Ten

Max POV

"Why am I not surprised?" I glared at Jeb. He only stood there, hands clasped behind his back calmly, and watched me. "What do you want from us now?"

"You're in luck this time, Max. No one will be authorized to handle you while you're here. You will be moved in the next half hour to a secure arena where your future awaits."

"Can't you just tell me what that future is, instead of trying to be all mysterious and retarded?" I spat but he ignored me.

"All I can tell you is good luck." Jeb turned and nodded to a fellow whitecoat, who then began typing into a computer. Shunts near to floor of our cage opened and a gas began seeping in. Panicking, I began banging on the plexiglass.

"Where is my family!?" I demanded, seeing Iggy already beginning to go down. He fell to his hands and knees before passing out. Jeb met my gaze again.

"In good hands." He said as my vision faded into darkness.

I awoke to birds chirping overhead, a cold breeze on my face, and earth below me. I sat up instantly. I blinked hazily as I tried to clear the sedative from my system. I shakily got to my feet and did a 360 spin. I was outside, in the middle of a small meadow covered in dead grass and flowers. Snow piles lay scattered around with boulders and rocks frosted over. I looked up at the bright blue sky and the sun beaming down. I opened my wings out wide, checking to make sure that they were still functioning.

"Iggy?" I called out but got no answer. I cursed under my breath and looked down at a metallic bracelet around my wrist. It had lights running through it and the numbers 001 engraved into it. I knelt down and grabbed a large rock and proceeded to bang it against the metal, trying to break it off. It was pretty sturdy, however, and didn't even scratch under my abuse. I flung the rock hard, angry and stressed. I froze as the rock pinged off of nothing and fell to the ground some 100 feet away.

I walked forward carefully and reached out a hand, expecting it to pass through the air. My hand touched cool metal, a large wall in front of me. I looked at it confused, seeing far out into the horizon on the wall, the trees swaying in the breeze, even a small stream. It was a huge screen, and a durable one at that. It was so realistic that I couldn't tell where the real began or ended. If there were walls here, just how far did they reach, and did they also extend overhead? How was there a breeze if this space was enclosed? How did they get the sunlight and trees? So many questions buzzed through my skull. Though I knew that I needed to find my family before anything else. I jumped into the air and beat my wings hard. I got about 500 feet up before I crashed into what apparently was the ceiling. Dazed, I fell towards earth as I tried to righten myself. I flipped over and glided cautiously, not knowing where the walls were. I could see clear out to where the sky met the earth, but I was now sure that most of it was artificial. If this thing even had a metal roof, then we were in some kind of large dome. As I flew, I noticed that the ground had changed from the meadow to beaten down roads, and ruins of buildings began to appear. There was a devastated town in the center of this arena, and every building was on the verge of collapse.

"Hello?" I again tried to call out but there was no one. I landed on the semi crumbling roof of a warehouse and scanned the landscape. There was a large building that was taller than the rest to my right. It looked like a church that had once been very grand. Shattered stained glass in every window frame, a giant bronze bell at its pointed roof, and even two large lions carved out of granite by its double doors. The pointed roof had a large, square shaped balcony just underneath the pointed tip. I flew over to it and tucked my wings in tight to make it through the small 4 foot gap between the railing and roofing. Inside I could see the ceiling continued up into the pointed tip, and rafters crisscrossed all the way up. Shelter noted.

Gazzy POV

I groaned as I sat up, rubbing the back of my head. Everything hurt and my brains were scrambled. I tried to stand but dizziness forced me to take a moment. I looked around at the pine trees surrounding me and immediately jumped to my feet. I was outside! I punched a fist into the air in victory and then jumped as a hand landed on my shoulder.

"Gazzy, it's just me." Iggy said as I whirled around in a fighting stance.

"Ig! Thank god, we're outside!" I said excitedly, but his face was concentrated, his head tilted to one side.

"No, we're not. We're in a huge dome." He said and I rolled my eyes. No way this was a dome, I could feel the sun, smell the breeze, and even hear the birds chirping. "Gazzy, look." Iggy picked up a small stone and chucked it into the open space in front of me. Preparing to laugh, I watched it sail through the air, and bounce off nothing. My jaw dropped.

"Ig, there's a wall, but I can see through it." I breathed, reaching a hand out to touch it. I then noticed the metal wristband. "They're tracking us!"

"It's all one large screen. Artificial everything. Cool." Iggy grinned as he felt his own wristband. "These bands probably send out our vitals so well."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, if they're damaged, they might come back to get us." Iggy smiled.

"Or they could explode and kill us." I offered, to which Iggy shrugged. "We need to find Max and Nudge."

"Then let's go. Start describing stuff." Iggy began walking and I trotted after him.

"Lots of pine trees everywhere, dead grass, there's a small creek right there, and I can see a tall building in the distance."

"Go to the building. We need to get high ground to map everything." Iggy said and I nodded. We jumped into the air and I aimed us in the right direction. I knew that there was a ceiling, I could now tell where the real and fake began with ease. I'm sure Nudge and Max would be completely oblivious to such detail and tech, but to my trained eye, there wasn't anything this hunk of metal could hide from me.

Nudge POV

I stood petrified, staring at the small boy in front of me. He was clearly a mutant, but he was more than just a little messed up. He looked to be part lizard, with scales and even wicked sharp claws at the ends of his fingers. He had red eyes and sharp teeth as well. He was incredibly thin, like he hadn't eaten in weeks. The crazed look in his eyes told me that he was out for blood.

"Kill the birds." He continued to chant to himself. I backed up further, trying to get as close to the building behind me as possible. With one quick motion I had jumped back, opened the door, and slammed it shut in the face of this creature. The building was falling apart and crumbling. Inside had shredded couches, broken chairs and tables, and a shattered TV. I ran up the rotting stairs and looked out a dirt stained window at the other small buildings around me. Where was Max, Iggy, and Gazzy? And where was I? I could hear the reptile boy still pounding on the door downstairs and I opened the window. I jumped out and flew as fast as I could away from there.

"I have to find everyone. Maybe they got out too." I said to myself, trying to lift my spirits. That's when I basically face planted into a sturdy object in front of me. I cried out in pain and surprise as I fell to the ground in a scrambling heap of feathers and limbs. I lay there stunned for several seconds, now understanding what birds felt like when they flew into windows. Groaning, I got up onto my hands and knees, reaching a hand out. It touched a solid metal wall, even though my hand rested in the thin air. My eyes widened as I realized that we weren't free afterall.

Jeb POV

Each of the flock had now woken up and more or less figured out that they were trapped. The wristbands they wore told me that all four had elevated heart rates. Nudge had been the only one so far to discover their counterparts. This was the main test I had been waiting years to observe. I could now watch the flock in a real life scenario, see their survival skills first hand, even witness the fighting techniques I had taught them years ago. I still needed to find Fang and Angel, but I had a strong feeling that they would come to me in their own time. Fang had a strong sense to protect his own, and wouldn't stand for the flock being trapped here. He'd bring Angel along and then I'd have my chance.

The flock was in a large metal dome, one that was 10 miles wide to be precise. I had built it around a decaying town to simulate an apocalyptic scene. The lighting, airflow, and temperature rigging had been the more challenging part. I could even make it rain inside this dome with a special sprinkler system along the roof. I had scattered the whole ten miles with failures and rejects of the DNA splicing project. They were hostile towards any living thing, which made them ideal candidates for this experiment. All entrances and exits had been sealed off so no one could get in or out. The only way to enter the dome was through a small passageway that led into the center of the dome from underground. It had numerous tunnels that each led to a different part of the dome. They formed a small room with thick plexiglass windows to view the inside safely. I had taken inspiration from some zoo settings I had visited in the past for this piece, but they still needed some work.

Max POV

I stood on the balcony of the church and watched the surrounding area. It was strange, seeing the wide open spaces, but knowing that we were really trapped. I didn't know how far this dome went either. My eye moved to some slight movement off to my left and I squinted to see clearer. My heart jumped as I recognized Nudge flying towards the church tower. I jumped out into the air and flew out to her, meeting her halfway.

"Hey! Are you ok?" I asked her, back beating my wings hard to hover next to her.

"Yeah, but we're surrounded by walls!" Her voice was small and scared. I noticed the blood trickling down her face from a gash on her forehead.

"I know. We gotta find the boys." I said and led her back to the tower. We both landed clumsily inside and I began tending to her wound.

"There are other creatures in here too, Max. Like mutants." She shuddered. "He tried to attack me."

"He?"

"Well, I don't know what it was. But I think there's more of them." Nudge sighed and sat down, leaning against the wall of the balcony. "What are we gonna do?"

"Try to figure out a way out of this mess. Fang and Angel are still out there." I tried to reassure her but she shook her head.

"If they come here, Jeb will catch them. You have to let Angel know." She said adamantly. "We don't even know how long we've been here. They could have had us unconscious for a long time, they needed time to get this place ready for us. Where are Gazzy and Iggy?" She was beginning to panic. I sat down next to her and rubbed her back as she began to cry.

"Hey, it's going to be ok. We always find a way out of these messes, and now is no exception." I tried to reassure her. Tears fell down her face as she leaned into me for a hug. I patted her back and leaned my head on her shoulder.

"I miss Angel and Fang. How do we know that they're ok?" She shuddered.

"They are, they are. Fang will make sure of it. They'll be ok." I said softly. I really hoped that my words were true. I watched the sun begin to sink behind the treetops, knowing that the sun was really a TV screen. Was it in sync with the real sun? Did the weather in here mimic the weather outside?