Part Nine
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He stared at her, opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water before shaking his head. "Nothing, I'm not going to do anything about it."
She swallowed in response, eyes fluttering, as she tugged on her bonds. "Zan…"
"My name is…," he started to correct without much venom before stopping. She barely looked like she knew where she was, he didn't have it in him to fight about that right now.
"You came back…"
He stared at her wordlessly for a moment and sighed at the hopeful look on her face. "Liz," he tried to say quickly but she cut in.
"Please hurry," she begged. "We have to leave now."
Max screwed his eyes shut and licked his lips. He couldn't look at her and say what he was about to at the same time.
"No Liz."
He listened as she tugged on her bonds.
"What," she asked, obviously confused. "But you came back!"
So I could snoop through your records.
Max shook his head and put his hand against the papers at his back. He decided the best response was to deflect. He couldn't tell her why he was really here, she'd hate him.
"I'm sorry Liz but I have to go."
"No," she begged and tried to sit up. "Don't leave me!"
He knew he should ignore her. That he should leave the room and never come back but the one thing he'd never been able to do was ignore Liz. No matter how hard he'd tried.
"I can't help you," he whispered lowly.
"Yes you can," she replied lowly. "You have no idea what you can do…"
Something in her voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he finally made eye contact.
"I can't Liz."
"Stop saying that," she ordered emphatically, pulled on her bonds again and he stepped closer. Not able to fight the worry he felt over her possibly re-injuring herself.
"Stop it."
His voice just seemed to spur her aggravation on and he moved closer again, finally reached out and put his hand against her shoulder. She looked up at him, eyes vague with whatever they'd pumped her full of and he tried to school his face into blankness.
"If you don't stop you'll hurt yourself."
They'd finally removed the bandages at her wrists and he let his hand drop down. Max ran his thumb along the pink, new skin of her scar. He'd hoped for something light, a mark that was more a cry for help than an actual suicide attempt but he wasn't really surprised by the deep slashes he found instead. Max traced the wounds edges, followed the same trail she'd dragged a blade along less than two months prior and wished he could heal her. That he could take the reminders of what she'd done away and he felt himself falling into that space. That space he went when they were in the courtyard and he felt like he was capable of anything as long as it made her feel better.
Then he thought that, if she was right, if he could do this and he was who she said he was. He'd be able to make her better.
He concentrated and the fledgling heat gathering in his belly as it spiraled tighter and tighter, stole the breath from his lungs and he closed his eyes in preparation. Just when he felt it beginning to burn beneath his palms…it died. Max no longer felt those electric pulses just beneath his skin. He dropped her hand then and looked up into her eyes. She didn't seem to realize what he'd been trying to do.
"You have to help me!"
"I can't Liz! I can't even…," he let the admission trail off and turned his back. "I don't even believe what you're telling me but if it is true…," he shook his head. "I couldn't help you because I can't control it."
"Not yet," she said frantically. "But Larek—"
"Shhh," he cut her off and moved closer to the door, listened to what sounded like Greg's feet getting closer. "You have to be quiet Liz."
She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned, muttered, "Max listen," too loudly in the quiet building and he felt his stomach fall when the guard's steps hesitated outside the door. He was listening.
"Max," she called again, even louder this time and he turned toward her but didn't try to quiet her or move. He just watched the door intently, unconsciously balled his hand into a fist when the knob began to turn slowly. He'd thought he was willing to do anything to get away from her a moment earlier but his desperation to get away had morphed into a desperation not to be caught. If Greg came into this room— no matter how much Max would have preferred to avoid it— there would be a fight.
He watched the knob spin slowly before it stopped short. Greg tried it twice more before letting go and lumbering off down the hall. It was locked. Max laughed, he must have locked it behind himself without realizing. He forced himself to relax and opened his sweaty palms, took a relieved breath. He'd almost been discovered and only God knew what would happen to him if he was caught with her alone again, especially since he didn't even work here anymore. Max let out a short bark of laughter at his good fortune when Liz made a distressed sound and he came crashing back to Earth.
Even if he'd avoided detection once, there was quite a distance between this room and the front door. He wasn't a 100% sure he could make it there on his own, let alone with a drugged up patient hanging off of his side. He swallowed and looked back over his shoulder at Liz.
"Come on now Max. Help me get out of these things," she asked, her voice was strangely high as if she already knew what he was about to say.
"Liz I—"
"No," she moaned, drawing the word out long and low. "This has to happen now. We may never get another chance!"
"I'm not who you think I am," he responded lowly.
"Yes you are! I know it's hard but you have to believe that—"
"What?" He asked in a fierce whisper. Suddenly angry with her for putting him in this position. "That I'm an alien and that you're not crazy."
"Yes," she answered matter of factly and he shook his head, face empty but set.
"I'm sorry but I can't do that."
"No," she said with force as if hearing the conviction in her voice would change his mind. "This isn't what's supposed to happen."
"I'm sorry Liz," he replied lowly, feeling scared and sad and terrible about hurting her even if he knew it was for the best. "I don't believe you."
"But you've used your powers! You've seen what you're capable of!"
"Those were just one-off's Liz. God—"
"Stop, please," she groaned out like she was sick and he took a step closer.
"Liz?"
When she didn't answer he took another step forward. "Liz, you'll be all right. The doctors will take care of you and by this time next year you won't even remember me."
He ignored the pang his own words caused him. It would be better that way. It had to be.
She raised her face to look at him then and her eyes were clear. "By this time next year, none of us will be here."
Then, just as quickly as it appeared, that lucidity vanished and her face became soft and clear as a child's. "We were supposed to save the world, Max."
He backed away until he hit the door and swallowed whatever was rising inside of him. "I'm sorry, Liz."
Then he spun around, turned the knob and disappeared out the door as quickly as he could while still moving slowly enough to be inconspicuous. He was halfway down the next corridor when a memory stopped in his tracks.
The door. He hadn't unlocked it to get out.
Max turned toward the hallway he'd just come from and tried to tell himself that he had unlocked it. That he just didn't remember in his haste to get out of there and that he should just keep moving but he couldn't.
You have no idea what you can do…
When you two were little, we had locks on the fridge and on the cabinets and oven but they would never keep you out of things…
Their words fluttered through his mind before he could make them stop, then continued on a loop. He raised his hand to his face and worried the nail on his thumb. It couldn't be, it was insanity to even be considering it but the more he thought about what Liz said the less absurd it seemed.
We were supposed to save the world, Max.
He was turning around before he could even question what his decision would mean and was walking back down the hall before he could talk himself out of it. He'd known. He'd known from the moment he first met Liz that there was something different about her. Something that connected them together and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he left her here. He wouldn't be able to go on without knowing that he'd tried everything in his power to help her.
Even if that meant breaking the law.
Max walked faster now that he'd set a course for himself, turned the corner to the hallway outside of her room and walked directly into Justin Capriati. They didn't react at first, just stared at one another blank faced, completely shocked by the others presence.
"What are you doing here," the other man was finally able to sputter.
Many possible responses flitted through Max's mind but none passed through his lips. He could feel himself begin to shake. He'd been so close, so close to going back, so close to taking her in his arms and just disappearing.
Max frowned at the man standing in front of him. Justin was always getting in his way.
"I'll ask again," the orderly stated in a staccato voice, suddenly authoritative and confident as he had been that day out in the yard, the day everything had gone sideways and had yet to right itself back. Or maybe it had happened long before that. Maybe it happened on that day in the woods with Iz. The day he healed something for the first time and Liz went insane.
"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"
Justin's voice startled him from his memories and Max thought fast. He hated to lie, and he wasn't even very good at it, but it wouldn't do anyone any good if he got carted off tonight. He'd never be able to get back in this building then and Liz...
The thought of leaving her here made the choice easy.
"I was…um," he searched his mind before landing on something. "I was hired back."
The other man frowned. "Excuse me?"
Max licked his lips and tried to ignore the sweat he could feel rolling down his back. "I was cleared and they hired me back." He pointed to his uniform and tried to smile like he thought this was all just a horrible misunderstanding. "See, I've got the uniform and everything."
Justin tilted his head to the side and stared at him appraisingly. "They hired you back?"
"Yeah, they cleared me and put me back on the roster yesterday morning."
"I wasn't made aware of that."
"Well that's not my fault," Max replied, halfway believing it himself. "You need to talk to them about that."
The other man's cheeks turned pink with embarrassment before he took a breath and righted himself, said, "all right then, I will," before turning and making his way to the stairwell.
Max stared after him, dumb founded that his story had actually worked when Justin turned back suddenly with narrowed eyes.
"What's the code for a flat line?"
"What," he asked.
"The new code. Right after you were…let go, admin came up with a new one. They'd tell you what is was before giving you a shift." His mouth tightened into a flat line, "so what is it?"
His hands squeezed into fists again as he ran through every combination he could think of, came up empty and decided to wing it.
"They never changed it," he smiled. "It's still the same one."
Justin leaned back, started to reach for the walkee at his side and Max knew instantly that his bluff had been called. He took a step toward Justin when the other man put his hand up, palm facing out.
"Stop just…don't move!" He ordered and tried again to snatch his radio from it's holster. "I'll just call them now and we can get this all sorted sooner rather than later."
Max was afraid, more afraid then he'd been at any point in the last two months when his life had been going to hell and that's when he felt it happening again. That thing from the woods and the green space and from Liz's side earlier tonight. That yawning oblivion he fell into whenever he used his gift was widening but there was something off about it. Something sharper and darker about the energy growing low in his belly.
The lights overhead began to flicker and when Justin freed the two-way from his side, one of the bulbs burst with a loud crack leaving them in partial darkness.
The other man broke eye contact to look up and that's when Max raised his hand slowly. He didn't understand the movement, he was just going on instinct now. The gathering power inside of him expanded until he almost felt like he would choke but nothing was happening. Then Justin looked down and as soon as their eyes met he felt like someone struck a match over a puddle of kerosene.
The force within him burst up and through his palm, knocking Justin back through the air and into a wall about five feet from where he'd been standing. Max stared at him with an open mouth, shaking. He finally let his hand fall to his side, wincing from the pain using this new side of his power caused him. He looked at the other man before he forced himself to move toward Justin's prone body.
"Oh God, please don't let him be dead. Oh God, please don't let him be dead. Oh God, please don't let him be dead…" Max didn't even realize he was praying out loud until he heard his own voice echo back.
He stopped when the tip of his shoe hit Justin's knee and bent down. He wiped sweaty palms against his uniform pants and reached for the other man's wrist. It only took him a second to feel a strong pulse and he sighed with relief before falling back into a seated position. He rested his face in his hands and sat still for a moment, trying to catch his breath when a slightly distorted voice came over Justin's two-way.
"Capriati? There was just a loud crash from the third floor of the hospital. Can you check it out?"
Max watched the two-way closely with wide eyes.
"Capriati, you there?"
He had to do something now or they'd send more people and he might have to… Max looked at the still body to his right and reached forward to pluck the radio from Justin's hand. He put it to his mouth and tried to mimic the other man's speech patterns.
"Sure."
Quiet crackled over the receiver before they spoke back. "Good on you," and then switched over to another channel.
Max stuck the walkee in his waistband and ran his hands through his hair. He'd been planning on leaving Justin as he was, going back for Liz and making their way out but now that he'd sent Justin to go check out what happened, they'd be calling to find out what he saw and when he didn't answer they'd send someone up…
He let the thought trail off and walked around to grab Justin's hands. He had to move him or they'd discover something was wrong too quickly. Max dragged him back down the hall, looked around the corner to make sure it was all clear before pulling him down the corridor that led to Liz's room. Justin was dead weight and he was heavy. Max was struggling to carry him by the time they got to her door. He reached to the side and turned the knob, expecting it to open easily. Only this time it didn't.
He twisted a couple more times, becoming frantic, before he remembered Greg and let out a low, "shit." Max rarely cursed but hearing the word helped to clear his mind. He probably used his gift to open the door earlier. He bent down to grab the key chain around Justin's waist and used that to open it this time.
He fell through the door quickly and barely took in Liz's startled face at his return before pulling in Justin's body. When he turned toward her again, her eyes were wide.
"He's not—"
"He's knocked out," Max hurriedly answered and locked the door behind them.
He walked toward the bed and began to untie Liz's restraints.
She fell forward into his arms when he helped pull her from the bed. "I thought you weren't…I thought you were going to…"
"I don't know if you're crazy or I am and even though I don't believe that I'm an alien, I do believe in the way I've always felt connected to you." Max blushed a little at admitting that but went on, "I couldn't leave you."
She stared at him spacily as he sat her down on the floor with her back against the wall. Max picked Justin up underneath his arms and pushed him onto Liz's bed with a grunt. He tugged the other man's shoes and socks off and, after a moment of internal debate, his pants as well. Liz would need them, she couldn't walk around in only a hospital gown.
He pulled her back up into his arms and helped her pull the pants on. She wasn't wearing any under things and he made himself ignore the feel of her almost bare breasts against forearm. Now was not the time. He nudged her into a corner so she'd stay upright while he bent to put the socks and shoes on her feet. He leaned back to take her in and smiled a little. All of Justin's clothes were much too big but they were better than nothing.
He worked his arm under hers and helped her to the door when the walkee crackled back to life.
"How'd it go, Capriati?"
Max pulled it from his waist quickly, "something just fell sir."
They walked out of the door and down the hallway towards the stairwell that led to the back entrance.
"What was it?"
He didn't answer as they pushed through the exit and Max caught her on the stairs when she tripped over Justin's shoes and almost fell.
"Are you all right? Your voice sounds strange…"
Max switched the two-way off and began to half carry; half drag her down the stairs. They had to get out of there now. He hesitated at the exit, sure that there would be police cars and helicopters and men with guns just beyond it but when pushed the handle and stuck his head out, only an almost empty parking lot greeted him. They walked out cautiously when he saw the jeep and made a mad dash toward it. He helped her into the back seat so she could sleep through the drive before he ran to the driver's seat. He stared at the building for a moment. This was it. His life would never be the same when he pulled out of this lot.
Max took a deep breath, turned the key in the ignition and pressed his foot on the gas.
-
He quietly unlocked the front door of his family's home and walked in as silently as he could. Liz had fallen asleep almost immediately while Max listened to AM radio for the thirty minute drive back into town, searching for any mention of someone who might be them and came up empty.
He climbed the steps stealthily, skipped the one that squeaked and made his way to his bedroom. He grabbed a bag out of his closet and threw some clothes and a few books in. He was half out of the door before he turned back, they'd need something to do when they were cooped up on the run so he went back and added one or two movies before finally leaving. Max pressed his back against the wall and made his way back downstairs and through the den. The TV was still on so he stopped, afraid that someone had fallen asleep in front of it but when he peeked, the couch was empty.
"The Police are still investigating the bizarre string of deaths …"
He glanced up at the sound of their local reporter's voice before be moved toward his parents' office. There was no light coming from beneath the door but he pressed his ear against the wood and listened, just to make sure, before he finally pushed it open.
He walked across the carpeted floor toward the safe he knew they kept in the bottom of the closet. He spun the dial in a combination he'd never had to use before now and the door popped open easily. There was a few hundred, maybe even a thousand dollars, his parents left here for emergencies and one other item he'd completely forgotten about. A gun. He swept the money into his bag and hesitated before pulling out a shirt, wrapping the weapon up and placing it inside as well. He forced himself to breathe normally and was about to close the safe when he reached into his mother's desk and pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. He scribbled some words on a sheet, tossed it inside and closed the door gently.
Max walked back out of the room and closed the doors behind. He glided slowly to the front door, soaked in as much about the place he'd grown up in as he could. Only God knew when, maybe even if but he refused to believe that, he would ever see it again. He glanced back into the kitchen, ran his hand along the back of the couch and touched the cuff of Iz's jacket that had been hung up behind the front door. He took a deep breath, memorized the smell of home and took one final look back before opening the door and locking it behind him.
