and that's how I meant it.

Then Fang said two words that instantly made me regret it, "I'm sorry." For a few seconds I wondered if I was dealing with a Fang imposter, I knew I wasn't.

"It's over, get some sleep." I said turning around and checking the whole area around us for any movement.

I heard him get up and walk to where the rest of the flock lay, and lye down.

I did another 360 sweep of our surroundings, no movement to be concerned about, no sounds that weren't normal. Then my eyelids began to slide closed beyond my own free will. I gave into sleep.

"Should we wake her?" I heard someone ask, the Gasman.

"No, she needs her rest." Nudge responded.

"Too late, I'm awake." I said opening my eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"Eight, nine hours." Fang answered walking over to me.

"I fell asleep on watch." I said rubbing my temples, I had a headache.

"I stayed up and took watch." He said kneeling down in front of me.

"Thanks…" I muttered a bit embarrassed that I had fallen asleep. "We should get going."

"Where?" Nudge asked quickly.

"As far away from this place as possible, we just need to lay low for awhile." I explained and then noticed Iggy's head turn away from me.

I studied him and then he put his finger to his lips and whispered "shhh… someone's coming."

"How many?" I whispered.

"Ten, maybe more." He whispered back.

Then Ari's voice interrupted the silence. "Boo."

We all whipped around to see Ari with a dozen erasers behind him. "Don't you ever get sick of getting your butt kicked?" I asked giving him a harsh glare.

"She's mine, you take care of the others. Stick to the plan." He barked out to his group, then he lunged at me. I quickly dodged out of the way and delivered a hard kick to his ribs. Once again he was barely affected, taking only a half step back. He lunged again, this time knocking me to the ground. A pain exploded in my back, I had landed on a large stone. I rolled on my side and looked around. Nudge delivered a kick to one of the eraser's head then a blow to it's neck. Iggy and Gasman were double teaming every eraser that came in their path. They had already blown three up with just one explosive. Angel was up to her usual tricks, telling he eraser to run into a tree. Fang had pounced on Ari after he'd knocked me to the ground.

I stood up, in much pain. I saw an eraser knock Fang over from behind. Ari swung around to look at me then spun me into his arms, knife to my throat.

"Enough." He bellowed to the flock and the erasers. "Any of you freaks move and I'll cut her throat."

Fang was staring Ari down, clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides. I mentally told Angel to convince Ari to let me go using her power.

"You are going to let Max go." She said sternly looking into his eyes.

"Nice try little mutant." He said pushing into the air, carrying me. "Let's go. And if you follow us, she's dead." He said carrying away from my flock as I struggled endlessly. How could this be happening? And what was going to happen to me next?

I noticed the erasers and Ari split away from each other suddenly. Could it be that Ari was doing what he had mentioned before. Was he going to take me somewhere, just the two of us, so that he could convince me to be his best friend? Was Ari finally getting what he wanted? It seemed to be so.