All right, Here is the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. The results of the poll as of NOW. Don't worry, you can still give your opinion later.

Dr. Marks should become a bigger character- 0

Dr. Marks should be good and help Max escape- 2

Dr. Marks should be the new Director of the school-2

Dr. Marks should pretend to be good, but actually be bad-3

Dr. Marks should be a 'love interest' for Max-2

Dr. Marks should go away and never come back again-1

This isn't really enough for me to decide, but, I have a few ideas.

Also, to those of you who miss the flock... Please read this chapter.

I lay there for several minutes, my ears ringing.

Then, Dr. Marks leaned in towards my ear, "Max," he whispered, "I will never do that to you. I'm here to get you out. If you just answer the questions, then I will get you out of here."

I was shocked for a minute. A good white coat? For me, that was like saying Santa Claus was real.

"Do you understand?" Ryan Marks asked.

I blinked once.

"Same question as before."

I blinked once.

Now there was a picture of Ari on the screen. "Did you know this mutant?"

One blink.

"Did you kill him in Germany?"

Two blinks.

Now there was a picture of the Arctic research base. "Have you ever been there?"

Another blink.

"Which of your flock were you last in contact with?" There were pictures of all of the flock on the screen; next to it was the number of times I should blink. This is like a freaking multiple choice test. Fill in bubble 'a'.

I blinked five times, the number next to Total.

"Have you ever known a person called Valencia Martinez?"

I blinked twice to protect my mom.

Ryan Marks continued without noticing my fib. "Do you have a voice in your head?"

Yes, I blinked accordingly. Also, it has no idea when to be helpful, should I blink that out in Morse code?

"Have you ever seen something known as the 'Uber-Director?" The screen showed a blurry, security camera shot of the UD. A brain on a stick, version 1.0.

That would be, one blink.

"Has any of your family ever gone by 'James'?"

That was Iggy's real name. Blink.

"Are you fifteen?"

Two blinks.

"Are you set to expire in 2010?"

My mouth went dry. They knew when I was going to expire? Were they telling the truth? Had the date appeared on the back of my neck? What was going on? I felt panicked.

I guess my eyes blinked a lot 'cause Dr. Marks said, "Have you heard of your expiration date before now?"

I blinked once. Feeling dread pile on. Did I only have a few years left to live?

Suddenly, Marks pressed his hand to ear. This usually meant that you had an ear piece in. He turned and pushed a button on his jacket. I saw several attendants run through the doors and with a syringe. It was shot into my arm.

I flinched at the pain. Then, I realized that I could move. The syringe must have counteracted the drug. Dr. Marks yanked off my Velcro straps. I sat up and ran to the door.

"We need to evacuate," Dr. Marks said, "A killer has escaped the facility."

"Uh, Dr. Marks," my voice was rusty, "Is that really true?"

"Call me Ryan," he said, and then looked me straight in the eye and blinked twice.

I smirked. I didn't know if I could trust him, but he did have a sense of humor that most 'real' evil scientists seemed to lack.

Ryan smiled, "Come on Max."

He led me through the hall ways to a door that had a sign on it, Top Security, it read, DO NOT Enter without Protective Gear.

Ryan keyed in a code into a little pad and the door swung open, "Ladies first?" he gestured.

I rolled my eyes, "Forget courtesies with me. You are going first. Don't think you can lock me in." Really, how stupid did he think I was?

Ryan shrugged and tramped down the steps.

I heard a voice then that made me freeze. I looked at Ryan, eyes narrowing.

I heard the voice again, "We told you to leave us alone! We're not coming with you!"

I knew that it might be a trap, but at this point I didn't care. I pushed Ryan out of the way and flew, figuratively, down the stairs.

At the bottom, was all of my flock.