Just realised I forgot to put these things in.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE. That belongs to James Patterson. However, Cassie and the plot are mine.

-

I couldn't sleep.

I tried, but I just couldn't. From the looks of things, neither could Max. she was crouched in her cage, watching the other experiments, as if she was waiting for something. Or someone.

We had talked further, and I had been told that she wasn't alone. She had mentioned a 'flock', but she didn't say anything when I asked her where they were. She just muttered something about hidden cameras, and went silent. That had been two hours ago.

Now, I was slumped against the back wall of my cage, trying to make sense of it all. I had thought things had been complicated before, but somehow this seemed to make things even more confusing.

One more thing. She had told me about the Erasers.

Human-wolf experiments. From what she said, they were vicious, blood-thirsty beasts and had been following her and her 'flock' for almost six months now. I had heard brief remarks about these experiments, but hadn't paid much attention. Somehow, I knew from the way she spoke of them that she had had some pretty bad experiences.

Finally, after a lot more tossing and turning, I managed to drift into a fitful sleep, where I dreamt confused dreams of Erasers, flying, and people in white coats.

I woke up to the sound of panic.

Alarms were going off in every direction. I sat up, banging my head against the top of the dog crate. I winced, looking out between the bars, I saw that it was chaos. Scientists were everywhere, along with some people who looked normal, almost like male models. I looked over to where Max was, she was crouched in a position, a fighting fire alight in her eyes.

I was about to ask what was going on, when someone grabbed my cage, and lifted it. I ground my teeth to prevent myself from yelping in pain as I was dumped onto some sort of trolley thing. Max's cage was dropped on top of mine.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing!" she shouted.

My thoughts exactly, I thought.

"We're taking you somewhere secure," a female scientist answered. One of the male model-like people started pushing us - he was surprisingly strong. I looked out of my cage. Where were they taking us? Why weren't we 'secure' here? How did - ?

BANG

A loud noise cut into my train of thought. I swivelled my head around, to see five people run into the room. Immediately, some of the men in the room - the ones that looked like models - advanced on them. As I watched, they started to… morph. Their face elongated into wolf snouts, and long fangs appeared in their moths. When they were finished they looked like wolf-men.

Erasers.

So that was what they looked like.

I didn't have time to think anything more though, because there was a fight going on. There were about six wolf m- Erasers, and only five of the others, but they seemed to be holding their own. Even the youngest one, a girl who looked about six, seemed to be fighting well. One of them, a tall, dark haired guy about my age, finished off an Eraser and ran over to where Max and I were. He opened Max's cage, and she leapt out. By now most of the scientists and Erasers were out of action, and Max and the others were about to run out of the lab.

"Wait!" I called. Please don't let them leave me here!

They turned around, and their eyes fell on me. Then they looked at Max, who gave a short nod. She ran over to my cage and unlocked it. "Come on," she said, as I scrambled out. Then she immediately started running after the rest of the 'flock', as I remembered her calling them. I followed, trying to keep up. They ran through a maze of corridors, past lab rooms, I had absolutely no idea how they remembered it all. Finally, though, we came outside.

There was no way out.

A tall wall, with barbed wire on the top, surrounded the whole place. I groaned. We came all this way for nothing! I heard a noise, and looking back , saw that there were Erasers streaming out of the laboratory. Dozens of them.

Max's eyes widened, as did the rest of the Flock's. Then she shouted something.

"U and A guys!" she yelled, and they all started running.

"Wait! What's a U and A?" I shouted, as I ran with them.

"UP and AWAY!" someone replied.

Then they unfurled their wings.

They were massive, for a moment all I could do was stand and stare. Oh my God. They were flying.

Max turned around, hovering in the air. "What are you waiting for?" she yelled.

I started to run. The Erasers were close now, I knew there was only one way out of this. I took a deep breath, and unfurled my wings.

They caught the wind, and I pulled down hard. I soared upwards, and I pulled up, then down again. Up, down. Up, down. A continuous rhythm, puling me up into the sky. I looked down, and it hit me.

I was flying.

My wings were at least thirteen feet across, mostly a light brown, but with some white and a few gold coloured feathers here and there. I couldn't help it - I laughed. Yes, I may have been put through weeks of torture, I may have been on the run from wolf-like creatures that wanted to rip me apart, and yes, my life would never be the same again. But… flying.

I flew clumsily up to where the others were waiting. I couldn't help feeling myself go red, they were all such good flyers compared to me! They were soaring gracefully, while I could barely keep off the ground. They flew over to me.

"You have wings too?"

"Why haven't we seen you before?"

"What's your name?"

"How old are you?"

I was bombarded with questions, but didn't have time to answer any of them, as Max shouted, "Lets get moving people, we've got company!" Immediately everyone looked down, and I took a sharp intake of breath.

Erasers.

Winged Erasers.

Things just kept getting better, didn't they?

"There's too many to fight, guys. We're going to have to make a run for it," Max said. Then they started flying in the opposite direction from the School. I had to work hard just to keep up with them. Within about fifteen minutes my wings were burning, and I was out of breath, but no one else seemed to be showing signs of being tired, so I just kept going. A quick glance over my shoulder showed the Erasers as tiny specks in the distance. Five minutes later, they were gone.

We did some hard, fast flying for another fifteen minutes, by the end of which I felt almost faint with exhaustion, but at last Max slowed down, and the others followed her lead. I experimented for a while, before finally finding a way to adjust my wings so that I could glide for a while instead of having to flap constantly. This made flying a lot easier, and because I wasn't working so hard I had time to enjoy it.

We flew for another half hour after that. Soon we reached a valley, with cliffs reaching sky high, and caves set into the rock. Max called out, "Okay guys, we're going to land in that cave over there and take a rest."

The others immediately followed her as she glided down, into a cave. I watched as they landed, trying to take it all in. I hadn't tried landing yet, so I wasn't sure how I would manage. Soon it was my turn, and I edged forward (if that's possible to do in the air), but as hard as I tried, I still hit the ground too fast for comfort, and ended up doing a face plant.

I winced as I stood up. Note to self: Not so fast.

"You okay?" someone asked - a dark-skinned girl, a bit younger than me - maybe about eleven.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.

"Good," she said. "Because I used to do that a lot when I was younger and just learning to fly, and I know it hurts a lot. I still do it sometimes, but not too often, only, like, once in a blue moon. Hey, have you ever really thought about that saying. 'Once in a blue moon'. Have you ever actually seen a blue moon. Do they even exist? I once read this book about the moon. Did you know that the tide is affected by the moon because it -" Max slapped a hand across the girl's mouth. She peeled it off and grinned at her. "Sorry," she said.

I smiled, and Max grinned at me. But then she wiped it off her face, and looked serious. "Right, guys, this is Cassie. She's fourteen years old, and she's Avian American too, as you've probably guessed. However, that's about all I know, so I think it's about time we learned a bit more about each other. What do you say?" she asked me.

I nodded. "Sounds good."

Let the questioning begin.