Max POV
Flying. The art of using wings or other means of propulsion to move through the air. Freedom. Having liberty and not secluded or trapped. Family. People you associate with that are extremely close to you and you are affectionate about. The three main things in my life: flying, freedom, family. My flock is my family, but not all of my family are in my flock. Take away any one of those three things, and I'll be weaker, but more perseverant than ever.
Someone has taken away my family, and my family's freedom. And now I'm mad.
Fang and I were camping outside the Itex base. We knew we had no hope of completely trashing the place and setting everyone free with just the two of us. Our plan is to get everyone out of there and then fly like bats outa hell. At midnight, our plan was to commence. In five more minutes, we would be setting the flock free.
"Got everything?" Fang asked. He was standing with his black wings spread, his hair in his eyes and his hands in fists. He looked like an angel of death.
"Yep, let's blow this joint," I said grimly. He flashed me a grimace at one of our old catch-phrases. We took off silently, making no noise as flew.
We landed on one of the rooves of the massive facility. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my flock. If I thought I could smell where they were before, then I can practically follow a trail with neon signs pointing the way saying flock this way now. They were right under my feet.
"Fang, you go ahead and disable the cameras using your invisibility. I'll go down the air-duct," I ordered. Fang nodded and turned invisible. I could feel where he was, even if I couldn't see him. It's like I'm aware of where his is all the time, even when we're apart.
I moved to the air-duct and created a hole in the grate by turning my fist into ice and punching it. You're clear, Fang said through his transmitter.
"Thanks. The flock is in the basement. Just follow the hallway until you find some stairs that lead down," I commanded.
Gottcha. I slid through the air-duct, trying to make as little noise as possible. I crawled down the big tunnels until they didn't go down any further. I found a vent and looked through. There were cages lined up in the hallway, and in those cages was my flock. I turned my fist into ice again and punched through the vent.
I slipped through the hole the same time Fang came through the door. The flock appeared to be sleeping. I motioned to Fang to start popping locks and freeing everyone. He nodded and made his way over to Iggy's cage. I kneeled down beside Angel's and shook her awake. She blinked drowsily, but the snatched my wrist at the same time.
"It's ok sweety, it's only me," I whispered. I broke her lock and she came flying towards me.
"Max!" she whisper/yelled, throwing her thin arms around my neck.
"Yep, it's me. Can you start popping locks?" I asked. She nodded and went over to Gazzy's cage.
I next went to Nudge's. I opened her cage before I shook her awake. "Nudge, c'mon," I said. Her eyes shot open and she stared at me.
"You're here," she whispered, and got up and hugged me.
By now, everyone was free. But then sirens blared and red lights flashed. I looked to Fang.
"I thought you said you turned off the alarms?" I yelled at him over the blaring.
"I did! They must have some kind of back-up system!" he explained.
I sighed in frustration. How come nothing seems to go right? "Do we have everyone?" I asked the flock.
"Not everyone!" A horribly familiar voice cackled behind me.
I twirled around to see the hunter. In one hand, she held a gun. In the other hand, she held a small child no older than three in a death-grip. The child was beautiful, like an angel who fell from heaven. She even had silver wings.
"Faith..." I whispered. The hunter cackled and Faith screamed. The hunter put the gun to Faith's head.
"Now get back into the cages, and the child gets away unhurt," she demanded.
The flock was frozen. We all knew we have to save Faith, but the only way to do that is to get back into the cages...we got on our hands and knees and crawled in. The hunter laughed.
She then pulled the trigger.
"FAITH!" Fang yelled, but Faith was long gone from hearing. Bye mommy...said her innocent voice in my head. I love you. Tears welled up in my eyes. Fang cried out in anguish.
I am beyond angry. No one takes away ANY of my flock, ESPECIALLY not my DAUGHTER! I started seeing red. I was growling at her. I began to get all hot all over from the fury. I put my hands on the bars of the cage and somehow melted them, but I didn't care. I flung my hair back over my shoulder, it was getting hot. I spread my wings to let them cool off before I KILL the hunter.
"Come back and fight me yourself, coward," I spat, the words were coming out like fire.
She turned to look at me and I saw some kind of emotion cross her face. "I know how many days a person has left on this earth, Maximum Ride. And I know your time isn't up yet."
And with that, she spread her bat wings and took off up the stairs. I cried out in anger.
MAX! STOP! CALM DOWN! Angel's voice screamed in my head. I turned to glare at her. I blinked, but in that extremely short amount of time when my eyes were closed, I saw how I looked to the flock. I looked terrifying. They were scared of me.
My hair and wings were literally on fire. My eyes were bright fire red. My skin glowed slightly. But it wasn't my appearance that scared them- it was the way I acted. I drew in a shaky breath and I felt myself cooling down a bit. That's it Max, Angel whispered in my mind. I took another breath, and soon I was back to normal me. With the last bit of fire in me, I melted all of the locks. The flock hesitantly crawled out of their cages.
"C'mon guys, let's get out of here."
"Ella," I mumbled into my transmitter.
Yeah Max?
"Start digging a grave, we've lost someone."
I carried Faith's body all the way back to mom's house. I landed and I was greeted by a tear-stained Ella.
"Who was it?" she sniffled. I showed her Faith.
Her eyes widened in question but didn't ask anything. She led us out the back where she dug a big hole. I nodded my thanks to her. Mom came out of the house, tears running down her cheeks.
I pulled one of the medallions out of my pocket and placed it around Faith's neck. I kissed her forehead and handed her to Fang. He mumbled something in her ear and then lowered her into the grave. I pushed all of the dirt back in place, and then used my fire ability to write something on a large rock: Here lies Faith Nicole Ride. 2007-2010. I looked at Fang. Put 'cross your heart and hope to fly. It was her favourite promise, he thought. So that's exactly what I did.
Here lies Faith Nicole Ride. 2007-2010
Cross your heart and hope to Fly.
Me: *sniffles* I cried writing that
Dylan: *Sniffles* I cried watching you write that.
Me: Don't worry fans, that is definitely NOT the end of the story. I still have a lot to put the flock through... *evil grin*
Dylan: *hides in terror*
Me: oh, by the way, Faith is completely dead. Gonners. Passed on. Never coming back. She's already died once and came back, so sorry to get your hopes up, but she's NOT coming back. I was looking forward to writing a bit of a story with her too, but my mind is just like NO! YOU MUST KILL HER! So, yeah...
Please R&R!