PART SIXTEEN

It was difficult to follow Langley without being seen. Alex and Maria stayed a distance back, keeping him barely in their sight.

For hours they walked in the hot New Mexico sunshine, seemingly without direction.

From time to time, Langley veered off heading in another direction, stopping and scanning the horizon.

"I don't think he has a clue where he is," Maria said irritably. "He's probably lost, and now he's just gotten us lost with him."

"I don't think so," Alex said, watching him intently.

"You don't think so?" Maria retorted. "Alex, I am dying of thirst and we're hours away from the car, and that's all you have to say? You don't think so?"

He shot her a glare.

"Ok, sorry, sorry," she said, putting her hands up.

Alex seemed to have faith that this man had an internal compass. She hoped he was right, because a rising feeling of dread had been growing in the pit of their stomach since they'd left the crater.


*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Liz lay completely drained on the cold cement, having cried every last tear that she could. All she could do now was wait. She felt the fatigue of her body from lack of sleep, yet she would not let herself drift off.

She was afraid if she did, she would not know if something happened to Max. She needed to be here for him when they brought him back.

Her thoughts drifted to the girl. She was very beautiful, but then so was the boy, and Max....no words needed to be said.

Whoever had created Max and the others definitely knew what they were doing. All were striking in their own very different ways.

Which is what bothered her. If the three were super humans, was the girl not meant for either Max or the other boy? It seemed logical to her.

The way the girl reacted to Max made her think that it was Max she was meant for. She seemed to have an emotional attachment to him that she harbored.

Again the jealousy flared in her mind. But she quickly scolded herself.

Who was she to stand in the way of the plan Max's people had for him?

She didn't know how they came to be here on Earth, or why, but there must have been some purpose for them being here.

But as much as her mind told her that she should back off from Max, her heart was telling her that doing so would break her heart.

She wondered what had been done to the girl and boy. There was no way of knowing. In that world Max created, he'd had no scars, no collar, no burns. What did they look like in the cold florescent light of their cells? If Max was any indication, they were probably scarred as he was.

What was to become of them? What was to become of her?

Listlessly, she lay staring at the door, her cheek pressed to the floor.

A short while later, men came into the cell with equipment. She did not move. Cables were dropped through a small hole in the ceiling, and they worked on setting up tiny cameras in every corner of the room. She didn't care to watch. She didn't care about any of it. She just wanted Max back safe.

An hour later, they were finished with their work and they left her alone. She heard the whine of the cameras as they rotated back and forth. She did not look at them. She would not acknowledge them.

She didn't know how long she was lying there. It must have been hours, before she finally heard rolling wheels outside of the door.

A moment later, the door opened, and a gurney was pushed in.

Liz sat up quickly as the techs let the gurney roll to the middle of the room, hitting the gurney already there, the door shutting as they left.

From the floor, she saw his pale hand, hanging limp over the side of the gurney.

Slowly, she rose to her bare feet, padding over to him. His collar was gone from his neck, an IV still hooked into his other hand.

His eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling, blinking occasionally, but he didn't seem to notice her presence. A sheet was draped across him, covering him to his chest, his arms over it.

"Max?" she whispered, touching his arm and his eyes drifted to her. After a split second, recoition dawned in his eyes.

He stared at her for a moment, not saying anything. She could see that he was in pain.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly.

"Sore," he croaked.

She nodded. She smoothed the hair away from his forehead gently. His eyes closed at her touch.

She leaned over and gently kissed his brow.

"I hate them for this," she whispered. He opened his eyes and again she was struck by the haunted look in them.

"Do you want to try to sit up?" she asked.

He nodded.

Carefully, she grasped his forearm, putting her other hand behind his back to support him, and gently pulled him up. He grunted in pain as the blood rushed through his upper body.

The sheet fell away as he sat up, and Liz bit her lip looking at the newest horror that had been painted with a scalpel on his chest.

Embedded where the old chip was, a new chip gleamed almost menacingly in the harsh light. Sutures stood out black against his pale skin, and the area surrounding the chip glared an angry red.

"My poor Max," she said gently, putting her hand to his cheek, and he gingerly swung his legs over the side of the gurney.

She felt like crying every time she saw a new wound they inflicted on him.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, wanting in the worst way to take him in her arms, knowing she couldn't because it would cause him pain.

He turned and looked at her, and the longing and the sadness in his eyes washed over her.

"It's going to be ok," she said, moving to stand between his legs. Lovingly, she took his hands in hers, touching her forehead to his.

She felt the uneven rise and fall of his breath as she felt him trying to keep his emotions in check.

"What is it, Max?" she asked.

"I can't feel them anymore," he said miserably.

"It's probably the chip," she said.

He nodded.

"I know," he said.

"Do you feel any different?" she asked, raising her hand to his cheek.

"Yes," he said. "There is a strange energy coming from this thing. I can feel it, running through my body."

"Then it's working," she said, defeated.

He nodded, looking at his hand in hers.

"I'm sorry," he said, in a low voice.

"It's not your fault Max," she said.

He nodded slowly.

"Was it very bad?" she asked, concerned.

He shook his head.

"They put me out this time. They usually do with the chips, because they are afraid of the interim time in changing them. I think they were worried about taking the collar off of me," he said.

Neither was aware that they were being observed.

An amplified voice blared out of the speaker.

"Well now....that is something we won't have to worry about any more," Pierce said.

"I think it's time we conduct a little test, to make sure that it's working correctly, he said with a menacing laugh.

Inside the observation booth, Pierce held a small voice activated device.

He turned it on with relish, watching the lights blink as it readied itself.

"I've waited a long time for this, he said into the mouthpiece in front of him, and he watched Liz and Max look at the observation glass in fear, not seeing him, but knowing he was there. He smirked in satisfaction. He could practically smell their fear.

The girl had been tainted by the hybrid; of that he was now sure. And as such, she became a specimen, expendable if need be.

Of course if all went well with this test, she had nothing to worry about. But things happened with new technology, he thought to himself smugly.

The ready light blinked on the device.

"Let the games begin," he said, with satisfaction.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Alex and Maria could sense something was going to go down. For the past hour, they'd hidden behind an outcropping, watching Langley as he seemed to be casing a much larger outcropping about a quarter of a mile away.

As they watched, sporadically, men appeared from behind a large wall-like sheet of rock up against the face of the outcropping.

Langley moved from hiding place to hiding place with lightning speed. One minute he was there, the next he was hundreds of feet away behind another outcropping.

"I knew there was something up with that guy," Maria said. "No one's that fast."

Alex nodded.

For a long while, Langley stayed behind one of the large boulders, watching and waiting.

The sun began to set before he finally moved again. In the dim, they could see that he dropped to the ground, rolling in the dust.

"What's he doing?" Maria asked, frowning, as Langley waved his hand over his forehead, an angry bruise appearing on his forehead.

"Playing the part. Jeffrey," Alex said, nodding.

"Very smart," he said with approval.

"What?" Maria asked.

"He's making it seem as if he'd been knocked out or kidnapped or something," Alex said.

"So they'll think that was the reason for his disappearance," she said.

"Mmm hmm," Alex said. "I don't know if they'll fall for it. It's been weeks," he said. "A little too long to be gone."

"I guess we'll see," Maria said, sighing, watching Langley stumble to the rock wall.

Immediately, two men appeared from behind the wall, and Alex and Maria held their breath, hoping for the best.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Pierce was about to begin when the phone rang. Cursing he picked it up.

"What?" he barked impatiently.

"Sorry to disturb you, Agent Pierce," a male voice said. "This is Agent Winters up at the security gate. We have a situation here we thought you should be aware of."

Pierce sighed in irritation.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Uh....it seems Agent Jeffrey has decided to make an appearance," Winters answered.

"Pierce's eyes narrowed.

"Really...." he said slowly, feeling further irritation tense his body. So, the drunken bastard finally came off of his bender, did he? Well, this time he was going to take great satisfaction in firing his ass for good. He'd screwed Pierce too many times. He would make sure that he never worked in any government position again, and if he dared to open his trap, he'd be six feet under. And he was going to get great pleasure in telling him that.

"Send him to Observation Room One," Pierce said sharply.

"Got it, Sir," Winters answered.

Pierce hung up the phone and picked up the device again and looked at the command keys. The controller was both voice activated and manually controllable from the keypad. Yes, he would have the last word with Jeffrey, but in the mean time, he would have a little fun....

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Max looked fearfully at Liz as he heard Pierce's voice.

He knew what was about to happen, and his heart broke at the thought.

And then there seemed to be a small reprieve. He took advantage of it, pulling her closer, his mouth to her ear.

"Liz, remember the gurney," he whispered frantically, and she pulled away, shaking her head.

"No," she said in a low voice. "I won't even think about it."

"Liz, please!" he said forcefully.

"No," she said, unwavering.

He shut his eyes against the moisture that was filling them, his jaw tightening.

"Let's see now, what do we want to try first?" Pierce asked through the speaker.

"Decisions, decisions...."

And suddenly Max's hand shot out, grabbing Liz's wrist forcefully. His eyes widened, as he felt his arm move of it's own volition. He struggled to let go of Liz, but he found he could not, instead a sharp pain shot through his arm. A film of sweat broke over his features, his breath heavy with the effort and the corresponding pain. His eyes rose to hers.

She stood unmoving, meeting his gaze with utter acceptance. She wasn't going to fight it, he realized with dismay.

"Liz," he grated through his teeth, trying to regain control of his limb, "Please...."

She shook her head slowly and put her hand on his arm comfortingly.

"Oh Miss Parker, you're spoiling my fun," Pierce said.

"Tough," Liz said, glaring at the glass, though she could not see him behind it.

"We'll see about that," Pierce answered, irritated at her impudence.

With lightning speed, Max's hand shot up to her throat, and she was pressed up against the wall.

"I don't like you Ms. Parker," Pierce said, as she slowly felt Max's hand tightening around her throat. "It makes me sick that you would betray your own race to help this monstrosity."

Tears were flowing freely now from Max's eyes as she captured his eyes unwaveringly.

Max again struggled against the chip that had power over his body, and as he struggled the pain became blinding. An anguished growl rose from his throat.

"STOP IT!!" Max screamed. "Please....please stop it! I'll do whatever you want! Don't do this!"

"Oh but you are going to do what I want anyway," Pierce said, a fake tone of sadness running through his voice.

Liz's breath was coming in strangled gasps, and Max felt something inside his mind snap. Anger coursed through his body and it seized as he put every ounce of will into pulling himself away from her.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Liz's vision was becoming fuzzy from the lock of oxygen, but she fought it, keeping her eyes steady on Max's. And suddenly, she felt violent tremors in his hands, and they loosened marginally. His breath was blowing from him lips in short labored puffs, and his eyes rolled back.

"I wouldn't continue to do that," Pierce warned with a half-laugh. "Keep it up and you are going fry every brain cell in your head."

"Max," she whispered softly. "Stop it, please!"

But he ignored her words. She knew what he was doing. He would not hurt her. He'd die first.

She watched as another flash of blinding pain jolted through his body, and every muscle tensed as the intensity of the power in the chip was amplified.

Her hands flew to his face, tightly on his cheeks as every muscle in his face spasmed.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she cried to Pierce, tears springing to her eyes.

And suddenly she heard a crash behind Max. She could not see what caused it, as his broad shoulders were blocking her view, his hand still grasping her throat.

A split second later, he was wrenched from her.

Her eyes widened as she saw Jeffrey roughly grabbing his arm.

"Nooo!!!" she cried, moving to hit him.

He held his hand out quickly and she was thrown blindly up against the wall, sliding to the floor, watching in horror.

Before she even registered it, Jeffrey's hand was on Max's chest, a bright green glow of energy pulsing from it, knocking Max backward. He stumbled, staring at the man with wide eyes.

Her hand flew to her mouth as she saw little streams of green electricity run through the chip. She scrambled over to the gurney, reaching under for the scalpel.

She felt the cold metal and grasped it in her hand.

With a scream, she again launched herself at Jeffrey, as Pierce yelled something unintelligible through the loudspeaker. Jeffrey held his hand up again, and she could see that he meant to finish what he started.

With what looked to be the last bit of strength Max had in him. He launched himself in front of Liz.

"Don't hurt her," he said weakly, yet commandingly, staring Jeffrey in the face.

Liz's hand was on Max's back, and she caught the sickly smell of the burned skin around the chip. She felt the tremors in his muscles and knew that he was going to fall to the floor. Quickly, she ducked her head under his arm, trying to support his weight, looking at Jeffrey fearfully.

So it had come down to this.

"Very well," Jeffrey said, taking his other arm. Dimly, she heard the pounding and shouting from the observation room.

She didn't understand it. He looked like Jeffrey, but she thought he was dead.

"We must go," he said, looking at Max.

Max nodded. "The others," he said weakly.

"I have taken care of that," Jeffrey answered.

Liz didn't understand a thing of what was going on, but it was obvious that Max knew and was going along with it, and that was enough for her.

Jeffrey pulled Max to the door, Liz helping to support him as his head lolled back and forth. He was going to lose consciousness soon. She could see it.

Jeffrey again held his hand in the air, and the door swung violently open. Liz heard Pierce's muffled curses as he tried to get the guards on the radio in the observation room.

As they made their way into the hall, she noticed a tech lying motionless on the floor. She didn't stop to think about it. She glanced at the door to the observation room as they moved past it, and saw that the knob was melted. And then she knew.

This was not Jeffrey. This was someone altogether different. Someone who knew who Max was.

As they pushed awkwardly through the double doors, she gasped as she saw them. The others. Their cell doors open, standing uncertainly in the hall.

They looked as bad as Max did.

The girl had tears in her eyes as she saw Max. Liz saw that her arms were also scarred. The johnny coat she had on was charred and stained with pinpricks of blood from the chip beneath it.

The boy stood beside her, looking at the Jeffrey look-alike defiantly. It was clear that he did not completely trust this man, but was left with no other choice. He was shirtless like Max, his skin also marred with scars and burned around the chip.

He'd gotten to them first. He'd disabled their chips.

"We have to get out of here now," the man barked. "I can't block the radio transmissions any longer."

Without argument, the boy put his arm around the girl, and they fell in quickly behind them as the man led the way through the maze of hallways.

Liz felt a wave of dizziness swoop over her and she fought it, gripping Max's waist tighter, glancing up to see that his eyes had again started to roll back.

"Max, stay awake. You have to stay awake," she pleaded, and she saw him jolt at the sound of her voice. His head rolled toward her, and she looked at him worried.

As they saw the huge bay doors that were the exit, a blaring alarm sounded.

Liz panicked. They were so close. Two guards rushed through the doors, leveling their weapons at the four. The man quickly put his hand out, and the guards were catapulted through the doors, where they lay still.

Liz felt the sharp taste of fear when she saw what the man had done. He could kill at will.

Liz heard the girl gasp behind her, but she didn't dare look at her. They had to keep moving.

The alarm was deafening, and she felt herself shiver as she felt the cool night air of the desert touch her skin as they left the compound. The doors shut behind them, and the man's hand grasped the handles, melting them.

Directly ahead, a rock wall rose impossibly high, and the man jerked them to the right to walk around it.

She didn't dare to hope that they would get out of this alive, and so she acted on instinct instead of pondering, following the man without question.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Alex and Maria heard the alarms and looked at each other in panic.

Turning their attention to the hidden entrance, they saw a small group come rushing out from behind the wall.

"Can you see who it is?" Maria asked urgently.

"I can't make them out," Alex said, frustrated. "It's too dark. It could be the guards."

Suddenly, Maria gasped.

"Oh my God! That's Liz and Max!" she said, as she watched Langley pull Max roughly in their direction.

"What do we do?" she said ducking.

"Let them get closer," Alex said, pulling a gun from his jacket pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Maria said frantically.

"Never mind," he muttered, checking the safety.

"Alex, that isn't going to do anything against that guy," she said.

"It's the only thing we've got," Alex answered, concentrating on the approaching group, readying himself for the worst.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Liz just kept counting in her mind. Counting the steps away from the compound, concentrating on the feel of the skin on Max's waist. She dared no do anything else, or she would totally panic.

And then she heard the shout.

"LIZ!" Maria cried, and she heard Alex curse at her as he stepped out from behind an outcropping, a gun pointed at the man.

"Alex no!" she cried, as she watched the man raise his head.

"MAX!" she said in a panic, looking at him, knowing that her friends were about to be annihilated.

Max lifted his head with effort, straining to see what she was pointing at, and he took a sharp breath.

"No, don't hurt them," he said to the man. "They mean us no harm."

But the man was not listening, and Liz could see the energy starting to glow in the man's hand.

She turned to Alex and watched in horror as the gun he held started to glow red. Alex yelled, and the gun flew from his hand into the night.

In a moment it would all be over, and she couldn't watch. But suddenly, Max's hand reached out and pulled the man's hand down.

"No," he said again forcefully, and the man frowned at him, but didn't attempt to raise it again, never slowing in his course toward the two humans.

They reached the outcropping in seconds. Maria and Alex stood completely still, Alex favoring his hand.

"Oh my God Lizzie," she said tearfully, glancing warily at the man and the two strangers they didn't know. "Are you ok?"

"I will be," she said quietly, glancing at Max, who was barely conscious.

"We have to get out of here. How are we going to get out of here?" she said desperately.

She looked at the man, who suddenly looked weary. The rescue must have taken a lot out of him.

But before he answered, Liz heard a muffled cry of surprise. She struggled to turn around with Max's arm on her shoulder.

"You aren't getting away with what you did to me," a voice growled, and Liz felt terror tighten her chest.

She turned slowly to see the bearer of the voice she recoized as if from her nightmares.

Wilkes was grasping the girl around the throat, a gun held to her head. His clothes were askew, his shirt hanging out of his pants. Every breath he took was filled with rage.

In his gaze was the glint of a man gone insane as he stared dangerously at Max.

"You did it to me," he said through clenched teeth. "The nightmares. I can't get rid of the nightmares. Maybe if I *kill* you they'll stop."

The girl looked at them in terror as she was jerked back by the arm tightening around her throat.

"All of you are evil!" he yelled.

Max looked up in desperation as that voice penetrated the haze he was in.

The man tried to lift his hand, but as soon as he did, Wilkes pulled back the safety on the gun.

"Do it and you might kill me, but I'm taking her with me," he said menacingly.

"How did you get out of the hospital?" Liz asked.

Wilkes laughed maniacally. "I'm an FBI agent, now that I finally remembered....no thanks to him," he said, motioning to Max. "How hard did you think it would be for me to get out?"

Maria looked nervously at the compound, where a muffled banging was beginning to sound from behind the wall.

"You are going to make these dreams stop," he said to Max breathing heavily. "I can't sleep! I haven't slept in weeks! The things I saw, the things I did," he almost whimpered.

"Make it stop," he growled, leveling the gun purposefully at Max.

"I don't know how," Max said weakly, as Liz pulled him closer, protectively.

"Then it's time for you to die!" Wilkes raged, and Liz heard her own scream as the shot echoed out through the desert night.