James Patterson: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

Angel was looking sadly into one cage, and I went to her. Out of hundreds of genetic experiments, only we and the Erasers had been at all viable-as far as I knew. The two little creatures asleep on their cage floor were clearly horrible failures and probably couldn’t last much longer. What with some of their vital organs on the outside of their bodies and all. Kidneys, bowels, a heart. Oh, the poor babies.

“This is pathetic,” Fang whispered, and I turned to see him looking at a large cat, like a serval or a margay. I’d never seen a real animal in one of the labs before. Just as I was wondering what its deal was, it woke up, blinked sleepily, then turned over and dozed off again.

I swallowed really, really hard. It had human eyes. And when I examined its paws more closely, I saw humanlike fingers beneath the retractable claws. Jiminy Christmas.

Glancing over, I saw Angel reading the card tacked to another small cage. Its doglike occupant was running in its sleep. “Hi, doggie,” Angel whispered. “Hi, little doggie. You look like Toto. From The Wizard of OzT

I went over to Nudge, who was standing stiffly beside a cage. I looked in.

This one had wings.

I caught Fang’s gaze, and he came over. When he saw the bird kid, he sighed and shook his head. I actually saw sadness and tenderness in his eyes. It made me want to hug Fang. But I didn’t, of course.

“You know, we can’t save them all,” he told me softly.

“I’m supposed to save the whole world, remember?” I whispered back. “Well, I’m gonna start with these guys.”

There you go, Max, said the Voice. That’s the difference between you and Fang.

Don’t you dare say anything bad about Fang, I thought. He’s usually right. He’s probably right about this now.

Is it important to be right or is it important to do what’s right? That’s one of the hardest lessons to learn.

Okay, whatever. I’m really busy right now. “Start popping latches,” I whispered to Iggy, who whispered to the Gasman, and so on.

I opened a cage and gently shook the creature inside awake. “Get ready to run,” I whispered. “We’re getting you out of here.” The poor baby looked back at me uncomprehendingly.

Several creatures were awake and pressing against their cage bars, making weird noises I’d never heard before. We moved as fast as we could, opening doors. Finally, most of the prisoners were free, standing around, looking at the entrance to the lab with confusion or fear.

One cage held a large child who was gripping the bars. Fine features said this was probably a female. She had wings-I could see them tucked tight against her sides. She was older than the other winged child we’d seen.

I quickly unlatched the door to her cage. I jumped back when I heard a voice.

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” she whispered.

“Kids don’t belong in cages,” I said to her. Then I called out in a loud voice, “Okay, everybody. Let’s blow this joint.”

“This way!” Nudge said, attempting to herd the mutants out of the lab. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I hear voices,” Iggy said. “Be very afraid.”

“Let’s move it!” I ordered. My heart was pounding- what was I doing? Was I going to take care of all these kids? I could barely manage the ones I had.

I would think about that tomorrow.

“Nudge! Fang! Angel!” I called. “Out, out, out!”

They zipped past me, urging the others, and then we ran through the first door and across the deep carpeting to the second door. “Up the stairs!”

I didn’t have Iggy’s hearing, but I felt, sensed, that our little liberation party was about to be discovered. And that would be bad.

Plan ahead, Max. Think it out. Think on your feet.

Yes, Voice. Okay, we had steps, then sewer-I practically pushed the others up the dark stairs, one, two, three… One of the mutant kids freaked out and curled up in a ball, whimpering. I snatched it in one arm and kept climbing, two steps at a time. In my mind, I pictured the route we had to take.

Up ahead, Fang shoved open the last door, the one into the tunnel, and we all poured out after him, moving from cool, fresh air to a hot, fetid dampness that made my nose wrinkle.

“Where are we?” asked the bird girl we’d freed. She looked about ten years old and was one of the few who would speak.

“Sewer system, under a big city,” I said shortly. “On our way out to fresh air and sunlight.”

“But not just yet,” Ari hissed from behind. “First we need to chat, Maximum. You and I. For old times’ sake.”

Iwent still and saw the bird girl’s eyes widen in fear too. Did she know Ari? Slowly, I handed her the small whimpering mutant in my arms, then turned.

“Back again? What are you doing here?” I asked. “I thought Dad was keeping you on a short leash.”

His hands curled into clawed fists.

I needed time. Behind me, I made “run!” motions with one hand. “So what happened, Ari?” I said, keeping his attention on me. “Who took care of you when Jeb left with us?”

His eyes narrowed, and I saw his canines growing visibly longer. “The whitecoats. Don’t worry about it; I was in good hands. The best. Somebody was looking out for me.”

I frowned, wondering-“Ari, did Jeb give them permission to Eraserfy you or did someone just do it while he was gone?”

Ari’s heavily muscled body quivered with rage. “What do you care? You’re so perfect, the one successful recombinant. And I’m nobody, remember? I’m the boy who was left behind.”

Despite everything, despite the fact that I could cheerfully have kicked his teeth in for what he had done to Fang, I did feel a pang of pity for Ari. It was true-once we were out of the School, I’d never given him a second thought. I didn’t think about why Jeb had left him or what had happened to him.

“Someone did terrible things to you because Jeb wasn’t there to protect you,” I said quietly.

“Shut up!” he growled. “You don’t know anything! You’re dumb as a brick!”

“Maybe not. Someone wanted to see if Erasers would last longer if they didn’t start from infancy,” I went on. Ari was trembling now, his hands clenching and unclenching convulsively. “You were three years old, and they grafted DNA into you and they got a superEraser. Right?”

Suddenly, Ari lunged and swung out with one clubbed paw. Even with my speed-record reflexes, he managed to cuff my cheek hard enough to spin me against the gross tunnel wall. Something like pus stuck to my face.

I sucked in a breath, accepting that I was about to get the stuffing beat out of me. Ol‘ Jeb, though clearly an agent of the devil, had taught us the useful art of street fighting. Never fight fair-that’s not how you win. Use every dirty trick you can. Expect pain. Expect to get hurt. If you’re surprised by the pain, you just lost.

I turned slowly back toward Ari. “Out in the real world, you should be in second grade,” I said, tasting salty blood inside my mouth. “If Jeb had protected you.”

“Out in the real world, you would have been killed for the disgusting mutant freak you are.”

Now the gloves were off. “And you’re a… what?” I asked in mock polite confusion. “Face it, Ari. You’re not just a big, hairy seven-year-old. You’re much more of an obvious mutant freak than I am. And your own father let it happen.”

“Shut up!” Ari yelled furiously.

I couldn’t help it-I felt bad for him for a second.