Maximum Ride: The New Breed

(ZT)

I glanced around. I had slept all night, and it surprised me. I hadn't done that for forever. I hadn't even slept for about a week. No wonder I was so tired...

Mayze looked a bit tired, she had kept watch, apparently. She handed me an apple, which I ate slowly, savoring the food.

I hadn't had much.

Everyone else was awake now, so together with most of the flock, I walked to the entrance of the cave.

Everyone was there, even the newcomers... no, not everyone. Not Blade. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek, but I brushed it away. Wait, Lexy was gone! She had talked about it... but now it was true. I hadn't thought she would actually leave.

There weren't any Erasers, which was good. I was trusting the newcomers plenty now... was it a mistake?

"So," I said, "what do we do? Not many people really seemed to like my idea of attacking, so what should we do instead?"

[Stella]

I yawned, and kept my eyes closed until I rolled over into the shade. I blinked a few times then, out of habit, scanned the flock. I noted that everyone was here, except for Lexy. Was it my fault? I wondered. ZT asked a question while absently brushing a tear from his eye and everyone started to think.

“I think that we need to…to pay our last respects to Blade before start thinking about what to do.” I swallowed a lump that had stuck itself in my throat. “I don’t want to rush anything but…” I hesitated, “They might want to take her and…” I didn’t try to finish the sentence. Everyone knew what I was talking about. Rose sniffed and I felt the need to comfort her, but I wasn’t in the condition to on account of tears were falling freely from my eyes.

(Lexy) *sorry I haven't posted in a while I went to my cousins' house

I pulled Rose into a hug even though she was being a brat... I did it anyways. My black hair shaded my pale face, I couldn't believe I was leaving... but I owed them... I owed all of them a better chance at ife without me. I'd keep in touch, but then again there was nothing exactly to talk to them with.

"Why? Why do you have to go?" Rose said crying letting her tears dampen my hair. I pulled her closer and whispered in her ear,

"Because I owe you. I owe all of you. You don't need me... I'm mean nothing to you." I whispered.

"That's not true!" Rose yelled. I'd never heard her yell at me before but still I did not flinch. "You don't owe us a damn thing! You know it too."

"Rose!" Stella gasped horrified.

"I will be back. I promise. I'm not leaving forever, Rose." I said but for sure I really didn't know. "I've gotta go." I said my voice cracked but it only showed weakness.

"Will you really be back for them? Or will you be back for us... the new comers... right?" Lynx said glaring.

I stopped within a mid-step and turned to face her my face drained of color and my voice sounded weak. I closed my eyes for half a second.

"Please, don't. It's already as hard as it is... Please don't tell them." I said hating how weak I sounded.

"Tell us what?" ZT asked looking at Lynx then at me.

"Were you really going to sell us out and think you were going to get away with it." Lynx said.

"I wasn't going to do it, I swear." I said with tears in my eyes.

"And why should I believe you?" Lynx said.

"Because it's the truth!" I yelled. "I don't want to go back there. And I know you don't either. I wouldn't sell you out." I said.

"How about now? Your cover is blown Lexy... Give it up." Lynx said and walked away.

*I don't know where I'm going with this but I'm NOT leaving the storybook so don't worry*

(Rose)

Rose was shaking from shouting so hard. Everyone had stepped away from her. She coughed quietly and watched as Lexy passed everyone and stood near the edge of the cave.

She was glaring at Lynx while Lynx stare calmly back. The flock watched Lexy to see when she was going to leave. Lynx narrowed her eyes. ZT took a step foward but didn't say anything.

Rose glared at Lexy, kicked the wall and turned away from everyone. She didn't want to watch her leave. She decided she didn't care about Lexy anyway so she could do what she wanted.

Lynx broke contact wth Lexy and slipped back into the cave. Lexy shook her head and glanced into the sky, opening her wings slightly.

(Lexy)

I couldn't stand this anymore, I stood at the edge, it was over so was my life. I took my wings back into my back and threw myself from the edge, I didn't deserve to live.

*sorry I know it's short*

*I thought Lexy left in the night...*

It's day now, so there :p and we're leaving the cave... I think...
I can't BELIEVE I'm killing myself during the holidays.

Lynx-

As we took off, I popped open my pill bottle and threw two meal tablets into my mouth. I didn't need to count how many were left, I already knew. Thirteen. ZT threw me an apple. Automaticly, I grabbed it, dropping the bottle. The bleached tablets streamed out. I didn't even know I knew the swear words that spewed out of my mouth.

Woops. There goes MY life. To say the least.

I threw back the apple and muttered "I'm not hungry."

But I knew he'd seen and heard what happened. But he didn't understand, not in the least.

Reed-

I was flying close to Lynx, trying to think of where I'd seen her before. At first I thought it was at the Rat City, but after a few minutes of thinking I eliminated that. I flipped through the rest of my memories like channels on a television.

Then I remembered something, a tall whitecoat with dark hair standing next to a little girl. The girl was Lynx.

[Stella]

I dove after the thing that Lynx dropped. I was surprised to see an empty pill bottle in my hand. Rose flew solemnly behind me.

I flew faster and caught up to Lynx, pulling up beside her. Chaos flew ahead of us and I admired the way he flew for a few seconds before I tossed the bottle to Lynx.

“You dropped this.” She looked surprised. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but what was the crap you said to Lexy about? We may have our disagreement and all that, but she’s one of us.”

“How do you know she’s trustworthy? If you knew what I knew…”

“I don’t want to know what you know right now.” I sighed, letting the anger pass with the breath. “It ruined my trust for her and now she’s gone.” I stole a glance at the pill bottle and said, “We all have secrets. Some things should remain secrets. Thank God you kept sane Reed.”

“My sanity is still intact, thank you very much.” ZT said, I shook my head and laughed.

“We’ll have to take care of that.”

Chaos flew back to us, a strange expression on his face. “There’s something up ahead.”

Reed put to words the question that we were all thinking, “Flybots? Erasers?”

“A city.” This is what happens when you decide to not pay attention to where you’re going.

**cry* I SO am not sane. That's like, an insult...*

**Sorry. I forgot to note the sarcasm **

*Oh, okay. My bad. *

Lynx-

"OK. A city. We can handle that." Maize commented.

"Of course, we could just detour," ZT said quickly

Looking at a dark cloud headed our way Chaos said, "No, I think we should stay in the city."

Suddenly, everybody was talking at once.

I sat out waiting for the decision to be made. I was watching the cloud. It was coming fast. The wind was hardly blowing. I focused on it and made out wings and wolf faces. A flock of Erasers. Crud. They were flying in a tight formation, almost too close to fly. In between the tightly packed bodies, I saw the flash of metal. Flybots. Double Crud.

I grabbed Maize and pointed. My voice had stopped working. She made a decision and informed everybody of our current situation.

"Let's get to the city, it'll be safer there. They won't be as likely to use the Flybots then. We'll pair up, Stella with Reed, Rose with Chaos, ZT with Lynx, and I'll fly alone. Stay with your partner. We'll meet at that building." She indicated a large building at the very beginning of the city. It's business read, Lexing and Batchel--Medical Equipment.

Everybody started to make objections. ZT was the loudest of all,

"Maize, I should go with you. You're the most in danger, they'll want to take out the leader."

Maize responded immediately, with decision in her voice. "I can take care of myself, I've paired up the stronger with the weaker. Look at Lynx, she's tiny in any measurement. She needs you. That is, unless you want Chaos or me to go with her."

I tried to make myself look as small and pitiable as I could. Finally, ZT gave in.

We separated and flew towards the city. Just as we reached it, I looked back. The cloud had disappeared, vanished like Lexy. One day here, gone another. Except in this case it had been minutes.

[Chaos]

Chaos threw a nervous glance over his shoulder, but couldn't really feel the panic that seemed to infuse the others. Sure, they almost got attacked, but they were flying. And it felt so frikkin awesome. He shook his head, probably another bird thought.

He glanced at Rose, making sure they had stayed together at least. That had seemed important to the flock. She looked scared. He looked down at the city, they would be safe soon.

He spread his outer feathers, letting the breeze seep through. He angled them slightly and began his descent into the city.

He landed gracefully in an alley, neatly tucking his wings into his back and rolling his shoulders. He heard the others land around him, Rose right next to him.

"Did we lose them?" someone said, a hint of panic showing through their voice.

He heard gasps and then he turned to see Mayze nodding. ZT scurried protectively to her side, and she smiled up at him. Chaos cocked his head to the side with confusion but then straightened when he remembered it made him look like a flabbergasted robin.

I guess I have a lot to learn about human emotion, he mused, slightly entertained with the thought.

Shaking his head, he clapped his hands together, "Well that was fun but let's move into the city? This place gives me the creeps," he gestured at the alley around them. Graffiti littered the walls and trash spilled out of a couple of garbage cans. Near their feet were puddles of murky water, and in the dark corner of the alley he thought he saw something move.

"Yeah, let's go," Mayze agreed, stepping towards the street. The flock followed.

(ZT)

I glanced around, knowing that the Erasers weren't gone yet. Didn't anyone else know that they don't give up? Maybe they wouldn't care about what the people in the city thought. Maybe they were hiding.

Around that corner.

In that alley.

Looking at us through those huge glass windows.

Waiting for us to--

I heard something whiz by. Metal. Round, spinning things. And a huge roar.

Maybe they'll just hit us with one of those, I thought. I glanced around. The flock was gone. No they weren't, they were just ahead of me. I sprinted to catch up.

My feet pounded on the ground, and I didn't hear it at first. I heard someone scream. I looked back. A huge, black thing. A truck.

The truck had driven onto the sidewalk, where we were. And I could see a Eraser face through the windshield. I glanced back. One of the flock was starting to turn. Mayze. She might have noticed that I wasn't there.

The truck came closer, and it was going too fast for me to jump out of the way. I didn't want to fly, so I simply jumped, and put my foot out in front of me.

It hit the windshield, slamming it to pieces. I felt my foot make contact with the driver. I fell into the car... on top of the Eraser. He was unconscious. For now.

I turned around, and saw that the truck was still heading towards the flock. I saw a wheel right in front of me. I grabbed it and desperately turned it, as the truck roared on.

A wall.

A window.

A store.

I slammed into the side of a store, and the truck flipped, and rolled. I saw people dodging out of the way. I was dead this time. My luck had to have run out. There was no way I could stay alive again.

Then I blacked out, but not before thinking, So much for keeping quiet... how long till they find out about our wings? and Man, I hope everybody'll be okay without me.

Unfortunately, the thought, Of course they will! had no time to cross my mind.