Tears of the Son (CC ALL,Mature) {complete} 08/05

[Midwest Max]

Part Ten

Nate squinted against the bright afternoon sun, which was just starting to sink in the mid-summer sky. Above him, seagulls circled, searching for garbage along the boardwalk. Before him, he saw Jeremy and a leggy brunette part ways, the girl taking a second look over her shoulder before disappearing into the crowd.

“Who was that?” Nate asked as he joined Jeremy outside of the ice cream parlor.

Jeremy scratched his head, looked after the girl and tried to appear confused. “Who’s who?”

“That girl you were talking to.” Nate pointed in the direction she’d disappeared.

“I didn’t see any girl,” Jeremy denied, fidgeting and unable to meet his cousin’s eyes.

“Really?” Nate said in a semi-teasing tone. “She sure seemed to notice you.”

“She did?” Jeremy chirped, too excited, then reddened as he realized he’d tipped his hand. “I mean, um, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Nate blinked a couple times, then laughed. “You’re a piss-poor liar, Jeremy Ramirez.”

”Okay, okay.” Jeremy kicked at the ground, stuck his hands in the pockets of his bagging pants and hoisted them upwards. “Her name is Carla.”

“And?”

A defeated sigh. “I met her a few weeks ago.”

It was unusual for Jeremy to hide his conquests – after all, the apartment above Isabel and Jesse’s garage should have been installed with a revolving door. The fact that he was bashful about new-comer Carla warned Nate to tread carefully, to be mindful of young Jeremy’s heart.

“So, is she -?” Nate began.

“A friend,” Jeremy replied quickly. “Just a friend.”

Nate nodded, kept the smirk from reaching his eyes and lips.

“Hey – how about a game of pool?” Jeremy offered, the transition none too smooth. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”

“Me neither. Let’s go.”

But Nate couldn’t help noticing that the pool hall happened to be in the same direction in which Carla had disappeared.

“Have you figured it out yet, little Zan?”

Nate’s jaw was pounding, his ears ringing. When he’d awakened, he’d found himself in the woods somewhere, though he didn’t get the impression he was far from civilization – he could hear cars in the distance and the sky wasn’t the pitch black of night, but rather cast in the amber glow of street lights. He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs.

“Cassandra,” the Skin said. “Do you remember who she is?”

Nate grimaced and shook his head. He couldn’t care less about Greek Mythology at this point. He just wanted the pain in his face to go away – which it did fifteen seconds later when he remembered what had happened to Liz. His flight instinct kicked in and he tried to regain his feet, only to have a firmly placed boot push him back to the ground.

“I’ll fill you in,” his captor said, undeterred by his feeble escape attempt. “See, Cassandra was a princess of Troy. The god Apollo fell in love with her and gifted her with the ability to tell the future.”

Nate sighed heavily, from the pain in his head and the agony in his heart.

“Pay attention, little Zan. You’re going to need to know what role you play in the next act. As I was saying, Apollo gave this gift of foresight to Cassandra, but she didn’t return his affections. Angered, he decided to turn that gift into a curse. Do you know what happened then?”

“She lived happily ever after,” Nate croaked, tired of the lesson.

The Skin’s expression fell from congenial to something a little more menacing. “I said to pay attention. After she was cursed, Cassandra could still tell the future, only no one would believe her.”

Silence fell heavily in the woods, the only sound being that of the crickets and tree frogs. Nate waited for an explanation and apparently the Skin was waiting for him to figure it out himself.

Finally, he asked, “What does that have to do with me?”

“You’re Cassandra.”

Arms shaking, he pushed himself to a sitting position, his head cocked to the side in question. The motion made his brain throb.

“Still not getting it?” she asked. “Come with me, then.”

Reaching down with one hand, she jerked him to his feet. His world swayed, but she did nothing to steady him as she was already marching through the foliage. Nate struggled to keep his balance, then stumbled after her.

Not far away, they came to a break in the trees and before them spread an all-too-familiar scene – the Ramirez estate. If he listened closely enough, he could hear the waves crashing on the shore behind the mansion. Before the house and to his left lay the garage over which Jeremy lived.

Fear sent Nate’s heart thumping quicker. In his mind, he ran through the occupants of the house – Jeremy, Isabel, Jesse, Jason and Justin. This evil being was going to have a field day picking them off. Then again, Liz may have been easy since she wasn’t really an alien – killing the others might not be so simple.

“Recognize this place?” the Skin asked.

Nate chose not to respond.

“I know this place. I saw you and Rath’s girl here, screwing like bunnies on the staircase.” She cringed, thumped her fist against her thigh. “Dammit –there I go with the earth phrases again! And I don’t even understand this one. How do people screw like bunnies?”

Nate blinked, gave a slight scowl. He wasn’t going to explain that to her – he was still stuck on the fact that she’d obviously been tracking him for a very, very long time. The only time he and Alyssa had made love in the stairwell was when she’d first moved to Boston to go to college.

“Doesn’t matter.” The Skin waved him off with a hand. “What matters is that you get to play the role of Cassandra.”

Nate felt sick and dizzy and intolerant of her games. “I don’t understand you.”

“It’s simple, little Zan.”

Jeremy’s SUV pulled into the driveway and Nate suddenly felt very aware of what was going on around him. He watched as his cousin pulled the vehicle to a stop and then got out – with Carla.

“Who’s that?” the Skin asked, unconcerned.

“I don’t know,” Nate lied. He’d never officially met the elusive Carla and he didn’t care to have her become an innocent victim in all of this.

“Well, whoever she is, she has lousy timing!” The Skin laughed, an unholy, unnatural sound that sent shivers up Nate’s spine. “She’s along for the ride now, that’s all that matters.”

“What does she matter to you?” Nate asked tiredly.

“Nothing,” she replied with a shrug. “Because she is nothing – just another human to exterminate. Anyway, you’ll have your chance to save her.”

Nate watched her warily.

“You see, I’m going to tell you how I’m going to kill both of them. You get exactly two and a half minutes to convince them that they’re in danger. If you can get them to believe you, then I’ll let them go. If not, they’re dead.”

Nate’s stomach clenched again. He knew in his heart that Jeremy didn’t know who he was anymore and Carla had never met him – they would think he was a lunatic. There was no way they would believe him.

“So, do you wanna know how I’m going to do it?”

He’d come across her looking at old photographs, which were spread across the dining room table. It wasn’t so odd that she was reminiscing – it was odd that she seemed to be crying.

“Aunt Isabel,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”

Her head jerked up quickly and she made a hasty attempt to wipe away her tears. “Oh, yes, I’m fine, Nate. Just looking at some pictures.”

He looked down at the prints, could see nothing disturbing about them. His eyes drifted to the one in her hand and from his angle, he could only make out a lot of white and not much detail. He raised his eyebrows in question.

Her tears sliding into a smile, she turned the picture around and showed it to him. In the shot, she was wearing a white housecoat and holding a dark-haired bundle in her arms.

“It’s Jeremy,” she said.

Nate looked at the picture again, still found nothing upsetting about it. “Why are you crying, Aunt Isabel?”

She turned the picture toward her again and he could see the moisture return to the corners of her eyes. “He almost died,” she explained. “When he was born, he nearly died on me, Nate.”

He pushed his hands into his pockets and waited for her to explain why she was so sad.

“He had a heart defect – the doctors said he might live twenty-four hours.” Tears rolled down her cheeks and she bit her lips to keep from crying aloud. “So I told them I wanted to bring him home with me and let him die here, not in some hospital.” She paused, regarding the picture again. “And Jesse found Max. And Max fixed him. And I got to keep him, regardless of what the doctors said.”

Isabel choked a little and brought her hand to her mouth.

“That’s a good thing,” Nate said. “Why does it make you sad?”

“I’m not sad,” she replied. “I’m just…I love that kid so much, you know? He struggled so hard to live and I just don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to him.”

A cocktail of repulsion and anger was swirling inside of Nate as he watched Jeremy fumbling with the keys to the loft apartment. Carla had sidled up beside him and was kissing his neck, both of them giggling playfully.

“Now, that kid likes to screw,” the Skin said. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen him do, sick little bastard.”

Nate cast her an angry glance. It was one thing for him to rib Jeremy about his randy ways, it was another thing to have this heartless bitch do so.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, little Zan. Your temper is going to get the best of you one of these times, then I’m going to have to blast you and our fun will be all over.” She gestured toward the pawing couple with her chin. “Ready for your mission?”

A burst of defiance rushed forward. “What if I don’t want to do it?”

Her eyes narrowed and she reached out to grab him around the throat. “Then I’ll crush your windpipe.”

Nate choked and jerked free, rubbing his throat where her fingers had bruised it.

The Skin lifted her wrist and looked at her watch. “I’m guessing it will take you a good thirty seconds to get down the embankment and to the garage. That only leaves you two minutes to convince them.”

Panic flared inside of Nate as he realized she was right.

“Tick-tock, little Zan. Time’s running out.”


tbc

[Midwest Max]

Implied violence


Part Eleven

Nate’s breath stung in his lungs as he hurled down the embankment that led to the Ramirez estate. Before him, Jeremy had swept new girlfriend Carla into his arms and was kissing her mercilessly. What do I do? Nate screamed inside of his head. How do I make him trust me?

A collage of memories of his friendship with Jeremy raced through Nate’s brain. From the moment they’d met, there had been a kindred bond between them. Well, not maybe the exact moment - when Nate first laid eyes on Jeremy he was being scolded for being naked in the garage loft with a girl Isabel had never met before. But once they officially met, Jeremy became the brother Nate had never had.

With time running out, Nate tripped and fell face-first into the sandy soil. Ignoring the pain in his palms and knees, he pushed himself to his feet and continued to run.

“Aubrey,” he breathed. “Where are you?”

Unexpectedly, a memory flash nearly knocked Nate to the ground again. It wasn’t a memory of being friends with Jeremy, or of being married with a couple of kids. No, this was a memory that had been buried deep within his brain for many years…

He didn’t know who the being was that held him, and she really didn’t look like his mother, but she was cooing to him and tickling his chubby chin and that’s all that mattered. He looked at her with big blue eyes, following every movement she made with her long, spider-like fingers. She wiggled them and he giggled. When she pulled out something bright and shiny, he looked at it in awe, the surface of the object totally capturing his attention. The light glanced off it, dancing before his curious eyes.

Before he could reach for the new object, however, he had the sensation of being jerked away from his new friend. Frustrated and angry, he began to wail, kicking with his short legs. The being fell away from him, onto the floor, as a bright light stung his eyes, which made him cry harder.

“Shh, little one,” a familiar voice said as he was whisked down the hallway. “All is well. Soon all will be fine.”

His world twisted and suddenly he was looking into his mother’s face, though he sensed there was something different about her. He didn’t care that he was being bounced mercilessly as she ran down the long corridor – he only cared that he could reach one of her springy yellow curls and tug on it.

“That’s a good little prince,” his mommy-wannabe said. “Only a little longer.”

It was odd to not have her try to pry her hair away from him, so he tugged a little harder, eliciting no reaction from her. Very odd indeed. As promised, in a few short minutes they reached their destination.

“Oh my God!” an identical voice called. “You got him!”

“As you wished,” his courier called.

They stopped running and he looked toward the other voice. Confusion muddled his young mind – the woman who had met them looked exactly like the one who had carried him here. Unsure what else to do, he whimpered pitifully. The new woman took him into her arms and he felt suddenly at home – this was his mommy!

“My sweet boy!” she said, kissing his head and cradling him against her chest.

“You must hurry,” the other woman said. “You have little time.”

He turned to look at her and something happened that would baffle him for twenty-five years. There was a strange sound, then the woman who had taken him from the being with the shiny object was gone. In her place stood a tall, beautiful woman wearing sunglasses, her dark hair cut to her shoulders.

This time Nate did fall, though he forced himself to his feet immediately. He could barely process what he’d just seen – Aubrey had been on Antar. Aubrey had shifted into the form of Tess Harding and had snatched him from the clutches of the Skin. Aubrey hadn’t become his protector five years ago – Aubrey had always been his protector!

And if Aubrey hadn’t shown up yet, then maybe Max Evans wasn’t really dead.

There was no time to think through this new finding. Nate’s feet crunched on the gravel outside of the garage as he finally reached his destination.

“Jeremy!” he called. “You have to listen to me!”

Jeremy disentangled himself from his girlfriend and turned in Nate’s direction. For a split second, he looked confused, then amused, then concerned as he tucked Carla behind himself.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“There’s no time,” Nate gasped as he pulled to a breathless stop before his cousin. “Jeremy, you’re in danger!”

Jeremy’s eyebrows drew together slightly. “How do you know my name?”

“There’s no time for explanations!” Nate barked, his eyes shifting to Carla imploringly. “You must get out of here.”

“Jeremy,” she said cautiously as she slid further behind him. “Who is this person?”

Jeremy turned slightly and rubbed her arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” Then he turned to Nate, a fire in his eyes that he’d never seen before. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but my parents have security on this property and it’s only a matter of minutes before the police get here.”

Nate knew that was a lie – when you had four aliens living under your roof, ADT wasn’t going to contribute much. He let it slip, however, and turned the time parameter to his advantage.

“It won’t matter,” he said. “We don’t have minutes. We’re down to seconds. You have to listen to me – I know who you are. I know what you are. Your mom is Isabel, your dad is Jesse and you have two freaky siblings named Jason and Justin.”

Jeremy took a step backward, worry now apparent on his young face. “Dude, how do you know that? I’ve never met you before.”

“You have,” Nate insisted. “In another lifetime. Forget about that for now – just do what I say. There is a Skin at the top of the embankment.”

“A what?” Carla asked in confusion.

Jeremy, however, immediately looked toward the cover of trees, his dark eyes searching.

“She’s here to kill you,” Nate continued. “She’s pissed off and she means business, Jeremy. You need to believe me – everything depends on it.”

For a few agonizing seconds, Jeremy’s eyes followed the ridgeline, then he gave a snort and shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Skin? What’s that? Like a Skinhead?”

Inside, Nate deflated – Jeremy was covering up the alien references for Carla’s sake, which wasn’t a good thing. He knew damn well that Jeremy knew what a Skin was – he’d been warned of them since the day he could comprehend that much language.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Nate countered. “You know that the Skins are the reason your mom and your Uncle Michael and your Uncle Max are here today. You know what sent them here.”

“Jeremy?” Carla breathed warily.

“How do you know about Michael and Max?” Jeremy demanded, a flicker of anger showing in his eyes. “Better yet – what did you have to do with Uncle Max’s death? You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

Nate withdrew sharply. “No! I’m not! I’m one of you! I’m trying to save your life! For God’s sake, Jeremy – listen to me!”

Somewhere in the back of his brain, Nate heard a sudden ticking noise, which ended abruptly. Time’s up, little Zan.

“Oh, God,” he gasped, whirling quickly to see which direction she would be coming from. “You’ve gotta run, Jeremy!”

“Don’t listen to him!” an all-too-familiar voice rang out from behind the garage.

Nate spun around – to see himself running directly toward the group, hair mussed, eyes frantic.

“He’s crazy! He shifted into me because he knew I would try to help you!” the imposter pleaded.

“Oh, no,” Nate moaned, knowing that the Skin had taken his form.

Jeremy’s head whipped between the two Nates, his eyebrows raised in surprise. Carla looked ready to hit the ground.

“Don’t listen to her,” Nate warned. “Please, it’s a trap!”

“He’s going to kill you!” the Skin said. “He’s only trying to keep you here long enough for the others to get here!”

“There are no others!” Nate shouted. “Don’t believe her!” Which was preposterous, considering “her” definitely looked like a “him.”

“I know things!” the Skin begged, taking Carla’s arm. “Jeremy! You were born with a heart defect!”

Jeremy withdrew sharply, then started backing away from Nate.

The last little flicker of hope died inside of Nate. Somehow she’d stolen that memory from him, or maybe even from Max, and now she was using it against him.

“Come with me!” she pleaded. “He’s setting you up for the slaughter!”

“Don’t go with her,” Nate said quietly, shaking his head, his eyes misting up. “Please, trust me.”

“You can’t trust him!” the Skin countered. “Your uncle healed your heart, Jeremy. He was a friend of mine – he wanted me to help you!”

Nate stood impotently as the Skin stole his cousin and Carla away from him. He considered trying to show himself as an alien by throwing up the shield, but he knew that would only lead to a confrontation that might bring Isabel and the others out of the house – if that happened, then he stood no chance of warning them.

The Skin led her prisoners out of view and Nate hung his head, defeated. In a very short time, he heard a scream, followed by the snapping of bone, followed by silence. Immediately there was a barrage of bright lights from behind the garage, another scream…and then nothing.

She’d told Nate what she was going to do to Jeremy and his girlfriend and he realized that she’d hidden her actions because she knew that his imagination would get the best of him – if he saw what she had done, it would have been horrific. But to imagine the details of her murderous ways, his mind would run rampant and the pain would be unbearable, especially since he knew that the last thing his cousin saw on this earth was Nate’s own face, a face he would identify for an eternity as his murderer.

I didn’t try hard enough, Nate mourned. I should have told Jeremy the detail about his birth. I shouldn’t have let her get the upper hand. They’re dead because of me…

Nate’s self-pity didn’t last long, however, as the front door of the estate flew open and his eyes shot to it.

“Aunt Isabel, no!” he shouted.

Before he could judge her reaction to seeing what had happened to her son, and before the Skin could show herself, a bolt of white light erupted from Isabel’s palm and hit Nate in the side.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Part Twelve

She’d allowed him the opportunity to fix the wound his aunt had inflicted to his side, but Nate didn’t want it. For starters, he knew his captor only wanted him healthy so that she could torture him some more – her concern for his injuries had nothing to do with compassion. Secondly, he wanted to feel the pain in his ribs, the blunt trauma that had spread a wide bruise across his side, to his back and abdomen. He wanted to hurt.

The sun was still hidden over the horizon and Nate wondered if this beast had somehow managed to stop time because this seemed like the longest night of his life. At the beginning of it, he’d arrived in Boston trying to figure out why his family had abandoned him and why Annie O’Donnell was remodeling his mother’s kitchen. Now, an undetermined amount of time later, all he cared about were dead.

“She put up a fight,” the Skin said, her tone humored. “Who would expect such a defense coming from a princess of Antar?”

His back against a tree as he sat on the cold ground, Nate squeezed his eyes tightly shut. It was fruitless, however, as his tormentor had already given him the images of Isabel dying at her hands. After being struck by his aunt, Nate had fallen unconscious and mercifully missed the demise of Jesse and Isabel. The Skin, however, wouldn’t let the opportunity to torture him pass – unwelcome and uninvited, she’d taken his temples between her thumb and fingers and had let him see what had happened. Closing his eyes did nothing to shut out the images in his brain.

“Yep, quite the fighter. Can’t say as much for her mate. See, that’s why you should never hook up with a human. They’re useless in a fight and can do nothing to defend themselves.”

Nate pushed back the tears that threatened to sneak out from beneath his eyelashes. He loved his aunt and he held a special respect for her lawyer husband. It pained him to hear Jesse called useless.

“Though I do have a question, little Zan.”

At the shift in tone of her voice, Nate opened his eyes but didn’t speak.

“Aren’t there others?”

His brow furrowed in confusion and pain. “Others?”

“Freaky little bastards,” she said, waving a gloved hand. “Didn’t Vilandra have more children?”

Nate managed to keep the surprise from showing in his expression. The twins had gotten away! “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said tiredly.

“I’m sure there were more,” she prodded. “Two of them.”

Nate shrugged, feigning indifference.

The Skin watched him for a long moment, then waved him off with a hand. “It doesn’t really matter, I suppose. What are two hybrids going to do against me and my army? Have you figured it out yet, little Zan? Have you realized that there is no way to beat me?”

“I beat you before,” he said, wrapping his arm around his abdomen and wincing. “You were dead.”

“True. But I’m here now and you’re killing me never happened. So, looks like I came out on top in the end and you didn’t beat me after all.”

“Great, you’ve won,” he sighed. “So why don’t you just go away now? Go celebrate your victory and leave me alone.”

Her eyes were like ice. “Ah, no. That isn’t going to happen. I’ll celebrate when I’m done with you and I’m far from it. We still have a trip to make.” She studied him for a long moment, then began to pace a short, slow path before him. “I had thought about going to New York to visit Rath and that human he hooked up with. But, I realized that you don’t really care about them.”

Nate knew that wasn’t true. Sure, he wasn’t as close to Michael and Maria as he was to others in the family, but he did care about them. Not that he was about to point that out to her.

“So I decided on another trip.” She gave him a smile, totally void of mirth. “You like the desert, don’t you?”

He commanded himself not to panic. She’d decided to cut straight to the chase and go for Alyssa. “I told you you’d never get me on a plane,” he said, his jaw set in defiance.

“And I told you we don’t need one.” She stopped pacing. “Did you know you can teleport?”

His eyebrows drew together. “No, I can’t.”

“Sure you can. I’m sure your pop decided to keep that from you, given how untrustworthy you are with power.”

Inside, Nate cringed. While robbing his memories, she must have seen his and Max’s argument over using the cone to go back and change the past. However, he didn’t believe that Max had kept anything from him – their relationship was an open and honest one. If he could teleport, Max would have told him.

“I don’t believe you,” he said to the Skin. “And I don’t believe that Max is dead either.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you always so hard to convince?” She gave a shrug. “Alright, since you won’t believe my words that your father is dead, then I’ll show you instead.”

As she step forward, hand open and ready to close around his forehead, Nate back-pedaled against the tree and found he had nowhere to flee.

Nate’s blue eyes were fixed on the curtains his mother had sewn many years ago for his attic bedroom, though he wasn’t really seeing them. There was dullness to his eyes, a hint that perhaps he wasn’t all there at the moment. Every now and then he shivered and tried to draw his knees closer to his chest; it was almost as though he could still feel the ice water on his skin.

A day had passed since the tragedy, but Nate barely perceived of the movement of time. He was still lying on that ice, trying to save the last boy who had fallen into the water. On shore, the boy’s three buddies stood bundled in thermal blankets, all of them sobbing as Nate tried frantically to reach their friend. He could hear their pleas and they only heightened his desperation. Before him, the boy’s movements were becoming more sluggish as the frigid water sapped him of his strength.

“Grab my hand!” Nate cried. “Don’t give up!”

The child thrust his arm forward, like a baseball pitcher releasing a fast ball, but his hand slapped the water just inches shy of Nate’s.

“Try again!” Nate urged. “You can do it this time!”

The boy flailed again, but Nate realized that he was actually floating farther away. He inched forward on his belly, felt the unwelcome sting of ice water soaking the front of his jacket. Below him, the ice gave a weak cracking noise – he couldn’t risk going much further.

“Come on! One more time!”

The boy could no longer lift his arm. In his eyes, Nate was alarmed to see defeat – and acceptance. He was giving up. Only a few seconds later, his red stocking hat slid beneath the surface…

There was a light knock on Nate’s door; he chose not to acknowledge it. He blinked slowly and resumed staring toward the window. A few moments later, the door swung slowly open. He’d expected his mother since she’d been clucking around him like a Guinea hen since learning of the incident, but was surprised to see Jonathan enter instead.

“Hello, son,” the man said quietly, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

Nate gave a small frown of remorse and returned his gaze to the window.

Jonathan hesitated a moment, then went to sit at the side of his son’s bed. “Your mom’s worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” Nate sighed, his voice froggy from lack of use.

“I know that,” his father replied. “But you know how she gets. It would probably do her some good if you came down and had lunch with us today.”

Nate knew that it wasn’t his mother he was really speaking of – Jonathan believed it might do Nate good to come out of hiding.

“Say you’ll think about it?”

Nate nodded, if for no other reason than to end the subject.

Jonathan paused for a moment, then pulled something from the crook of his arm. Nate’s eyes shifted to it, saw that his father had the newspaper.

“Did you see the headlines?” Jonathan asked.

Nate shook his head and the man turned the paper so he could read it – Local Hero Saves Boys From Lake. Inside, he snorted. Some hero.

Jonathan’s eyebrows drew together. “What’s wrong? You don’t think you’re a hero?”

Nate worked his mouth. “I didn’t save all of them,” he replied quietly. “I’ll bet that boy’s mother doesn’t think me a hero.”

“And I’ll bet that there are three other mothers who think you are.”

Nate’s eyes shifted to his father. It was a surreal moment, to be getting a pep talk from the normally-stoic man.

“I couldn’t save all of them,” Nate repeated, his voice cracking a little.

“I know,” Jonathan said, his voice soothing. “But you saved those that you could. That’s what matters.”

Now he knew it was true. Max was dead, horrifically cut down by his enemies. Seeing the images of his demise had been devastating, but now Nate felt a frightening calm taking over his body. A shell was coming up, a shield to protect him from the Skin’s manipulations.

“Ready to try some teleporting?” she asked, pleased that she was bringing him so much pain.

“I don’t give a fuck,” he mumbled, coughed, gripped his sore ribs.

“Oh, now now, little Zan. We’re off to see the little woman. Surely that must excite you?”

“How do you know teleporting won’t kill me?” he asked, though his voice lacked any fear. “Won’t your fun be over then?”

The Skin shrugged. “So be it. I’ve already had a blast. We’ll be on our way shortly.”

Nate watched as she walked away to confer with one of her cronies. So, this was it. Alyssa was next in line. Liz, Emily, Max, Jeremy, Carla, Jesse and Isabel were all gone. So many of them, killed senselessly.

And Nate was having no success in coming up with a plan to help anyone. Once again, he was failing at saving people.

“Sir,” a voice whispered close to his ear, soft breath blowing across his cheek.

Nate’s head whipped so quickly that his neck nearly snapped. His face lit up as his eyes landed on Aubrey, who was crouched close to him.

“Au-!” he began.

She raised a slender finger to her lips and motioned toward the skin. “She can’t see or hear me,” she whispered. “Act like I’m not here. My name is Aubrey, and I am your protector.”

Tears leapt to Nate’s eyes as relief flooded his body.

“I’m here to help,” she continued.

Nate wanted to tell her that he was about to be teleported somewhere, but the protector shook her head, as if she knew what he was going to say.

“I will follow wherever you go,” she said simply, then vanished into the shadows.

In that moment, Nate knew for sure that the form he’d seen in the alley had been Aubrey. He wasn’t alone anymore. New hope sprang within him. Many of his loved ones were dead, but maybe his father had been right.

Even though he’d been unable to save everyone, maybe saving those he still could was what mattered.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Part Thirteen

Nate decided he didn’t care for teleporting too much.

Of course, if he had healed his wounds before being forced to dematerialize and transport himself over a thousand miles away, he might not have been in such pain. Arm wrapped tightly round his abdomen, he writhed in agony, barely registered the cold rock beneath his body. All he could concentrate on was the pain in his side, a lasting imprint of his aunt’s attempts at defending herself. He coughed and choked and dared not open his eyes.

“Oh, little Zan,” came his tormentor’s voice. “You should have known better. Then again, I guess I could have warned you, but whatever.”

In his mind, he imagined her giving a typical shrug of indifference and the vision infuriated him. Not that he could get up and do anything about it. He reminded himself to stay calm, to act like he was still alone and terrified. The terrified part wasn’t a hard act to pull off.

The Skin’s boots made loud tapping noises as she moved away from him and he was aware that her footsteps echoed in her wake. Curiosity at their whereabouts got the best of him and he forced his eyes open. At first he could see nothing and he feared that teleporting had somehow robbed him of his vision. Then he realized that he was just somewhere very dark. And cold. And a little damp.

The pod chamber?

Another flame of anger and indignation fired beneath his breastbone – this creature even had the balls to take over someplace that distinctly belonged to the hybrids and use it as a base camp from which to destroy them. Had she no sense of decency whatsoever?

Struggling to sit up, his breath wheezing in his lungs, Nate pushed himself up with one arm, kept the other around his aching abdomen. His knees trembling, he pushed himself backward, toward the wall, but felt something soft against his back before he could make contact with the hard stone.

“I’m here, sir,” the voice said in his ear and Nate closed his eyes in relief. She was cushioning him, cradling his aching body in support. It was an oddly motherly gesture from his protector.

“Is it supposed to hurt this much?” he whispered without turning around. “Teleporting, I mean.”

“It does not hurt me,” Aubrey answered. “Perhaps because you are wounded, sir.”

Nate drew in a shaky breath. “Why didn’t my father tell me I could do this?” He wasn’t sure he wanted the answer. Maybe Max didn’t trust him. Maybe Max was afraid he’d corrupt this power as well.

“Perhaps he didn’t know,” Aubrey replied.

“How could he not know?” Nate struggled to keep his tone from becoming heated.

“Because he cannot teleport, sir.”

Nate’s brow furrowed. “He can’t?”

“No.”

“Who else can?”

“I don’t know that answer, sir. I only know that the king wasn’t capable of traveling by these means.”

Nate paused, his eyes following his captor as she met with some of her cronies. As far as he knew, he didn’t have any power that was his alone. He could do the fireball thing, but so could his mother so he’d probably inherited that one. All of his other powers were shared by someone else, including his occasional ability to talk to dead people, which his cousin Jeremy also shared.

Nate felt a pang of remorse inside. It hurt to know that Jeremy was now among the dead with whom he used to communicate.

“You need to heal yourself,” Aubrey said softly in his ear.

He looked down at the arm he held over his ribs. Truth be told, he’d rather suffer, since he’d caused everyone else to suffer. He couldn’t tell Aubrey that, though, as there was no way she’d understand such a human, illogical feeling.

“Shouldn’t I try to keep her believing I’m weak?” he offered.

“Sir, you are weak,” Aubrey pointed out bluntly.

Nate gave a small frown of offense, though it felt good to have his frank protector back with him. “Yes, I’m aware of that,” he whispered. “What I meant was wouldn’t it be better if I was weak than not? If I was more vulnerable?”

“Sir?” There was confusion in Aubrey’s voice.

“Then she’ll believe I’m weak…if I really am weak.” Inside, he blew out a sigh. His defense was also weak.

“Doesn’t make much sense to me,” she replied, though she held a tone of ‘you’re the boss, you do what you want.’ “I believe you should make yourself as strong as possible, if we’re going to get out of this.”

“Do you really think we can?” he sighed. “Get out of here?”

“Why not?”

Nate realized that it was Aubrey’s job and in her nature to find ways out of bad situations. The fact that she didn’t find this one hopeless was comforting, but he wasn’t really sure if she was programmed to understand when that threshold had been crossed.

“It’s not enough to get out of here,” he replied. “I need to set things straight.”

“Sir?” More confusion.

“Time has been changed,” he said. “Events have been altered. Aubrey, I really met you five years ago.”

“We only met today,” she replied easily.

“In this timeline, but not in the other one. In that one, we’d been together for a very long time.” Though he couldn’t see her face, he knew she was looking at him skeptically, so he decided to switch gears. “Speaking of a long time – did you know me when I was a baby? Think back - many years ago, on another planet. You helped a woman and a child escape. Do you remember?” He felt a little deflated – perhaps that memory flash he’d received hadn’t been a memory at all but rather wishful thinking.

“I remember,” Aubrey confirmed.

A little spark of hope flickered inside of Nate. If she got them out of that situation, then maybe they stood a good chance of getting out of this one.

“So, we didn’t just meet today,” he said, trying to keep the grin from his face. “We met a long time ago, Aubrey. We’re old friends.”

“You were much smaller then, sir,” she pointed out, nearly making him choke out a laugh. “And you didn’t communicate so well.”

“Well, yes. I was just a baby.” His expression fell serious. “You saved me. Thank you.”

“No need for gratitude, sir. It’s my job.”

Nate smiled softly. It was just her job, but he’d always appreciated her more than she realized. Even if she didn’t fully get the concept of having friends, he’d always considered her a dear one. She put her life on the line for his every day. She was always there as soon as he beckoned, even if it was just to talk about something that was troubling him. She listened without judgment, always objective in her responses. Aubrey was the kind of friend everyone should have.

“Heal yourself,” she whispered in his ear. “Take the pain away, make yourself strong.”

Jonathan’s words echoed in Nate’s brain, telling him to help the ones he still could. There was no time left to play the martyr, to wallow in his self-destructive self-pity. He nodded to Aubrey, then placed his hand over his wounded ribcage.

In a rush, he felt all of the anger his aunt had been feeling when she struck out at him. The ferocity of her rage made him gasp, tears leaping to his eyes. She hated him. It was as simple as that – she’d thought Nate had harmed her son, the one she’d watched struggle for life when he’d been born and all of that fury had been unleashed unwittingly on her nephew. But behind the anger he felt fear and grief only a mother could know.

I will fix this, Nate vowed silently to his dead aunt and cousin. I will fix this for everyone.

Nate felt a slight popping sensation in his ears and realized that Aubrey had gone invisible, though he could still feel the warmth of her body behind his. He sat up a little straighter so that his position wouldn’t look so suspicious. The pain in his ribs was gone and he had to remind himself to act like he was still hurting.

“Well, what do you think of our new home, little Zan?” the Skin asked as she strode over to him, her hands shoved casually into her pockets.

Nate clenched his jaw and didn’t reply.

“This is where it all began,” she continued, looking around the pod chamber with a pleased look on her face. “Right over there, new life. Isn’t it a beautiful thing?” Mockery dripped from her tone.

Nate refused to look at the empty pods, where his mother and father had both been incubated until their births many years after the infamous crash. But even without looking, he knew that the pods still glowed a deep blue, even after all of these years.

“That’s the way to grow an alien,” his captor continued. “In a shell, like an egg.” She eyed Nate with disgust. “Not the way you were born. Totally dependent on another being. Like a human. That’s why you’re weak, little Zan. You’re too human.”

Nate resisted the urge to give her the finger.

“And I know exactly what will get those human emotions going, too,” she announced, grinning widely. “Ready for a road trip?”

Nate cringed, remembering his last not-so-pleasant experience with teleporting.

“Oh, I won’t make you do that again. We’re not going so far this time. Just into town. You miss Roswell, don’t you?”

One word drifted through his head – Alyssa.

“And I know who you miss. That little blond chick, right? Quite the rack on that girl, huh?”

Anger started to seep into Nate’s veins. It was bad enough this creature was hell-bent on killing everyone he loved, but to belittle them beforehand was just adding insult to the injury. Before he could retort, however, he felt a sense of calm wash over him – Aubrey, warning him silently to not overplay his hand. He was never more thankful to have her than he was now.

“We have a truck outside,” the Skin announced. “I’ll get one of the others to drive it and you and I can just look at all of the pretty sand. I really do like the desert, don’t you?”

Nate looked away, trying to ignore the unignorable.

All mirth now gone, the Skin reached down and grabbed him by the arm, yanked him upwards.

“Let’s go, little Zan,” she spat, shoving him for the door. “I’d hate for you to miss your date.”


tbc

[Midwest Max]

I will try to answer feedback sometime this weekend.


Part Fourteen

“Sometimes,” she said, “I think about how life would be different without you.” Her words were slow, sleepy, and pensive as they blew out softly across his bare chest.

“What have you decided?” he asked.

She hesitated and shifted her weight, smoothed her cheek against his skin. “I’ve decided that I wouldn’t be very happy.”

He gave a small smile and kissed the top of her head. “You can’t really assume that, can you? I mean, not everyone in the world finds their soul mate and people still manage to live happy lives.”

He waited for some response from her and got none. Concerned, he leaned away from her so that he could look into her face. Her lips were turned downward into a frown, her dark eyes fretful.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I don’t think those people are really happy. I don’t think they can be. How can you truly be happy when you don’t have the person you love by your side?”

He shrugged gently. “They don’t know the difference. They think they are with the one they truly love.”

She didn’t look convinced.

“You don’t believe that?”

She shook her head. “No, and it terrifies me to think what may have become of me if I’d never met you.”

He rubbed her arm in reassurance. “You’d be fine. I know you would.” He had no doubt about that – his girl was tough as nails, resilient, she’d weather any storm.

“I would be old and miserable like my mom.”

He gave a little laugh. “Your mom isn’t old or miserable…” His words trailed off as he realized he really wasn’t sure if her mother was miserable or not – sometimes it was hard to tell.

“She is.”

“Then you’re saying that Michael wasn’t your mom’s true love? You’re saying she puts up with his crap for some other reason? She married him twice to torture herself? I don’t know. Maybe she likes being miserable.”

She looked away, chewed the corner of her mouth. He cocked his head to the side, rubbed her arm again.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s really troubling you?”

She drew in a breath and released a deep sigh. “I’m scared that maybe someday something will happen to you and then I’ll be alone. I won’t be able to be with anyone else because you’re the only one I could ever be with. I’ll grow old and alone and I’ll die and no one will care.”

He blinked in surprise, thought he could see a tear in her eye, even in the dark. His heart ripping in two, he wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him, smoothed her back with his hands.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” he said soothingly into her hair. “I’m not going anywhere. And even if something did happen to me, you’ll never die alone with no one caring, Alyssa.” His hand slid around her naked waist, over the swell of her stomach. “There’s somebody in there who’s always going to care.”

It was odd to Nate that the world was turned upside-down, and yet the tourist trap that was Roswell didn’t appear to have changed one bit. On the drive to town, the little green man on the UFO Center billboard still beckoned travelers to visit. The lights on the spaceship embedded into the façade of the Crashdown Café still chased in an endless loop. The sidewalks were still filled with those who believed, those who wanted to believe and those who were there to debunk all of the myths.

Everything was the same and yet everything was different.

“Are you going to kill her?” Nate finally asked. He was in the back seat of the extended-cab truck, sandwiched between his captor and one of her henchmen.

The Skin wrinkled her nose. “Well, duh, little Zan.”

He swallowed and tried to ignore the shaking in his hands. “I mean, now. Are you going to kill her now?”

She turned in her seat and eyed him in amusement. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you’ve killed everyone else I love,” he stated bluntly, managed to hide most of the pain from showing in his eyes. “Pretty efficiently.”

She drew in a breath and let it out as a slow sigh. “That’s true, I have. Haven’t I?” She sat back and watched the landscape slide past her window. “It dulls the pain after awhile, doesn’t it?”

Nate’s brow furrowed, not really understanding what she meant.

“To kill them so rapidly,” she mused. “Like rapid fire – you’re numb by the end.” She pondered for a moment, then gave him a mirthless grin. “I’ll be damned if you don’t have a point there, little Zan.”

“I have a point?” he asked in surprise. He hadn’t been trying to make a point – he’d been trying to find out how much time he had left to come up with a plan to save his wife.

“You sure do,” the Skin confirmed. “I do believe you’ve become desensitized to all of the killing.”

He had? No, he hadn’t. He didn’t think he could handle having anyone else murdered before his very eyes. Nothing about him was numb or desensitized. If anything, he was the exact opposite.

“I’ve made a decision,” she announced to her cronies. “No killing today, boys. Today we let little Zan here suffer.”

The “boys” glanced at her, expressionless, mindless drones.

Nate’s heart started to skip in his chest. What did that mean? Had she decided to torture Alyssa before killing her? Panic washed over him, knowing he had a terrible choice to make.

“If you try to torture her,” he said, his voice cracking on what was to come next, “I’ll kill her myself.”

The Skin raised her eyebrows in some imitation of surprise. “Well, that’s the first time you’ve managed to surprise me. There’s hope for you yet.” Her lips spread into an eerie grin. “Too bad time’s running out for you. You showed so much promise.”

Nate waited for more but got nothing. Dread was pulsing through his veins. What if he’d just given this evil creature the idea to torment Alyssa before killing her? Why was it that everything he did seemed to be wrong, no matter his best intensions?

The truck pulled to a stop at the small park in the center of the city. Nate looked at the lush green grass and mused how out of place it looked in a desert community. His next thought was that there had to be special funding set aside to afford the water bill to keep the grass so healthy.

“You get ten minutes,” the Skin announced.

Nate looked at her in horror. Did he get ten minutes to try to convince Alyssa she was going to die? Just liked he’d only gotten a short amount of time to convince Jeremy and Carla?

The Skin pointed out the window and Nate followed her gaze. Sitting at one of the picnic tables was his beloved, his wife in a life now in shambles. His heart lurched at the sight of her, at the sun glinting off her golden hair.

“I won’t do it,” he said in defiance, setting his jaw.

“What? You don’t want to talk to your chickie?”

“I won’t set her up. I won’t panic her just so the kill can be that much more exciting for you. I won’t do it.”

The Skin gave a snort. “That’s not what I mean. I mean you have ten minutes to talk to her. I think if you get re-acquainted, the parting will be that much worse, don’t you think?”

Nate studied her silently, trying to figure out the trap.

“Get out of the truck,” she said bluntly. “And little Zan, don’t even think about running or I’ll blast you here in front of God and everyone. That would bring some unwanted attention to your little girlfriend, wouldn’t it?”

Nate worked his mouth, then pushed past the drone to his right to get out of the truck. Instinctively, he knew that Aubrey was behind him as he walked across the grass.

“Don’t wander far,” he whispered.

“I’m here,” a disembodied voice behind him replied.

As he approached the picnic table, all thoughts of a truck full of bad guys vanished as Nate’s eyes settled on the only true love he’d ever had. At some point he’d thought he’d loved Annie, but he understood now that he hadn’t known real love until he’d met Alyssa. She was the sun and the stars and the moon to him.

And right now he was nothing to her.

Biting past that pain, Nate scrambled to think of a ruse to stop at her table. There were plenty of other tables in the park and asking to sit with her would seem so obvious. Time was running out as he approached her and he did the only thing he could – he stumbled.

“Son of a bitch,” he said to himself, stopping right beside her table. Then he squatted down as though he’d tripped over his shoe lace. When he looked up, he hoped to have a sheepish grin on his face.

She was looking at him curiously, a half-eaten apple poised midway to her lips.

“Sorry,” he said, wishing he could force himself to blush. “My shoe came untied and I tripped on it. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Alyssa’s dark eyes searched his and for a moment he thought he saw recognition there. Then again, when he’d first met her, before she knew who he was, she’d told him that he reminded her of someone. Her spark of recognition now couldn’t be misconstrued to be any more than that.

“It’s alright,” she said, swallowing her mouthful of apple.

Nate shoved his hands in his pockets if for no other reason than to squelch the temptation to grab her hand and make a run for it. “What are you reading?” he asked, gesturing toward her book with his chin.

She flipped the cover over so he could see it. The Sun Also Rises.

Nate lifted an eyebrow. “Do you like Hemingway?”

Alyssa shrugged. “I have to read it for a lit class I’m taking.”

She was still in college? In the life that had been left behind, she’d finished in no time, at the top of her class. And in this world she was still working at it?

“You’re a student then,” he said.

She tossed her apple into a paper bag and wadded it up. Letting out a sigh, she regarded him seriously. “Get it over with, okay?”

Nate’s eyebrows rose quickly. “Get what over with?”

“I know the story – you’ve seen my picture in the papers, you know who my mom is, you want the inside scoop. You want an autograph. You want to date me because of her. Am I right?”

He shook his head in denial. “I don’t know who your mother is,” he lied, causing her to look surprised. “I just tripped here at the end of your table and thought I’d do the polite thing and apologize.”

She eyed him, a look of regret on her pretty face. Finally, she motioned toward the bench on the opposite side of the table. Inside, Nate’s heart leapt with glee that she was inviting him. A little piece of him had been afraid that she’d think he was odd and send him on his way.

“I apologize,” she said. “I’m Alyssa.”

“Nate,” he replied, thinking how much different she was than the first time he’d met her. That day, she’d been a kid of sixteen, bubbly, bold and brash. This Alyssa was none of those things.

With a jolt, Nate realized that perhaps her fears hadn’t been so outlandish after all. Because to the outside world, this young woman seemed nothing short of miserable.

tbc

Nate and Alyssa's conversation will continue in the next part

[Midwest Max]

Part Fifteen

“Ba…”

Nate leaned forward and looked into Jake’s chubby face. The toddler was pointing across the room at a red-white-and-blue rubber ball his Aunt Liz had dropped off a few days before.

“Ball?” Nate asked.

“Ba!” Jake agreed, breaking into a semi-toothless grin.

“You want to go get the ball?”

The boy nodded eagerly and Nate gently set him on the floor. Running at full speed for a child his size, Jake stumbled and giggled across the room, finally claiming his prize. Nate watched him with a swelling of pride, his little man. A smile on his face, he turned his attention to his wife, who was stooped over a cake she was decorating, her brow furrowed in concentration.

“How’s it coming?” he asked.

Alyssa looked up, a smudge of green icing marring her cheek, and frowned. “I’m not very good at this.”

Pushing himself from the table, Nate walked over to stand by her at the counter. The decorating wasn’t horrible, but obviously done by an amateur. In bold blue letters, the script read “Happy Birthday Max”. Nate squeezed his wife’s shoulders and kissed the side of her head.

“I think it looks great,” he said.

Alyssa’s eyes lit up, but she still looked doubtful. “Do you mean it?”

He smiled and nodded, then watched as she picked up the icing bag to straighten up some of the shell edging. Nate knew that she could have waved a hand and made the cake perfect, but that’s not what this gesture was about.

Alyssa loved her uncle – not because he’d ever healed her from a deadly disease or birth defect and not because she was related to him. She loved Max because he had always been kind to her, had always treated her like his own even after fate had delivered Emily to him and Liz. To use her powers to make a cake for his birthday would be cheating.

And Nate knew when Alyssa wanted to show her love for someone, taking the cheap way out was never an option.

Nate’s time was almost up. From his peripheral vision, he caught glimpses of the Skin’s goons closing in, ready to make him pay if he lingered at the picnic table a little too long.

“Did you really not know who my mother is?” Alyssa asked uncertainly.

They’d been talking steadily about inconsequential things since Nate had sat down and he could feel her becoming just a little more comfortable with him. He had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn’t aware of Liz and Isabel’s deaths from the previous night. If she had been, then he doubted very much that she’d be sitting alone in a public park. News apparently hadn’t traveled to New Mexico from the east coast yet, so either the Skins had tracked down the twins or the twins weren’t up on the whole chain of communication thing.

“I still don’t know who your mother is,” he said, hoping to keep his anxiety from showing on his face. While he may have seemed cool on the outside, he was panicking inside, still struggling for some way out of the mess he was in. “Who is she?”

Alyssa looked away for a moment. “I don’t think I want to tell you.”

Nate shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. “Okay.”

“But I could have sworn you tripped by my table intentionally.”

There was no hiding the surprise in his eyes. Her dark gaze bore into him and finally he gave a sheepish laugh.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “I faked that.”

She raised a suspicious eyebrow.

Nate laughed lightly. “You’re pretty and I’m really bad at starting conversations,” he explained.

“So you almost fell on the ground instead?”

“Well, yeah…it worked, didn’t it?”

She stared expressionlessly at him for a few moments, blinked a couple of times. “Is this the part where you ask me out?” There was a hint of something uncertain in her voice. Was she hoping he would? Or dreading the fact that he might?

“I would love to take you out,” he began. “But I don’t know if that’s possible right now.”

At that, Alyssa’s dark eyes narrowed and her eyes went to his hand – looking for a ring? “Are you married?” she asked. “Or have a girlfriend?”

Nate shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I’m just not sure how long I’ll be in town.” Or alive, for that matter…

“Oh.” Now she looked disappointed.

Off to his right, Nate saw a shadow move, knew that soon the Skin would come to hurt him or her or both of them.

“I need to be going soon,” he said with regret.

“Okay,” she said quietly, though her eyes were fixed on the tabletop.

Nate cocked his head to the side as he studied her. “Is everything okay?”

When she looked up, he was surprised to see tears in her pretty eyes. “I’m fine,” she said, sniffing lightly and running her forefingers under her eyes to clear away her tears. “It’s just that you’re a nice man.”

Nate gave a little laugh. “And that makes you cry?”

She cracked a small smile, the first he’d seen from her since he’d sat down. “No. You remind me of someone.”

It took every ounce of self-control for Nate not to let his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Could it be that she’d made the connection between him and Max? Did she somehow know on another level who he was?

“Who do I remind you of?” he asked.

“My uncle,” she said, letting out a small sigh. She looked across the park and when she turned back to Nate, he saw sorrow in her eyes. “He passed away not long ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said earnestly, made himself check his emotions. He couldn’t let her see that he was upset by Max’s death as well.

“He was the sweetest guy,” she said, removing a Kleenex from her purse to dap at her nose. “He was very sincere and cared about everyone he came in contact with. I can see that you’re like that, too.”

“That’s very sweet of you,” he replied humbly, not sure how to reply otherwise.

“I loved him very much,” Alyssa said, then appeared embarrassed that she was telling a stranger these things.

Nate saw more movement in the shadows and started to rise.

“Hold on a moment,” Alyssa said.

He didn’t have a moment, but for her, he’d risk it.

“Give me your hand,” she said.

Trembling at the thought of her touch, Nate held out his hand. She reached out and turned it over, so that his palm was pointed to the sky. Cradling his hand in hers, she pulled a pen from her purse and started writing something across his palm. Nate swallowed hard at the feel of her soft fingers brushing against his skin – it was exquisite agony. Finally, she pulled away and dropped the pen into her purse.

“If you change your mind,” she explained.

Nate nodded and closed his fingers over the phone number she’d written on his skin. “It was nice to meet you.”

“You, too.”

Tears threatening at the back of his eyes, Nate stiffly began walking away from the table. He let himself turn around once, only to offer her a small smile, then continued toward the truck.

He knew now that saving those that he could would not be enough. The loss of Max had obviously taken a toll on Alyssa and Nate had a feeling that once she found out about Isabel and Liz she was going to be devastated. Moreover, the life that he had struggled to put together with her would be gone – no Jake, no Amanda. Even if they could manage to somehow be together, the Skin would make sure that they were punished daily for who they were.

In that moment, Nate knew that he would break one of the biggest promises that he’d ever given her.

“Aubrey,” he whispered, trying not to move his lips as he neared the truck.

“I’m right here, sir,” came a voice so soft it might have been borne on the wind.

“I need you to leave me,” he said.

“Sir?”

They were too close to the truck and Nate knew the Skin would either hear him or read his lips. Not being the most creative of people, he pulled his latest trick out of his arsenal of ploys and stumbled. Then he looked at his boot in disgust and bent to tie it. While he was crouched, he gave Aubrey her orders.

“Find the cone,” he whispered. “I know it still exists. Don’t come back to me until you’ve located it.”

“Sir.” There was a whoosh of air and Nate knew she was gone.

In the truck, the Skin had a grin spread across her face. “Wasn’t that fun, little Zan? How is the little missus? Riding someone else’s pony these days?”

Nate met her eye to eye, his gaze hard and for one moment he thought he saw surprise in her soulless orbs. “Why? Would you kill him, too?”

The Skin gave a laugh and rapped on the back of the seat to tell the driver to start moving. “Nah, and I’m not going to kill her either.”

Nate’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’re not?”

“Oh, no, little Zan. You’re going to kill her.”

“What? No!”

She nodded her head. “Oh, yes. It’s about time you came to the dark side, Anakin.”

Nate totally missed her pop culture reference as he was still stymied by the fact that he’d just been told to kill his wife.

“As I was sitting there watching you talk to her,” the Skin mused, watching the cacti scoot past the car windows, “I realized that in order to really make you suffer, you would need to hurt her.”

Nate’s stomach crashed to his toes. The whole “get re-acquainted so it will hurt worse when I kill her” situation had been a scam. The Skin had wanted to watch them interact, to determine what would hurt him most. And being the evilly observant creature she was, she had correctly landed on the exact scenario. Worse, he had been foolish enough to tell her before he’d left the truck that he would kill Alyssa if she tried to torture her – he’d planted to seeds of his own grief.

“You can’t make me,” he said, shaking his head, all defiance replaced by desperation.

“I can,” she said bluntly.

“You can’t.”

“I’ll kill you.”

“I don’t care.”

Then her face split into a chilling grin. “You will, little Zan. Oh, you will.”

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Part Sixteen

It was the dumbest thing he’d ever been asked to do and Nate could barely suppress a laugh. Before him, Max was in a semi-crouch, his arms curved toward his son. In his eyes, Nate saw a spark of competitiveness.

“Come on,” Max urged. “I’m waiting.”

Nate blinked once, then let out a snorted giggle.

Max straightened, apparently not amused. “I’m not doing this for your enjoyment, Nate. You and I can’t defend ourselves the way the others can. You’re going to have to learn to do hand-to-hand combat.”

“By wrestling you?” Another giggle behind the question.

“You’re so sure you can beat me?”

Well, no, Nate wasn’t sure of that. Max may have had nineteen years on his son, but he was still ripped and probably one of the strongest people Nate had ever met. The problem was that Nate couldn’t imagine Max ever being rough enough with him to teach him anything. Not sweet, gentle Max – the healer.

“Then get your ass over here,” Max said, dropping back into his crouch.

Internally, Nate sighed. There was no way out of this, so he may as well just go let Max let him win and then they could go inside and share the dinner Emma was making for them. Rolling his eyes slightly, he dropped into the same crouch as Max.

“You’re going to want to take off your coat,” Max advised him.

“No, I’m fine,” Nate sighed. “Believe me.”

Max shrugged, a gesture that read “Your funeral” and Nate felt the first twinge of doubt. The older man circled his son, then dove low, took Nate around the shins and dropped him to the ground. In that instant, Nate knew that Max wasn’t kidding and he wasn’t going to take pity on him and let him win. Nate gave out a yelp as his shoulder struck the hard ground. Before he could even really register the pain, however, Max had grabbed his jacket, pulled it upward, effectively pinning his arms out of any useful position. Then Max sat on him, letting his full weight bear down on his chest. Nate felt the breath leave his body and he couldn’t draw in another one.

Panicked, Nate flailed helplessly, trying to shove Max off him, trying to fight and not being able to reach his target.

“I told you to take off the coat,” Max said, not even out of breath. With that, he lifted his weight slightly and Nate gave him an angry shove.

“Get off me!” he snapped, jerking to his feet and drawing in a quick gulp of air. The giggles had been replaced by a sense of indignant anger.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” Max said calmly. “Did you see how quickly I took you down?”

Pissed, Nate whipped off his jacket and dropped into the crouch. “You won’t do it so easily this time.”

But Max did. He did that time – and the seven times that followed. Nate became furious with his father and with himself for appearing so weak. Finally, tired out from the struggle, he pushed Max away from himself and sat despondently on his parents’ lawn, trying to catch his breath. Max watched him for a few moments, then put a hand on his shoulder, which Nate shook off angrily.

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” Max said, his voice soft and controlled. “Someday, you’re going to need to defend yourself, Nate. And I want you to be prepared. I don’t want anyone ever getting the upper hand on you.”

Nate’s body was chilled from the cold rock surface behind him. His knees were drawn up to his chest and his head was buried in his arms. His captor wanted him to kill Alyssa, something he knew he couldn’t do. If he didn’t do it, then she would kill him, which meant that he stood very little opportunity of setting things straight if he were dead. Max, Liz, Isabel, Jeremy and Jesse were already dead and Nate was the only one who really understood what was going on. Once he was gone, the Skins would rule the earth and everything he loved would be destroyed.

For the ten thousandth time, he wished that this was all just a nightmare and that he’d wake up soon.

“Oh, little Zan, you look so depressed.”

Nate raised his head, his blue eyes bleary, and gave the Skin the finger.

She chuckled. “The manners of royalty – it’s an astounding thing.” She paced a short path before him, her boots ticking on the stone floor of the pod chamber. “I’ve been thinking it’s rather unfair to order you to kill her without at least giving you a choice in the matter. Do you like game shows?”

His brow furrowed. “What?”

“Since I’ve been on earth, I’ve rather enjoyed game shows,” she said with a small smile. “I like it when people have to make tough decisions. Get a prize, then have to choose to keep it or go for something that is hidden behind a door. The thing behind the door could be something great – or it could be a pile of Cheez-Itz.”

Nate rubbed his forehead wearily, tried to remember the last time he’d slept. It had been too long ago.

“So, you already know what your prize could be,” the Skin continued, oblivious to his state of mind. “The question is, would you trade her for what’s behind door number three?”

Nate stopped rubbing his head and looked at his tormentor. “What are you talking about?”

The Skin had an eerie grin on her face. “Why don’t you follow me and then you’ll see?”

He looked at her warily, withdrew slightly.

“Oh, come on,” she chided. “I could have killed you a thousand times over by now – just follow me and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

Cautious, Nate pushed himself to his feet and followed the Skin, making sure he kept a few paces behind her. He had the sense that one of her guards had fallen into step behind them, should he decide to try anything stupid. They wound through the pod chamber, past the deflated pods, to a passageway he’d never noticed before. Never noticed because it hadn’t been there before, or never noticed because it hadn’t been used until now?

“I think you’ll enjoy what I have in store for you,” the Skin said over her shoulder. “A surprise to be sure.”

Nate watched her with round eyes, wondering what it could be. Were the twins here, captured and now imprisoned? Was it Annie? Or had they grabbed Alyssa after he’d left her in the park? His heart pounded at that horrible possibility.

They came to a bend in the passageway and the Skin halted. Grinning, she gestured for Nate to keep going, but his feet were locked solidly in place.

“Go ahead, silly,” she said. “Look what’s behind door number three.”

Nate swallowed back his fear and took a couple of steps forward, made the turn in the bend – and recoiled quickly, the air leaving his lungs in a rush.

“No!” he gasped. “He’s dead! I saw what you did to him!”

The Skin chuckled. “Yeah, that was a lie, little Zan.”

His chest heaving, Nate shook his head, tried to clear the image from his mind. But when he opened his eyes, it was still there. Max, beaten and bloody, lying on the stone floor of the cave. Behind him, one of the Skin’s guards stood at attention, should the king decide to make a break for it. Unlikely, since he wasn’t even conscious.

“It’s a mindwarp,” Nate insisted, shaking his head again. “It’s not real.”

“It is real. He’s real. Go ahead, touch him – you’ll see.”

Nate looked at her in horror.

She raised a finger toward him. “But don’t you even think about healing him. Go on – say hi to daddy.”

Nate swallowed back his pounding heart, took a tentative step forward. The guard on the other side of Max also took a step forward, if for no other reason than to issue a warning. Fingers trembling, Nate reached out for Max’s arm, wrapped his fingers around it. Max’s skin was cool and clammy, but warm enough to assure Nate that he was indeed alive. Before he could think about making a connection, the guard struck him hard in the shoulder, sending him backward onto his butt with a thump.

“See? He’s alive,” the Skin said.

How could it be? Aubrey was here, meaning Nate was king, meaning Max had to be dead. Nate closed his eyes, trying to figure out what was real and what was fake. Was Aubrey really there? Had he started to hallucinate? No, he was sure she’d been there. His eyes drifted to Max, his hand traveling to his own chest. There was a warm sensation under his palm – the seal had presented itself. Which meant that Max was knocking on death’s door. Nate’s eyes fell to his father’s chest – so shallow was his breath that Nate couldn’t even detect the movement.

“So, this is door number three,” the Skin said. “Big Zan.” She snorted a giggle at that. “Would you like to know what the decision you have to make is?”

Nate turned tortured eyes to her, pleading for this to just be over.

“You have a choice, little Zan. You can save Zan, but then you have to kill your girlfriend. If you save your girlfriend, then you have to kill Zan. Easy decision, don’t you think?”

Nate hung his head, defeated. It wasn’t an easy decision – it wasn’t even a decision he could make. Ever.

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me now,” the Skin said. “I’m going to let you dwell on it – until morning.” With that, she gave him a chilling grin and turned to leave.

Nate looked at Max’s bloody face and felt all hope vanishing. “Dad,” he whispered, hoping to get some reaction from Max, since the use of the name had roused him the last time he’d been close to death. This time, there was no response.

Tears pooled in Nate’s blue eyes and streamed down his cheeks. Max was an arm’s-length away – Nate could heal him if it weren’t for the goon standing guard. Maybe if he could heal Max, together they could find a way out of this. Maybe Alyssa didn’t have to die with the others. Maybe they could make everything right again.

Without raising his head, Nate looked toward the guard. All he needed was thirty seconds to fix Max. Just thirty seconds and maybe they could be on their way to fixing this mess. Without another thought, Nate bounded forward, over Max’s fallen body, and grabbed the guard by the knees, attempting to shove him off balance. The Skin remained in place however, and never spoke a word as he brought his fist down on the back of Nate’s neck.

Pain shot through Nate’s head, rendering him temporarily blind. He collapsed to the floor, shielding his skull from further blows.

“Oh, little Zan,” came a sigh from the entrance to the alcove. “You can’t be trusted one minute, can you?”

Nate had the sensation of being hoisted upward, then moving back to the main hall of the pod chamber. He was unceremoniously dumped on the hard floor.

“I’ll let that little bit of insubordination slide this time,” the Skin said. “Next time, I’ll really let him hurt you. You have tonight to ponder your choices. Use your time wisely.”

Nate curled into a fetal position on the floor, his arms wrapped around his throbbing head. He couldn’t possibly choose between Max and Alyssa. What if he didn’t choose? What would his captor do? Kill neither of them? Or both of them? In truth, Nate knew that even if he did heal Max, the Skin would kill him eventually anyway. But maybe it would buy them some time before she had the chance…

But to save Max was to kill Alyssa. He knew he could never do the deed himself, but he also knew that if he didn’t do it, the Skin would and she would not be kind in the doing.

Nate was in a no-win situation.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but the cave around him grew quiet, only the occasional tapping of boots on the rock. Then a slight breeze blew past his face, a whisper.

“Sir, I’ve found it.”

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading and for the comments. I've been busy, but I will try to answer fb soon.

This part contains a lyric from "He Went to Paris" by Jimmy Buffet (believe it or not )


Part Seventeen

“I can’t believe I’m going to be forty.”

Beer bottle to his lips, Nate paused mid-tip and gave Max a curious glance. He took a swig of the drink and swallowed as he placed the bottle on the wooden bar. It was odd to be in a bar with Max, who couldn’t drink alcohol, but it had been his idea to come here. Now Nate wondered if his father was depressed.

“Forty isn’t old,” he said as a verbal band-aid, but added, “Not really,” before he could stop himself. Internally, he winced.

But when Max looked at him, there was humor in his eyes, one corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk. “Not really,” he repeated flatly.

“No, I mean you’re still in good shape.” Another cringe. He just needed to shut up.

“Because someone of my age should be decrepit by now?”

Nate quickly grabbed his bottle and took another swing. Max watched his movements and his brow furrowed.

“Are you old enough to drink that?” he asked.

“I will be when you turn forty,” he grinned, knowing he turned twenty-one on that day as well.

“But they served you anyway?”

“They’ve been serving me since I was seventeen.” Nate nodded at the barmaid, a woman old enough to be his mother and she winked at him.

Max shook his head, though he was laughing. They sat in silence for a long moment, Nate nursing his beer and Max watching a March Madness game on the flat-panel TV above the bar. Nate followed his gaze and realized why he’d wanted to come here – Max was a basketball fanatic.

“I’ve had a good life,” Max said wistfully.

The shift in his tone to the serious took Nate a little off guard and he looked at him questioningly.

Max gave a boyish grin. “Some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I had a good life all the way. To quote Jimmy Buffet.”

Nate’s brow furrowed. “Who?”

Max waved him off. “Before your time, I guess.” He was silent again, watching the basketball players moved back and forth across the screen. “I don’t think there’s anything I would change.”

Nate couldn’t believe that was true. Max had betrayed Liz by sleeping with Nate’s mother. Surely that was something he must have regretted…

Max looked steadily at his son. “I think one of the things that I’m most grateful for is that you found me, Nate. If you’d never come looking for me, I wouldn’t know you now. I missed out on your childhood and I may have missed out on your life as an adult. If you hadn’t found me, if I hadn’t known you, then that is something I would have regretted for the rest of my life.”

“Where is it?” Nate asked, uncurling slightly.

“In the desert, buried,” Aubrey replied in a whisper.

“Did you get it?”

“No, sir. You only asked that I find it.”

Nate frowned and pushed himself up so that he was sitting against the wall of the cave. It was true, he had only ordered her to do that. Of course, if he were to suddenly have possession of the cone, it would tip off his captor that he had a hidden ally.

“I have to warn you, sir,” Aubrey advised.

“Of what?”

“That device is dangerous. It is not good to mess with events that have already occurred.”

Nate let out a snort. “Tell me about it.”

Aubrey appeared slightly confused.

“That’s how we got here, Aubrey,” he said. “That bitch in the other room went back and erased my life from the point at which I turned eighteen. I had another life, where I was married and had kids and Max Evans knew I was his son.” Nate frowned. Now Max Evans was close to dead and hadn’t a clue who Nate even was.

Aubrey was watching him silently, no judgment in her eerily blue eyes.

“We need to get the cone,” Nate said.

“I can get it if you wish,” she said, already preparing to rise.

Nate shook his head. “No, that isn’t going to work.”

What would Aubrey do with the cone? She couldn’t bring it to him without drawing unwanted attention and she didn’t know what needed to be changed, since she had just been brought into his life in this altered timeline. No, Nate needed to get the cone and use it. But how to get out of here? How to get it?

“The device is being guarded,” Aubrey warned.

Nate looked at her warily. “How many?”

“I counted two dozen, sir.”

Nate’s stomach plummeted to his toes. Two dozen Skins, guarding the location of the cone. There was no way that he and Aubrey were going to be able to get past them. And it wasn’t as though they had any allies to come to their rescue.

They did, however, have enemies.

A little spark of excitement flickered in Nate’s belly and he leaned toward his protector. “Aubrey,” he began. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything you need, sir.”

“I need you to help get me out of this cave.”

“You will be seen,” she warned.

Nate shook his head. “No, I won’t. How many Skins are guarding the door?”

“Two,” she replied.

“I can take care of two,” he said, trying to hold down his excitement. “I need you to take my place.”

Aubrey’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Sir?”

“I need you to become me, Aubrey. They can’t know I’ve escaped. They need to think I’m still here.”

She gave a short nod of her head.

“Listen to me. Don’t say anything to them. Pretend you’re depressed or catatonic or something. And whatever you do, don’t hurt Alyssa Guerin or Max Evans.”

Aubrey tilted her head. “The king is dead, sir.”

“No,” Nate replied. “The king is only sleeping.” He looked toward the entrance of the cave, then back to his protector. “I have faith in you. This will work.”

Leaning forward, he gave her an awkward hug, then commanded her to take his form. With a blink of her eyes, she transformed into a perfect replica of Nate, right down to the gash above his eye and the bruise on his cheek. Nate grinned, then slid into the shadows to make his escape.

They can’t see me, he repeated to himself. They can’t see me.

True to Aubrey’s word, there were only two guards at the pod chamber entrance. Inside, Nate felt a stab of indignation – the Skin was arrogant enough to believe he’d never try to escape, that he’d just be resigned to his fate. Either that or she didn’t believe he possessed the power to make a break for it. Arrogance – it would always get you in the end.

Nate repeated his mantra of invisibility and slid soundlessly past the sentries. The night air was cool on his cheeks, the desert in April. His heart rammed into his ribs, making breathing uncomfortable; his knees quivered as he raced down the rock face toward where the Skins had parked their vehicles.

Nate chose the truck farthest from the cave entrance in hopes that the sound of it starting would be muted by the distance. Glancing up at the sky, he found that it was already dark and had been for quite a while – bright white stars dotted a moonless sky. Biting his lip in anticipation, he turned the key in the ignition and the truck came to life obediently. His gaze shot to the pod chamber entrance, but there was no movement there.

Relieved and terrified all at once, Nate put the truck into drive and started a slow roll away from the rock formation that concealed the pod chamber. He felt a tugging at his conscience that he was leaving Max and Aubrey behind. But he knew that Aubrey could more than take care of herself, and Max stood a good chance of living to see another day if Nate could just get that cone and use it one final time.

As the truck bounced down the desert road, Nate kept checking his rearview mirror, waiting to be followed. Then again, the Skins could teleport, so they wouldn’t necessarily be following him via automobile. He tried to push that new paranoia to the back of his head, not allowing himself to wallow in it. He needed to stay focused.

I’m fixing all of this, Alyssa, he said as a means to ground himself. I’m sorry I’m breaking a promise to you, but I think you’d understand.

Roswell loomed in the distance, a glow of amber lights on the horizon. Nate drew in a deep breath, preparing himself for what was about to come. He had one shot. Just one. If he didn’t make this happen, then all was going to be lost. Eventually, the Skin would realize there was something up with Aubrey and kill everyone who remained. He knew that time was already running out.

Nate parked the truck behind the Crashdown, felt a twinge of pain at having such a familiar place seem so foreign. He climbed from the truck and ducked from one shadow to the next until he came to a payphone on Citrus. The thing was a coelacanth, a long-extinct beast that had no business being found in the modern world. Nate had never been happier to see anything in his life. Fingers trembling, he quickly picked up the receiver and hit 0.

“Operator,” came a nasally voice. “How may I help you?”

“I need to make a collect call to New York,” Nate said quickly into the phone, realized he was breathing hard and rushing his words. Slow down, Nate. Be cool.

“The number and who’s calling please?”

Nate recited the number and gave his name. A few short rings later, he heard the phone pick up on the other end. Her voice still sent shivers of fear and distaste through him, but he had to be happy that she was home. She sounded almost cheerful.

“I have a call from Nathan,” the operator said. “Will you accept the charges?”

Her voice dropped about fifty degrees in warmth. “Yes, I will.”

“Go ahead,” the woman said, then Nate heard a click as she disconnected.

“Nate!” Annie barked before he could speak a word. “Where the fuck have you been? I’m stuck here with these goddamn contractors all over the place and you just up and disappear? And what about your Dad’s store? For Christ’s sake, you left that pot head
Kevin in charge of the place and I can only imagine what he and his buddies have stolen by now!”

Nate closed his eyes and squeezed them tightly, then said calmly, “Annie, shut the hell up.”

There was stunned silence on the other end of the line. “What did you just say to me?”

“I said shut up and listen to me. I’ll tell you where I’ve been. I’ll tell you everything.”

“You’re having an affair, aren’t you?”

Nate looked down at Alyssa’s writing on his palm, closed his fingers over it as though he could still feel her touch. “That’s not what I want to talk about. I know who you are. I know who your dad is.”

The silence was a little longer this time, the eventual response a little less certain. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You do. Your father is an FBI operative. He has been following me since I was adopted.” He waited for a response and got none. “Annie, are you still there?”

“I’m here, Nate. But you’re talking crazy.”

“You know I’m not. I want you to find your dad. I want you to tell him where to find me. Annie, I want you to tell him that I’m an alien.”

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Part Eighteen

She sat on the front steps, her curly head buried against her little knees, her shoulders shuddering with her sobs. Nate stopped before her, frowned, felt a sting of tears at the back of his eyes. The sight of Emily crying would always stab him in the heart.

“What’s wrong, sweet pea?” he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

At the sound of his voice, she raised her tear-streaked face, wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands in a clumsy manner that made Nate feel even worse. “I-I-” she sputtered, then broke into sobs again.

Nate worked his mouth, then crouched down so that he could see her face. He placed his hand on her shoulder, which disappeared entirely beneath his palm. “Hey, it’s okay,” he soothed. “You can tell me what’s wrong.”

She met his eyes, hers dark and flooded. Her bottom lip quivered but he could practically hear her order herself to get her act together. “I want Sprinkles, but Mommy said I can’t have her.”

“Sprinkles?” Nate asked. He would assume that she was talking about cupcake decorations or donut toppings, but her use of the word “her” totally confused the matter.

“Billy’s cat had kittens,” she explained, her jaw fixed with the injustice of the whole situation. “I want to bring Sprinkles home, but Mommy won’t – let – me!” Her words became hiccupped and she burst into tears again.

Nate felt a sense of unease creep over him. There wasn’t anything he could do to make this one okay for his baby sister. If his parents said she couldn’t have a kitten, then she couldn’t. There was nothing Big Brother Nate could do about it – that decision was entirely out of his hands. Maybe their reasons for denying her were founded – she was only four years old and perhaps they didn’t feel she was responsible enough yet to have a pet.

“Sweetie,” he said carefully. “I’m sure your parents are only thinking of what’s best for you.”

There was fire in her dark eyes. “It wasn’t my parents. It was Mommy.” Her little face contorted. “She doesn’t want me to be happy!”

Nate scratched his face to hide the grin that was threatening to come forward and betray him. Her defiance against her mother’s decision reminded him for all the world of Alyssa.

“I don’t believe that’s true,” he said to Emily. “Mommy loves and cares about you.”

“But not enough to let me have a kitten.”

“Emily, your mom loves you more than anything,” he placated. “Maybe someday she’ll decide it’s okay for you to have a kitten. But for now she’s said no and we have to listen to what she says, right?”

Before the child could agree or protest – Nate wasn’t sure which road was more likely – Max’s voice came from the end of the sidewalk.

“Hey, why all of the tears?”

Emily looked up, sniffled, watched her father with watery eyes. It was Nate who stood to face their father and explain the situation.

“It appears that Sprinkles has been denied room and board,” he said as though the end of the world was eminent.

Max’s eyes grew round, like he couldn’t believe his ears, an act for his daughter. “That’s horrible. I guess I’ll have to take her back then.”

Emily perked up at those words, then squealed in delight when Max pulled the kitten from behind his back. Nate could see that “Sprinkles” was indeed a fitting name for the cat – it was a tortoiseshell calico, splattered and sprinkled with many colors. She was still small, not much bigger than the palm of Max’s hand, and was quite possibly the homeliest cat Nate had ever seen.

Emily didn’t appear to care. She snatched the creature from Max’s hand and clutched it to her chest so tightly that it squeaked in protest. Spinning around in a circle, she giggled, the tears all but forgotten.

“You’re going to be in the dog house,” Nate said to Max.

Max was grinning nearly as widely as his daughter. He gave a shrug of indifference. Out of the corner of his eye, Nate thought he saw his father’s jacket wiggle, but decided it was just the wind.

Emily stopped spinning, stroked the kitten’s head, then let out a quiet sniffle. Max and Nate both frowned at the same time.

“What’s wrong, princess?” Max asked.

When she looked up, Nate saw a hurt in her eyes that belied her age. “She’ll be alone,” she said, her lip trembling. “No one should be alone.”

Max scratched his chin. “You’re right. It’s a good thing I brought reinforcements.” With that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a white kitten with black patches, looking very much to Nate like a feline cow.

“Spots!” Emily shrieked, Sprinkles trying to wriggle away. Emily tucked a kitten under each arm and continued her dance of celebration.

Nate glanced at his father, then said, “I’ll have Alyssa make up the couch for you.”

Max chuckled. “You might need it. I got you a kitten, too.”

Nate sat motionlessly, his eyes fixed in the distance. As he had matured, he’d developed the ability to see things in the dark that others could not. With no moon to illuminate the scene before him, he’d had to rely on his superhuman physiology to keep abreast of the happenings below him.

How long would it take for them to arrive? Where was Agent O’Donnell stationed? Did he have a high-speed aircraft at his disposal should he need to use it? Or would the FBI not wait for his arrival to make their move?

There was no doubt in Nate’s mind that Annie believed that he was an alien. He’d called her bluff on everything, spilling every bit of information that he’d found out over the years since her death. His excuse for turning himself in? The others had gone militant and he couldn’t control them – they were going to take over the world. That ought to make them move a little quicker.

A cool desert breeze drifted across Nate’s bruised skin, making him shiver. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them to retain his body heat. It seemed so peaceful here, without that Skin tormenting him constantly. In truth, it was the only solace he’d experienced in days and the sense of calm was taking its toll, making him sleepy.

But he couldn’t let himself rest. He kept his eyes fixed on the outcropping of rock – he knew to outsiders it would look like just another of the desert’s rock formations, but he knew what it was. The entrance to an underground bunker. Every now and then, he’d see the silhouette of a guard pace across the entrance, then disappear into the shadows again. It was an obvious show of security, and Nate was nowhere near naïve enough to believe there was only one guard watching the door. They were out there, imbedded in the sand, their sights fixed on protecting their prize.

Nate shivered when he thought about using the cone again. Being whisked through time and space was not a pleasant experience and he’d done it far too many times. On top of that, he needed to go back to a time when things weren’t so good for him, when all of his relationships seemed to be on the rocks.

Thinking about that time in his life was bittersweet. Everyone – including Jonathan – was still alive, save for Emma, who had passed only a short time before. Nate felt a sad tug in his heart as he thought about his little sister, his son, his temperamental baby girl still in her mother’s belly then. Liz, Isabel, Jeremy. And Max. Before he could stop it, a tear slid down his cheek and splashed onto his soiled jacket. People he hadn’t known six years before, people who now meant the whole world to him.

For an unexplained reason, Nate thought of that kitten Max had given to him. It had seemed so corny, to get a six-week-old ball of fluff from his father, especially considering the fact that he’d been twenty-four years old at the time. Nate had taken the cat with a raised lip, wondering silently if Max had gone mad. Then he’d seen the joy on Emily’s face and he understood – though decades separated them, Max wanted to treat his children equally and in truth had never gotten to experience making Nate so happy he spun in circles and sang. Nate had his demons, but Max had his as well and sometimes he didn’t do such a good job of hiding them from the world.

“Kiki,” Nate whispered to himself, remembering the name Jake had given to the orange tiger kitten. He’d been trying to say ‘Kitty’ and couldn’t quite manage it yet. Nate wondered where that kitten was in this timeline, what had become of it without Max to rescue it.

Movement to the left caught Nate’s eye and he forgot all about cats and Jake’s speech impediment. Weary and dehydrated, Nate’s body trembled with a rush of adrenaline. It was beginning, the ambush he’d set into motion. He only hoped that the FBI would get what they wanted – the aliens – and abandon looking for anything else. If they found the cone before he did, he was screwed.

More motion, this time on the right. Nate glanced from right to left, felt like he was witnessing a long-distance tennis match. His eyes shifted to the Skins guarding the cave entrance and he saw that they showed no signs of realizing they were surrounded.

He wondered how much time was left, if Aubrey still had the Skins convinced that she was Nate. His heart clenched as he thought of his tormentor, that face of evil that would forever be emblazoned on his brain. Fury quickened his breathing, tightened his fists. For the first time in his life, he wanted to hurt someone beyond recognition.

But that wasn’t true, was it? He’d wanted to hurt someone that badly before – and he had. He’d created the firestorm his mother had been gifted with, wiping out all of the Skins in a matter of seconds…or so he’d thought. Someone had survived, someone who knew about the cone, someone who had gone back and changed Nate’s past.

That couldn’t happen this time.

Nate was broken from his thoughts of hatred by a blinding light that sent him scrambling for cover. Overhead, he heard the scream of a military helicopter and his blood ran cold – he remembered that noise from his infancy, from when his mother had returned to earth with him. In the distance, he heard the rumble of military vehicles – many Jeeps and trucks sent to haul away the booty.

His stomach clenched, his muscles trembling. There was no doubt the FBI had arrived – they were invading the area. Panic flared within him that he wouldn’t be able to cover himself and that he would soon be back into the hands of someone who would torture him. What had he been thinking?

It was quite possible he’d just sprung the trap on himself.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

I will try to answer fb tomorrow.


Part Nineteen

She appeared above his crib, her face haloed by a ring of golden hair. His young eyes focused on her, blurred, then cleared again. He recognized her only by her scent and the sound of her voice. Her face was kind as she reached into the cradle and pulled up the blanket he’d kicked off in the night.

“Good morning, little prince,” she said, rubbing his tummy.

Her voice was always so soft, never harsh. He liked that, so he kicked his feet, gave a happy gurgle.

“I’m going to call you Zan,” she said, tickling his belly lightly. “Just like your father.”

He sensed a change in her emotions, didn’t really understand why he felt sad. He stopped kicking and stared up at her with big blue eyes. Leaning over the crib, she ran the backs of her smooth fingers down his cheek.

“I didn’t plan on this, Zan,” she said, a remorseful tone in her voice. “I didn’t plan on loving you the way I do. I didn’t plan on loving you at all.”

Hungry but never fussy, he pushed a couple of fingers into his mouth and began sucking on them, his eyes never leaving hers.

“But I do love you, my sweet boy” she said, something shiny in her eyes. “And I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

Then her voice dropped to an icy timbre that froze him motionless.

“I’ll die before I let them hurt you.”

Years before the Skins ever thought of altering Nate Spencer’s life, he’d gone on a trek to New Mexico in search of his birth parents. He had been unaware that he was about to step into one of the biggest government cover-ups of all time, and he had no idea that he carried within himself more secrets than the entire population of the small New York city in which he’d been raised.

One evening, blissfully unaware of the unusual circumstances of his birth, he’d taken a walk along a desert freeway, only to be barraged by images he couldn’t explain. Helicopters whizzed overhead, flying close to the ground, kicking up dust in their wake. Government-issue trucks rumbled down the road, vibrating sand and pebbles across the asphalt surface. The pain in his brain had driven him to the ground, screaming in agony, clutching his head to try to rid himself of the trauma.

Now, years later, Nate found himself in much the same position, his hands clamped tightly over his ears as he fell hard to the sandy ground. Unwanted memories of fear raced through his body, a fear he didn’t comprehend. He didn’t understand the fear because when he’d first felt it, his only defense was instinct, not comprehension. His mother was terrified, there were loud noises which terrified him. A primeval reaction of fight or flight had taken over.

“Make it stop,” Nate cried to himself as he crawled across the sand to seek refuge behind a large boulder. Dust and sand kicked up around him. “Make it stop!”

They were coming for him. The bad men were going to hurt him. He was never going to see his mother again…

Lost in a world twenty-five years in the past, Nate drew his knees up in a fetal position and closed his eyes tight. Panic was coursing through his veins, making it impossible for him to even think straight.

Images of his return to earth were replaced with those of Agent O’Donnell, of the pain he’d inflicted on Nate while he held him prisoner. Nate felt the invasion of his spine, the device that would cripple him if he fought against it. His right thumb throbbed with the memory of a pair of vice grips crushing his knuckle, his heart jerked remembering a double-agent alien who had stopped it from beating without ever touching him.

They were coming for him…

The wind suddenly stopped, the sand no longer pelting him in the face. Nate stayed curled into a ball, his face a mask of agony. Through his closed eyelids, he sensed that the bright search lights of the helicopters had been extinguished. But he dared not open his eyes.

Until soft fingers traced a path down his cheek, a touch that was foreign and familiar all the same.

My sweet boy…

Nate’s blue eyes popped open wide, disbelieving. She was before him again, her face kind, her smile gentle. Still frightened, he pushed himself up and searched the desert frantically. The Skins, the FBI, the helicopters were all gone. There was a peaceful breeze every now and then, the sky an upside-down colander dotted with stars. He turned to his visitor, not sure if he should be afraid or awed.

“Am I dead?” he breathed. It wasn’t entirely out of the question that the Skin had realized Aubrey was a decoy and had managed to find and eliminate him.

“No, Zan, you’re not dead.”

He blinked, trying to comprehend. “But you’re dead.”

“I am.”

“Then how can I see you? The last time I saw you, I was…unconscious.” Dread washed over him. He’d been found and knocked out.

But one corner of her mouth lifted into a small smile. “You passed out.”

If he’d been awake, he would have flushed at the embarrassment of that.

“I can’t say as I blame you,” she said, sitting down Indian-style on the sand. “Not after what you’ve been through.” Her words were matter-of-fact, as if they were talking about the baseball game from the night before.

But they weren’t talking about sports – they were talking about another one of Nate’s failures. In the life that had been taken away from him, he’d avenged his mother’s death and now all of that had been erased.

“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling small.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“I let you down. She’s still alive.” He waited for some dramatic reaction and got none.

“I know,” she said. “But I don’t think you’ve let me down. The game isn’t over yet, Zan. She hasn’t won.” Maybe they were talking sports after all…

“She’s killed everyone I love,” Nate said, swallowing hard after speaking those words. “She’s going to kill Max and Alyssa next. I can’t…I can’t stop her.” Saying the words aloud made it all that much clearer how true they were.

“I have faith in you,” she said with a small smile. “You’re a strong man.”

“I passed out,” he countered bluntly.

She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Who wouldn’t? You haven’t eaten, you’re dehydrated, you’ve been beaten and you were frightened. You’re going to wake up, Zan. And when you do, I know you’re going to be able to fix this.”

“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted in frustration.

“Oh, I think you do.”

“Use the cone,” he said in defeat. “But what do I do? What do I change?”

“As little as possible.”

Nate frowned. He had a good idea what he needed to change, but it was months in the past. There was no way he could change only that event – he was bound to react to things he knew would occur. There would be no preventing it. The last time he’d successfully trekked into the past, it had only been a matter of a few weeks, not a few months.

“I don’t know if I can contain it,” he said to her.

“You won’t have a choice. You’re going to start over from that point in time. You’re going to forget things that are to come, things that seem like they’re the future.”

Was that true? Was that what had happened last time? Nate thought back on it and realized that she may have been speaking the truth. When he’d returned from the future, he’d gotten the impression he already knew what Alyssa had gotten him for Christmas – and yet when that holiday rolled around he’d been surprised. He could remember changing the past, he just couldn’t remember the details of things he hadn’t changed.

Confused and upset, he held his head in his hands. “What am I doing?” he breathed.

“You’re doing what you need to.”

Dropping his hands, he met her blue eyes, his identical. “What were you going to change?” he asked. “When you brought that cone back to earth, what were you going to do with it?”

She appeared to frown and Nate realized that the dead were capable of regret. “I wanted Alex to live.”

While Nate felt sympathy for her, he also didn’t want to contemplate what that may have meant. Did that mean she never would have mindwarped him into decoding the book? Did that meant that without the decode she never would have left earth? If she had no reason to leave earth, would she never have seduced Max?

It seemed that no matter how much time passed and no matter how many times his father told him he loved him, Nate would always question his existence.

“My time is growing short,” she said, her eyes traveling to the sky. “You’re still undetected. I know you can do this, Zan. I know you can set things right. Have confidence in yourself – you’re stronger than you know.” Her eyes drifted to his chest, where the seal was glowing softly beneath his shirt. Reaching out, she touched it with her fingers, then lingered briefly over his heart. “I’m with you always.”

Then she was gone.

Gasping a frightened breath, Nate jerked awake, flailing into the night. The noise was back, the search lights fanning across the desert landscape. He shook the cobwebs from his head, ordered himself to get his act together. While in his dream state, his body had been oddly numb – now it ached and throbbed and trembled with exhaustion.

Crawling to his knees, Nate pulled himself up so that he could see over the boulder he’d taken as refuge. Below him, men in black were swarming over the area, guns at the ready. He hadn’t been out for too long if the FBI was still conducting its assault. He saw Skins scrambling, heard jumbled voices – both human and not.

Machine-gun fire to his left startled Nate and he jumped in fright, his eyes shooting to the area where a couple of uniformed officers had taken down one of the Skins.

“That won’t kill him,” Nate said under his breath, then watched as the Skin jumped to his feet and the FBI men shot him again. This could go on all night.

Only Nate didn’t have all night. He had until the Skin found out Aubrey was a decoy, and chances were she was already suspicious. Surely the contingent guarding the cone had some kind of emergency communication plan.

At what point did Nate summon Aubrey to his side? How long would they have before the Skin figured out what was going on and teleported to Nate’s location? It seemed too risky. He needed to leave Aubrey where she was and go it alone.

A cloud of reddish gas suddenly permeated the area where the cone was hidden. Even though he was probably a safe distance away, Nate covered his nose and mouth with his shirt to avoid breathing in the fumes. From below, he heard cries of anguish and anger. Peeking over the rock, he found the Skins dropping to the ground like cock roaches after a visit from a can of Raid, incapacitated and twitching.

Nate knew they weren’t dead, only stunned. His eyes drifted to where the cone was hidden and he was relieved to see that none of the FBI men was paying it any attention.

All he had to do now was wait for the FBI to clean up and leave. He hoped it didn’t take very long – he was running out of time.

tbc