I don't own Max Ride. James P is my hero :P

The door led to a long white hallway with different doors on both sides. It gave me the chills. I took a deep breath and started to run again. I scanned each door for a label or a sign, but they were all blank.

"Stop." My 'voice' suddenly said.

I skidded to a halt and looked at the door in front of me. The sign read, 'Lab Rats'. I got a painful chill down my spine again. Without thinking, I slowly put my hand on the icy knob and turned it. The door opened and I stuck my head inside. The room had a strong odor of an animal. The room was pitch black when I first walked in, but then the lights flickered on, revealing a bunch of cages all lined up against a wall. I walked over to them and peered inside. Each one was empty. I started to panic a little, until I heard something breathing heavily to my side. I looked in the cage and saw a little figure rolled up in a tight ball. I tapped it a few times to see what it was. The thing lifted its head and looked at me with large dark eyes. Its face was covered in a light brown fur and had a strong jaw line.

It looked at me hard for a few seconds and then led out a low growl. It opened its mouth and revealed its jagged little teeth. It looked like a mini lion to me. I backed away slowly, but I couldn't stop staring at the thing. It was like I was in a trance.

It pounced up and started to bang itself on the door of the cage. I jumped back and banged into another cage. It had another mini lion-thing in it too. They both were screaming in rage at me.

'What are these things?' I thought to myself. They were starting to really freak me out.

"Max!" A voice in a cage on the other side of the room called.

I ran to it and saw Gazzy's little face looking up at me. His arms and legs were all bruised, and his left forearm displayed a deep cut. I looked at him with wide eyes and tried to open his cage with trembling hands. Once I opened it he jumped out and clung to my waist. I took him off of me and bent down in front of him holding his shoulders.

"Gazzy, what happened? Where is everyone?"

The little boy started to cry.

"Th-they took me and st-stuck me here wi-with these things. They separated us, b-but I th-think I know where they are." He stuttered.

I kissed his cheek and put my hands on both sides of his face.

"Gazzy, I'm sorry. I won't let them take you again. I promise."

He nodded and took my hand. As I stood up, I felt anger start to boil inside of me. I had to find the rest of the kids. I hated the whitcoats more than ever before now. I couldn't let them hurt us anymore.

I led Gazzy out of the room, trying to ignore the screaming lion-things as we walked by. I took a deep breath and walked out the door.

He looked up at me and said, "Come on, I know where to go."

Still holding my hand, he led me down the hallway toward another door. It wasn't labeled, but it had a little window on the top. I looked in and saw more cages lined up against a white wall.

He opened the door and walked in. I followed him towards a cage and watched him open it.

"Gazzy! Max!"

Nudge jumped out and ran towards me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back, but I kept my eyes on Gazzy as he walked to another cage and opened it. Iggy got out and stretched. His face bruised face seemed tired and worn out. His sightless eyes looked toward me and his expression brightened.

"Hi Max." He said with a small grin.

I walked over to him and hugged him. A flood of guilt took over me. I hated myself for letting this happen to them.

"You had no way of stopping it. But you now have the power to prevent it from happening again. Follow your instincts."

I thought about what the Voice said for a few seconds. It actually gave me a good pep-talk this time.

"Come one, we have to find Angel and Fang." Nudge said, sounding determined.

We walked out into the hallway with Gazzy leading the way again. He led us down the hallway for a while, but then he stopped short in front of another blank door. He opened it and ran in.

"Gazzy!" Angel yelled from a small cage happily. Gazzy started to smile as he quickly opened it. He grabbed his sister and hugged her. Then she ran over and hugged each of us.

Suddenly her face changed from happy to serious. "They took Fang away."

I gaped at her a little. I started to get nervous. 'They could've killed him by now.' I thought. Then I stopped myself. This was not the time to think like that.

"Where did they take him." I asked Angel, hoping she had read the whitecoat's thoughts.

"I think they took him to a room called 'The arena'."

"Come on." I said firmly as I walked out the door.

I had no idea where I was going, or where to look. We walked for a while until Iggy stopped and froze.

"Listen." He whispered

Everyone grew silent. I tilted my head to the side to listen closely, but I couldn't hear anything.

"What is it? I can't hear any-"

I then heard it. There was a faint rumbling sound in the distance. I took off running towards the noise. I looked back and saw everyone was running behind me.

The rumbling grew louder as we ran down the long hallway. Then the rumbling was also joined my the sound of people shouting.

"What is that?" Nudge yelled.

I had no idea, but I had a bad feeling about it.

It may be a little confusing, sorry, but hopefully it will make more sense by the end.

PLEASE R&R!