Sorry, again, for the late update. Here it is:

Max POV

The first thing I felt was relief. If the bloody X-boys were off chasing some other experiments, then hopefully we'd be left alone. Then it was shame. Shame that I'd actually thought that, and I hoped the experiments got away, whoever they were. After that came pain. What has pain got to do with anything? Well, there happens to be pain because I was thrown off my feet and rammed into a rocky wall. I heard an explosion, like one of Iggy's and Gazzy's bombs – I missed them so much! – and then the heat.

I raised my head slowly, but it started throbbing so I lay down against the cool floor of the cave for a minute. What the heck was that about?

You might want to look outside, Max.

Good to hear you again Voice. I wasn't. Obviously. And why should I do that?

No answer. No surprises there. I got up again, the throbbing was less than before, and when I looked round I saw Leo was up and getting to the others. Officially, I should be doing that as I was the leader, but hey, officially, Leo was the leader of this flock anyway.

I stood, and walked to the mouth of the cave. I was temporarily blinded by the smoke outside, so jumped and flew over to the source of the smoke.

There it was: a blazing wreckage of what looked like a white glider. The smoke was escaping from one of its wings, as if it was hit by some rocket. No-one can live through this, I thought. Well, let's just say that I seemed to have gone a bit dull in the brain over the years, because just then I heard a minute cough coming from the vague direction of the cockpit.

I ran quickly towards the sound, folding my wings as I did so. Although I would need them for a quick escape, it was a habit of mine to do that when I felt or saw anyone around that isn't a hybrid of some sort… or a whitecoat.

Covering my mouth with a hand, I pulled out what I thought was the door, and was awarded with a cloud of dust. I coughed, and took a step back instinctively, when I heard a weak voice calling, "Help……"

What did the heroic Maximum Ride do? Why, she (stupidly) jumped into the wreckage and searched for whoever was in the glider. All it did was send up another cloud of dust up my nose, and believe me, that isn't a pleasant experience. I coughed my lungs out and continued my search, my eyes streaming from all the dust and smoke.

I could have saved myself from all the tragedy if I just had the sense to look for a shape that looked like a person on a seat in the cockpit, or at least somewhere near the seat. But instead, I pulled out pieces of metal forming the inside of the cockpit and looking into all corners, when the same small voice said, "help…" right under me. I yelped in surprise and jumped back, only to hit my head on one of the broken parts of the glider.

There, right in front of my foot, was a man covered in soot. He seemed to have tried to curl up in a ball to protect himself – and only to get stuck under the seat, where his foot would have been just moments before. How he got there, I don't know but I, being the brave savior, started pulling at the seat with all my might and it came off, quite easily. It must have been damaged when the glider crashed, I thought, amused. Anyone could have got out within minutes.

Then I realized what had stopped him. His left hand had been stuck underneath a large piece of metal that must have fallen when the glider crashed. Ouch, I thought. The hand was twisted in an awkward angle, which must have prevented the man from getting it out without causing too much pain. I looked back at him, his face dirty and tears streaming from his eyes.

Without hesitation, I lifted his hand out as gently as I could, and helped him get out of the cockpit – actually, dragged would be a much better word.

After I got him out of the cockpit that I realized I had no idea what to do with him. I looked at him to see how he was. The man was unconscious. I sighed. Another problem to cope with. As if I didn't have enough at the moment.

"Maaaaax!" I heard someone call. Probably Hawk. I supposed they must be looking for me.

"I'm here!" I shouted at him, and waited for them to arrive.

"Where were you?" Leo asked. I wasn't meant to answer the question, so I didn't. Instead, I pointed at the person lying on the ground near the glider, where I'd left him.

"I found him in the wreckage," I explained, "any ideas as to what we should do with him?"

"I think we should leave him somewhere near a town," it was Beth. Always so logical.

"Then you three wait here. I'll drop him off in that town we went past this morning." I started to jog towards the edge of the small mountain, when Leo piped up, "We'll go with you, we don't want to stay near this."

I shrugged and took off. The cool air I breathed in was a relief from all that soot, smoke and dust. Aaaaah, I love flying.

Automatically, I did a 360. Immediately, I saw something coming towards me and my flock. No, there were six of those things. They were flying towards us.

Okay, so they're probably just some geese, so what?

Look closer. –the Voice.

I did.

The things were flying in a V-formation, and their bodies didn't seem the right shape to be geese. Looking even closer, I saw they all had different colored wings as well. The rest of my flock had caught up with me now and were looking at the approaching things as well.

Hawk gasped. We all looked towards him, while Beth went invisible. Hawk had the best eyesight out of the four of us, and so he must have realized what they were.

"What are they?" I asked, curious. I wasn't going to wait until I found out what they were with a punch in my face.

Hawk hesitated, then whispered, "Max… What are you doing there?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, apprehension of what might be coming gripped me, and I snapped my head towards the group.

And sure enough, there she was…

Max II

How's that for a returning chapter?

There's the answer to the other Max, or is it?

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