Chapter 15
Isabel was at the table with her parents. She kept checking her watch surreptitiously as she laid her wrist on her lap away from her mother's eyes. Her father had called to say he would be late and to wait for him. He finally arrived at almost 9 pm when Isabel was freaking out and about to tell her mother to leave it for another day. She felt bad because he had been thrilled when Diane told him Isabel was there and was having dinner with them. As they waited for him, they had found and old tragically romantic movie which helped them pass the time. Now they were finally finishing dessert and it was almost 9:45 pm.
- Here, Isabel, have another slice, I know you love my apple pie.- Isabel pushed her dish away.
- I can’t Mum, I’m ready to burst. I should be leaving now, I’m helping Max and his friends study for an exam tomorrow.-
- I think it’s great that you keep in touch with them. - Philip said getting up and walking his daughter to the door. As she was kissing her father goodbye, her mother came rushing from the kitchen with a plastic bag.
- Here, dear, for later if you feel like something sweet. -
- Thanks Mum. - She kissed Diane and turned to leave.
- Don’t you want me to drive you? -
- No, Dad, it’s not that far and I need the walk after such a huge meal. - Philip smiled and nodded. Isabel walked at a fast pace hoping to burn as many unneeded calories as possible, making it to the UFO Museum at ten past ten. Perfect, she thought. She started crossing the street when Kyle ran up to her from the right making her jump.
- Hey! -
- Kyle! You scared the hell out of me! -
- Great having you along! -
- Yeah, real cool. -
- Race you! - He grabbed her arm and took off easy for her sake. They arrived at the Crashdown out of breath and laughing.
They sat in one of Maria’s booths, Isabel craving for a hot chamomile tea to settle down all the stuff she had eaten at her parents.
Liz was alone with Agnes and she had her hands full as she passed by them with a tray full of dirty dishes.
- Hey, where’s Michael? -
- He’s upstairs in my bed with Maria giving him a massage. What can I get you? -
- A real hot chamomile, if it isn’t too much trouble. I had dinner at my parents…- She said pointing to her stomach.
- Enough said! Be right back. -
- Now that they’re back together they can’t keep their hands off each other. - Kyle sounded jealous, and rolled his eyes. Isabel giggled.
- Well, good for them and I have to get you someone. -
- Nah! Leave me alone! - He grinned at her.
- Want some home made apple pie right from my mother’s kitchen? - She asked pointing to the bag she had placed on the table
- No thanks, I just had to share a coconut pie, my dad’s favourite right from Amy de Luca’s kitchen. - They giggled together. Liz came towards them with her now empty tray.
- Your chamomile with be here in a minute.
- Sure, where’s Max? - Liz looked at her surprised.
- Didn’t he tell you? He’s gone overnight to Santa Fe. He said it was important, something to do with Langley from LA. -
- WHAT? - Isabel literally jumped up from her seat. - He can’t do that! He knows that we’re in danger and we need him. What’s wrong with him? - She rang his cell number and slammed her phone down on the table angrily.
- Can you believe it? His cell phone’s off! He’s so irresponsible! Everything is just about him and what he wants! What about us? - She sat back down, covering her face with her hands.
- Isabel, we’ll all be here together, you’ll be safe with us, ok? We’re right here if you need us. -
- I’m sorry, Liz, I’m overreacting, I know, but last night was so scary! - Liz leaned towards her and hugged her.
- I know, nightmares are awful, especially when they come true. Listen, I still have to bus for another…- she checked her watch - few minutes until everyone leaves, ok? Here, Kyle take her to my room and come back for her tea, go! - She raced to a now empty booth, littered with dirty dishes and spilt drinks. Kyle put his arm around Isabel’s shoulders and guided her up the stairs. They found Michael lying over Maria in a wild make out session. Kyle covered his eyes with spread out fingers.
- Oh shit! - He said as Isabel just stared at them as if she was expecting it. The couple on the bed looked up lazily to find out they had an audience. Michael pushed up so Maria could slide out from under him and sit up on the bed.
- Hey, Isabel, come sit down. - She sat by Michael’s thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. She smiled at him, he smiled back.
- You ok, big boy? - She took his hand in hers.
- Yeah, sure. - Liz came in shaking her hair free. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from her easy chair and said:
- Be right back, Kyle is bringing your tea, Isabel. - She opened the door and walked into her bathroom. Kyle burst in.
- Liz, Agnes is smoking her lungs out in the back alley and I can’t find the chamomile bags, Jose told me to ask you. -
- The herbal teas are in the back room, green cupboard, last drawer on the right. -
- Got it. - As he turned to take the stairs, Isabel’s cell rang. She picked up and said.
- Hi Jesse, - Kyle shook his head and raced downstairs frowning and headed for the back room. There was a weird buzzing connecting his ears inside his head. He couldn’t understand why he knew exactly what Liz had told him before she even opened her mouth. He went into the back room and found the cupboard. Beside it was a tan coloured cloth covering a heap of stuff that caught Kyle’s eyes for a second before he looked away and forgot it was there. He crouched and opened the bottom drawer finding what he was looking for. As he rose, a hand appeared from under the cloth and opened the top drawer just over Kyle. He hit his head on it hard and crawled sideways away from the cupboard, closing his eyes and holding his head with both his hands. Two hands were placed over Kyle’s but he didn’t seem to feel them. A weird light glowed over Kyle, covering his whole head, his hands included. A few seconds later everything went back to normal, the hands disappeared under the cloth. Kyle shook his head and returned to the kitchen. He poured a cup of boiling water and dropped the bag into it. He took it to Isabel, who thanked him, and went on talking to her husband. Kyle turned to leave the room and give Isabel some privacy and Michael and Maria went down the stairs with him. Liz came out of the bathroom and joined them. Jose was already changed and Maria went to Kyle and whispered something in his ear. Kyle smiled and nodded. She had told him that Isabel should dump Jesse if he was behaving like an idiot and of course, Kyle agreed. Maria went to take the bill to the last customers and Liz went with her tray to clean up anything left on the tables. Michael asked Kyle what was that about and Kyle got the buzzing again and did what it told him to do.
- Someone you know has left something for you and I know where it is. -
- Well, take me to it. -
- Alright, close your eyes. - Michael complied and let Kyle take him to the battered couch in the room behind the kitchen. He guided him until he was standing in front of it.
- Now turn around. Move a little to the left. - Then he pushed Michael so that he sat down hard not in the middle, between the two cushions but slightly to the side. Michael bounced right back up growling and rubbing his butt.
- What the hell was that? - He said really pissed. Kyle leaned over to look where he had fallen and saw the glint of a hypodermic needle upright between the cushions. He pulled it out covering his actions with his body and saw the plunger was all the way down. It disappeared into thin air and Kyle immediately forgot it He straightened up and said:
- Probably a spring. It’s an old thing. .
- Well, what did you bring me here for? -
- Sit down and I’ll get it for you. -
- No way, man. Spill! - Kyle led him to the booth where he had been sitting with Isabel when they arrived and gave him the bag with the apple pie. Michael opened the bag and ate it standing up. Liz came over and asked him where he got that from.
- Maria gave it to me. -
- Not Maria, Isabel. - Kyle corrected. Michael looked at him, dipping his head to a side, then shrugged and went on eating.
They watched the last customer leave and Maria came from the lockers already changed. She took Michael’s hand and they went to the stairs. Liz closed the door and started upstairs with Kyle. They entered the room almost together to find Isabel closing her cell, looking upset. They decided not to ask.
- Hey Liz, tell your dad to fix that couch downstairs, I just almost got raped by a spring that ran me through the ass. It damn hurts! - They all looked at him not getting it at all. He couldn’t get what it was they weren’t getting. He had been quite clear. To make his point, he proceeded to drop his jeans and bend over the easy chair. They could see he was right: there was a drop of blood on his right buttock a little lower that half way down. Kyle reached out his finger to touch the spot and his hand was smacked away by the three girls. Maria, possessively, was the first to touch followed by Liz and Isabel. Michael jerked and grunted with pain each time.
- Jeez, I’m sorry Michael, I’ll tell dad to check it as soon as I see him. - She went to the bathroom and came back with some cotton wool smeared dark brown and pressed it to the small wound. Michael yelped and tried to move aside but Liz held it hard against him.
- What’s that? - He rasped.
- Iodine.-
- Of course, felt familiar. - She waited a little, then removed it and blew on him. He felt a jolt, knowing it was Liz’s breath on him..
- Ok, - she patted him gently enjoying again the way his tight flesh felt under her hand and pulled up his pants. Maria watched amused, her best friend handling her boyfriend’s ass. He flinched at her touch on the sensitive area, but it hurt good.
- Alright then, you have your books? Come over. - They went to her terrace and started checking out the important points which were sure to be in the next day’s questions. Kyle sat at the computer with Michael standing beside him. Liz noticed Isabel was sitting on the deck chair looking miserable so she went to her.
- Everything ok with Jesse? -
- Yes, kind of, well…not really…he pretends not to, but he’s taking it very hard, you know, my not telling him before the wedding, and now stupid Max…sorry… taking off like that when I’m so worried about Michael and our thing…you know…-
- Come here. - He took her by the hand and led her back to the bedroom. She gave her the headphones of her compact disk player and three CD’s. Then she pushed her back on her bed. Isabel thanked her with her eyes and her smile.
- Hey, we’re thirsty here, I need a volunteer to get us something to drink downstairs, Michael! - He turned to her.
- Be a doll and bring us some cherry cokes. - He nodded and counted them. Isabel said she wanted just mineral water. She put on the headphones and lay back after choosing one of the CD’s. She closed her eyes and soon she was enveloped by the music totally relaxed. Michael asked Liz if he could fix himself something cause he was starving. He had preferred the massage session to eating. Liz smiled at him and said it was ok. Kyle went with him and got the sodas. He came back up and left Isabel’s can on the nightstand by the bed not to interrupt her. He passed them around and went outside to keep on with the reading and the summaries. They had been going at it for some time when Maria asked Kyle to check on Michael or he would eat up everything downstairs and Mr Parker would throw a major fit. Kyle nodded, beginning to feel some hunger pangs himself, the coconut pie long gone and digested. He went to the kitchen and found a skillet on the table with a half eaten omelette with mushrooms, mozzarella, very gourmet, not what he would expect Michael to consume, but the guy was full of surprises. The biggest surprise being that he wasn’t there. Kyle called him but got nothing back. He went to the lockers and the back room. Nothing. As he was returning past the kitchen to the diner he heard a noise somewhere ahead of him. As he entered the dark diner, he saw a shadow by the door across from him. He called Michael again and still no answer. He thought maybe Max had decided to turn back, and Liz might have given him a key. He turned on the lights and he saw it was Michael opening the locked door with his powers. Kyle sprinted to him and grabbing his shoulder, turned him to face him. Michael just stared at him expressionless.
- Hey, man, where you going? They’re asking for you. You have to study or you’ll flunk the stupid test tomorrow.-
Michael didn’t seem to register what Kyle was saying to him. He stared back with a blank look in his eyes. Kyle was losing his patience. He punched Michael a little hard on the chest to get some reaction from him. Michael turned again his back on him and focused on the lock. Kyle couldn’t believe it. He saw the white light and he knew he had opened the lock. He grabbed him around the waist trying to stop him from opening the door but it was as if he didn’t exist. Michael just kept going dragging him along as if he weren’t there at all. Once they cleared the door and were outside Kyle screamed his name. Michael stopped and said in a strange toneless voice:
- I must go home, I need to sleep, I have to rest. I’m tired and it hurts. - Then he went on going, taking him along, so Kyle let go, thinking he deserved to flunk the exam and forget about graduating. He let go and closed the door locking it again. Nothing was broken or out of order. He returned to the kitchen and decided the great looking omelette just needed an extra heating and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste. So he got some more stuff to go with it and soda and dessert and decided his hunger outdid any priorities he might have right now. He had all the night to catch up. Michael could go and sleep his alien life away for all he cared. Maybe he would join him and see if he could touch that wound that they hadn’t let him, the bitches. Who gave them the right to touch him and not let him even get near? What was he talking about? Oh, yes, he was hungry.
The Martyr of Antar-COMPLETED
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ñusta
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The Martyr of Antar - CC/UC ADULT - Chapter 15 - 6/1/05
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ñusta
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The Martyr of Antar - CC/UC ADULT - Chapter 16 - 5/2/05
Chapter 16
Kyle had just finished licking the now empty dish of a monster sized slice of cherry pie and was putting it on top of the pile he had left in the sink, thinking: “Let Michael take care of this later after his beauty sleep”, when he heard Maria’s shrill voice at the top of the stairs.
- Kyle! Where the hell are you? If you’re not up here with some refills of cherry colas in two seconds, I swear I’m coming down and drag you all the way up by the ear, and you know I’ll do it! -
Kyle raced to the fridge and got 4 cans of cherry cola but then remembered Isabel was having just water so he switched one and took the stairs two steps at a time. Maria was standing at Liz’s door, tapping her foot and checking out her watch.
- About time! - She said snatching one can from Kyle and opening it to drink thirstily. She took another can for Liz and went to her out the window. Kyle started to follow and remembered Isabel. She was on Liz’s bed on her back. The lamp had been turned off so her face was in the shadows and as he placed the can on the nightstand he noticed the other one was still full. She seemed to be nodding to the music, her eyes closed and what could pass for a smile on her lips. He shrugged; after all she had drunk a mug of chamomile tea so maybe she wasn’t so thirsty. He went out to the terrace and back to Liz and Maria and the books. About half an hour later, Maria shushed them and said:
- What’s with Isabel? What’s that she’s humming? She’s not tone deaf, you know, and that sounds awful! - They went to her and realized she wasn’t humming at all, she was kind of sobbing. Liz turned on the lamp and saw she was actually crying!
- Damn! Those CD’s you bought must really suck! - said Kyle. Liz picked up the CD player and noticed it had stopped playing who knew how long ago. Isabel had not changed CD’s at all.
- Something’s wrong, we must wake her up. - She said. They were all over Isabel, shaking her by the arms and calling her name out loud to wake her up. She suddenly opened her eyes wide and screamed:
- NO! THAT’S ENOUGH! WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO TO US! - Her eyes popped wide open and it took her a few seconds to recognize her friends and realize where she was.
- Michael? Where’s Max? - The three teens spoke simultaneously and she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She covered her ears with her hands and shouted;
- Stop! Liz, you, please! - Liz reminded her Max was in Santa Fe with Langley. Isabel scoffed and her eyes went to each of them twice before she spoke again.
- Michael! Where is Michael? - Maria felt like she had just woken up from a dream, not quite a nightmare but a disturbing dream. She shook her head closing her eyes and opening them back again. To her surprise, Liz and Kyle were doing the same.
- He’s downstairs eating up everything in his path. I better go get him before…- Kyle interrupted her.
- No, he’s not. He’s gone home. -
. WHAT! - This time all the girls simultaneously. Kyle somehow felt guilty but he didn’t know what of. Isabel had him by the shoulders and was shaking him like a rag doll.
. HOW COULD YOU LET HIM GO? YOU KNOW WE’RE IN DANGER! HE MUSN’T BE LEFT ALONE! - Liz and Maria pulled her away from him and calmed her down. She started sobbing again. Kyle felt really bad.
- What happened, Kyle? - Maria was getting quite worried. Kyle started telling them step by step what had gone on from the moment he went downstairs to get the sodas. He was visualizing it all as he told them. He stopped when Michael dragged him outside nonstop and Kyle was desperate to get through to him. He suddenly remembered letting go of him and kicking his butt hard as he screamed his name. It had just come to him that he had actually kicked him. How come it hadn’t registered before?
- You kicked him? - Maria threw at him finding it hard to believe that he had dared taunt him like that. Michael had sent Kyle flying that time when he found them at the nooky motel, after he had followed them, still on to Liz. He didn’t know then of their alien status, and had been scared shitless of Michael for a long time, keeping as far away from him as possible. But then it was Michael who had saved his father’s and Max’s lives by blasting Pierce, who was ready to shoot them dead, Michael included.
- Are you listening to me? What is it with you? You said you kicked Michael? And you’re still alive? - Maria went on as Kyle blinked. Yes, he kicked him and then he realized his foot had landed right where he had been pricked…uh oh, bad choice of words, by the needle… what needle? Wasn’t it the spring of the old couch? Yes, the spring. Where did the needle come from? Of course, that finally got him going. The guy was a VW, though much larger, his engine was behind, and he had kicked him on. For a moment, Kyle was scared to death that Michael was going to turn around and beat the crap out of him, but he only turned his face and spoke his robot like dialogue over his shoulder, and walked away. Kyle then had decided not to push his luck. If the boy wanted to sleep, let him sleep. Little old me ain't going to judge him. Shouldn't have said "little"...
it's bad for my ego. - He giggled.
- Kyle, what are you talking about? - Kyle kept on giggling, that was sooo funny, at least to him it was.
- It’s kind of funny, you know? I couldn’t get him to react until I kicked him. It seemed to turn him on…I mean… -
- Yeah… spanking does turn him on, and how! - Maria noticed she had been thinking aloud and they were all looking at her. She blushed deep red.
- Sorry, sorry…this stays here, ok? You don’t tell this to anyone, not even Max, Liz,clear? -
- Max knows…we know. - Every eye turned to Isabel. She seemed totally spaced out. Kyle and Maria reached out to touch her but Liz stopped them. She shook her head no. Isabel was starting to speak, and they immediately knew she was telling them her last dream. The one she had been having before they woke her up: Her latest nightmare. They had to listen to her to see what was going on, so they let her continue without interruptions.
Kyle had just finished licking the now empty dish of a monster sized slice of cherry pie and was putting it on top of the pile he had left in the sink, thinking: “Let Michael take care of this later after his beauty sleep”, when he heard Maria’s shrill voice at the top of the stairs.
- Kyle! Where the hell are you? If you’re not up here with some refills of cherry colas in two seconds, I swear I’m coming down and drag you all the way up by the ear, and you know I’ll do it! -
Kyle raced to the fridge and got 4 cans of cherry cola but then remembered Isabel was having just water so he switched one and took the stairs two steps at a time. Maria was standing at Liz’s door, tapping her foot and checking out her watch.
- About time! - She said snatching one can from Kyle and opening it to drink thirstily. She took another can for Liz and went to her out the window. Kyle started to follow and remembered Isabel. She was on Liz’s bed on her back. The lamp had been turned off so her face was in the shadows and as he placed the can on the nightstand he noticed the other one was still full. She seemed to be nodding to the music, her eyes closed and what could pass for a smile on her lips. He shrugged; after all she had drunk a mug of chamomile tea so maybe she wasn’t so thirsty. He went out to the terrace and back to Liz and Maria and the books. About half an hour later, Maria shushed them and said:
- What’s with Isabel? What’s that she’s humming? She’s not tone deaf, you know, and that sounds awful! - They went to her and realized she wasn’t humming at all, she was kind of sobbing. Liz turned on the lamp and saw she was actually crying!
- Damn! Those CD’s you bought must really suck! - said Kyle. Liz picked up the CD player and noticed it had stopped playing who knew how long ago. Isabel had not changed CD’s at all.
- Something’s wrong, we must wake her up. - She said. They were all over Isabel, shaking her by the arms and calling her name out loud to wake her up. She suddenly opened her eyes wide and screamed:
- NO! THAT’S ENOUGH! WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO TO US! - Her eyes popped wide open and it took her a few seconds to recognize her friends and realize where she was.
- Michael? Where’s Max? - The three teens spoke simultaneously and she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She covered her ears with her hands and shouted;
- Stop! Liz, you, please! - Liz reminded her Max was in Santa Fe with Langley. Isabel scoffed and her eyes went to each of them twice before she spoke again.
- Michael! Where is Michael? - Maria felt like she had just woken up from a dream, not quite a nightmare but a disturbing dream. She shook her head closing her eyes and opening them back again. To her surprise, Liz and Kyle were doing the same.
- He’s downstairs eating up everything in his path. I better go get him before…- Kyle interrupted her.
- No, he’s not. He’s gone home. -
. WHAT! - This time all the girls simultaneously. Kyle somehow felt guilty but he didn’t know what of. Isabel had him by the shoulders and was shaking him like a rag doll.
. HOW COULD YOU LET HIM GO? YOU KNOW WE’RE IN DANGER! HE MUSN’T BE LEFT ALONE! - Liz and Maria pulled her away from him and calmed her down. She started sobbing again. Kyle felt really bad.
- What happened, Kyle? - Maria was getting quite worried. Kyle started telling them step by step what had gone on from the moment he went downstairs to get the sodas. He was visualizing it all as he told them. He stopped when Michael dragged him outside nonstop and Kyle was desperate to get through to him. He suddenly remembered letting go of him and kicking his butt hard as he screamed his name. It had just come to him that he had actually kicked him. How come it hadn’t registered before?
- You kicked him? - Maria threw at him finding it hard to believe that he had dared taunt him like that. Michael had sent Kyle flying that time when he found them at the nooky motel, after he had followed them, still on to Liz. He didn’t know then of their alien status, and had been scared shitless of Michael for a long time, keeping as far away from him as possible. But then it was Michael who had saved his father’s and Max’s lives by blasting Pierce, who was ready to shoot them dead, Michael included.
- Are you listening to me? What is it with you? You said you kicked Michael? And you’re still alive? - Maria went on as Kyle blinked. Yes, he kicked him and then he realized his foot had landed right where he had been pricked…uh oh, bad choice of words, by the needle… what needle? Wasn’t it the spring of the old couch? Yes, the spring. Where did the needle come from? Of course, that finally got him going. The guy was a VW, though much larger, his engine was behind, and he had kicked him on. For a moment, Kyle was scared to death that Michael was going to turn around and beat the crap out of him, but he only turned his face and spoke his robot like dialogue over his shoulder, and walked away. Kyle then had decided not to push his luck. If the boy wanted to sleep, let him sleep. Little old me ain't going to judge him. Shouldn't have said "little"...
it's bad for my ego. - He giggled.
- Kyle, what are you talking about? - Kyle kept on giggling, that was sooo funny, at least to him it was.
- It’s kind of funny, you know? I couldn’t get him to react until I kicked him. It seemed to turn him on…I mean… -
- Yeah… spanking does turn him on, and how! - Maria noticed she had been thinking aloud and they were all looking at her. She blushed deep red.
- Sorry, sorry…this stays here, ok? You don’t tell this to anyone, not even Max, Liz,clear? -
- Max knows…we know. - Every eye turned to Isabel. She seemed totally spaced out. Kyle and Maria reached out to touch her but Liz stopped them. She shook her head no. Isabel was starting to speak, and they immediately knew she was telling them her last dream. The one she had been having before they woke her up: Her latest nightmare. They had to listen to her to see what was going on, so they let her continue without interruptions.
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ñusta
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The Martyr of Antar - CC/UC ADULT - Chapter 17 - 5/5/05
Chapter 17
Isabel’s story.
I tried to hang myself, but it obviously didn’t work because I found myself on my feet and running out of the tower room. I rushed down the stairs and took the hallway. Before I knew it, I was at the archway with the two guards. They kept their eyes straight on, and didn’t even turn to me when I passed between them. I hurried down the stairs, knowing them by heart from my childhood, where Rath Michael, my brother and I went to get away from the adults and play our games. By the time I reached the torture chamber itself, my eyes were used to the shady place, and I kept going until I stood by Rath Michael’s side. He was as bloody as I remembered and Nicholas was aiming the red hot metal rod at him. He was grinning in his usual nasty way. He was a short man, but his face showed his real age which was fifty something. I could see the black man standing by Rath Michael’s hip on the opposite side, his eyes downcast, trying not to see what was being done to his boy. I knew how much he loved him. I screamed at the top of my voice: “Nicholas, stop hurting him! I’ll do anything you want, but please, don’t do this” but he didn’t even hear me, because he was so focused in what he was doing that he had surely blocked off any distraction. If Geehan heard me, he gave no sign, he was probably also under Nicholas’ spell. I watched in horror as Nicholas placed his free hand over Rath Michael’s hips and raised them with his powers, so that now he wasn’t spread eagled anymore but with his upper body and his knees on the invisible slab, his ass higher, presented to his tormentor. Nicholas looked at Geehan, who now had the whip in his reluctant but helpless hands, and nodded. As the lash fell hard across Rath Michael’s buttocks, Nicholas rammed the stake into him and I heard a hiss escaped his gritted teeth. I ran and crouched under Rath Michael’s face, his eyes were shut tight and his teeth clenched not to give Nicholas the pleasure of hearing him scream. I was brought back to the days when Rath Michael would lie over a thick stump of tree trunk which my brother had toppled over on the ground, practicing his powers. Rath Michael was always the victim because he was the youngest, while I would stand against the wall, playing the part of the captured princess, my arms high over my head in imaginary shackles, and Zan Max, of course, the torturer, always with the whip in his hand. Although he was the smaller and thinner of the three, he was the eldest, so what he said went, and if I complained, like I sometimes did, he would either refuse to play or take it out on Rath Michael, being extra mean to him. That would make me think twice unless I was mad at the kid for some senseless reason, cause he was always so sweet to me. Since we had to be three to play the game, I simply had to give in. Rath Michael never complained, taking the lashes in the same way he was doing now, with barely a hiss through his gritted teeth, as Zan Max hit him as hard as his scrawny frame permitted him. Unknowing then, he was preparing the younger boy to deal with pain, which would be constantly present in his short life. Another hiss made me remember it was courtesy of Nicholas, this time. I placed my hands on Rath Michael’s fevered cheeks and he opened his eyes. “Lannie” he whispered, thinking he was just hallucinating. He closed his eyes again and his teeth bit his lower lip, dealing with a new bout of pain. He opened his eyes and mouth again to find I was still there. He could barely breathe these words: “You’re not safe here, please go away.” He needed to know what had happened, he deserved an explanation. I whispered back: “No, I’m not leaving you! Khivar tricked me, I’m not sure how he did it or how it really happened, but he convinced me to give him access to the citadel so he could talk to Zan Max and finally bring peace to the planets. I knew he had lied when he arrived with an army. You don’t need soldiers to talk of peace! It’s over, he can’t fool me anymore, but it’s too late, and I’m so sorry!” I was now weeping openly as my speech had been interrupted at least three times by Nicholas’s ministrations. As soon as he could, Rath Michael whispered, “I don’t blame you, love, but please I want you to be safe.” I could hardly make out his words, he was hurting so much. I answered, trying to calm him down some: “Nicholas doesn’t even know I’m here, he is completely concentrated in torturing you ( another lash, and thrust ) anyway, down here is too dark for him to see me, your body covers me from his range of sight, and Geehan is pretending I’m not here, poor dear!” But he insisted: “You can’t stay here, it’s too dangerous.” He gasped and grunted. He took a deep breath and continued: “I don’t mind dying to keep you alive.” That really shook me. “No! Don’t say that!” “Then go please!” “I promise I will leave if he discovers me.” “No! You can’t risk that without my protection!” I started getting flashes of Rath Michael taking down effortlessly the six guards although he started out unarmed, and I knew, beyond possible doubt, that the only person who could make me feel safe was him, in spite of his present condition. “Don’t worry, he thinks I’m still with Khivar. He has no way of knowing I’m not there anymore. His duty is here until you betray Zan Max.” “That will never happen!” “I know, so I’m safer here, I need to be with you.” His face fell in the crook of my neck and I heard him moaning into my hair. I could tell he almost passed out that time, but he managed to stay barely conscious because of his concern for me. It was so extremely cruel and unfair to him, but I couldn’t bear to leave him although I knew I was making him suffer even more, worrying about my safety. I was sick of hearing Nicholas’ useless demands: “Where is Zan Max? Where is the coward hiding? Tell me!” But as far as Nicholas was concerned, his young warrior victim’s lips were sealed. Moans, gasps and whimpers might escape them but no answers to what Nicholas wanted. No one there was aware of the time we spent there. All I knew was Nicholas would heal Rath Michael’s back and insides, just to start again. Then in unspeakable sadism, he raped him and forced Geehan to do so too, threatening to make his victim pay if he failed to do so. He used his powers to change their organs into spiral shape and then said: “This is what I really call screwing!” He spanked him hard as they enjoyed his body, and all I could do was hold him tight against me hearing the muffled sounds of his pain against my breasts. I was so close to throwing up when they did that to him, and also when I had heard a dripping sound and I looked under his body to see his blood pooling on the floor under him. That meant Nicholas had driven the stake again into him. They took breaks of 1 hour to eat and sleep, sitting down in an armchair, not to fall down. While they did this, four times a day, Nicholas stuck needles in Rath Michael’s thighs to keep him nourished and give him back the blood he’d lost to keep him strong enough. Then a guard would come down for any news but always left with a negative answer. Nicholas would then rip the needles off Rath Michael’s thighs and go on torturing him for 5 more hours before the next break. He certainly knew exactly how to keep him from passing out and of course, from dying on him. I cherished those hour breaks, to kiss and touch him, and encourage him with my love, telling him that Zan Max was probably rallying up an improvised army to rescue us and kill Khivar and Nicholas any minute. I truly trusted that this was actually happening. I wasn’t aware of the fact that I wasn’t eating, I didn’t even remember what it was like. I felt fine, I didn’t feel weak or faint at all. Then, after an eternity, and as they were about to take their break, the sound of voices and steps coming down the stairs made us turn that way. I was dismayed to see two guards almost dragging Zan Max by the arms, and Khivar right behind them grinning like an idiot. I crouched lower into the shadows and kept Rath Michael’s face buried in my hair to spare him from that discouraging sight, but their connection was quite strong because of my brother being his healer, and before I could do anything, he looked up, turned to his left and said in a rasping voice: “Zan Max?” At the sound of his name, he lifted his downcast head and after a few seconds adjusting to the environment, his eyes bulged out of his head and his mouth opened wide. He let out a shrill scream, almost womanlike, and tried uselessly to shake off the strong hands that held his arms. Khivar nodded and they let him go. Zan Max ran towards us and dropped to his knees by Rath Michael’s side, throwing his arms around him and laying his head on the bloody ribs. I felt Rath Michael jerk in pain as Zan Max’s arm squeezed his hurt back. I heard my brother weeping but I couldn’t see him because he was facing away from me. I raised my head over Rath Michael’s left shoulder to see what was happening. Nicholas finally spoke: “ It was about time, two fucking weeks and I haven’t got a single word out of him. Just the typical moans and gasps and some unintelligible mutterings. Well, I guess my fun is over, we don’t need him anymore and I’m really tired.” To our horror, he shoved the stake deep into Rath Michael. His body jerked and he growled as Zan Max and I screamed: “Nooo!” simultaneously. Nicholas kept trying to thrust it even deeper, but had found some resistance, so he screwed it clockwise and went through whatever was holding it back. We watched it bury into him as far as Nicholas’s blood drenched fist. Rath Michael was shuddering and sobbing and we knew the damage inside him was undoubtedly fatal. Nothing could have made my tears stop, then, and from the way Zan Max was crying, he was in the same condition. I could hear his blood not dripping but gushing on the floor and I saw Nicholas’ fist bathed in the white healing light. The sound changed to a drip and I felt hope in spite of my mistrust in our enemies. Khivar’s words sent everything down the drain: “Is he dead?” “ What? I’m merciful now, after all my efforts these two hellish weeks when I’ve had to stay in this rat hole because of him? No way! At this rate of bleeding, it’ll take him at least about an hour to die, perhaps even more. I need a hot bath and a decent meal before I have the pleasure of seeing him dead.” He let go of the stake and hooking his arm around Khivar’s, he turned towards the stairs. “C’mon, I can’t stand their sniffling.” Khivar wasn’t quite convinced as his words confirmed: “You sure Zan Max won’t heal him?” “Look at him, he’s emaciated, he couldn’t heal his own broken nail, much less Rath Michael.” “And what about him? Now that they’re alone, won’t he try something?” Nicholas scoffed, “He’s dying, it takes all his energy to deal with the pain, you can’t imagine what I’ve put him through.” He cackled disgustingly as Khivar put his arm around his shoulders and they started climbing the stairs. Every few sobs, Zan Max said a barely intelligible: “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” The salt from his tears made Rath Michael’s gaping wounds sting, along with his own sweat which beaded his body mixing with his blood. It took all his strength to manage a few comforting words, hardly above a whisper, fighting the weakness he felt from the heavy bleeding, trying to calm Zan Max down. “Hey, take it easy, I’m the one dying here.” He gasped with the effort. Zan Max cried out: “No! Don’t die, please! Don’t leave me alone! Not you too!” “What do you mean, too?” “ Oh, Rath Michael, Khivar told me when they were bringing me here. A soldier saw a rat scratching the door of the abandoned North Tower Room and went to investigate. He found Lannie, hanging from the rafters. Khivar says two weeks ago, on the night of the attack, she left him furious, because she found out she would be the fifth queen, although the most important, because she represented this planet. He already had a queen for each other planet. He let her go to sulk, giving her all the time she needed to come to her senses, so he didn’t know she had gone and killed herself.” Rath Michael’s sobs broke my heart. I was still in shock at my brother’s words. Now I understood why Nicholas hadn’t seen me, and why I didn’t need to eat. I also realized that the old women’s tales were true: Our souls were given the chance to decide where to go after death, and I had wanted to be with Rath Michael. That’s why he could see me and hear me, because of our connection. Zan Max should have been able to sense me too but he was too upset. Rath Michael told him I was right there and that he had thought I was alive all along. Zan Max wanted to know where I was and Rath Michael told him my arms were around his shoulders. Zan Max reached out to touch me and yanked his hand away. He was very pale. “She’s so cold.” he said. Zan Max tried to heal Rath Michael, but he only managed to heal him for a few seconds and then he was the same again. It happened several times and it was hurting Rath Michael too much. He finally desisted to spare him more pain. Rath Michael asked him to free his hands and then he held his in one and mine in the other, activating a three way connection. We stayed like that: me, crouched by Rath Michael’s face, and Zan Max squatting at his side, sharing our energy with him. We didn’t realize then, that we were just adding more time to his suffering. Rath Michael groaned, then he said: “I’ve been near death so many times, but I never knew it would hurt so much to die… Lannie?” I knew what he was going to ask, so before he did, I answered: “I felt nothing. I didn’t even know I was dead until Zan Max said so.” He went on: “At least I know all the people I have killed in battle were dead before they hit the ground. I wish I could have been that lucky.” My brother then said the truth: “You are a good person, Nicholas and Khivar are rats!” We had a good laugh at that, though Rath Michael could just manage a weak chuckle. We were so focused in ourselves that we didn’t hear Khivar and Nicholas come in until they were right beside us. They thought Rath Michael was dead and Nicholas grabbed the stake and shook it viciously, just to make sure. He gasped and shuddered and Nicholas jumped back in shock. He turned to Khivar exclaiming: “Can you believe that? He’s still alive!” Khivar watched the scene with an amused look in his face. “ Strong boy! Incredible!” Nicholas gripped the stake tight as he said: “He’s dead now.” And he thrust the stake as deep as he could. A strangled growl left Rath Michael’s lips as I hugged him as tight as I could against me, knowing he wouldn’t last much longer and that soon we would be together because there was no doubt in my heart that his death wish would be being with me too. His whole body shuddered in agony and I could hear his blood splashing on the floor again. Zan Max jumped to his feet, and started screaming his head off. He pounced on my dying love and held him as he died. The last words Rath Michael heard, were: “All right, your late majesty, your head is coming off right away!” from Nicholas. He breathed “Thanks.” In my ear and I knew he meant he was grateful Zan Max would be beheaded, because that was the way he killed in battle: the fastest and most merciful. I whispered: “I love you.” and heard him answer: “I worship you.” I managed to say. “Not more than I do.” And he moaned as Nicholas unbelievably stabbed the stake deeper into him as he finally relaxed after the most painful death that weasel could assure him. At least he died in my arms and Zan Max’s. Just then I felt two strong arms pull me up and I knew it was him eternally with me now. Khivar now nodded and the guards grabbed my terrified brother’s arms and dragged him to Nicholas. He brought to him the tree stump over which Rath Michael used to lie during our childhood games and had it upright again. It reached right under the base of Zan Max’s unusually long neck. They tied his wrists and ankles around the trunk to make sure he would stay standing, as Zan Max had temporarily fallen silent in shock. His eyes were tearing, his nose was running and he was drooling. If he had peed himself, we couldn’t tell because of the long robe he wore and kept his shame to himself. Suddenly he started shrieking shrilly and Khivar, exasperated, grabbed him by the hair, pushed his face down against the concave surface. Before he had time to think he might not be able to breathe there, Nicholas came out of nowhere and chopped his head off in one single stroke. Zan Max didn’t feel a thing, anyway, because a second before the axe fell, we grabbed his hands and connected with him, taking his soul with ours, so he watched his own death safely with us. Nicholas lifted the severed head by the hair and we had the gruesome sight of his eyes half closed and his mouth open in his last scream. We turned away, accidentally seeing Rath Michael’s body and couldn’t help thinking how hard he had died. He had been a soldier, but still…it was too much. We hugged each other and to our shock we found ourselves on the roof of the building across from the huge yard in front of the palace. It was early daytime, according to the clock, 6:30 am, and the city was coming alive. The first ones to arrive left running to get the rest of the citizens and in minutes, all of them, every age, had gathered to see the gruesome, sight that Khivar and Nicholas had prepared for them. Across the yard, were our bodies, exactly as we had died, from left to right, Zan Max, standing up tied to the tree stump with his severed head on the top, his face mercifully shoved into the wood, covered from sight. Then myself hanging from my golden belt from the rafter hovering in the air. Then Rath Michael, suspended face down in the air, his back from his shoulders to his thighs totally ripped and bloody, and the stake protruding from between his buttocks, the pool of his blood on the floor below him and a drop of blood ready to fall from his parted lips. His face was turned towards our audience and his eyes were open. It was all I could do not to try and close them, but we couldn’t give ourselves away. Then came our surprise. A fourth body, lying peacefully on her bed with her hands close together on her breast and her throat slit from ear to ear, lay Ava Tess. Zan Max yelped in shock. “Oh no, she was pregnant!” Rath Michael and I couldn’t help exclaiming: “WHAT?” My brother explained: “That’s why she went that morning before the attack to visit her family. She was going to inform them first, as tradition goes, and this morning she was coming back to announce it to you and then to the city, right here at the yard. Khivar must have captured her and brought her back.” I just had to tell him: “She was one of Khivar’s queens, representing her planet. I’m sorry!” Zan Max came out of his shock to say: “Are you sure?” He knew I wouldn’t lie to him. “Yes, I even spoke to her.” “Why isn’t she with us?” Rath Michael was curious.
“I think she preferred being with her family, I don’t know what happened, she seemed happy being one of the queens”
Then the scene rudely changed to the yard with no bodies. Everything else was there except us, even Ava Tess had disappeared and Khivar was screaming angrily at Nicholas, who was cringing away from him: “I don’t know how you do it, but I want them back here before the day is done! Bring them back to me! I want them here! Do you hear me?”
Isabel had had her eyes closed during all the time she told them her nightmare, and now she opened them wide.
- Now you know why we need to be together! We will all be killed if we don’t use this information to protect ourselves, and Michael is in a death threat! I already went through mine and Michael almost did so Nicholas is stalking him right now to finish what he couldn’t before. We must stop him or he will kill Michael in the cruelest way you have just seen!
Isabel’s story.
I tried to hang myself, but it obviously didn’t work because I found myself on my feet and running out of the tower room. I rushed down the stairs and took the hallway. Before I knew it, I was at the archway with the two guards. They kept their eyes straight on, and didn’t even turn to me when I passed between them. I hurried down the stairs, knowing them by heart from my childhood, where Rath Michael, my brother and I went to get away from the adults and play our games. By the time I reached the torture chamber itself, my eyes were used to the shady place, and I kept going until I stood by Rath Michael’s side. He was as bloody as I remembered and Nicholas was aiming the red hot metal rod at him. He was grinning in his usual nasty way. He was a short man, but his face showed his real age which was fifty something. I could see the black man standing by Rath Michael’s hip on the opposite side, his eyes downcast, trying not to see what was being done to his boy. I knew how much he loved him. I screamed at the top of my voice: “Nicholas, stop hurting him! I’ll do anything you want, but please, don’t do this” but he didn’t even hear me, because he was so focused in what he was doing that he had surely blocked off any distraction. If Geehan heard me, he gave no sign, he was probably also under Nicholas’ spell. I watched in horror as Nicholas placed his free hand over Rath Michael’s hips and raised them with his powers, so that now he wasn’t spread eagled anymore but with his upper body and his knees on the invisible slab, his ass higher, presented to his tormentor. Nicholas looked at Geehan, who now had the whip in his reluctant but helpless hands, and nodded. As the lash fell hard across Rath Michael’s buttocks, Nicholas rammed the stake into him and I heard a hiss escaped his gritted teeth. I ran and crouched under Rath Michael’s face, his eyes were shut tight and his teeth clenched not to give Nicholas the pleasure of hearing him scream. I was brought back to the days when Rath Michael would lie over a thick stump of tree trunk which my brother had toppled over on the ground, practicing his powers. Rath Michael was always the victim because he was the youngest, while I would stand against the wall, playing the part of the captured princess, my arms high over my head in imaginary shackles, and Zan Max, of course, the torturer, always with the whip in his hand. Although he was the smaller and thinner of the three, he was the eldest, so what he said went, and if I complained, like I sometimes did, he would either refuse to play or take it out on Rath Michael, being extra mean to him. That would make me think twice unless I was mad at the kid for some senseless reason, cause he was always so sweet to me. Since we had to be three to play the game, I simply had to give in. Rath Michael never complained, taking the lashes in the same way he was doing now, with barely a hiss through his gritted teeth, as Zan Max hit him as hard as his scrawny frame permitted him. Unknowing then, he was preparing the younger boy to deal with pain, which would be constantly present in his short life. Another hiss made me remember it was courtesy of Nicholas, this time. I placed my hands on Rath Michael’s fevered cheeks and he opened his eyes. “Lannie” he whispered, thinking he was just hallucinating. He closed his eyes again and his teeth bit his lower lip, dealing with a new bout of pain. He opened his eyes and mouth again to find I was still there. He could barely breathe these words: “You’re not safe here, please go away.” He needed to know what had happened, he deserved an explanation. I whispered back: “No, I’m not leaving you! Khivar tricked me, I’m not sure how he did it or how it really happened, but he convinced me to give him access to the citadel so he could talk to Zan Max and finally bring peace to the planets. I knew he had lied when he arrived with an army. You don’t need soldiers to talk of peace! It’s over, he can’t fool me anymore, but it’s too late, and I’m so sorry!” I was now weeping openly as my speech had been interrupted at least three times by Nicholas’s ministrations. As soon as he could, Rath Michael whispered, “I don’t blame you, love, but please I want you to be safe.” I could hardly make out his words, he was hurting so much. I answered, trying to calm him down some: “Nicholas doesn’t even know I’m here, he is completely concentrated in torturing you ( another lash, and thrust ) anyway, down here is too dark for him to see me, your body covers me from his range of sight, and Geehan is pretending I’m not here, poor dear!” But he insisted: “You can’t stay here, it’s too dangerous.” He gasped and grunted. He took a deep breath and continued: “I don’t mind dying to keep you alive.” That really shook me. “No! Don’t say that!” “Then go please!” “I promise I will leave if he discovers me.” “No! You can’t risk that without my protection!” I started getting flashes of Rath Michael taking down effortlessly the six guards although he started out unarmed, and I knew, beyond possible doubt, that the only person who could make me feel safe was him, in spite of his present condition. “Don’t worry, he thinks I’m still with Khivar. He has no way of knowing I’m not there anymore. His duty is here until you betray Zan Max.” “That will never happen!” “I know, so I’m safer here, I need to be with you.” His face fell in the crook of my neck and I heard him moaning into my hair. I could tell he almost passed out that time, but he managed to stay barely conscious because of his concern for me. It was so extremely cruel and unfair to him, but I couldn’t bear to leave him although I knew I was making him suffer even more, worrying about my safety. I was sick of hearing Nicholas’ useless demands: “Where is Zan Max? Where is the coward hiding? Tell me!” But as far as Nicholas was concerned, his young warrior victim’s lips were sealed. Moans, gasps and whimpers might escape them but no answers to what Nicholas wanted. No one there was aware of the time we spent there. All I knew was Nicholas would heal Rath Michael’s back and insides, just to start again. Then in unspeakable sadism, he raped him and forced Geehan to do so too, threatening to make his victim pay if he failed to do so. He used his powers to change their organs into spiral shape and then said: “This is what I really call screwing!” He spanked him hard as they enjoyed his body, and all I could do was hold him tight against me hearing the muffled sounds of his pain against my breasts. I was so close to throwing up when they did that to him, and also when I had heard a dripping sound and I looked under his body to see his blood pooling on the floor under him. That meant Nicholas had driven the stake again into him. They took breaks of 1 hour to eat and sleep, sitting down in an armchair, not to fall down. While they did this, four times a day, Nicholas stuck needles in Rath Michael’s thighs to keep him nourished and give him back the blood he’d lost to keep him strong enough. Then a guard would come down for any news but always left with a negative answer. Nicholas would then rip the needles off Rath Michael’s thighs and go on torturing him for 5 more hours before the next break. He certainly knew exactly how to keep him from passing out and of course, from dying on him. I cherished those hour breaks, to kiss and touch him, and encourage him with my love, telling him that Zan Max was probably rallying up an improvised army to rescue us and kill Khivar and Nicholas any minute. I truly trusted that this was actually happening. I wasn’t aware of the fact that I wasn’t eating, I didn’t even remember what it was like. I felt fine, I didn’t feel weak or faint at all. Then, after an eternity, and as they were about to take their break, the sound of voices and steps coming down the stairs made us turn that way. I was dismayed to see two guards almost dragging Zan Max by the arms, and Khivar right behind them grinning like an idiot. I crouched lower into the shadows and kept Rath Michael’s face buried in my hair to spare him from that discouraging sight, but their connection was quite strong because of my brother being his healer, and before I could do anything, he looked up, turned to his left and said in a rasping voice: “Zan Max?” At the sound of his name, he lifted his downcast head and after a few seconds adjusting to the environment, his eyes bulged out of his head and his mouth opened wide. He let out a shrill scream, almost womanlike, and tried uselessly to shake off the strong hands that held his arms. Khivar nodded and they let him go. Zan Max ran towards us and dropped to his knees by Rath Michael’s side, throwing his arms around him and laying his head on the bloody ribs. I felt Rath Michael jerk in pain as Zan Max’s arm squeezed his hurt back. I heard my brother weeping but I couldn’t see him because he was facing away from me. I raised my head over Rath Michael’s left shoulder to see what was happening. Nicholas finally spoke: “ It was about time, two fucking weeks and I haven’t got a single word out of him. Just the typical moans and gasps and some unintelligible mutterings. Well, I guess my fun is over, we don’t need him anymore and I’m really tired.” To our horror, he shoved the stake deep into Rath Michael. His body jerked and he growled as Zan Max and I screamed: “Nooo!” simultaneously. Nicholas kept trying to thrust it even deeper, but had found some resistance, so he screwed it clockwise and went through whatever was holding it back. We watched it bury into him as far as Nicholas’s blood drenched fist. Rath Michael was shuddering and sobbing and we knew the damage inside him was undoubtedly fatal. Nothing could have made my tears stop, then, and from the way Zan Max was crying, he was in the same condition. I could hear his blood not dripping but gushing on the floor and I saw Nicholas’ fist bathed in the white healing light. The sound changed to a drip and I felt hope in spite of my mistrust in our enemies. Khivar’s words sent everything down the drain: “Is he dead?” “ What? I’m merciful now, after all my efforts these two hellish weeks when I’ve had to stay in this rat hole because of him? No way! At this rate of bleeding, it’ll take him at least about an hour to die, perhaps even more. I need a hot bath and a decent meal before I have the pleasure of seeing him dead.” He let go of the stake and hooking his arm around Khivar’s, he turned towards the stairs. “C’mon, I can’t stand their sniffling.” Khivar wasn’t quite convinced as his words confirmed: “You sure Zan Max won’t heal him?” “Look at him, he’s emaciated, he couldn’t heal his own broken nail, much less Rath Michael.” “And what about him? Now that they’re alone, won’t he try something?” Nicholas scoffed, “He’s dying, it takes all his energy to deal with the pain, you can’t imagine what I’ve put him through.” He cackled disgustingly as Khivar put his arm around his shoulders and they started climbing the stairs. Every few sobs, Zan Max said a barely intelligible: “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” The salt from his tears made Rath Michael’s gaping wounds sting, along with his own sweat which beaded his body mixing with his blood. It took all his strength to manage a few comforting words, hardly above a whisper, fighting the weakness he felt from the heavy bleeding, trying to calm Zan Max down. “Hey, take it easy, I’m the one dying here.” He gasped with the effort. Zan Max cried out: “No! Don’t die, please! Don’t leave me alone! Not you too!” “What do you mean, too?” “ Oh, Rath Michael, Khivar told me when they were bringing me here. A soldier saw a rat scratching the door of the abandoned North Tower Room and went to investigate. He found Lannie, hanging from the rafters. Khivar says two weeks ago, on the night of the attack, she left him furious, because she found out she would be the fifth queen, although the most important, because she represented this planet. He already had a queen for each other planet. He let her go to sulk, giving her all the time she needed to come to her senses, so he didn’t know she had gone and killed herself.” Rath Michael’s sobs broke my heart. I was still in shock at my brother’s words. Now I understood why Nicholas hadn’t seen me, and why I didn’t need to eat. I also realized that the old women’s tales were true: Our souls were given the chance to decide where to go after death, and I had wanted to be with Rath Michael. That’s why he could see me and hear me, because of our connection. Zan Max should have been able to sense me too but he was too upset. Rath Michael told him I was right there and that he had thought I was alive all along. Zan Max wanted to know where I was and Rath Michael told him my arms were around his shoulders. Zan Max reached out to touch me and yanked his hand away. He was very pale. “She’s so cold.” he said. Zan Max tried to heal Rath Michael, but he only managed to heal him for a few seconds and then he was the same again. It happened several times and it was hurting Rath Michael too much. He finally desisted to spare him more pain. Rath Michael asked him to free his hands and then he held his in one and mine in the other, activating a three way connection. We stayed like that: me, crouched by Rath Michael’s face, and Zan Max squatting at his side, sharing our energy with him. We didn’t realize then, that we were just adding more time to his suffering. Rath Michael groaned, then he said: “I’ve been near death so many times, but I never knew it would hurt so much to die… Lannie?” I knew what he was going to ask, so before he did, I answered: “I felt nothing. I didn’t even know I was dead until Zan Max said so.” He went on: “At least I know all the people I have killed in battle were dead before they hit the ground. I wish I could have been that lucky.” My brother then said the truth: “You are a good person, Nicholas and Khivar are rats!” We had a good laugh at that, though Rath Michael could just manage a weak chuckle. We were so focused in ourselves that we didn’t hear Khivar and Nicholas come in until they were right beside us. They thought Rath Michael was dead and Nicholas grabbed the stake and shook it viciously, just to make sure. He gasped and shuddered and Nicholas jumped back in shock. He turned to Khivar exclaiming: “Can you believe that? He’s still alive!” Khivar watched the scene with an amused look in his face. “ Strong boy! Incredible!” Nicholas gripped the stake tight as he said: “He’s dead now.” And he thrust the stake as deep as he could. A strangled growl left Rath Michael’s lips as I hugged him as tight as I could against me, knowing he wouldn’t last much longer and that soon we would be together because there was no doubt in my heart that his death wish would be being with me too. His whole body shuddered in agony and I could hear his blood splashing on the floor again. Zan Max jumped to his feet, and started screaming his head off. He pounced on my dying love and held him as he died. The last words Rath Michael heard, were: “All right, your late majesty, your head is coming off right away!” from Nicholas. He breathed “Thanks.” In my ear and I knew he meant he was grateful Zan Max would be beheaded, because that was the way he killed in battle: the fastest and most merciful. I whispered: “I love you.” and heard him answer: “I worship you.” I managed to say. “Not more than I do.” And he moaned as Nicholas unbelievably stabbed the stake deeper into him as he finally relaxed after the most painful death that weasel could assure him. At least he died in my arms and Zan Max’s. Just then I felt two strong arms pull me up and I knew it was him eternally with me now. Khivar now nodded and the guards grabbed my terrified brother’s arms and dragged him to Nicholas. He brought to him the tree stump over which Rath Michael used to lie during our childhood games and had it upright again. It reached right under the base of Zan Max’s unusually long neck. They tied his wrists and ankles around the trunk to make sure he would stay standing, as Zan Max had temporarily fallen silent in shock. His eyes were tearing, his nose was running and he was drooling. If he had peed himself, we couldn’t tell because of the long robe he wore and kept his shame to himself. Suddenly he started shrieking shrilly and Khivar, exasperated, grabbed him by the hair, pushed his face down against the concave surface. Before he had time to think he might not be able to breathe there, Nicholas came out of nowhere and chopped his head off in one single stroke. Zan Max didn’t feel a thing, anyway, because a second before the axe fell, we grabbed his hands and connected with him, taking his soul with ours, so he watched his own death safely with us. Nicholas lifted the severed head by the hair and we had the gruesome sight of his eyes half closed and his mouth open in his last scream. We turned away, accidentally seeing Rath Michael’s body and couldn’t help thinking how hard he had died. He had been a soldier, but still…it was too much. We hugged each other and to our shock we found ourselves on the roof of the building across from the huge yard in front of the palace. It was early daytime, according to the clock, 6:30 am, and the city was coming alive. The first ones to arrive left running to get the rest of the citizens and in minutes, all of them, every age, had gathered to see the gruesome, sight that Khivar and Nicholas had prepared for them. Across the yard, were our bodies, exactly as we had died, from left to right, Zan Max, standing up tied to the tree stump with his severed head on the top, his face mercifully shoved into the wood, covered from sight. Then myself hanging from my golden belt from the rafter hovering in the air. Then Rath Michael, suspended face down in the air, his back from his shoulders to his thighs totally ripped and bloody, and the stake protruding from between his buttocks, the pool of his blood on the floor below him and a drop of blood ready to fall from his parted lips. His face was turned towards our audience and his eyes were open. It was all I could do not to try and close them, but we couldn’t give ourselves away. Then came our surprise. A fourth body, lying peacefully on her bed with her hands close together on her breast and her throat slit from ear to ear, lay Ava Tess. Zan Max yelped in shock. “Oh no, she was pregnant!” Rath Michael and I couldn’t help exclaiming: “WHAT?” My brother explained: “That’s why she went that morning before the attack to visit her family. She was going to inform them first, as tradition goes, and this morning she was coming back to announce it to you and then to the city, right here at the yard. Khivar must have captured her and brought her back.” I just had to tell him: “She was one of Khivar’s queens, representing her planet. I’m sorry!” Zan Max came out of his shock to say: “Are you sure?” He knew I wouldn’t lie to him. “Yes, I even spoke to her.” “Why isn’t she with us?” Rath Michael was curious.
“I think she preferred being with her family, I don’t know what happened, she seemed happy being one of the queens”
Then the scene rudely changed to the yard with no bodies. Everything else was there except us, even Ava Tess had disappeared and Khivar was screaming angrily at Nicholas, who was cringing away from him: “I don’t know how you do it, but I want them back here before the day is done! Bring them back to me! I want them here! Do you hear me?”
Isabel had had her eyes closed during all the time she told them her nightmare, and now she opened them wide.
- Now you know why we need to be together! We will all be killed if we don’t use this information to protect ourselves, and Michael is in a death threat! I already went through mine and Michael almost did so Nicholas is stalking him right now to finish what he couldn’t before. We must stop him or he will kill Michael in the cruelest way you have just seen!
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
The Martyr of Antar - A/N - 5/7/05
Welcome to my world, kittens. I invite you to visit my country, so you can see firsthand an underworld of witchcraft, magic and shamans. I'm used to it cause I was born here, but foreigners just see a normal third world everyday life. That is until weird and unexplainable things start to happen a little too often to be coincidences. Then, when they dare speak of it to some local friend, they will tell them to go to the witch and have an amulet made to protect them.
It took my dear Scottish friend, translator and colleague (we're highschool teachers ) Violet, three years to finally realize that I was telling her the truth, and that I wasn't joking when she saw her Canadian friend's British husband change overnight and just leave with a local woman after almost 20 years of perfect marriage with three sons whom he worshipped. Now we have taken under our wings an American friend whose local boyfriend's ex wife had him completely out of his mind and was starting to do it to her too. It doesn't matter if you don't believe, it will happen just the same.
Antarian treachery and sadistic revenge happens here in my homeland, so you don't need to go to Roswell to sound stoned, just to Lima - Peru.
It took my dear Scottish friend, translator and colleague (we're highschool teachers ) Violet, three years to finally realize that I was telling her the truth, and that I wasn't joking when she saw her Canadian friend's British husband change overnight and just leave with a local woman after almost 20 years of perfect marriage with three sons whom he worshipped. Now we have taken under our wings an American friend whose local boyfriend's ex wife had him completely out of his mind and was starting to do it to her too. It doesn't matter if you don't believe, it will happen just the same.
Antarian treachery and sadistic revenge happens here in my homeland, so you don't need to go to Roswell to sound stoned, just to Lima - Peru.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
The Martyr of Antar
Chapter 18
Maria immediately began freaking out and pushing everyone to the door.
- We’re losing time here, hurry up, we must do something! - They raced downstairs as the Crashdown’s phone started ringing. They were tempted to ignore it but Liz picked up. Her eyes opened wide as she passed it to Kyle whispering:
-It’s your father.-
- Hey dad, I’m afraid we’ve… -
- I’m craving for a piece of coconut pie…-
-Dad! -
- Kyle! What? -
- Dad, drop the pie! Isabel thinks Michael is in danger, we’re going to his place right away! -
- Wait right there! I’m coming over! - He hung up and Kyle turned to the others shrugging.
- He says he’s coming right over and to wait for him. - To his surprise, Isabel said, relieved:
- Great! I’m going to need his help. C’mon. - As soon as they were outside, Isabel asked Kyle:
- Which way will your father be coming from? - Kyle pointed to the left and they started walking in that direction. When they heard a car coming going quite fast, they started waving their arms and yelling so Jim saw them and stopped. They jumped into the van and started towards Michael’s apartment. On the way, Isabel filled him in on what was necessary for him to know. As they approached the building, they saw the eerie light coming from Michael’s window. Jim didn’t stop and everyone started protesting. But Jim went on sheriff mode and took control.
- I know what I’m doing! I’m parking here on this side street… - he said as he maneuvered the van to the right and parked on the opposite side keeping the building in sight.
- Isabel, you and Kyle come with me, Liz, you stay here in the van with Maria. She’s in no condition to try to help because she will most likely get him killed. - Maria confirmed his words by sobbing loudly.
- I’m trusting you, Liz, to keep Maria here, for Michael’s sake. Is that clear? Maria? - The girls nodded and watched them leave. They went quietly and trying to hurry without running until they reached the window in the alley that was Michael’s bedroom. The yellowish glow giving it a ghostly sheen. They crouched under the sill and checked out the window. The pane was closed so they could whisper without being heard. The blind was almost two inches short and the slant favoured them. They peeked under it and Isabel’s heart skipped a beat. It was exactly like her dream, Michael seemed to be suspended in the air on the transparent bed, face down and apparently naked as far as they could see. Nicholas was standing at Michael’s hip, facing him with his back to them. They could see the metal rod he was holding in Michael’s direction, but his body covered what he was doing. They knew where it was and they were all thankful that Maria was not with them.They ducked and Isabel was very pale, in complete shock, her lips were trembling as she was trying to speak.
- It’s my dream! - She finally managed. Jim pulled out his gun.
- But it’s ending different this time. - He said confidently. - I can’t shoot him yet, because even if I kill him instantly, there’s the risk that he won’t let go of the rod when he falls and wherever it is, it will hurt Michael worse than he already is. We must make him let go of it. -
- I’ll go in and do it. He won’t shoot me, believe me. - She blushed slightly. - He has a crush on me. You must shoot him here,- she pointed to the back of her head just above her neck, in the middle. His husk is different, trust me, I don’t know how I know, but I’m sure. Keep your gun aimed there, and the second he lets go, shoot him. -
- The noise will bring the whole neighbourhood running, but I’ll deal with them. - Isabel couldn’t believe what she had just heard.
- Haven’t you got a silencer? -
- No, sorry. - Isabel waved her hand over the gun.
- Now you do. - Jim looked down, and yes, there was one now. He smiled and turned to thank Isabel, but she had already gone.
She arrived at the door to find it almost halfway open. She pushed it aside and walked in feigning ignorance and sounding angry.
- Michael, dammit! You left your books at Liz’s and you know you can’t fail the science test! You can’t be asleep, you’ve left the door open! - Michael’s heavy breathing filled the room reassuring her he was alive.
- Isabel! No! - Michael gasped as Nicholas jabbed him viciously. She turned in the direction of his voice and faced Nicholas, faking surprise.
- Nicholas! It was about time! Where’s Khivar? -
- From what I know of the last time you saw him, you were quite upset with him. - He sounded very pleased with himself.
- That’s what I wanted Max and him - indicating Michael with a jerk of her head - to believe. I couldn’t shake them and Khivar was very careless to come to my wedding. -
- You sent him back and threatened to kill him yourself, why would you want to see him again? -
- My human side has had second thoughts and anyway, us females have a right to change our minds as many times as we want, right? - She flirted openly. - Anyway, I’ve been remembering things lately and thinking about you. Do you keep your promises? - She smiled invitingly. Nicholas looked intrigued.
- “I’ll always be there for you when Khivar is busy with the other queens”. I remember your words clearly. Did you really mean them? - She moved towards the couch on her right. She sat and patted the place beside her still smiling invitingly at him. Nicholas took the bait and let go of the rod, leaving it suspended in the air, to go to her, but as soon as he did it, he hesitated and grew suspicious. He reached out for the rod again, but Jim’s bullet was faster and smashed into the back of his head. He pitched forward, his body did a complete flip and he landed flat on his back with his eyes open and staring blankly at the ceiling. The room went completely dark and Jim and Kyle were ready to freak out. Isabel raised her hand and pushed forwards with her palm towards Michael. The nightstand’s lamp turned on and she jumped up and ran to him as Jim and Kyle burst in, full speed. Jim found his voice when he saw Isabel kissing Michael’s cheek.
- Is he… - he just couldn’t complete the sentence, grimacing after a quick glance at Michael. Kyle peeked from behind his father and before Isabel could answer, he dove to the bathroom to throw up. Isabel shook her head.
- No, but he’s barely conscious. -
Liz and Maria had been sitting obediently in the car, their eyes fixed on the building. They saw Isabel walking in and Maria turned to Liz, looking frightened. Liz shook her head no, and squeezed her hand. Then the place went dark, and as Kyle and Jim rushed in the light came on again. Maria pushed Liz away and scrambled over her, running to the apartment with Liz at her heels. Isabel and Jim heard their pounding feet as they approached the door.
- Jim! Cover him! Quick! - Maria arrived first and saw Jim covering Michael’s lower body with a sheet he had picked up from the floor. She, of course, got the wrong impression and threw herself at Michael, sobbing.
- No! Let me see him first! - She pressed her chest to his back, weeping hysterically. Liz had stopped beside Isabel, looking shaken, tears running down her cheeks and terribly pale. Isabel tried to calm them down.
- Maria, he’s alive, listen to his heart. - She listened against his body and straightened up, half laughing half crying. Michael groaned in perfect timing.
- Oh, thanks, thanks! - She crawled towards his face and covered it with kisses. Liz visibly relaxed and started breathing again. Kyle came out of the bathroom looking green. He stared at Isabel.
- Are you sure he’s alive? - He sounded doubtful.
- Kyle, are you deaf? That’s him breathing - Kyle listened and nodded, relieved. Isabel noticed the blood dripping to the floor where a small pool was forming. She turned to Liz.
- Did you manage to speak to Max? - She was growing quite alarmed now.
- No, I’ve called him several times leaving a message. His phone’s turned off. - Isabel reached out and Liz handed her cell phone to her. She was about to dial when the phone started ringing. They all jumped, startled, as Isabel checked the screen and it was Max. She was furious.
- Max! Where the hell are you? Michael is very badly hurt! We need you here! - She was met by absolute silence.
- MAX! - She was totally losing it.
- Sorry Iz, I have just reached the highway outside Santa Fe. It’ll take me some hours to get back. -
- Well, thank you for your concern! - She tossed the phone to Liz who went to the couch to talk to Max.
Isabel turned to Michael with a worried look on her face. Maria turned to her still sobbing.
- What’s wrong with your people, Isabel? How could he do this to him? It’s so gross! -
- It’s also human stuff, Maria. Remember the history lessons? The Turks, I think it was. - Maria turned to her, with a puzzled look. Isabel continued:
- Dracula? The real one? Remember what he did to his victims? - Maria concentrated.
- He impaled them? - Isabel nodded. Then Maria’s eyes almost popped out of her head.
- Oh my god, you’re right! That sick freak! - Her face distorted with disgust, she went to Nicholas’ body and kicked his ribs as hard as she could. Jim pulled her away gently and she hugged him, crying on his shoulder. Kyle interrupted Maria’s sobs.
- We must do something, we can’t wait for Max… - he turned to look at Michael. - He’s suffering, it’s not right. - Almost every time Michael breathed, it ended in a moan. They heard Liz's voice from the couch.
- Isabel, Max says you should call Jesse about his doctor friend. - Isabel hurried to the couch and snatched the phone from Liz’s hand cutting Max off. She rang Jesse’s cell, hoping it wasn't off, and she heard him pick up. She told him their current problem. When he asked her if Michael had been shot she doubted if he could handle it so she told him he had been stabbed which wasn’t too far from the truth. Jesse told her that unfortunately, his friend had gone to South America a few months ago where he had managed to get a job in a province hospital. She looked devastated when she told them as their faces mirrored hers. A blood curdling scream made everyone jump and turn to the door. There was the neighbour, Mrs. Curry, who apparently had taken her dog out to do his business.
- What the hell have you done to him? - She yelled at the top of her lungs, one hand clutching the leash and the other covering her mouth. Jim rushed to her.
- I brought my boy with his friends to give him some books for an important test they’ve been studying all night for and found him like this. -
- Have you called 911? -
- We were just about to do so… - She lunged for the phone and dialed to everyone’s horror. She gave the address, said it was a life and death situation and to hurry. She hung up and took off dragging the frightened dog after her. Isabel was the first to react. She turned to Jim.
- What can we do now? We must take him away before they arrive! -
-No, Isabel, we’ll be in far more trouble if we do so. Okay, think, what could they find different if he’s taken to a hospital? -
- His blood! Its composition is totally alien! -
- What else? - Isabel shook her head. - I don’t really know, we’ve never been sick, except for Michael, and we don’t have all the healing stones here, only his. Oh, and the time Max hit his head on the steering wheel. -
- Can’t you change his blood to human? Like you do other stuff? - Isabel concentrated and then said:
- Yes, sure, I guess I can. -
- Well, do it then! - She waved her hands over Michael’s body focusing in the human composition of blood.
- Alright. What else do we need, Jim, we’re running out of time! -
- The bed! Bring it back! - She did so, then she lifted the pool of blood from the floor to the bed between Michael’s thighs.
- He should be tied down. Who would let anyone do this without fighting? - Kyle was right, Isabel materialized four pieces of rope as if they had untied him. Then they heard the siren of the ambulance They heard the brakes screeching to a halt and in record time, two men and a woman rushed in with a stretcher. Jim guided them to Michael and as they approached him they saw Nicholas on the floor. One of the paramedics called over his shoulder:
- Get the other stretcher, we’ve got two. - Jim informed him:
- Forget that one, he’s dead. He’s the attacker, I shot him. The police will take care of him. - Without a doubt or a second thought, they passed beside him and went to the bed. The paramedic raised the sheet off Michael to take a look. He grimaced and reported to the other two, bluntly:
- The kid’s got a poker up his ass, so we can’t turn him over. - They placed the stretcher alongside the bed.
- We’ll slide him over, nice and easy, ok? - The other two looked doubtful. The second paramedic said:
- He’s a big guy, we better get Tim. - Jim assumed it had to be the driver.
- We’ll give you a hand, tell us how to do it. - He nodded at Kyle who walked to his father’s side.
- Ok. Lucy, hold the stretcher steady. On three, ok? - He and his partner buried their hands under Michael’s shoulders and instructed Jim and Kyle to do so under his thighs just above the knees. Once they were in place, he counted and they got him on the stretcher the best they could. Michael moaned in pain as his front hit the matt. Lucy eased a soft pillow under his cheek.
- Here, honey. - Michael sighed and thanked her. Maria rushed to hold his hand with Liz by her side and Isabel opposite them. As they carried him through the door, the space was too narrow and Maria had to let go of his hand. Michael whispered her name, not wanting to lose the contact. Once out of the building, the girls caught up with him again and as they went down the three steps outside, Michael reached for the closest hand and grabbed Liz’s instead, thinking it was Maria’s who tried to reach him on the other side but the paramedic Lucy was walking alongside. As they were about to load him into the ambulance, Lucy told Liz to let go of him but it was Michael who was clutching Liz’s hand. She shook her head and Maria insisted:
- Michael, let go! -
- No, please, don’t leave me, stay with me… - Lucy tried to pry his hand open but she was not strong enough.
- C’mon, dear, let go of her. -
- No! Don’t go! - The paramedic at the head of the stretcher looked impatient.
- What is it, c’mon, he’ll bleed to death out here! Get him in! -
- He won’t let go of her! - He leaned down towards Michael.
- C’mon, kid, we have to go. - Michael shook his head stubbornly.
- Okay, come in with him, but stay out of the way, huh? - Liz just nodded and climbed into the ambulance along with the stretcher. They placed it in the middle and Liz slid up pulling Michael’s arm with her, and she knelt on the floor at the back. She looked over her shoulder through the glass pane and saw the driver looking back, waiting for the signal to go. He started the engine and they were off.
Maria immediately began freaking out and pushing everyone to the door.
- We’re losing time here, hurry up, we must do something! - They raced downstairs as the Crashdown’s phone started ringing. They were tempted to ignore it but Liz picked up. Her eyes opened wide as she passed it to Kyle whispering:
-It’s your father.-
- Hey dad, I’m afraid we’ve… -
- I’m craving for a piece of coconut pie…-
-Dad! -
- Kyle! What? -
- Dad, drop the pie! Isabel thinks Michael is in danger, we’re going to his place right away! -
- Wait right there! I’m coming over! - He hung up and Kyle turned to the others shrugging.
- He says he’s coming right over and to wait for him. - To his surprise, Isabel said, relieved:
- Great! I’m going to need his help. C’mon. - As soon as they were outside, Isabel asked Kyle:
- Which way will your father be coming from? - Kyle pointed to the left and they started walking in that direction. When they heard a car coming going quite fast, they started waving their arms and yelling so Jim saw them and stopped. They jumped into the van and started towards Michael’s apartment. On the way, Isabel filled him in on what was necessary for him to know. As they approached the building, they saw the eerie light coming from Michael’s window. Jim didn’t stop and everyone started protesting. But Jim went on sheriff mode and took control.
- I know what I’m doing! I’m parking here on this side street… - he said as he maneuvered the van to the right and parked on the opposite side keeping the building in sight.
- Isabel, you and Kyle come with me, Liz, you stay here in the van with Maria. She’s in no condition to try to help because she will most likely get him killed. - Maria confirmed his words by sobbing loudly.
- I’m trusting you, Liz, to keep Maria here, for Michael’s sake. Is that clear? Maria? - The girls nodded and watched them leave. They went quietly and trying to hurry without running until they reached the window in the alley that was Michael’s bedroom. The yellowish glow giving it a ghostly sheen. They crouched under the sill and checked out the window. The pane was closed so they could whisper without being heard. The blind was almost two inches short and the slant favoured them. They peeked under it and Isabel’s heart skipped a beat. It was exactly like her dream, Michael seemed to be suspended in the air on the transparent bed, face down and apparently naked as far as they could see. Nicholas was standing at Michael’s hip, facing him with his back to them. They could see the metal rod he was holding in Michael’s direction, but his body covered what he was doing. They knew where it was and they were all thankful that Maria was not with them.They ducked and Isabel was very pale, in complete shock, her lips were trembling as she was trying to speak.
- It’s my dream! - She finally managed. Jim pulled out his gun.
- But it’s ending different this time. - He said confidently. - I can’t shoot him yet, because even if I kill him instantly, there’s the risk that he won’t let go of the rod when he falls and wherever it is, it will hurt Michael worse than he already is. We must make him let go of it. -
- I’ll go in and do it. He won’t shoot me, believe me. - She blushed slightly. - He has a crush on me. You must shoot him here,- she pointed to the back of her head just above her neck, in the middle. His husk is different, trust me, I don’t know how I know, but I’m sure. Keep your gun aimed there, and the second he lets go, shoot him. -
- The noise will bring the whole neighbourhood running, but I’ll deal with them. - Isabel couldn’t believe what she had just heard.
- Haven’t you got a silencer? -
- No, sorry. - Isabel waved her hand over the gun.
- Now you do. - Jim looked down, and yes, there was one now. He smiled and turned to thank Isabel, but she had already gone.
She arrived at the door to find it almost halfway open. She pushed it aside and walked in feigning ignorance and sounding angry.
- Michael, dammit! You left your books at Liz’s and you know you can’t fail the science test! You can’t be asleep, you’ve left the door open! - Michael’s heavy breathing filled the room reassuring her he was alive.
- Isabel! No! - Michael gasped as Nicholas jabbed him viciously. She turned in the direction of his voice and faced Nicholas, faking surprise.
- Nicholas! It was about time! Where’s Khivar? -
- From what I know of the last time you saw him, you were quite upset with him. - He sounded very pleased with himself.
- That’s what I wanted Max and him - indicating Michael with a jerk of her head - to believe. I couldn’t shake them and Khivar was very careless to come to my wedding. -
- You sent him back and threatened to kill him yourself, why would you want to see him again? -
- My human side has had second thoughts and anyway, us females have a right to change our minds as many times as we want, right? - She flirted openly. - Anyway, I’ve been remembering things lately and thinking about you. Do you keep your promises? - She smiled invitingly. Nicholas looked intrigued.
- “I’ll always be there for you when Khivar is busy with the other queens”. I remember your words clearly. Did you really mean them? - She moved towards the couch on her right. She sat and patted the place beside her still smiling invitingly at him. Nicholas took the bait and let go of the rod, leaving it suspended in the air, to go to her, but as soon as he did it, he hesitated and grew suspicious. He reached out for the rod again, but Jim’s bullet was faster and smashed into the back of his head. He pitched forward, his body did a complete flip and he landed flat on his back with his eyes open and staring blankly at the ceiling. The room went completely dark and Jim and Kyle were ready to freak out. Isabel raised her hand and pushed forwards with her palm towards Michael. The nightstand’s lamp turned on and she jumped up and ran to him as Jim and Kyle burst in, full speed. Jim found his voice when he saw Isabel kissing Michael’s cheek.
- Is he… - he just couldn’t complete the sentence, grimacing after a quick glance at Michael. Kyle peeked from behind his father and before Isabel could answer, he dove to the bathroom to throw up. Isabel shook her head.
- No, but he’s barely conscious. -
Liz and Maria had been sitting obediently in the car, their eyes fixed on the building. They saw Isabel walking in and Maria turned to Liz, looking frightened. Liz shook her head no, and squeezed her hand. Then the place went dark, and as Kyle and Jim rushed in the light came on again. Maria pushed Liz away and scrambled over her, running to the apartment with Liz at her heels. Isabel and Jim heard their pounding feet as they approached the door.
- Jim! Cover him! Quick! - Maria arrived first and saw Jim covering Michael’s lower body with a sheet he had picked up from the floor. She, of course, got the wrong impression and threw herself at Michael, sobbing.
- No! Let me see him first! - She pressed her chest to his back, weeping hysterically. Liz had stopped beside Isabel, looking shaken, tears running down her cheeks and terribly pale. Isabel tried to calm them down.
- Maria, he’s alive, listen to his heart. - She listened against his body and straightened up, half laughing half crying. Michael groaned in perfect timing.
- Oh, thanks, thanks! - She crawled towards his face and covered it with kisses. Liz visibly relaxed and started breathing again. Kyle came out of the bathroom looking green. He stared at Isabel.
- Are you sure he’s alive? - He sounded doubtful.
- Kyle, are you deaf? That’s him breathing - Kyle listened and nodded, relieved. Isabel noticed the blood dripping to the floor where a small pool was forming. She turned to Liz.
- Did you manage to speak to Max? - She was growing quite alarmed now.
- No, I’ve called him several times leaving a message. His phone’s turned off. - Isabel reached out and Liz handed her cell phone to her. She was about to dial when the phone started ringing. They all jumped, startled, as Isabel checked the screen and it was Max. She was furious.
- Max! Where the hell are you? Michael is very badly hurt! We need you here! - She was met by absolute silence.
- MAX! - She was totally losing it.
- Sorry Iz, I have just reached the highway outside Santa Fe. It’ll take me some hours to get back. -
- Well, thank you for your concern! - She tossed the phone to Liz who went to the couch to talk to Max.
Isabel turned to Michael with a worried look on her face. Maria turned to her still sobbing.
- What’s wrong with your people, Isabel? How could he do this to him? It’s so gross! -
- It’s also human stuff, Maria. Remember the history lessons? The Turks, I think it was. - Maria turned to her, with a puzzled look. Isabel continued:
- Dracula? The real one? Remember what he did to his victims? - Maria concentrated.
- He impaled them? - Isabel nodded. Then Maria’s eyes almost popped out of her head.
- Oh my god, you’re right! That sick freak! - Her face distorted with disgust, she went to Nicholas’ body and kicked his ribs as hard as she could. Jim pulled her away gently and she hugged him, crying on his shoulder. Kyle interrupted Maria’s sobs.
- We must do something, we can’t wait for Max… - he turned to look at Michael. - He’s suffering, it’s not right. - Almost every time Michael breathed, it ended in a moan. They heard Liz's voice from the couch.
- Isabel, Max says you should call Jesse about his doctor friend. - Isabel hurried to the couch and snatched the phone from Liz’s hand cutting Max off. She rang Jesse’s cell, hoping it wasn't off, and she heard him pick up. She told him their current problem. When he asked her if Michael had been shot she doubted if he could handle it so she told him he had been stabbed which wasn’t too far from the truth. Jesse told her that unfortunately, his friend had gone to South America a few months ago where he had managed to get a job in a province hospital. She looked devastated when she told them as their faces mirrored hers. A blood curdling scream made everyone jump and turn to the door. There was the neighbour, Mrs. Curry, who apparently had taken her dog out to do his business.
- What the hell have you done to him? - She yelled at the top of her lungs, one hand clutching the leash and the other covering her mouth. Jim rushed to her.
- I brought my boy with his friends to give him some books for an important test they’ve been studying all night for and found him like this. -
- Have you called 911? -
- We were just about to do so… - She lunged for the phone and dialed to everyone’s horror. She gave the address, said it was a life and death situation and to hurry. She hung up and took off dragging the frightened dog after her. Isabel was the first to react. She turned to Jim.
- What can we do now? We must take him away before they arrive! -
-No, Isabel, we’ll be in far more trouble if we do so. Okay, think, what could they find different if he’s taken to a hospital? -
- His blood! Its composition is totally alien! -
- What else? - Isabel shook her head. - I don’t really know, we’ve never been sick, except for Michael, and we don’t have all the healing stones here, only his. Oh, and the time Max hit his head on the steering wheel. -
- Can’t you change his blood to human? Like you do other stuff? - Isabel concentrated and then said:
- Yes, sure, I guess I can. -
- Well, do it then! - She waved her hands over Michael’s body focusing in the human composition of blood.
- Alright. What else do we need, Jim, we’re running out of time! -
- The bed! Bring it back! - She did so, then she lifted the pool of blood from the floor to the bed between Michael’s thighs.
- He should be tied down. Who would let anyone do this without fighting? - Kyle was right, Isabel materialized four pieces of rope as if they had untied him. Then they heard the siren of the ambulance They heard the brakes screeching to a halt and in record time, two men and a woman rushed in with a stretcher. Jim guided them to Michael and as they approached him they saw Nicholas on the floor. One of the paramedics called over his shoulder:
- Get the other stretcher, we’ve got two. - Jim informed him:
- Forget that one, he’s dead. He’s the attacker, I shot him. The police will take care of him. - Without a doubt or a second thought, they passed beside him and went to the bed. The paramedic raised the sheet off Michael to take a look. He grimaced and reported to the other two, bluntly:
- The kid’s got a poker up his ass, so we can’t turn him over. - They placed the stretcher alongside the bed.
- We’ll slide him over, nice and easy, ok? - The other two looked doubtful. The second paramedic said:
- He’s a big guy, we better get Tim. - Jim assumed it had to be the driver.
- We’ll give you a hand, tell us how to do it. - He nodded at Kyle who walked to his father’s side.
- Ok. Lucy, hold the stretcher steady. On three, ok? - He and his partner buried their hands under Michael’s shoulders and instructed Jim and Kyle to do so under his thighs just above the knees. Once they were in place, he counted and they got him on the stretcher the best they could. Michael moaned in pain as his front hit the matt. Lucy eased a soft pillow under his cheek.
- Here, honey. - Michael sighed and thanked her. Maria rushed to hold his hand with Liz by her side and Isabel opposite them. As they carried him through the door, the space was too narrow and Maria had to let go of his hand. Michael whispered her name, not wanting to lose the contact. Once out of the building, the girls caught up with him again and as they went down the three steps outside, Michael reached for the closest hand and grabbed Liz’s instead, thinking it was Maria’s who tried to reach him on the other side but the paramedic Lucy was walking alongside. As they were about to load him into the ambulance, Lucy told Liz to let go of him but it was Michael who was clutching Liz’s hand. She shook her head and Maria insisted:
- Michael, let go! -
- No, please, don’t leave me, stay with me… - Lucy tried to pry his hand open but she was not strong enough.
- C’mon, dear, let go of her. -
- No! Don’t go! - The paramedic at the head of the stretcher looked impatient.
- What is it, c’mon, he’ll bleed to death out here! Get him in! -
- He won’t let go of her! - He leaned down towards Michael.
- C’mon, kid, we have to go. - Michael shook his head stubbornly.
- Okay, come in with him, but stay out of the way, huh? - Liz just nodded and climbed into the ambulance along with the stretcher. They placed it in the middle and Liz slid up pulling Michael’s arm with her, and she knelt on the floor at the back. She looked over her shoulder through the glass pane and saw the driver looking back, waiting for the signal to go. He started the engine and they were off.
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ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
The Martyr of Antar - CC/UC ADULT - Chapter 19 - 5/14/05
Chapter 19
The three paramedics were immediately in action. The men started filling syringes from ampoules at a counter on the right as the woman kept trying to get a needle in Michael’s free arm.
- I can’t get a vein, I keep going through them! -
- Try the thighs, larger veins, they should hold a needle! We need two !V’s -
She let go of his arm and stabbed the needle into the back of his thigh and fished around. Michael moaned and tried to move away so the nurse pressed her other arm hard on his leg holding it down. Liz begged him to stay still as she gripped his shoulder with her free hand.
- Hurts…- Michael groaned.
- I know, but if you move she’ll take longer. - Michael nodded and managed to hold still, closing his eyes tight and biting his lower lip. As she was doing this, the two others approached the stretcher armed with two syringes each. Liz wanted to close her eyes not to see but she was hooked. They stood at either side and jabbed one needle each in Michael’s ass. It was all Michael could do to deal with the triple pain and he thought of his tortured life back at Hank’s. Liz was blinded by a white flashing light and blinked her eyes. To her dismay, she opened them to see Michael lying naked on a bed and an unkempt looking man with a mustache, whom she recognized as his foster father, belting him hard on the butt and thighs. He hit him hard and fast, one after the other, and then he expertly switched the belt around and started giving it to him with the buckle, cutting and drawing blood. Michael’s face was turned towards her, his eyes shut and his lips parted in a silent scream. The nurse’s triumphant voice brought her back to the ambulance as finally the syringe filled with blood and the nurse called out:
- Got it! -
Liz realized she was on the opposite thigh taping the needle to Michael’s skin. The other thigh had a needle taped to it too and plasma was dripping into him. She fixed the second one to the transfusion bag. The doctors were walking back to the small counter with an empty syringe in either hand. She shook her head trying to figure out what had happened, but the paramedics were right back. They handed a sort of screen to the woman to hold over Michael’s hips. A switch was turned on and they stared at it. Liz noticed it was plugged to what looked like a computer on the right side of the counter so she guessed it was some kind of scanner. One of them pointed to it and said:
- The point is a hairline away from ripping another tear.- The other one frowned and shook his head.
- Well, we know what we have to do. - He nodded at the woman who used her body weight on the small of Michael’s back. Then one of them grabbed the back of Michael’s thighs minding the needles and the other one took hold of the metal rod.
- Hang on, kid.- he said and tugged at it. The light blinded Liz again and this time she saw Michael naked again but bent over the arm of a couch with Hank stuck behind him with his pants unfastened, humping him hard. Michael’s face was buried in his arms, his muscles rippling with the effort to cope with the pain. Liz let out a frustrated cry and faced the three pairs of eyes of the paramedics. She coughed a couple of times and apologized. The woman went to put the screen away.
- Ok, guess that will do. -
- Yeah, man, three tugs to just pull out an inch! -
- I was afraid to overdo it and start a massive bleeding. -
- Right, - the ambulance started to slow down. - We’re here. -
The woman came back and covered Michael halfway up his back with the sheet. She noticed Liz was rather pale.
- Are you all right, dear? - She asked, concerned.
Liz nodded, not trusting her voice and gave her a weak smile. They carefully lowered the stretcher to the floor. As they approached the Emergency entrance, the van carrying the rest of the gang roared into the parking lot skidding to a stop.
Jim had been about to follow the ambulance when he saw the police car parking behind him and Hanson walking towards the van.
- What happened, Jim? -
- Kid went nuts, attacked the Guerin boy and went for Kyle. I had to shoot him down. -
- I need your depositions.-
- We’ll be at the headquarters first time tomorrow, promise. I gotta take these kids to check on their friend. It’s kind of bad. -
Hanson looked around inside the van and recognized some of the kids involved in the Parker shooting a couple of years ago. The Evans kid, with the ears, though, wasn’t there. Neither was the Parker girl and Guerin was the one hurt. The girls were in tears and Kyle looked shocked. He nodded.
- Alright. I trust you, Jim. -
- Thanks.- Jim drove fast but not enough to give Hanson a reason to come after him. The second he turned a corner and out of sight, he stepped on it and flew to the hospital. Now they all hurried to the stretcher and Maria stepped beside Liz as Isabel walked behind the female paramedic on the other side. Once inside the building, they were met by a tall nurse who seemed important, as she took command of the situation. She guided them to the operating theatre where everything was ready for the arrival of the patient. At the door she turned to the group.
- Ok, we take it from here. - Meaning they could go no further. They moved back except Liz. She noticed her hand in the boy’s.
- I’m sorry, honey, we’ll take care of him. - Liz raised her arm showing her it was Michael who was clutching her hand. She pulled at him and ordered him to let go. Isabel approached them.
- Please let me. - she whispered. She leaned towards Michael’s face and sobbed:
- Michael, please, you’re hurting my hand! - Michael let go immediately and Isabel took Liz back with her. Liz was dragging her feet and Isabel put her arm around her shoulders to keep her steady. The nurse guided them to a waiting room.
- You’ll be comfortable here. There are machines around the corner with the typical stuff and there’s one with fairly good hot coffee. -
They thanked her and went to the chairs. Jim and Kyle announced they would get coffee for everyone, and disappeared around the corner. Isabel went to the back of the room where there was a battered couch as an alternative for the rows of plastic chairs. She sat in the middle with her hands on her lap, palms up, and closed her eyes. Liz and Maria sat beside her on either side. Maria touched her arm and Isabel shook her away. She spoke with her eyes closed.
- I’m trying to get to him, ok? Tell Jim and Kyle the truth, or that I’m meditating, or anything you want, but let me be until I’m back. Liz? -
- Yes? -
- Did they drug him? -
- I’m not sure but they shot 4 into his butt.
Isabel nodded and stayed silent. Jim and Kyle came back.
- Sorry girls but the damn machine… - Maria and Liz shushed them and they tip toed to the nearest chairs handing the girls their coffees and placing Isabel’s on the floor.
The three paramedics were immediately in action. The men started filling syringes from ampoules at a counter on the right as the woman kept trying to get a needle in Michael’s free arm.
- I can’t get a vein, I keep going through them! -
- Try the thighs, larger veins, they should hold a needle! We need two !V’s -
She let go of his arm and stabbed the needle into the back of his thigh and fished around. Michael moaned and tried to move away so the nurse pressed her other arm hard on his leg holding it down. Liz begged him to stay still as she gripped his shoulder with her free hand.
- Hurts…- Michael groaned.
- I know, but if you move she’ll take longer. - Michael nodded and managed to hold still, closing his eyes tight and biting his lower lip. As she was doing this, the two others approached the stretcher armed with two syringes each. Liz wanted to close her eyes not to see but she was hooked. They stood at either side and jabbed one needle each in Michael’s ass. It was all Michael could do to deal with the triple pain and he thought of his tortured life back at Hank’s. Liz was blinded by a white flashing light and blinked her eyes. To her dismay, she opened them to see Michael lying naked on a bed and an unkempt looking man with a mustache, whom she recognized as his foster father, belting him hard on the butt and thighs. He hit him hard and fast, one after the other, and then he expertly switched the belt around and started giving it to him with the buckle, cutting and drawing blood. Michael’s face was turned towards her, his eyes shut and his lips parted in a silent scream. The nurse’s triumphant voice brought her back to the ambulance as finally the syringe filled with blood and the nurse called out:
- Got it! -
Liz realized she was on the opposite thigh taping the needle to Michael’s skin. The other thigh had a needle taped to it too and plasma was dripping into him. She fixed the second one to the transfusion bag. The doctors were walking back to the small counter with an empty syringe in either hand. She shook her head trying to figure out what had happened, but the paramedics were right back. They handed a sort of screen to the woman to hold over Michael’s hips. A switch was turned on and they stared at it. Liz noticed it was plugged to what looked like a computer on the right side of the counter so she guessed it was some kind of scanner. One of them pointed to it and said:
- The point is a hairline away from ripping another tear.- The other one frowned and shook his head.
- Well, we know what we have to do. - He nodded at the woman who used her body weight on the small of Michael’s back. Then one of them grabbed the back of Michael’s thighs minding the needles and the other one took hold of the metal rod.
- Hang on, kid.- he said and tugged at it. The light blinded Liz again and this time she saw Michael naked again but bent over the arm of a couch with Hank stuck behind him with his pants unfastened, humping him hard. Michael’s face was buried in his arms, his muscles rippling with the effort to cope with the pain. Liz let out a frustrated cry and faced the three pairs of eyes of the paramedics. She coughed a couple of times and apologized. The woman went to put the screen away.
- Ok, guess that will do. -
- Yeah, man, three tugs to just pull out an inch! -
- I was afraid to overdo it and start a massive bleeding. -
- Right, - the ambulance started to slow down. - We’re here. -
The woman came back and covered Michael halfway up his back with the sheet. She noticed Liz was rather pale.
- Are you all right, dear? - She asked, concerned.
Liz nodded, not trusting her voice and gave her a weak smile. They carefully lowered the stretcher to the floor. As they approached the Emergency entrance, the van carrying the rest of the gang roared into the parking lot skidding to a stop.
Jim had been about to follow the ambulance when he saw the police car parking behind him and Hanson walking towards the van.
- What happened, Jim? -
- Kid went nuts, attacked the Guerin boy and went for Kyle. I had to shoot him down. -
- I need your depositions.-
- We’ll be at the headquarters first time tomorrow, promise. I gotta take these kids to check on their friend. It’s kind of bad. -
Hanson looked around inside the van and recognized some of the kids involved in the Parker shooting a couple of years ago. The Evans kid, with the ears, though, wasn’t there. Neither was the Parker girl and Guerin was the one hurt. The girls were in tears and Kyle looked shocked. He nodded.
- Alright. I trust you, Jim. -
- Thanks.- Jim drove fast but not enough to give Hanson a reason to come after him. The second he turned a corner and out of sight, he stepped on it and flew to the hospital. Now they all hurried to the stretcher and Maria stepped beside Liz as Isabel walked behind the female paramedic on the other side. Once inside the building, they were met by a tall nurse who seemed important, as she took command of the situation. She guided them to the operating theatre where everything was ready for the arrival of the patient. At the door she turned to the group.
- Ok, we take it from here. - Meaning they could go no further. They moved back except Liz. She noticed her hand in the boy’s.
- I’m sorry, honey, we’ll take care of him. - Liz raised her arm showing her it was Michael who was clutching her hand. She pulled at him and ordered him to let go. Isabel approached them.
- Please let me. - she whispered. She leaned towards Michael’s face and sobbed:
- Michael, please, you’re hurting my hand! - Michael let go immediately and Isabel took Liz back with her. Liz was dragging her feet and Isabel put her arm around her shoulders to keep her steady. The nurse guided them to a waiting room.
- You’ll be comfortable here. There are machines around the corner with the typical stuff and there’s one with fairly good hot coffee. -
They thanked her and went to the chairs. Jim and Kyle announced they would get coffee for everyone, and disappeared around the corner. Isabel went to the back of the room where there was a battered couch as an alternative for the rows of plastic chairs. She sat in the middle with her hands on her lap, palms up, and closed her eyes. Liz and Maria sat beside her on either side. Maria touched her arm and Isabel shook her away. She spoke with her eyes closed.
- I’m trying to get to him, ok? Tell Jim and Kyle the truth, or that I’m meditating, or anything you want, but let me be until I’m back. Liz? -
- Yes? -
- Did they drug him? -
- I’m not sure but they shot 4 into his butt.
Isabel nodded and stayed silent. Jim and Kyle came back.
- Sorry girls but the damn machine… - Maria and Liz shushed them and they tip toed to the nearest chairs handing the girls their coffees and placing Isabel’s on the floor.
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ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
The Martyr of Antar
Chapter 20
Isabel opened her eyes and she was surrounded by a murky fog. She didn’t know where she was. She heard voices and she turned towards them. The fog started clearing and she saw she was in the operating theatre. Michael lay naked on the table and there were two men near her talking to a nurse. She looked upset, as she complained in a shaky voice:
- He said if I tried to put that girl thing over his hair he would tear it to pieces.- The doctor pointed to a plastic tube with a gadget at the tip that looked like a plug that she held in her hand and Isabel had seen it attached to patients’ noses. She rolled her eyes.
- He said he would strangle me if I tried to attach it to him.- The men chuckled.
- Got ourselves a wild one. Don’t worry. I’ll have him out in a minute and you’ll do everything you want to him. - She nodded. Isabel was chuckling herself, typically Michael, even with a stick up his ass he had to do his macho thing! Jim’s voice brought her out of it and she opened a slit of her eyes to see herself back at the waiting room. She concentrated, blocking out everything from her mind again. This time it took her a considerable time to get back to the foggy room. She had glimpses of a man in operating greens bent over Michael, sticking needles into him and Michael groaning and writhing in pain. Finally she was there on a constant basis. Now the three persons looked upset. She noticed one doctor was black and the other was white. The black one was saying:
- Sorry, Davis, this has never happened to me before. I’ve tried everything possible and he’s still awake. There’s only the epidural left, but that’s out of question, because with that thing up his ass, we can’t get him in the position to do it correctly. -
The white doctor called Davis, shook his head looking worried.
Isabel smiled, this was where she came in. She knew they couldn’t see her and it was obviously something in his blood, probably some alien residue that wasn’t accepting the anesthetics as a defense mechanism. She only had to touch him to cancel what was giving him problems and he would be asleep in a second. She tried to walk towards Michael and was shocked to feel her feet stuck to the ground. Michael’s voice rang in her head. - No Isabel, you can’t risk it. I won’t let you, it’s too dangerous. I can take it. You mustn’t put yourself in danger because of me. - Isabel felt helpless and she hated that feeling. - Michael, let me in! Stop it right now! - No Izzy, it’ll kill me if you get in trouble. No way! - Michael, they can’t see me! They don’t even know I’m here! - NO! - And he blocked her out. - Dammit Michael! - Isabel sobbed, knowing it was useless. He didn’t trust the doctors and preferred to stay awake in spite of the pain and know exactly what they were doing to him. Now that she was here, he had a double reason: if he was put to sleep, he couldn’t protect her, so he kept her out. He had the last word and Isabel was furious. Not only with Michael but with herself. Wanting to help him, she had made it worse for him. Now he was too worried about her to care about himself, and he would suffer even more because of her. She heard the doctor continue.
- I might try something, but it’s kind of unorthodox. I did it with a field doctor out in those jungle slums I was stationed at last year. You have to improvise out there and you learn some neat shortcuts. It might work, I just need local anesthetics. -
- Local! This thing is up his gut! -
- It’s the last trick I have short of tying him up and do it just like that. It has to come out. - Dr Davis shrugged and gestured with his hands to go ahead. The black doctor got his stuff and stuck a long needle into the centre of Michael’s right buttock. The other doctor and the nurse were standing on the opposite side following the procedure with interest. He started pushing the needle in slowly, the other two holding Michael down as he squirmed and growled.
- I can’t jab it in because of the sciatic. Once I’m over it, it’s a piece of cake.- He said.
- What if you pierce the sciatic? You can leave him lame! How will you know?- asked the nurse.
- It’s a nerve! I just have to touch it and he’ll jump sky high! That’s why I’m going slowly. - The nurse nodded.
- This I’ve got to see. - Said the other doctor. He kept driving the needle in and then Michael jerked and gasped.
- There it is! - He pulled out a little and changed the direction of the needle towards the inside and side stepping the nerve, continued until the needle was all in. He pushed the plunger, than pulled out some, stuck it back in guiding it upwards, then downwards and lastly towards the inside until the syringe was empty. He pulled it out and Isabel could see Michael’s back beaded with sweat and his hand clutching the edge of the table. Every muscle in his body was defined with the tension and strain he was going through. The anesthetist repeated the procedure in the other side, only this time he jabbed the needle deeper, knowing the depth of the sciatic nerve and calculating so that it was barely about an inch away from where he started going slowly. He placed his hands on the sites of the injections and massaged gently, in spite of Michael’s whimpers, the warmth of his hands helping the absorption of the drug. After about a minute he squeezed and Michael jerked. He massaged another minute and when he squeezed, Michael gave a weak start. After another, he just twisted his body slightly to get away from the pain. The next time, he tightened but didn’t actually move. The doctor nodded.
- It’s working. - He said and squeezed another time. This time Michael just groaned but kept still. The doctor poked him and still he groaned without the least muscular response. The doctor frowned.
- What’s wrong? -
- He can’t move, but he seems to hurt. It doesn’t make sense. The idea is he doesn’t move because he doesn’t feel anything, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.- He reached up and touched Michael’s back.
- Does it still hurt? -
- Have you taken it out? - Question for question, all Michael.
- You can’t feel it? -
- Of course I can, do you think I’m dead? - Michael, Michael!
- Why don’t you move? -
- I can’t! What the hell did you stick into me? - The doctor chuckled, and winked at his partners.
- You can’t move anywhere? -
Michael twisted his shoulders and moved his lower legs.
- Just my ass and my thighs. But it still hurts like hell. -
The doctors moved aside so Michael couldn’t hear and come unknowingly closer to Isabel.
- Ok, he can’t move but he can feel. I’m afraid it’s kind of cruel, but I say we proceed fast while it lasts. -
- I don’t like to put him through such pain, but I’m afraid I have to agree. -
- Annie, have the cauterizing instrument ready, I want to finish as fast as possible. -
She nodded and they returned to Michael.
- Ok kid, I’ll go fast, it’s the best we can do. You’ll probably pass out right away. You ready? -
- Yeah, and I’m not passing out!
The doctors smiled and nodded to each other. They liked the kid’s guts. Dr Davis checked everything: Nurse Annie was right beside him with the instrument, the anesthetist had both hands on the small of Michael’s back holding him down just in case, and he had the damn thing in his hands.
- Ok, ready, now! - He yanked out hard but it didn’t come all out, he tugged harder again and took a third one to get it all out.
Michael growled into the pillow and Dr Davis snatched the cauterizing instrument from nurse Annie’s hands as she gaped open mouthed at the rush of blood that followed the removal. He rammed it in using the blood to ease the intromission, coating his gloved hands and forearms in red. He leaned looking into the back of the instrument and triggering the solution which cleaned away the blood, enabling him to see inside and find the damaged areas to cauterize. He sent the electric shocks burning close the tears until it was all repaired. He began at the deepest one and worked his way out. The last one was right over the prostate, and that had been done viciously and on purpose, apparently it was deep enough to have damaged the gland. He noticed the stab wound went slanting upwards, sidestepping the gland itself much like his colleague had sidestepped the boy’s sciatic nerve. The pain must have been excruciating and the kid probably twisted his body in a positive reaction, sending the blow away from the danger area. He would do a thorough check up later. By the time he pulled the instrument out, Michael was shuddering and breathing hard. The solution leaked out after the removal with a few flecks of blood.
- Annie, give him the enema to clean him out, and then get me the dilator. You got the one with the thermometer built in, right? We need to keep the local temperature in check. -
- Yes doctor. Everything is here. -
Isabel watched the nurse do her thing very professional and efficient, and she somehow understood her brother’s desire to be a doctor. With his powers he could be excellent. Damn him, Michael could have been spared of this torture if he had been there for him. He owed them big, specially Michael. She watched the liquid draining out of Michael through the tube she had left inside him, kind of pink and flecked with red at first, then clear at the end. She removed the drain and handed the doctor what looked very much as a dildo with two tabs at the end about an inch in opposite directions. The other doctor took a syringe from the tray by the table and proceeded to inject it into Michael’s butt. He winced and jerked, his body tensing another notch. He went on with the next one and there were still three more left.
- Lubricant. - She picked up a tube with a cap like a nozzle and pushed it into Michael and squeezed half the tube into him. He squirmed and moaned softly. The doctor proceeded to insert the dilator, the tabs that went one backwards and one forwards were to keep the instrument in place without going any deeper than was necessary. On the back tab the local temperature could be read. The anesthetist stuck him another needle in and Michael clenched painfully against the bludgeon the other doctor was shoving into him.
- Hey wait until I finish, ok? I can’t push this into him if he’s going to keep clamming up every time you stick him. -
- Ok. - but he went on emptying the syringe into him. Dr Davis tried to continue pushing the dilator in but had to go hard and it barely moved, so he waited for his colleague to finish, and slid it all in quickly, eliciting a grunt from Michael. By the time the next needle hit him, it was in place. Michael tightened against it with the sharp pain of the injection and got a dull throb up his ass. He winced and moaned, and the surgeon reached over and patted his hip.
- It’s the last one. - He said softly. Michael sighed as he felt the needle pull out of him and the cool alcohol soaked cotton wool swab refreshed his hot skin. He started feeling kind of relaxed, probably one of the first shots was kicking in.
- Have you checked his temperature? -
- In a minute. -
That got Isabel worrying that he probably was way above human standards and she automatically rushed to change it to a reasonable reading. As she arrived by him, she suddenly realized she had been able to move now, what had happened? First things first, she took care of Michael’s temperature, which read 124º and lowered it to a reasonable 103º which was what they had expected, after the agony he had been submitted to. She reached out and touched his fevered cheek. He smirked, recognizing her touch. She crouched by his face and kissed his burning lips gently, sister-like. He felt relaxed and she understood why he had finally stopped blocking her out: thanks to whichever one of the drugs they had shot into him. Then she stepped aside as the orderlies came in and slid him back on a stretcher effortlessly, and wheeled him to the recovery room. Isabel stared at the surgeon with admiration, she was so grateful for the way he had taken care of Michael. He pulled of the cap-like thing from his head and revealed bright red hair. He leaned by Michael and tussled his hair.
- You’ll be fine, you’re bloody tough! - Isabel watched him leave towards the waiting room probably to inform them about Michael’s condition, and she forced herself to leave Michael’s side and return to her body. Her eyes had barely opened when they were all over, cross firing her with questions.
- The doctor’s coming, Michael’s fine. - She whispered just a few seconds before her words came true. They all turned eagerly towards him as he put them all at ease.
- He’s ok. He had a real hard time, we had some problems, but he’s sedated now and resting. He’ll be out for at least 8 hours, so I suggest you go home to get some sleep too, and come back… - he checked his watch - at about midday.- They all breathed in relief, thanked the doctor and allowed Jim to herd them to the van. Isabel was the last to go, shaking the doctor’s hand and flashing him a radiant smile.
- Thank you very much, you can’t imagine how much we appreciate it. - He smiled and placed both his hands over hers.
- I’m glad I could help him.- He let go of her and she went to Jim’s van, feeling relaxed and completely at peace.
Isabel opened her eyes and she was surrounded by a murky fog. She didn’t know where she was. She heard voices and she turned towards them. The fog started clearing and she saw she was in the operating theatre. Michael lay naked on the table and there were two men near her talking to a nurse. She looked upset, as she complained in a shaky voice:
- He said if I tried to put that girl thing over his hair he would tear it to pieces.- The doctor pointed to a plastic tube with a gadget at the tip that looked like a plug that she held in her hand and Isabel had seen it attached to patients’ noses. She rolled her eyes.
- He said he would strangle me if I tried to attach it to him.- The men chuckled.
- Got ourselves a wild one. Don’t worry. I’ll have him out in a minute and you’ll do everything you want to him. - She nodded. Isabel was chuckling herself, typically Michael, even with a stick up his ass he had to do his macho thing! Jim’s voice brought her out of it and she opened a slit of her eyes to see herself back at the waiting room. She concentrated, blocking out everything from her mind again. This time it took her a considerable time to get back to the foggy room. She had glimpses of a man in operating greens bent over Michael, sticking needles into him and Michael groaning and writhing in pain. Finally she was there on a constant basis. Now the three persons looked upset. She noticed one doctor was black and the other was white. The black one was saying:
- Sorry, Davis, this has never happened to me before. I’ve tried everything possible and he’s still awake. There’s only the epidural left, but that’s out of question, because with that thing up his ass, we can’t get him in the position to do it correctly. -
The white doctor called Davis, shook his head looking worried.
Isabel smiled, this was where she came in. She knew they couldn’t see her and it was obviously something in his blood, probably some alien residue that wasn’t accepting the anesthetics as a defense mechanism. She only had to touch him to cancel what was giving him problems and he would be asleep in a second. She tried to walk towards Michael and was shocked to feel her feet stuck to the ground. Michael’s voice rang in her head. - No Isabel, you can’t risk it. I won’t let you, it’s too dangerous. I can take it. You mustn’t put yourself in danger because of me. - Isabel felt helpless and she hated that feeling. - Michael, let me in! Stop it right now! - No Izzy, it’ll kill me if you get in trouble. No way! - Michael, they can’t see me! They don’t even know I’m here! - NO! - And he blocked her out. - Dammit Michael! - Isabel sobbed, knowing it was useless. He didn’t trust the doctors and preferred to stay awake in spite of the pain and know exactly what they were doing to him. Now that she was here, he had a double reason: if he was put to sleep, he couldn’t protect her, so he kept her out. He had the last word and Isabel was furious. Not only with Michael but with herself. Wanting to help him, she had made it worse for him. Now he was too worried about her to care about himself, and he would suffer even more because of her. She heard the doctor continue.
- I might try something, but it’s kind of unorthodox. I did it with a field doctor out in those jungle slums I was stationed at last year. You have to improvise out there and you learn some neat shortcuts. It might work, I just need local anesthetics. -
- Local! This thing is up his gut! -
- It’s the last trick I have short of tying him up and do it just like that. It has to come out. - Dr Davis shrugged and gestured with his hands to go ahead. The black doctor got his stuff and stuck a long needle into the centre of Michael’s right buttock. The other doctor and the nurse were standing on the opposite side following the procedure with interest. He started pushing the needle in slowly, the other two holding Michael down as he squirmed and growled.
- I can’t jab it in because of the sciatic. Once I’m over it, it’s a piece of cake.- He said.
- What if you pierce the sciatic? You can leave him lame! How will you know?- asked the nurse.
- It’s a nerve! I just have to touch it and he’ll jump sky high! That’s why I’m going slowly. - The nurse nodded.
- This I’ve got to see. - Said the other doctor. He kept driving the needle in and then Michael jerked and gasped.
- There it is! - He pulled out a little and changed the direction of the needle towards the inside and side stepping the nerve, continued until the needle was all in. He pushed the plunger, than pulled out some, stuck it back in guiding it upwards, then downwards and lastly towards the inside until the syringe was empty. He pulled it out and Isabel could see Michael’s back beaded with sweat and his hand clutching the edge of the table. Every muscle in his body was defined with the tension and strain he was going through. The anesthetist repeated the procedure in the other side, only this time he jabbed the needle deeper, knowing the depth of the sciatic nerve and calculating so that it was barely about an inch away from where he started going slowly. He placed his hands on the sites of the injections and massaged gently, in spite of Michael’s whimpers, the warmth of his hands helping the absorption of the drug. After about a minute he squeezed and Michael jerked. He massaged another minute and when he squeezed, Michael gave a weak start. After another, he just twisted his body slightly to get away from the pain. The next time, he tightened but didn’t actually move. The doctor nodded.
- It’s working. - He said and squeezed another time. This time Michael just groaned but kept still. The doctor poked him and still he groaned without the least muscular response. The doctor frowned.
- What’s wrong? -
- He can’t move, but he seems to hurt. It doesn’t make sense. The idea is he doesn’t move because he doesn’t feel anything, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.- He reached up and touched Michael’s back.
- Does it still hurt? -
- Have you taken it out? - Question for question, all Michael.
- You can’t feel it? -
- Of course I can, do you think I’m dead? - Michael, Michael!
- Why don’t you move? -
- I can’t! What the hell did you stick into me? - The doctor chuckled, and winked at his partners.
- You can’t move anywhere? -
Michael twisted his shoulders and moved his lower legs.
- Just my ass and my thighs. But it still hurts like hell. -
The doctors moved aside so Michael couldn’t hear and come unknowingly closer to Isabel.
- Ok, he can’t move but he can feel. I’m afraid it’s kind of cruel, but I say we proceed fast while it lasts. -
- I don’t like to put him through such pain, but I’m afraid I have to agree. -
- Annie, have the cauterizing instrument ready, I want to finish as fast as possible. -
She nodded and they returned to Michael.
- Ok kid, I’ll go fast, it’s the best we can do. You’ll probably pass out right away. You ready? -
- Yeah, and I’m not passing out!
The doctors smiled and nodded to each other. They liked the kid’s guts. Dr Davis checked everything: Nurse Annie was right beside him with the instrument, the anesthetist had both hands on the small of Michael’s back holding him down just in case, and he had the damn thing in his hands.
- Ok, ready, now! - He yanked out hard but it didn’t come all out, he tugged harder again and took a third one to get it all out.
Michael growled into the pillow and Dr Davis snatched the cauterizing instrument from nurse Annie’s hands as she gaped open mouthed at the rush of blood that followed the removal. He rammed it in using the blood to ease the intromission, coating his gloved hands and forearms in red. He leaned looking into the back of the instrument and triggering the solution which cleaned away the blood, enabling him to see inside and find the damaged areas to cauterize. He sent the electric shocks burning close the tears until it was all repaired. He began at the deepest one and worked his way out. The last one was right over the prostate, and that had been done viciously and on purpose, apparently it was deep enough to have damaged the gland. He noticed the stab wound went slanting upwards, sidestepping the gland itself much like his colleague had sidestepped the boy’s sciatic nerve. The pain must have been excruciating and the kid probably twisted his body in a positive reaction, sending the blow away from the danger area. He would do a thorough check up later. By the time he pulled the instrument out, Michael was shuddering and breathing hard. The solution leaked out after the removal with a few flecks of blood.
- Annie, give him the enema to clean him out, and then get me the dilator. You got the one with the thermometer built in, right? We need to keep the local temperature in check. -
- Yes doctor. Everything is here. -
Isabel watched the nurse do her thing very professional and efficient, and she somehow understood her brother’s desire to be a doctor. With his powers he could be excellent. Damn him, Michael could have been spared of this torture if he had been there for him. He owed them big, specially Michael. She watched the liquid draining out of Michael through the tube she had left inside him, kind of pink and flecked with red at first, then clear at the end. She removed the drain and handed the doctor what looked very much as a dildo with two tabs at the end about an inch in opposite directions. The other doctor took a syringe from the tray by the table and proceeded to inject it into Michael’s butt. He winced and jerked, his body tensing another notch. He went on with the next one and there were still three more left.
- Lubricant. - She picked up a tube with a cap like a nozzle and pushed it into Michael and squeezed half the tube into him. He squirmed and moaned softly. The doctor proceeded to insert the dilator, the tabs that went one backwards and one forwards were to keep the instrument in place without going any deeper than was necessary. On the back tab the local temperature could be read. The anesthetist stuck him another needle in and Michael clenched painfully against the bludgeon the other doctor was shoving into him.
- Hey wait until I finish, ok? I can’t push this into him if he’s going to keep clamming up every time you stick him. -
- Ok. - but he went on emptying the syringe into him. Dr Davis tried to continue pushing the dilator in but had to go hard and it barely moved, so he waited for his colleague to finish, and slid it all in quickly, eliciting a grunt from Michael. By the time the next needle hit him, it was in place. Michael tightened against it with the sharp pain of the injection and got a dull throb up his ass. He winced and moaned, and the surgeon reached over and patted his hip.
- It’s the last one. - He said softly. Michael sighed as he felt the needle pull out of him and the cool alcohol soaked cotton wool swab refreshed his hot skin. He started feeling kind of relaxed, probably one of the first shots was kicking in.
- Have you checked his temperature? -
- In a minute. -
That got Isabel worrying that he probably was way above human standards and she automatically rushed to change it to a reasonable reading. As she arrived by him, she suddenly realized she had been able to move now, what had happened? First things first, she took care of Michael’s temperature, which read 124º and lowered it to a reasonable 103º which was what they had expected, after the agony he had been submitted to. She reached out and touched his fevered cheek. He smirked, recognizing her touch. She crouched by his face and kissed his burning lips gently, sister-like. He felt relaxed and she understood why he had finally stopped blocking her out: thanks to whichever one of the drugs they had shot into him. Then she stepped aside as the orderlies came in and slid him back on a stretcher effortlessly, and wheeled him to the recovery room. Isabel stared at the surgeon with admiration, she was so grateful for the way he had taken care of Michael. He pulled of the cap-like thing from his head and revealed bright red hair. He leaned by Michael and tussled his hair.
- You’ll be fine, you’re bloody tough! - Isabel watched him leave towards the waiting room probably to inform them about Michael’s condition, and she forced herself to leave Michael’s side and return to her body. Her eyes had barely opened when they were all over, cross firing her with questions.
- The doctor’s coming, Michael’s fine. - She whispered just a few seconds before her words came true. They all turned eagerly towards him as he put them all at ease.
- He’s ok. He had a real hard time, we had some problems, but he’s sedated now and resting. He’ll be out for at least 8 hours, so I suggest you go home to get some sleep too, and come back… - he checked his watch - at about midday.- They all breathed in relief, thanked the doctor and allowed Jim to herd them to the van. Isabel was the last to go, shaking the doctor’s hand and flashing him a radiant smile.
- Thank you very much, you can’t imagine how much we appreciate it. - He smiled and placed both his hands over hers.
- I’m glad I could help him.- He let go of her and she went to Jim’s van, feeling relaxed and completely at peace.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
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ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
The Martyr of Antar
Chapter 21
Isabel was about to get in when she turned and asked them over her shoulder to “wait a sec”. She took of running back to the hospital. Giving the surprised nurse no time to stop her, she rushed to Michael’s side. As the nurse left to get the doctor, Isabel passed her hand over Michael boosting his blood to stay human for at least until she could be with him again. Michael moaned softly and whispered her name, acknowledging her presence.
- Sleep tight, Michael, you need it. You’ll be fine. I love you. - She whispered against his hair as she kissed it before leaving the room. The doctor and the outraged nurse met her as she turned the corner. Isabel beamed at him, ignoring the sulking woman.
- Sorry, I just wanted to see him before I left. -
The doctor smiled back, feeling like putty in her hands.
- It’s ok, no harm done, good night. -
He watched her leave and returned to his office. He went back to the address book he had been checking out when the nurse interrupted him He dialed the number and waited until he heard the familiar voice answering the call.
- Hey Genius! -
- Yo! How’re you doing, man? -
- Fine, visiting my cousin in Roswell. -
- Watch out for aliens! - He chuckled.
- I think I just met one…kidding! Hey, I need a huge favour. -
- Anything, man, you know I owe you big. -
- Ok, listen… -
Jim drove off the parking lot. Just outside, he stopped and asked:
- Where to first, ladies? -
- I think we can camp out at my apartment, I don’t want to stay alone. - Isabel suggested and they all agreed.
Michael gasped at the stabbing sharp pain shooting up his ass and branching out through his belly and thighs. He couldn’t help moaning and his lashes started to part as he kept trying to open his eyes. He writhed on the bed making the buzz go off and the nurse came rushing out of the small bathroom to check it out. She rang the doctor’s number and he almost fell off his chair where he was dozing. He jumped up and answered the phone.
- Doctor, your patient in recovery is waking up! -
- What? That’s impossible! I gave him… - He realized there was no one on the line anymore, so he raced towards the recovery
room. As he hurried past the nurse’s station, he grabbed a pen and jotted down hurriedly on the surprised nurse’s pad and pushed it towards her.
- Bring this to recovery, quick - He took off and arrived to find the nurse standing by the boy, brushing his hair off his face.
- Doctor, he’s waking up. - she repeated.
- Hey, - he put his hand on the kid’s leg and checked out his name on the chart. - Michael… -
- Do what you want to me but stay away from her or I’ll… - he slurred
- Relax, kid, you’re ok, we’re taking good care of you.-
- What’s the hell… - as he opened his eyes
- You’re in the hospital, you got hurt and … -
- I have to go! - He pushed up and fell back gasping with pain
- Easy, you were badly hurt… -
- Where’s Max? - He whispered barely audible, obviously confused and disoriented by the drugs. Before the doctor could answer, the other nurse arrived with a syringe. The doctor took it from her, thanking and dismissing her, and turned to Michael as she left, He saw what he was about to do.
- No! Please, I must… - He felt the needle, winced and kept still.
- Take it easy, your friends came with you and are very worried. -
- Where are they? -
- I sent them home to get some sleep. You were supposed to be out for 8 hours. You’re only halfway, you should be asleep. You need it, you had a rough time, remember? - Michael nodded, recalling the whole thing. - How’s the pain? -
- Bad… I thought you had pulled out this damn thing out of me… -
- I did, what you have inside now is to prevent the tissue from healing upon itself. -
- Ouch, that no good, huh? -
- No. - He smiled at the boy, and turned to the nurse. - When is the pain medication due? - He had lost track of time and watched her check the chart.
- Two more hours. -
- Give him a boost, ok? - She got a syringe from the tray on the table by the bed. She raised her brow at the doctor.
- He’s all yours. - He told her. He watched Michael jerk and wince, he knew the injection was painful. The nurse applied it slowly due to the oily substance. She gave him a massage after she was done and sat on the chair by the bed.
- That will ease the pain. - The doctor’s voice was kind of soothing.
- It hurt like hell, it still does. - He started feeling at ease with the doctor, he felt no threat coming from him.
- Yes, sorry, it takes a while, when it’s in the muscle. But you’ll soon feel better, I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep. -
- Thanks, but you don’t need to, I’ll manage. -
- Sure kid, the nurse is right here if you need anything, ok?.- Michael nodded and closed his eyes. He heard him and the nurse speaking in whispers, but he could make out the words: “Call me immediately if there is any change”. - “Yes, doctor, don’t worry”. His hand squeezed his shoulder and she held his hand. Then he left. The nurse tousled his hair and brushed the back of her fingers on his cheek. Michael drowsily opened his eyes and met the nurses. Something clicked.
- I know you… - he slurred.
- Sure, you met me here, when your friend had a concussion, a couple of years ago. He smirked, remembering the incident.
- I’m eighteen now… -
- Of course you are. - She smiled and kissed his cheek. - Go to sleep, baby. - He sighed and relaxed as sleep overcame him.
Isabel was about to get in when she turned and asked them over her shoulder to “wait a sec”. She took of running back to the hospital. Giving the surprised nurse no time to stop her, she rushed to Michael’s side. As the nurse left to get the doctor, Isabel passed her hand over Michael boosting his blood to stay human for at least until she could be with him again. Michael moaned softly and whispered her name, acknowledging her presence.
- Sleep tight, Michael, you need it. You’ll be fine. I love you. - She whispered against his hair as she kissed it before leaving the room. The doctor and the outraged nurse met her as she turned the corner. Isabel beamed at him, ignoring the sulking woman.
- Sorry, I just wanted to see him before I left. -
The doctor smiled back, feeling like putty in her hands.
- It’s ok, no harm done, good night. -
He watched her leave and returned to his office. He went back to the address book he had been checking out when the nurse interrupted him He dialed the number and waited until he heard the familiar voice answering the call.
- Hey Genius! -
- Yo! How’re you doing, man? -
- Fine, visiting my cousin in Roswell. -
- Watch out for aliens! - He chuckled.
- I think I just met one…kidding! Hey, I need a huge favour. -
- Anything, man, you know I owe you big. -
- Ok, listen… -
Jim drove off the parking lot. Just outside, he stopped and asked:
- Where to first, ladies? -
- I think we can camp out at my apartment, I don’t want to stay alone. - Isabel suggested and they all agreed.
Michael gasped at the stabbing sharp pain shooting up his ass and branching out through his belly and thighs. He couldn’t help moaning and his lashes started to part as he kept trying to open his eyes. He writhed on the bed making the buzz go off and the nurse came rushing out of the small bathroom to check it out. She rang the doctor’s number and he almost fell off his chair where he was dozing. He jumped up and answered the phone.
- Doctor, your patient in recovery is waking up! -
- What? That’s impossible! I gave him… - He realized there was no one on the line anymore, so he raced towards the recovery
room. As he hurried past the nurse’s station, he grabbed a pen and jotted down hurriedly on the surprised nurse’s pad and pushed it towards her.
- Bring this to recovery, quick - He took off and arrived to find the nurse standing by the boy, brushing his hair off his face.
- Doctor, he’s waking up. - she repeated.
- Hey, - he put his hand on the kid’s leg and checked out his name on the chart. - Michael… -
- Do what you want to me but stay away from her or I’ll… - he slurred
- Relax, kid, you’re ok, we’re taking good care of you.-
- What’s the hell… - as he opened his eyes
- You’re in the hospital, you got hurt and … -
- I have to go! - He pushed up and fell back gasping with pain
- Easy, you were badly hurt… -
- Where’s Max? - He whispered barely audible, obviously confused and disoriented by the drugs. Before the doctor could answer, the other nurse arrived with a syringe. The doctor took it from her, thanking and dismissing her, and turned to Michael as she left, He saw what he was about to do.
- No! Please, I must… - He felt the needle, winced and kept still.
- Take it easy, your friends came with you and are very worried. -
- Where are they? -
- I sent them home to get some sleep. You were supposed to be out for 8 hours. You’re only halfway, you should be asleep. You need it, you had a rough time, remember? - Michael nodded, recalling the whole thing. - How’s the pain? -
- Bad… I thought you had pulled out this damn thing out of me… -
- I did, what you have inside now is to prevent the tissue from healing upon itself. -
- Ouch, that no good, huh? -
- No. - He smiled at the boy, and turned to the nurse. - When is the pain medication due? - He had lost track of time and watched her check the chart.
- Two more hours. -
- Give him a boost, ok? - She got a syringe from the tray on the table by the bed. She raised her brow at the doctor.
- He’s all yours. - He told her. He watched Michael jerk and wince, he knew the injection was painful. The nurse applied it slowly due to the oily substance. She gave him a massage after she was done and sat on the chair by the bed.
- That will ease the pain. - The doctor’s voice was kind of soothing.
- It hurt like hell, it still does. - He started feeling at ease with the doctor, he felt no threat coming from him.
- Yes, sorry, it takes a while, when it’s in the muscle. But you’ll soon feel better, I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep. -
- Thanks, but you don’t need to, I’ll manage. -
- Sure kid, the nurse is right here if you need anything, ok?.- Michael nodded and closed his eyes. He heard him and the nurse speaking in whispers, but he could make out the words: “Call me immediately if there is any change”. - “Yes, doctor, don’t worry”. His hand squeezed his shoulder and she held his hand. Then he left. The nurse tousled his hair and brushed the back of her fingers on his cheek. Michael drowsily opened his eyes and met the nurses. Something clicked.
- I know you… - he slurred.
- Sure, you met me here, when your friend had a concussion, a couple of years ago. He smirked, remembering the incident.
- I’m eighteen now… -
- Of course you are. - She smiled and kissed his cheek. - Go to sleep, baby. - He sighed and relaxed as sleep overcame him.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
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ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
The Martyr of Antar
Chapter 22
Isabel jumped up from her couch as her cell phone’s ringing woke her up. She heard Max’s voice.
- I’m arriving at Roswell, where are you? -
- We’re at my apartment, come over. - She answered sleepily.
- How’s Michael? -
- At the hospital, everything’s ok now. -
- WHAT? I’ll be right there. - He hanged up. Isabel looked at her watch: 8:45 am. She got up and checked on Liz and Maria, finding them flat on their backs, holding hands on her bed. She went to the kitchen and the phone rang again. It was Jesse.
- Isabel, how is Michael? -
- He’s at the hospital, I changed his blood to human, and everything is going alright. Well, he had some problems with the anesthetics but they used an alternative, and it was painful, but you know him, he’s tough. -
- Isabel, you’re putting yourselves in trouble! What if they find out? -
- I have it under control, and we couldn’t stand to see Michael suffering until Max could show up. The doctor was great and we’re going there at midday, to make sure his blood stays human. -
- Ok, but keep in touch, to know you’re all safe. -
- I will, I need to get some sleep. - She cut him off. So now he cared about Michael. And wanted to make sure she was safe? He seemed to be having a severe case of guilty conscience. Good for him. She lay back and closed her eyes. She heard Max opening the door and she opened her eyes. He met her accusing look and stared down at his shoes.
- I’m sorry, Iz… -
- Well, I hope at least it was worth it. - She sounded rightfully angry. Max shook his head.
- I received a message from Langley saying he had important information and he needed me to meet him at the Santa Fe airport alone at midnight. But no one came. After you called me, I waited almost 45 minutes and then called him. He said he knew nothing about it and slammed the phone in my ear. I must have interrupted something important because he sounded pissed. Now I know it was a set up from that rat Nicholas. Dammit! - He slammed his fist on the couch, thankfully making barely a sound. Isabel nodded, agreeing with him.
- The only good thing that came out of this is that that piece of shit Nicholas is dead and gone. Still I don’t think it was worth what Michael had to suffer.- She covered her mouth as she yawned. - Michael won’t be taken to a room until midday and Jim promised Hanson he would take us all to answer some questions. I need some sleep or I’ll be too cranky and mess up. -
- I’ve been driving all night, so I guess that goes for me too. -
- Take the sleeping bag. -
- Why not the couch? -
- Cause I’m on it, can’t you see? -
- What happened to your bed? -
- Liz and Maria are there. - Another yawn. - Fuck off, Max, I’m not up to your shit right now! - Her use of language told him he better do as she said because she was really pissed. It must have been quite bad. He padded to Isabel’s room and checked on the two girls.He unrolled the sleeping back and lay down on his back, his arms crossed over his chest. In a few minutes, his eyes flew open and at first he wasn’t sure where he was.
He sensed movement somewhere to his right and soft sounds. Isabel! He sat up bracing his back against the sofa and turned to see his sister snuggled, with her arms crossed over her breasts and legs pulled up against her body. Her eyelids fluttered and her lips formed silent words. “Oh god,” Max thought, “she’s dreaming!” Not a nightmare definitely, her mouth curled in a smile. The sounds she made and her movements indicated pleasure. “Oh no, she’s having a wet dream!” Max felt like an eavesdropper, but knowing what her dreams could do lately, he wasn’t risking her coming to harm. She started twisting and whining. “Jesse,” Max thought and smiled, but to his surprise, she whispered “Michael.”
Jim and Kyle arrived at the police station. Hanson looked up from his desk frowning.
- About time, you said first time in the morning and it’s after 10. Where are the girls? -
- We left the hospital at about 5am. We’ve barely slept almost five hours, so when we’re finished, I’ll go and get them.-
- Fair enough, you go first, Jim? - He nodded to Kyle and went inside with Hanson as Kyle sat right outside on a chair and immediately started snoozing. When his father shook him awake, they changed places and Jim sat snoozing too. They drove to Isabel’s and found them all drinking coffee in the kitchen.
- I’ll wait by the van. - Said Jim and Max got up and followed him outside, where Kyle was waiting in the van.
- I hope you can tell me what happened. - Max said.
- You don’t know? -
- Not exactly, it’s Isabel’s idea of punishing me, keeping me in suspense, every time Liz or Maria tried to speak to me, she told them to shut up because she had a splitting headache. -
- Now she’s gone from Nazi to Alfred Hitchcock! - Kyle giggled but his father’s look shut him up immediately.
- All I know is that Michael’s in the hospital, Isabel turned his blood human and has to get back at him to keep it up. -
- Yeah, she has a temper, that sister of yours! - Jim shook his head smiling. He was about to start informing Max of last nights horrific happenings when the three girls came out towards them and he clamped his mouth down. He wanted Isabel on his side. They climbed into the van quietly. Isabel gave Max a cold look and rolled her eyes..
- All right, this is what happened. - She gave him a quick but detailed account of what had happened. Jim drove slowly to give her time to finish. As they stopped at the police station, Jim killed the engine and Isabel turned to Liz.
- It’s your turn, Liz, what happened at the ambulance? - Liz filled them in exactly like Isabel, leaving the flashes out. That was hers. They filed into the station and told Hanson what had happened leaving the alien stuff out
.
The guys saw Isabel leaving and walking away from them. Jim started the van and looking both ways, drove off until he was cruising alongside her. Kyle popped his head out and asked:
- Isabel, where are you going? - She kept on walking without turning, as she answered
-To the hospital, Michael needs me. -.
- Well, hop in, no need to walk. - Isabel continued to look ahead.
- I need to walk. - She reached the intersection and Jim cut her off. Before she could walk around the van, Max got down and grabbed her by the arms.
- Isabel, there’s something I need to know. - She shrugged away from him but Max hurried in front of her again. She stopped and faced him.
- Alright, don’t make a scene. Not here. - They got in the car as Liz and Maria called out to them and ran to catch up.
- I need to know about your dream. - Isabel sighed and took hold of his hands. Their connection lasted just about three minutes and they opened their eyes. Max looked pale and shocked.
- Now tell us what happened at the operating theatre! We have a right to know! - Maria sounded determined to find out. Isabel looked around and their eyes confirmed they all agreed with Maria, for once..
- It’s not nice, - Isabel anticipated them. But they nodded their consent. They grabbed hands completing the connection, like last night, when she flashed them all her dream in a matter of minutes, although to them it seemed like hours. When she was done, she could see the other two girls also in tears, like she was, and the guys’ were sniffling and their eyes were red rimmed. Liz, they noticed, was very pale, and wouldn’t meet their eyes. They decided to let her be, in their need to find out about how Michael had done during those hours away from them. They entered the hospital without the least suspicion of what was awaiting them.
Isabel jumped up from her couch as her cell phone’s ringing woke her up. She heard Max’s voice.
- I’m arriving at Roswell, where are you? -
- We’re at my apartment, come over. - She answered sleepily.
- How’s Michael? -
- At the hospital, everything’s ok now. -
- WHAT? I’ll be right there. - He hanged up. Isabel looked at her watch: 8:45 am. She got up and checked on Liz and Maria, finding them flat on their backs, holding hands on her bed. She went to the kitchen and the phone rang again. It was Jesse.
- Isabel, how is Michael? -
- He’s at the hospital, I changed his blood to human, and everything is going alright. Well, he had some problems with the anesthetics but they used an alternative, and it was painful, but you know him, he’s tough. -
- Isabel, you’re putting yourselves in trouble! What if they find out? -
- I have it under control, and we couldn’t stand to see Michael suffering until Max could show up. The doctor was great and we’re going there at midday, to make sure his blood stays human. -
- Ok, but keep in touch, to know you’re all safe. -
- I will, I need to get some sleep. - She cut him off. So now he cared about Michael. And wanted to make sure she was safe? He seemed to be having a severe case of guilty conscience. Good for him. She lay back and closed her eyes. She heard Max opening the door and she opened her eyes. He met her accusing look and stared down at his shoes.
- I’m sorry, Iz… -
- Well, I hope at least it was worth it. - She sounded rightfully angry. Max shook his head.
- I received a message from Langley saying he had important information and he needed me to meet him at the Santa Fe airport alone at midnight. But no one came. After you called me, I waited almost 45 minutes and then called him. He said he knew nothing about it and slammed the phone in my ear. I must have interrupted something important because he sounded pissed. Now I know it was a set up from that rat Nicholas. Dammit! - He slammed his fist on the couch, thankfully making barely a sound. Isabel nodded, agreeing with him.
- The only good thing that came out of this is that that piece of shit Nicholas is dead and gone. Still I don’t think it was worth what Michael had to suffer.- She covered her mouth as she yawned. - Michael won’t be taken to a room until midday and Jim promised Hanson he would take us all to answer some questions. I need some sleep or I’ll be too cranky and mess up. -
- I’ve been driving all night, so I guess that goes for me too. -
- Take the sleeping bag. -
- Why not the couch? -
- Cause I’m on it, can’t you see? -
- What happened to your bed? -
- Liz and Maria are there. - Another yawn. - Fuck off, Max, I’m not up to your shit right now! - Her use of language told him he better do as she said because she was really pissed. It must have been quite bad. He padded to Isabel’s room and checked on the two girls.He unrolled the sleeping back and lay down on his back, his arms crossed over his chest. In a few minutes, his eyes flew open and at first he wasn’t sure where he was.
He sensed movement somewhere to his right and soft sounds. Isabel! He sat up bracing his back against the sofa and turned to see his sister snuggled, with her arms crossed over her breasts and legs pulled up against her body. Her eyelids fluttered and her lips formed silent words. “Oh god,” Max thought, “she’s dreaming!” Not a nightmare definitely, her mouth curled in a smile. The sounds she made and her movements indicated pleasure. “Oh no, she’s having a wet dream!” Max felt like an eavesdropper, but knowing what her dreams could do lately, he wasn’t risking her coming to harm. She started twisting and whining. “Jesse,” Max thought and smiled, but to his surprise, she whispered “Michael.”
Jim and Kyle arrived at the police station. Hanson looked up from his desk frowning.
- About time, you said first time in the morning and it’s after 10. Where are the girls? -
- We left the hospital at about 5am. We’ve barely slept almost five hours, so when we’re finished, I’ll go and get them.-
- Fair enough, you go first, Jim? - He nodded to Kyle and went inside with Hanson as Kyle sat right outside on a chair and immediately started snoozing. When his father shook him awake, they changed places and Jim sat snoozing too. They drove to Isabel’s and found them all drinking coffee in the kitchen.
- I’ll wait by the van. - Said Jim and Max got up and followed him outside, where Kyle was waiting in the van.
- I hope you can tell me what happened. - Max said.
- You don’t know? -
- Not exactly, it’s Isabel’s idea of punishing me, keeping me in suspense, every time Liz or Maria tried to speak to me, she told them to shut up because she had a splitting headache. -
- Now she’s gone from Nazi to Alfred Hitchcock! - Kyle giggled but his father’s look shut him up immediately.
- All I know is that Michael’s in the hospital, Isabel turned his blood human and has to get back at him to keep it up. -
- Yeah, she has a temper, that sister of yours! - Jim shook his head smiling. He was about to start informing Max of last nights horrific happenings when the three girls came out towards them and he clamped his mouth down. He wanted Isabel on his side. They climbed into the van quietly. Isabel gave Max a cold look and rolled her eyes..
- All right, this is what happened. - She gave him a quick but detailed account of what had happened. Jim drove slowly to give her time to finish. As they stopped at the police station, Jim killed the engine and Isabel turned to Liz.
- It’s your turn, Liz, what happened at the ambulance? - Liz filled them in exactly like Isabel, leaving the flashes out. That was hers. They filed into the station and told Hanson what had happened leaving the alien stuff out
.
The guys saw Isabel leaving and walking away from them. Jim started the van and looking both ways, drove off until he was cruising alongside her. Kyle popped his head out and asked:
- Isabel, where are you going? - She kept on walking without turning, as she answered
-To the hospital, Michael needs me. -.
- Well, hop in, no need to walk. - Isabel continued to look ahead.
- I need to walk. - She reached the intersection and Jim cut her off. Before she could walk around the van, Max got down and grabbed her by the arms.
- Isabel, there’s something I need to know. - She shrugged away from him but Max hurried in front of her again. She stopped and faced him.
- Alright, don’t make a scene. Not here. - They got in the car as Liz and Maria called out to them and ran to catch up.
- I need to know about your dream. - Isabel sighed and took hold of his hands. Their connection lasted just about three minutes and they opened their eyes. Max looked pale and shocked.
- Now tell us what happened at the operating theatre! We have a right to know! - Maria sounded determined to find out. Isabel looked around and their eyes confirmed they all agreed with Maria, for once..
- It’s not nice, - Isabel anticipated them. But they nodded their consent. They grabbed hands completing the connection, like last night, when she flashed them all her dream in a matter of minutes, although to them it seemed like hours. When she was done, she could see the other two girls also in tears, like she was, and the guys’ were sniffling and their eyes were red rimmed. Liz, they noticed, was very pale, and wouldn’t meet their eyes. They decided to let her be, in their need to find out about how Michael had done during those hours away from them. They entered the hospital without the least suspicion of what was awaiting them.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
The Martyr of Antar
Chapter 23
Isabel led the group and went to the nurse at the reception counter.
- Patient Michael Guerin, please.? - She asked smiling at her. She checked the list on her desk and shook her head.
- Don’t have anyone of that name here…- she kept checking down the list and Isabel looked worried.
- He was admitted through emergency at about 1:30 am today, a redhead doctor took him to surgery… - The nurse checked another page on the IN tray and nodded.
- Right, doctor Stuart Davis, he’s still in recovery and the doctor is waiting for you. Around that corner, the 3º door to your right. You’re family, right? -
- Yes. - answered Isabel with another great smile. She grabbed Max’s hand and dragged him in the direction the nurse was pointing to. Max looked unsure but let her pull him with her.
- How are we going to prove we’re family, are you nuts? - He muttered.
- Shut up! - Isabel barked, in full control mode. They arrived at the door but they read a different name. She knocked lightly, just in case and a voice asked them to go in. She opened the door, and yes, that was last night’s doctor. She walked up to his desk as he got up to greet her and shook hands with him.
- I think the nurse gave me a wrong name. Oh, this is my brother Max. - Max shook hands with him looking nervous.
- No, I’ve just been transferred here and I’m using this place for the time being. Do sit down. - Isabel sat but Max remained standing, feeling uneasy.
- How is Michael doing? -
- He’s quite special, isn’t he? - Isabel tilted her head to a side and frowned in confusion.
- He gave us a surprise after you left… - Isabel felt her hands start to sweat but kept a straight face. She hoped Max could stay in control. She could barely hear him breathing. - He started waking up after just 4 hours. I had given him a dose to keep him asleep at least 8 hours. That kid is really strong! I’d never seen anything like that happen before. I had to shoot him a second one and if I’m not wrong, according to my watch, - he checked it out, - he’ll be coming around in about half an hour tops.-
Isabel smiled weakly, and heard, to her relief that Max was breathing again..
- Er, I didn’t get your name…Guerin, right? -
- No, Michael’s our cousin, sorry, Isabel Evans…Ramirez, I’ve been married less than a year and I’m still getting used to my new name. - sounding embarrassed.
- Now, that’s a real shame. - He sighed dramatically.
- Excuse me? -
- I was considering asking you for a date… - He rolled his eyes in mock disappointment. Isabel let out a peal of laughter, visibly relieved. Max gave a weird giggle and they both turned to look at him, to find him staring at his hands.
- We can have lunch anytime. - She answered, mock flirting too. Max stared at them, not quite pleased at his sister’s behaviour.
- Hey, sit down, don’t look so serious, I’m harmless. - The doctor chuckled at Max. He seemed to relax and sat down.
- Well, you don’t know me but I sure do. - Max looked at him not understanding.
- You do work for my cousin Brody, right? - Max finally smiled.
- Oh yes, he told me about his cousin coming here to give some lectures, but he never mentioned you were a doctor. -
- Yes, guilty as charged. - He nodded. - Is he still getting abducted regularly? I guess that’s why he came here to Roswell for.-
Max and Isabel looked at each other not really getting it. The doctor faked surprise.
- Don’t tell me you live in Roswell and you have never been abducted? - The doctor got up, walked around them and closed the door, locking it. Isabel grabbed Max’s hand looking at him quite scared. His face mirrored hers. The doctor sat back looking serious for a change.
- All right! - He said rather loudly, and slammed both his hands on his desk. Max and Isabel jumped. - Let’s have it! - Max and Isabel were scared speechless. The doctor stared at them waiting for them to speak.
- Maybe this will get you started. - He picked up a page from his desk and tossed it in front of them turning it over. They could see it was the print of a photograph.
- Well, look at it! - Max picked it up shakily and held it up for Isabel to see it too. It was somewhat blurred, but clear enough to identify without mistake, Michael and Max dressed as doctors walking side by side. Max was almost covered by Michael but half his face appeared behind Michael’s profile, facing him as he was speaking to him. The ear was definitely Max’s.
- What is this? - Max asked him, his voice breaking.
- That’s you, and your “cousin”, isn’t it? -
- Where did you get this from? - Sounding shaky and frightened. Isabel was livid.
- I’ve been at Phoenix hospital for the last 6 years. When the children’s incident happened, I was quite interested, because of the silver hand imprints on them, which I had seen one of Brody’s alien presumed stuff, but mainly because Sydney, Brody’s daughter is my godchild, and very dear to me. The surveillance tapes were beyond recognition, conveniently screwed up, so we only had the nurses’ descriptions and a very blurred photograph from one of the damaged cameras that showed two doctors but the faces were unrecognizable.. The nurse had noticed Michael’s rings. So did I when I fixed him up and they rang a bell, so I called a friend at the hospital who can work magic with computers and owes me big. He scanned me this, clearing it up, working full on it for about an hour. - He gestured towards the photograph in Max’s hands.
- What are you going to do? - His voice was barely audible, failing him at the end. Isabel stared at the doctor wide eyed and open mouthed with terror. He shook his head and sighed.
- What can I do? First of all, thank you for Sydney, you can’t imagine how much I love that little girl, and second, for proving that Brody is not nuts about the alien thing. - While he spoke, he walked behind them, placing his hands on Max’s and Isabel’s shoulders. He felt them relax and finally breathe. He let go of them and started pacing behind them. They turned to look at him.
- How do your hands heal? How does it work? - Isabel managed to find her voice.
- Max is the healer. We can all change the molecular structure of things, and… - The doctor interrupted her impatiently.
- And your cousin, what can he do? -
- He’s not really our cousin but he’s very close. He’s a warrior, his hands are his weapons, he can blast things. -
- So he’s the aggressive one? -
- No, he’s actually defensive. -
Max looked at her and she shut up, looking at her hands worriedly. The doctor got the message.
- No, please, don’t worry, I wouldn’t betray you, you’re safe with me, trust me. Brody thinks the world of you, Max and so do I, now. But he’s never mentioned your friend. -
- Brody knows Michael. - Max told him.
- Michael, yeah, very appropriate, Michael the archangel, the warrior, protector, fighting evil represented by the devil. -
- You’re right, now that I think so. Is it a coincidence? - Isabel looked at Max, but the doctor answered.
- I don’t believe in coincidences. - He was staring fixedly at them. - Sorry, but you look so human! I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. -
- We have human DNA, we’re hybrids, half human actually. - Max explained.
- Maybe that would explain Michael’s resistance to the anesthetics. - The doctor considered.
- No, it doesn’t. - Max looked at Isabel who might have the answer.
- I had no problems with anesthetics when I had an accident, so I didn’t expect he would, and I didn’t know what else he would need. - said Isabel. - I changed his blood to human so he wouldn’t be discovered. -
- Well, something’s different with him. - Max and Isabel looked back at the doctor. He shrugged. - The digital gadget to get his vitals went crazy with him, I thought it was the battery. -
- That worked ok with me, I don’t understand why it wouldn’t work with him. -
- And it also worked with me when I hit my head and ended in this hospital with a slight concussion a couple of years ago. -
- They took a blood sample when he was out, before I could get to him, but we switched it with one of a human friend. -
- Max, why didn’t you heal him? -
- I was away, I just arrived this morning. -
- Who did that to him? -
- Another alien, our enemy. He’s dead now. -
- Michael managed to kill him? -
- No, he couldn’t. He was cowardly attacked in his sleep, he couldn’t defend himself. -
- Who killed him then? -
- A friend who knows who we are, and helps us. He brought us here following the ambulance. -
- The older guy? - Isabel nodded.
- Well, now you have another friend, and I will help you in anything you need. Are the other girls and the boy, your husband,-
- No, all human. -
- But they know? -
- Yes. - Max caught her eye and Isabel put him at ease. - It’s ok, Max, we can trust him, I can feel it. -
- You’re right, you have to be careful. Are you really brother and sister? -
They nodded. Isabel sighed and the doctor decided to leave it there. He picked up the photograph and turning a lighter, burned it to ashes. He rose and walked over to them.
- Ok, let’s take Michael to a room. What is it? - He asked, noticing Max and Isabel were exchanging worried looks again.
- Michael is not insured, I don’t think he can pay for…-
Dr Davis interrupted him, putting up his hands, signaling for silence.
- I’ll take care of that, for Sydney. Let’s go. -
Isabel led the group and went to the nurse at the reception counter.
- Patient Michael Guerin, please.? - She asked smiling at her. She checked the list on her desk and shook her head.
- Don’t have anyone of that name here…- she kept checking down the list and Isabel looked worried.
- He was admitted through emergency at about 1:30 am today, a redhead doctor took him to surgery… - The nurse checked another page on the IN tray and nodded.
- Right, doctor Stuart Davis, he’s still in recovery and the doctor is waiting for you. Around that corner, the 3º door to your right. You’re family, right? -
- Yes. - answered Isabel with another great smile. She grabbed Max’s hand and dragged him in the direction the nurse was pointing to. Max looked unsure but let her pull him with her.
- How are we going to prove we’re family, are you nuts? - He muttered.
- Shut up! - Isabel barked, in full control mode. They arrived at the door but they read a different name. She knocked lightly, just in case and a voice asked them to go in. She opened the door, and yes, that was last night’s doctor. She walked up to his desk as he got up to greet her and shook hands with him.
- I think the nurse gave me a wrong name. Oh, this is my brother Max. - Max shook hands with him looking nervous.
- No, I’ve just been transferred here and I’m using this place for the time being. Do sit down. - Isabel sat but Max remained standing, feeling uneasy.
- How is Michael doing? -
- He’s quite special, isn’t he? - Isabel tilted her head to a side and frowned in confusion.
- He gave us a surprise after you left… - Isabel felt her hands start to sweat but kept a straight face. She hoped Max could stay in control. She could barely hear him breathing. - He started waking up after just 4 hours. I had given him a dose to keep him asleep at least 8 hours. That kid is really strong! I’d never seen anything like that happen before. I had to shoot him a second one and if I’m not wrong, according to my watch, - he checked it out, - he’ll be coming around in about half an hour tops.-
Isabel smiled weakly, and heard, to her relief that Max was breathing again..
- Er, I didn’t get your name…Guerin, right? -
- No, Michael’s our cousin, sorry, Isabel Evans…Ramirez, I’ve been married less than a year and I’m still getting used to my new name. - sounding embarrassed.
- Now, that’s a real shame. - He sighed dramatically.
- Excuse me? -
- I was considering asking you for a date… - He rolled his eyes in mock disappointment. Isabel let out a peal of laughter, visibly relieved. Max gave a weird giggle and they both turned to look at him, to find him staring at his hands.
- We can have lunch anytime. - She answered, mock flirting too. Max stared at them, not quite pleased at his sister’s behaviour.
- Hey, sit down, don’t look so serious, I’m harmless. - The doctor chuckled at Max. He seemed to relax and sat down.
- Well, you don’t know me but I sure do. - Max looked at him not understanding.
- You do work for my cousin Brody, right? - Max finally smiled.
- Oh yes, he told me about his cousin coming here to give some lectures, but he never mentioned you were a doctor. -
- Yes, guilty as charged. - He nodded. - Is he still getting abducted regularly? I guess that’s why he came here to Roswell for.-
Max and Isabel looked at each other not really getting it. The doctor faked surprise.
- Don’t tell me you live in Roswell and you have never been abducted? - The doctor got up, walked around them and closed the door, locking it. Isabel grabbed Max’s hand looking at him quite scared. His face mirrored hers. The doctor sat back looking serious for a change.
- All right! - He said rather loudly, and slammed both his hands on his desk. Max and Isabel jumped. - Let’s have it! - Max and Isabel were scared speechless. The doctor stared at them waiting for them to speak.
- Maybe this will get you started. - He picked up a page from his desk and tossed it in front of them turning it over. They could see it was the print of a photograph.
- Well, look at it! - Max picked it up shakily and held it up for Isabel to see it too. It was somewhat blurred, but clear enough to identify without mistake, Michael and Max dressed as doctors walking side by side. Max was almost covered by Michael but half his face appeared behind Michael’s profile, facing him as he was speaking to him. The ear was definitely Max’s.
- What is this? - Max asked him, his voice breaking.
- That’s you, and your “cousin”, isn’t it? -
- Where did you get this from? - Sounding shaky and frightened. Isabel was livid.
- I’ve been at Phoenix hospital for the last 6 years. When the children’s incident happened, I was quite interested, because of the silver hand imprints on them, which I had seen one of Brody’s alien presumed stuff, but mainly because Sydney, Brody’s daughter is my godchild, and very dear to me. The surveillance tapes were beyond recognition, conveniently screwed up, so we only had the nurses’ descriptions and a very blurred photograph from one of the damaged cameras that showed two doctors but the faces were unrecognizable.. The nurse had noticed Michael’s rings. So did I when I fixed him up and they rang a bell, so I called a friend at the hospital who can work magic with computers and owes me big. He scanned me this, clearing it up, working full on it for about an hour. - He gestured towards the photograph in Max’s hands.
- What are you going to do? - His voice was barely audible, failing him at the end. Isabel stared at the doctor wide eyed and open mouthed with terror. He shook his head and sighed.
- What can I do? First of all, thank you for Sydney, you can’t imagine how much I love that little girl, and second, for proving that Brody is not nuts about the alien thing. - While he spoke, he walked behind them, placing his hands on Max’s and Isabel’s shoulders. He felt them relax and finally breathe. He let go of them and started pacing behind them. They turned to look at him.
- How do your hands heal? How does it work? - Isabel managed to find her voice.
- Max is the healer. We can all change the molecular structure of things, and… - The doctor interrupted her impatiently.
- And your cousin, what can he do? -
- He’s not really our cousin but he’s very close. He’s a warrior, his hands are his weapons, he can blast things. -
- So he’s the aggressive one? -
- No, he’s actually defensive. -
Max looked at her and she shut up, looking at her hands worriedly. The doctor got the message.
- No, please, don’t worry, I wouldn’t betray you, you’re safe with me, trust me. Brody thinks the world of you, Max and so do I, now. But he’s never mentioned your friend. -
- Brody knows Michael. - Max told him.
- Michael, yeah, very appropriate, Michael the archangel, the warrior, protector, fighting evil represented by the devil. -
- You’re right, now that I think so. Is it a coincidence? - Isabel looked at Max, but the doctor answered.
- I don’t believe in coincidences. - He was staring fixedly at them. - Sorry, but you look so human! I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. -
- We have human DNA, we’re hybrids, half human actually. - Max explained.
- Maybe that would explain Michael’s resistance to the anesthetics. - The doctor considered.
- No, it doesn’t. - Max looked at Isabel who might have the answer.
- I had no problems with anesthetics when I had an accident, so I didn’t expect he would, and I didn’t know what else he would need. - said Isabel. - I changed his blood to human so he wouldn’t be discovered. -
- Well, something’s different with him. - Max and Isabel looked back at the doctor. He shrugged. - The digital gadget to get his vitals went crazy with him, I thought it was the battery. -
- That worked ok with me, I don’t understand why it wouldn’t work with him. -
- And it also worked with me when I hit my head and ended in this hospital with a slight concussion a couple of years ago. -
- They took a blood sample when he was out, before I could get to him, but we switched it with one of a human friend. -
- Max, why didn’t you heal him? -
- I was away, I just arrived this morning. -
- Who did that to him? -
- Another alien, our enemy. He’s dead now. -
- Michael managed to kill him? -
- No, he couldn’t. He was cowardly attacked in his sleep, he couldn’t defend himself. -
- Who killed him then? -
- A friend who knows who we are, and helps us. He brought us here following the ambulance. -
- The older guy? - Isabel nodded.
- Well, now you have another friend, and I will help you in anything you need. Are the other girls and the boy, your husband,-
- No, all human. -
- But they know? -
- Yes. - Max caught her eye and Isabel put him at ease. - It’s ok, Max, we can trust him, I can feel it. -
- You’re right, you have to be careful. Are you really brother and sister? -
They nodded. Isabel sighed and the doctor decided to leave it there. He picked up the photograph and turning a lighter, burned it to ashes. He rose and walked over to them.
- Ok, let’s take Michael to a room. What is it? - He asked, noticing Max and Isabel were exchanging worried looks again.
- Michael is not insured, I don’t think he can pay for…-
Dr Davis interrupted him, putting up his hands, signaling for silence.
- I’ll take care of that, for Sydney. Let’s go. -
ALIENS FULL TILT!