Read Maximum Ride Forever for Free Online Page B

with one gloved hand, the leather squeaking, and reached up to knock.
    The door opened silently and a colorless servant with downcast eyes gestured him into a grand ballroom. A plain black office chair was the sole piece of furniture in the enormous room, and the white-haired man in a crisp lab coat was the only person.
    “A10103!” the man shouted in greeting, his voice echoing around the chamber.
    The young man stood in the doorway, unsure what was expected of him. He clasped his hands in front of him and awaited instruction.
    The white-haired man in the white coat stood and circled him for several minutes, measuring his height, his biceps, his feet, shining a light into his eyes to check his pupil reflexes. The servant had silently reappeared and wrote down everything the older man muttered.
    A10103 stood tall and straight, and when the older man occasionally met his eyes, A10103 made sure to gaze back evenly.
    Finally, seemingly satisfied, the older man looked up at the tall, handsome youth standing before him and reached a delicate hand forward. “I’m your designer. You may hear people here refer to me as the Remedy…” His face split into a garish smile that was all shiny pink gums. “But I’m really just a doctor, trying to mend things in my way. I apologize for the formalities, but we’ve had… violations of code in the past. You never can be too careful.” He sighed. “How are you feeling?”
    “Quite well, Doctor. Strong.”
    “Wonderful! And how do you like my… parlor?” The doctor gestured.
    A10103 gazed up at the ceiling hundreds of feet high, decorated with gold leaf and intricately painted frescoes. He nodded appreciatively.
    The doctor sank back into his office chair. “It’s a bit indulgent, perhaps, but I do so value my space, and for thenext few years anyway, I’m afraid I won’t be able to spend much time aboveground.” He sighed deeply. “See how frail we humans are? Worthless creatures, really, so slow to adapt. I swear, I’d take my own life for the good of evolution, but
someone
needs to get things back on track.”
    A10103 smiled.
    “And speaking of getting things back on track, I have a mission for you, my child. I believe you are familiar with the background of Maximum Ride and her so-called flock?”
    A10103 nodded, and the doctor raised his eyebrows expectantly at his pupil.
    “Six youths…” A10103 began. “Ranging in ages from seven to fifteen and possessing a number of advantageous gifts. Raised in a lab as the fifty-fourth generation of genetically mutated animal-human hybrids, and only the second hybrid form to be viable. With avian-human genetic material—”
    “Human-avian,” the doctor corrected. “They’re only two percent avian—
mostly
human.” He looked disgusted. “Those initial models were full of amateur mistakes. You understand the grave risk this flock poses, don’t you?”
    A10103 hesitated. “Should they… breed… you mean?” he asked.
    “Indeed.” The doctor shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “For a time we believed they’d be useful, but now that there are over a thousand mutants working out there in this new world, beautiful children like yourself, all scientifically evolved, we see the truth: Those specimens are a
virus
.” The man known as the Remedy slammed his fist into his palm, his face flushing. “And I’m a doctor, first and foremost,” he sniffed, calming himself. “I’ve worked tirelessly all my life to heal our sick earth, and with the advances being made in our species, my dream is at last coming to fruition. But in order for our endeavor to succeed, the virus cannot be permitted to spread.”
    A10103 nodded intelligently. “They must be eliminated.”
    “Your genetic makeup was altered for just such a highly specialized role. You are one of a group of carefully selected individuals, my horsemen in this last race to achieve paradise, you might say.”
    “Like in the Bible.”
    The doctor looked at him