Chapter Three: Problems

We all hear the bullet getting shot, but none of us can move. None of us but one person: Fang. When he had seen it is headed for me, he suddenly moves and pushes us both out of the way of the bullet. The problem is that he is too late.

When he pushed me, I wasn't expecting it, so my legs went up in the air to where my head had been a second before. That is a problem because instead of hitting my head, the bullet hit my right leg, though I'm very thankful it didn't hit my head. I can't stop myself from moaning in pain, and that gets everyone moving. No one is frozen anymore, and the other Max goes and presses a button on the wall. Shutters suddenly cover every window and door to the outside.

I look at my leg. What I see almost makes me pass out. I have a hole in my leg, the bullet had missed my bone by a few centimeters, but it had hit a vein and nerve. Around the hole, my leg is swelling, and I can't move it at all. My leg is numb from the pain, and there is a puddle of blood around my leg. I feel someone looking at me and look up to see Fang staring at my face and then my leg.

I turn away from Fang and look over to the other Max with a questioning look on my face. She says, "These shutters are made to protect us incase the School ever came back. They are bullet proof. We should be safe for now." I sigh in relief slightly.

Then Frannie speaks for the first time. "Max, do you need me to help your leg? I'm a veterinarian. I've helped all of these guys whenever they are hurt." I look at her realizing that she is very nice, and just wants to help, so I nod. She smiles.

All of a sudden I hear a noise, uh-oh… a shutter is being pulled off! I turn towards the window and see Max II in the window again, but this time, she fires as I'm turning, so no one, not even Fang, can react. The bullet hits me square on the shoulder, right where my wing is. This time I yell in pain, I can't help it.

I stare at Max II while trying to stop myself from yelling again, moving, and blacking out. I glare at her with such hatred she actually stumbles backwards. Then suddenly I feel so weak that I black out. The last thing I see is her moving back up to the window and glaring right back at me…

I wake up, but keep my eyes closed. I don't want to get up. I just want to lie here, not moving. I feel so peaceful and that's when the pain and memories came pouring back to me. That makes me open my eyes, and the first thing I see is Fang's eyes looking right back into mine.

"What happened?" I ask and even to me I sound very weak. Fang sighs in relief and sits back a little. I look around and see that I'm lying on a bed, and that's when I see my leg. It is bandaged up tight, but I can still see some red on the bandages: blood.

I try to sit up, but my shoulder explodes with pain. I turn my head and see my shoulder is bandaged up as well; and that's when I remember the second shot that was fired after someone ripped off part of a shutter. I look at the window in the room and realize that it's not shuttered.

Fang must have seen what I was looking at because he says, "Once you were shot in the shoulder Max II called the Erasers off and they left. We kept the shutters up for another two hours before we opened them." I stare at him while the words sank in. He rarely spoke, let alone that much, though he has spoken that much before.

That's when the words sunk in and I have to ask Fang, "How long have I been out?"

His eyes look down as he says, "Twelve hours."

That forces me to sit up, and I ignore the pain. "Twelve Hours," I whisper-scream. "You have to be kidding me!?!? How did I stay out for that long?"

He sighs and then replies, "You lost a lot of blood, and we had to knock you out just in case you woke up while we fixed you up. You were a mess." So that's why he didn't want to give me the information that I asked for, he knew I wouldn't take it well. I never take that type of news well. I sigh.

"Sorry for getting upset, I should have realized you were just answering my question." I saw a look of surprise in his eyes for a few seconds, and then it was gone. Man he is the silent and expressionless Fang; he rarely shows emotion, even in his eyes. I lay back down because the pain is finally getting through to my brain, and it hurts.

After a while I fall asleep, and when I wake up I feel a lot better. I see Fang is still in my room, so I ask him to get the rest of the house in here. He nods and goes off to get everyone. In five minutes everyone is in the room I'm in, and looking at me.

"Guys, I have to tell our new friends about what has changed in the school. This might take a while, so I need you guys to help me. Too much has changed." My Flock all nod and the others look curious. I take a breath and start.

"Well, first off, they have been making human lupine monsters. They are called Erasers and look human, but they can change into wolves. Then they gave them wings, so they now follow us in the air. After a while they realized the Erasers weren't good anymore and retired them, making Flyboys, which are robot Erasers without the human part. But we know how to defeat them, so they seem to be making stronger and improved Erasers again to chase us.

"And of course they are making other species too. Like Omega, he is their idea of the perfect human, or almost perfect. He cannot get sick, he is stronger then the normal human, smarter, and much, much more. But I found his weakness with some help, so they must be making new 'Perfect humans'. And then of course they are still mixing DNA to make new creatures, but my Flock seems to be the best the School can do so far.

"They give expiration dates to their 'mutants' now, and we seem to be among the oldest of their experiments. They have been chasing us around as we found the Institute, went to Itexicon, and even went to the head of the monster in Germany. Itex is in charge of the School, and the Institute is another arm of the School. So pretty much, they have a whole lot going on, and this is all we know about.

"Last, they seem to have built me so that 'I can save the world' but I'm not doing as well and they had hoped. So yeah, the School is very dangerous, and they are trying to kill us." I finish there, and look at them to see they are all staring at me in disbelief, all except for my Flock because they have lived through this too.

The other Max is the first to talk. "So, this is the new and improved School? It seems like torture for any mutant."

"Well, it is torture for any mutant. And we survived it." Angel replied.

Suddenly Angel said into my head, and yes I mean that literally, she can read minds, control them, and speak into them:

Max, these guys went through the older and less dangerous School, I can tell because they have their memories showing. They don't know what to make of what you said but they believe you. The other Max seems to have an anger problem with the School though, for many reasons. Please be careful with her.

Thanks Sweetie.

I look at this other Flock and see what Angel means; they look really scared and worried. What I'm not paying attention to is the window in my room. I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye in the window, and see Max II is back with a tranquilizer gun, and she is pointing it in the room, but this time it is pointed at someone else. The other Max! The window is slightly open, so it didn't give anyone else a warning, and she pulls the trigger.

I'm so happy I got this many Hits and Reviews already. For those of you who may be wondering where this second flock came from, it is from When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, both by James Patterson. These two books are what gave him many of the ideas for the Maximum Ride series.

I'd like 15 Reviews if possible before I update again. I've got to slow down after this weekend because of school. I have a few chapters already written, so just REVIEW!!!

Edited: 10/10/09