Maximum Ride 9
by James Patterson
The flock is back home and getting ready for school. Max watches the news which is full of natural disasters around the world. They start walking to their new Oregon school. Max and Dylan fly around a bit.
Fang is confused and feels guilty about his feelings for Maya. He wants to keep the gang moving onto San Francisco to deal with the new threat: the Apocalypticas, who want to finish the DG’s work and destroy all humans. The group starts arguing whether they should risk their lives when Ratchet hears something big and bloody coming towards them. It turns out, he made a mistake and the other kids make fun of him in the back of the van. Fang and Maya want to be alone, but she sees a dust cloud ahead. Ratchet says it is black vans taking up the entire road and coming at them. Fang turns around to find a turnoff, but they are t-boned by another truck. They get out of the van and are able to scatter before the rest of the party shows up. Ari gets out of a van and points a rocket launcher at Fang, reminding him of Angel’s prophecy.
Max and Dylan land at the school and the girls flock to him. Max is ignored. Nudge, goes off with a guy named Sloan who is wearing a varsity jacket. Dylan calls the flock over to where he sits with a bunch of popular girls. nudge gets along with them easily, but Iggy makes a comment about the whole school being blind and embarrasses her. After school, Dylan takes Max on a motorcycle he borrowed. They arrive at a rocky shore and he says he feels closer to Angel there. Max tries to stop him from talking about it, but she finally breaks down crying. Dylan wants to remember Angel and help Max with her grief. They jump off the cliff to fly. He says that he loves her and will wait for her to love him.
Angel was moved from the bed into a dog cage. She feels that they operated on her brian from the stitches. She calls to Max for help. Someone comes along and makes her watch a video of the surgery that made Iggy blind. They plan to use new procedures on her this time.
Fang explains the Erasers to the others. Ari is ready for a fight. He gives Fang the option to save his friends by fighting him one-on-one. Fang agrees, but Maya steps up. Ari mistakes her for Max at first. The other Erasers heard the rest of the gang away from Ari and Maya’s fight. Fang realizes that Kate and Star betrayed them. He tries to figure out how to deal with the two girls when Holden points out that Maya is 500 feet in the air fighting Ari to the death. Maya starts dropping out of the sky and Fang goes to get her. There is blood coming from her neck and Ari comes in for another blow to her chest. She says she loves Fang and he tells her she is as strong as Max. Fang and Ari agree to finish it later. Fang vows that Ari will die for Maya.
Max, Dylan, and Iggy sit in biology class where they learn that they will have to dissect a chicken. They are all a little freaked out. Max gets really shaky and when the teacher comes to check on her, she thinks she recognizes him as a white coat. They all say they don’t feel well, and the teacher stops them to get hall passes. Dylan goes back for a book he left behind and the teacher says he has a message from Dr. Gunther-Hagen. Dylan must capture Fang for them because his DNA is different (and could fall into the wrong hands) or they will kill Max.
Angel has a vision of Maya’s death and Fang’s reaction. He has to hold back so that he doesn’t kill Kate and Star. They tell him Jeb promised them safety before they run away. Fang is disbanding his group even though Ratchet and Holden have no where to go. He leaves them behind.
Jeb removes the bandages from Angel’s eyes and tries to explain. She won’t let him because she already knows she is blind. Jeb is surprised Angel is blind, but immediately launches into talking about how he worked with Dr. Gunther-Hagen to recreate Ari. All of their mistakes are warriors out to kill Fang, who’s DNA could change the world. Dr. Martinez says they are going to see if Angel has the same “defect” as Fang.
Fang is about to give up when the universe seems to give him a sign to go on. He takes off into the air and travels the country learning what he can about the 99% Plan as it continues to grow. He wonders how America is going along with it.
Total tries to help Max get ready for her and Dylan to chaperone Nudge on a date with Sloan. After a movie, Max is ready to go home. Sloan wants Nudge to go back to his place and that is when max decides they are leaving. Ari is waiting outside. He tells Max that he killed Maya for her. He then tells Dylan not to go after Fang because he will be taking over that mission and takes off. Dylan stops Max from going after him. that night, Dylan asks Max to sleep in her room on the floor because it was a big day and in someways he was only a two year old. Max asks him about what Ari said, but Dylan plays dumb. After a while, Max is still unable to sleep and curls up with Dylan on the floor.
Nudge is really upset about Sloan dumping her and all the kids at school teasing her. Nudge says the only way to be normal is to get rid of her wings and she vows to do it someday.
Fang wakes up in the middle of the night feeling incredibly alone. The voice speaks to him and tells him to go home to Max because she needs him. He decides to do an internet search to find out what she has been up to. He knows he will have to deal with the pain of seeing her because there might be something bigger going on than their drama filled love triangle. With his wing still hurting, he decides to hitch hike back to the flock with three guys that seem a little shady. They pull over and try to egg him over to a cliff. When he refuses, they come after him. He is distracted by his hurt wing and they use it to their advantage. The boys get a hold of him and throw him over the cliff into Lake Michigan.
Angel dreams about what happened to Fang and wonders if it was a vision. She is taken from her cage and her wings are clipped.
The voice speaks to each flock member. It tells Nudge to document the events that are coming. It tells Iggy and Gazzy to protect Max with their lives. Lastly, it tells Max to harden her heart because there will be a lot of loss.
Dylan takes Max to a treehouse he built and filled with candles and food. Iggy brings them ingredients for s’mores and goes to entertain Nudge and Gazzy so they can be left alone. Dylan is determined to win Max over. Max kisses him, but they are interrupted by Nudge falling. The remaining members of the flock where trying to obey their voices. Max gets frustrated and accidentally sets the treehouse on fire.
The flock is woken up in the middle of the night by the alarms Iggy and Gazzy set up. Nudge looks out the window to see Fang approaching. Everyone runs to greet him, but Max holds back a bit. Dylan tells her to go ahead and she feels guilty as she hugs Fang. There is an impromptu welcome home party, but Fang doesn’t give much detail of what happened, besides that he came back from the dead. Fang tells Dylan to stop sleeping in Max’s room. Dylan tells Fang they are after him because of his DNA. He will only tell Fang why if he promises to leave. Fang says he is never leaving Max again. He shows Max a comment and picture on his blog that says Angel might still be alive. They all celebrate and agree to go get her. They make preparations to take off.
Angel is still strapped to the table when all the commotion starts. Someone yells that the 99% Plan is in effect. She accepts defeat.
The flock finds the facility where Angel is being held. Max and Fang are planning to go when Iggy smells smoke. The 99% Plan has begun. They go into the burning building together and find that the destruction and death was on purpose. Dylan points out the operation table Angel was on that still has feather in the clamps. Mark, the leader of the DG, appears and tells them the contagion has been released before throwing himself out a window. The voice tells Max not to give up. She finds a trap door and takes a spiral staircase down. In a room hidden behind the stairs, they find Angel.
Angel wakes up and tells Max what they did to her. Max checks her feather and they seem fine. Angel is starting to see again, but everything is blurry. She tells Max about Jeb and Dr. Martinez being bad people.
Max leaves the rest of the flock to watch over Angel while she goes to collect herself. Fang follows and she tells him she doesn’t want to deal with their emotions about all of that yet.
Dylan is in a rage after seeing Max and Fang flying together. He ends up causing a whole bunch of destruction before deciding that he has to kill Fang. The flock sees the destruction on the TV and Max goes to find him, but she can’t. She thinks he is home. When the alarms go off in the middle of the night, she is greeted by Ari and the other Erasers. They are there to kill Fang and are just waiting on Jeb’s signal.
Jeb explains that Fang’s DNA is infinitely regenerative and indestructible. They key to immortality. Fang is not immortal, but it is a step towards scientists achieving immortality. Jeb believes in the 99% Plan because a world with all immortals would be unsustainable.
The battle begins and Dylan returns He gets Ari off of Fang and takes to the Sky with the Eraser following. They take out about sixty Erasers, but still have more to go. The flock is pretty banged up. Max continues to fight. Dylan knocks Ari from the sky before collapsing himself. The Erasers go down after him one by one because they were somehow connected to Ari. Dylan still needs to take out Fang. He apologizes before hitting him in his broken nose. He plans out his attack, but Max begs him to stop for her and he realizes he can’t do it. Fang is still alive and the voice speaks to all of them that the real threat is on the way.
They hear a helicopter and Max goes out to find her mom. Dr. Martinez explains that Jeb brainwashed her. Angel confirms her story. They load up the chopper to go to a new place. Max decides that they can’t leave Jeb behind. Fang wakes up and Max filled him in on what happened. He promises never to leave her again.
The flock arrives in the rain forest where Dr. Martinez shows them their new homes. Angel asks Max as they explore to never leave. Max agrees. She finds a treehouse a branch away from hers that was meant for Dylan. Dr. Martinez calls over Fang to take it. Afterwards she brings out all of the mutated kids they have gathered to live there. Iggy and Ella are reunited and they all feel like they are home. Dr. Martinez and Nino Pierpont explain to Max and Fang that the contagion will kill people within days and those with avian DNA will be less susceptible. Their new little city is highly protective and has protected caves fro added security.
Fang and Max lie together and contemplate the fate of the world. He tells her that she is the perfect person to lead the survivors. He asks that they enjoy the time they have since they have been waiting to be together their whole lives.
Dylan comes crashing in to tell Max and Fang that something is in the sky and coming for them. Dylan is going to get the kids to safety in the cave before coming back to die with Max because she won’t trust him. Angel comes along to tell them that Dylan is telling the truth. Max decides to face the threat head on in the states and Fang will join her. Angel tries to talk them out of it and says she has been Max’s voice the whole time. It takes a while for Angel to convince them, but when she does, Max doesn’t know what to do.
The sky erupts into flames and Max feels like she is being burned alive, but survives. She and Fang take off to help others, but they fall out of the sky.
Fang wakes Max up as a Tsunami approaches. She can’t fly away because of a broken wing. Fang says he loves her. They kiss and the wave crashes over them.
Max, from the dead, says everyone needs to save their own world.
Max breaths under the water. Dylan pulls her out. Max, Fang, Dylan and Angel look at the damage from a meteor that exploded causing natural disasters everywhere. They are starting their new lives in a world they were made for. Dylan looks for a way to get the others out of the caves that are now below sea level.