Maximum Ride: The New Breed

(Rose)

Rose took her elbow off Lexy's chest, rolled across the ground and reluctantly got to her feet. She looked back at Lexy and offered out her hand. Lexy took it and Rose tugged her onto her own feet. She grimaced in pain. Rose glanced down worriedly to Lexy's blood sodden shirt.
"Lex, Your still really badly injured," she whispered, her voice wobbling.
"I'm fine," Lexy replied firmly through gritted teeth.

Rose was about to argue with her but Lexy put her finger to her lips and crept across the clearing. Nate sighed in his sleep and turned over. Lexy tiptoed past him and dissapeared between the trees.
"But what about..." Rose began.
Lexy grabbed her hand and yanked her away from the clearing. Rose whimpered and clutched her bad arm. Lexy took her opposite wrist and led her deep into the forest.

They walked for hours in the darkness. Rose dragged behind tiredly. Lexy was keeping up a quick pace for someone who was close to death. Rose wasn't sure exactly how she had been injured but it looked horribly painful.
"Where are they," Rose moaned.
Lexy stopped in her tracks. Rose slammed into her and reeled back. Lexy gasped then covered her mouth. She looked into the starry night sky peaking through the trees.
"Is it safe to fly?" She wondered.

Rose shrugged and yawned. Her stomach growled hungrily. Rose moaned and flopped angrily onto the floor.
"I'll go anyway as long as I get some freaking food!" She complained.
Lexy motioned for her to follow. Rose stood back up and open her wings. Lexy shook her head and began walking again. Rose knew the trees were too close together to fly out so she carried on grumbling and letting Lexy pull her along.

(ZT)

I stared at Blade. Then at Reed. I couldn't tell his thoughts--that was what Mayze did. But she didn't seem to have seen anything wrong.

I could tell that Blade was kind of starting to trust him. So I repeated my question. "What was that thing you threw in the stream?"

Reed-

I looked over at ZT. "It was something that was broken, so I got rid of it." I answered calmly. He knew I was evading the question but didn't press it. He just nodded and walked away with Blade and Mayze. But I knew he wouldn't leave satisfied with my answer. He wasn't the type to give up.

I leaned back against the tree and looked at the sky. It will be dawn soon, I thought. Maybe searching for the other Mutants will calm the new flock down.

(ZT)

The only reason I walked away was because I knew what it was. I had seen it. It was a tracker from the whitecoats. He knew that he had it, and he had been sent to hunt us down. And he had also lied to me about it. If he had told me the truth and come up with a good explanation I might have trusted him.

Now I didn't.

Despite the fact that he saved my life.

I pulled Mayze over where Reed couldn't see us to tell her.

[Blade]

Blade shifted her weight unsteadily, her mind buzzing. ZT had pulled Mayze aside and Blade was about to follow when she looked back over at Reed. Now she stood with her legs splayed indecisively between them. She scrambles painfully about in her mind, unsure who to trust and what to think. For now? Trust no one, suspect everyone.

Even as the decision formed in her head, Blade felt uncertain about it. The flock was her family, they were connected... but then she didn't know anything about them.

Frustrated, Blade slowly leaned against the cave wall and then sunk into a cat nap to escape her thoughts. They were dangerous.

(ZT)

"Mayze," I said, once we were alone. "I have no reason to trust Reed. I saw him throw something into the river, and I zoomed in close enough to see. It was a tracker from the whitecoats. So that they could follow us, and probably ambush us. He knew about it, or he probably would've told us about it right away. Besides, if he had been escaping, do you think that they would've been able to put it on him? And now, when I ask him, he lies about it. Which means that he doesn't trust us to know, or... he is working for them, but he wants to pretend he's not. I just can't trust him."

Mayze stared at me, trying to decide what to say.

I stared back, and even at a moment like this thought that she looked beautiful.

(Hey Jamon! I didn't lie! I just didn't tell you what it was.)

(Lexy)

My side throbed, and I was hungry and becoming irratible. Rose wasn't helping much. The ground was really wet as Rose and I walked in mud and Rose's shoes began to squeek.

*all for now*

(Lexy)

My side throbed, and I was hungry and becoming irratible. Rose wasn't helping much. The ground was really wet as Rose and I walked in mud and Rose's shoes began to squeek.

*all for now*

(Lexy)

My side throbed, and I was hungry and becoming irratible. Rose wasn't helping much. The ground was really wet as Rose and I walked in mud and Rose's shoes began to squeek.

*all for now*

((Mayze))

I shifted nervously, "I think we can trust him now."

ZT gave me an odd look, I almost laughed, "But the tracker! I saw it!"

I sighed, "Emotions don't lie, neither does the wind.Can you try to trust him?"

I leaned toward him a bit and grinned, "Plus, we can give the newbies the tedious jobs."

ZT grinned back, "Like hunting and food and herbs gathering?"

I laughed quietly, "Exactly."

ZT hesitated and pulled me into a hug, "You make me feel better about this."

I smiled and hugged him back. I noticed he was warmer than me. I was reluctant to pull away from the hug. I looked up to the sky and listened. Nothing was amiss so I thought we should look for Rose and Lexy.

"I need a volunteer to go with me to look for Lexy and Rose. They'll need some help coming back."

A few hands shot up and a few 'I'll go's' rose. "Preferably someone who's strong and not hurt." I shot a sorry look at ZT.

"Can't we all just go?" Blade asked.

I shook my head, "If we get captured for some reason, they're will be some of us who can go on. So one other person is all I'm taking." I crossed my arms.

(ZT)

Damn it! I thought. Why can't I go? I'm the one who wanted to go back in the first place! But, since Mayze was probably right... again... I didn't put up an argument.

I thought about Reed. It was true that Mayze could see the wind and all, and I can imagine that it's pretty frickin' hard to internally lie about your emotions. But what if he honestly did trust us? So he really did have good intentions... what if the whitecoats had tricked him into thinking that they wanted us captured for good reasons? But I didn't mention that to Mayze, because she would just think I was being paranoid.

Well, that and the fact that she and nearly everyone had left to search. Reed and I were the only ones left. I guess that gave us time for us to get to know each other... or for him to call the whitecoats and have them kill me.

Already, I missed Mayze, and wished that she were here instead of Reed. I could still feel her from when I hugged her.

But now it was just me and Reed... no going back.

I walked over to him.

(Rose)

Lexy was clutching her side and slowing down. Rose was quite happy to slow down. She was so hngry she felt sick. She sighed walked fowards and few more paces and stopped.
"I'm taking these shoes off, they're driving me crazy!" She complained loudly.

Lexy put her finger to her lips and leant aganist a tree. Her breath was shallow. Rose stooped to take her muddy off. Lexy shook her head and coughed. Rose put her foot back down. It landed straight in a puddle of sludgy, rain water. She waited for Lexy to build her strengh back up a bit.

Rose knew her hearing was very good but she was sure she hadn't just heard footsteps far away. Her head snapped round to look for anyone. Is it the whitecoats or the flock, she questioned herself.

There was definitely someone. She could hear distant feet, trudging through the mud.
"Can you hear that?" Rose whispered.
Lexy shook her head.

Reed-

When ZT came over to me he opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again, apparently thinking better of what he was going to say. He sat down a few yards from where I was and started drawing in the dirt. I turned away from him thinking; of course they leave me with him. I opened up my wings, letting the suns energy envelope me.

(ZT)

Hey, if Reed was going to ignore me... that's fine. I won't bother him. I don't even want to be here!

I picked up and threw a rock, and it sailed into the trees.

I heard it clang into something.

Oh, crap, what is that? I thought. Jeez, Reed really is setting something on me.

But as I looked over, I saw that Reed obviously knew nothing about it.