Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Have I made that clear yet?

After Anne fell down, we realized that this whole place was going up in flames. We had to get out now.

"We better take off before those explosions reach over here." I said.

"But we don't know which way to go," said Nudge, "We have no idea where we are."

"I have an idea," said Lily, "I could open up a rift."

"No, Lily," I said, "We don't know what kind of effect opening all those rifts had on you. And we should get you examined for it."

"I think I'm all right to open up one more, and then I won't open up any more. I promise."

There was yet another explosion that shook the tower. "Well, we better do something," said Iggy, "that sounded like it something with a lot of fuel, and I'd hate to think what happens when the Core explodes. So are we flying or crossing dimensions?"

I looked back and forth between the exploding building, the sky, and Lily. I had to make a decision quickly.

"I have Dr. Martinez's house," said Lily, "I can open a rift there now."

Then I made my decision. "All right, open a rift Lily, but you guys have to get in fast."

"Okay," said Lily. She opened up a rift near us. I made Lily go first, followed by Angel. Nudge followed her.

"See you on the other side Max," she said.

Gasman led Iggy through. "Hurry up," said Gazzy, "the place is about ready to blow."

All that was left was me and Fang. We were about to go through when we heard a noise that was growing louder. Then I recognized it as copter blades. I looked behind me to see that a helicopter was rising out from behind the tower. Then I saw inside the cockpit. Anne was the pilot! She had somehow survived the fall and now she was making her escape in a helicopter.

Or at least that's what I thought until I saw the chain gun on the bottom of the copter aiming for us.

The gun started to fire, but Fang and I flew out of the way before it could hit us. We got out of the gun's range, but then I noticed something on the tower. The rift was gone. It had faded away. Then I realized that some of the bullets might have gone through the rift and… oh, God. I didn't want to think about it.

I didn't have time to anyway. Anne turned the copter around and started to get away. Fang flew next to me as I hovered in the air, trying to think of what to do next, even though it was obvious.

"C'mon!" he yelled, "we can't let her get away!"

I nodded my head and we both flew after the helicopter. We managed to catch up with it on it its left side. "So how do you suggest we take down a helicopter by ourselves?"

"I'm gonna rip that gun right off and fire away."

"Breaking my 'no gun' rule again, huh?"

"No, I'm following the 'save the world' rule."

Fang started to swoop in, but Anne must have seen us coming. She started to swerve the helicopter towards us, dipping the copter blades towards us. We managed to get out of the way in time. I managed to get on its right side while Fang stayed on the left.

I managed to get near the cockpit. I could see Anne. She was becoming even more like an Eraser. Her nose was becoming elongated into a snout, fur was growing along the sides of her face, and her ears were becoming triangular. She saw me flying near and looked over to me, an evil scowl on her face.

She tried swinging the helicopter side to side to try and throw me off. But it didn't work. I managed to stay with it.

I looked down to see that Fang had managed to get on the underside of the helicopter. He was working at the gun, trying to wrench it off. I hoped I could keep Anne distracted long enough so she wouldn't notice.

Anne continued swaying the copter, but she couldn't get us away. Finally, Fang unhooked the chain gun from the bottom of the copter. He let go and fell behind the copter, gun in hand. He spread his wings and started flying towards the copter again.

I let go and flew back until I was next to Fang. He figured out a way to make it fire and then aimed it at the helicopter. He started firing away. I could see the yellow sparks from the bullets scraping into the metal. Fang's shots were a little off a couple of times, but his shots were mostly right on.

"These things are so cool!" shouted Fang over the roar of the gun, "I can't believe you don't let us use these against Erasers."

I shook my head. What was it with boys and guns?

Suddenly a flume of smoke came out of the helicopter. The helicopter started to sound like the engine was dying and it slowly started to descend.

As it did, the helicopter started to rotate around. Anne was trying to prevent it from crashing. We were over a forest and hit some trees, jutting violently as it did.

It ended up crashing in an open field. The tail was ripped off and the helicopter fell apart, a small fire forming in the remains.

With our raptor vision, we could see down into the wreckage. The moon was out and very bright, so that helped too. There was some sort of movement. Then I could see what it was. It was Anne. She had survived the crash.

"What does that Boost stuff do to you?" I asked in frustration.

"It doesn't make you invincible, I know that," said Fang.

We swooped down to go after her. She looked up and saw that we were coming down after her. She grabbed a hold of one of the copter blades and lifted it up with ease. That Boost was really getting through her system.

As we got closer, she swung it at us like a giant sword. It missed us by inches. We flew down to the ground, at a safe distance from Anne's newly acquired weapon.

I got a better look at Anne now. She was almost a full Eraser now. She was far past what had happened to Fang. She was basically a walking, talking wolf with opposable thumbs and long hair on her head.

We started to charge her. She took another swing. I got down on the ground and ducked while Fang jumped over it. Anne was able pick up and carry the blade, but it was so heavy, she couldn't move. There was one advantage we had over now. She could only stay in one spot as long as she held the blade, while we could move all around.

She swung it back. This time we both jumped over it. Despite the blade's size, Anne was pretty quick with it. I reached her first and punched her in her canine jaw. Fang came in and gave her a stiff kick in her gut. She staggered back a few steps, but came back swinging the blade. Both of us managed to get out of the way again, but just barely. As I ducked, I thought I felt the blade cut a couple of my hairs.

I quickly got back up and started to charge Anne. But she managed to swing the blade back towards me but I took to the air.

"Max," her voice bellowed, "are you sure you can trust Fang? He became one of us, after all."

I looked over at Fang who was keeping his distance from the blade. But it only lasted a split second. Anne was trying to get inside my head, playing mind games. Trying to get to that darkness in my heart that Asch had told me about before. But I wasn't about to let it happen. I was going to avenge him, him and all of Counter-Breed, and stop Anne once and for all.

I dove down for Anne, "That's not gonna work!" I yelled.

I came down fast, barely avoiding Anne's blade again. I went for a kick to her face but she grabbed it with one of her hands and threw me right past her.

I regained myself and started hovering in the air. I watched as Fang took a turn diving at Anne. He went for some punches, but Anne was able to dodge them all. She threw a left that hit Fang square in the jaw that sent him in the air. Anne then went for a swing with the blade but Fang ducked, but another swing prompted him to jump back.

"Fang," her voice boomed once again, "are you sure you're not jealous of Max? After all, she is the leader and she developed her powers."

I could see rage on his face from the air where I hovered. Then he yelled, "You're not getting in my head that easily."

Then I swooped down and landed at his side. We shared a look for a second, knowing that we could trust each other. Knowing that we were going to take her down, together.

We both went after her. She took yet another mighty swing, but we were able to get out of the way of it. Then we came in. I landed a left hook that sent her reeling. Then Fang came in with a right cross and then a left jab. I finished the combo with a roundhouse kick that sent Anne reeling, dropping the blade.

Anne took a few steps back. She looked up to us, setting her jaw.

"It seems I've underestimated you," she said. "But I cannot allow you to stop me, not yet."

"Oh, we don't need your permission. We're doing this for ourselves."

"Answer me this. The world is not perfect. I'm merely trying to fix that. Why do you try to stop me?"

"You know something?" said Fang, "You're right. The world isn't perfect. It definitely needs major improvements. But who are you to say that genocide is the answer?"

"Yeah," I said, "besides, if the world isn't perfect, that means you're not perfect either. Not just one person can say the world needs to be changed. And your way of doing it is just insane."

"No more insane than someone trying to stop the world from being improved."

Anne got into a position to fight. Then she jumped out at us suddenly, grabbing the both of us by our shirts. "You shall go together!" she cried, and the she tossed us into the air. Man, she was strong. We must have gone up thirty feet from her throw.

Then Anne jumped into the air to reach us. She slashed at my hip with her newly grown claws, leaving three deep scratches in it. She went for another slash at me but I ducked and kicked her away.

But then she went after Fang. He was able to dodge her attacks as all three of us dropped back to Earth. Fang and I landed a little roughly on our feet, but Anne seemed to land with grace. Boost really was a performance enhancer.

She charged at me again with great speed, but I dodged and blocked her attacks. Then I landed a straight punch that knocked her to the ground. But she shot right back up, but then Fang came in and sent a flying kick in Anne's side that sent her ten feet across the ground. She got back up and ran to Fang and cracked him one the jaw, sending him down.

I went after Anne but then she grabbed me by the throat with both of her hands. She started to choke the life out of me. I was fading fast.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang bounce back up. "Max!" he cried. He came running towards me and Anne. Then he dived at Anne, knocking her off of me. Fang delivered a kick to Anne's gut then an elbow to her face. Then she grabbed her arm and spun her around a bit by it and threw her into the air. She flailed a bit as went flying through the air and then she landed hard on the ground.

"Is that all you got?" he said in a mocking fashion.

We both came after her as she got up. But as she did, we saw that she had a handgun in her hands. "Why won't you die?!" she cried. Then she started firing away at us. We took to the air to avoid the shots. She unloaded the gun in her rage and missed every shot.

We came back down to attack her again. But as I came in she jumped about ten feet in the air to avoid me. She met with Fang in the air. Fang went for a punch, but Anne blocked it and hit him with a right cross, bloodying his lip. He fell to the ground but quickly got back up.

Anne came back down to the ground. After she landed she bent down to pick something up. It was the copter blade.

As she picked it up, Fang went after her. But she managed to kick him back and he landed hard on the ground.

"Fang!" I shouted. I went to him, only to be met with the blade right in my face. I looked over to Anne and she lifted the blade up to swing it down at me.

But then Fang came at her and grabbed her arms, stopping her from swinging the blade down. But then Anne took one of her hands and sank her claws into Fang's stomach. He let out a loud scream of pain. He let go of Anne's hands and fell to the ground.

Anne got ready to swing the blade down on Fang. My instincts to rescue him just took over. I jumped out at Anne and delivered a knee to Anne's stomach. She dropped the blade and then I went all out on her. I delivered punch after punch and kick after kick. I couldn't even keep track of how much I was hitting her.

I gave her a kick to the jaw that flipped her in the air and sent her on the ground on her stomach. I looked down at the ground and saw the blade. On a whim, I decided to try and pick it up. I was actually able to get it off the ground somewhat, but it was still too heavy for me.

But then Fang grabbed onto it with me. Together, we lifted it up to about our heads. Then we tossed it at Anne as she stood up. We didn't need to throw it that far to reach her. The rectangular blade went right through her chest and out her back about two feet. She let out a cry of agony.

After her scream, she silently said, "Damn you, Maximum Ride."

Then she slumped to the ground. It was over.

I let out a sigh. I couldn't believe she was actually dead.

I looked over to Fang. He slowly lowered himself to the ground, holding his stomach.

He sat down. Without a word, I started to examine his wound. The cuts weren't really deep, but the bleeding was worrying me. I had to stop it, but I didn't have anything that I could use.

But then I thought of the helicopter. There might have been a first-aid kit on it. I quickly went over to the remains of it and searched. I found a small one that hadn't caught fire yet.

I grabbed it and hurried back to Fang.

"Max, don't bother," he said.

"Shut up," I said, more harshly than I intended. I got some cleaning cloth out of the kit and started cleaning the blood that stained around the wound in his abs. I got some gauze and started wrapping it.

"Even if you do help me," he said, "we have no idea where we are. How are we going to get back to the others?"

"We'll find out where we are and find Dr. Martinez's from there. You have spent too much time away from us. You're losing your instincts."

Fang cracked a smile. "I've spent too much time away from you."

I looked up at his face. He was looking over to me. "I missed you, Max."

"I missed you too, Fang."

I finished setting the bandage. It was the best thing I could do with what I had in the kit.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you Max. You were always on my mind."

"Stop talking like that. You're not hurt that seriously."

"But it's true Max."

I was starting to wonder if this was really Fang. He never said things like this. Either he had lost his mind or he seriously thought he was dying.

"Fang…" I found myself speechless.

"I wanted so much to see you. But I couldn't bring myself to do it, especially after what I had done to myself."

"Fang, I couldn't stop thinking about you either. I just… I just wanted to be with you again."

I could see his face in the moonlight. His lip was a little swollen and still trickling blood. And the rest was a little banged up from the fight, but I could tell mine was too.

I was preoccupied with Fang's wounds that I hardly noticed the scratches I had on my hip that were bleeding. I started to treat myself, but Fang kind of came in and took over. I felt his hands on my body. They were rough but so gentle. I liked how it felt on me.

When he finished he said, "There. You should be good for awhile. Until we get something better."

"Thanks, Fang," I said.

"So what do we do now?"

"I guess we should just figure out where we are. But it's too late now. Maybe we should get some rest."

We found a forest and went into a branch in a tree. As we started to doze off, I saw a bright light in the distance. Then I realized it was the fire from the Facility burning down.

The Facility was gone. Anne and Jeb were gone. Without them, Re-evolution would surely fall apart.

Then I felt something that sent a shiver through me. It was Fang. He had put his arm around me. I looked to him and saw that he had just fallen asleep.

That put me at ease, knowing he was by my side. And I managed to fall asleep.