Okay, lets see the curve ball...
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Chapter Eleven.
Isabel and Nathan reached the clearing in a couple of minutes and made themselves
comfortable leaning against an old log, staring up at the stars. They made small talk for
a while, until Nathan decided to cut to the heart of the matter.
“So what’s on your mind?”
Isabel straightened up and paused for a moment as she collected her thoughts.
“An explanation, mostly. I need you to promise you won’t interrupt, just listen to me
and hear me out before you say anything.”
“Okay. Just take your time.”
Isabel nodded and took a deep breath, then proceeded to tell him. About Alex. About
what he had meant to her, and how much she regretted not telling him. About how he
had died in a car crash, and how a part of her had died with him. About the dreams
she had been having about him, and how much Nathan reminded her of him. Tears
threatened on more than one occasion, and when she was done, she couldn’t remember
ever feeling so emotionally drained before.
“So are you saying that what we have is just you trying to relive the past?” Nathan said,
the pain etched on his face.
“No, of course not! I knew that last week - I haven’t heard from you since Christmas day,
and I realized that it was you that I was missing, not Alex. It’s just that you remind me of
him so much it’s had me so confused, and with the dreams I’ve been having...” Isabel
rolled onto her knees so she was facing him, took his hands and looked into his eyes.
“Nathan, please believe me - what we have is real. I just needed to tell you about this,
because I wanted you to be able to understand what’s going on.”
He bowed his head for a moment with his eyes closed, and when he opened them he had a settled expression on his face.
“Well, I guess there’s only one thing to do then.”
Isabel feared the worst, and her voice trembled as she spoke. “And what’s the one thing?”
Nathan turned his head, his grin firmly in place. “I guess we’ll have to work on finding
you something new to be dreaming about.”
Isabel blinked once, twice, as understanding broke through the confusion like the sun after a fierce storm. Nathan reached out and pulled her head against his chest, and she melted as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Anytime, for anything you want me for. All you have to do is say the word.” he whispered in her ear.
“But what about...”
“Anytime, for anything. Just say the word.” He repeated in a tone that made it clear no
questions needed asking. They laid there for a while in each others arms, not a word spoken or needing to be said, and had both started to doze, when a voice snapped them back to full wakefulness.
“Well, well, well, isn’t this a pretty picture?”
Nathan scowled at their observer. “Get lost, kid.”
“You know, Vilandra, you should really learn to keep your pets on a tighter leash. We all
know what happened to the last one that got loose.”
“I told you once before, my name is Isabel Evans.”
Nicholas smirked at the pair as Nathan rose to his feet. “You mean you still haven’t accepted the truth of your situation after all this time? That is truly disappointing.”
Nathan stretched to his full six-foot-five-inch frame and stepped forward. “I’ll show you
disappointing, you little...”
“Nathan, don’t!”
He turned, confused. “Relax, Is, I won’t hurt him.... much. “
As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he was in trouble. From the surrounding bush stepped six, eight, ten others, forming a semi circle with Nicholas at the center position. Nathan reached his arms out to the sides to protect Isabel and whispered quietly to her.
“When I say go, head for the track and get back to the others.”
“Nathan, you don’t...”
“Don’t argue the point!” He took one last look over his shoulder at her standing there, then set himself, and lined up his target. “GO!” He yelled, exploding into motion with a crushing tackle and driving his shoulder into the stomach of the Skin he had his eye on. As soon as Isabel turned, however, Nicholas was already raising his arm, with a flash coming from the device he had in his hand, knocking her to the ground.
“ISABEL!” Nathan screamed, and tried to get away from the two holding him back. Breaking free, he surged forward, but Nicholas was waiting, and a second bolt from his weapon knocked Nathan to the ground against a log, gashing his ribs. Nicholas tucked it back into his belt and pointed to two of his people.
“Get the female. Let’s go.”
One of them pointed towards Nathan, still conscious but fading fast. “What about him?”
“He’s nothing. Leave him there to die.”
As his people collected Isabel and started to leave, Nicholas walked over to Nathan and looked down at him lying on the ground, and smirked.
“You were warned to stay out of it. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself involved in with these people.”
Nathan looked up at him, defiance blazing in his eyes despite the pain.
“Neither do you.”
Nicholas turned and left, following his people as they vanished into the fog starting to rise as dawn approached. Nathan summoned what strength he had and started dragging himself towards his bag, still on the ground where he had left it, praying that he could be strong enough to do what he needed to before the pain rendered him senseless...
Max stirred from his position by the fire. What was it he had heard? Sitting where he
was, the fire kept him from seeing much, and he was beginning to think his ears were
playing tricks on him, when Michael stepped up next to him, and the girls crawled out of
their tent rubbing their faces.
“So you heard it to then?”
Michael nodded. “Something’s going on, Max. I don’t know what, but I do know I don’t
like it.”
“Max, look!”
They turned at the sound of Liz’s voice, and saw a faint pink glow filtering through the
bushes. Max knew in the pit of his stomach what it meant.
“They’re in trouble. Come on!”
The four of them made a mad dash along the trail Max led them to, but when they arrived, they could tell it was too late.
All they found was Nathan lying on the ground, blood oozing from his ribs. Of Isabel or
any others, there was no sign. Michael was beside himself, and looking for a target to
lash out at.
“I told you he couldn’t be trusted! Now do you believe me, now they have your sister?!
Now we do this my way, and I’m gonna get answers.”
He turned towards Nathan, only to find Liz barring him from getting closer.
“Get out of my way, Liz. They took one of ours, and I’m going to return the favor, in
pieces, if I have to, to get her back.”
“Michael, look at him. Do you really think they would leave Nathan there in the shape
he’s in, if he was working for them?”
“So how do we know it isn’t another trick to get us to trust him more?”
“We don’t.” Max replied, from where he was standing. He brought his head up, and fixed
them with a steely gaze. “But we soon will. Michael, I want you to get Kyle and his dad
here, soon as possible. It’s time to finish this once and for all.”
Michael stepped to one side as Max approached and pulled his phone out. Liz looked at
Max, worried by the look he had on his face.
“Max, what are you going to do?” She watched as he slipped his gloves off, and flexed
his fingers. “Max, you promised me that at the end of this, I would still have my family...”
“I’m well aware of my promises, Liz.” He said, a cold edge in his voice. “Like the promise I made to look after Isabel and Michael, and make sure nothing happened to them. I’m just making sure all my promises get kept.”
With that, he reached out and placed his hand over the wound in Nathan’s ribs. A sudden
convulsion ran through Max, as he flashed through Nathan’s memories, looking for the
one clue he would need to guide him to his sister. As the healing completed, his
memories got closer to their time and place, right up to his last conversation with Isabel,
and the confrontation that followed, and the shock of it all rocked Max back on his heels
as he finally realized...
“It’s... it’s true.” He looked up, with tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Oh, God.... Liz,
I’m so sorry. I just didn’t think... “
“What do you mean?” Liz dropped to her knees to support Nathan’s head as he started to
stir. “What are you talking about?”
Michael came up behind Max. “Valenti and Kyle are on their way - they’ll be here in a couple of minutes.” He looked down at Nathan, with a dangerous gleam in his eye. “I like it, Maxwell. You bring him back so I can push him to the edge again. It won’t take long to get answers.”
“It’s going to take longer than you think, Michael.” Max replied. still kneeling on the
ground, rocking back and forth. He looked up with shock on his face.
“Nathan was telling us the truth right from day one. He has only ever been what he told
us he was. He didn’t know anything about us, or Alex.” Max shuddered violently. “Or
where they may have taken Isabel.”
Nathan rolled to one side, his body heaved by a racking cough as he tried to recover from
what had happened to him. As he straightened, he fixed his stare on Max’s face, with a
mix of amazement and horror running across his face.
“Just who - or what - the hell are you people?”
Liz took his hands, and tried talking. “Nathan, just stay calm...”
“Calm? I get shot by a kid using some sort of gun from Star Trek, split my ribs open,
and your boyfriend fixes the damage by touching me, and you expect me to stay calm??
Right now, I figure I’m entitled to be going off my nut a little, don’t you?”
“Trying to win friends and influence people again, eh Evans?” Kyle said, as he and his
father emerged from the gap in the woods. The smirk on his face died quickly as he looked at Nathan standing to his feet.
“I thought you said you had other plans, Valenti.” Nathan looked away in disgust. “Look,
I don’t care what you think of me, or why I was apparently set up for something, but now
I’m up to my neck in things, and I damn well deserve some sort of explanation.”
Max looked at Liz, who nodded, then he turned to Michael, who simply shrugged.
“Your decision, fearless leader.”
He looked at Nathan standing in front of him and sighed.
“You had better sit down for this one. It’s going to take a bit of time.”
