And to answer a review I got last time I updated, yes, emotionalpoemgirl, Lucas is sort of based off of Dylan. But I already had the idea for him before I read Fang, and that part of the chapter was already written when I read it.

So, here is the new chapter. Enjoy!

"Hey, Max, wake up. Dinner time." I was shaken awake by a voice I didn't recognize, which immediately shot adrenaline through my veins. My eyes shot open and I jumped up, thrusting my hand up into whoever had woke me up and feeling hot flesh connect with my fist. "Ah! Dangit, Max, what the-Sheesh!"

I looked over to see Lucas with his hand to his chin, and he was glaring at me.

"Oops. Sorry. Old habits die hard…" I bit my lip to keep from laughing as I tried to put an innocent look on my face. It was pretty funny to see his face, especially the already bruising spot on his jaw. "Did I hear you say something about food?"

"Yeah, we got a special delivery today." He had a sour look on his face, and he held up a tray with every section filled with some greenish/brown muck that looked almost like they scraped algae off the bottom of a pond. "Extra slop, for our amazingly cooperative new bird girl." He gave me a long, knowing look as he spoke. I winced, wondering how he had known what I did. "When we cooperate with them and act like their little lab rats, they give us some stale bread and milk. When we don't, well, this is what they give." He said, reading my mind.

"Oh. Umm, sorry." I murmured. He sighed, and then sat down on his cot across from mine.

"It's not your fault. They shouldn't make that stupid rule. But, we shouldn't be here, either. I guess it's just their way of making us cooperate. Obviously, we try to, because this," he pointed to the slop, "Doesn't seem very appetizing. If you want some, dig in." Lucas held the tray out to me with an eyebrow raised. I scrunched up my nose and shook my head. Next, it was slid across the floor and slammed against the wall with a metallic PING. The mush barely moved. I shivered. Did anybody actually eat that?

I noticed I was rubbing my arm, and looked down to see three pink dots in my elbow. Had they taken blood from me? Injected me with something? Put a microscopic tracker in my arm?

I shivered again at the last one. They couldn't have done that. It was too creepy. Why would they even bother with it? They already had me trapped in here like a caged bird (No pun intended).

"Because you're valuable to them, Max. You were the first truly successful experiment, and they don't want to lose you again. They've already lost you twice, apparently. At least that's what I've heard…" he looked down at his hands, as if ashamed.

"Twice? I thought my mom had only taken me from here when I was born…"

He shrugged again. "I don't know. But they thought about how they had already lost you twice before, and they didn't want to lose you again."

So they did put a tracker in me. It wasn't a question. My gaze locked on his and I waited for him to confirm it.

He nodded slowly. I blew out the breath I didn't know I was holding. So I had a tracker in my arm. I couldn't go anywhere without these creeps knowing. I couldn't go to the bathroom without them knowing.

Lucas chuckled at that. "Max, they put trackers in everybody now. After they lost all their most precious experiments, they kicked up the security and started to put trackers in everybody."

"Wait, you said experiments. As in plural. Are there more of my… kind?" I asked. Of course, there was Fang and the others, but I was testing him to see if the scientists ever thought about the others. I was careful to keep my thoughts guarded from him. Lucas looked like he was concentrating hard on something, and eventually nodded. My heart sunk.

"Yeah. It sounds like… five more. And… that some of them are changing right now…" his eyes closed as he listened. Was somebody watching them? Making them change? I got goose bumps to think of whom it was who was changing and if they would get caught or not.

"Have they caught any more of them?" I asked, barely above a whisper because my throat was getting tight. Maximum Ride did not cry, and she especially wouldn't do it in front of this strangely gorgeous boy who she barely knew. I choked down the cotton in my throat.

Lucas opened his eyes and looked at me, face unreadable. "Yes. They're getting here now."

Fang POV

First, I went to Angel's house. I dropped down at the end of her street where there was a bit of forest. As I approached the house, I heard somebody yelling. My heart jumped, pumping adrenaline through my veins. I was on the front walkway in seconds.

Before I could even knock the door opened, and Angel's father's face looked at me, eyes and mouth wide.

"Drew. What are you doing here?" he gasped. Behind him came a wimper of agony. My chest clenched.

"Sir, I think I have an idea to what is happening to Ang-" before I finished the name I was in the house and being pulled into Angel's room so fast I didn't even get to look around me.

When we entered Ange's room she was laying on her pink bed in a twisted form, curled in a fetal position with sweat on every inch of open skin.

Angel sucked in a shuddered breath. "Fa-a-AAAHHHGGG!" her back arched backwards, and her eyes shut in pain. I ran over to her, putting my hand on her forehead. She felt like there was a fire inside her. It sent a shiver through me to remember how it felt.

I turned to her father, who stood in the doorway with tears in his eyes. "Get me a cold washcloth. And I mean ice cold." Weird. My voice even felt ice cold.

His eyes met mine. "What's happening?" there was something in those dark eyes that told me he knew, but he didn't want to accept it was real.

"She's growing wings."

Behind me Angel gasped, making me whip around to her. Blond wet curls framed her innocent face, and her bright blue eyes were as wide as dinner plates. And they were scared. So scared, in fact, that I wanted to run back to the school and punish everybody who had a part in making this happen. In making us.

3 hours later

I walked out of Angel's room, glad that she was sleeping soundly now. For hours I sat by Ange like Max had sat by me, comforting and trying to ease her pain. Every time she cried my heart broke in half again, turning it into a ball of mush in my chest. I didn't care how; I just knew that somebody would pay for this.

"How is she?" a shaky voice in the corner asked. Angel's father. I'd made him stay outside her room because he kept trying to get me to bring her to the hospital, which wouldn't have done anything except for get us a spot on the front page of the newspaper.

"She's asleep. You can see her, but don't move her or wake her up. If she does wake up, give her some pain meds. I'll be back in a little while." With that I went outside and back into the woods to take off.

I landed at Ian's house and walked up to the front door. When I knocked, his mom answered. She looked exactly the same as Ian, though with longer hair. But her face looked off. She didn't look as carefree as she normally did.

"Hey, Drew. Are you here to see Ian?" She smiled at me warmly, making any trace of worry disappear.

"Yeah, I am. Is he here?" something twisted in my gut.

"Sorry, but no. apparently he decided to go on some sort of road trip with some older friends from school." She rolled her eyes. Ian doesn't have any older friends… "He didn't even say bye to me. His mother! All he left was a stupid note on the fridge saying he wouldn't be back for a while and he would try to call." She shook her head.

"Do you mind if I see the note?" I asked. I had a really bad feeling.

"Sure, one sec." She disappeared for a second and came back with a tiny piece of paper. "Here it is."

I took it from her.

Dear Mom,

I'm going on a road trip with a few of my older friends from school. Sorry about the short notice. I'll try to call as soon as I can, but I don't think we'll have any service where we're headed.

Love, Ian

Oh, great. Not only was Ian gone, but I noticed something else wrong. It wasn't his handwriting. I took a deep breath.

"Ok, well, thanks for showing me the note. I really should get going, I was just trying to see if Ian had a certain homework assignment I needed." I needed to get out of here. There was definitely something wrong.

"All right, then, Drew. I hope you find that homework assignment. Bye!" we waved bye to each other as I practically ran down the walkway.

Nikki. Gerik. Ian. All the same note. All gone. All taken. And I'm pretty sure I knew where they were.

Sorry! I'm very, very sorry. I've had the craziest time, ever. Moving, new school, more homework, more friends, sports. You know it all. And, I've had some writer's block and didn't feel so good about writing lately. I know this isn't the best chapter ever, but I hope it satisfies everybody. Thanks for reading! Please review!

BoOk-NeRd38