I Hate Explanations

We managed to get everything we could (flying is a lot faster than running or driving) including some clothes, food, and the rest of our flock before any of our enemies could even catch up. One of those enemies now being my half-sister, I couldn't bring myself to tell my mom. She'd be safe, I hoped.

Now, we sat around a small fire in the middle of the woods a good hour or two away from everyone else. Gazzy and Angel were already asleep. I had changed into normal clothes once we landed as well as Nudge. The guys could manage in their clothes for the time being.

"Max," Nudge began, "I've been meaning to show you this." And before I could respond, she shoved the paper in my hand. "You should read it alone." I didn't even look at the words until I was a good distance away from the group without being too far. Glad for raptor vision to see in the dark, I sat against the trunk of a tree and began to read.

On November 29, Dr. Valencia Martinez, her husband George Martinez, and daughter Caroline Martinez were emitted to the Dwyer Hospital after a car crash. Caroline was dead on the scene. Both adults were in critical condition.

Sex cells of both the child's parents were collected for studying. Manipulated cells together of both Valencia and George were made as a "clone" prototype of their child Caroline Martinez. All factors including gender, eye color, and hair color were made to match the same exact DNA of Caroline with added genes to make the child stronger and faster.

Twelve months later, Dr. Valencia woke up and the situation was explained. She accepted working with the company in order to be with her new "child" renamed E.L.L.A. (Artificial. Life. Logically. Evolutionized backwards). A week after, Dr. Valencia and the experiment went missing. Canine-Human Hybrids were sent after her.

Before E.L.L.A. was able to survive outside the womb, Experiment 1 was born through a segregate mother with the DNA of Valencia Martinez and Jeb Batchledor. Only the father was aware of this experiment and was given the first of bird DNA to become a success.

Eventually, all interest was lost in E.L.L.A. after Experiment 1 reached success in flight and other clones were made.

Ella…was…a…clone? No wonder she hated me, she wasn't suppose to exist either. But why would our mom prefer me over her, a daughter the exact copy of the one she had with her husband who had died?

Would you want a copy of Fang constantly reminding you of him gone if he had died? Was the Voice finally making sense or had I finally lost my mind? But all of a sudden, I understood what it was saying to me.

Ella was a reminder, not a gift, of what had happened to my mom. She brought up the memory of my mom losing her husband and real child. How did I not know this? Ella clearly did. She admitted to being an experiment.

Either it was raining or I was crying, but some form of liquid fell onto paper as I crumbled it up. When my shoulders started shaking and my breathing grew uneven, I knew that I was crying.

Sorry if I sound selfish, but my life sucks.

But I had my flock. I had parents. I was breathing and alive. I do the unimaginable- I flew. I was in love. I was loved. I was just a young teen. I had no expiration date. I had the best friend in the whole world and he could fly too. In general, my life was pretty incredible when you took out running for my life all the time and my half-sister also my enemy now.

When my crying finally calmed, I stood up and went to head back to camp. Fang was already standing in the path, his outline framed b the fire. He had his arms crossed and he was watching me. I was glad he had given me my space while I cried, I needed to be alone for that. I wiped my eyes and stepped towards the camp. Iggy and Nudge were curled up with Gazzy and Angel around the fire.

Fang placed his hand on the spot between my wings, the spot that always calmed me. "It will be all right," he whispered.

"I appreciate you trying to lie for me." I mumbled as I placed the note in his hand. "Go ahead, read it." I went to get ready for sleep. Too much information made me a very sleepy person. "Do you mind taking first watch?" Fang shook his head as he fixed the crumpled note slowly.

I let myself sleep.

Fang's POV

Everyone was sleeping except for me. I poked at the fire, which was now just barely lit embers, trying to think of what I had just read. Ella was actually a clone of a child that had died years ago. You'd think as a bird-human hybrid you've seen everything science could possible pass at you and then this- a clone. If the scientists weren't evil enough. Then again, how else did they get Max II without some copying involved?

I tossed the paper into the fire knowing that Max wouldn't want anyone else getting their hands on this. Searching and listening for any signs of M-Geeks or anyone else, I used my invisibility to hide myself. Enemies would be louder if they thought we were all asleep. Although, they might realize I'm gone and be careful anyways, which was why I was awake listening.

Eventually, when it reaches about three in the morning, I go over to Iggy and shake him up lightly, "Hey, mind taking Max's watch?" Iggy shook his head (the older kids are pretty fast at waking up being so paranoid). I took a comfortable spot next to Max so I could hear her breathing over everyone else's.

Normally, just Max and I do the watches, occasionally Iggy. Once or twice, Nudge even did it but like I said, Max and I are the ones who mostly do it. She was the leader after all and I was her right-hand man. Iggy asked me once if that ever bothered me, having to be second to a girl, and I had to reply, "It's better than being third."

Tonight though, Max deserved sleeping. I realized how I never got to tell her how beautiful she looked in that dress. Now we were back to that fighting, on the run lifestyle. There wouldn't be a lot of time for us to be together. I'd wait though, it was always worth waiting if it was Max. She sounded peaceful at the moment in her sleep.

She always hated explanations.

Sometimes, they brought up questions with the answers.

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! I thought ppl would hate me for making Ella evil. One reviewer (sorry, I got a lot so it's hard to point you all out) asked why Ella didn't get rid of Max sooner if she was evil. I'll explain later.

Wow, this story turned out better than I expected. It's all you guys that keeps me going with this!