Hi everybody! Thanks for reading this far. Unfortunately, it seems as if we've almost come to the end of Maximum Ride :,( Don't worry though, I promise there will be more chapters of the next story soon! In the meantime, enjoy this chapter and review or comment. I love to hear your opinion, positive or negative. And thanks to everyone who is following/favorited the story!

We start walking. I don't know where, but we're walking somewhere so that's something. After about four blocks, Iggy starts to get impatient.

"Do you even know where we're going?" He asks, tapping his foot.

"…"

"Great. I thought so. Is that your plan to find the Institute? Just walk around till we stumble upon it?"

"No!...Well, sort of…"

"How about a real plan?"

"Hey, I have a real plan."

"Please enlighten us."

"Well…We're never going to find the Institute like this-"

"Like we didn't already know that."

"Let me finish…So as I was saying. We'll never find the Institute like this. What if instead of us looking for it, they showed it to us?"

"Max, are you sure your headache is gone?" Gazzy laughs at Iggy's joke.

"Just think about it. Where do Erasers go after they attack us? The nearest headquarters, which in New York City would most likely be the Institute. So I think instead of running away, we should follow them back to the Institute."

"Max-" Iggy starts, but Angel cuts him off.

"I think Max is right. It's a good idea, and unless you have a better one it's the best we have."

"Wow. Angel, thank you for agreeing with me."

"What do we do?" Fang asks.

"You're not going to like this, but for once we need to bring as much attention to ourselves as possible."

"Then let's go to a really crowded area and bring attention to ourselves." Gazzy says.

"Let's go to the Empire State Building! I've never been there." Nudge says. I shudder involuntarily. Editors. Gossip Girl. Bad memories.

"Let's not. Any other ideas?"

"Times Square?"

"Hmm…That could work." I smile deviously, an idea popping into my head. "That could work very well."

We sit at one of those tables in the crowded streets.

"Everyone ready?" Everyone looks a little nervous, but I have confidence in them. "Turn it on."

"This is so stupid." Iggy moans.

"Keep the negativity to a minimum." Iggy turns on the dramatic music. I stand up on the table.

"HeeelllllooOOOO NEW YORK!" I scream. "Prepare to witness the most EXTRAORDINARY marvel you will ever see!" Nobody even looks in our direction.

"My name is Maximum Ride, and I am a product of genetic engineering!" Still nothing.

"I have wings!" Not even a blink. I don't understand I normally have no trouble getting crazy stares from people, but the one time I'm actually trying I can't get anyone to pay us any attention.

"I don't think this is working." I say as I lower the microphone.

"What making an idiot of yourselves? I think you've got that down." We all turn around to the voice behind us. Can you guess who it is? You're probably right.

"Ari..." I narrow my eyes. "Who was on lookout duty?" I ask.

"Sorry. I got distracted…" Gazzy says sorrowfully.

"It's okay. I can't stay angry at that face."

"That's so cute. Too bad I'll have to rip that face off." Ari says, showing off this teeth and laughing to himself at how witty he is.

"What is it with you Erasers and ripping things off? Okay, guys. Plan A. Go!" Fang and Iggy lunge at Ari, Nudge and Gazzy attack the two other Erasers that appear out of the crowd. Angel has already hidden on top of one of the buildings, ready to chase after the Erasers as soon as they run off. We fight for a few minutes, then I yell, "Fall back!"

We split up, lose the Erasers, and run to the meet up point via different routes. When I get there, Angel already has a location on Ari. We wait for the rest of the flock to show up, and then follow him. We fly in between the skyscrapers. Having eagle vision really does help keep track of him down below. After a good half hour, he finally stops in front of one of the skyscrapers. After he goes inside we fly down after him.

"Are we just going in the front entrance?" Gazzy asks.

"I guess we can try." We walk in. It's very fancy. Instead of going to the front desk, we go straight to the elevators. Or we try to go straight to the elevator. The guard stops us. We're thrown out.

"How are we going to get in now?" Nudge asks.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but I think we'll have to go in through the sewers." I shudder at the thought, I've had enough of stinky sewers for one book, but it has to be done. We locate the nearest sewer grate, hidden in a back alley. Just like I expected, the sewers were disgusting. Really, really gross. Max.

"Yeah?"

"What?" Iggy asks.

"What?"

"You said yeah." He says.

"Because you said my name."

"No I didn't."

"Are you sure?" Max. It was me.

"Who?" I ask to no one in particular.

"What?"

"Aaahahhaha! I'm so confused!" Max. You shouldn't be here. Not yet.

"Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away." Max, I need you to listen to me. You can't go in there. Once you do, I won't be able to guide you. You need more time. You must turn around and go back.

"What?" Nothing. No answer. I just stand there, still a little shell shocked.

"Max are you alright?" Fang asks, sounding concerned.

"I don't know. I think I'm starting to hear voices in my head."

"Did you say voices?"

"Actually I think it's only one voice."

"Ooh good. So you're only a little insane."

"I'm not insane! I just…I think it was just my imagination…Let's keep going." I have to do this if I ever want to get home. I'll just fight through it.

After a while longer, we finally reach it. Set into one cruddy, disgusting sewer wall is an almost completely hidden gray metal door. It's locked. I'm not surprised.

"Guess we'll have to kick it down."

"Or…" Iggy stops me from ramming into the door. He pulls a bag out from thin air. "I have my lock picks."

"Umm. Where were you keeping that?" I ask, confused because I think I would notice if there was a strange bulge in Iggy's side.

"Not important."

"Okay…Well I guess that'll work too." I'm a little disappointed that I don't get to kick down the door action-movie style, but maybe next time. A few minutes later Iggy has the door unlocked. I open the door, which opens with a loud creak.

"Shit. Maybe no one heard that?"

"I guess we can hope." The doorway reveals a long, dark, endless staircase ahead of us. Going down. Of course. I put my foot on the first step. Max, please listen to me. Everything is a test, and you are not ready for this test yet. It's not too late to turn around. You must not- The voice cuts off as I step through the door. I pretend as if I didn't hear anything. I don't want to believe there's actually a voice in my head.

Every step we take up the stairs fills me with dread. It's very dark, we can barely see and very quiet so we can hear every movement we make. I feel like I'm being watched by someone unseen in the darkness and it horrifies me. The steps seem endless and there's no handrail, so that really makes me feel safe.

"There's a wall in front of you." Iggy says, shattering the silence. I reach my hand forward and cringe as it brushes against the slimy wall.

"Uggh. Sewer walls." I feel around and find a door and doorknob. I turn the knob and then throw the door open dramatically. We all stare blankly into the room in front of us.

"Is this is?" Nudge asks, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"There's nothing here!" Gazzy yells disappointed. We all gawk at the empty room before us.

"Shouldn't there be computers, or a lab, or something?!" Nudge says, with a mix of anger, despair, and shock.

"What do we do?" Iggy asks.

"Uhh."

"This is ridiculous! We came all this way for this?!" Iggy screams.

"I thought we were going to find our parents!"

"Angel said they had information on us here. Well I don't see anything!"

"Maybe Angel got it wrong?"

"I didn't! They said it would be here!"

"Well maybe you heard them wrong?!"

"I didn't! They said-"

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Iggy looks angry, and Angel looks on the verge of tears, but everyone quiets down.

"Thank you. Now listen up! We're probably just in the basement or something. It's as simple as going upstairs to find some computers or whatever. It would help if we all stopped yelling, because I'm sure the Erasers heard us by now."

"You shouldn't be here." A voice says behind us. We all turn.

"What did I say?!" Our yelling seems to have attracted all the Erasers in the building. Which sucks because this must be an Erasers meet up spot or something cause there's a bunch of them. Leading them is none other than Ari.

"It wasn't just your yelling that brought us here." An Erasers begins, sounding very smug as if he were some little kid who was staring down at some ants (us) and knowing that any second he could burn them to crisps with his magnifying glass and there'd be nothing they could do to stop him. Very comforting.

"Shut up! You idiot. The Director does not want the plans revealed." Ari snarls at him. The Eraser cowers back.

"Wait a second…The plans? Director? Something is not right here… Was this a set up? The whole time?" Ari's silent.

"My voice said something about us being too early. Were you going to put something here? Like a test? Was this some sort of test?! Maybe to see if we were smart enough to track down our parents? Did you want us to find our parents? Or maybe there would be…I don't know, like a room full of mutants and you wanted us to set them free because it would be symbolic for how I would save the world in the future like Jeb told me I would. Just an idea…But-but that doesn't make any sense…That means my voice must be working with the School."

"Your voice?" Fang sounds concerned.

"Yeah. That voice I was hearing before was telling me to turn back and-"

"I though you said that the voice was just your imagination?"

"I didn't want to believe it was real! But now it all makes sense." I point accusingly at Ari. "This was supposed to be a setup, but we showed up too early!" Ari smiles, showing off his teeth.

"I'm surprised you freaks figured it out. I suppose we'll have to change this test a little. How about we make it a little harder for you freaks?" He curls his fists into a ball, ready to fight.

"You know what?" I say, getting pretty angry now. I can feel it boiling to the surface. "You and your precious School can find someone else to test because I am done with you people. And could you please stop calling us freaks?! It's not funny or witty or a good comeback. And plus it's incredibly hypocritical because you're the one with the dog snout for Pete's sake. In fact, really it's you guys who are the freaks because who in their right minds spends their life trying to genetically combine people and animal DNA? Do something more useful with your lives, like save the rainforest. Just leave us alone, and stop chasing us and never giving us a break. And stop trying to controlling us, because you know what, we are people, not animals! And we have the right to do whatever we want, except for like breaking laws because laws are there for reasons, blahblahblah, you know what I mean."

"But you'll never know who your parents are."

"So what?"

"But-" Nudge begins.

"Who our parents are don't define us. Maybe they loved us, maybe they didn't, maybe if we went to find them they would love and care us forever, maybe not. But I don't care anymore. It doesn't matter. I have the flock." I smile at Fang and hold Angel's hand. "The flock is my family and they're all I need, no matter how cheesy that sounds, it's true."

"You're just going to walk out of here?" Ari asks, incredulous.

"Yes. I think I will." I turn to walk out the door.

"You-you can't do that! The Director won't allow it."

"The Director can kiss my ass." I turn back to tell Ari.

"Not if We can help it." I put my hands on my hips. "Real original. Ari. I feel like you're not even trying to make witty comebacks anymore... Ari?" Ari looks really confused. More confused than usual. More like a "not sure what's going on" confused, not a "she is crazy" confused.

"I-I didn't say that." I realize too late what's going on. He stares past me.

"Well, shit." is all I can manage. I feel like puking as I turn around to face the large Editor dressed in white standing behind me. If I thought the Erasers were intimidating, this guy makes the Erasers look like kindergarteners.

"D-did you say 'we'?" I gaze up at him.

"Max? Who is this guy?" Fang asks.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" An unimportant Eraser growls. (I know this Eraser is doomed because he's only had one line and he's a background character, and very expendable). The Editor raises his eyebrow, looking entertained. "You can't just barge in here and interrupt us like that! And this is private propertyyyeee." The expendable Eraser trails off as the Editor shoots a tranquilizer at him (Told ya). He drops like a rock. The rest of the Erasers look really angry.

"Max, who are these guys?" Nudge asks, sounding concerned.

"Editors."

"You mean Erasers?"

"No, Editors."

"Wait, what?"

"Look, long story short, they are bad news and they don't like me very much."

"What do we do?"

"Um…Run?" The Erasers spring forward to attack the lone Editor. I make the mistake of hoping that the Erasers might be able to fight him off, since there's a bunch of them and only one of him. Unfortunately my hopes are shattered into a million pieces as more Editors suddenly appear from the doorway to back up their buddy.

"Yeah. Run." The Erasers and Editors start brawling. I grab Nudge's hand and make for the stairwell, which is now not blocked because the Erasers abandoned guarding it to fight. I run as quickly as my legs will allow. I can't help but feel déjà vu from in the Mortal Instruments when the werewolves and vampires were fighting…Thinking back on it, it was pretty ridiculous. Just thinking it out loud makes me realize how crazy it was, yet I remember feeling terrified like I am now. I start giggling. This is all ridiculous. Why am I so terrified? I've escaped the Editors and Erasers before, and if I could escape werewolves and vampires I can escape this.

"Are you laughing?" Iggy screams.

"I just remembered something funny."

"At a time like this?"

"Well-" Suddenly I hear the door crash open below us. "Ahhh! Good point. Let's pick up the pace you guys!" I pick my feet up faster. I'm terrified again. I'm starting to get tired. Just keep running. Just keep running.

"Max! Door up ahead!" I hear Fang yell behind me.

"Right!" I reach the top and dodge to the right, where the door is. I burst through, into the lobby of the building we're in. I start to run for the exit, but Fang grabs my elbow.

"They're at the exits!" he points to the men in white coming through the doors.

"Okay. Um." Oh god. I can't think. I gaze around in a panic. My eyes find the elevator. "The elevator! GO!" We all rush in. We barely fit. I slam my fist into the closing door button. It closes just as the Editors reach us. The elevator starts to rise. We're all breathing heavily. I'm suddenly having horribly flashbacks to the last time I had an encounter with the Editors. It did not end well. I shudder as I think of that Editor convulsing and-

"You killed someone?!" Angel exclaims in horror. Oh shit. I forgot she can read minds.

"It-it was an accident!"

"What?" Nudge yells.

"Max!"

"What? It wasn't really my fault!"

"What's going on?"

"Okay, so maybe it was my fault! But I still feel awful about it and I regret it and it haunts me in my nightmares-"

"MAX!" Fang yells. I never heard him speak louder than an indoor voice before.

"WHAT?"

"The elevator is about to reach the top floor, what do we do?"

"If we all rush out at once they won't be able to get us right?" I'm scrambling to come up with a good plan. Fang's silence tells me it's a bad one.

"I don't know…Could we crawl onto the top of the elevator?" I suggest, trying a different approach.

"And get crushed?"

"Fine…Let's just-" Suddenly the elevator doors open. We all tense, ready for an all-out attack. I close my eyes, ready to be tazered or tranquilized or godknowswhat. But nothing happens. I peel one eye open. There's nothing.

"Ha! First luck all day. Come on, let's go before they reach us."

"Go where?"

"Out the window."

"Out the window?"

"We can fly can't we?" Nudge looks nervous. So does Angel and Gazzy.

"Don't worry everything will be fine." I squeeze Angel's hand, and pat Gazzy on the back. Then I turn to Nudge and hug her. I let go and give a quick glance around the hallway we ended up in. The Editors will be here any second. The red of a fire extinguisher catches my eye. I grab it and tear it off the wall.

"Watch out!" I pick it up and hurl it through the window. The glass shatters everywhere, and I cover my face to keep glass from hitting me. The wind blows through the corridor, making my hair fly wildly around my face. Iggy is the first one out. Then Gazzy and Nudge. It's just me, Angel, and Fang.

"You have to let them go." A voice says behind me. It's so quiet I can barely hear it. I turn around quickly, but no one's there. It doesn't sound like my other voice from before. This one is different. I swear it almost sounded like Nemo, but that's really crazy. I may be crazy but not that crazy. Right? Right?

"Max?" Fang says.

"Yes? Sorry I thought I heard something."

"Max, please don't be a hero."

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't wait here for the Editors, Erasers, whatever. Just please leave with the rest of the flock." He seemed to have read my mind. I don't answer. What can I say?

"I won't." I grab his hand. "Go on. I'll be right behind you." He jumps out and flies toward the rest of the flock. I feel really guilty now. But I deep down I know that it's time for me to leave. It's almost as if that voice was my conscience talking to me...in Nemo's voice? Whatever. If I stay with the flock the Editors and the Erasers will be after us. I can't imagine what the Editors will do if they catch them. Do they reset them so they can't remember? Erase them completely and replace them with clones of themselves? It could be anything. It makes me feel awful, and even worse thinking about the other stories and people, I mean characters that I abandoned.

"Max, please don't go." Angel tugs on my shirt. "You don't have to. We can keep running, the Editors won't find us." I kneel down to speak to her, face to face. Mano e Mano. Sis to Sis imposter. Leader of flock to member of flock. Okay now I'm just stalling because I don't want to face my problems.

"I have to. It's the right thing to do."

"Why do you have to do the right thing? Why not do what you want?"

"Because I want you to be safe and happy and that won't happen if the Editors are chasing us looking for me. And because it wouldn't be fair to you."

"But I want you to stay."

"I know, and I want to stay. But you can't keep on living this way. With people chasing you and never feeling safe." She looks down, not looking in my eyes. "When I'm gone, I want you to live life. Be a child. Have fun. You have an incredible gift. These wings are freaking awesome. It's like a roller-coaster attached to your back. Just have fun." God, this is coming out so corny. I can never express my feelings without sounding like an idiot. "Don't let them tell you who to be. You are your own person. And let the flock know this too. And make sure they stay together. Please."

"O-okay." I hug her tightly. I don't want to let go. I enjoyed being part of something. A family. Sort of. Since I can't remember anything about my actual one. And it was nice to get to know the flock, I find it hard to believe that they're just made up characters sometimes. I hate to admit it, but I had fun. Actual fun. Not just running for my life. Of course that's when the Editors finally showed up.

"Isn't that sweet?" I let go of Angel and push her towards the window.

"I'll be fine. Promise." I turn away from her. If I look back I'll break down, and I can't do that. One of the Editors moves to stop her, but the head Editors puts his hand up.

"It doesn't matter. Let it go. Our mission is this one."

"This one' has a name." He starts laughing.

"Oh really. Then tell us what it is." I open my mouth but close it. "That's what I thought." We stand there for a few seconds. It bothers me that he knew I couldn't remember my name. This means he must have dealt with other people like me before. But what happened to them?

"Are you going to try to run away this time? Get it out of your system, I don't feel like running around all day."

"I think we both know I don't have any chance of running away from you." He laughs at this. I slowly step backwards.

"Smart girl."

"Good thing I don't have to run away from you." He rolls his eyes. I take a step backwards.

"Let me guess. You're going to try to jump out that broken window behind you and then jump to a different story." I step backwards, where the broken window is. The Editor holds up some sort of device and presses some buttons. I lean back so I can fall out the window, when my back presses against the cold glass. I involuntarily gasp. That window was broken just a moment ago. Now I'm worried. I glance back at the wall and the fire extinguisher is back in its spot. There goes my brilliant plan.

"What the f-"

"Please, language." The Editors says, smiling. "This book is not supposed to have language like this. You're not supposed to be in this book."

"Neither are you." I point out.

"I'm just here to clean up your mess."

"Excuse me?"

"You are a glitch in the system. A hiccup. A mutant. A rogue. A mess up. Get it?"

"No. I don't even want to be here! I just want to go home."

"That's not possible."

"But-Nemo…But then what will you do?" He laughs again. It's starting to bother me.

"We'll send you to a very nice place, where you can feel free to live all your daydreams out, without interfering in any stories."

"A very nice place? You make it sound like you kill people. Or would you rather call it 'releasing them', 'putting them to sleep', 'retiring them', being sent to Urinetown? Take your pick."

"At least we don't actually kill people."

"I-I…That was an accident. And it haunts me. I have trouble sleeping. I-" I wish people would stop bringing that up.

"Enough excuses. I must say I was rather impressed. It was well done. I could not have done it better myself." I stare at him.

"Oh my god. You're a sick sadist."

"You're the one that killed one of my partners."

"Okay but I regretted it and I did not enjoy one second of it. But I did, so why don't you just get your revenge by killing me?"

"It's against policy." He says, looking bored.

"Policy? Human life is policy? Not just common moral sense?"

"Common moral sense? Please. You must be joking." I have to get out of here. This guy is crazy. I bang my hand against the window. It doesn't do anything, except hurt my hand.

"Don't even try. You'll just exhaust yourself." I frown at him.

"You're really negative. Maybe that's your problem."

"Maybe you're too optimistic."

"Maybe I'm just hopeful."

"And look where that's gotten you." I scowl at him. "Pessimist." I mumble under my breath. He's standing there smiling and looking smug. It makes me sick. Then the look on his face changes. There's a moment of confusion and horror. I'm a little offended, but then realize he's not looking at me, but over my shoulder. I duck down instinctively as Fang comes crashing through. Glass shatters everywhere (again). I grab him and jump back out before the Editors get up. We fly into the New York City skyline.

"Fang. You weren't supposed to come back!"

"And you weren't supposed to be a hero."

"…Well, thanks." I don't say that often. "I would have been in deep trouble without you."

"I couldn't leave you. None of us could. You're part of our family." I bite my tongue to keep from crying, I'm so touched. We land on a nearby skyscraper, where the rest of the flock is waiting.

"Max. I told them." Angel says.

"Told them?"

"About how you're not really Max."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. Don't listen to her. She's tired and had a long day. She's probably hallucinating or something."

"Max, um, sorry, I don't know your real name…But it's alright. We know." I guess the cat's out of the bag.

"I'm really sorry for lying to you."

"It's alright. It wasn't that hard to believe. You don't exactly act like Max." I can't help but laugh at that.

"At least I tried…" We stand there for a while. Everyone quiet.

"Does this mean you'll stay?" Gazzy asks. I swallow, my throat feeling dry.

"I'm sorry but…" I see his face fall. How do I explain it to him?

"Will you be alright?" Fang asks, touching my arm gently. I nod.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I've got Nemo. He's well...Nevermind. I'll be fine. I've gotten used to the idea of being chased by crazy psychos."

"I'll miss you."

"You're just saying that because you'd miss Max." That's just the author causing Fang to miss Max.

"No. I'll miss you because you're part of our family. An honorary flock member." I give him a little smile. Then I go around and give each person a hug.

"Yep. Better be going. On to the next story." I turn away from them as I face the edge of the skyscraper. I picture a doorway before me, leading into a new mysterious world. I grab the doorknob. I feel…horrified? Excited? I can't really tell. I turn it and take a step forward. I start to fall forward. Here goes nothing. Max's world disappears. I close my eyes as the next world starts to replace it.

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Please review and favorite. I promise to the next chapter soon. And did anyone catch that Urinetown, and The Giver references? If you don't know what those are, look it up! (Especially Urinetown. I was in a production recently and it is really awesome). Thanks :)