Disclaimer: Sky is not James Patterson, therefore she does not own Maximum Ride. If it is ever up for sale, please let her know. She is willing to put down ten bucks for it.

"Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what's happened to you."

- Aldous Huxley

The room was bright. White lights were lit up all around me. I could feel cold metal from where I was laying on my back, like an operating table. My wrists and ankles were bound, not that I had the energy to move them even if they weren't. I felt like I had been drained. Drained of energy. Drained of life. Drained of existence. It was horrifying. I wanted to speak, to cry out for help, but I couldn't. I had not control of my body. I tried to blink, to twitch my nose, something to show that I was even alive. Nothing. Completely immobile. My heart raced, at least, I think it was my heart. At this rate I couldn't tell.

Something finally moved into my peripheral vision. It was a man. A man in a white coat, like a scientist. That's all I could see of him, any real distinguishable features blurred. He was holding something in his hand, but I couldn't hear what it was. He was smiling. Not one of those warm, happy, lets-be-friends smiles, but more of a crazed, lunatic, I'm-gonna-kill-you smile.

The man in the white coat started bringing the object in his hand closer and closer towards my abdomen. It glinted in the light, making a glare in my eye. It was then when I realized what it was. A scalpel. This man in the white coat was about to cut my stomach open.

I felt panic well up inside of me. I wanted to scream, to run away, but my body stayed still.

It was coming closer.

Closer.

…Closer…

Beep!

I bolted up in a cold sweat, the panic from my dream still vivd in my mind. I lifted my shirt up and checked my stomach. The large scar I got from an appendectomy when I was younger was still there, as always. But otherwise, I was fine. I fell back against my bed, relieved. Running a hand through my black hair, I picked up my phone, which was what woke me up.

Wake up princess. It's time for the ball.

Max.

I rolled my eyes at her usual wake up call.

Shut up, Max. I replied quickly, not really in the mood to make a snarky remark. I wasn't exactly all there at five in the morning, especially after a dream like that.

Hey, you're the one that wants me to send you these so early in the morning. You gonna tell me why yet?

No. Not yet, anyway.

Didn't think so.

I rolled out of bed, my heart finally starting to get back to its normal pace. I checked the clock. Five past five, which meant it was eight oh five in New York. Don't you have class or something?

No, I'm only at school so I can spend all my early morning free time there. What do you think?

I smirked. Classic Max. No need to get sarcastic with me. Hey, I gotta go. Video chat at seven EST? That was our usual time when we talked. Call it our 'chat time'. I can just hear all the fangirls and shippers now. "Aw, that's so cute!" But Max and I were just friends. Best friends, but that was it. Of course, Iggy and the Gasman would claim otherwise, but that's besides the point.

Yep, like always. Have fun doing whatever it is you're doing.

I shook my head and put my phone down to get dressed for work. It was pretty fun, torturing Max over what I was doing every morning for the past month. It wasn't even all that big a deal, really. I don't know why I didn't just tell her that I got a job at Itex that had early hours. Maybe it was what I was going to do with the money that made me not tell her.

…Wow, that must have sounded pretty sketchy. Don't worry, people. I'm not buying drugs with it or anything. Actually, I was saving up money to buy a plane ticket to visit Max over spring break. You see, we never actually met in person. Sure, I've seen her over chat and all that. But, I've never really seen her. And with it being her eighteenth birthday soon, I decided to surprise her by coming over. I even requested early hours so I could be used to the time zone. Yeah, I know. I'm an awesome friend.

I sat back down on my bed again, not really wanting to get ready for work. My thoughts wandered back to the dream I had. This wasn't the first time I've had it. In fact, I've had it almost every day for the past week. It was really starting to freak me out. Did it mean something? I didn't think so, but you never know.

I absentmindedly started tracing the scar on my torso. Apparently, that's what I do when I'm deep in thought. Max was the first person to point it out to me.

"Fang, you better hurry up or you're going to be late for work!" My step mom, Dr. Martinez, shouted up the stairs. "Iggy's here already!"

I quickly threw on some dark wash jeans and a black t-shirt and rand down the stairs where my friend, Iggy, stood waiting.

"Man, I can't believe you roped me into doing this job with you." He said with a yawn, his bright blue eyes half closed.

I scoffed as I pulled on my old sneakers. I wasn't exactly in proper work attire, but this Itex company didn't seem to mind, so I just wore whatever I wanted. "Yeah, right. When you found out how much they paid, you begged me to get you a job."

Iggy paused for a moment. "True. And it's not exactly difficult either. But still, getting up this early is obscene."

"Woah, Ig, slow down there with the vocabulary." My step-sister, Ella, said as she walked through the door, followed by my dad. "We don't want you straining yourself."

Iggy scowled as the spunky eleven year old ran up the stairs to take a shower. I just shook my head.

"So, Roland, how was your run?" Dr. M. asked.

"Oh, just fine." He said with a smile. He and Ella go for a run at four thirty every morning. Don't ask why, because I have no idea. They're both insane, in my opinion. "Off to work, Nicholas?" he asked, looking at me.

I nodded, my face passive. My dad and I never had the best relationship. I never seemed to be able to make him happy. He hated my hobbies, my clothing choices, even my friends. Especially Max. The sad thing was, I had no idea why. This job was the only thing he seemed to really approve of in my life. Which was why I didn't tell him what I was going to use the money for.

"Well, I'll see you after school then." He smiled politely, as only a politician could. Yeah, my dad was a politician. What he did, I could never tell you. I tended to stay out of it.

"Let's go, Iggy." I said, and we walked out into the warm California air.

We hopped into his red pickup truck, or, as Iggy liked to call it, Lafaunda. Don't ask, because I honestly don't know.

The fifteen minute car ride was usually silent, neither of us being morning people, not that I was all that talkative anyway. But Iggy decided to break the trend this time. "So, how're you handling all of this?"

I blinked, completely caught off guard. "Huh?"

"You know. You're going to visit Max in a few months, first time seeing her after knowing her for how many years now? You can't honestly say that you're not nervous."

"Uh…"

"Come on man. Just admit it."

"Well,"

"And you get to meet Nudge. Man, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"I think that-"

"And JJ. She seems pretty cool too. Dang. All of our friends that are girls live on the other side of the country. What does that say about us? We need to step up our game."

"But I-"

"Sure wish I was going. I'd love to meet everyone. They're all my friends too you know. I've chatted with Max many times. And Nudge and JJ. Sure, normally they're just all in the room together, but we talk outside of that sometimes."

"That's-"

"Seriously man, I think I should take a trip to the Big Apple sometime. Be interesting."

"But they don't-"

"I guess what I'm really getting at here is-"

"You want to come with me, don't you?" I was finally able to get my two cents in. Now you know why I don't talk all that much.

"Maybeee. I mean, Gazzy has been wanting to meet Angel for some time now, and he actually has money for a ticket, but my mom won't let him go unless I go, and-"

"Dude, shut up for a second. Gosh, you're as bad as Nudge sometimes."

Iggy mocked hurt, glancing at me. "You don't mean that!"

I rolled my eyes. "I know you wanted to come, Iggy. Why do you think I told you about the job?"

"Because you wanted to see me at every waking moment. And you wanted to car pool."

I punched him in the arm as we finally pulled into the Itex parking lot. "Anyway, you can come on the trip, Ig. And Gazzy too."

He pumped his fist in the air in victory and did a little dance in the middle of the parking lot. I just shook my head as I got out of the car and headed towards the entrance.

The receptionist looked up and smiled. "Hello Fang, Iggy. Not much to do today. Just more filing."

"Hey Brigid. Thanks. In Dr. Emerson's office again?"

The perky red head smiled and nodded. "Yep. Third door on the right." She pointed towards the same hallway we worked in yesterday.

"Great. See you around." I smiled politely and made my way way towards Dr. Emerson's office.

"Man, this guy's office again? He's such a creep." Iggy muttered behind me. I nodded in agreement. He really was. His office was always freakishly clean. No pictures of family. Nothing on the walls. It looked like an unused office. The only clue that the man even existed was his name on the desk and the stack of files in the corner by the filing cabinet that were there for us to organize. I haven't even seen the man before.

Of course, all that changed today.

Iggy and I walked into the office without knocking, as we usually did. Expecting to be greeted by an empty office as per usual, my eyes widened when I saw a man sitting at the desk. I felt Iggy jump behind me as well, equally surprised.

"Why, hello there sir. Can I help you?" The man I assumed to be Dr. Emerson asked.

"Uh, we're here to organize files. We can come back later if you'd like."

"Oh no, that's fine. Come on in boys." He motioned us into his office. "You're Iggy and Fang, I presume?" We both nodded as he began going through his filing cabinet. "I actually have a job one of you could do for me, if you don't mind. You." He pointed at me. "Could you bring this file down to Dr. Kessner's office? Take a left, head down the hallway, turn left, and take a right." He took a file from the top of the stack and handed it to me.

"Uh, sure." I took the file and walked out of the office, leaving a groaning Iggy behind.

Gently closing the door behind me, I walked in the direction Dr. Emerson had told me. All of the hallways were pretty long, so it took me longer than I expected. After getting lost for a good five minutes, I finally found myself in front of a door with the name "Doctor Kelly Kessner" labeled on the front. I was about to knock when I glanced down at the file in my hands for the first time.

What I saw made me drop it on the floor.

In large, bold print, was a name. A name that would be engrained in my mind for a long time.

That name was Maximum Ride.

And there you have it folks! The new, edited/proofread chapter 3. The only notable change here is that Ella is Fang's step-sister, not half-sister. It'll come up later.

Thanks for reading, and leave a review if you'd like! They are always appreciated and they provide great motivation. :)