Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does. Lucky guy.

Sorry this took longer than normal to get published, I am currently working on another project.

Chapter Four

We follow Jeb into the clinic and everybody including Total gasps. There is no way this is a clinic. Everything looked exquisite and orderly. Where was the chaos? In the center of the lobby area there was a circular reception area with employees bustling in and out. To the right of that was a sitting area accompanied by a fountain. Yes, I said it. A freaking fountain in the middle of a clinic!! Mr. Vonderhaar was already gaining some points in my book. Straight ahead of us was obviously a gym which was attached to a pool.

'Swimming,' Angel said to me with delight.

I chuckled and told her, 'A must do.'

Angel smiled and her eyes brighten. To the left of the gym, across from the reception area was a sign that read 'Children's Hall and Hospital'. Wow a whole 'hall' dedicated to children. I cannot wait to see that. The hospital part I was just going to shun until it was absolutely necessary to go. And then to the right of us past the fountain was five huge elevators and over the elevators was a sign that read 'Underground Rooms and Research'. Apparently there was a whole floor above us dedicated to research to help Africa. We came to the elevators waiting patiently for one to come to us.

"Oh, man," Gazzy said, "the dining room is huge and it's all you can eat!"

We all looked to our right and saw the dining room decorated in red and gold. We all looked at Jeb, even though we didn't really need his permission to go.

He actually chuckled a little before saying, "I don't care where you all eat, but tonight in your residence hall is a tradition of mega amounts of pizza in the common room. But if you want to eat in a dignified manner with old people than go ahead."

Wow, did Jeb really just say that? We all stared at him jaw-dropped. "What makes you think that there won't be old people at the common room?" I asked him, half joking.

"Well, I will be there," he said shrugging, "but what I meant was that most of the people living with you guys on your floor are college interns, teachers, and hunters. Most of them are very young adults, who I think you will get along better with than old educated people." He smiled looking at the line at the buffet.

I looked over and saw Dr. Brigid Dwyer waiting in line for her food and grinned back at Jeb. Huh, maybe that guy's not too bad.

"Hunters?" Asked Nudge, innocently.

"It's not what you think," Jeb replied, "that is just a title for the young men who volunteered themselves to be the protectors of the clinic and their patients."

"Doesn't sound like a bad job," Fang said looking thoughtful.

I elbowed him to let him know to not get any smart ideas about trying to join. He gave me an innocent but I knew better than that and I replied back with my stubborn face.

"Actually it is a very dangerous job," Jeb told him, "those men risk their lives almost every day."

I grabbed Fang's hand squeezing it tightly to let him know he is not going anywhere. We entered the elevator and Jeb pushed the button labeled 10 and my eyes got caught on his face. He looked remorseful and his eyes were staring ahead of him as if lost.

Ding! The sound of the elevator coming to our stop made me jump.

"Geez, Max jumpy much?" Iggy asked me smiling.

I shook my head and answered, "Only when I feel like it."

The elevator doors opened to reveal a wide set hallway with huge, glorious lights spotted up and down the hallway. The carpet was a beautiful blue color that led down the floor toward double doors with golden handles. Again, everybody was speechless. I didn't even feel claustrophobic or closed in at all.

I visibly relaxed and I felt Fang do the same next to me. What a good surprise. "Okay," Jeb said. "Your room number is 10F."

I know people reading this are picturing a dorm-like quality to our hall of residence. Let me assure you it is far more elegant than that. Not to sound snobbish but it's true. For example, our room, let me tell you is HUGE. Entering said room there are couches and chairs spread throughout our main room that encircled a giant television. To the right was a dining table accompanied by a bookshelf, microwave, and a mini fridge. Okay so this is just the main room.

Along the back wall were six doors equally spread out; Nudge and Angel each gave a squeal of delight and ran to pick out which room was going to be there's.

"They are probably all the same," I call out to them and then shake my head knowing that they didn't care.

I walked into the room that was left-center and Fang went into the one that was right-center.

The rooms were really simple: a big bed, dressers, a small television, a desk, and a bathroom around the corner. I fell onto my bed and closed my eyes. Jeb's face on the elevator was haunting me. After he mentioned the type of people who are staying with on the same floor his face changed to a face I only witnessed after Ari died.

I heard my door open and looked to see the entire flock walk in and shut the door. I would usually take this as something bad happened but the looks from the flock only showed excitement.

"This is not as bad as I thought it would be," Iggy said with a smile and leaned against a wall in my room.

Fang sat beside me as Angel pulled herself into my lap. I smiled at her.

"Max," Fang said gently but determined, "What was your Voice telling you?"

I sighed. Of course Fang was overly concerned for me.

"That's why I'm not really looking forward to meeting these people Jeb was talking about," I confessed to my flock.

"Why?" Total asked. He was snuggling himself on my pillow and I was immediately disgusted. I going to have lay my head on that! Fang read my face at my reaction about Total and chuckled. I glared at him.

"The Voice told me to beware of strangers." I said still looking at Fang.

Total huffed and we all stared at him.

"What was that for Total?" I asked him. I'm beginning to lose my patience with that dog.

'Listen to him. He has a good point.' Angel told me.

"Jeb told us that there are ten levels to this underground hotel, right?" We all nodded.

Total continued, "Well, I'm figuring that people who want to hurt you would have figured out that you all will be at the top level, with your wings and all. And we all know that if you want to hurt someone you also fear them too. And they should be scared of us. We can be scary."

Whoa, since when did Total become so smart? I looked around at the faces' of my flock to see if they were as shocked as I was about Total's epiphany. Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge all had their jaws dropped.

Good. I'm glad I'm not alone.

"In conclusion, nobody on our residence hall will try to hurt us. If they wanted to then they would be on a different floor." Total concluded and I swooped the black dog into my arms and started rubbing his head.

"Total you are such a smart, good doggy," I told him while everybody laughed at Total's shocked expression.

I let Total go and he shook himself, circled laid down in the center of my bed. He had made a good point but I was still worried.

"You're right Total," never thought I would say that, "but I still want to be careful around these people." I said to Total and the rest of the flock.

My flock nodded seriously and went into their rooms to get ready for the pizza tradition. Yum!

A/N: Again, thanks to those of you who put my story on alert. I hope you enjoyed it! :) Also, a thanks and a shout out to Genesis Kate Whitlock for reviewing my last chapter.

The next chapter may take awhile to get out and I apologize but I am working on another story that I can't seem to tear myself away from but I promise the next chapter will be in the next week. You will meet new characters that I have created and I hope you will enjoy them.

If any of you have seen the movie "Treasure Planet" check out my other story. I am a huge fan of that movie. :)