Chapter 1
Time stood absolutely still for Liz Parker. Nothing could make it move until she saw him. She paced repeatedly next to the cars, just outside the gate to the compound where the FBI and Agent Pierce held the only man she would ever love. They had Max. They had taken him from the fair that Nascedo had driven her to after he had kidnapped her. It was all her fault. If she hadn't been fooled, if she hadn't realized sooner that she wasn't with her Max, then none of this would have happened. Max was just trying to save her, save her again. And in the process he had gotten captured and had only God knows what done to him. Every time she allowed her self to think what he could be going through, she wanted to scream but all that happened was that she would start shivering again and the tears would fall silently. She silently wished that Max had never saved her. He would be safe if he hadn't of. She was the reason for all of this, and in her mind she wished she could take it all back. Liz shivered and wiped the tears away as she kept pacing.
"Where are they?" Liz cries out.
"They found him. I know it. They are on their way out now. Max and Michael are going to be ok. They have to be." Isabel says as calmly as she can. She is terrified that she will never see them again, but she has to be strong. She knows that Max would want her to be for Liz.
"Did the plan work? The mind warp you said you used worked on Pierce, right, Tess?" Liz begged.
"It worked. I know it did. They are coming out soon?" Tess reassured her. Tess knew the mind warp had worked, that much she knew for sure. But she just wasn't sure if Michael had made it out with Max yet. She remembered that Nascedo had told her how many men Pierce had under his command. She knew that it wouldn't be like walking out of the gas station. She knew that there would be a fight, that much she was sure of.
"Then where are they?" Liz yells. She wasn't sure how much more she could take. She wanted Max back with her more than she wanted to take her next breath. It was killing her to know that she was helpless.
"There!" Maria cries.
At the sound of Maria's voice, Liz spins around. Liz sees Maria pointing across the compound. She sees Michael and Valenti half carrying and half dragging a non-responsive Max across the compound. Liz feels her heart stop. She feels a searing pain in her chest.
"Oh god, Max! Is he...?" Liz gasps. She could force her self to finish the sentence. Liz can't take this. The man she loves with every fiber of her heart and soul is being carried towards her, and he isn't moving. Liz fears the worst in that single solitary second. She wanted to run to them. She wanted to hold Max and take away all the hurt and pain that he had been forced to endure. It was all because of her and she wanted to be the one hurting instead of him.
"Oh Max!" Liz shouts just as Michael and Valenti reach the gate with him.
"Liz..." Max whispers, barely able to speak. He raises his head slightly, with what strength he has left at the moment. The sound he thought he had heard was the sweetest sound he could possibly imagine. It was a sound that until that very moment had been something he thought he would never hear again. He was beginning to think he had imagined the sound when he felt two warm hands on the sides of his face.
"Max, Max, are you with me?" Liz begs, cupping his face and raising his head up to look into his eyes. Her tears fall rapidly now that she can see that he held on somehow.
"Liz..." Max croaks out, as his own tears run down his face. He couldn't believe that Liz was holding his face, that his Liz was there. It was like everyone else vanished, and Max and Liz where the only ones there. He wanted to scream and wrap his arms around her. He wanted to hold her like she was his life line and the only thing keeping him from giving up. But he knew that his strength was all but gone now. Michael was the only thing holding him up.
"Max are you alright?" Liz asks, knowing full well that he isn't. She can see the proof of that, signs of what he has been through. She see the blood running down his chest from a perfect cut. She is distracted from further discoveries by Michael.
"Pierce won't be stopped for long. We have to get Max and the rest of us out of here now!" Michael grunts. The weight of Max was a chore to handle but he wouldn't have dropped his brother for a second. Michael was scared beyond words about almost losing Max and also grateful beyond an equal measure that they had saved him. Thanks in large part to Nascedo, but Michael couldn't stop to think about the other alien, their protector. He had to get everyone to safety.
"I know somewhere safe. It's an old silver mine in Galitas off horseshoe road. If we make it there, it will buy us some time. We should split up, make it harder for them to follow. Come on, we gotta move." Valenti says to the group.
Michael nods at Valenti, then he carries Max to the jetta. He puts Max in the passenger seat and he turns to tell Liz to drive it, but she is already sliding in behind the wheel.
"We gotta go now!" Valenti shouts.
"I don't know about this." Michael whispers to Max.
"I trust him." Max says, slowly starting to gain some of his strength back.
That was all Michael needed to hear. Michael knew he could trust Max explicitly.
"Where is Nascedo" Tess cries.
"I don't know. Just get in the Jeep!" Michael shouts.
As Alex, Maria, Tess, and Michael climb in the jeep and Valenti gets in his SUV, Isabel hands Max some clothes.
"Thought you might need these." Isabel says as she hugs Max quickly.
Max looks into her eyes and smiles. Isabel turns and climbs into the jeep.
Max and Liz drive off in the Jetta, with Michael and the crew following in the jeep. Valenti right behind them. Less than a mile from the compound, there is a four way stop. Each car takes a different direction. Liz takes the road heading West, Michael makes a hard right heading east and Valenti heads straight north.