As Maria drove them all back from the fortuneteller Liz thought about what she had said. Max chose her. He was giving up his destiny as king for her. She had a king that would give anything to be with her. It made her think about one late night at Manticore when she had been talking to her sisters.
Liz threw off the covers, tired of lying in bed. She was nocturnal, like Jondy and Max. When she didn't sleep she thought about things like how the guards looked at her, and how the doctors always talked to each other as if she couldn't understand. But what she hated the most was when the Colonel was in a mood, and all he could do was yell and scream at them, how they were defying orders. That was when arms got broken, and when the torture started. After the last time, all Max could do was repeat her barcode number for two days. That was when the Colonel tried to see how much they could take before they started to cry. But Liz tried to never cry in front of the Colonel. She didn't want to give him that satisfaction.
Liz snuck out the window and scaled up the nearby drain pipe to the roof. She loved to sit out there and watch the stars, dreaming of what was up there. She saw that two of her sisters had come up there as well. "He'll have a white horse." Liz could hear Jondy's light voice as she moved closer to where her two older sisters huddled. "And he'll ride up through the fence like the fence wasn't even there..."
Max giggled. It was a funny sound, a nighttime sound. They weren't allowed to laugh during the day. No smiles either. Those were the rules--never let anyone but your brothers and sisters see you smile or laugh. The Colonel didn't want them to enjoy life. They were soldiers.
"There's room for one more, Liz." Jondy's voice was soft. Liz was one of the babies, like Ky. She was one that the Colonel liked to single out, like he did with Max, Zack and Brin, because he said that Liz took reckless chances sometimes. She wouldn't listen completely, the way Brin would. Liz was stubborn, and even if she wasn't as obedient to orders, she always did what she had to do. And although she was tiny she always protected her family.
"A white horse," Jondy repeated firmly once Liz got settled. Even in the dark, Liz could see that Jondy's big eyes sparkled in ways that they never did during the day. "I saw a horse once. It was up in the mountains past the fence line when we were hunting the prisoner." Jondy's voice trailed off. "But it wasn't white. It was brown."
Liz shook her head. "I don't care what color the horse is. Just as long as he comes..."
It was kinda funny, how different they were between daytime and nighttime. In the classroom and in the mess hall, there was always silence, like her brothers and sisters didn't want to give anything away. During daylight, they were numbers and only numbers, moving as a single unit. They watched, and they listened, and they followed orders. Sometimes, they solved things in ways that seemed to surprise the Colonel. Sometimes, he almost looked like he would smile too.
Sometimes Liz thought that it wasn't supposed to be this way. Sometimes she thought there had to be more, more than duty and missions. None of the duties ever mentioned laughing, or talking, or just sitting together and comforting like Max and Jondy were doing.
Liz wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees and listen to Jondy old looks in her eyes. Their eyes weren't supposed to look that old-older than the guards, older than the doctors. Not older than the Colonel's, though. Liz hated being small, especially since there were times when she felt so much older than she really was. Did seven-year-olds outside worry about training sessions and who'd get a lesson next?
"Do you think that the stories Ben tells are true?" Liz asked as she sat between Max and Jondy.
"I think there's a high place," Max said finally. "With regular people--outside people."
"Do you think the princes and princesses and castles are real?" Liz asked.
Jondy leaned against Max; "I remember a story about a lady who was sleeping like she was dead then a prince came and woke her up with a kiss because he loved her. I think one of the nurses told it to me, when I was sick."
Without thinking, Liz ran a hand over her shorn head, wondering what it would be like to feel the weight of long hair there. "No prince could ever rescue us. They keep our hair too short."
"Princes might come. My prince will be tall, with blond hair and blue eyes," Max said, a little smile on her face. What about your prince, Jondy?"
Her older sister shrugged. "I don't know if I want a prince. We can take care of ourselves. What about you Liz?"
"Tall dark hair, dark eyes. Strong, but soft. And he has to like me for me." Someone to love her, the way moms were supposed to love their babies, the way that some of the doctors talked about their husbands and wives when they thought that Liz wasn't listening. Someone to love her like people on the outside loved.
"Even if our princes never come, we'll still make it." With an arm around each of her little sisters, Jondy hugged them close. Someday, they might see what was on the other side of the wall.
Liz was still thinking about it after Maria dropped her off. She went upstairs and started horsing around with a white scarf. That was when someone showed up from fourteen years in the future.
Part 35
It was the day after Future Max had first appeared to Liz. Their first plan, trying to coach Tess to be with Max, had not worked. Actually Max had found out was Liz had been doing and ended up asking her out after kissing her. Liz and FMax had left after and headed back to Liz’s room, arguing the whole way.
“You're supposed to be breaking up with him, not kissing him.” FMax stated frustrated.
“You...you kissed me. I mean...you know, he kissed me.” Liz exclaimed.
“You're only making me love you more.”
“I just said no to Gomez.” Liz said defiantly.
“You said no the last time, too. I didn't take no for an answer.”
“So we went to the concert.” Liz said rolling her eyes.
“No. The night of Gomez I came to your room. That's the night that things between us were cemented.”
“Cemented. So when you say cemented, you...” Liz stuttered out.
“We made love.” Max finished her sentence.
“No, no, we...we didn't.”
“Liz...”
“No, I have no intention of making love to you or...or anyone else at this particular stage of my life.” Liz said angrily.
“I beg to differ.”
“No. Making love to you is the farthest thing from my mind. I...I don't even have protection.”
“I did.”
“Oh that’s great. There you are Max the Saint, just walking around with a condom in his back pocket. I...I...I don't even care what happened in your reality. I am not making love to you or anyone until I am ready, and I am just not ready.” Liz said, she meant what she said. Her life was so out of control right now to bring on a physical relationship.
“Liz, I am telling you what happened, and we have to change that. We have to. And so far, we've failed. Liz, it's not just Max that's the problem here. You are. You are not letting yourself change. Now you have to do something...before it's too late.”
Liz plopped on her bed and tried to think. She let her head hang forward, her hair spilling away from her neck. It took a minute to realize her neck was exposed before she sat up suddenly. She looked at FMax to see if he saw and he just smiled. “Liz, it’s okay. I’ve known for a long time.”
“What?” Liz played innocent.
“I’ve known for years. About Manticore, your family, everything.”
“I told you?”
FMax smiled bigger, “Kind of. About a month after Gomez, I came up to your room while you were working to set up a surprise. But I was the one surprised when I was looking for your spare candles in your closet and came across one of your guns, weapon trunks, and some pictures of you and your brothers. I was still sitting there when you came upstairs. When I asked about it you finally told me.”
“How did you react?”
“It took a little while for me to absorb it. I had been trying so hard to protect you and then I find out that you had been leading this whole dangerous life. But it didn’t matter to me.” FMax explained.
An idea clicked into Liz’s head, “That’s it. That’s what I can do.” FMax looked at her strangely until Liz started to tell him her plan.
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Liz made her way up to Max’s window and signaled to FMax to stay hidden. She could see Max doing pull-ups, she ogled him for a minute before she knocked. As she watched him come over to the window she put on a Manticore expressionless mask.
“Well, this is a surprise.” Max said smiling.
“It isn't what you think.” She started climbing in his window and he reached out his hand. “No, I can do it.” She said coldly.
She made it in and her eyes were drawn to his naked chest. “Can you...um, put a shirt on, please?”
She continued to watch him as he put on a shirt. “Thank you.”
“Liz...”
Liz held up her hand. “Don't say anything, ok? Um, because I...I came in here with this whole speech, and once you start talking, my speech doesn't apply, and everything gets changed, and I just want to make sure that I say everything to you, so just don't say anything. Just don't say anything. Ok, I...I just re-read "Romeo and Juliet", and you know, the first thing that I realized is that isn't even the title. It's called "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet". They die. You know, she's this young girl, she...she's younger than me, and she dies. Look, I think the reason why people think that it's such a romantic play is they don't know what it's like to be put in that position...but when your life and and other people's lives are...are put at risk, there isn't anything romantic about it.” It was true, living your life dangerously was something she would never wish on anyone.
What Liz said was all true, but now came the part where she lied, “ Max, you can't stop what's happening to you. I mean, your life will always be dangerous, but my life, it doesn't have to be. My life is only in danger if I am with you. I...I want to be in love with boys...normal boys. I...I want to see my 21st birthday. I...I want to have a wedding day. I...I...I want to have children...and I want my children to be safe. You know, Max, if...if you truly love me, you'll let me go. I may love you, but I...I don't want to die for you.” She saw the hurt look in his eyes. She couldn’t take it so she climbed out the window quickly.
She forgot that FMax was with her and just started running. Everything she said in her speech was one big hypocrite. Her life would always be dangerous, in someway more than his because there were people who knew with certainty that X5s existed and weren’t just a rumor. She climbed up on her balcony and started to cry.
Part 36
Liz watched, as FMax’s hand became solid again. “It didn't work. We have to do something else.” He said frustrated.
“No, I...I can't.” Liz said shaking her head.
“You have to.”
“Do you know how hard it was for me to tell him that I didn't want to die for him? He's the only reason that I'm alive right now. You...you've...you gotta come up with another plan. Please go to someone else. I...I just...I can't do this anymore.”
“Just 25 minutes before I came here, I held Michael in my arms...dead. Isabel died 2 weeks before that. Now you have to do this. You have to find a way. All of our lives depend on it.”
“How? What can I do that's gonna make you turn away from me?”
“I don't know.” He said almost defeated. The two of them sat there quietly for hours into the night until Liz asked, “Why wasn’t Kyle or Zack at our wedding?”
“Like I said, we just took off. Zack was over on the East Coast and couldn’t get here in time plus he wasn’t real happy about it. Kyle went to college in Denver and came to Roswell after that first night we spent in Arizona.”
“What happened to them? My family?”
“Liz…”
“No! I don’t care if you can’t tell me about the future! I want to know.” Liz demanded.
FMax sighed. “Jondy was killed in ’04 by a subway accident, Brin died of progeria about a year from now, Ben completely disappeared.”
“And the others? Did Manticore get any of them?”
“They killed Zane. They captured Krit, Max, and Syl. The skins got the others.” FMax said lowering his eyes. “They were spying on us, and found out about your family. They caught Zack when he came to town and from him they found out where the others were. From what we found out they tried to get them to work with them against us, and when they refused they killed them. We found their bodies in the desert, right by the crash site.”
Liz felt the tears come to her eyes. It was her fault that her family had died; she had to figure out something to stop that timeline from happening.
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Listening to Maria complaining about Michael a short while ago had given Liz an idea, now she just had to set it up. And for that she needed someone who she could trust so she went to the one person she trusted more than anything did. She reached the door and knocked. A moment later, he answered.
“I need your help.”
Kyle looked at his sister and could see the desperation in her eyes, “Anything. What?”
Liz walked in an closed the door, “Are we alone?”
When Kyle nodded, Liz started to explain. “I need you to help me, it sounds strange but I know Max is going to come to my house tonight. When he does, I want him to see you and I in bed together, he’ll think we had sex.”
Kyle’s eyes widened, “What?! How in the hell is that going to do anything?”
“He doesn’t know what we are to each other so he’ll think we had sex and then he’ll leave me alone. Please Ky, I’m begging you.”
“It won’t just be him that thinks that, it’ll be everyone.” He said glancing towards his room thinking about Tess and the other night.
Liz saw her brother’s glance, “You and Tess?”
“I don’t know what’s going on, just kind of getting involved.” Kyle shrugged. “Why are you willing to go to such extreme measures?’
“I don’t want to talk about it, I just want Max to leave me alone.” Liz stated.
Kyle could see how determine she was and that she needed his help, “I’ll do it. Let me grab my keys.”
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Later that night, the two of them laid beside each other in Liz’s bed something they had done over the summer. Kyle would never admit that sometimes he missed it. Instead of thinking of the past, he concentrated on the present. “So Evans must have really pissed you off to get you to resort to something like this.” Kyle said trying to dig up answers.
“I told you I don't really want to talk about why I'm doing this.”
“Jeez, I just figured since I'm giving you my last shred of dignity...” He said. After all everyone was going to think he had slept with his sister. Well they wouldn’t know it was his sister but still.
“I...I really. I can't.” Liz stuttered feeling bad for not being able to say anything.
“So...we have something in common.” Kyle said.
“Yeah? What's that?” Liz asked confused. Of course they had some in common, a lot of things. They were brother and sister.
“We, uh...we're the only two people I know of who have died and were brought back by an alien.” There he said it. He brought up the one subject they had avoided all summer while they were away. Sure they had talked about the aliens but never about how they felt about the actual healing.
“Yeah. You're right.”
“You feel different?”
“Yeah. Kyle...when he healed you, um...did...did you see things?”
“See things?”
“Flashes. Images.”
“No. But since he healed me, I keep getting these flashes of Max Evans naked.”
Liz laughed; it was a sound Kyle hadn’t heard since he had left her and Zack to go to football camp. “Feels good to make you laugh again.”
“It feels like this is the first time we've talked...since...” We got back. She was about to say when Kyle interrupted her.
“Feels good to do that again.”
“Yeah. It does feel good.” She said just as she caught a glimpse of Max. He saw exactly what she wanted him to and he looked heartbroken. He dropped something he was holding and left. She felt like her heart had been ripped out, again.
“Well, I guess it worked.” Kyle stated as he looked at his sister. She had tears in her eyes and nodded. She looked absolutely heartbroken.
“Can you go now? I want to be alone.” She said sadly.
Kyle got up, dressed, and left. He drove home slowly thinking about what they had done. When Liz had come to him earlier she had seemed desperate, what was going on with her that she would stage that scene. Before he knew it he was standing at the bottom of her ladder. His enhanced hearing allowed him to hear her soft whimpers up on her balcony. He climbed the ladder quickly and was surprised at the sight in front of him. It was Liz crumbled on the floor sobbing. He moved to wrap his arms around her. “What happened? Tell me what is going on.”
And she did. She told him everything. From Madame Vivien’s visit to the scene she had carefully set up. “He told me that Isabel and Michael were dead, that everyone but me and him was dead. All I could think about was that all of you guys were dead because of me. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Shhh it’s okay. I’m here. I won’t let anything happen. We’ll figure out something.” He said as they sat in silence while he hugged her. “You know Buddha says all life is suffering, you take away the pain and you take away your chance to grow.”
“Well I would have preferred a different lesson.” Liz muttered as he picked her up and carried her into her room. She was so exhausted from emotional strain that she fell asleep against him before he laid her on the bed. He kicked off his shoes, crawled in next to her, and tried to figure out what to do next. All he knew was he had to help her, but they never taught them at Manticore how to heal a broken heart.
Part: 37
The next day after Future Max disappeared Kyle woke Liz up before leaving to head back to his house. Later that afternoon when it was decided that Liz would go with Max, Isabel, and Tess to Copper Summit for the funeral. Liz left the former Congresswoman’s office and headed home to change clothes before they were going to leave, while she did she called her brother, “Kyle it’s me. Look I’m going with the others to check out something at the funeral I should only be gone a day maybe two.”
“Are you sure about this Liz? After last night?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. I have to go, I’m the only one with any connection to her. Since Tess won’t be at your house can you possibly come by and pick up my weapons trunk? After he told me how he found out about me in the other timeline I realized I have too many people come through here now and it’s probably not the best thing to keep them here.”
“But that will leave you defenseless.”
“I’ve got my gun and my knife, just leave me a few small things and I’ll be fine.”
“Call me when you get back and be careful.” Kyle said.
“Always.”
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Liz sat driving the jeep on the way to Copper Summit. The highway was small and dark but she did it with ease thanks to her enhanced night vision. She glanced up and caught Max’s eyes in the mirror. “I'm...I'm ok up here...if you want to get some sleep.”
“I haven't slept since I saw you with Kyle.” He said sorrowfully. “Liz, I know you, and I don't believe that you would do that to me. It doesn't make sense. Tell me what happened.”
Liz just sat there not answering him. She couldn’t, she could never tell him the real answer.
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The next day Isabel and Max left Tess and Liz alone in the jeep when they went to check out things. “So...you and Kyle.” Tess said smugly.
“Yeah.” Liz answered. “ Oh, Kyle...he told me that you two were, uh, getting involved.” Liz said cringing. The thought of her brother and Tess made her sick, only the thought of her and Max gave a worst reaction.
“Oh, it's ok, don't worry about it.” Tess said.
“I'm sorry.” Liz apologized but didn’t mean it.
“About what? All you did was sleep with him. How was he, anyway?” Tess asked curiously.
That was it, Liz was going to puke all over the inside of the jeep. “Oh, I, um...I...we...it was great.” She said with a little smile.
“Noted.” Tess said looking a little surprised by her answer. Max and Isabel came back a short time after and they drove over to the Crawfords. They investigated the former Congresswoman’s family, trying to figure out who was covering up her death. Later that night, Liz decided to go for a walk. She was heading down the street when she heard Max call to her as he ran up behind her. “Liz! Liz, what are you doing? We agreed none of us would go anywhere alone.
“Fine.” Liz said agitated and headed back the way she came.
“Wait.”
“Max, look. There's just...there's nothing left to say.”
“Except the truth.” Max stated.
Liz breathed out a frustrated breath. “We have already been through this!”
“So far, all I know is what I saw, and what I saw can't be true, because it means everything I felt in my heart for the last year is a lie!” Max yelled. “Now, you owe me an explanation, and I want it right now!”
“Please quit shouting, Max. You're scaring me.” Liz said. She hated lying to Max and she wished he would leave so she wouldn’t have to look at his eyes.
“That's a lie, too!” Max yelled although in a lower volume. “You're not scared. You're hiding something.”
‘You have no idea’ Liz thought. “I'm not.”
“What the hell is going on with you, Liz? We never lied to each other, never kept a secret from each other.”
“You know, you have got me up on this pedestal, Max, and….I’m not this perfect person.” Liz stated. Max didn’t know about her past, the things she had done. She wasn't the innocent girl he thought she was. “I made a mistake. Look, Kyle and I made love. The end. I'm sorry.”
Max just looked at her shocked before backing away and leaving. Liz started on the way she had intended on heading. Everything running over in her head, thinking it all over. Maybe it would be better if she left like Zack had said. Then Liz changed her mind, she had to stay there and make sure that Tess didn’t leave. She headed back for the Crawfords avoiding Max and waiting to see how things would develop.
Part 38
Wipeout
Liz and Maria walked around town trying to figure out what was going on and what had happened to everyone. Liz was in soldier mode. She was examining everything, trying to find out what did this. She was also worried that her brother had disappeared along with the rest of the town. Maria grabbed her arm and pointed at a coffee cup. “Look. Look, look. It's still warm.”
Because the coffee was still steaming, Liz knew that what ever had happened it had occurred within the last ten to fifteen minutes. She heard something break and jumped when Maria jumped. “ Ahh!”
“Ok, let's just go back to the car, ok?”
“Ok!” Liz agreed.
“Ok.” Maria said again. Liz grabbed her hand and started leading her back to the car. She had to protect Maria, she was all she had left. They headed down a alley when something caught Liz’s eye. “Wait!” She said as she reached down and picked up the piece of skin. It disintegrated in her hand. “This is not good.” She said. Deciding she needed something more powerful then her hands she lead Maria in the direction of the Crashdown. They reached the door and saw their friends inside.
“Michael!” Maria yelled as she hugged him.
Liz looked at Michael, Isabel, Courtney and Max. No Kyle. “Max, what...what happened? We...we just got back from Dexter.”
“Our parents disappeared. It seems like the whole town is gone. All the humans, at least.” Max explained.
“Well, why not us?”
Isabel walked up and tried to comfort her. “I'm sorry.”
“What is going on here? Everyone's gone? They're gone, like dead?” Liz exclaimed. It couldn’t be true, her brother wasn’t dead.
“We don't know that.” Max said trying to calm her down.
Liz stood in shock vaguely hearing Maria try to call Alex. She only spoke when she heard Isabel say, “First thing we need to do is figure out who did this.”
“We know who did this. The skins.” Liz answered.
“Yeah. We found one of those snake skin things off of Elm Street.”
“Nicholas.” Courtney muttered.
“This is our fault.” Isabel stated. The back door flew open revealing only Tess, “No. It's her's. You led the skins straight to Roswell, Courtney!”
“She's with us, Tess.” Michael yelled. Michael, Tess, and Courtney argued over whose fault it was until Max broke it up. Then Isabel turned from her lookout position by the front window, “Into the bathroom. They're coming. Now.” She ordered.
They all piled into the bathroom. “There's two of them...Nicholas and Ida. Hide us.” Isabel whispered to Tess. Tess closed her eyes and Liz figured she was mindwarping. She listened to Nicholas and Ida out in the café, her transgenic hearing allowing her to hear every word. She could even tell their exact location by where the voice was coming from. She wanted nothing more than to go out there and make them pay for what they had done. They had taken away Alex, her parents, her brother and the Sheriff. She heard them leave and the piled out. She watched as Tess stumble to the counter before heading upstairs.
Knowing there was no one to see her Liz ran up the stairs with transgenic speed. Although she knew they wouldn’t be there she searched the rooms for her mom. She found a laundry basket in her room and knew her mom had been doing laundry. She walked over in front of the basket and that’s when she saw it. Motorcycle keys, Zack’s keys. He almost never let them know a head of time when he was going to visit, he must have been trying to keep her mom company until Liz got back. Liz almost lost it, she couldn’t handle loosing two brothers in the same day. She heard Max enter the room. “My mom always listened to Elvis Costello on laundry day. “ She stated trying to blink back the tears but doing it unsuccessfully, “I am so scared.”
“What happened to your family...to all the humans...it's our fault.” Max said trying to apologize.
Liz pulled her shoulders back and stood tall. She wasn’t going to give up. “We haven't lost them yet. We have to stay strong.”
“Yeah.” Max said glancing down at her bed. “I should get back down.”
That was when they heard Isabel yell from downstairs. “Max!”
The two rushed downstairs to see Courtney on the ground and she didn’t look good.
“She just collapsed.” Isabel explained.
“Max, you gotta help her.” Michael pleaded.
“Let's get her upstairs.” Max ordered.
Liz helped the others carry Courtney up to her bathroom. They set her on the toilet and Maria suggested, “Um...ok, maybe we should take her clothes off?”
Isabel used her powers to shut the door and then asked. “What now?”
As they started stripping Courtney down Liz asked, “Um...you know, from what...from what she said, the husk is starving. It's looking at her thighs like they're 2 canned hams.” Liz knew what malnutrition looked like.
“I heard that, you bitch.” Courtney muttered.
Liz lifted Courtney into the tub with Tess’s help although she didn’t need it.
“Well...what if we tempt it with food from...from outside the membrane...sort of like an all-you-can-eat buffet or something?” Isabel suggested.
“Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's worth a try. We need, like, some vitamins and minerals and...and nutrients.” Liz was about to reach for her old body of Tryptophen which had all kinds of vitamins in it along with amino acids but Maria beat her to it. “Ok. We've got ginko, bee pollen, echinacea, C, D, E, calcium, St. John's wort, and Pamprin.” They all looked at her, “What? I was dating Michael Guerin.”
A few minutes later, Courtney recovered and they started questioning her. That was when they found out what had happened and that Liz and Maria had a window of time before they disappeared. Liz and Maria headed downstairs talking about what Courtney said. “Ok. So, what did she mean by "buy us some time’?”
“Don't worry about it. She said we slipped through a window. We'll be fine.” Liz assured her right as she caught sight of what could only be a skin.
“Run!” The two girls ran to the order window and Liz helped Maria through it first. “Come on! Go! Go! Go” She ordered. She started to lift herself when the skin grabbed her. He was strong and Liz had to struggle until she landed both feet in his chest and kicked him back. He stumbled back just enough that Liz could make it through. She turned to look at him just as she heard a gunshot and saw a cloud of dust come from his chest. Liz was able to see the Sheriff behind him. “Oh. Careful, Sheriff! He's a skin!”
The skin reared back and knocked the Sheriff to the ground before escaping. Just then Kyle appeared.
“Dad! Dad, you ok? You ok? You all right?”
“Ohh!” The sheriff grimaced. “I’m fine.”
Kyle looked up and saw his sister staring at him with wide eyes filled with great relief. “Kyle! Sheriff!”
Liz wanted to go up and hug him but just then the others came down. They quickly explained to Kyle and Valenti what was going on Then explained to Max and the others the incident with the skins. Courtney revealed how to kill the skins and what powers Nicholas possessed.
“We've gotta get everybody to a safer location.” The Sheriff suggested.
“The UFO center. It's a former bomb shelter. There are no windows and fewer ways in and out. After we get everyone situated, you, me, Michael, Isabel, and Tess will start picking them off one by one.” Max stated.
“What about me?” Kyle asked. He knew that Liz couldn’t help without raising suspension, but she could stay behind and protect the others. If it got bad then they would blow their cover to stay alive.
“You're not someone I trust.” Max said coldly. Kyle looked at Liz who pleaded with her eyes not to say anything.
“Let’s go.” Max ordered. They all got up and headed to the back door.
Part 39
The group headed out into the alley and made their way towards the street. When they reached the end of the alley Max spoke, “There's not much cover, so we should split up into groups.”
“Good idea.” The sheriff stated.
“You ok?” Max asked him.
“Yeah. Michael, Kyle, take Courtney. You guys go first.” He knew that Kyle would be able to carry Courtney if they needed to run.
Max looked at Kyle and Michael and said, “When you're in, we'll send the next bunch.”
Kyle moved to take Courtney’s arm to support her. He looked out into the street and screened it to make sure that it was empty. He nodded almost imperceptibly to his dad. “All right, go.” His dad said.
Kyle and Michael hurried across the street, stopping for Michael to open the door using his powers. They motioned that they were in and the Sheriff nodded in acknowledgement. “I'll take Tess, Liz, and Maria. You two OK bringin' up the rear?”
Max nodded so the Sheriff looked at the three girls, “Ready?”
“Ok.” Tess stated. Liz ducked down and hurried across the street and into the door. A minute later, Max came alone but went over to Michael, Maria and Tess so she didn’t get a chance to ask him where Isabel was. Liz stood there for a minute before she signaled to Kyle using the hand signals they learned long ago to go into Brody’s office. Once inside she shut the door and said to Kyle, “Zack was here this morning, he’s gone now like the others.”
“Oh sh*t, we’ve got to end this and get him back.”
“Trying the phone, I’ll see if Brody’s computer picked up anything. Alex told me that he’s an alien fanatic and it monitors strange incidents maybe there’s something on it.” Liz said as she moved to sit down in front of the computer. Kyle headed for the phone and tried dialing a friend of his dad’s in Clovis. Nothing. “I can't call out of town.”
Liz clicked a few keys and found something that looked strange. “Kyle. Kyle. Um, do you see this jump on the graph? There was some sort of, like, electric disturbance that leveled off here.”
“When?”
“Um...10:30 this morning.”
“Right about when everyone went poof.”
“Kyle, if the energy field was turned on...”
“Maybe it can be turned off.” He said finishing her sentence. They always worked well as a team, their brains were thinking a mile a minute, figuring things out quickly.
“Exactly. I mean, we just need to find the source. If we can shut it off, maybe we can bring everyone back.” Liz stated just as the Sheriff came in. “Liz...will you excuse us for a second?”
Liz nodded and headed out of the office. “Don't worry, dad. I'm stayin' out of everyone's way.” Kyle said.
“Ky...do you remember what you did the night after your mom left?” The Sheriff asked reverting to his original name.
“I snuck over to Liz’s.” Kyle stated not knowing what his dad was getting at.
“You did then you snuck back in you window early in the morning so I wouldn’t know you left. You were worried about me, and you didn't want me to think that I had to be strong for you too, so you hid how much her leaving hurt you. That was a brave thing for an 8-year-old to do, and I was...and I was proud of you. I’ve always been proud of you. You and Liz risked your lives to have freedom.”
“Mm-hmm.” Kyle said not knowing why his dad kept going on and on.
“I remember our first Christmas...and when I, uh... I taught you how to fish.”
“Ok, pop, knock it off.”
“I...” The Sheriff said as he stumbled.
Kyle looked at him worriedly. “You...dad. You all right?”
The Sheriff looked at Kyle, the young boy who had let him be a father. “I'm in awe of you every day, son. And I apologize for not recognizing the man that you're becoming...because you're a darn...you're a darn good one.” He said before disappearing.
“No! Dad!” Kyle yelled. He turned around and found himself in an empty room. He headed out front. They had to fix this; he needed his dad and Zack back.
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