The Winged Legacy: A Maximum Ride Fan Fiction

Chapter 5

My eyes first adjusted to the blandness of the room. White walls, white sheets, everything sterile and neat. I lay on my side in a hospital bed, in still in that horrid gown and facing a wall with a window which had metal bars over it, like an asylum. A cannula was placed in my nostrils, providing air for me. It all reminded me of the time I got my tonsils taken out in sixth grade. I had woken up after the surgery with a nurse beside me then, smiling down caringly. Now I was alone.

Beside me, a heart monitor beeped, calculating 189 beats per minute. That couldn't be right, I thought. The average heartrate is 75 beats a minute. How could my heart work that fast when I've just woken up?

The heart monitor seemed to be tremendously loud, the beeps more frequent than they should be. I leaned over to check the machine for a volume button, but my head suddenly swarmed from dizziness. I collapsed back onto the bed on my back and landed on something that I, at first, thought was my right arm. I sat up again, slowly. The medications were probably making me delusional I began to think as I looked behind me.

A scream caught in my throat.

Wings.

I had wings.

I squeezed my eyes shut, muttered a prayer, then opened my eyes again.

Still there. The wings were still there, jutting out between my shoulder blades.

With a trembling hand, I gingerly touched the feathers and wrenched my hand back. It was like touching your own arm or leg, because it was literally part of me. Gently I lift one wing, then the other. The feathers were in a mixture of browns and ivory colors, like a hawk's, the down feathers by my shoulder blades a soft cream color.

"No freaking way," I whispered and felt my stomach drop with the realization. They changed me.

Before I could contemplate as to what to do next, the door to my room opened, revealing two Whitecoats.

"Wonderful, you're awake," the first Whitecoat, a woman with big red hair and glasses with lens that could be used for an observatory telescope. She had a southern drawl when she spoke. "How do you feel?"

"What the hell did you do to me?" I regarded them darkly, reminding myself to take deep breaths. Dreaming, maybe this was just a lucid dream I was having. I had one once before, when I was getting my tonsils out. I dreamt that I was fending off the doctors and nurses with a scalpel in one hand and a syringe in the other. It seemed so vivid that when I finally woke up, I asked the nurse beside me if I had woken up during surgery.

Big Texas (seemed like a reasonable title) regarded me like a zoo exhibit while the second one, a scrawny man who I wanted to tell to eat a sandwich, examined my heart monitor and took notes. "We revived your previous form. Took years to perfect but definitely worth it."

"My previous form?" I echoed. I sat up straighter. "What do you mean? Where are the others?"

"The other children are in neighboring rooms recovering from the procedure," Pinky Waist (again, I like nicknames) replied. "You are the first one to awake though. It seems the procedure had quite a toll on all of you."

"Well, not like it was painful or anything," I muttered sarcastically. "Still doesn't answer my other question-"

"Do you remember anything?" Big Texas interrupted, looking up from the file in her hand. I felt the sudden urge to snatch the file out of her hands to view the contents myself. I could find out where I was, see who my captures were, to make sense of this nightmare...

I snorted in response. "I remember plenty," I said, which seemed to be the correct response because Pinky Waist fumbled for the pen he had put back in his pocket, and Big Texas leaned closer, eyes sparkling with curiosity behind her huge spectacles. "My name is Megan Desireta. I'm sixteen years old, I'm from Virginia-"

"That's not what we mean," Pinky Waist said with a frown. His voice was nasally. "Do you remember from your previous life?"

There words still had no significance to me, but I studied the two of them for a moment and analyzed my situation. 1. I've been kidnapped, which means my parents must be tearing up every rock and forming search parties for me right at that moment. 2. I did not know where I was, and that bothered me. 3. The two nerds in front of me seemed to be slightly sane, so maybe I could negotiate something. 4. I HAD WINGS!

Finally I took a deep breath and turned the charm on. "Please," I said, putting a bit of wavering into my voice. "I don't understand what you are talking about. I don't know where I am, and I'm scared... Oh my parents must be worried sick. I-I'll try to answer any of your questions the best I can." I sniffed for good effect.

"We know," Big Texas said. "We care a lot for your condition. Do you feel like you can walk?"

"You're letting me out?" I asked, too shocked to remember to control myself.

Her fake smile didn't waver. "Yes, I'm going to let you out, but only if you swear to behave. We would greatly appreciate your cooperation and might even reward you. But," her eyes darkened as she held my gaze, "should you attempt to escape or inflict harm to anyone, you will be punished severely." She titled her head closer, "Do you accept?"

Do I accept? I knew she was only saying that to make it sound like I could reject, like I had power, but after many observations, I knew better, so to go along with the joke, I said, "Yes. I accept."

Challenge accepted.