So some of you may hate me for last chapter. I may have also lost some readers. But please, if you haven't given up on this story yet, please don't. I promise I'll make Fang's death up to you later.

Fang: How do you plan on doing that? I was the best character!

Me: Well, yeah, but I can and will. I can't tell you how, because that would spoil a major part of the plot, but just trust me.

Shout-outs to: galeprimrue and Sierra156 (for this chapter and last).

Losing Fang was probably the worst thing that could have happened. We were all completely devastated. None of us were saying anything – for once, that included Nudge. I remembered the last time he'd died, and how I'd managed to save him. I only wished I could save him again.

Fang had been my partner, my best friend. For the first 14 years of my life, he always had my back. Always. We'd had are ups ands downs, but in the end, he'd always been there for me.

The past few weeks though…it was beginning to feel like he was more of a stranger than my soul mate, my best friend, the guy I'd spent my whole life with. It was like everything between us was gone in an instant.

Fang's death was depressing, and I admit, I cried. Yes, I, Maximum Ride, the girl with no emotions, cried.

I think the saddest part was that we didn't have enough time to throw him a proper funeral, to say our final goodbyes. We dug a shallow pit and carefully placed Fang's body in it. We refilled the hole, and dropped a handful of dirt on his final resting place. It painfully reminded me of Ari's funeral.

I made sure I was last to drop my handful of dirt. I let it fall slowly, watching it trickle between my fingers. "I love you," I whispered, barely loud enough for myself to hear.

So badly, I wanted to fly away and scream, to get as far away from here as possible. But I knew that wasn't possible. The Flock needed a leader now, more than ever. So did Fang's Gang. Their leader and organizer was dead. Chances were that I would be leading them, too. So I had to do my best to cope with the pain.

I took a deep breath. "We should probably head to the city and check into a hotel. You know, just in case the DG really is going to attack." I got a handful of solemn nods. We trudged out of the field and into the city, stopping at a hotel. We probably looked like a mess, how bloodied and bruised we looked, but we were too tired and upset to care.

We spent two days in Los Angeles, waiting for something to happen, something DG related. Waiting for something or someone from the DG so we could get revenge for Fang. On the morning of the 3rd day, it became apparent that nothing was going to happen. It was a trap, and ambush. There was going to be no attack on LA.

We began the long flight back to Arizona. Dylan, Iggy, Maya, and I carried Ratchet, Holden, Kate, and Star, respectively. The flight took 8 hours of nonstop flying. We took no breaks at all. Not for food, not for rest. We weren't hungry, and we were so numb that we didn't feel any pain. At long last, we landed in Arizona, the large, white, futuristic building in front of us. We walked towards the entrance, where a pair of guards stood watch. As we neared the building, the guards halted us, asking what our business being there was. "Can we speak with the Director?" I asked, no emotion in my voice.

One of the guards pulled out a phone, talked into it, then put it away as he led us inside.

I really don't have much to say. I'm writing this on my laptop while the power's out due to Hurricane Irene. I'll post this as soon as the power comes back on. But after this, my school starts, and updates will become very uncommon. So if there's months between updates, don't think I ditched the story. I promise, I will finish this, hopefully before Nevermore comes out.

Fang: So much for not having much to say.

Me: Whatever.

Later people. Review?

-MaximumX and Fang