To Hillbilly's House We Go

Max's P.O.V.

The Flock and about half of the Migration and I flew back to Kentucky, stopping at the old house we hunkered down in so long ago. Nudge explained that Hillbilly's cabin was somewhere next to a creek a ways up the mountain. She really liked that kid.

We trudged up the mountain, exhausted. Our powers were coming back. Angel decided that she was going to continually use her mind reading because she had lost it for so long.

'Hey Max, Ryan's thinking dirty thoughts about Selene...' Angel thought to me.

'LALALALA!' I thought back, shaking my head. I fixed my ponytail and Fang nudged me. I glanced over at him. Dark circles ringed his eyes and his hair was all jumbled, but somehow still pulling of sexy. Scratch that, I did not just think that with Angel in my mind.

'Yes you did...'

'Angel, sweetie, get out of my head!'

She giggled behind me and described the conversation to a depressed 24, who had no expression. I felt bad for the girl. Her sister/friend died for me and my children. It was my fault, I knew deep down it was. Why didn't I listen to Fang?! Why didn't I get the girls out?! Ugh! The stress of being a young mother.

"Misses Maximum?" Jes whispered.

"Jester, it's just Max," I tried not to snarl. How many times did I have to tell this kid?!

"I know, but Dyl always said to call you Misses Maximum 'cause it peed you off," Jes said sweetly. Oh Dylan, always agitating me; even after death.

Jes held tight to my hand. "I miss Kale..." He sniffled. Ugh!

"I'm sure you'll see him soon, kiddo," I gave him a reassuring smile. Why hadn't I remembered Angel being like this?

'Because I was far more mature...'

'Angel!' I snapped in my mind.

'Ok, ok sorry!'

"There's a creek," Iggy stated. I glanced over and he was standing in it.

"Good job, Igs. I would've never noticed," Gazzy said with a hint of sarcasm.

"So we must be getting close..." Nudge started to ramble again.

"Do you think they actually made it?" Jace asked Ryan in a hushed voice. Ryan only shrugged.

"They were only human, so it's possible that they..." Selene started.

"DONT SAY THAT!" Alex wailed.

That's when I started to doubt.

"Tire tracks," Melee grumbled. I almost didn't pay any attention to her, but I followed her pointed finger to an area about fifty yards away and saw that there was a wide path.

"Look!" I practically screamed as I took off in the direction of the path. The others followed. I was dragging Jes along behind me. I bursted out from behind the undergrowth blocking the road and saw that there was a fresh track of tire prints.

"We're close!" I breathed and held tighter to Jester, "Lets go!"

I could feel that we were almost there. My boots beat against the moist, black dirt as I raced a little farther up the mountain side. And then, to my luck, I spotted the outline of a logged cabin with a minivan parked outside. Jes squirmed out of my grip and Fang and I took off, full sprint, up to the tiny home. My fist beat on the crappy door. It swung open and the first thing I saw was the barrel of a gun.

"Maximum Ride?!" A voice called from behind the weapon. Low and behold there stood a booted boy wearing a cowboy hat and blue jeans. I only nodded. Hillbilly's familiar grin filled his features as he tossed the gun aside.

"ELLA! SYLVIA! DR. MARTINEZ! MRS. ARBROWN! You won't believe who just walked through the-!" His yelling was cut off by me literally shoving past him and running into the room. Call me rude; I dare you.

"Where?!" Sylvia came out of a small bedroom shrieking. In her arms she held a little bundle, my little bundle. I scooped up Ava from her arms and tears pricked in my eyes. I instantly started cooing to my tiny baby. She gurgled back in response. I felt Fang come up behind me and Ella handed him Eva, who grabbed at his nose. They were very alert, probably because they're genetically mutated, but I like to think it's because they were happy to see us. If I wasn't the strong leader I was I probably would've broke down into tears of happiness, but I stayed strong. The others filed into the room. Nudge lunged at Hillbilly and hugged him. He rocked back on his boots, not expecting the affection. He awkwardly patted Nudge's back.

"I missed you!" She squealed.

"I sure did miss y'all's squallin', I gotta admit," he drawled. He pried her arms off.

I looked around the tiny cabin. There wasn't a sink. There wasn't a bathroom. There was no TV. Practically all it had was a couch, some chairs, a small bed off in a room to the side, and a storage closet. The room was lit up by candles sitting on an old, oak kitchen table and a lantern hung near the window.

"Max!" Mom called as she hurried over.

"Where's Kale?" Mrs. Arbrown asked meekly. Mom looked at me with worried eyes.

"Gwen got hurt..." I started.

"Oh gosh they're dead!" Sylvia cried.

"No no no, they took Gwen to the hospital..." I tried to explain.

"Was it that bad?!" Wailed Mrs. Arbrown.

"Trisha, please calm down I'm sure they're fine..." Mom tried to calm the distressed woman.

"Gwen was tortured," Melee said tersely. A hush fell over the room. "She lost a lot of blood, so they took her to be looked at."

Trisha and Sylvia stared wide eyes at Melee.

"Sparks died," 24 said grumpily, "She..."

Gazzy wrapped his arms around the girl and she began to cry silently into his shoulder. I gave a nod to my little trooper, thanking him for being so considerate.

There was a sigh of contentment somewhere behind me. I turned around to look at the couch where Hillbilly flopped down. Nudge giggled and took of his hat, setting it on the back of the couch. She then slipped his boots off and sat down beside him, putting his head in her lap.

"Um..." I started to protest, but Mom started to scold me.

"Let that poor boy sleep! He's been up cooking and running errands! Those babies didn't give him any rest! He had to walk two towns over to get them some formula!"

I glanced down at Ava, deciding that I'd leave Nudge alone for now. Ava started to doze off, but she kept refusing. She reached for Fang and he gave a small smirk. He passed over Eva and I gave him Ava. Eva held up her little hands, trying to grab my hair. Her eyes were brown like mine, but when I looked down in them I could see Fang's deep depth to them, too.

"I'm an aunt!" Ella said, trying out the new word.

"Aunt Ells," Iggy teased.

"Uncle Igs," Ella shot back.

"Wait! Are we their aunts and uncles?" Gazzy asked, referring to the entire Flock. I looked at his bright, blue orbs and my heart ached.

"Of coarse!" I exclaimed, "You all have been here from the start!" Angel and Nudge grinned, and I know Nudge wanted to start screaming.

"Oh my gosh! That means that I'm like your half sister, so technically me and Flair-," I nodded, stopping Alex.

"Wait! You're related?" Mom and Ella asked in unison.

I gave a whimpy smile and just shrugged. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Flair or Alex; I just don't like Brigid.

Then I spotted Sylvia staring down at her shoes, standing behind Trisha silently. I nudged Fang and he looked at me like I was wild. I just simply pointed over at Sylvia. He bit his lip before going back to showing exactly no emotion. He passed Ava to Angel like she was a delicate vase.

Fang went over to Sylvia and tapped on her shoulder. She glanced up, but quickly looked back down.

"Don't," she spat, brushing past Fang, "Gwen already told me to leave you alone." I saw the kid's lip quiver. She moved to a window and stared out, trying to choke back sobs.

'She's scared; scared that's she's going to loose another brother. She sees Dan in Fang, and Gwen already warned her to not bother Fang...' Angel thought to me, she glanced up from cradling Ava to give me a small frown. Fang stood there like he didn't know what was wrong.

'She saw Carl, I mean Eris, when the house got attacked,' Angel explained.

"Oh no..." I mumbled. Fang glanced over at me and I shook my head. I looked back over at Sylvia. 24 walked up beside her.

"Hi..." 24 whispered.

"Hey, I'm Sylvia."

"I know."

"Don't you have a name?"

"Twenty-four, Experiment twenty-four."

Sylvia stared at her, flabbergasted.

"Well, we need to fix that!"

"How?"

"Um, twenty-four is how many hours are in a day, and you control light..."

24 nodded.

"In Latin the translation of 'the light of day' is lucem diem, and that sounds kinda like Lucy Dee. How's that?" Sylvia asked, glancing up at 24, who's jaw dropped as she nodded vigorously. I too was amazed by the girls smarts.

"Alright, nice to meet you, Lucy Dee," Sylvia grinned as they shook hands.

"She's a straight A honor student," Trisha whispered to me. I closed my jaw.

Hillbilly was now asleep, his shotgun tucked under his arm with one in the chamber. Bo curled up to the left of the couch and Jes cuddled with the big beast.

"The car ran out of gas, so he had to walk a long way to get those babies something to eat," Mom explained, "He also said that his mother sold their farm and that the School came back to clean up the mess we left..."

They came back?! We could be in danger right now!

"Shut up!" Selene growled as she shoved Ryan, who bumped into Jace; causing him to fall and knock over a chair. Hillbilly bolted up out of sleep. Nudge squeaked in surprise and stopped combing her fingers through his hair as he grabbed for the gun. It cocked and he looked around, dazed. His breathing slowed and he tossed the weapon aside and rubbed his face.

"I'm sorry, it's just since those things came I've been a little...paranoid," he chuckled, "I guess I should make you all some food!" He moved to the tiny closet and pulled out some canned food.

- 23 hours later-

We've been here since 4:00 p.m. yesterday! It's now somewhere around three o'clock and I'm stressing. We haven't heard anything from the ones that took Gwen to the hospital. How are we supposed to know if they made it? Are they ok? Did the Dark Angels take them back?

I sighed and leaned back in this stupid lounge chair. Ava and Eva had just finished their bottles and were sleeping peacefully in a makeshift crib; also known as a drawer. Fang rubbed my shoulders and I groaned again.

"Bad day?" He asked with a smirk.

"Ha, I wish it were as simple as the Brady Bunch," I snorted.

"Do you think they're ok?" He asked in a hushed tone.

Before I had time to answer I heard Iggy shout.

"YOU CHEATED!"

"Did not!" Gazzy defended.

"Guys, it's just Monopoly..." Sylvia tried to calm them.

"I was winning!" Iggy yelled.

"You were not!" Ryan shook his head.

"Shut the heck up, morons! I was obviously in the lead!" Selene snarled as she moved her piece.

"I can't remember if I was the car or the hat...?" Jace mumbled.

"I was the car!" Jester announced.

"What?! I thought I was the car!" Hillbilly scratched the back of his head.

"I was the thimble, because it has something to do with designing! It's for old women, so they don't poke their thumb with the needle when they're sew-" Nudge ranted.

"Wait! Where did my secret stash go?!" Angel cut her off.

"Iggy, stop stealing my cash!" Ella wailed.

"I'm not!"

"Guys! It's just a board game, calm yourselves!" Alex ordered.

"I passed GO, give me my money!" Lucy Dee demanded.

The group kept fussing until Melee simply walked up and tipped the table over, sending the game tumbling to the floor.

"There," she said simply as she returned to trying to fix the small radio. That's when a voice shouted from the ancient box.

"AND THE BIRD GIRL IS WALKING OUT OF THE HOSPITAL! UNBELIEVABLE!"

"TURN UP THE VOLUME!" I hurried.

"No dip," Melee grumbled.

Short, I know, but I wanted to thank you all for your amazing reviews! :) thanks so much! I was so excited that Actress4TheLord updated her story Meet Coral that I was like :O. And I kinda had no homework tonight, so here's the chapter, and give a round of applause to Actress4TheLord. Anyway, Im still really amazed by your guys reviews. I was absolutely stunned. I'm here to say that I plan on releasing a sequel over my Christmas break (probably after I post my new short story) . Everyone will be older. It's going to be like a 2nd generation sequel, so people with characters that arin currently in a relationship maybe send in a kid OC for your character? Anyways, sorry for the long A/N. only one chapter to go, and then there's the epilogue. This story flew by fast!

R&R