Max had heard about some big time birds that lived out in the more wilderness-y part of the world. This kind of place would be right up there alley. And what's more, the giant buggers – raptors if she remembered correctly – were hugely territorial against other avian species. Now, Max wasn't really as avian as a creature could get, but she wouldn't put it past one of those monstrous birds to try taking a few chunks out of her if she got in their space.

She did much fancy having her feathers handed to her by a bird.

Making the quick decision that a tactical retreat was in order Max did a one-eighty and sped off the way she had come. Even if it wasn't some territorial bird, it wouldn't do her any good if some nerdy kid had decided to test out some new long range gadget and found her in the process. She supposed that would be another concern she'd have to watch out for. People all around were getting hyped up on the idea of droids flittering about taking care of business others were too lazy to do themselves.

It was neat and all, but it would not help Max in the least if some late night thrill seeker happened to catch her on camera with his flying bot. Chancing a glance back toward the object, whatever it was, Max's pulse picked up as she noticed it had gotten closer. A lot closer.

"Shit," she swore under her breath and kicked it into gear. Deciding the thing was keeping pace a little to well – and clearly having noticed her, even if it wasn't quite sure what she was yet – she couldn't chance leading the thing back to her house. She'd drop down into the trees and wait it out then, she decided. Tucking her wings in Max went speeding toward the trees and waited until she could nearly touch the treetops before she splayed her wings out momentarily to break a bit of her momentum. With that she tucked them in and prayed for the best.

Dropping down through trees was really painful. The leaves were flexible and pliable when you tugged them off and toyed with them, sure, but the things were nasty when they raked across you going a good couple miles an hour. Max held her tongue, unsure if it was safe to make so much noise even when the thing was so far away.

The rustle of the trees made her wince but Max dropped quickly and grabbed onto the first sturdy branch she came across. Several scratched across her wings and face but she ignored them and focused on stopping herself before she fell to far. The first two branches she tried to catch onto slipped out of her grasp, her momentum too much to halt completely. The third, however, did the charm and she managed to haul herself up on the tree limb.

Positioning herself against the trunk of the tree Max double checked that she was far enough down that, should the thing fly overhead, she wouldn't be seen. Foliage, to her relief, covered the gap she had fallen through. She listened on edge as her heart beat a quick staccato. Would the thing, whatever it was, give up when it saw she was gone? Or would it try searching for her?

Max examined the woodland beneath her. If it did decide it was worth the effort to drop below the tree line as well she would be little more than a sitting duck where she was now. She needed to move. But at the same time, she might risk herself further making too much noise if she wasn't careful. She breathed a shallow breath of frustration. Was it really too much to ask for one night of peaceful flying? Honestly.

She tensed when she heard a heavy sound of wings overhead. Max did a rough calculation in her head and realized the thing could move nearly as fast as she could. And nearly may have been more for the sake of her ego than anything. What the hell was this thing? Bots weren't supposed to move that fast – twenty for thirty miles an hour was the limit on those things. She supposed it wouldn't be too hard for someone to rig it so that it could fly faster, but her speeds bordered 60 miles an hour on a good day.

She thought she heard something beneath the loud whooshing of wings, but it was low enough she couldn't make it out completely. Shifting unsteadily out of a crouch Max tried to peek through the foliage to see what it was. Unfortunately, while the trees obscured her enough that the thing couldn't see her, she had to suffer the fact that also meant she couldn't see it, either. Biting her lip she grabbed the branch over head and started to pull her weight up. The displacement shook the tree marginally and Max froze. The sound came closer.

A gunshot resounded through the forest.

Max froze and for a moment the thing above her seemed to fall out of rhythm and drop toward the tree line as well. There were people out here, a voice whispered in her head, and they had guns. If this was a nature or animal reserve as she suspected it was, that likely meant she was screwed if they saw her – regardless of whether or not she had any feathers showing. Biting her tongue against the curses ready to spew forth Max abandoned stealth.

Whatever that thing was, she couldn't deal with it and poachers at the same time. She needed to get away before they both stacked up against her. Jumping from the limb and crashing with cracks and rustles all around Max hit the floor with a thud. No sooner than her feet touched the ground she was off. Above her she heard the creature breaking through the trees, sounding as though it were following after her.

Clenching her teeth and sending up another silent prayer to the big man up stairs Max decided to try something. Already she knew it was a terrible idea. Cracking her wings open so that she could catch a little air she stared straight ahead and took a deep breath. Launching herself into the air she spread her wings further and forced herself not to shy away from the trees as they came looming toward her.

Playing dodge-the-tree while flying would probably go about as well as could be expected – ending in a major face-into-tree moment – if not for the adrenaline and potential for disaster should she not. She carried on like this until the crashing through the trees faded into the distance and Max decided she was well enough ahead to avoid running into whatever it was back there if she got back onto her feet.

Running through the trees, after that harrowing escape, was a piece of cake. Max ducked and weaved and was able to avoid most of the tree traps that littered the floor. One root did, unfortunately, grasp her by the ankle which ended with her eating dirt. Pulling herself up carefully the brunette rubbed her now injured nose as she struggled to get back onto her feet. It was, apparently, not going to happen. This she decided only when she landed flat on her rear after barely making it onto her feet.

It seemed a couple hours of sleep wasn't enough to shake of a concussion when paired with repeated injury to the head (or face, as it were). When she tried to pick her head up it spun and the trees took on a blur-ish quality that was really quite concerning. Her eyes couldn't focus on anything and she was starting to panic, just a little.

Taking control of herself Max decided she needed to get out of sight, if nothing else. She was out in the open, even if she was partially obscured by the number of trees. She pushed herself over until she fell onto her knees and began to drag herself slowly toward a nearby trunk. It was excruciatingly slow going but she kept up, determined to do what she could. Once she reached the base of the tree she fell against it with a low groan as she clutched her head.

Stop spinning. She commanded as she looked around and the trees, refusing to listen, spun in happy circles. She closed her eyes but even the darkness seemed to move dizzingly. Stop spinning. Stop spinning. Tilting sideways she fell against the ground with a soft thump and then let her head rest against the ground. This way, her body aligned with the ground, she would hopefully be able to pull herself back together.

"Max?" A voice that sounded suspiciously like emo kids from back at the school pipped in and she groaned. Seriously? Now I'm hearing things? She recalled her mother's voice calling out to her when she had been dreaming of flying. She had woken up to find herself still in the nurse's office with her mother standing over her. Is this what was happening? Had she fallen asleep without realizing while talking to Fang? Was he trying to wake her up now?

"Go away," she mumbled incoherently in hopes that she might make the real Fang realize she really needed the sleep if this was how she was acting in the middle of a dream.

"Max, what are you doing out here?" There was a touch of concern and she nearly scoffed at it. If he was so concerned he should leave her to sleep. Or, better yet, get her a blanket. It was cold.

"Sleeping, you nitwit." She mumbled again, "now go away." Now that she thought about it, though, asking what she was doing somewhere was an odd thing to ask if she was actually in the nurse's office. Did that mean she really had fallen back asleep and the one talking to her was a Dream-Fang? Max blanched at the thought of having a guy in her dream and referring to him with capital letters like that. Her mother told her boys were a no go in her room, so what was this guy doing in her dreams?

No, wait- she wasn't in her room was she? She had gone flying and was in the middle of the woods. Max's brow furrowed and she tried to figure out how she could have forgotten. There was another gunshot in the distance and Max bolted forward. No sooner did she move than her head began to spin again and she clutched it in a futile effort to get it to stop. Arms gripped her shoulder and when she failed to react Fang called her name again.

"We need to get out of here." His voice was sharp and more than a little worried. She wondered if it was because she was so clearly screwed over right now or if it was the people somewhere in the woods he was concerned for. Max thought back to the last shots she had heard. They weren't getting closer, were they? "Max?"

The brunette looked up slowly and took in the pale boy's grim expression. He wasn't looking at her but peering into the trees as if looking for signs of anyone. Max thought it was rather silly. It wasn't as if the people could move terribly fast on foot. Even if they could what were the chances they would be heading in the direction they were in? Two more shots shook the night and the blood drained from her face as she heard the roar of an engine in the distance. Fang cursed and before she could fully process what had happened she was in his arms and he was running through the trees.

"What are you doing?" She demanded while her brain took a second to catch up with them. When it did she frowned and began to squirm. "Let me down."

"Shut up," he hissed without taking his eyes off the trees ahead and, whether by the tone in his voice or the realization she likely wouldn't be able to walk on her own, she did as she was told. The two of them said nothing as his feet pounded against the ground – noticeably quieter than her own footsteps had been moments earlier. "Close your eyes." Max turned her eyes from the trees to his own, confusion coloring her mind. His eyes darted to her.

"Wha-"

"Close your eyes," he reiterated, "and keep them closed."