WHy, this is chapter four! I hope you like it! And, well, I spent a while on it. Sorry my faithful readers-if I even have any :/-I kind of forgot about this story. I was busy trying to finish my book so I could publish it this summer! Yes, I know, me? An author? Well, why yes, yes I am.

I have to be honest with you right now. This story sucks. Well, by my standards. There's too many spelling and grammer errors that I'm too lazy to fix, and it's not exactly my best work. I understand that you wouldn't review, because believe me, I wouldn't either. (Though that would be nice. Then I would get at least some credit for what I do.

But, I'm pretty sure that you want the disclaimer. Well, here it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any other characters except my own. Which includes Luke, Sarah, and the other Max. Yes, the other Max. Why, James Patterson? Yes, Max? Do you like how I put another Max in the story based on my own self? Why no, Max, I do not. Well too bad, JP. Now ON WITH THE STORY!

My breath was fast, ragged. My heart was pounding in my chest, feeling like it would burst. He was after me and he was gaining.

Shooting into an ally way on the left, I jumped the fence, climbing as fast as I could as the barbed wire ripped my shorts. The concrete of the ally was full of trash and paper, sticking to my feet as I ran down the other side. I smelled the sewer, the stench of urine and poop mixed with water. It was disgusting; I had to breathe through my mouth.

"Come on, Maxi!" he called. I stopped in between dumpsters, a space just big enough for me to fit in. I wheezed, trying to catch my breath. He wanted me. He wanted to use me as a toy, rape me and hurt me.

I was scared, terrified, of him finding me. My deep breathing must have helped him because he was right in front of me with a wicked glint in his eyes. He was smiling victoriously and without humor.

He really was a madman. But I'll never understand him. I never want to understand him. He only hurts me like he's done for all my life. I'm pretty sure he's hurt mom, maybe worse than me.

A sense of anger and anguish rose within me that made me rise and face him. After the initial shock of me facing him, he smiled maliciously again. He wasn't even breathing hard! I knew what he was; he was just like my mother. They were monsters.

He was going to phase so I was helpless. I wasn't what my family was, I wasn't a werewolf. And I didn't want to be. They were monsters when they phased on the full moon. Don't get me wrong, I loved my mother. But what she became on the full moon, I'm not so fond of.

I didn't want to be like them. Killing people. That's just sick and inhumane. Huh, well, I guess that's the irony of it. I resisted the urge to snort. Inhumane. They aren't human! They're monsters! They kill!

As I was thinking this, he had grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward him. The only way to escape was to go with the flow, allow him to hurt me until I could find an escape. So I let him drag me.

He laughed in victory and satisfaction that I was giving in. I could see his little problem in between his legs and I resisted the urge to shudder uncontrollably. He grabbed my shirt and forced his lips on mine. I stayed limp, not giving him the satisfaction of me squirming and fighting to get him off of me. He forced his hand in my shirt and squeezed my chest hard.

"Damnit! Fight!" He yelled, slapping me in the face. All I felt was shame and anguish that this is my father, the man who made me and raised me. I couldn't breathe in all of the shame that was smothering me. I was choking on air. I wanted to die.

I was lost in my own mind, trying to push back all of the pain that he was causing me, emotionally, mentally and physically. So this is what my mother went through? I wish I could hate her for letting him stay, I wish I could hate her for being so weak, but I couldn't. Maybe that's why I love her. I needed to protect the weak and defenseless. And my mom showed me that. I could never hate my mom.

But I can hate this man here. This man who did this to my mother, who's doing this to me now, causing me all of this pain, I hate with all my heart and mind. I never thought it was possible to have so much hate, to be able to hate this much, but here I was.

When I was shirtless, vulnerable, and thinking that I would never get out of this, I saw an opening. I shoved him off of me and I ran. I ran as fast as I could but he still followed. Not only that, he was morphing, gaining on me.

I wasn't weak; I was stronger than most people and faster, too. But I needed to push myself. And that's what I did, I pushed myself harder. I passed my limits, trying to get him off my tail, but I couldn't. He was fully phased in that horrible monster of a body. His sharp teeth were bared in a grin, spit flying off of his mouth, making him look rabid. His golden eyes were wild with glee. That sadist son of a bitch, I thought.

We were still in the ally and it was even darker, if that was possible. The moon wasn't showing and the stars seemed to be burned out. Clouds were coming together, a storm was brewing.

Just when I thought I lost him, he grabbed my bra in his dirty yellow sharp teeth and yanked me backwards. I gasped as my head hit the concrete and I saw stars dance before my eyes. He started dragging me backwards and I kicked and flailed my arms, trying to make it as difficult as possible for him. And possibly get out of his grip.

He picked me up by the shirt and flung me down into the darkness of the ally way. I landed with a thud and I struggled to keep in a breath. I saw him come out of the shadows and advance on me. His ugly, vicious face was right in front of me, his stinky flesh and blood smelling breath washing over my face. He opened his gigantic mouth and bit down on my chest.

An incredible pain shot through me and all I could do was scream and thrash around. I wasn't aware of anything else except the pain I was in. So I screamed. That was the first scream since I was three . . .

….

"Max!" I woke up to a voice screaming my name, luring me out of unconsciousness. I jumped up and crouched in a fighting stance, effectively bumping my forehead on Fang's. We both jumped back, rubbing our foreheads. I just now realized that the rest of the Flock, Sarah and Lucas were there as well. I relaxed as they snickered. Well, Angel was in tears. What's going on? Is someone in trouble?

I turned to the opening of the tent. It was still dark out, and by the position of the waxing moon, I'd say it was two in the morning. What?

"Why'd you wake me up?" I asked them. All of their faces sobered instantly. I raised my eyebrow at Bird-Max. She was the one most likely to explain.

"I had watch and I heard Angel crying. I woke her up and she wouldn't stop, saying that it was your dream. Or nightmare," Bird-Max explained. My eyes widened a fraction of an inch and I knelt down in front of Angel. She flinched and I flinched too, feeling bad. Her eyes widened.

"No-no, Max. Not you!" she yelled, throwing her little arms around my neck. She let go immediately.

"What was the dream about?" Bird-Max asked Angel and me softly. I didn't want to say anything, so Angel spoke for me.

"It was so horrible, Max!" she exclaimed, hugging Bird-Max. I sat down and the others sat around me, all watching me with curious eyes—except Iggy, he was just looking in our general direction.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Fang said softly, his hand coming to rest on my shoulder.

"Was it from . . ?" Luke asked uncertainly. I nodded and he sucked in a sharp breath, looking at Angel. "Oh gosh, sweetie, I'm so sorry you had to see that," he said sincerely. She nodded, most likely reading his mind.

"What was it about?" Fang asked. I sighed.

"It was when she got bit! Oh, Fang, it was so horrible!" Angel yelled, tears leaking through her eyes. I tried blocking my mind so she wouldn't see anything else. The dream wasn't finished, and I didn't want to finish it for her.

"Who bit you?" Bird-Max asked.

"I really don't want to talk about it," I said, squeezing my eyes shut. I felt small arms circle my neck and opened my eyes to see Angel hugging me. I stayed stiff, not knowing what to do. I'm not a hug-y type of person.

Just when I thought that, Angel let go of me and gave me an apologetic look. I nodded, accepting the apology. Luke grabbed my hand and squeezed it, giving me comfort. I gave him a grateful look and squeezed back.

"Max?" I looked up just as Bird-Max looked up. Man, this is getting annoying. It was Angel and she was looking at me with the Bambi-eyes. Yes, I do believe it needs to be capitalized. "Can I show them? The dream, I mean. Can I?"

I shook my head. No, they were already scarred and I don't need to scar them anymore. "Well you don't have to be there when I show them. They really want to know. Please?" Damn her and those Bambi-eyes.

I sighed deeply and stood up, nodding. I looked at their cheers solemnly. This was nothing to be cheerful about. This isn't fun and games, this is my memory and it was very, very real. I voiced my thoughts. "This is not something to cheer about," their happy faces sobered instantly. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Granted, it's probably not as bad as what you've all been through, but that is how I came to be the monster that I am today. I am a monster, don't try to deny it," I added as they all drew in a breath to argue.

I turned on my heel and walked out of the tent, not able to bear the horrified and doubtful expressions they will wear once they've seen it.

…

Luke POV:

I watched Max go, an unbearable sadness sitting where my heart should be. She was right, we were all monsters. I hated suffering every month on the full moon. I hated that I had to suffer for the rest of my life and become that monster.

At first, all werewolves have no control of their wolf forms when they phase. But they gain control in a year or two. When I first phased, the pain was so, so unbearable. It hurt so much, physically and emotionally.

You turn into a monster, not able to control what you do. I once woke up in the middle of the lions' exhibit in a zoo completely naked and covered in blood and fur. And I had no recollection of what happened the night before.

I grimaced, thinking about that morning, all the people with cameras taking pictures, the crowds and the police yelling at me and taking me to the station. All of the millions of questions I wasn't able to answer.

Angel looked at me sympathetically and amusingly and I frowned at her, not wanting sympathy or pity. She nodded and turned back to the others.

"Are you sure you want to see this?" I asked them. Fang and Iggy shrugged, not caring about the outcome. The others nodded and Sarah a little uncertainly. "I don't want to see it. I've been told the story—save the details—and I don't want to live it," I said to them.

"It was so horrible guys, are you really sure you want to see this? It was so real…" Angel trailed off, a far away look in her eyes.

"Angel, just show us, okay sweetie?" Max said gently, scooping the girl up in her arms and holding her.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Close your eyes," she instructed. They complied and sat still.

As I watched, their faces paled and took on a look of disgust and terror. Save Fang, of course. He just paled slightly. Nudge and Gazzy had tears streaming down their faces.

"Stop it!" Nudge yelled, her eyes snapping open. She gasped in breaths and collapsed on all fours. "That was so horrible," she whispered, looking at all of the others horrified faces.

When it was over, all of their eyes snapped open and focused on me. "She really went through that?" Bird-Max asked me. I nodded solemnly.

"I'm going to check on her. I don't think she's been doing okay," I said, standing up. Fang nodded and pulled Max up with him.

"I need to talk to you," he murmured. I smirked. Finally, Fang was making his move. When I first met them, I knew that they loved each other. They just won't admit it. They were in denial.

Max nodded and they both left the tent. I followed, looking around for Max.

Yesterday, she had to borrow Fang's clothes. His were the only ones that she could fit in. Max's jeans were too skinny, though length wise, they fit perfectly. Wolf-Max was only an inch shorter than Bird-Max. I'm pretty sure that Fang would only be at least three inches taller than Wolf-Max because they were twins. But Fang was so tall because of the avian DNA grafted into him.

I found Max sitting up in a tree, just staring out into the lake. I climbed the tree, settling on a branch next to her. We were so close that our sides touched. I tried to ignore the way my skin tingled where she touched it.

I didn't say any thing; I just let the silence take over.

My hand found hers and I laced my fingers through hers. I really liked Max, and not just in the best friend way. I liked her more than that, a lot more than that. I would almost say that I lo—no, I like her. I just don't think that she likes me the same way. I wish she did though.

Then she made my day; she rested her head on my shoulder and sighed. In contentment, I don't know, but I hope so. "You alright?" I dared ask. She sighed again and lifted her head off of my shoulder.

I felt disappointment wash over me, but I squashed it flat. I'll let her come at her own time.

"I'll live," she muttered. I nodded, my arm circling her shoulders. She stiffened at first, but relaxed and leaned into me, making me do a victory dance inside my head.

"Hey, you guys!" I heard and I looked down to see Nudge yelling at us and waving her arm around. I sighed and raised an eyebrow at Wolf-Max. She nodded and I removed my arm from her shoulder, hopping down from the tree. I crouched, my knees absorbing the impact. The branch that I was on was fifteen feet off the ground, pretty high. Since I was stronger than most people, I could jump from that high up without hurting myself.

Wolf-Max landed beside me and we started making our way over to Nudge. She was jumping up and down in her spot, whether from excitement or anxiousness, I have no idea. "Yes, Nudge?" I asked her pleasantly.

"We're going to start heading to Max's mom's house. Are you guys ready to go? I can't wait for you to meet Ella and Dr. M! Oh, Lucas, do you think that you could like Ella? You and she would make a good couple. Oh, you know who else would make a good couple?—Max and Fang. They would make a great couple. You both would, too. Do you think that you guys would go out? I know that you're both best friends, and that's what Max and Fang are, and I think that you guys like each other and you would make another cute couple. Oh—," she got cut off by someone's hand coming over her mouth.

Max and I just stared at her in shock. When I looked over, I saw that Iggy was the one whose hand covered her mouth. I gave him a look of gratitude, even though he couldn't see me. "Nudge, my ears are bleeding," he complained. Nudge's mocha colored skin turned a pinkish shade.

"Yeah, we're ready to go if you've all got camp taken down. We would've helped with that," I added as an after thought.

"No, its fine, we already took care of it," Iggy said, waving a hand. I nodded, and then remembered that he couldn't see, then said, "Alright."

He and Nudge walked off and Wolf-Max and I followed. When we walked into the clearing where the others were, I called out to Sarah, "You're on my back, Sarah."

She nodded and smiled at Max and I, making her way over.

Then, I took a deep breath and imagined that I was a piece of clay, molding myself into a wolf, feeling the power move within me. It takes a lot out of us to phase, so we try to phase as little as possible, that way we can save energy. We need to be at full power to phase willingly.

I fell on all four's as I finished my phasing. It always hurt when we werewolves phased; and it's never going to stop hurting. Max is right, we are monsters. To live in this pain for the rest of our lives and to live in shame of what we are.

I shut those thoughts away. Right now wasn't the time to dwell on my misgivings. Right now, we had to travel. And Max could hear my thoughts when she phased. Well, here's to a good travel . . .

…

Sarah POV:

Riding on top of a giant wolf the size of a truck that's going around 200 miles per hour, is the most exhilarating thing in the world. Well, maybe free falling from the sky with your wings tucked in is better, but I wouldn't know. I just know that I love going this fast on top of a giant wolf is awesome.

I highly recommend it.

I could tell that the dream—memory—was bothering Wolf-Max a lot. She was even more drawn into herself. I can't believe that there was so much that I missed in her life. She had a completely separate life that was full of things that shouldn't even exist!

And to think that she went through that, I can't imagine my Guardian—I've been trying to call her that instead of my sister, because she's not my sister—was that weak. I've seen her when she was at her worst, and I didn't like that at all. I only wanted to see her at her most powerful.

Yes, she is my Guardian, but she's also my sister, blood related or not. And seeing her miserable and pained, I didn't like that one bit. Poor Max.

We've been traveling for a few hours and I wondered how far Bird-Max's mom's house was. I laid down on Lucas' back and held on tight, closing my eyes and enjoying the wind flying through my hair and the feel of him moving beneath me, his muscles bunching and curling as he took long strides and jumps. (I just realized how wrong that sounded. Gross . . .)

Suddenly, Lucas stopped and I held onto his fur tighter for fear of falling off of him. What's going on? Why'd we stop?

I opened my eyes and looked around. The bird-kids were on the ground and we were all in front of a house. It was almost dark out.

Lucas lay down and I slid off his back, stretching. He and Wolf-Max were panting and lying down. "This is the house?" I asked the bird-kids.

Bird-Max nodded and strode confidently to the door, Fang by her side. The others stayed behind in the yard and I leaned on Lucas. I heard the doorbell ring and a second later, a woman with dark brown hair and Hispanic features opened the door. She grinned widely when she saw Max and the others and drew her in for a hug. A young girl about my age, maybe a little younger, that looked almost like an exact replica of the woman popped up behind her. I'm guessing that the girl was Ella and the woman was Bird-Max's mom.

"Oh, Max, why didn't you tell me you were coming? I would've had the rooms all tidied up for you and the Flock," the woman said hectically. I almost laughed. We don't care about having a clean room as long as we have a bed.

"Mom, you know that I don't need the rooms cleaned. And I would've called, but I didn't have a phone and we've been avoiding towns and such so I couldn't use a penny phone. And," Max said, stressing on the and. "We have some guests."

Just then, the woman noticed us. Her eyes widened at the sight of two large wolves and a girl on her front yard. Wolf-Max and Lucas were still panting hard, their tongues lolling out. I resisted the urge to snort at the scene.

"Hello, I'm Valencia Martinez and you can just call my Dr. M," the woman said. Max and Lucas got up and bowed their heads to her and I waved slightly.

"Hi, I'm Sarah and this is Max," I said, pointing to Max. "And this is Lucas."

"Max, you named your dog after you?" The girl, Ella said, laughing.

The bird-kids, Lucas and I froze, our gazes whipping to Wolf-Max. Her hackles were raised and she growled and took a step toward Ella. Lucas quickly jumped in front of her and growled in warning. Ella's eyes widened and she took a step back, along with Dr. Martinez.

"Max, your dog has some anger issues," Ella said, her voice quivering with fear. Max snarled and pounced at her, but Lucas knocked Ella out the way so Max pounced on him instead. Everyone backed away from the wolves and they snarled and tumbled in a ball of flailing limbs and paws.

"Max!" Fang barked. Everyone looked at him, surprised. I didn't know that his voice could rise to that level. And I didn't know that his voice could have that much emotion in it.

The midnight blue and black wolf froze and the black one got off her. Max looked at Fang with her ears down on her head in shame. She got up and made her way over to Fang. She lay down in front of him, her paws on her head and she looked up at him with sorry eyes.

"She didn't know; you have no right to be angry at her," Fang scolded her like a father to their daughter.

"Know what? And is she your dog Fang? She seems to listen to you," Ella said. Max growled, but Fang shot her a look and she shut up. Lucas made his way over and stood in front of Ella, facing her.

Then he phased back into the hot, lean sixteen-year-old boy he really was.

Ella gasped and stared at him with wide, curious eyes. As did Dr. M.

"We aren't dogs," Lucas said calmly. "We're werewolves." Ella snorted.

"Werewolves? Are you sure you're not a mutant like my sister? I thought werewolves only changed on the full moon?" Ella asked, skeptical.

"Yes, werewolves," Lucas said coldly. "No, we're not mutants. Though that would be far better than being the monster that I am today," his voice was low and bitter at the end of his statement. The others looked at him in disbelief and surprise. I did, too. How could he not like what he was? Turning into a giant wolf is so cool!

He made his way over to Max and started scratching her behind the ears. She seemed to purr and smile. Just then, Fang snorted, whacking her on the head. She nipped at his fingers, her teeth bearing in a grin—a very wolfish grin. Ha, I made a funny.

"And we do turn on a full moon, but only the super powerful ones are able to phase at will," Lucas explained.

"So you're powerful? And her?" Dr. M asked. Lucas snorted.

"We're the most powerful out of our clan. But only because our fathers," he growled. Max growled, too and the Flock and I winced. That was a horrible dream.

"So Fang, how come Max listens to you?" Dr. M asked.

"We're twins," he answered simply, his emotionless mask in place. Ah, back to the three word answers I see.

"So you found your family? Oh, that's wonderful! Have you met your mother yet? Do you like her? What's she like?" Dr. M rambled. I blinked, not expecting that to come out of her mouth.

Wolf-Max stood up and started to phase back. When she was back to her human form, she stood beside Fang with the same emotionless mask on. Lucas smiled at her and she just stayed in the same emotionless mask.

"He's only met me," Max said in her deep voice. Dr. M and Ella were looking back and forth between her and Fang, eyes wide. "My mother is not available, she's very busy. Maybe you will see her on the full moon—but I shouldn't get my hopes up," she added when they opened their mouths. "My father is in jail and I hope to never see him again, so I wouldn't look forward to meeting him, either."

The Flock and I flinched again and Lucas threw an arm across her shoulders. She stiffened, and then she relaxed slowly. "Come, we must go inside. It is dark out and I cannot let Sarah outside."

She started forward, nodding her head for the others to go in ahead of her. I grimaced a little, remembering the almost translucent, red eyed creatures that ambushed me. I went in before Wolf-Max and looked around, admiring the furnishings in Dr. M's home.

She had a very comfy looking home. But I felt like I was intruding. I mean, this was somebody else's home and I was just walking in, probably going to stay for a few days. Maybe a few months.

The couch was big and there was a recliner in the corner. The TV was decent, and the pictures were all of Bird-Max, Ella, Dr. M and a man. Who was the man? Was it Ella's dad? I can see some resemblance, but not a lot.

There was an open doorway to the left and I saw the kitchen. The hall led down to five doors and one on the end. I'm guessing that one of these rooms was an office and two were bathrooms. So the left over rooms were for Ella and Dr. M.

I saw some stairs to the right and they probably led to the guest rooms that Dr. M talked about. All in all, it was a very homey home.

"I call shower first!" Bird-Max yelled, running up the stairs. I smiled a little. I saw Iggy walk into the kitchen and I followed him, wondering what he was doing.

"I'm cooking!" Iggy called to—I'm assuming—Dr. M.

I heard various yells of Okays. "You're cooking?" I asked him. He nodded and opened a cupboard, grabbing a wok and laying it down on the stove. He must have been visiting for a long while to know where everything was. "That's so cool! You're blind and you can cook!"

Iggy laughed and I swear I saw a pink tinge to his cheeks. "Yea, well, when you live your life with no sight, you learn to make the best of things. I can hear things better, I can smell things better, and I can sense vibrations so I know what is happening around me. I can also identify anyone by fingerprints and I can feel colors. I'm not as blind as you think," he said.

"You can do all sorts of things and I can't do anything," I grumbled.

"You can't do anything now," I heard. I turned to see Wolf-Max leaning in the doorway. "You still haven't even started your training—any of you," she added to the others. "We start tomorrow. Sarah, there is so much more to you than you think. You just don't know it yet." And with that, she left.

"You have a weird sister," Iggy muttered.

"She is not weird!" I heard Lucas yell from somewhere in the living room. Iggy and I snickered.

"He is so in love with her," I breathed, knowing that he could hear me. Iggy nodded and turned back to the stove, getting things out of the fridge. His fingers ghosted across the labels and almost every other container he touched, he took out.

"What are you making?" I asked him.

"Lot's and lot's stir fry," he said, turning his head to smile at me. I smiled back and took his hand, putting his fingers on my cheek to let him know that I was smiling.

When his fingers touched my face though, I felt tingles, making me blush. I dropped his hand, knowing full well he could feel me blush. Iggy's cheeks were a light pink tint and I was secretly glad that I could make him flush.

"Can I help you in any way?" I asked him hesitantly. He flashed me a grin that made my world a little brighter.

"Can you grab marshmallows, chocolate, and gram crackers?" he asked me.

"Okay. S'mores for dessert?" I asked him, searching the cupboards. He nodded, adding the veggies to the sizzling wok. "Mmm, I love me some s'mores," I said, making smacking sounds.

He laughed and smacked along with me. I giggled a little and walked the couple steps to him. I could tell that this was going to be a yummy dinner.

If you could review, that would be sooooooo fantastic. I only have two-well, technically, one-review on here, and I'm pretty sad. I want reviews! Well, I do have to thank the one and only person who did review, even though it was a not-so-downer-flame. Well, to me it was. I do appreciate they did though! See, at least they had the effort to do it! Reviews are only a press of the blue link, a couple of words, and that's it! Come on, lazies! Just write a few words so I know that my story isn't a complete bombshell!