My eyes fluttered open. "Subject begins to regain consciousness 167 minutes after surgery." A voice said. Something flew to my face, and I hit it away. "Reflexes are regular."

"What are you doing?" I asked the woman.

"Subject shows signs of curiosity," she says into a small recorder.

"Answer my question," I said, agitated.

"Subject begins to get frustrated after question is neglected an answer."

"Okay, listen here, you little-"

A new voice broke in, "Ah, Max. Good, you're awake."

Jeb.

"What did you do to me?" I growled at him.

"Just made a few tweaks here and there," Jeb said casually, flashing a light in my eyes. "Reaction to light is regular," he said to the woman who took note of that on her recorder.

"What did you do to Fang?"

"Fang? What about him?" he asked, checking the rest of my body.

"Like, why is he with that woman? He doesn't act like that."

"Or so you thought," he replied, pressing a cold stethoscope to my chest. "Maybe he's different when you're gone."

"No," I argued. "I've known Fang my whole life. You did something to him."

Jeb sighed. "Do you remember Lissa? That redhead that went to the same school as you when you were staying with Anne?"

"I guess." The Red Headed Wonder.

"Yes, well, that was the first example Fang acting…different."

"You mean that you had something to do with that?" I asked, my voice growing louder.

"No, definitely not. I'm just pointing out that Max, maybe he's just not that into you."

I sighed. "You did not just say that. God, tell me I heard wrong."

"What? Is that not what teens say these days?" Jeb asked, genuinely confused.

"You've never been so wrong," I said, almost cracking a smile. It was these types of conversations that I missed about living with Jeb and the rest of the Flock, way before any of us were dragged into this mess.

"Alright, you're all clear," he said, shaking me out of my thoughts. "Stand up, Max. We're going to be training you."

"Oka-ay," I replied uncertainly, sitting up and jumping off of the table. What does training mean?

"You see, this past surgery, we gave you some extraordinary abilities. Now we just have to make sure that you know how to use them in a way that can be beneficial to you.

"First off," Jeb listed. "You may have felt that you have more energy than before." True, very true. "That was from our last surgery from the last time you were here."

That explains why I wasn't tired from my jog. He started walking, and I followed. Maybe I can use these new abilities to my personal advantage, a.k.a. escaping.

"Now that you have increased stamina, your body is ready for some more energy-consuming skills." We stopped in front of a large, heavy looking stone.

"I want you to focus on that with all of your concentration." I gave him a weird look.

"Why?"

"Just do it. I'll guide you through it."

I shrugged and stared at the rock.

"Try with a little more concentration."

I gave it a harder look, making all of my thoughts focus on that one rock. Slowly, it started to shake.

"Good. Now, try moving it back and forth, but only using your eyes and thoughts."

Move up. I looked up, and the rock followed my gaze. Move down, and I turned my gaze to the ground, and it moved with it. Slam against the wall into a million pieces. I made a quick glance to the wall, and the stone smashed against the concrete wall, breaking into many small chunks.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Jeb noted, scribbling something down in a clipboard that I didn't notice he was carrying.

"What else can I do?" I asked, excited.

He smiled at me. "There's one more thing, and this is my favorite."

He led me to another room, but this one had just glass walls surrounding one single, black platform. (A/N: Think about the training room that Katniss was in when she was shooting arrows at those yellow cube guys near the beginning of Catching Fire)

We walked in, and he faced me towards one wall of the room. He touched the temples of my head from behind me.

"Now, there's something we did inside of your brain, and I like to call it the 'mental switch.'"

"Okay," I said. "What does it do?"

"It allows you to stop feeling human emotions."

I paused.

"So how does that benefit me?"

"You can kill as many enemies as you want without feeling any guilt or remorse. Basically, it blocks out any feelings you could possibly feel now."

I turned to face him. "Why would I want to do that? My emotions keep me in check so I don't go crazy, killing every person I see when I'm angry."

"With this switch, you wouldn't even feel angry. You won't feel upset like you did when your flock left you," he paced around me. "You wouldn't have to feel jealous when you see Fang with someone else."

I pushed him away. "I wasn't jealous of Fang and that woman."

"You can tell me what you want, but you and I both know how you really feel. I did this to help you, Max. It's a gift."

Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. Though I would never admit it to anybody, seeing that Whitecoat with Fang did make something in my head hurt.

Jeb's fingers touched my head again. "Try feeling for it. Think about something that made you really angry, sad, or any other strong emotion that made you upset."

When the Flock left. That was my feeling of anger, sadness, and betrayal all in one.

"Now," he whispered in my ear. "Turn the feelings off."

It took me a while, and I didn't know if I had done it or not. Jeb came around front to face me. I looked down at him, since I towered over his frame.

His hand reached out to slap me and reflexively, I pulled his arm around his back and held it there.

"Ow, Max. That hurts."

"Good, you deserve it. Think of it like payback for all those times that you operated on me."

"Would you really do this to your own father?"

"We've been through this. You're no father to me."

"So cold, Max. How do you think your mom would feel if she saw you like this?" Normally, that would have tugged at my heartstrings, but now, I felt nothing.

Instead, my grip on his wrist tightened, and I pulled his arm further up is back. The puffs of his breath in pain soothed me.

"Now!" he yelled.

"Wha-"

Suddenly, an Eraser came at me. I shoved Jeb away and killed it off in one swing, leaving a pile of ashes on the platform. I guess my strength got heightened, too.

Another attacked from behind me, and I snapped its neck with no problem. Ashes.

That Whitecoat Fang was with came next. What was her name? Bianca, was it? She ran towards me, letting out a battle cry that sounded suspiciously like For Faaang!, and I easily tore into her neck and ripped her windpipe out.

Mr. Newton was next. He dashed towards me, yelling something about how I was failing English 12 and how I wasn't going to be able to go to college… I stuck my hand out and pulled out his heart. Sorry, not sorry, Mom.

I got ready for my next victim. What I wasn't expecting, though, was for it to be Nudge.

She didn't run towards me, she didn't attack. She just looked at me with those large, innocent looking eyes of hers. Her fashionable clothes were torn and she had scratches all over her face.

An Eraser came up behind her, and she wasn't ready for it. He grabbed her, covering her mouth to muffle the sounds of her screams.

"Nudge!" I shrieked. I ran towards them at full speed, but they seemed to be getting farther and farther away. I kept running but ran into the glass wall. I fell back, hitting my back on the platform.

I immediately got up, my eyes darting around frantically, searching for Nudge. She was nowhere to be found. Then I remembered where I was, and who I was with.

"It was all a simulation," I whispered, slapping my face into my hand. It wasn't covered in blood like I had seen after killing Bianca and Mr. Newton. It was all planned.

"Well, I guess you still have some work to do," Jeb said, walking back into the room. He probably escaped after I started fighting those Erasers.

"What is this? What have you done?" I asked, my voice shaking. "Why am I acting like this?"

"It's your mental switch," he reminded. "Once you saw Nudge, it flipped back on. You wanted to protect her from the enemy. Your human emotions returned.

"But don't worry," he said. "Each time you turn it off, you'll become more and more resistant to things that would trigger your emotions. On the other hand, it will get harder each time to turn your feelings back on."

More resistant? Does that mean that if it weren't my first time flipping my switch, that I would have killed Nudge? What if it had been Seth? Or my mom?

What would happen if I flipped my switch one too many times?

Jake's POV

Damn that girl, disappearing again. Can't she give anybody a heads up before she vanishes into thin air?

I mean, I have the right to know this kind of stuff, right? I imprinted on her, and she's my mate. That has to mean something to her.

But honestly, what is she doing that is so important that she can't tell anyone of her family or friends where she's going?

Girls.

I thought back to the night that I first told her that I loved her. Did I really love her? Or did I just say it in the spur of the moment? Maybe I was just caught up in the fact that I had imprinted on her? Either way, I don't really think I meant it because there's still…

"Jake!" Bella yelled, waving at me to get my attention.

"Y-yeah?" I replied, face starting to burn up. She had impeccable timing.

"Have you heard from her? Max?"

I shook my head. "I'm not surprised, though. She's done it once, so why can't she do it twice?"

"Oh, okay. Well, I was just going to make sure because we have this project that's due this Friday, and we still have some work to do." Her face was rosy, probably from jogging around, looking for Max. Her hair fell in cascading waves, framing her small, petite face….

Stop, Jake, stop. You are not still into her. Move on, man. You imprinted on another girl. Bella's with Edward.

"Jake?" she asked.

"Yeah?" I snapped out of my inner turmoil.

"I just asked how things were going with Max. You know? Have you guys hung out or anything?"

"No," I replied. Last time I went to her house, I was going to ask her out on a date. Lucky me, I found out that she was heading out with Seth.

Seth.

"Actually, I have to go," I told Bella quickly, then jumped on my bike.

"Jacob?" I heard her call, but I was already gone.

I pounded on the door of the Clearwater's. Leah answered the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Is your brother here?" I asked, pushing past her and storming into the house.

"Yeah, he's in his room. And don't just come in, this isn't your house."

"Just shut up, Leah," I said, going up the stairs as fast as I could. My knees were sore, presumably from Max's disappearance.

I opened Seth's wooden door without knocking. He was lying on his bed, earphones in and reading a textbook.

"Jake?" he asked, head jerking up immediately.

"Have you seen Max?"

"No," he replied slowly. "Has she gone missing again?"

"Yeah, and I was hoping that you would know where she was."

Seth sat up in bed, wrapping his headphones around his iPod.

"I don't, sorry. I can help you look for her though," he offered.

"No thanks, I can find her myself. She's my mate, after all."

"Okay. Why did you come all the way over here? You could have just called."

"I'm just nervous, okay?"

Seth eyed me, not convinced. "You came for something else."

"No, I didn't. Don't pretend like you know me," I scoffed.

"Trust me; I'm very good at reading people. Did you come over to talk about something? Max?"

"I don't need your advice on Max," I growled.

He put his hands up in surrender. "I'm just trying to help, man."

"Just-" I considered letting him in on my struggles from my feelings for Bella and my loyalty to Max.

"Just leave me alone."