Now, all I had to do was figure out a way to get the heck out of here...

Flying was out, for obvious reasons. I silently cursed my stupid heavy bones.

Walking was out too-- I knew that the School was located in the middle of a desert. Andrea had told me. Andrea who might just be my mother...

Ack! No time to think about that now! I've got to escape!

Surely they must have some form of transportation to get supplies in and out.

I eventually got to the parking lot and, surprise of surprises, one of the big cargo trucks had the trailer unlocked. I got in, hid as best as I could behind a few boxes and a sheet of canvas, and closed my eyes.

I didn't think that I'd be able to sleep at all; I just wanted to rest my eyes for a moment...

Cage.

I hate cages. Too small and cramped. I want to walk. Want to run.

I snarl at the bars, but it does me no good.

I look at my hand, and watch as fur ripples over it...

I snapped awake as the truck starts moving. What a crazy dream...

Had I been an Eraser or something in that dream? My hand had begun to shift...

But somehow I didn't think I was. The fur didn't look right.

I shook my head. It was only a dream. It didn't matter.

I'd had lots of dreams. In some of them, I could fly...

Stop thinking about it. There's nothing you can do.

I hated the fact that I had these stupid wings, but still couldn't fly. I'd tried before.

If the whitecoats had to mess with my DNA, couldn't they do it right?

But it was pointless to think about it, so I tried to think about something else.

Like where I was going to end up, and how I was going to get out without being detected, and how I was going to survive out here anyways...

I sat, and I waited.

When the truck finally stopped, I had decided to make a wild break for it as soon as the guy opened the door and make a run for it.

I saw a crack of light as the door began to lift, and tensed myself for a leap...

...just when the guy's cell phone rang.

He snorted in annoyance and went to answer it, leaving the door open a crack. I lifted it slowly and then ran off as quietly as I could.

It was dark, but I could 'see' easily enough by using echolocation, being careful to keep my echo-calls out of the human hearing range.

I only stopped once I got to the cover of some trees. Then, leaning against one to catch my breath, I listened carefully.

No sounds of pursuit. As far as I could tell, I'd made a clean getaway.

"East. I'll go east."

The School was in California, which was to the west of the USA, so east would get me further away, right?

Right.

Too bad I wasn't quite sure which way was east.

I knew that the sun rose in the east, but I would feel more comfortable travelling at night, being a bat-girl and all, not to mention it decreased the chances of detection.

I sighed, and sat down to wait out the night.

I'd really have to work on getting a nocturnal schedule down. They had kept me on their hours at the School, but out here I would do things my way.

And with those thoughts, I slipped into sleep.

There was another girl who looked a lot like me standing across the room. At least, she looked like what I would have looked like if I didn't have wings and giant ears.

I called out a greeting. She turned to look at me, first with anger, then with horror.

"No! I'm not a freak! I'm not!" she screamed, then leaped at me, her face elongating and claws springing from her hands...

I jolted awake.

The sun was a sliver on the horizon.

"East," I whispered, and started walking toward it.