Before I go on, I'd like to say that I don't own any of the characters of Maximum Ride, because James Patterson is amazing. No here we go...

"Max!"

Someone was calling my name in the distance. I tried to yell back, but nothing came out. I tried to move, but my body was tied down. I was lying in a dark room wearing a shredded hospital gown and little slippers. My teeth were chattering, the room must have been like 50 degrees. I was struggling to breathe, but the ropes were too tight on my chest.

"MAX!"

The voice was screaming now. I tried to escape. The ropes holding me down started to loosen a bit. I kept on trying and finally I was able to break free. I ran around in pitch black trying to find a door. The lights flipped on suddenly. I was inside of a large glass room. Outside there was my flock, they were running around looking for me. I pressed myself against the glass screaming to them, but I couldn't scream. I banged the glass as hard as I could. They didn't even notice me.

"MAX! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I'm right here! Look at me!" I screamed. Suddenly, they were gone. They ran away down the hall screaming for me. Tears swelled in my eyes, I tried to hold them back.

"Hello Max."

I jumped at the growling voice and spun around. There he was, his eyes were cold and black, like death. Ari stood there with an evil smile on his face. I clenched my fists and walked toward him.

I woke up on the wet floor of the forest drenched with sweat. We were in Florida near the beach. We were on the run, but the kids wanted to stop here. I sat up and saw a fire crackling in front of me. It was still night, probably before dawn. I saw the kids all sound asleep; I counted their heads, just to make sure they were all there. I counted four heads, one was missing. I stood up and saw Fang sitting on the ground a few feet away. I forgot that he was on the first watch.

I walked over and plopped down next to him.

"Hey." I said looking at the moon.

'Hi." he looked at me curiously, "What was your dream about?"

"How did you know?" I said dumbfounded.

"I heard you mumbling in your sleep. Must have been a nightmare, right?"

"Yeah, it was nothing." I lied.

Actually, it was a bad nightmare. I mean I've had plenty of reoccurring dreams about the school, but not this one.

"Was Ari in it?" How does he always read my mind like that?

"Yup."

"I've been thinking about him lately too. He always seems to be there. And he always wants to hurt you before anyone else. I just don't want him here anymore."

Wow, he has never said anything like this before. It's kinda creepy, but nice in a way. If that's possible.

"Yeah, it's getting crazy."

There was silence for a while. Finally I said, "You can go get some rest, I'll take over."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, can't sleep anyways."

He patted my shoulder. We held out our fists and tapped, then he went to go lay down. I looked back up at the moon.

"You're special Max, remember that."

What? How the hell am I special? This whole thing sucks, and I'm supposed to be special?

"Yes, and you have a mission in life. There's no time to be weak."

I felt tears start to fall down my cheeks. "I'm not weak!" I yelled out loud.

Suddenly there was a tap on my shoulder. I jump and spun around. There was Fang. He must have heard me. I wiped my eyes and forced out a "Hi."

"What wrong? Was it the Voice?" he said.

"Yeah, sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I couldn't sleep anyways. So what's up?"

"Nothing."

"Um, I know you better than that. Talk to me."

"It's just; everyone keeps saying that I'm special. But, I don't know what that means. I have all of these roles and missions, but I don't even know who I am yet."

I started to cry. I hated crying, especially in front of Fang. I expected him to laugh at me or something, but his eyes softened.

"I know who you are. You're Maximum Ride. You're the strongest person I know, next to me of course."

I forced out a smile.

"No, but you are the leader. You know that you have us to help you. We're family, sorta."

He put his hands on my face, and softly wiped away my tears. He looked me straight in the eyes for a few seconds.

Then he said, "And you have me to catch you when you start to freak out and fall out of the sky."

I pushed him away laughing. He fell sideways and smiled brightly. He looked like he wanted to say something more. "But you can't stop going on now. To me you're-"

"Hi guys!" Nudge popped out of no where. "I'm hungry. What's for breakfast?"

Iggy got up, along with Angel and Gazzy. We all started to make bacon and eggs, which by the way, we stole from a house near by. Whoops! After we ate, the kids wanted to go to the beach and play. I gave in and we went.

The girls walked along the shore looking for seashells. Gazzy went to look for rocks for his collection. He started one a few days ago and he already has about 100. I'm sure it must be hard to fly with a bunch of rocks in your backpack but whatever.

Iggy, Fang, and me sat in the sand and attempted to make sand castles. Mine ended up looking like a pile of mush. Iggy and Fang's was amazing of course. The girls then wanted to go in the ocean. I let them go in; they used the puppy dog eyes of course. Gazzy and Iggy joined them, and I laid down and let the sun beat down on me. It felt good to be on a peaceful beach. I felt like I was there for pleasure, instead of hiding.

The next this I new, Angel and Gazzy were in front of me dripping wet with mischievous smiles on their faces. They pulled me up and tried to push me in the water. They struggled for a bit, but then since it was so hot out, I let them dunk me in. We splashed around for a few minutes, but I notice Fang just standing there watching us. I got out and walked over quietly. I put my hands around his waist and pushed him in. He was kind of mad at first, but he started to have fun with us. He pulled of his shirt like the rest of the boys and started to splash around.

We played for a few minutes, but then Iggy stopped and looked really serious. Everyone else seemed to notice and stop too. Iggy said that he heard something in the woods coming toward us. We all trusted his instincts so I got out and ordered everyone to get out, and start to dry off. I told them to stay there and get packed while I go into the woods and look around. I was about half way to the woods but Fang stopped me.

"What are you doing? It could be Erasers."

"I know. That's why I'm going with you. I put Iggy and Gazzy in charge."

"Oh great." I said sarcastically, "But be quiet."

We started to tiptoe towards the trees. A few feet in, I tripped over a stupid rock and fell flat on my face. I jumped up quickly, hoping Fang didn't see me. I looked back and saw him smiling. He caught up and said, "Well Miss Graceful, I should go first to make sure there are no rocks for you to fall on." I glared at him but smiled at my own stupidity.

I watched him in front of me. He was so muscular; I didn't realize that he was until now when he had his shirt off. He actually looked good. Of course, I wasn't paying attention and I tripped again. But, to make matters worse, I fell on him this time.

We both fell over on the ground. He rolled over laughing and looked at me. He started to pick the leaves out of my hair, and I started to laugh too. We stopped and laid there looking at each other for a few seconds. His hair was all wet from the ocean and water droplets were falling from his nose. We both started to laugh again.

A couple feet away I heard footsteps. I looked up and saw a furry foot in front of me.

"Hey guys. Whatcha laughing at?" said a growling voice.

I knew right away who it was. I jumped up and looked at him. He had 10 erasers all spread out and wearing a nice toothy grin.

"Hello, Ari. What a nice surprise."