Title: Magnetic North

Title: Magnetic North
Author: Anerastar
Date: 4/9/01
Disclaimer: This story is not affiliated with the WB or Roswell, the TV show, in any way, and is not intended to infringe upon any copyrights.
Summary: Destiny finds Max and Liz, but can they escape their captors?
Category: whole lotta Liz pov, then max pov. AU, M/L.i'll get to the good stuff soon
Rating: PG-13

For the record, they are making me write this; my account, my story. They believe that it will be, and I quote "beneficial to my emotional state by recalling and revisiting my emotions so that I might learn to (eventually) suppress them in the future." Whatever. Personally I hate to write and although I've told them this fact at least a thousand times they still insist that I write. Otherwise they tell me they will take away the few meager privileges that I have managed to accrue by obeying their directives.

Privileges like the walks in the woods, they give me a small taste of freedom, despite the fact that as I walk half a dozen armed agents surround me, with more lying in wait in the surrounding woods. They believe that this will also be somewhat therapeutical for my psyche. Therapeutical my ass. As I see it, they control my present, they want to control my future, and now they want my past. As if they haven't learned everything about me from the round-the-clock surveillance they placed on me continuously. You think that I would have noticed that I was pretty much being followed 24/7. Instead it appears as though I had blinders on. All I ever thought about cheerleading practice, homework, and staying a part of the fashionably elite at River Stone High. God, that all seems so trivial now, I feel as though 7 years have passed instead of 7 months. I'm babbling aren't I? Well, I better get back to the assignment- how this all began. Back in Mr. Fisk's history class in the first week of October. I've since learned that The Chambers search, wait, wrong word, hunt, had slowly but methodically brought their agents to North Washington. While I continued, unknowingly, to do my daily, every day activities, The Chamber had come to the conclusion that that their prey lived in wait within one of four cities, all next to each other; River Stone, Glendale, North Bend, and Douglas.

            After 3 weeks they had cut Glendale and Douglas out of the Equation, which only left two cities to which hundreds of "tourists" soon swarmed upon. As least that was their guise. Soon they began Part 1 of their plan. Mass blood tests. Scientists, under the alias of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) doctors began spreading the news about a new virus that was being transmitted via mosquitoes in our area. They told the fearful residents of my hometown and North Bend that they had an Antibody that could be injected into those who wanted to be inoculated against this mythical illness. Of course everyone lined up. While the masses gathered at various "CDC sites", several of their doctors and nurses set out for the areas' elementary, middle, and high schools to administer the so-called vaccine. What they didn't tell anyone was that before the actual vaccine (actually harmless saline) was administered, they drew a small amount of blood from the patient's arm. The person was told that it was merely a pre-cautionary measure to make sure they didn't have the bug already, and no one protested. I think that the fact that the CDC was there gave them a huge degree of credibility and the culmination of the fear that was struck into their hearts, gave them the inability to question things. The Chamber would have had answers for every question so what's the use. Like I said before, though, while the beginnings of this ruckus were going down, I was still in Mr. Fisk's history class unsuccessfully trying to answer a pop quiz about the Revolutionary war.

It was one of those pop quizzes that made your eyes blur, all essay questions. Those impossible questions that Mr. Fisk delighted in putting on paper.

I glanced all around, everyone seemed as clueless as I. I gazed at my best bud Emma and whispered, "Do you know the answers to anything?"

"I can't tell you that Liz, that's cheating."

That is Emma for you, a legal eagle to the end.

"C'mon please" I begged, "I'm so going to fail this test."

I think I was whining at this point. No, wait, I definitely was.

"No, you will just have to try your best, now shhh.."

"Ahemmm," came a loud booming noise.

"Miss Parker and Miss Sullivan, have you any pressing news to deliver to the class today," asked a very dour, frowning history teacher.

"Uh, no sir," we replied.

"Than what was such an important matter that you were unable to wait until after class."

"Uh, well," I stammered.

"Female problems" interjected Emma, which immediately set the class off laughing.

I knew I loved this girl for a reason.

Mr. Fisk's face turned three interesting shades of purple; then it came..

"Both of you, to the principals office" he roared.

"But…" I barely got one syllable in.

"NOW"

Emma and I gathered our books and walked to the door among applause from our fellow students. We were listed in our Junior High yearbook under the headline "Double Trouble." Don't think for a minute that we didn't deserve that title. Emma and I were known for our pranks. For our most infamous one we stole a jar of Crisco from the kitchen and used it to grease the toilet seats in the guy's restroom. We managed to infuriate about 10 guys before the unfortunate Mr. Davidson found himself a direct victim of our little act of mischief. We ended up suspended for a week. Well worth it though.

            In the present an angered Emma wouldn't speak to me. While she loves pranks, she takes her schoolwork very seriously.

"I'm sorry, look we won't get in any trouble, maybe just detention after school today," I said as I tried to soothe her..

"Yeah, well, now I get an automatic F for that quiz, that is bound to bring my GPA way down, and history isn't my best subject either." She was still fuming.

"I'm really sorry, Em" I say sincerely, "Friends" and I stick out my pinky finger.

"Friends" she agreed as we locked pinkies, our secret sign of our friendship. It's kind of like a secret handshake. By that time we had entered the main office. Mrs. Davidson, a middle-aged woman with a mop of unruly, bright red curls atop her head, took one look at us and frowned.

"Not you two again," she stated dispassionately.

"Well, hello to you too Mrs. Davidson," Emma and I chimed in.

"It seems we have an unplanned visit with Mr. Darnell, our beloved principal."

"Well you two will just have to wait, he is about to make an announcement over the loudspeaker" she said dourly, her chins jiggling with every syllable.

"Okay"

Just then the announcement began.

"Attention students and faculty, this is Mrs. Darnell, your principal. We have just gotten word of a minor threat that the health officials from the CDC have alerted us to. Apparently there is a virus being transmitted in this area by mosquitoes. Now don't worry there is a vaccine for this which the CDC will administer immediately in the gym. At this time I ask all of the juniors, I repeat all of 11th grade students and faculty to report to the gymnasium. We will call other grades as the CDC tells us to do so. . Until then I instruct everyone else to go about your day like usual. Until my next announcement I wish you all a good and productive day."

"Tres Weird," Emma said thoughtfully.

"Hey, Mrs. Davidson, does that mean that we can go to the gym too," I tried valiantly to keep the grin off my face as I said this.

"All right, go, but don't take any detours mind you."

"Of course," we said angelically

Em was positively glowing by the time we got out to the hallway.

"Don't we have the best of luck," I said smiling as we walked to the gym.

"Yeah, well, we still have to face needles though, ugh," Em shivered as she said this.

"Who cares?"

"It is a lot better than facing the wrath of Principal Darnell, a.k.a the hurricane, frankly I would rather face a needle than him any day."

"True," she agreed

When we got to the gym it was packed, albeit orderly. There were about ten lines with a cordoned off cubicle at the top of each one. Em and I joined the nearest line and proceeded to have a wonderful and intellectually stimulating conversation about boys. I don't remember what we talked about exactly. I got kind of nervous as the line progressed, so I tried to distract myself.

"Hey, Em, remember back in fourth grade when they did the head lice checks?"

"Yeah and Lindsay Armstrong got sent home that day but we couldn't stop laughing," she said with a grin on her lips.

"Until we realized that we both loved to try on Lindsay's crushed velvet beret, and then we stopped laughing," I smiling at the memory.

"Next" shouted the woman dressed in white at the entrance of the cubicle.

I was stunned to find that I was indeed the next one.

"Wish me luck," I told Em.

I drew back the flimsy curtain and stepped gingerly inside. There were two people in the small enclosure. The woman who looked to be in her mid 20's who was wearing a professional-looking white medical coat, she also had blond hair that was pulled high on the top of her head in a severe bun. It made her look older than her face implied. A man was in the corner dressed in a suit holding a clipboard and an expensive-looking pen. He looked to be forty-ish, (I am pretty good at telling ages).

"Name," said the man

"Liz Parker"

"Date of Birth"

"October 13th, 1986,"

"I turn 16 in a week," I added stupidly.

"Address"

"1419 St. Augustine Road."

"Phone number"

"239-8928"

"All right please sit down," asked the woman.

"Place your arm flat on the desk," she ordered

I did so. She proceeded to wrap a rubber strap around my arm and thump the inside of my elbow, looking for a vein.

"I thought you were just giving the vaccine, why are you taking my blood?"

"We just want to see if you have the virus already," she said soothingly.

"But I'm not sick."

"The virus may lie dormant in a host for up to 3 or 4 months, then suddenly they come down with the symptoms. We are giving you the vaccine nonetheless, to wipe out everything, all right?"

"Fine" I said hesitantly.

In a few moments the deed was done. They had my blood and I had their vaccine and a wicked cute band-aid. It seemed like a fair trade.

"All done, next," the woman shouted.

I walked out and smiled wanly and at Em.

"It's not to bad," I said; because she looked kind of green.

"It didn't hurt, really, I will wait for you right here."

Em nodded, took a deep breath and went in. In about 5 minutes she came out and agreed that I was right. By that time it was 12:00p.m, which meant it was time for Block A's lunch. This term Em and I were lucky, we got lunch together, unlike the hellish schedule of last term that separated Em and I for most of the day.

After lunch came our respective classes. Unfortunately Mr. Fisk's history class is the only one we had together and my next class, the last one of the day, was chemistry. The class itself wasn't too bad; I am actually pretty good in it. What did suck, and suck royally, was my asinine lab partner Tess Edwards. Tess was the captain of our cheerleading group and the head bitch of the school. She made me glad that I only had chemistry 2 times a week on Tuesday and Thursday; otherwise I do believe that I would have gone mad. Or killed her. Possibly both.

            As I entered the classroom Tess immediately fixed her sight upon me, much like a cobra eyeing its prey.

"Liz!" she called out, patting the empty seat beside her.

I nodded and walked obediently over to her and sat down.

"Ready for the Pep Rally tomorrow?"

"I guess so"

"You guess so, c'mon Liz, It's the first rally of the year, we must impress."

"Are you listening to me?" she demanded.

Actually I wasn't, it's usually around this time that I begin to tune Tess out. I just nod and absently to the questions that she poses. Blessedly the hour passed quickly, I said a quick good-bye to Tess and flew out the door. I hopped on my bike and started toward home. That is when I noticed the 8 or 9 white vans parked in front. I passed them off as CDC and headed home.

*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Home- I think that is what I miss the most by being trapped here. I want to break out of this prison. I just have to wait a little longer though, just a little longer…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Anyway, once home I sacked out in front of the T.V for a bit. I only had an hour before cheerleading practice. I clicked on News Channel 8 and saw that just about everyone in our town must have been given the same shot. Then some boring report came on about pollution or something and I fell asleep.

            Meanwhile halfway across town the "CDC" was using an abandoned warehouse to commence the testing procedures. At least a hundred scientists were working around-the-clock testing blood sample after blood sample. They only had a couple thousand specimens but the top brass wanted everything done A.S.A.P.

"Sample 493, negative" said the doctor wearily.

"Inserting Sample 494," she mumbled to the benefit of no one. She found that talking kept her awake. She had already been pulling 15 hours with no rest, with no downtime in the near future. Although she knew full well the implications of finding the girl and understood the importance of the search, it pissed her off to no end that she wasn't allowed any rest. As she slowly raised the carafe of coffee to her lips she waited for the light to turn red on the medium sized Genetic Marker Detector.

            That is why, when the light turned green, she ended up spilling the entire cup on her lap, staining her pristine lab coat. Luckily the liquid was cold. Her heart actually stopped for a moment as it ran through her mind,

"I've found her."

As she picked up the receiver of the scarlet phone that none of them had ever gotten to use. Her only thought was "I hope I get a bonus for this." The only thing she actually had to say was the simple "I've found a positive match."

            Within a half hour a group of men in dark suits entered the dilapidated structure. By that time everyone had stopped working and instead were celebrating. All fell silent, though, as the men marched through the parting crowd. They strode quickly to a woman who had quite a large brown stain on her coat.

"Dr. Martinez," I presume, asked the man in the lead.

"Report" he stated

"Well sir, after testing for a long while, number 494 tested positive for the genetic markers we were testing for."

"Who is she," he cut in.

"Liz Parker, she lives here in River Stone."

"Thank you Dr. Martinez," said the man as he took the file out of her hand.

He quickly turned away from her and walked off, entourage following. He had slowly withdrawn a small silver cellular phone and dialed. Once the other party answered his words were short, but succinct.

"Part 1 is complete, initiate Part 2" and with that he tucked the cell in this pocket and smiled.

*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~*~*~**~*~*~**

"Two, four, six, eight, who don't we appreciate; Liz, Liz, yeah Liz," shouted a perky Tess. Soon the rest of the squad had joined in with her, each one doing cartwheels, herky's and splits.

            Suddenly I bolted upright from the couch

"Damn" I muttered under my breath. It was 6:00 and somehow I had dozed off for 2 hours. I had completely missed practice. Tess was going to crucify me at school tomorrow. To make amends I quickly dialed her cell number, I only got her voicemail. She tends to screen her phone calls like she is some kind of Hollywood starlet of something. I left a message about how I had an emergency at home. I was pretty vague I hoped she wouldn't notice.

"Mom, Dad, Helloooo," I shouted.

"Anyone here"

"We are in the kitchen sweetheart, dinner is almost ready."

I followed the sounds of their voices and the delicious smells to our kitchen. Mom and Dad were working together on spaghetti and meatballs. I forgot, Thursday was "family night" at the Parker's, when we all sit down and have dinner together. They loved to ask me questions about what is going on at school, how was Emma, etc..I think that it made them feel like attentive, involved parents.

"We noticed you were off in slumber land so we decided to let you rest"

"What time did you get home?" I asked

"A little before 5," she replied.

"Well I wish you would have woken me up, I completely missed practice," I said as I tossed a cherry tomato into my mouth.

And on and on we bantered. After dinner we separated into our different activities, Mom, balancing her checkbook, Dad, watching ESPN. And then me, surfing the net.

After a while I went to sleep, but little did I know that that night would be my last in my own bed.

            While I slept the wheels of The Chamber were just beginning to turn. As I dreamed they placed a surveillance van across the street. They placed transmitters on both my parents' cars. They even began the phase that I wouldn't know about till the next day.

When my alarm blared to life the next morning I pulled myself out of bed and dressed then just as quickly undressed again cause I realized that I had to wear my cheer uniform. Our uniforms were red and white with a seriously short skirt and a top that exposed a little too much tummy for my taste. I'm in good shape so I didn't mind too much. I pulled my long dark-brown hair into a ponytail. It was usually chilly in the morning so I threw on my white cardigan (I can still hear Tess in my head—Coordinate, Accessorize, and Customize, how vapid could the girl be?) I guess I probably sound kind of vapid too though. I only joined the squad for Em's sake. Her dream was to be on the squad but she wanted me to join with her..I thought I wouldn't pass the audition, but somehow I did. Em and I also became popular overnight. I find it interesting how one can go from dork to popular in a week just by joining a single group, completely amazing.

            Anyway after I was ready I glanced at my watch that told me that I needed to fly. So I grabbed a pop-tart said bye to the folks and headed to school.

            I managed to reach my homeroom door just as the bell rang. Mrs. Peters and I locked eyes so I flashed her one of my patented, "oh please don't give me a tardy slip, cause don't I look cute toady I my little outfit" smiles. I think Tess taught me that one.

"Please sit down Liz," she told me with an air of disinterest.

I did and it was only then that I noticed the girl standing beside Mrs. Peter's desk. She as amazingly tall, taller than me and I am 5'7; she had shoulder-length blonde hair and glasses. She looked like a supermodel. I grinned; Tess was in for it now. Already she was receiving adoring stares from the males in the class.

"Class, we have a new student, her name is Sara Torpin and she just moved her from Wisconsin. I'm sure you will all make her feel welcome."

Looking at the guys I could see that half of them were already formulating ways of making Sara feel really welcome.

            Sara eventually took a seat next to mine and we made introductions.

"Hi, I'm Sara, nice to meet you," she said kindly.

"Liz," I replied, "have you gotten your schedule yet?"

"Yeah"

"Can I see it?" I asked

"Sure," she said as she handed it to me.

My jaw dropped when I saw it. We had every single class together. Hardly anyone was in one or two classes together, like Emma and I in history. Having every class together was completely bizarre.  Now that I look back I should have seen the air of nervousness that passed over her features when I pointed this out, all I saw, though, was how she seemed happy that someone could show her where all of her classes were. I couldn't blame her; our school was kind of confusing to a newbie. Shaped like a pentagon and it had two stories. Classes were in one of 5 halls on each floor so you could see why it was crazy when the bell rung.

            For the next couple of classes we hung out until 2:00 when the rally began. In order to generate the huge amount of cheer, pep, life, and energy you have to have I discovered my secret weapon; espresso shots. I bring them in a coffee mug and down them about a half hour before the rally itself. It helps to make the time fly by although I have been described by Em as, and I quote "daffy duck on Crack."

            The faculty usually released us early after rallies, so Em and I started towards my house.

"Hey, wait up," I heard

Sara had sidled up next to us, keeping pace.

"Where are you two headed?" she asked

"Oh, sorry," she blushed, "I haven't properly introduced myself, I'm Sara" she said as she turned to Em.

"I haven't seen you before," replied Em.

"Yep, I'm fresh off the farm from Wisconsin-my family just moved here yesterday."

I broke in "hey Em- Sara and I have every single class together"

"Tres Weird, eh?"

"Tres"

"Anyway- Em and I are headed over to my house to chill out and make some choco chip cookies, wanna come? We can rent a movie and have a girls night out, the 'rents are gone visiting Grandma in Glendale, so it would be just us" I offered

"Sure that will be great," Sara said happily, "I'll go home and get a few movies, my dad has tons of new releases"

"Great, see ya there then?"

"Yeah, bye" said Sara as she ran off.

            By now I should have seen the clues,1) every class together,2) she knew where I lived since she didn't need directions.

So we all get together at my house and we are watching "The Matrix" again because Em has this obsession with Keanu Reeves. There was a knock at the door and I opened it. That was when all hell broke loose. A few men came rushing in and I was pulled out. The last thing I remembered seeing was a face in front of my eyes, Sara's face, then I felt the cold pinch of a needle in my arm and I fell into darkness.

            "Time for Break" the overhead system announces…

Finally, I think, as two armed guards lead me to the open room with wide windows (bullet proof of course) and I look around hoping and praying that he is here.. I see exactly who I want and run to be in his arms…

"I missed you Max"….