Yay! A longer chapter! This'll be the one and ONLY OC-centric-sorta chapter. I can't really stand OC stories where the OC is the main character and takes Max's place, or becomes more powerful than everyone else… except if its "Her Twins" by Tenshi of Light21. I LOVE THAT STORY! It's a Transformers one, so if you like Transformers, you'll like this one! Especially if you like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. But anyway, getting off track here. How's everyone going with their exams? Right now I'm doing my last year of NAPLAN, so I can't wait till its over! :D On with the story!

MAX_

Flying is boring when you're flying in one direction and you're not playing any games 'cause you're trying to get to you destination quickly… Ooh! I got it! The cure to boredom! I swung my pack to the front and grabbed the ITEX journal.

'What are you doing?' Fang thought, concerned.

'I'm gonna read, 'cause I'm bored.'

Fang flew up to my side and looked at me funny, like I was insane. 'Reading…while flying.'

I grinned at him. 'Yep! I'm a girl, so I can multitask! And I'm an advanced being, so I should be able to read while flying.' And with that, I closed off the link to the flock. If there were gruesome notes made by the whitecoats, I didn't want them reading it through my thoughts.

Journal Entry 1. Date: unknown.

The nice white-coat taught me how to read and write a few weeks ago, and he gave me this journal to practise. It's really easy and apparently I'm a natural. But he told me to keep it secret. If the others found this, they'll burn it.

So it was an experiment? And who was this 'nice' white-coat?

There are no other experiments in my wing, but everytime a white-coat comes in, I get a weird feeling, like I can tell who they are…

The white-coats are coming! Gotta hide! …ok, you can't really hide in a cage, but it's the thought that counts.

I skipped the next few pages, because they were similar to the first. As far as I could tell, they had the same upbringing as us. I stopped on one of the pages, just because it reminded me of what they did to Iggy.

Journal Entry 23. Date: unknown.

Today the monsters took me into surgery. They kept saying something about receptors and nerves. They didn't even make sure the anaesthetic was working and I was asleep before they started. It… hurt. That's the thing though, whatever they did, they cut off my pain receptors, but I don't think it was on purpose. I think they were trying to amplify it or something… now I can't feel it when they stick me with needles, or make me fly in the wind tunnel for five hours, or the erasers when they come to get me and their claws dig into my skin so hard it bleeds…all of this in one day. I'm not sure if it's a blessing or a curse that they got rid of my pain. It'll probably mean they'll make me work harder. I'm not so sure if I'll make it if they keep testing me like that.

That…was cruel…and disturbing! Whenever they put us through surgery, they made sure we were asleep first. It's like the movie Autopsy… I shivered even thinking about it. I flipped through a few more pages, different stuff catching my eye.

Journal Entry 34: Date unknown

Today…something happened. I mean, something worth writing about. Something weird happened to me a week ago, and now I can see…numbers. Everyone has one. And names, and ages. I can actually understand it now, the weird feeling that I get when I look at everyone. I also understand the numbers…

A white-coat came to get me, but he was different to the others: he had a zero. He tried dragging me off, but an experiment escaped it's cage. It ran straight at me, but I ducked, so it hit the white-coat. In the end, he bled to death and they killed the experiment…. Those numbers, they represent life.

I shuddered again. This journal was bringing back too many memories for my liking but I couldn't stop reading. I wonder if she ever made it out alive, but something in my mind was reminding me of something that was all too familiar…

Journal Entry 51. Date: Unknown.

Today the whitecoats took me into another white room. The only thing in it was a girl, who looked a little older than me. The white-coats kept muttering about 'social interpretations and actions.' They kept looking at me like I wasn't going to come out alive…The girl was nice, for someone who was obviously an experiment. She even gave me a name!

As I read on, my eyes widened and I got flashbacks of that day… the girl was me! I hadn't thought about that day in a long time. It was about a week before Jeb busted us out. I was ten around that time.

::FLASHBACK::

The stupid, smelly Erasers tossed me into an empty room, with nothing it whatsoever! Oh I am so going to give them hell going back to my cage!

They opened the door again but before I could go punch one they chucked in a girl who looked a little younger than me, around Fang or Iggy's age. Was I supposed to fight her or something? 'Cause I WON'T!...stupid whitecoats…

The girl stood up and brushed her long brown hair behind her ear. Her eyes were a creepy green, that had a glazed look. They weren't like Iggy's, but I got a feeling she was only using her eyes as a backup sense. When those eyes met mine, they widened. She stared at me for a while and I started getting grumpy 'cause we were just sitting around not doing anything!

"So watcha name?" I asked her finally, and she gave me a funny look.

"Umm…experi-" she tried answering but I cut her off.

"No, not your code! Your name!" I said impatiently. She blushed and became very interested with the floor.

"Don't have one," she mumbled. I smiled sadly. Everyone has to have a name! I named Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and baby Angel!

I smiled at her. "Well, how about we give ya one!" I said. Coming up with names is fun!

The girl seemed amazed and looked up to me again. "You can do that? Do you have a name?" she asked a little sceptically. I straightened my back and gave her a mischievous grin.

I snapped my pretty wings out and saluted her. "Maximum Ride, at your service!" I said happily. Her eyes widened again (now they were the size of the bottom of a beaker) at my name, and she shook her head. She looked at my wings again in awe but I didn't snap my wings in. "So… do you have wings?" I asked.

She straightened up and turned as red as blood (or as a tomato as Jeb would say… what's a tomato?). "Yeah, but they're not as pretty as yours. Mine are ugly," the girl sighed.

I tsked at her and told her something that Jeb had once told me when I was jealous of Fang's pure black wings. "All wings are unique and are what make you special and uniquely you. They're all beautiful in their own way." The girl –I really gotta find her a name- sighed and looked me in the eye. She looked like she was about to take on one hundred Erasers alone. She fiddled with her shirt slightly and slowly let out her wings.

They were different to mine and the others'. They had no feathers! At all! At first I thought they weren't wings. But they were: bat wings. They were cool, and made her look… evil. Not whitecoat or Eraser evil, but just evil in a Muah hahaha kind of way. "They're cool!' I told her, and she smiled a little. Just as she was about to reply, a bell chimed outside. The girl twisted her face in a horribly familiar expression and she tried covering her ears. When the bell stopped, I noticed tears running down her face.

"What was that?" I asked kindly.

"I hear like bats do. I think they call it echolocation. It's really good for getting around, but bells are painful." She said and I got a sudden idea.

"Bells," I said, and she gave me a 'that's what I just said' look. "Your name should be Bells!" She gave me another disbelieving look. "What? I named Fang 'Fang' because an Eraser bit him when we were younger. He bit him back of course and even drew blood! Iggy has his name 'cause when he was little he couldn't pronounce 'ig' words like 'ignite' or 'igloo'. It seems to fit that your name should be Bells because bells are what stop you!"

Bells looked like she wanted to say something, but at that moment, the Erasers came back in and grabbed her. They took her away and they sent Jeb in to take me to my cage. This time he took me a different route, pointing out random doors. I managed to look into one and I realised that they all held a glass window. We were going to escape

All thought of Bells was forgotten.

::End::

How could we? How could I? We were planning our escape and I completely forgot about Bells! I felt so guilty…

So, here I am, the newly named 'Bells.' Already the Erasers were teasing me about it, calling me 'Batty Bells.' Yeah, I know, lame. But there was something behind their eyes when they teased me, something that wasn't normally there…Jealousy! They were jealous I had a name but they didn't have names themselves! The whitecoats deemed them too unimportant to have a name and they claimed they didn't live long enough to need one anyway. So I suggested they named themselves. They looked stunned that they hadn't thought of that and left quickly. I swear I even saw one smile at me…it wasn't a creepy smile either.

So, this is 'Bells' signing out.

The next few pages were rumpled, like the journal had fallen open and it was shaken around in a bag. When the pages smoothed out enough for Bells to write in again, I noticed she had used a different pen. She was on the run, she had escaped. I let out a sigh of relief.

I didn't really think about the other experiments when we left the school, I was so preoccupied by our own freedom. I imagine that the repercussions of us escaping would have been bad and they would have definitely taken it out on the other experiments.

I read through a bit more, how she met up with a few more experiments and they made their own 'pack.' The names were all too familiar though: Britts, Farden… they were the names of the twins that Reaper killed. It all started clicking into place. Of course Bells had to be Reaper, that much was obvious, but why did she change? Why did she start killing?

I flicked through until I spotted an entry that caught my eye. The writing was different, neater. It had obviously been around a year or two since she had written something.

Journal Entry 68. Date: Unknown

Belladonna.
It's a funny thing. In the middle-ages apparently they used it for surgery. A bit later they used it in beauty items. I guess that's where the name comes from: "beautiful woman." But every now and then, someone forgets the fact that it can be deadly in high doses and give you pretty bad hallucinations. Triyan, former third-in-command is the reason why I'm writing about poisons in my journal four years after I wrote my last entry…guess I've been busy. But back to the story.

Triyan cornered me one night, and I could read his intentions. I shot him down before he got started. He was mad and he reached for his knife. Guess he wasn't used to people turning him down. Whatever. He was a jerk anyway. And yes, I did write was. He shoved me down on the ground and started advancing on me. The only things around were a few plants. Belladonna was one of them. I grabbed some of the leaves and berry and forced some in his mouth. Umm, can I say I didn't know it was Belladonna in the first place?

He started chucking them back up and glared at me. He ran back to the rest of the pack and told them he was leaving. The others didn't take it well. Because of the hallucogen in the Belladonna, before he died, he was the equivalent of a rabid dog. Of course, I was the only one who knew he died in the first place. It was either him or me, and I chose the obvious.

I looked back at my hands an hour after Triyan 'left'. They had rashed up, which was…odd. As far as I knew, Belladonna didn't cause rash, and I was supposed to be immune to that kind of thing anyway. It didn't hurt, obviously, but if you were normal…maybe.

I thought about an incident four years ago, my naming. Back then, Bells were the only things that stopped me. Two years ago, I gave myself the last name Shrine, because I was able to see death. But bells aren't the only things that hurt me anymore. I realised something that I hadn't realised in a long time…I am mortal. Belladonna helped me realise that. Was it a coincidence that my name and the plant are similar? Probably not, but I of all people realise that fate shouldn't be ignored.

-Belladonna Shrine.

That made me realise something too. I may be immortal, but as I once had to tell Gazzy, we weren't indestructible. We were human in anything but DNA. Flying makes you forget that fact, and you always put yourself up higher and mightier than you actually are. You look down on others –literally and figuratively. I always think about you poor humans who can't fly. But… we're human too. And being human wasn't about DNA, it was about feelings, emotion, family.

Journal Entry 70. Date: some time in August.

Random note: have you ever heard the song 21 guns by Greenday? It talks about surrendering a fight that doesn't need to be fought, or surrendering a fight that you will most likely lose, but the lyrics…the lyrics are amazing. The song pretty much relates to my life. I'm always surrendering, always choosing the 'flight' instinct out of the choice of fight of flight. But it's always for a good cause. Sometimes it's to call a truce between us and the Erasers- who always seem to agree, ever since I suggested naming themselves, and therefor telling them they were human too. Sometimes it's to help others with injuries. But we always fight the fights worth fighting, and that's another part of the song. You can fight, but sometimes it's worth surrendering. Just a random thought.

Now guess what! I have a new nick-name! Britts found out about my power to sense life and death amongst other things. She said it reminded her of the grim reaper. Hence the reason why she insists on calling me Reaper now. She even gave me the gun we found a while back, claiming that if I was the grim reaper, I needed a signature weapon. I still just use the knife I stole off Triyan though. Much easier.

The song 21 Guns… well there's only one word to describe it: epic. The first time I heard it I was amazed. I then bought the song on my iTouch through iTunes and listened to the lyrics. I thought the song could very well describe some of the situations we get into. It's definitely one of my favourites and it always will be. But to think, my supposed enemy likes it too…

Journal Entry 73: Date Unknown

Finally got this stupid collar off…but it's not without a price…better get you up to speed.

First, I realised how my power worked properly. Suffice to say, I was not happy.I figured I could read auras, and emotions. But…the first thing I noticed was my friends' deaths. Their original deaths were… horrible. Lets just say I put them out of their misery.

Then Britt Maxicom captured me. They used this collar to control me. Whenever they wanted something done, it would whistle so high pitched that I would almost be forced to kill myself to get rid of the pain… stupid echolocation. I was under their control for close to three years. In that time I had to capture experiments and fake their deaths if they had families. One girl… she just came willingly. She just looked at me and said 'I'll come with you, but it'll break Max's heart. I'll let her know one day that you're not evil.' Odd. Max…the name stirred up a memory somewhere. I was also forced to capture 'Iggy.' That name I know I've heard, even if it was just in passing.

I also had to capture a little girl, who was apparently a creation of two different experiments' DNA. A daughter if you will. She was extremely smart for her age. She told me stories of her 'daddy', and how he'd tell stories of his old family, the 'Flock'. Her Daddy was called 'Fang', another name I've heard. And then it all clicked into place. That little girl who agreed to come willingly, Iggy, Faith, all connected to the flock…Maximum Ride's flock. Maximum Ride, one of the only ones to have shown me kindness. I was… horrified, to say the least.

So I started working together with Faith, and worked out something that could help the flock. A sort of flock telepathy if you will. It'll allow the members to communicate with each other at relatively long distances…well, at least until the last member gets in range. That's how the connection was established, Max had obviously gotten within range to communicate with them. But we didn't foresee the part where Max got the flock's powers…

Gotta go, they're after me again.

I read on, how she and Faith had constructed her own death, how she saved her own pack from inevitable pain, how her power worked properly. It wasn't enough for me to actually like her, but it was enough for me to forgive her…maybe.

"Max?" Fang asked. "The others are getting hungry. Are you done reading someone else's diary?" he asked and in that one moment, I slipped. I accidently opened up my mind to the others in the flock and let all that I read slip through. There was an immediate uproar.

"WHAT!"

"B-b-but…how?"

"Crazy, I say, crazy."

"Still creepy and evil to me."

"How could she? She made Max's life hell!" One guess who that was. I looked to Fang, waiting for his outburst, but it never came. He had a thoughtful look on his face, as if contemplating something.

"It seems like something Faith would do. She was extremely smart, and if she had the means, she could do anything if she set her mind to it. I'm not surprised she came up with this… but I'll never forgive Reaper. She still made me believe everyone I loved was dead," Fang said slowly, a glint in his eyes.

I nodded my head in agreement. "We'll need to see Jeb soon. He'll probably need to know all this," if he doesn't already. The last part I added silently. He always knew what was going on. Maybe it was something that came with old age… one would never know.

Me: ok, I'm beat, I'm going to sleep. Only two reviews on the last chapter? C'mon, you can do better than that! I also made this one longer, so you have no excuse… except if you're still doing exams.

Chancey: that one had a few morbid parts, didn't it.

Dylan: duh. We recently watched the movie Autopsy. *shivers* still can't get those images out of my head…

Me: *shudders* its worse than the school! But anyway, I'm sorry I ever took that stupid dare! But at least I got another way to kill Dylan out of it.

Chancey: not ripping out his guts is it?

Me: no, that didn't actually kill them. Force him to watch it then dress up as a doctor or in a hospital gown and really pale, then sneak up on him! He'll have a heart attack! But anyway…

Dylan: *backs away slowly*

Me: hopefully that'll be the last of the Reaper-centric stuff. I have a few ideas, some of them funny, some random and some I don't even know how my brain comes up with them!

R&R