by Kevin Ryan
Isabel, Kyle, and Maria all agreed.
"It's unanimous, Max. Can we go now?" Michael said, his voice impatient.
Liz understood Michael. Everyone was still getting used to the idea that Max refused to take charge of the group
anymore. She understood. He still blamed himself for everything.
Michael started to open the side door and said, "Hang on, let me blast the chain."
"No," Max said. "I'll do it." He turned to Liz and said, "Drive through. I'll meet you on the other side."
Max jumped out and Liz slid over. She watched him touch the chain on one end. There was a flash, then the chain separated and one side fell to the ground. As she drove over the chain, she watched Max use his powers to put the chain back together. Then he waved her forward and kicked up the brush and leaves behind the van to hide the fact that they had been there. Max jumped back into the van as Liz moved over to her seat. The first thing he did was turn off the headlights. Then he started driving.
Liz was amazed. Max's actions might have given them the extra time they needed to get away. He might well have just saved their lives, but he still doubted himself. Now he was driving in nearly complete darkness on a narrow forest road. Whether or not he thought he could handle it, Liz had no doubt that all of their lives were resting on his shoulders. And Liz knew she wouldn't want it any other way.
It was almost completely dark when Max made his first turn onto a gravel road that Liz herself had missed. The rain was coming down heavily now, and Liz didn't see how Max was even staying to the road.
Finally, he turned on the headlights… just in time to see the large tree that had fallen across their path. The van came to a jerky stop.
"I'll get it," Max said, reaching for the door.
Liz didn't want to see him go outside again. It was pouring rain, and he was wet enough from his last trip out of the van. If only the tree would just get out of our way, she thought idly, Max wouldn't have to go outside and move it.
Then, by itself, the trunk of the tree slid quickly across their path to the left as the upper branches scraped against the brush and trees in the woods next to them. Liz let out a surprised "Oh," and the tree came to an abrupt stop.
Amazingly, there was just enough room for the van to get by on the right-hand side of the road.
"I didn't do that," Max said.
"Neither did I," Michael said.
"It wasn't me," said Isabel.
"I think it was me," Liz said, turning to see that Max was already looking at her.
He studied her face for a moment and then smiled and said, "Remind me not to get you mad, Parker."
Before she could react, he was on the move again. The van drove slowly, rocking back and forth on the uneven gravel road. Max made two more turns, apparently at random, and then they came to a branch that was lying in front of them.
"Liz?" Max said.
She concentrated and tried to move the branch with her powers, but it just sat there. She shook her head and shrugged.
Max opened his window and leaned out for a moment. He waved his hand, and the branch slid out of their way. He continued driving, and Liz realized they were traveling gradually uphill.
There was also a glow up ahead, in the distance.
"That must be a town, or something," Liz said.
"The Special Unit could be waiting there," Michael said.
"But we have a better chance of getting lost in a bunch of people than we do out here in the open," Kyle said.
Another vote had Max, Liz, Kyle, and Isabel for heading for the town, or whatever it was, with only Michael and Maria for staying away. They headed toward the glow. After that vote, no one spoke for a long time. Liz stopped checking her watch, but she guessed that at least two hours had passed. The whole time, Max kept a hyper-alert stare on the road. He stopped for obstructions, using his powers to move them aside when necessary.
He also made a number of turns when the road they were on ended. They began to see large parcels of land that were only low brush and tree stumps. Well, we're on a logging road, it makes sense, Liz thought.
She tried to occupy herself by experimenting with her own powers to see if she could move anything with her mind, but they wouldn't work. It might be because she could not concentrate, but until the tree on the road she had not been able to summon her powers to move things since Stonewall. There, she had been able to hold the ship with her powers until Max and Michael could escape. After that, those powers had seemed to have deserted her, at least until she had moved the tree. The only ability that appeared with any frequency was her limited future sight… and more often than not, the visions it gave her were frightening.
Behind all of her musings were a single thought that she could not shake: Someone had tracked them. Someone had known who and where they were. It should not
have been possible, but there it was. And that was the most frightening part of all of this. Their future depended on being able to disappear into the country, to become anonymous. They knew the Special Unit would be looking for them, but she had been confident they would never find Liz and her friends.
But they had found them, and less than two weeks into the trip. If that was possible, then how would they keep themselves alive? How would she and Max ever get married? What kind of life would they have, and how long would it last?
And who had called the Special Unit?
Unable to shake those questions, Liz watched rain fall and the forest go by in the dim, almost nonexistent light of the evening. The monotony made it hard to avoid those questions and to think of anything else.
She was relieved when a bright flash of light and loud clap of thunder sounded. For a second, her heart pounded faster and she forgot her worries. Then it was back to the dull monotony of the drive inside the rocking of the van on the old gravel road.
Another boom. Michael counted off in his head, one one-thousand, then the flash. That one was closer, less than a mile, he thought. The lightning was moving closer to them, or they to it. Either way, it pretty much summed up the day for them. It also summed up the trip so far, for that matter.
To his surprise, Michael didn't feel stressed or anxious. He only felt ready. Those two feelings had pretty much defined life in Roswell for him for as long as he could
remember. The funny thing was, now that he was on the ran for his life, he had never felt more at ease.
And he had never had a clearer idea of what he wanted.
He reached out his hand and took Maria's in his. She flinched and pulled it away, turning her head from the window. "What?" she said sharply.
Immediately, the hair on the back of his neck went up. He wanted to bark back at her. The desire to do so was reflex by now, second nature for both of them. A month ago, he would have done it without thinking, but a month ago now seemed as far away as the day he had found his way out of his pod and into the desert.
Ignoring his instinct, he simply reached out and took her hand again. This time she didn't pull it away, but she looked at him suspiciously. He slid closer and gave her a comforting smile. "It's going to be okay," he said.
"Really?" she said.
"Max will lose them. If not, I'll make sure that nothing happens to any of us," he said with confidence. "Don't worry about them, or Liz's dream. I'll keep an eye on you."
"I'm not worried," she said sharply.
For a moment, Michael had no response for that. Then, he said, "We just narrowly escaped the Special Unit who tried to assassinate us on graduation day. Barely escaped the new aliens in Stonewall. Now we're maybe an hour ahead of the Special Unit, who would love to put us in a cell and experiment on us. And you say you're not worried?"
"I can take care of myself," Maria said. Her voice was even, but Michael knew it was only from effort. She was scared… he could see it in her eyes… but he couldn't tell
exactly what she was most scared of. Was she hiding it just from him… or from herself, too?
"Well, whether
you want me to or not, I'm going to take care of you. For whatever time we have left, I want to be with you," Michael said.
For a second, she didn't say anything… which was amazing for Maria. Something was going on behind her eyes, something he couldn't quite see. Then a change came over her, and she said, "Is this what this is all about?"
"What?" he said.
"Sex," she replied.
"No, I'm just saying…," Michael said.
"All the things that are going on, and all you can think about is putting the moves on me," Maria said.
"That's not it," Michael said, feeling the blood rush to his face. Why did this always happen between them? Why couldn't they seem to connect, to communicate like Max and Liz did? Why couldn't Maria understand…? "I'm just trying to tell you…," he began.
"I know what you are trying to do… that's the problem. Now why don't you just leave me alone and grow up," she said.
Michael felt his anger rise up, catching in his throat. "Why…," he began, but stopped himself from saying another word from sheer force of will. He wanted to scream in her face. He wanted to shout his frustration.
That's what Hank would do, a voice said inside his head. The voice was right, and that was one of the reasons he held his tongue. He didn't want to share anything with his former foster father, ever. So, his face burning, he slumped back into the seat and slid away from Maria, who was
turned away from him and looking out the window again. It was then that he realized the van was completely silent. Max and Liz were staring straight ahead, and everyone seemed to be holding their breath.
Of course, they heard every word, he thought. The van was big enough for everyone to fit more or less comfortably, but it wasn't big enough for privacy. No one said a word that everyone else didn't hear.
Perfect, he thought as he stared forward and concentrated on the little that he could see out the front windshield. He saw that the glow they had been following had gotten brighter. Whatever it was, they were getting closer to it.
Just then, the glow disappeared, and it was nearly pitch dark again.
5
Relax…?" Liz said. "What was that?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Maybe the power went out in town."
"Maybe," Liz said, but somehow didn't feel like that was the reason. She couldn't explain why, but she knew that wasn't it.
Then the road changed again, and they were on a paved surface. They were also going uphill. That was good. Maybe when they reached the top of the hill, they would be able to see farther. If they could spot the town, she would feel better.
Minutes later the lightning lit up the sky again, outlining a building near the top of the hill. Liz could make out only a silhouette of the building, and that for only a second. Nevertheless, she felt a chill run down her spine.
There was something odd about the building.
Then there was another flash, this one directly behind the structure, and for a moment, it was brightly illuminated. Liz recognized it instantly. "Max, stop," she said.
"What?" he replied.
"Max, you have to stop the van," Liz said sharply.
He brought the van to a stop. "What is it, Liz?" Max pressed.
Immediately, all eyes in the van were on her. She didn't waste any time. She suspected they didn't have much time to waste.
"That is the house from my… vision. We have to get out of here," she said.
Max nodded, "Any objections?" he asked.
A chorus of "no's" came from the back.
Liz turned to see that Maria looked nervous… scared, actually. Liz understood. After all, Liz's vision had been about Maria in danger. Well, maybe the vision would be useful this time. Maybe they could just slip away now and prevent the event from happening.
Turning around, Liz watched the house recede and felt relieved. She barely had time to register the thought when the sound of the engine died. Pivoting her head back around, she saw that the light on the dashboard had gone off, as had the headlights.
The van slowed down.
"Engine just died," Max said as the van slowed.
"You have got to be kidding me," Maria said from the back.
"Gas?" Michael asked, as the van came to a halt.
"We have half a tank," Max replied.
"Well, there should be nothing wrong with the van," Kyle said, his tone firm. Liz knew he had spent many hours fixing and tuning the van in Stonewall. "Just try to start it again."
Max did. The first three times, the van's starter just clicked. Then it started normally.
"See," Kyle said as the van started moving again.
Liz turned to smile at Maria and saw relief on her best friend's face. But Maria's smile died as the van stopped again.
"This is impossible," Kyle said.
Max didn't respond; he simply tried to start the van again. On the fifth attempt it started, but this time it only moved a few feet before dying. He turned to the group. "We have a problem here." Liz saw that Maria was frightened and Kyle's face was set. "When the weather clears, Kyle can take a look at it, but for now we can't stay out in the open. I think we should try for the house," Max said.
"No!" Maria said.
"It makes sense. We can't stay on the road when they're looking for us. Plus, the house is on high ground. We'll see anyone coming and we'll be able to defend ourselves up there if we have to," Michael said.
"What about Liz's dream? There's something in the house," Maria said, her voice tight.
"We don't know what that was, but we know to keep on our guard," Max said.
"I'll look after you," Michael said.
"Why doesn't that make me feel any better?" Maria quipped.
Michael winced, and Liz could see that her best friend had hurt him. From what she'd heard of their earlier conversation, things were not going well. In fact, things had been strained between Maria and Michael since the beginning of the trip.
Liz had asked, but Maria had denied that anything was wrong. She'd just said that she needed some time. It made sense. They had all been through a lot of changes lately, so Maria was certainly entitled to some time to sort things out. The only problem was that Liz was certain Maria wasn't telling the truth. Something else was going on, but she refused to tell Liz what it was, or even to admit that there was something going on.
"Why can't we just pull into the woods and wait for the rain to stop?" Maria asked.
"They're right, Maria," Liz found herself saying.
"Why does it feel like I'm the only one around here taking Liz's vision seriously? What if the future is set? What if I'm going to take a header off the top of the staircase in there?" Maria said.
"The future is not set. We learned that at graduation. We saw that in Stonewall. Both of those times we changed the way things turned out," Liz said.
"Doesn't that mean we're due to fail?" Maria asked, a frown on her face.
"No," Max said. "We will not fail. We know what's supposed to happen, what will happen if we let it. We just have to be careful. We don't even know when it is supposed to happen. It could be days from now. We may eliminate the problem just by leaving tomorrow. And we will leave tomorrow."
Maria didn't look happy and was about to say something when Isabel spoke.
"We have to get inside," Isabel said. "We'll all keep an eye out for you. Let's go, Max."
Max didn't bother to take a formal vote. It was clear
that the score would be five to one, anyway. Max was able to start the van and made a U-turn, which was difficult because of the narrow road. He obviously didn't want to drive off the pavement and get stuck in the mud. Miraculously, the van didn't conk out again. In fact, it didn't conk out once during the maneuver. It also ran fine all the way up the hill.
"It's like the house wants us to come," Michael said, his voice ominous.
"Shut up, Michael," Maria said, squinting at him.
Liz nearly smiled at the exchange, but something stopped her. It was creepy that the
van conked out every few feet when they were trying to leave the house and not at all when they were driving toward it.
As they came closer, Liz could make out more and more detail on the house. It was huge, a mansion made of stone with a number of spires on the roof and what looked like towers on each side. The result looked vaguely like a castle, only more modern.
Liz decided it would be creepy even if she hadn't seen the sight in her vision. "It's definitely deserted," she said to no one in particular.
"There are no lights," Max said.
"Could be a blackout," Liz said, another bolt of lightning temporarily lighting up the sky for a moment as she spoke.
"I don't think so," he said. "The whole place is pretty badly overgrown. I don't think anyone's been here in a number of years."
The van approached a short, brick wall that seemed to surround the house, and Liz could see that Max was right.
In fact, the half of the gate that should have run across the driveway was lying on the ground to their right. The other side was hanging on by one hinge.
Max maneuvered the van through the small opening and pulled up to the house, then asked, "Michael, could you give me a hand?"
Then he and Michael jumped out of the van and into the rain. First, they used their powers to reset the half of the gate that was still hanging on. Then he and Michael maneuvered the other half in place, and Max repeated the task.
When they jumped back in the van, they were soaking wet.
"Max fused it shut. The Special Unit would have to break it down to get through. And it looks like that's the only way in," Michael said.
"In other words, you locked us in," Maria said.
Michael shook his head and said, "We'll use our powers when we need to go."
Maria slumped back in her seat.
Max put the van into drive and headed down the driveway… which was actually wider than the road they had been traveling on… that snaked around the main house. As soon as Max cleared the house, Liz could see a number of smaller buildings in the back.
The largest structure was a garage that must have been built to hold a dozen cars. There was also a small house and two other cottages that must have been for servants or guests. All of the buildings were built from the same gray stone as the main house. They also shared the same castle-like appearance.
