I do not own Red vs Blue. Red vs Blue belongs to Rooster Teeth.
I do not own Maximum Ride. Maximum Ride belongs to James Patterson.

We flew as high up as I could tolerate the cold night air. Navigating was hard at night. Everything either showed up as a glowing spot or a dark spot. No registering of height of the terrain or places that were open versus concealed. The only plus was it instantly told you population.

"We need food first!" The boy called to me over the wind.

I couldn't agree more, but that was risky. It was my every instinct to just fly, but I couldn't do that when I was this close to passing out.

"There!" He shouted, then started to descend.

A panic rushed through me. We didn't know what was down there! How could he know the best place?

I didn't like this working with someone else thing so far. If it was gonna get me captured again, I wasn't gonna do it, but he seemed confident. I still liked the idea of having another set of eyes to watch my back so I followed.

We landed in a small, suburban neighborhood. It looked quaint. The houses all looked the same with uniform paint jobs and the same tree in the front yard.

"What are we going to do here?" I asked.

"Pick a house."

"Why?"

"We're going to see who's home."

I was completely dumbfounded. I almost asked another question, but he sauntered off to the sidewalk like he didn't have huge wings sticking off the back of him! He motioned for me to follow him like some shy dog. I don't know what I was thinking, but I followed him.

Moving along the sidewalk, I tried to disappear into the boy's shadow. I felt utterly exposed like this.

"This one looks nice." The boy said, moving up the driveway and to the front door. The porch light wasn't on. No lights were coming from inside the house either. Never the less, he walked straight up and rang the doorbell.

"What are you doing? They're probably sleeping! They're gonna call the cops!"

I was two seconds from leaving.

"Or they're not here."

We waited a moment, but nothing happened. He rang the doorbell two more times for good measure, but no one came to the door.

"Now what?" I asked the genius that was in charge of this brilliant plan.

He looked under the welcome mat and lo and behold there was a key. Karma certainly had its favorites.

"See? I didn't even need to use my lock pick." With a flick of his wrist, the door was opened and we went inside.

I wasn't the least bit cool with this plan. I was still waiting for someone to come down the stairs with a baseball bat or an alarm system to trigger, but none did.

The boy walked brazenly through the cute, little house. Even pretending to admire the pictures that hung on the walls, but we both practically fainted when he opened the pantry to reveal it was stocked to the brim with food! For a moment we just stared at it. The most beautiful sight we had ever seen.

"Alright, let's get to it!"

I ripped off a blanket from one of the beds upstairs that became what we would carry our food in. Systematically stripping the food that was eatable as it was down from the shelves, we piled it in the center of the blanket, drew up the edges, and marched out the backdoor. Our bag of loot was going to be heavy, but I guess that was the good thing about having a partner in crime.

As we awkwardly took off with our interesting baggage, and the boy grew instant respect from me. Although it was criminal to break into someone's house and steal their food, it was ingenious and got us what we needed faster than anything I would have come up with. Maybe he wasn't half bad.

We couldn't fly as high or nearly as long as we normally could. Both the weight of the food and the exhaustion setting in.

I set my mind to scanning the ground for a place void of lights. Preferably dense forest. I found what would be the closest thing I could come by to that, and, this time, I was the one calling the shots.

I pointed to the ground and started to descend. He had no choice but to follow me. Although, he didn't seem to have a problem with it.

We smashed through the trees, falling for the last part of the landing in protection of our wings that we were forced to fold or risk getting them snapped off by branches.

The impact wasn't fun. My leg slammed against a tree and then the ground when we finally touched down. I fell and held my calf for a second waiting for the initial pain to subside.

The boy got a nasty scratch on his arm, but it didn't seem to bother him that much as he hurried to gather up all the food that had fallen out of the blanket. He stopped when he noticed me.

"Are you okay?" He asked, as he offered a hand to help me up.

I waved his hand off. I was just gonna chill here on the ground for a while.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just…hurt my leg again. It'll be okay."

It didn't look like I convinced him as he drug the pile of food closer to me.

"What do you like?" He asked, sifting through the food.

"Anything."

He through me a box of cereal. I opened it to find some of it had already been eaten, but did I care? Heck no.

He got open a can of peanuts and started chowing.

While I was eating, I sized this new boy up.

He was about my age, it seemed. Which was pretty old for an experiment. We must have been a successful batch or modeled after a successful past experiment.

His wings weren't in the best condition though. They were dirty and matted. I didn't know how he could fly at all.

He had a strong build. Brownish hair that was long. Evidence of neglect. Although, if your only goal was to stay alive, your hair isn't exactly a big deal.

Brown eyes. Except for his left. It was white and red. Was he blind in that eye? Many experiments had some sort of thing wrong with them. At least it wasn't both his eyes.

"Sparring accident." He said, noticing I was staring at his eye.

"Sparring? They made you spar? I thought they only made Erasers do that."

"Yeah, well, who did you think they sparred against? Not each other. That wouldn't make any sense. We're the ones they're supposed to know how to capture and subdue."

That was the first bitter or negative phrase I think I'd ever heard him utter.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I'm fine now."

"How long ago did that happen?"

"Last week."

"Last week? How could you have healed so fast? Even I couldn't."

"I'm very good at healing."

He came over next to me and placed a hand on my hurt leg. I instantly retracted. I didn't know what he was trying to do.

"Hold still." He insisted.

Then the pain in my leg vanished. I unwrapped my leg from the bloody shirt then saw that it was completely fine. All that was left were a few white scar lines.

I looked at him in amazement.

"My eye I could heal, but my vision never came back to it. Some things just can't be fixed. Like the other experiments in the truck. They were all too malnourished. I can't just magically put food in their stomachs. And your cage was too far away for me to heal your leg earlier. Sorry."

Why was he apologizing to me? He was the one that helped me escape and healed my leg.

"So how did you learn how to pick locks then? Is that your other mysterious power?"

"No." He laughed. "No. I was held at the Institute up in New York City. I broke out of there once and escaped into the city. A few guys took me in and made me street smart. Taught me all kinds of things I probably shouldn't know. Once I learned how to lock pick, I escaped from the Institute several more times. I think they got fed up with me so the last time the caught me, they put me on that truck to ship me somewhere else. Not that that was gonna help them any. Locks are still locks. There and here and everywhere else."

"You escaped more than once?"

"Seven. Eight if you count breaking out of the truck."

"You were already on the coast! Why didn't you just hop a boat and get out of the country! They couldn't get you there!"

"True. But, I don't know, I just stuck to what I knew worked. I had people that would hide me when I escaped there. That system worked for the most part. Besides, if they caught me, they couldn't keep me for long."

I envied that boy so much. Although, I thought he was pretty stupid. I would have been out of there in half a heartbeat.

"They captured me in one of the Carolinas. I was literally on my way to stow away on a ship and get out of here when they caught me. Unlike some people, that was the first time I had ever escaped. Except, I was held somewhere else. I was held somewhere in the desert. I just kept traveling east until I hit the ocean."

"You flew all the way across the country! You're tough, model girl."

"Model?"

"You know. You were a model. An "example" of what experiments like us were. I could tell from what nice shape you were in when they loaded you on. They must have taken care of you."

"'Taken care of me!'" I threw down the now empty box of cereal. "They didn't 'take care of me' at all! They tortured me just like everyone else! Yes, I was the model experiment if you mean by 'model' that I was the one that they made parade around naked and be molested by scientists from other companies! Yes, they kept me in a good condition, but that just meant that they experimented with my mind more than my body! You have no idea what I've been through! No, boy from New York! I was not taken care of!"

With that I stomped off, but I could hear him following me.

"Carolina! I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way!"

"Carolina?" I asked, trying to draw the conversation to anything but my torture.

"Well, you can call me York if you want?"

I didn't have to look to see that he was doing that stupid smiling thing again.

"So what's our plan of action, Carolina?"

I was still unsure about the name thing. I didn't really have a name. The scientists called me 'Number One.' But that was hardly a name. I guess Carolina would have to do.

"Eat as much as we can. Sleep. Then head to the coast as quick as we can. Get on a boat and-"

"No, no, no, no." New York shook his head.

"What's wrong." I asked, sternly.

"Do you know what the definition of 'insanity' is?"

"It means you're crazy."

"That's the more common definition. Another is 'doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.'"

I glared at him. "You're point?"

"You just think that if you try to go for the coast the same thing won't happen again?"

"Well, obviously going to New York City isn't going to work so what's your idea, city boy!"

"Wyoming."

"What?"

"I've heard that in Wyoming there is a guy who harbors experiments like us. Teaches them how to survive in the world. How to disguise themselves. Where the best places are to hide out. The whole kit n caboodle. That's our best bet. We're probably a lot closer to Wyoming than the coast anyway."

I wasn't sure about this. I was hesitant. I didn't even know if I knew where Wyoming was!

"Trust me, Carolina. And if we can't find that guy, we can just zoom right on into Canada. The Rockies are there and that's practically a safe passage right into Canada. No one lives that high up anyway. See? I even got us a back up plan! Now are we gonna go for it or not?"

"After we eat more and catch up on sleep. We're gonna need it."

"Oh yeah. Right." Smile.

We ate practically all the food we could manage. I had forgotten what it felt like to be full. What it felt like when my stomach wasn't crying out for nourishment. There was still some food left which was good. Another good thing was that we strategically ate all the stuff that was in perishable containers. That way we could use the blanket to sleep with without having to worry about the food getting damaged.

Now, I wasn't sure how he felt about it, there was only one blanket, and it was getting cold. We were going to end up sleeping pretty close to each other.

I wasn't worried though. Frankly, when you have DNA as screwed up as ours, certain…parts don't function. At least mine didn't. I wasn't worried about rape. But that didn't mean we didn't have the feelings that went with it.

I found a place in a tree up high. It would at least give us the advantage if anyone found us. We'd hear a chopper a mile away, and, if they climbed up, we'd most likely hear them too. All we'd have to do then was jump out and fly away.

But what part of escaping would that be if we didn't risk danger at all times?

The branch was wide enough and angled between another branch in such a way that it would support two people.

Honestly, I'd never been around another person this long who wasn't trying to mentally scar me which was a huge concept to grasp. Now, I was sleeping next to someone. Physical contact for that long was going to be a new challenge to overcome.

Sleeping was going to be another demon in itself. I so badly didn't want to be captured again; I didn't think I could close my eyes. I didn't trust that I would wake up free again but instead, back in a lab, awaiting my next round of torture.

I, in a stroke of genius, solved several problems for us.

"I'll be lookout for a few hours and keep watch and make sure no Erasers sneak up on us."

"And that no one falls out of the tree?"

"Exactly."

"Sounds great. Wake me up when it's my turn."

With that, he nonchalantly sat down next to me and pulled the blanket over himself, leaving plenty of blanket for me. He curled up and closed his eyes like it was that simple. Everything was just hunky dory in the world.

This boy carried no baggage with him. He was there to live his life. I had nothing but respect for him for that. It was something that I just didn't think I could do though. I had been through too much to simply let it go.

It was obvious New York was having a much harder time actually falling asleep than deciding to go to sleep though. He tossed and turned frequently. Adjusting the blanket self-consciously, afraid he was hogging too much of it. I could see his good eye opening just a slight bit to look at me. To make sure I was still keeping my end of the deal?

Eventually, his breathing slowed, and his form became as still as the night around us.

From our high perch, I could see the faint glow of whatever town we were near. Where people were living their normal, human lives.

This guy in Wyoming might be able to teach New York how to live in the real world, but I was pretty sure that I was a lost cause. I just didn't have the personality or the charisma. But I also didn't have a fully thought-out alternative plan of my own.

If we ever found that guy, I might just leave New York with him and head off to Canada like he suggested.

I could figure out how to survive just as long as there weren't people out to kill me. I figured hunting couldn't be that hard. Especially with my certain extra advantage. The animals did it, and I was clearly a little more animal that regular people. I was sure I could do it. Then I'd be free. Forever.

It was a beautiful, beautiful idea.

Welp, that was the latest product of my boredom. Have fun. Looking forward to it.