AN: Here's another one! Hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Maximum Ride belongs to James Patterson.

CLAIMER: Any new plot ideas in this story are mine, unless otherwise noted.

Chapter Eight

"Everyone up!" I called the next morning, around six a.m. The Flock all groaned as I shook them awake.

"Max, it's too early. We flew for hours yesterday; can't we take a longer break?" Nudge asked. Wow, she only said a few sentences. She must be really tired.

"If you want the kids to be able to stay air-borne, you're going to have to let them sleep a little bit longer," Iggy said, trying to reason with me.

"Every second we waste here is another second Fang gets tortured. Do you guys want that?" I asked.

"No, but what help are we to him if we're falling asleep whiling fighting?" Total asked, coming out from under the bed. I snorted; Total doesn't fly there, and he doesn't fight. He was right, though.

"Fine. You guys have until seven. Sleep." The kids gratefully returned to their beds, pulling the covers over their head to block out the sun that was streaming through the sheer curtains.

There was no way I could get anymore sleep knowing that Fang was gone. I had barely gotten three hours last night, even after flying all day and having a brain attack.

I ended up going to the lobby while the others slept. That's one of the reason's I loved hotels; free buffets. The receptionist was all the way across the room, absorbed in a CoverGirl magazine, so I chanced slipping some food in my bag for lunch. If all went as planned, we would be right outside of California by nightfall, be able to get a quick nights sleep, then bust into the School the next morning.

I hope you're this eager to save the world, Max.

I jumped as the Voice pushed it's way back into my head. I dropped a few muffins on the ground, then decided to take them anyway for Total.

What's that supposed to mean?

The Voice didn't respond. Guess he'd been taking some lessons from Jeb.

I slung my backpack on my shoulders and picked up the trays of food. As I passed the receptionist's desk, she glanced up at me, staring at my pile of food, then politely returned to her magazine.

"Okay guys, up for real this time," I called as I entered our room. The Flock got up again, slightly more eager at the prospect of food.

"Igs, Total's going to travel with you, okay? My bag's full of food." We had ditched the baby carrier a while's back; it was too much to carry. Total just had to squeeze into our bags now. The only problem with that was when we didn't give him enough bathroom breaks…well, our backpacks wouldn't exactly smell good.

I grabbed a chocolate chip muffin and walked over to the window, pulling the curtains open. I silently chewed, staring out into the perfect sky.

"Max?" Iggy asked tentatively, coming up behind me. I turned around to face him.

"Yeah Iggy?"

"We're done eating." Sure enough, the kids were all standing behind him, their bags on their backs.

"Right. Well, let's go then," I said, stuffing the rest of the muffin in my mouth. It wasn't nearly enough to fill me, but I didn't think my stomach could handle any more than that.

We filed out of the hotel in silence. The kids weren't too worried; we had members of the Flock taken before, and we always got them back. But this was different for me. This was…Fang.

We walked around to the back of the alleyway and took off. My wings went on autopilot, and my thoughts strayed to Fang.

I know that I've always said that I don't love him, but I was beginning to have doubts about that. I felt terrible when I lost Angel, but it's even worse with Fang missing.

He never should have come to my aid. It was my fault that I got caught; I had put my guard down. Because of my stupid mistake, Fang was suffering. It wasn't fair.

Fang's always the one who helps me. Taking care of the Flock, saving the world; that stuff can make a girl really stressed out. I took care of the Flock, and Fang took care of me. But who takes care of Fang?

No one ever took care of him. Heck, Fang didn't even take care of himself. Whenever we were hurt, he'd take care of us first. By the time he cleaned himself up, scars would have already formed. More often than not, he didn't clean himself up at all. He just dealt with the pain.

"Max?" Iggy's soft voice called out from below me.

I sniffed quickly before responding. "Yeah Iggy?"

"Why are you crying?"

Was I really crying? I lifted my hand up to my face, and sure enough, I felt tears. I wiped them off, something Fang had done for me countless times. "I'm not crying, Iggy. I'm fine."

"Max, I can hear you. I know you're crying."

Had the kids heard me, too? "I just miss Fang," I admitted, my voice just loud enough for Iggy to hear me. He gave me a sympathetic nod, then called out to the Flock, giving the order I should have an hour ago.

"Lunch time, guys! Find a place to land!"

We all touched ground in a deserted park on the edge of Nevada. We had made much better time than I thought we would.

I handed out the granola bars I had grabbed that morning, eating a few myself. I still felt sick to my stomach from missing Fang, but I had to eat something if I wanted to have the energy to get him out of there.

We ate quickly, and were in the air again in a matter of minutes. We continued heading west, flying faster than we had before.

I let myself go on autopilot once more, trying to come up with strategies. I called out random directions to the Flock about the plan, and pretty soon we had scraped together a plan.

"Hey Max?" Angel called out an hour after we had finished fine-tuning the plan.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning to look at my baby.

"We're there."

AN: Yay! Fang's coming back! Also, I tried to add some of Max's changing feelings for Fang in this chapter. She had a long flight of worrying about him, she's bound to think things like that, right:P Anyways, I finally got a chapter over 1,000 words again. :P I'll post again tomorrow, I need to go to bed now.

You guys got two chapters the first day, three the second day, and three today. I think I deserve some reviews, don't you:P Some of my chapters don't even have one. Please review! I LOVE getting reviews!

And thanks to those who are reviewing! You guys make my day! (Really, I read the reviews really quick before going to school, and how many reviews I get determines how happy I'll be at school.) :P