Fang's POV:

I froze as soon as his words hit me. How could he know what happened to Max? Is he the one who killed Max?

Anger boiled through me as the others just stood there staring in space. I looked around in fury.

"Did you kill Max?" I shouted angrily. I clenched my fists and narrowed my eyes. "If you did, I'll hunt you down and burn your bloody body!" My voice was cold and vicious and I could just picture 'Jeb' wincing by my voice.

I only wish I could see it instead of picturing it.

"Stop making threats, they'll all turn out to be in vain anyway." Jeb's voice said but it didn't hold any fear; it didn't waver like I hoped it did. It sounded smug. Now I bet he has an evil smirk on his face.

"Oh, shut up!" I shouted annoyed. I looked around in a circle trying to find out where his voice was coming from. "What did you do to Max?"

Someone laid a hand on my shoulder trying to calm me down. I looked over to see Ella standing there with a blank look, eyes cold and hard. She must have learned from Max.

"Calm down, Fang. Nothing you do would be useful right now." Ella said wisely. She straightened and looked around while drawing back her hand. I stared at her with disbelief on my face. She thinks she can order me around? Tell me what to do?

Before I could say anything Ella starts speaking.

"So, Jeb. What are you doing here? Finally decided you were crazy and wanted to make everyone just as crazy? Or are you just a evil scientist ready to destroy the world?" Ella said putting her hands on her hips.

I gave her a look that said 'That-the-best-you-got?' and in return I got a look that said 'Shut-the-frick-up'. I guess she learned that from Max. Almost no one can read my expression.

Man, what is up with me saying Max all the time? It's like my thoughts only revolve around her. Great…now I sound like a lovesick teenager. I should just try and get over her. She's dead, she's gone and she's not coming back.

I still can't believe that I JUST NOW realized that I loved her. Why couldn't I figure this out earlier? You know, before she died. Before we were taken to this crappy hellhole?

I guess my life just sucks.

"Well, Ella, I'll have you know I'm not crazy. I'm here to save the world from humans destroying it." Jeb snarled.

I laughed at him coldly.

"Yeah right. You came here to save the world. It's more like destroying it even more. I mean have you SEEN what you're doing to the kids?" I said in monotone. It seems like only Ella and me have the courage to even talk let alone speak. The other's just stayed quiet and stared off in space trying to pull it all together.

"I've seen what I'm doing to the kids. I also saw what Maximum thought she did to me." Jeb's voice said in a hard tone.

"Oh, Yeah?" Ella said putting her hands on her hips and leaning on one leg a bit more. "And what would that be? Kicking your butt?"

"No. Trying to kill me. She would have succeeded if I didn't pretend to be dead. She had the highest determination to kill me and with that she is the most fitted person to lead the By-Half Plan."

I don't know why that made me freeze but it did. Was it because of that fact that Max actually hated someone so much that she wanted to KILL them? Or was it the fact that she actually TRIED to kill them? Maybe it was both, I don't really know. IT was just a panic I guess. And you never really think well when you're panicking. It's just a fact. The fear always gets the better of you and you just freak out. Wait…why am I going on about this?

"What are you saying, Jeb?" Dr. M said speaking up for the first time. "That Max tried to kill you and because of that you killed her?"

Jeb laughed without any humor. "Kill her? I would never kill her. I made her better. I made her more efficient more powerful."

"If you think killing someone makes them more powerful then you're crazy." I snorted at him shoving my hands in my pockets, fists clenched.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong. I didn't kill her."

With that Dr. M's and everyone's eyes, including mine, had a spark of hope in it. They didn't kill her. But then logic came to me.

How could she be alive with a bullet in her head? How can she be alive when she was obviously not breathing, motionless? How could she be alive when she was a ghost and was already gone? Wait, that was like the first one but you know exactly what I mean so I don't need to explain myself to you.

I looked at where Max's dead body was…but it wasn't there. She was gone.

"Where the hell is Max?" I yelled, enraged, still looking at the spot where her body was. How could I forget about where she was again? How could I forget about HER?

"You see…" Jeb said with a chuckle. "Max felt proud when she saw that I was 'dead'. It was written clearly all over her face. She didn't fell one speck of guilt that I was gone. So that's why killing and betraying would be nothing to her. It wouldn't be important to her. She would be alright with it and that's why she is, again, the perfect person to lead the army to annihilate half the planet for it's own good." He said, ignoring my question.

"BASTARD!" Ella shouted for some reason, completely losing it. "YOU FREAKING ASSHOLE! WHAT HAVE YOU'VE DONE TO MAX!" Her eyes were tinged with a little red. That's how mad she was. I wouldn't want to be the one she was mad at.

But Ella's little episode only made Jeb give an evil laugh. You know like those villains in cartoons where they throw back their heads and make a laugh like "Muahahaha!" yeah well I can just picture Jeb doing that right now.

"Why don't you see her for yourself?" Then his voice got fainter and I heard him say, "Wake her up. Be sure that she doesn't remember them."

My heart soared to the highest altitudes and it also sank to the lowest depths.

She was alive, but she wouldn't remember any of us. She would think of us as strangers. She might even think of us as her enemies, her betrayers.

Depending on what the f Jeb did to her.

All of a sudden a breeze hit my back. I was calm and collected on the outside while on the inside I was freaking out. What the fuck is a BREEZE doing here? It was cold and bitter; making everyone, besides me, shiver. What is going on here?

Gathering up all the courage I could muster I turned around and there standing perfectly still, staring blankly at us was Max. She still wore the same clothes, I think, a white t-shirt and jeans. Her hair was down and it went to a little past her shoulder blades.

Max didn't move. It didn't even look like she breathing. She just stood with perfect posture and looked directly in front of her. But her eyes were dilated. She wasn't in control, someone else was. She couldn't see in front of her even if it looked like she did. And all the while she didn't give any indication that we were even alive let alone know who we were.

I was going to kill Jeb.

Max's POV:

What's going on? Why can't I move? Am I really dead this time? Is anyone out there!

Everything was so dark, so dark…everything was so…numb; nothing there. It was like I was floating- feeling nothing except the loneliness in my heart. Was this really my afterlife if I'm dead? Do I really get an unhappy ending? What did I do that was so bad that I deserved this? Did I say something wrong? Did I do something that was bad unintentionally?

Immediately my thoughts rang back to Fang and Matt. Matt was in pain because of me. Does that count? I didn't mean to hu- that was it. I didn't mean to hurt him but I did. He wet unconscious in the hands of the school and if it weren't for the fact that I know he was with the others I would have said he was dead. After all, you practically are in the hands of the School and you're defenseless.

"It's time to wake up Max. This is where your battle begins. For good and bad." A voice said ringing in my ears. But this voice was different, completely unlike the other one that was always stern and cautious. This one was soft, caring. It also held sadness. Like it knew something I didn't.

I don't really doubt the fact that it might know something I didn't because it's logical. I mean it's talking to me in my head. Of course it'll know at least ONE thing that I didn't.

"But how can I wake when I can't even move?" I thought sourly. Then I felt something click in my mind and I was able to flex my fingers. I tried to smile but something wouldn't let me. I can move but it wasn't on my own record.

Suddenly my thoughts were gone if that makes any sense. I couldn't figure out what was going on, let alone fight it. I didn't know where I was, I didn't know what just happened in the last few days and I couldn't even remember my name. I didn't remember anything.

And even thought all that was going on I knew that I was moving to someone else's demands.

I knew that I was a puppet.

And I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

Dr. M'S POV:

I can't believe it. She's alive. My daughter was alive.

I looked at Max, and for a mere millisecond she looked at me sensing my gaze. I half expected recognition to show in her eyes and run toward me holding out her arms for a hug like I had always pictured her doing when she was little and was coming home for school.

And now… a trip down Memory Lane:

I won't deny that I had a lot of fantasies where Max would be alive (back when I thought that she was dead when I first gave birth to her) and healthy and go to school like a normal person- a normal little 5-year-old girl. I had pictured her sitting in the back seat on our ride to drop her off for her first day of school. She'd be gripping the side of her chair anxiously with a happy and nervous look on her face as she sat straighter trying to see through the window. Of course her expression would change to a slightly irritated one because of the fact that she wasn't tall enough to see out the window like I could.

I pictured her trying to get her body on the bike that I would have bought her and try and pedal even though the bike was too big for her. I would picture me trying to tell her that I could get her another bike but she said that she could do it and didn't want to be spoiled.

I pictured her taking her first steps towards me. I would hold out my hands to her telling her that I was going to catch her if she fell.

I pictured her lying in my arms, her eye's closed and her tiny hands curled into fists and cradled to her chest as if to protect her from everything. I pictured her opening her eyes showing a pair of melted chocolate brown eyes like my own.

I pictured a lot of things. I know it may sound stupid and idiotic to picture a girl- a child- that would have been yours but died. I just couldn't help it. All those times I didn't have because Jeb took her away and, for what seems like most of my life, I believed that she was dead. Wouldn't you want to picture happier times instead of sitting in your big house completely alone?

(A/N: I know I strayed from the actual story there but I felt that it was important for me to show just how much Dr. M suffered because Max was gone and how much Jeb hurt her. Bastard :P)

Back to Reality:

I can't say that I actually did expected Max to come to me because that would mean I would be lying. I didn't expect her to do that. She was older, more careful when it comes to showing her emotions. And just all around careful.

I looked at Max with a happy and sad expression. Sad because I knew she didn't recognize any of us and probably won't unless a miracle comes our way. But I was happy because she was still alive and we had a chance to get the true Max back. With that I began to pray, silently, for the first time. I don't know why though. I never did really believe in God. I mean, he might be there watching over us but why would he let everyone suffer? Why does he let all these scientists torture the young kids, children? Why does he let people starve while others have $200 meals?

But somewhere in my heart I knew that he was there, watching over us. He gave me Max back as a sign that he was truly there.

So I prayed for him to get us out of here, I prayed for him to let Max remember, I prayed for him to give me a miracle. But I didn't know if I was going to get it or not.

That's what scared me the most.

A/N: I know that I'm overdue and this chapter's not the best but I'm getting better with my writing- at least that's how it seems to me. Anyway please read and review, I'm aiming for 130. :D Oh and thinking about some new story ideas so I'll let ya'll know about some of them and if I can get a poll thing going you can vote on some of them if- you want me to do that that is. I'm not going to waste time trying to figure out how a get a poll going if no one's going to vote and I could be working on both of my stories! And I'm sure no wants me to do that either Oooo cool a smiley face! LOL! Alright later guys! And don't forget to review, you know you want to ;)