I don't own MR.

Max

At this point in the game of life, nobody cared about Maximum Ride, or Ari, or Lupo, or Iggy, they only cared about themselves. About their lives. They were all so selfish it sickened me, but then again, I cared more about Fang's life than anybody else's. Even my own brother's, as much as I hated to admit it. Didn't that make me even more selfish than them?

Sighing to myself, I hugged on to Ari a little tighter as he sprinted for his life, looking back at my friends. Lupo currently had her hand clamped around Iggy's upper-arm, guiding him as he weakly tried to run with us, stumbling over himself every once and awhile.

It was then that it occurred to me something felt off. Besides the building getting ready to explode, I mean. There was a balance in the group that wasn't there anymore. Not Fang, but-

"Nudge!" I shrieked, my voice fumbling to sound louder than what was humanly possible at that point.

"What about her?" Ari asked, glancing back at our two friends. Two. Not three, but two.

"Where is she?" I rasped out, hoping my voice was still audible and it wasn't all in my head. That brought Ari to a stop, followed by Lupo, who in turn yanked Iggy to a halt.

"Yeah, where is McSlutty?" She asked, looking around.

"Do we really have time to wait around for Nudge? I mean-" Iggy began, staring off to the left of my head, which was peaking over Ari's shoulder since he was still carrying me despite all of my complaints.

"She's our friend, much to your guys's disappointment, and we can't just leave without her." Ari defended for me, and I reminded myself that later on I would give him some sort of present as a thank you for being my voice at a time like this.

"Well what are we supposed to do? Head back and hope we don't get blown to smithereens?" Lupo snarled, and I turned to her, wanting to speak but my words held back.

Because of the pain it took to talk, or because of the fact that she was right, I didn't know.

"I…" Ari's voice faltered, and I shook my head, telling him it was no use. As much I wanted a 'leave no man behind' policy, I couldn't have one. Not in this life, not in this world.

He groaned quietly, but finally gave a direct order. "Alright, let's keep moving. Hopefully she'll find her own way out."

At one point while trying to find a way out of this labyrinth, we ran into a scientist, who shoved us aside and kept running. He was selfish. We followed him.

Of all people in this facility, a scientist who came in and out everyday had to know of some exit. It was a risk we took because we had no other choice, and for once one of our stupid risks paid off.

An exit sign blinked in the distance, a bunch of people huddled around it like vicious beasts, clawing to be the first one out. There were so many of them they forged a door themselves, one that only maybe two people could get through at a time before it closed again as people continued to shove for their lives. For adults, they panicked like children.

"There's no way we can push through that," Ari muttered, looking down at me for a moment before looking back up at the nearest exit we could see. His heart rate shot up by a thousand, and his grip loosened.

"I swear to God if you faint I'm never going to let you live it down." I mumbled before coughing up a pint of blood.

"Relax, I'm just… calculating." He brushed my words and my blood drainage aside, looking around desperately for a better way out than shoving through a bunch of crazed idiots who thought they were cunning.

"We don't have time for this! Let's just take them out," Lupo exclaimed, dragging Iggy with her as she pushed on ahead of us.

"Lupo wait, we can't just-"

The first of many bombs chose that moment to go off. Then the second, then the third, and before I knew it I had lost count of the sounds of explosion, maybe because I was already dead.

Waking up in a pile of rubble wasn't my ideal option. I much preferred a bed, or even floors, to a shard of rock poking my skin away. However, for the seventh time in four years that is exactly what I opened my eyes to find. A deceased building surrounded me, the only evidence of it ever being alive was the very back wall, so far away I had to squint to see it well. It still stood, though its time was wavering as the wind pushed and shoved at it.

"Max, you still alive?" a small slap to my cheek sent me blinking in a fury as I forced my aching limbs and broken bones into a sitting position.

"Yeah. I'm good, I just- Nudge!" I shrieked, before remembering that I couldn't actually shriek. The high-pitched noise tore at my vocal cords, shredding them to a painful memory as I choked on my own saliva and attempted to keep myself from dying. What a way to go. I could see it on my tombstone now:

The Great Maximum Ride

Nothing could defeat her.

Except her own spit.

"Yeah yeah, Im alive, let's get over me for a moment so you don't kill yourself. I have a helicopter waiting for us. Everyone else is already on." She explained, grabbing my wrists and pulling, leaning back with all her weight as she grunted and I yelped. My left leg was trapped under countless pieces of brick and stone, and as Nudge dragged me out of the fallen hell I felt like I was being torn apart. It was a horrible feeling that left my insides quivering in more agony than they already felt, but eventually she got me out, and the force of finally freeing me from the building that I was positive had planned to drag me down with it, sent both of us flying back.

Nudge fell with an ungraceful, voice-cracking scream while I just toppled over, too exhausted to do much else. "Ugh, I'm guessing I'm going to have to carry you." She mumbled, and I was just about to shake my head when I noticed something. Looking forward I couldn't see my foot. It wasn't pointed up like the other one, but rather snapped at a one-eighty degree angle parallel to the ground. That did not look normal. So I nodded.

"Great. Just great."

"While you're doing that," I paused my whisper of a voice to suck in a deep breath. "You can explain to me how the hell you managed to get out alive."

"Well," Nudge began her anecdote, trying to pick me up, failing, and deciding dragging me would be the best option. "You see, after Fang turned the corner and disappeared I slipped off in the other direction thinking I could play the hero and everyone would stop hating me. However I kinda got caught up with a couple erasers who thought I was all looks and no fight. Boy, I bet they wish they never messed with me. I used that laser lipstick Ari made for me that one year. and God, you should have seen the look on their faces! Priceless. Anyways, after that I kept on moving and eventually found a computer room. By then the self-destruct was already activated so I had limited time and a couple dead bodies to get around. Which wasn't a big deal, except well the one- but anyways, I used some hacking skills, got in touch with HQ, and had them send a Helicopter to the coordinates. Then I looked up the nearest exits, memorized them, and headed back to you guys, but you were already gone. So I decided I'd run around the area a bit, but when I didn't find you I just went out an exit."

That's my Nudge, I thought jokingly, always loyal until the end.

"Fang came running out of the building not long after me, and I immediately herded him up. And-"

"Fang?" I questioned, and although I was sure Nudge couldn't have heard me, she somehow managed.

"Yeah. he didn't seem himself though, so I held his hand to make sure he didn't get away. Anyways, a few minutes after he got out the place exploded and I got so scared because I didn't see any of you guys, but then after about ten minutes the helicopter got there and I got Fang locked in and came looking through the wreckage for you. I found Ari first, then Lupo and Iggy, and now you! I was really glad to see- oh look! We're here!"

I glanced over my shoulder to find Ari hopping out of the helicopter to give Nudge a hand, picking me up despite the nasty gash on his forehead and black eye. "Hey Max, looks like you're doing alright," He spoke, a small smile on his face that made me roll my eyes.

"If by 'doing alright' you mean 'dying' then yes, I am doing alright." I mumbled.

"Is that Max?" Iggy's voice called and I grinned. Nudge really had gotten them all.

"Yeah," Ari called before taking me into the helicopter and setting me down in one of the empty seats. Nudge climbed in soon after and dropped down next to me.

"We're heading off to a new safe house where you're going to stay for a long time. It'll be safe enough plus you've never even been to this continent before so I doubt they'll look for you there." My friend added, and I nodded to show I was listening, but I was actually looking for Fang, who wasn't with us.

"He's in the back, and yes, there is a back. This helicopter is huge." Lupo spoke up at my look, and I tried to stand, only to fall back down from pain.

"Max, don't try to get up- wait, that was Max right?" Iggy asked, and Ari answered with a simple 'yes'.

"You looked pretty beat up before I went blind, I can't imagine what you look like now. So stop trying to kill yourself. He'll still be there when we get to wherever Nudge is taking us."

I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning back into my seat. He'd still be there. But would he really? From what I'd seen of Fang before he ran off he was just a hollow shell moving mechanically, robotically, to get away from the darkest secrets in his mind.

He wouldn't be there when we landed, I was sure of it. But then... what would?

I am not entirely happy with this chapter, but I have decided to post it because you guys have gone way too long without one and I'm sorry for that.

So here it is, the next chapter, and I hope it's not too terribly horrible. I'll probably go back and edit it more later on.

Anyways, anyone doing nanowrimo? My username's McMajestic.

Soar on

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