I tried desperately to flap my wings, as I counted how low to the ground I was getting. 20,000 meters, 10,000 meters, 5,000 meters. One of my wings was bleeding from the bullet wound and I desperately flapped the other. I screamed as a large stream of blood flew up from my wing as I fell toward my death. My thoughts were interrupted by something, or someone catching me. It was the boy with white wings and the boy with dark wings.

"Head up, Iggy. We got her."

*Just relax. It'll be ok now. Rest.* the voice called to me again. This time I actually listened.
                         ••••••
I woke up in a room painted pink. I was now dressed in shorts and a red shirt. I looked to my left and my right to see the teen with strawberry colored hair accompanied with the dirty blonde haired girl and another woman. She had her black hair hung in a ponytail behind her head and she was carefully touching my injured wing. I concluded it was broken. The boy was examining my ankle, also broken, and the other girl was bandaging my hands, unbroken.

"AHH!!!!" I sat up immediately, startling the woman as I retracted my wings and tried to curl up in a ball for safety, only to yelp again as my ankle burst in extreme amounts of pain. The woman rested her hand on my shoulder.

"It's ok. You're safe here. We were just trying to fix your injuries." Her tone sounded like a mother's; calm, caring, and concerned. She looked over at the girl, who tapped the back of the boy's hand. He reached out toward my ankle and I flinched, his touch startling me out of my thoughts.

"What's your name?" The girl asked. She pulled one of my hands back out and continued to bandage it.

"Amy. Amy Ride. And you?"

She glanced up at me, eyebrows raised. "Max. Maximum Ride. That guy looking at your ankle is Iggy and that lady over there is my mom, Dr. Martinez. " Dr. Martinez carefully extended my wing and cleaned off my joint which was bleeding and had a small half-circle on the bottom half of it, I guessed from a bullet. I tried to move it but was unable too. Iggy was carefully running his fingers over my ankle, making me take in quick breaths when he brushed over the damaged area.

"Think I found it." He muttered quietly. "If I could just..." he carefully moved my ankle in a motion that I hoped would be fixing it. I squeezed my eyes shut and Dr. Martinez grabbed my hand and Max grabbed my other. I felt small hot tears running down the side of my face and I heard small clicks coming from my ankle, making me squeeze their hands harder.

"There. Hope that's better. You should be able to at least walk, hopefully run." He stood up and walked over to where Dr. Martinez was standing. He carefully grabbed my wing and repeated the same process.

"Is he blind?" I whispered to Max.

"Yeah. He's better at cooking than any of the Flock, though." She stood up and walked over to the door. As she opened it, the girl with white wings and the boy with dirty blonde hair flooded into the room followed by the boy with dark wings and another girl, around my age who had long black hair but no wings. The last to enter the room was the girl with brown wings. Their attention turned to Iggy, who was almost finished with my wing.

"Who are you guys?" I asked, their attention turning to me.

"Well, I'm Angel." The girl with blonde curls said. "That's Gazzy, Fang, Ella, Nudge, oh! And Total!" She picked up a small black dog that had black wings on his back.

"Hey Total. Long time no see, eh?" I asked the dog.

"Hey Amy." Total started licking his paws and Fang stared at him.

"How do you know her?" Fang asked in a very low tone.

"I'll tell later." Angel set Total down, who proceeded to rush out the door towards some other room.

"We met at The Institute. How about you guys? How'd you get wings like me?" They glanced at each other, their gaze eventually falling on Max.

"Well, we used to be kept at the school, like you were. The white coats tested on us and the Erasers would hurt us. Jeb helped me through that. He was like a father to me. Until he faked his death and turned out to be alive, then we all turned on him." Ella began to shift nervously on her feet.

"You still didn't answer my question. How'd you guys get wings?"

"Grafted into our DNA, like you." Fang glanced at Max, almost seeking her approval as to what to say next. "I remember you. You were the shy kid who sat in the corner of her cage and refused to escape or talk with us." Gazzy's mouth dropped open, his eyes widening.

"OH YEAH!! Wait, was that really you?" Gazzy asked me, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Yeah. Weren't you the kid who ended up exploding the door. Anyways, I met Total at The Institute when they had first taken him in. He was trusted to me, I think so they could monitor my emotions and brain waves. I taught him to read, play, and fight. Then, when I was nine, I was taken to The School as part of another test to see how well I'd do with losing my friend." I watched their faces, some unchanged and some looking off in another direction. I decided that, with some of them distracted, this was my best chance to escape. Within seconds, I had rushed out the door and was frantically opening any door I could find in hopes of opening the door that lead outside. I heard the yelling of The Flock, Ella, and Dr. Martinez behind me, telling each other to lock the doors so I couldn't escape. They were too late, I was already out the front door.

Sorry this was late! School is coming up so I'll keep trying to update!