Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, and if I did, I think someone would have told me.
A/N: Is it a zombie? Pretty close. It's an update, if you can believe it. Yes, I have resurrected myself from the dead. Amazing, isn't it?
MR
Alphas led. They ruled, they taught, they controlled, they were loved and they were feared. Alphas were what gave a pack its power, what gave it the chance to be something powerful, something to be respected. Even so, with the need to dominate all others, Alphas always cared. They worried about pack-mates before themselves, they kept everyone safe, and responsibility came before any want. This is what Alphas were, what they did, and what they were meant to do.
I always accepted these things to be true. They're not things I've ever thought about, not things I've ever thought to think about. They just were. Perhaps this is why I've always been so happy not to be leading. Because I understand the entirety of what it entails, how everyone depends upon you, and how you need to take care of all before yourself.
And we already had an Alpha. And Alphas were to be obeyed, before anything else. Only when they ceased to be the strongest, only when they ceased in their duties, were they to be challenged. But when they cease in their duties, someone must challenge them. For the good of the pack (because the pack comes before the Alpha).
Max had stopped doing her job as Alpha. Making a stupid mistake like that, letting the enemy come into camp, join us and eat with us and sleep with us. That put the pack in danger, and that is the worst that an Alpha can do.
I don't understand everything, and I don't pretend to. I don't hope to either. There's too much to understand anyway. I only know my pack, I only know my world within my pack, and I can only hope to protect my pack. Because whether or not Max knows it, she's not the Alpha any more. She stopped being Alpha when she stopped keeping to her duties, started making stupid decisions. The pack comes before I do now, because I know that the pack has to be kept safe. I'm the Alpha now, because no one else is stepping up, and someone needs to.
MR
I am not having a good day. It may be that Fang isn't very talkative and doesn't reply to me when I speak. It may be that Angel is reading my mind, again. It may be that Fern is mad at me, and won't listen to me. It is probably that my life is forfeit if Angel hasn't gotten into Fern's mind yet, but mostly, it is because I am currently too out of breath to speak.
"Max... hide... Fern... death!" I panted, out of breath.
"What was that, Nudge?" Max asked, somewhat distracted as she looked through her things.
"Fern's going to kill me! She's going to rip me to shreds and feed me to the Erasers!" Max stopped digging through her bag.
"What?"
"Fern was mad because she was shorter than Angel, and I told her that it was just something weird, but she didn't care so I thought maybe since she was a plant she wasn't getting enough water to grow properly so I tried pouring water on her because that always works on short plants, only I forgot to warn Fern because I thought I told her only it was actually that I ran the theory by Frond. By the way, those two look too much alike for their own good. So, I poured the water on Fern, and she might have believed me if it was room tempeture, but I got water from the river and I forgot that it was cold, and I poured it on her and now she's trying to kill me!"
Max sighed. "Would it kill you not to create chaos, Nudge?" I glare.
"I just told you! It wasn't my fault! I was just trying to help." Max laughed.
"Really? Well, please don't try to help me any time soon." I huffed.
"Why aren't you taking my side?"
"Because you dumped cold water on poor Fern." I widened my eyes.
"Does this mean you are going to let her feed me to the Erasers?!" Max laughed again.
"Maybe."
"You wouldn't." I say.
"Oh, Fern!" Max shouted. "Nudge is over here!" I start to run away, but I can already hear Max talking to Fern.
"Don't go too hard on her. She thought she was helping." I sighed in relief.
"Does this mean I can't chase her anymore. I am soaking wet and cold."
"No, no. Feel free to chase her. Just keep the dismemberment to a minimum." My eyes widen once more, and I start my flight again.
I am really not having a good day.
MR
I miss my flock. I've only been away for two days, and I miss my flock. It's night now, and I'm trying to sleep. The stars in the sky are winking above me, and it's strange to note that they are the same here as they are back where my flock is resting now (I hope. Iggy could be letting them stay up later than they should be). I can see the same constellations we named in some of our earlier days of freedom.
A jaguar ready to pounce that we call Spots (named for a flock member who died before The Great Breakout), a buck not too far from Spots (Red dubbed him 'Deadmeat'), a rabbit that Kin had named 'Lunch.'
I fell asleep watching the stars and thinking of my flock, and I dreamed of my childhood.
I am small. Smaller than I've been in years and I don't know what to make of it. I'm back in my dog crate (ohgodohgodohgod) but it seems bigger than I ever remembered it. The voices outside it are speaking and I don't listen, won't listen, can't listen. They're saying what they are planning, and there's no preparing for the atrocities and the best I can hope for is that I don't hear it, don't have to worry and fear it until it happens. I'm blocking them out but the voices break into my consciousness anyway.
"Why would you raise them separated by species? They'll just develop as they would if they were not hybrids. The predators will hunt the prey, and the prey will outnumber the predators. We're looking for new discoveries, not what we already know!"
"But they all have human? How would this affect the food chain? Would it affect it? That is what we are seeking to discover."
"Think. Humans exploit the weak. Predators exploit the weak. Nothing will change. Separate them into two groups. Keep them separate at all times, and we'll see what happens then. Don't let them form species ties. Which species room are we in?"
"Bird, sir."
"Right. Hmm…" I see him looking in each of our cages. I look into the others' cages. Everyone's asleep except for me and Max. We're awake.
"These two are alert. I thought we had them sedated."
"A few hours ago. The dose shouldn't have worn off quite yet, but it's not implausible."
"Mhmm… These two are the strong ones then. They'll be separated. Can't have too much strength in one group. Take the dark one out, and… and the blind one. They'll be put in a different group, but the rest will stay here. Come, lets look at the other species." Footsteps tell him of their exit.
"Fang?" Max whispers. "Did you hear that?" I nod. "They're not going to let us see each other anymore, are they? You or Iggy."
"I don't think so." I whisper.
"We'll still be friends, though, right?" I nod again.
)O(
I'm in a new room now, a new crate too. In my old one, I'd scratched a row of sharp teeth in the back left corner, but there's nothing there now. There are more crates in this room, and I look around.
Before I can observe more than that there are more crates, my door opens. Caution stops me from immediately running out, but not for long. I run to the door, but it's locked anyway. The other crates are opened too, and I think a few of the other experiments are crawling out.
"Fang!" Iggy says. "Where's the girls, and Gasman?"
"Somewhere else. They're separating us." I answer. The other experiments have left their crates, and they band together in groups depending on the species. I can see three wolves, two fish, a jaguar, a panther, and two rabbits. The cats stand closer to each other than any of the other species do, as if they feel weak by being alone and are staying by the one closest to them.
The panther is the first to speak, and she turns to me.
"I'm Dream. Who're all of you? I didn't know any other experiments survived."
Iggy answers for me. "I'm Iggy, and this is Fang. We were with four other bird kids." Everyone takes this as a cue to introduce themselves.
The jaguar, who introduces herself as Spots, is the oldest at eight years and quickly takes a leadership spot.
"Anyone know why we were all put in here?" She asks. No one answers, so Fang is the only one who knows.
"I heard them talking." Spots turns sharply to look at him.
"They said that they had sedated me, but they misjudged the dosage, and I woke up while they were talking. They were saying something about experimenting, seeing something different, and keeping us away from our species." Spots snorts.
"Please. I'm the only one of my species." All of the other cats agree, but everyone else looks to the rest of their group.
"I think we're going to be kept together. They were talking about raising us in the groups." Spots takes another look.
"You got all this before they noticed you were awake?" I nod. "And they got the dosage wrong?" She looks mildly impressed. "Impressive for a bird." The words 'but not for a cat' remain unspoken, but they hang in the air.
)O(
We've been waiting for hours for Spots to come back. She's not back yet.
We've been waiting for days for Spots to come back. She's not back yet.
We've been waiting for weeks for Spots to come back. She's not back yet.
Spots is not coming back, and the flock says I'm leader now.
"Hey! Spots was my best friend. She always said you were alright for a bird. I think you'd make a great leader," Dream says. The rest of the flock nods.
"I don't think so." Cane, the oldest wolf. "I don't think you belong here at all." A snarl, and I step back.
"Not at all…"
"Not at all…"
I wake up with claws on my neck and surprise on my face.