Max's POV
I woke up to a nice bright and sunny morning. I yawned in pleasure of being free.
Too bad I've been pretty much sentenced to death.
I got out of my little cave, took off my newly acquired coat, and extended my wings. I stretched them out, and took off into the sky. I flew over the forest and District 12, taking in all the wonderful sights of this place before I have to leave and get myself killed.
You may be wondering, "Why don't you worry about being spotted in the sky, Max?
The answer to your question; people are so stupid, they probably mistaken my shape for some overgrown hawk flying over the area. It's really that simple. As long as I don't fly too close to the ground and they see my sneakers. Now that would be a big problem.
After an amazing hour of nonstop flying, I saw that all the citizens of District 12 were gathering down below for the horrid reaping. I sighed in defeat, and glided down behind an abandoned building so I can land without being spotted by the average pedestrian.
As soon as I landed on the ground, I put on my coat and looked around to see if anyone saw me land. I sighed in relief when I noticed I actually went unseen. Finally something went my way.
I walked down into the town center, and instantly spotted Gale. I instantly ran to him as fast as possible, since he was a familiar face, and I really wanted to talk to someone for once.
Melodramatic, am I right?
"Gale!" I shouted as I got closer. His eyes widened in surprise when he spotted me running. I stopped right in front of him. He appraised the coat, and then looked up at my face.
"Hey Max. I just noticed, the coat suits you pretty well." Gale said with a smile. He was actually pretty nice. Compared to mental whitecoats, that is. If I wasn't going to compete in the Hunger Games and die, I just might enjoy spending time with Gale every day.
"Why thank you." I said, and gave a little twirl. Then I noticed of how out of character that was for me. What do you know? I even surprise myself sometimes. Gale laughed.
"You're actually pretty cool. I hope you're not brought into this stupid deathtrap." he said and spat on the ground. I frowned in confusion.
"Someone you know was brought into this mess?" I asked curious and he nodded.
"Katniss. She won last year with Peeta Mellark, and now they're forced to marry each other because of it. Heck, they're probably already married." Gale said, glaring heavily at the ground.
Poor ground.
"I'm sorry." I said sincerely. He looked up in shock.
"You're actually the only girl, actually person, I know who actually doesn't want them together." he said in surprise. Then he shrugged. "Then again, you don't even know who Katniss is." I gave a jerky nod. "I really hope you're not picked, because you're pretty cool." he said. I looked down to the ground in defeat.
"Can I tell you a secret?" I asked while looking down and he nodded. "I was born in a lab. These crazy scientists took me away from my parents and grafted avian DNA into my genes. In short, I have wings. That's why I needed your coat. They raised me there, taking horrible tests on me every day. I was never allowed to leave. Until yesterday. Yesterday, they told me I was guaranteed a spot in the Hunger Games to see if I 'do well under life threatening circumstances.' That's when I made my escape and went into the woods. I saw your coat, I put it on. I saw food, tried to eat it, since I was and am freaking starving. That part didn't work out well. So now, here I am, ready to go into a stupid, idiotic deathtrap they call 'entertainment.'" I said, with a grimace on my face. I can't believe I told a complete stranger that. I must be losing my touch. I looked up and saw the shock register on Gale's face. God, I'm such an idiot! Why must I blabber on about a private matter?
"Seriously?" he asked, in shock. He looked at my back, which I had the coat over. I nodded, and pulled him behind the building where I landed. I shrugged of the coat, revealing my messed up clothes. I took in a deep breath and snapped out my gorgeous brown-white wings, the only part of being born in a lab I like. Gale whistled in awe.
"I knew something was up with you. And you actually trust me?" he asked in disbelief and I nodded. He came up to me and gave me a tight bear hug. I was actually pretty shocked.
What did you say? Maximum Ride actually can be shocked? Apparently the answer is yes.
I hugged him back.
"Yes. I do trust you. You seem like a really nice guy who needed someone to actually trust you." I spoke calmly. He pulled me away, and looked into my eyes.
"You look more like an angel, actually." Gale said, admiring my wings. An angel. That made me want to laugh my freaking head. I'm more like the opposite of an angel. I smirked at the thought of that, and tucked my wings back in. I pulled the coat back over my wings, and zippered it shut.
"Thanks, I guess?" I said. Gale took both my hands and looked me deeply in the eyes. I flinched at the very random contact.
"Don't get yourself killed in there. You seem like a great girl, Max." he said, and to my absolute surprise, he kissed me fiercely. Now I was completely shocked, and had my first kiss to make my day.
These were the emotions I was feeling;
Happiness at the thought I was free, regret for sharing my secret, thrilled from my first (and probably only) kiss, fear of the Hunger Games, anger at the people who invented the Games, confused as to why Gale showed a sudden interest in me, and worry about leaving Gale.
A great feeling for a super paranoid bird kid who hates emotions!
"I won't. Thanks to those wackjobs, I'm genetically enhanced!" I said sarcastically. Gale chuckled. We started walking toward the plaza where the reaping was about to start.
"You're pretty funny. If you get out alive, I want you to be my girlfriend." he said and I blushed. I shoved Gale playfully.
"We can start now you know, so I actually have a good reason to come back." I said and kissed him on the lips. Now I'm confused even more. Is this love? It feels pretty good. Gale chuckled and pulled me closer.
"You have a point." he said. I looked around, and saw a shocked looking girl looking straight at me and Gale. Gale noticed it too, and waved hello at her. The girl just kept staring at us. She was making me feel uncomfortable on top of everything else.
"That's Katniss." he whispered in my ear. I nodded. Okay and she'll be the female victor, seeing as I don't see any other. For the male victor, there was a drunken looking old guy, and a blonde boy who looked very scared. Huh, those victors look superman tough for sure!
Yeah right.
The ceremony went by super duper fast, since I was talking to Gale.
"Now, we will select a brand new tribute for girls." the lady with pink hair said solemnly. She paused for a minute, pulled out a name (ahem mine,) and said, "The female tribute is Maximum Ride! Congratulations, Maximum!" she said. A million heads looked my way. I pecked Gale on the cheek goodbye, and boldly walked up onto the stage to take my seat, wearing a bold and unfriendly expression. I looked at the crowd, and by the looks of it, intimidated some of them.
Ah, the Max charm!
The crowd looked at me like I was some alien. They gave me weird looks that pretty much shouted in silence who is this chick doing on our stage? Which made feel oh so special (note the sarcasm!).
"Now for the new male tribute." the lady said and picked a name out of the bowl. "The male tribute is…Dylan Batchelder!" I frowned. Why was the name oh so familiar? A boy 'bout my age started walking up to the stage with a triumphant smile. I stared at him.
Then I realized why I knew him. He looked like a miniature Jeb.
AKA, he's the psychopath's son!
Dylan walked up to the stage and took the seat next to me. I shifted over uncomfortably in my seat. I didn't want to be anywhere near this guy.
"Now we choose from the pool of past victors." the lady said, a little bit sadder.
"The female victor is," she picked up the one name from the bowl, "Katniss Everdeen."
Everyone looked very upset about this, and some people were even crying. Is she really that famous? I should've asked Gale a little more about her.
Katniss walked up onto the stage, looking depressed but had a spark in her eyes that said she wasn't giving up. Or something along those lines, that is. She took the seat to the right of me, and glared at me. Jeez, what did I ever do to her? Then I remembered I kissed Gale, and then I thought the 2 of them probably had a more complicated history than I thought.
"The male victor is," the lady said, "Peeta Mellark." The scared looking blonde guy walked up onto the stage and took the seat next to Katniss. Katniss looked determined about something, and so did Peeta.
"Now, good luck to all of you tributes, and may the odds be ever in your favor." the lady said, and guided us to this building where we say goodbye to everyone we know. Not that I have anyone to say goodbye to! Except Gale. We were brought into this huge room, where everyone came. Peeta and Katniss stayed near each other the whole time, and they both got a lot of visitors. I on the other hand just got Gale.
And who came to visit Dylan? You guessed it! The psychopath Jeb Batchelder and half the mental crew! After he spoke to his son, Jeb walked over to me with another wacko whose name is something fancy schmancy like ter Borcht. Something like that anyway.
"Hello, Maximum." Jeb greeted me like old friends. I glared at him in hatred. He offered his hand, which I took but squeezed it really, really hard. I smirked and let go when I heard a crack, and he winced in pain.
"Now, now, don't go immature on us. I just wanted to remind you we will be watching you on the TV screen to see your capabilities, and you are by no means to hide what you've been given. We need to see-"
"How well I do under life threatening circumstances, yada yada yada. I get it. Now go!" I yelled at him. I looked down to see a small 7 year old kid hovering around his dad. I know him. Ari. He's always been so cute and he was the only one who talked to me like I was a normal person.
Which says a lot.
"Ari!" I said excitedly and picked him up into my arms. He smiled.
"Hi Max! Don't worry about the Games, I know you'll survive." Ari said. Then his voice dropped to a whisper, "Don't trust Dylan. I know he's my brother and all, but he's evil, and he'll stop at no costs to kill you." I was shocked by what I heard.
I pretended I didn't hear for my sake and Ari's sake, so I said, "Aw, thanks hon." I set Ari down, and I nodded at him to show I heard him. He smiled. Jeb nodded at me, and then left to go back to Dylan. Gale frowned, and it looked like he was about to ask me something when peacekeepers came in and told us we had to depart for the train. I gave Gale a quick hug before he was shooed out of the room. The peacekeepers guided us to the train that would be taking us to the capitol.
The train was super nice. The furniture was very fancy, there were people to assist us, and heck, my room was super amazing with a super large shower with a ton of buttons! I sure know what I'm doing tonight!
I saw clothes on my bed, so I grabbed them, went into the bathroom, locked it, and got into the shower.
It was freaking heaven.
I've never had a shower before, but it was great. It was big enough so I could extend my wings to wash them out with warm water. I washed my hair, and cleaned myself, and it was great I didn't smell of antiseptic anymore.
When I was done with my 2 hour shower, I turned the water off and put my clean clothes on. I put on 2 different layers so you couldn't see the indentation of my wings. After I was changed, I scanned the room to make sure there were no feathers lying around. I found one feather, and put it in my pocket for good luck.
I walked out into the main cabin of the train, and the old drunken guy was there and grinning at me.
"Had fun in there?" he asked me amused. I took a seat at the table across from him.
"It felt nice." I replied. "When's dinner?" He smiled at me.
"In about 15 minutes. Why don't you get the other three in here and we can all have a pleasant chat in here before dinner." he said, and I went into one of the other rooms where Peeta, Dyaln, and Katniss were. Huh, so they're already acquainted. Let's give them a round of applause! If you can't tell that was sarcastic, you have to start paying a teensy bit more attention.
"The guy sitting at the table wants us all to go in there and chat." I said firmly, leaning against the doorway.
"Haymitch." Katniss corrected me angrily. Wow, she must really hate me.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, dear Haymitch wants us all to make our lovely way to the dinner table to have a pleasant little chat before our well cooked meal. Now, are you coming, or will I have to drag you there?" I spoke sarcastically. Katniss glared at me, Peeta stood up to go, and Dylan stared at me with an amused expression. I rolled my eyes and went back to the old guy whose name is Haymitch.H
"They're coming." I reported as I took my seat again at the table. Haymitch stared at me amused.
"Katniss didn't give you a hard time?" he asked bemused. I rolled my eyes as the other 3 kids walked into the room and took seats at the table. I heard a noise to my left, and saw that the pink haired lady walked in.
"Oh, hello everyone. What are you all doing here before dinner?" she asked confused. I guess she wasn't used to seeing us all at one table together when it wasn't dinner.
"We are having a nice little chat, Effie." Haymitch replied amused. Effie looked suspicious, but then sat down in the seat next to Haymitch.
"Um okay. What about?" she asked, confused.
"Well, Haymitch and I had a little chat about my 2 hour shower." I informed her, and Haymitch chuckled.
"I've never seen a tribute take such a long shower before. Not even Katniss," Haymitch joked, looking at Katniss who was scowling at him. Effie laughed.
"Well okay. So Max, how old are you?" Effie asked me with polite interest. I sighed.
"14," I replied. I think, I thought to myself. Effie looked surprise.
"Really? You look like you're 16!" Effie exclaimed, and I chuckled politely. Effie seems nice. I decided I liked her.
"Well, Max, I've never seen you around before. Where are you from in District 12?" Katniss asked me suspiciously. Gulp.
"I used to live next door to Dylan and actually. I know his dad and brother very well, and his dad knows me from the inside out." I said. Literally, I added in my head. Dylan looked amused, and then I remembered Ari's warning not to trust him at all.
"My little brother Ari just adores Max. Every day after helping my dad out at his job, all he ever talks about is Max." Dylan said, and I glared at him.
"And why don't you ever help Mr. Know-it-all?" I snapped back at him, and he shrugged.
"Well, I don't like working in a lab." he snorts and I flinch a little bit at the mention of the lab.
"Well, I don't like it either!" I snarled at him, and he smirked.
"I guess it was a good thing we were both selected for the games." Dylan said and winked. I could've thrown him out the train right then in there, but then I remembered there were 4 other people in the room.
"Did I ever mention how much I hate you?" I told his sarcastically. He shrugged.
"Dad always told me stories about how much you complain about everything." he replied. I scowled at him.
"You try going through what I went through, then you might realize why I'm such a complainer." I retorted. He grinned. I wish I had a rock to throw at him. It would make my day.
"Yeah, talking with Ari all day must be very annoying." he joked, and I glared at him with daggers in my eyes.
"I don't understand what's going on here, but I have the feeling I'm better off not knowing." Peeta stated.
"You are." Dylan and I said at the same time.