Chapter 5 – Flock

"No, we weren't that far north," I told Bobby, aka Southern Boy. We, along with a couple other Dead kids, were huddled over a makeshift map that they scribbled on a flyleaf in my Death for Dummiesbook. It wasn't a Van Gogh work, but it was good enough for me to get an idea of where I needed to go.

"How would you know?" he countered, pointing his finger at the scribbled Dakotas. "That's technically a part of the Midwest and it has tons of farms."

I shook my head. "Nah, I would have noticed a sudden switch in temperature. Besides, I have a built-in direction detector. We weren't anywhere near there." I pointed to the map again. "We were probably in Kansas or Missouri."

He nodded. "Well, ya'll gotta catch up soon or else we'll be seeing a lot more dead people around."

I snorted. There was no clock in the room — time doesn't matter when you're dead— so I had no idea how long I'd been in Dead Skills class. I really wanted to get a move on finding Max and the others. It would be hard to tell what they would do. Would they fan out and look for me? Would they stick together, thinking I got kidnapped? They wouldn't move on without me, even if they thought that I'd been attacked.

We'd spent a good amount of time practicing Teleportation, the other students mostly going to their dorm rooms (yeah, I know, they have dorms, where Dead people sleep in. Apparently coffins aren't roomy enough, but then again they aren't vampires). One girl disappeared and reappeared about two feet in front of where she had been. I, on the other hand, only teleported into the hallway because that was the simplest thing I could think of.

"Do you know how many rivers there are in Missouri? That doesn't even include the minor ones," Bobby pointed out, which caused me to grimace. He was probably right. When I blacked out I wasn't by any of the major rivers, like the size of the Mississippi or the Ohio, but one that wouldn't show up on a map.

That basically put me back to square one.

Most students had left already since Zeke had technically dismissed class. I was going to leave with them, but some of the Dead kids had been nice enough to help me with my search. Normally I wouldn't have wanted help from anyone, but I was "dead" now. There was so much to this life I didn't know yet. Hell, I'd only been dead for, what? Approximately two hours? I didn't know for sure, but I had to swallow a lot of pride and accept that I had no idea where to start. And that help came in the form of Dead kids giving me advice on Teleportation, Possession, and walking through walls. I was grateful, but also hoping I wouldn't have to use too much of these Skills any time soon.

The best part of all was that Derrick had finally wised up and decided it wasn't best to deal with me. Yeah, that's right, even dead I could still kick anyone's ass. As soon as class ended he disappeared, and never would be too soon before I saw him again. Then I thought about it. When I died again I might have to see him, but I was determined to give myself at least a few more years before that happened.

I was getting tired of soaking up information. Even in the "normal" world school hadn't been too interesting. I never understood what the younger kids saw in it, but then again maybe it was just their desire to interact with others their own age. Unlike them, all I really needed was the Flock, which was exactly why I needed to get back to them.

Rising from the desk I was sitting at, I walked over to the door and pushed myself through it. I wasn't too concerned about getting stuck since I was more focused on figuring a way to get to back. Zeke had said it was easier to go places if you knew exactly where you wanted to go, which of course I didn't. If I was flying over the United States, I could pinpoint where I had been within a second, but not… um, wherever I was now. I still had no idea where exactly I was located. No clue if this was heaven or hell, or even some type of purgatory. And I wasn't particularly in the mood to find out.

However there was one specific location I wanted to be, and that was where Max was. Did that go against Teleportation rules? If I imagined myself next to Max, would that be specific enough? Hmm. I walked down the hall, making sure no one was following or watching. Sure, they'd be able to hear my thoughts, but I wanted to be alone physically - well, as physical as a spirit could be. I slipped my head through the door of one room and found it empty, so I continued in.

Okay, this was my chance. I had to find the Flock… and more importantly my body. If I had any chance of living again, I figured it would be teleporting to where Max was. I centered myself, my body becoming rigid, as I pictured her in my mind. Her gorgeous blond-streaked hair, those warm brown eyes, the little freckles that appeared on her cheeks and nose in the sun. Then, feeling my will rise, I whispered to myself, "Go to Maximum Ride." And with that, I was gone.

"Hey, Max, can I have another granola bar?" She looked down to see a mess of wind-blown blond hair and large blue eyes looking up at her expectantly. Seeing Gazzy like this, looking free, somewhat clean, and not plotting anything evil at the moment, sent a kick through her heart. It was hard to believe that he was an evil genius seeing him like this.

"Sure," she said, pulling her backpack off her shoulders and rummaging through until she found what he wanted. Giving it to him, he tore at the wrapper greedily and ate half the bar with one bite. She rolled her eyes.

They had been on the road - errr, in the sky - for a couple days, going from Arizona to Virginia. The Voice had told them to go there. She hadn't understood the reasoning behind it, but then again the Voice wasn't noted for sharing his motives.

She involuntarily began scanning heads. Angel was off at the edge of the forest with Total, talking with a rabbit — Max swore that Angel never ceased to amaze her. Iggy was lying back in the grass, munching on a bag of chips. Gazzy was by my side and Nudge was—

"Max, do you have the pack of crackers?" she asked.

Max checked her bag and frowned. "No, I don't, but I think Fang should."

"Speaking of Fang, have you seen him?" Nudge asked, looking around at the nearby trees. "He's been gone for a while."

"He said he wanted to check out the area, so he should be back soon." Max couldn't drop the sinking feeling deep within. He had been gone for a while. If he had left just to use the restroom, he would have been back in a minute, but it had been at least ten. The squawking of hawks overhead made her wonder if he was flying with them, but with her raptor vision she couldn't detect anything bird-kid shaped. Where was he?

"Guys, let's go look for him," she ordered. "Keep close and stay on guard, just in case." She hated saying that, but she had to be prepared for all possibilities. The rest nodded somberly. Her heart felt as though it had dropped into her stomach. It wasn't like Fang to disappear without any warning, unless... She didn't want to think about it. She kept her face carefully composed, not wanting to freak out unless she was convinced that something bad occurred.

They ran through the woods, scanning every nook and cranie carefully, when they broke out into a smaller clearing. A miniature river flowed east at a fast pace, the water crashing against rocks and the land angrily. She had to admit it was pretty ominous.

"Max." She looked down to see a very terrified Angel, eyes wide and fearful. "I, I can't hear Fang." Her voice broke when she said his name. Max squelched any fears that had bottled up inside of her and knelt down to comfort Angel.

"Shh, its okay, he may have just gone for a flight." It was hopeless to make excuses when everyone knew that it wasn't true.

Angel shook her head, tears sprouting at the corners of her eyes. "Max, I think he's gone." She pointed to something behind Max. "Look."

Her heart dropped again, the blood running cold within her veins. Slowly she turned, and what she saw caused her breath to catch in her throat. Fear and terror washed over her, along with a sheer determination and her knee-jerk reaction to kill someone and run away.

Sitting along the bank of the river was Fang's backpack.

Now she could freak out.

Hey, I know I've been neglecting this story for a while, so that's why I really wanted to get this chapter up. I've spent the past couple days finishing an essay for the Defining Twilight contest (which for the record, my essay sucked) and I wanted to get this chapter done before I worked on Not So Normal. I also totally forgot that today was Anti-Hardwicke day, so I was thinking of writting some poetry for the cause. :P haha, if anyone has any comments, please leave them in your review, and also sign the petition on St. Fang of Boredom's profile page if you haven't.

7 reviews for the last chapter. Everyone who reviewed rocks!! I wanna send you guys virtual cookies. :) Haikilund, I know Nightwish is amazing. :D Dt, it might not be as easy as you think it'll be. I have something interesting planned. :) Fangfan5, AFAP? Love it! I'm gonna use that from now on and everyone will be like wtf?? haha Fuzzylogic11, from now on will be the (sort of) fun part, where Fang will be looking for his body, trying to communicate with the Flock, etc. Hopefully it gets better cause I know this chappie was a little weird, slightly OOC, and kind of suckish.

Review please!

--biteoutoflife--