Chapter 1:


The teal waves pounded the shore. I gazed at the sky. Would it explode? I hoped not. I never wanted to see something that terrifying again. Seeing the sky explode was scarier than thousands of Erasers, Flyboys or School experiments-gone-wrong. The sky had been dependable, always there. It had been just a background for whatever was happening in the life of me, Maximum Ride. I had never paid much attention to it, until the moment it changed everything.


As I scanned the sky again, I tried to reassure myself that it wouldn’t happen again. What had caused it? Was it a natural disaster? Or a horrible Plan B for the whitecoats if the H8E virus failed?


If it was a natural disaster, it must have been a once in a million lifetimes event. If it was the whitecoats who had done it it, why would they do it again? We were safe in this paradise, I consoled myself. I heard the soft padding of footsteps behind me.


‘’I have something to tell you, Max,’’ a voice said. It wasn’t the Voice, it was a voice. However, it was the same person. Angel.


‘’What?’’ I asked alarmed. Angel sat down beside me on the sandy shore. She waited a moment before speaking.


‘’There might be survivors off this island,’’ she said. I sat up straighter and turned around to face her. The gentle breeze made her blonde curls wave.


‘’How do you know?’’ I asked.


‘’I read Jeb’s mind,’’ she said, ‘’There was a machine at the School that was supposed to make the sky explode. They wanted you to fly to the School and turn it on and then come back quickly. It would make the sky explode a few days later. There would be two spots that were safe. This island and the School. They weren’t sure whether it would wipe out the two spots along with the rest of the Earth so they decided to use the virus instead. Someone must have turned it on.’’


‘’Did the safe spot at the School work?’’ I asked as I digested all of this information.


‘’It did,’’ Angel said, ‘’And there might be people there,’’


‘’I want to go there and see if there are people there,’’ I said. That was my impulsive side shining through.


‘’It will be dangerous,’’ she warned me.


‘’When has that ever stopped me?’’ I said. ‘’That was a rhetorical question,’’ I added as she opened her mouth.

Chapter Two:


‘’It’s great to be going back to the School,’’ Fang said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes. We were flying towards the school. We had about two hours to go before reaching there.


‘’You were the one who wanted come with me,’’ I pointed out.


‘’One bird-kid would be toast against a pack of Erasers or Flyboys,’’ he said.


‘’And two bird-kids would do much better,’’ I said sarcastically.


‘’We should have brought the rest of the flock,’’ Fang mused.


‘’We needed to leave them there to protect the island,’’ I said. I looked down at the land below. It was unrecognizable from our recent trips to the School. It was scorched and there were still fires raging in some places.


‘’I hope Jeb isn’t stirring up trouble back at the island,’’ Fang said worriedly, ‘’Now that you’re not there,’’


‘’They wouldn’t let him. And how does me not being there change anything?’’ I said.


‘’You’ve been the leader for the past two weeks. You’re the one who makes sure we’re gathering enough food and no one is fighting with each other and all that leader stuff.’’ Fang said.


‘’I’m not the leader of the island. I’m not even the leader of the flock now!’’ I yelled. Fang looked surprised.


‘’Sorry,’’ I said, ‘’I’m just a little bit sad that there isn’t a flock anymore,’’


‘’What do you mean? The whole flock is there,’’ Fang said.


‘’I mean, we aren’t a group anymore. We aren’t spending as much time with each other and I’m worried they’ll forget about how we used to be a flock.’’ I said. Fang stayed silent for a minute.


‘’I know what you mean, Max,’’ he said, ‘’I’ve been thinking about that too. The flock is still here. They’re just excited that we live in paradise and there aren’t any whitecoats after us and there are other kids like us. They won’t forget that you were the one who kept us together and kept us alive. We are still the flock.’’
Chapter Three:


‘’The School!’’ I said. We hovered around and looked for danger. I didn’t see any. However, danger doesn’t walk around with a sign around its neck. So I looked closely for the usual problems. You know, Erasers, Flyboys etc. I didn’t see anything so we landed on the ground.


‘’Do you want to split up or stay together?’’ Fang asked me.


‘’Stay together,’’ I said. ‘’Let’s search the inside of the School first,’’ I added.


About two hours later we came out of the building. We hadn’t found anyone inside. I was beginning to feel discouraged. I knew there was only a slim chance of finding anyone but I still wanted to try.


‘’Let’s search the surrounding area,’’ she said.

‘’I shouldn’t have abandoned Ratchet and Holden,’’ Fang sighed.

‘’You have to make tough decisions as leader. You did what you thought was the best for them.’’ I said. I knew Fang had felt guilty about leaving them ever since we came to the island two weeks ago. I also knew that he’d been hoping that they would be here. I then spotted four figures on the ground. Two of them looked familiar. Fang dove down.

‘’Ratchet! Holden!’’ he yelled. I used my super speed to catch up with him. We landed. Ratchet, Holden and two girls were standing there looking shocked.

‘’Fang, Max,’’ Ratchet said sounding shocked, ‘’You survived!’’

‘’Did the rest of the flock survive the explosion?’’ Holden asked. I nodded. The two girls were keeping their distance. They looked wary of us.

‘’Who are they?’’ one of them asked as her green eyes darted from Fang’s face to mine. She looked about fifteen. She had long, straight dark brown hair. The other girl was about ten and had curly, light brown hair with wide blue eyes.

‘’This is Fang and Max. They are friends of ours. You can trust them,’’ Holden said to them. They started to look calmer.

‘’My name is Misty,’’ the younger girl said.

‘’My name is Flash,’’ the older girl said, ‘’I see that you have wings. We have them too,’’ Both of them extended their wings. Flash’s wings were the same color as her hair and Misty’s wings looked like Gazzy’s wings. They were light brown dotted with darker specks. Owl’s wings.
‘’We can take you to paradise,’’ Fang said.

Chapter Four:

A few hours after we landed back at the island with Ratchet, Holden, Flash and Misty, my mom called a meeting. All of us nervously came out of our houses. We had never had an island meeting before. The houses had been damaged after the explosion but were still standing. We had done some fixing and they were looking a lot better. I looked at the food hole in the middle. All food that was gathered was to be shared. That was my idea. It was almost full. It would have to be expanded later.

‘’I think we should first take attendance and then we should start the meeting,’’ Mom said. We nodded.

‘’Jeb?’’ she said.

‘’Here,’’ he said.

‘’Nino?’’ she said.

‘’Here,’’ he said. Mom then went through the names of the kids. There was Ella, Iggy, Nudge, Dylan, Angel, Fang, Jay, Sonar, Radar, Sprinter, Ivy, Fire, Mini, Aqua, Flash, Misty, Ratchet, Holden and I. She finished off with Total and Akila. So, four humans, eighteen mutants and two dogs. A good group, if you ask me.

‘’I think it’s time we elect a leader,’’ Mom said.


‘’That’s a good idea,’’ Sprinter said.


‘’Any nominations?’’ my mom asked. Everyone stayed silent.


‘’Maybe one of the adults?’’ Nino suggested. Jeb looked up hopefully. I glared at him. There was no way he was going to be my leader.


‘’I don’t want to be the leader. Jeb? Nino?’’ Mom said. Nino shook his head. Jeb opened his mouth but was silenced by the glares and whispers he got.


‘’I nominate Max,’’ Fang said. My insides turned cold as everyone’s eyes shifted to me. I was the leader of the flock, not the island. How could I lead so many people? I had enough trouble with just six or seven.


‘’Any other nominations?’’ Mom said smiling.


‘’I nominate Aqua,’’ Mini said. Mini and Aqua apparently had came from the same lab and were friends. Aqua looked proudly on. She’s arrogant, but that could change if she becomes leader, I thought.


‘’Anyone else?’’ my mom said. No one spoke up. ‘’Let’s start voting. All those in favor of Aqua becoming leader,’’


Aqua, Mini, Ivy and Jay raised their hands. I swallowed hard. Were the rest of them planning to vote for me or not vote at all?


‘’O.K., four people. All in favor of Max becoming leader?’’ Mom said. She raised her hand along with Nino, Jeb and Ella. I looked around. The flock were raising their hands. Ratchet, Holden, Flash, Misty, Radar, Sonar, Fire and Sprinter raised their hands.


‘’Alright, fifteen people. Max is the new leader of the island,’’ Mom announced. My jaw fell (yes, like the cartoons). How could I be the leader of kids I barely knew in this new, unfamiliar world?


‘’You’ll do fine,’’ Angel said. I turned and opened my mouth to tell her to stop reading my mind.


‘’I’m not reading your mind. I just know you so well that I can tell what you’re thinking. That’s how I know you’ll be a great leader,’’ Angel said.