Chapter 48

I flew in the direction of the call. I saw my destination; a small, grassy hill where the flock was standing. Kellie joined me in landing there.

I counted the flock. Thirteen people standing here atop a hill… could that be right? None of my mutant family had died in the war? It had seemed impossible, but here we were…

"We're done," Fang proclaimed at the sight of me. "They're defeated. It's all over."

He explained to me what had happened. There were casualties on our side, but ultimately, the Survivors' power had crumbled. Jewel was dead—strangely, I felt a twinge of remorse there. There was no more base of operations for our enemies—none.

"You IDIOTS!"

We turned on our heels, and saw Lao Hu, advancing on us, enraged.

"You fools!" she roared. "You think defeating the Survivors had ANY meaning? You've done nothing but make the world aware of just what kind of damage we mutants can cause! You'll face endless problems now! As if you've just protected anyone, as if anyone was in danger—well, now someone is in danger. And it's only YOU!"

On lower ground from the flock, a soldier prepared to shoot Lao Hu down. Mom stopped him.

"Don't," she said. "I'll take her in."

"In, Dr. Martinez?" someone asked.

Mom stepped up to Lao Hu. "This war has taken someone who was very dear to you," she said. "I can relate. Come here, Lao Hu. We'll get you a nice place to rest."

Lao Hu stumbled into Mom's comforting arms. Another villain taken under our collective wings. But honestly… what did Lao Hu ever do to us?

I turned to the flock. "This isn't over, you guys," I said. "A lot of people got away. Janssen and Anne… Shey and Lang and Sean… and there are some others who were never accounted for, like Sand and Mud and…" I sighed, putting a hand to my forehead. "It's never going to end, you guys."

Lao Hu looked up from Dr. Martinez's embrace. "They'll rebuild," she said.

I shook my head. "No. They won't. I won't give them that chance. I'm taking them all down right flippin' now."

I lifted a machete from some guy in the crowd and examined my reflection in the blade. My hair was reasonably kempt and free of blood, but my focus was on who I truly was. I was a cyborg. I was a warrior. I was Max. I was more Max than I'd ever been, more Max than I'd thought it was possible even for me, Max, to be.

I turned to the flock. "Can everybody still fly?"

Imogen saluted. "Ready to die for ye, Max."

The Cell reached out a hand to take Tooey's. Surprised, she looked at the hand, then into its face. "Hey," she said shyly.

"Let's go!" Kellie said, beaming.

"'S'all good," the twins said in unison.

Gazzy wrapped himself around Falon, then looked up at me. "Max, I… well, you know. We've been through a lot. I'm ready for anything."

"It's kind of strange, isn't it?" Angel said. "That we're still carrying out what we started years ago?"

"But this is how it's supposed to be," Iggy said. "All of us together."

"And we will be together," Nudge said, stroking the back of Iggy's hand. "Always. No matter what happens."

Airy fluttered up to me, kissing her baby sister on the head. "It's because we're special, Mommy," she said.

Fang stepped up to me, brushing my hair out of my face and leaning in tightly, so that all I could see were his black, black eyes.

"It's time, Max," he said quietly.

"Yeah," I whispered back, entranced by him, not entirely sure what he had just said.

I snapped out of it. "Yes… yes, it's time," I said. "Flap those wings, everyone. We're clearing out."

We took to the air, in pursuit of our fate, our destiny—our forever.

THE END

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Well, that'll be why the story description says "The end draws near, but not really." Perhaps I should explain. You see, it's my view that the flock are never going to be finished fulfilling their destiny—but they will always be in complete control of it. That's what the story conveys.

I should clarify—it's what my story conveys. As far as I can tell, the actual Maximum Ride series seems to be going for a moral of "the flock have no free will, ever" but, well, it's not in my nature to be that much of a downer.

Anyway, it's quite the journey I've taken writing this and reading people's responses. I hope to read many more responses in the future, and when the final Max book is published, maybe my interest in the fandom will be renewed. Or I'll burn down the bookstore that sold it to me, whichever. I'm surprised I haven't done that by now, actually.

Nevertheless, Maximum Ride will always be there, to remind me how much a fictional character (or rather, a bunch of them) can resonate in your very mind and soul, how much laughter and heartache can come from a book. Fact is, Maximum Ride is a treasure and I'll never forget how it affected me. And someday, I hope that I'll be the author, not the reader, of something just as amazing and wonderful.

Fiction is a magic thing. I'll never let it go. Goodbye, everyone. Don't try to fly with wet feathers.