A Flock of My Own (Maximum Ride fanfic)

Chapter Three

The faint smell of ash and char, wafted up my nose as I slowly came back to life. My eyelids fluttered open and I stared up at the black, frosty sky. It was night again. I must have been out for the whole day.

Wait a second, there are no skies in the Institute! I shot up so fast, I tasted vomit shooting up my throat. My eyes darted around, looking for Erasers, some kind of sign of being held hostage.

It appears I'm in another park. With smoky oak trees and long-winding gravel pathways. A lone fire burned beside me. My fingers brushed the ground, and soft grass met my touch. Whoever brought me, must have cared about me enough to not leave me asleep in the dirt.

Still looking around for any sign of my captors, I heard a faint twig snap. I laid back down quietly and slammed my eyes shut. I just prayed they didn't see me move.

"Dear Lord, how much longer do you think she's going to be asleep?" A gruff male voice spoke, okay so there's definitely Eraser potential.

"She was hit on the head pretty hard," A little girl's voice spoke softly, maybe they have female Erasers now? Children?

"I've been hit before and I was up in a matter of seconds," he shot back.

"That's you, and besides it wasn't like Niagara Falls again." I heard a soft giggle. Erasers... they don't laugh.

I hear soft rustling, but didn't dare to open my eyes.

"Hey! That was your fault, you made us stop and fly over it!" The man/ possible Eraser chuckled lightly.

"Whatever, what should we do with her when she wakes up?"

I opened my eyes quickly enough to see them gesture at me, but was unable to see what 'they' looked like.

"Send her off with a pat on the back and a map to get out of here" the gruffness in the person's voice returned.

"Winny, I'm serious!" The little girl whined.

Winny, what kind of Eraser has a name like Winny? Okay so they're clearly not Erasers.

"So I am, what do you want me to do, keep her with us? No, last time I checked I'm the leader." 'Winny' stood up and I felt drops of water spray my face as he put the fire out.

I heard the little girl's snippy response as they both left the campsite, their shoes scraping the gravel path.

Slowly opening my eyes, I saw their retreating backs as they went.. Somewhere.

I sat up, making sure they weren't returning anytime soon, before looking around for any supplies I could steal.

They were pretty stupid to leave their stuff lying around in a park. I felt my chest, damn it my potato fell out. Oh well, they have way better stuff here.

They had a backpack, A BACKPACK, loaded with food to the brim. I didn't want to take all of it, that would be too obvious. I grabbed a small wheel of cheese as well as two apples and beef jerky.

I noticed my hospital robe drying on a log. Dear lord, was I naked? I looked down, a long black poncho was draped over my shoulders. Oh, what a sight.

I shrugged off the poncho, but wrapped around my shoulders as I dressed back into the robe. Hey, maybe it'll provide some warmth.

I started running, trying to find my way out of the park. I winced as the rocky pathways stabbed my feet, oh well can't worry about that now.

Screeching to a halt at the stoplight, I drew a mental map of New York to figure out where I am. Hamilton Avenue, on Staten Island, about a half an hour away from where I was earlier. Great, leave no trace.

When the light turned green, I ran across the street, looking behind me every few seconds. Good, whoever took me earlier, certainly wasn't following me, yet.

The night lights of New York City blazed in the distance. Bright neon pizza signs cut through the clouds. The faint sounds of a concert in the square, hit the back of my eardrums.

I breathed in deeply, as I climbed an escape ladder to a top of a post office. The fresh, autumn air smelled wonderful. I wonder if that's what freedom smells like. I was almost tempted to go hold my arms out and sail away into the clouds, away from all the worries of the everyday life of a wayward mutant, but then I remembered I couldn't fly.

My feet dangled off the edge, as I grabbed an apple and sank my teeth into it.

As the juicy flavours flowed down my throat, I heard a rustle behind me. I jerked around, but no one was there. I shrugged just to make myself feel better, but I knew something was indeed there.

I climbed back down the ladder, my food still in hand. I threw my apple in the garbage can, and sped back down the street.

I walked, and walked, and walked until I had reached the river. It was silent, except for the small waves lapping at the shore.

I finally felt far away enough, from whatever was chasing me, to crouch on the ground. No way was I going to just leisurely stroll around a park anymore.

As a light rain started to drizzle on my shoulders, I ran another mile before settling down by a collapsed building, setting up the poncho as a tent, held up by concrete and other things lying around the place.

Munching on some beef jerky, I started to figure out what I was going to do next. I had no family to go back to, nowhere to vacation. I could start heading south I guess, to see where the other Institutes out there are. Okay, I guess it's settled then.

I stopped chewing abruptly, something was wrong: again. Welcome to my new life.

With a half chewed piece of jerky still in my mouth, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, as icy cold breath echoed onto it.

I turned around slowly, picking up a rock.

A tall man stood among the concrete ruins looking like a mighty warrior , smirking at me.

"Nice poncho."

Yay, I finally did. Well guys, the play is finally over, so hopefully I should be back to a normal update schedule. I think I'm not going to stick to an exact day though, that's a lot of work. I'll keep it to a chapter a week though.

Anyone have any guesses as to who the guy may be? Looking at you @CookieDaDog Just don't spoil it for anyone!