Breaking Free (A Maximum Ride fanfic)

Chapter 2

I look around the white room as the lady who had come in checks the machines that my arm is hooked up to. Scribbling on the clipboard she is carrying, she adjusts knobs on the machine. "Where am I?" I say, looking hopefully at the woman. She looks over at me for a second and then resumes writing on her clipboard.

"That is none of your concern." she says matter-of-factly. "All you need to know is that this is your home." She walked over to where I laid and started to undo the straps on my wrists and ankles. After fully undoing the straps, she looks at me. "I need you to follow me. There is a tight schedule that needs to be followed and I fully intend to stick to it."

She turns around and briskly walks towards the door, pausing just before the door and looked at me expectantly. I sit up slowly, my whole body aching, while it seemed to be mostly centered around my back. I slowly swing my legs around to the edge of the bed, wincing from the stiffness, and slowly ease myself to the floor. I suck in a sharp breath, surprised at the sharp coolness of the floor against by bare feet.

I struggle to take a step, my legs almost buckling with my weight. I grab the cot beside me to steady myself. Slowly, I managed to take a few steps, Dr. Grey watching me with an air of professional curiosity. I immediately run into another problem, my wings. They hang down and drag the floor behind me. I stop a few steps from the bed.

"Little help please." I say looking to Dr. Grey hopefully. Amusement shone in her eyes for a moment before resuming her mask of indifference. "It is something only you can teach yourself. You have to be able to do it on your own."

Indignant that she though it was funny, I redouble my efforts to get my wings off the ground. Only moving slightly, I put all my energy into getting these infernal things to fold. They move only a few inches. The second try was a little better, my strange appendages rising a foot higher than the first time. I finally manage to fold them in the third try. When I relaxed, they slipped down a little. Frustrated, I grit my teeth, tense my back up a little to reposition them.

Between keeping my wings folded and attempting to walk, I end up tripping and falling hard on my hands and knees. Eyes watering from the pain, I get up again. When I finally make it over to her, she nodded in approval. Reaching into her lab coat pocket, she pulls out a pair of fuzzy beige socks and hands them to me. I have to lean against the wall to keep my balance as I put them on. As soon as they're on, I immediately feel a little less cold. I sigh in relief. Much better. They feel soft and I welcome them compared to the biting cold of the tile floor.

I raise my left arm to push myself off the wall and I hear the scratching of her writing on her clipboard again. Dr. Grey continues to switch between watching me and writing on her tablet as I regain my balance. Seemingly satisfied, she puts the pencil in a lab coat pocket and turns around. Her went to a black box on the wall, and waves a white badge that hung from her neck in front of it. A small light flashes green, and a beep sounds.

The door slid into the wall, much to my surprise. Before I can marvel at it any longer, she goes out the door and starts down the hall. I try my best to to match her pace, but my wobbly legs are no match for her experience. Dr. Grey has to wait several times for me to catch up. She makes it look so easy.

The hallways look all the same, a bland white with a grey stripe through the middle of the wall. It sure looks like a mental ward. After a few more twists and turns (it's hard to keep track when everything looks the same), we arrive to a set of heavy looking double doors. There aren't any windows on the door so what is beyond them is a mystery. Dr. Grey waves a different key card she pulled out of nowhere in front of another black box. The box gives a soft beep and unlocks the door.

Dr. Grey pushes the door open and I am blinded form the second time by a harsh light that seems to be impossibly bright. It sends me reeling and I have to put my hands over my eyes to block the light from my eyes even with my eyes squeezed shut. I blink to clear my vision. What is before me shocks me. It is a huge glass dome, with what I assume is sunlight streaming through the panes. The top of the dome looks at least 300 feet high.

On the outer rim of the dome there is a four-lane running track with a gym setup in the center. Everything looked clean and brand new, even though that probably wasn't the case. As I marveled at my surroundings, a large shadow passed over the floor. It piqued my curiosity and look up to try and make out the shadow making loops in the sky against the sunlight.

At first I can't make out anything, but the harder I look, I can make out a human shaped figure plus huge wings. Another like me? The figure slowly circles they make wide spirals to make a landing. The figure looks vaguely female, but I still can't make out much detail. It was getting bigger and I realized that it was coming over here. She goes to land, but positions something wrong and ends up sprawling on the ground.

I gasp and attempt to run over to him. "Are you ok?!" I quickly look him over for injuries, not that I knew what to look for. There are only a few scratches, but that landing still looked painful. Only now did I get a good look at him.

The girl was fairly tall, well taller than me at least. She is albino, with white, almost silver hair and translucent skin that seems almost see-through. She has red eyes that look piercing even though she was disoriented. She brings her hand up to his head  to touch the scratch on her head and winces slightly before speaking.

"Well, there goes my awesome first impression." She says with a chuckle before slowly standing up. I look at her incredulously. "I'm-"

"Darien! You know exactly how to land, why would you crash?" Dr. Grey is rushes over to her. She looks her over and steps back, satisfied she didn't break anything. Darien looked at her pointedly. "I was trying to make a good first impression on our new family member." Say what? Family member?

"Family member?" I look over at her and cock my head in confusion. Darien looks over at me and smiles. "Yes, you are part of the family now."  She nods sharply to accenuate the point. Hmm, that means there might be others like me and her? "Are there-?"

Dr. Grey interrupts me midsentence. "There will be time for heart warming later. Right now you need to start learning how to fly. Darien volunteered to teach you so you need to follow his instructions." Dr. Grey walks away and exits through the the door we came in through.

While it sounds interesting at first, me hardly being able to walk doesn't make flying sound like so much fun. I turn to Darien with excitement in my eyes. She smiles a little when he sees my excitment.

"Well, lets get started."

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A/N Finally, I finished this chapter! I actually think this version is better than the original. I am my own editor, so please point out any mistakes you find. I would also like any feedback about what you liked or didn't like about the chapter. Thank you for being patient and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

-Tr33