Hey, I'm back! Sorry for the wait but school keeps me so busy that it is hard to update and I have been super busy this summer. Hopefully, it was worth the wait since this chapter is longer than most of my other chapters. Please be patient with me and keep reviewing!

Remember: I AM NOT PUTTING THIS STORY ON HIATUS, UPDATES WILL COME!

On with chapter 15. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. All rights to publish Maximum Ride remain with JP.

I was running down a long white corridor. My lungs burned and my throat ached. My head was pounding and black spots danced in front of my eyes. I knew I had to keep running but, I didn't know who or what was chasing me. My thoughts were an incoherent blur as survival instincts took over. The door at the end of the corridor seemed to be getting farther and farther away from me; like the floor was moving underneath me, preventing me from getting any closer. I squeezed my eyes shut praying that I was dreaming. When I opened them I was standing in a room at the School with whitecoats surrounding me. Through the glass in front of me I could see the Flock looking at me with hurt and hatred. Whitecoats were hooking them up to what I recognized as machines that would deliver electric shocks through their bodies.

"No," I screamed and started pounding my fists on the glass trying to break through. "Let them go!"

"Why Ember?" Angel asked tears streaming down her cheeks.

"How could you do this to us?" Gazzy asked eyes wide with innocence and confusion.

"We will never forgive you," Max spat fixing me with a glare so powerful it made my skin crawl.

"I hate you," Fang said in a dead monotone allowing his anger to surface and radiate towards me in hateful rays.

"How could you betray us," Iggy screamed.

Surprisingly Nudge was the only one who did not say anything; just fixed me with a glare so cold that in a few years it might be able to rival Max. However, it was the words that pierced my heart. My eyes were fixed on my friends as questions swirled through my brain. What had happened? I would never betray my friends, I couldn't...could I?

A switch was flipped and my head was filled with their screams. I felt all of their pain and my own screams joined theirs. My head felt like it was going to explode. I could feel the electricity in the air as it coursed through my veins; I pulled at my hair praying it would stop.

"Ember, Ember…Ember!"

I jolted awake, jumped up and grabbed the hand that was on my shoulder and twisted it away from me. The person I was restraining grunted but I didn't care. I could feel adrenaline in my veins and hear my heart pounding erratically, someone had to pay for what I had seen happen to my friends. Suddenly, my feet were kicked out from underneath me and my breath was knocked out of me as my back hit the ground.

"Ember it's me, Fang!"

Pinned to the ground the adrenaline drained from my system and my eyes were able to focus on the silhouette of Fang staring down at me.

"F-Fang," I stuttered too shocked at what I had done to say anything else.

"Nightmare," he guessed.

"You have no idea," I answered regaining my composure. "Could you get off of me?"

Silently Fang got off the ground and started rubbing his shoulder. "Want to talk about it?

"No."

"It must have been pretty bad, considering you almost ripped my arm off."

"I said I don't want to talk about it," I snapped. Shrugging he looked at me with understanding and pity which just added fuel to the fire. I didn't need anyone's pity.

"You're lying," he stated, "but if you want to pretend like nothing happened then so be it."

With those words Fang settled down to sleep while I sat on a rock and kept watch. My eyes were squinted as I watched the steady sway of the trees in the wind. My dream had felt so real and vivid. My arms were shaking and I could still feel the electric currents running up and down my arms. What had made me betray the Flock? I couldn't think of anything that would break the trust we shared. I would take a bullet for any of them just as I had done for Fang.

I took a shaky breath as I replied everything that had happened in the dream over and over again. When the pale rays of dawn began to shine through the trees I still had no answers. There was something about this dream that was different than any ordinary dream; it was just too real.

Frustrated I got up and began to pack up our things as the rest of the Flock began to stir. I would have to very careful of my thoughts around Angel and focus on the dream later. Within minutes we were in the air and back on our way to California.

Gliding through the air I noticed that no one was tense but me. Iggy and Gazzy were discussing bombs; Fang and Max were talking up front while Nudge and Angel did graceful loops in the air. Everything was as normal as it could get in the life of a bird-kid, even though Iggy was still ignoring me and Fang hadn't said a single word to me. I tried to be as happy and carefree as I could but paranoia was becoming my new best friend as I tried to forget what had happened last night.

"Are you okay? Gazzy asked. "You're really quiet."

"Yeah, I'm fine Gazzy," I replied smiling reassuringly at him. I watched as he shrugged his shoulders and flew back to Iggy who was still taking in everything that he could see.

We had been flying for a couple hours when the clouds started to get dark and we could hear thunder in the distance.

"Guys, we're gonna land and stay in that cave until the rain stops," Max yelled over the noise, pointing to a cave opening down below.

After we had landed the younger kids and Total went to the back of the cave to avoid the rain and the rest of us began discussing our plan once we reached California.

"Why are we being sent to California?" I asked.

"No clue," Max answered. "The Voice really isn't big on being specific.

"So we're pretty much flying to California with no specific location and no idea what's waiting for us when we get there?"

"Pretty much."

"Fun," I answered sarcastically.

"Welcome to the Flock," Fang said a smirk dancing across his face.

"Look on the bright side," Iggy began and we all turned to face him. "This time I actually get to see the beach bunnies!"

"Sexist pig," Max muttered under her breath.

Iggy's words cut through my heart like knives. I thought he liked me? Was I really that meaningless that he was already over me? My heart sank and it felt like a rock had settled in the pit of my stomach. Was this what jealousy felt like? If so I hated it, it made me feel like a horrible person. All I wanted was for Iggy to be with me, not some California bimbos. Well, that's what you get for turning him away because you're too afraid to be with someone; I thought to myself. Fighting fifty Erasers that are twice my size, sure no problem, being a teenager with a boyfriend and I run away like a scared human.

"It doesn't look like the rain is going to stop anytime soon so we'll stay here and rest for awhile," Max interrupted Iggy's laughter while Fang tried to hide his so as not to be subjected to Max.

It had been a long day of flying and the dark sky made it feel like night. The rain was pouring outside the cave and we could hear it pounding on the rocks around the cave entrance. Soon I was the only one awake, having volunteered for first watch, since the loud crash of thunder would make sleep impossible for me. As I stared out the cave entrance I watched as the lightning lit up the sky. The twisted curve it made as it cut through the air sent shivers up my spine. With every strike of lightening images of my friends with electricity coursing through them danced in front of my eyes.

It took all of my strength not to scream in frustration. The nightmare made no sense; I would never betray my friends no matter what. I knew that I would die to protect them and give myself up to the School so why would I betray them.

You're probably all thinking, what's the big deal, it's just a nightmare it doesn't mean it's going to happen. Well news flash people I have lived most of my life in a nightmare like I was a character straight out of a horror movie so I tend to believe that the worst things do tend to happen.

The shuffling of rocks on the cave floor alerted me of Iggy's approach before he actually sat down next to me dangling his feet over the edge of the cliff. It seemed like an eternity that we sat there not saying anything but in reality it was only a couple of minutes.

"I don't understand you Ember," Iggy began. I turned my head to look at him but he refused to meet my gaze as he stared out at the endless expanse of stars before us. "I lay my heart out for you on a silver platter and you throw it away but at the mention of any interest I may have in any other girls and you're jealous in seconds."

I wanted to say something but my mouth couldn't form words and my tongue felt like sandpaper. When he spoke again he turned his head to look at me with his bright blue eyes and it felt like he could see everything that I was trying so desperately to hide.

"I've watched Fang chase after Max for years and I've seen her string him along with a false sense of hope. He never knew where he stood with her and although he didn't show it I know it frustrated him beyond belief. He got her in the end but there was a fair amount of heartbreak along the way on both ends. I don't want that to happen to me, you know how I feel and I will wait for you but I'm not going to act like we're a couple when we're not. You have to choose and if it's not me, I would appreciate the decency of an explanation; so that I can pick up the pieces and move on with my life instead of waiting for something that's too good to be true."

I couldn't speak. I looked into his eyes and saw everything that I wanted but there weren't words to describe how he made me feel. I had been trying to hold back tears the whole time but when he finished I couldn't help it and the floodgates opened. Just so we're clear I did not cry and wail like the girls on TV, I just let the tears fall holding on to my dignity with an iron fist. When he was about to get up and leave I felt the absence of him tugging at my heart and found the courage to lay down my walls for the sake of not losing him.

"This isn't going to be easy," I started, turning away from him as he turned his gaze on me. "I like you, a lot, but I'm not good at showing what I'm feeling. I used to think letting people in made you vulnerable but I've seen the love that you all have for each other in the Flock and I know that you would die to protect each other. That's how you have been able to fight Erasers and win when the odds were against you and able to escape the School countless times, because you have something to fight for. Your love doesn't make you weak it makes you stronger."

Finally I was able to express in some small way what I felt. I didn't know if all of it made sense to him but I knew he got the general picture. I turned my head to look at him and gave the final words of my Nobel Prize winner speech, "I choose you."

I watched his face light up like fireworks on the Fourth of July, soon the effect was contagious and we were both grinning like fools. We had said all we needed to and understanding past between us in glances. The moment was perfect, we both knew it wouldn't be easy; nothing ever is when you're a genetically mutated bird kid, but we also knew that it was worth it. Iggy had laid everything out for me in perfect clarity, everything that I wasn't able to see just days before.

Iggy was the first to break the silence, "just so we're clear," he said, "California beach bunnies have nothing on you."

I rolled my eyes as Iggy chuckled at his own joke and just relaxed to enjoy the moment because for the first time everything was in its place and we were safe.

Well everyone I hope you liked the chapter and I hope you have stuck with me during my absence. The next chapter will be up soon because I have finally decided on a plot line.

Please READ and REVIEW. I am desperate to know what people think at my attempt at romance since I'm not really that good at it.

Till the next chapter!