A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER
A Roswell/Dark Angel crossover fanfiction
April 30th 1999, Roswell, New Mexico.
"Hey, Maria," said Max Evans, 19, uneasily as he approached Maria DeLuca, also 19.
"Hi." She was mad, he could tell. Then again, he couldn't blame her.
"Have you talked to Liz?"
"No."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I wish I could have done as I'd planned, but this was a major opportunity for me."
"I understand that, Max. But put yourself in her place. She transferred to that school to be with you and now you're leaving?"
"I'm aware of that. But this is..."
"I know, it's great, okay? But it still stinks for her."
"I know that."
At that moment, Nancy Parker came into the Crashdown dining room.
"Hey, Mrs. Parker," said Max and Maria.
"Have you seen Liz?" she asked, her tone obviously panicked.
"Something wrong?" asked Maria.
"I think she ran away..." she whispered.
"WHAT?" Maria shouted. Max was speechless.
"I... went to her room... to see if she was okay..." she started, stealing a quick glance towards Max. "... but she wasn't there... I was about to leave and I saw... a sheet stuck to the wall by her door..." She showed them.
"Mom, dad. I need to get out of here. Too much has happened and I just can't stay. I'll try to keep in contact with you. I'll call as soon as I've found a place to stay. Please don't worry too much, I'll be fine. I love you, Liz."
*
May 2nd 1999, somewhere in Wyoming.
Liz Parker, 19, looked around the small apartment. It wasn't exactly luxury, but it would have to do. She had a job interview in about half an hour. She quickly left her new home and when on the street, she hailed a taxi. When it came, she gave the driver the address. She was too busy reviewing what she was going to say, she didn't notice the driver wasn't going where she'd told him to. When the car stopped, she finally looked up.
"Where are we?" she asked.
*
"19-year-old female, she was found in an alley..." started the paramedic as she was wheeled into the emergency room.
"Miss? Miss, can you hear me?" the doctor asked. She moaned as a response. She looked really bad. Her clothes were torn and she had a large cut across her left cheek. She was so weak, she couldn't remember what happened. Then she passed out.
When she regained consciousness, she felt slightly better. She was on a bed, in a hospital room, she knew that. How she'd gotten there, she didn't know. Then, slowly, it came back to her. The driver attacked her. He took her money, all of it. He left her in the alley. That's where she realized she was when the car stopped. If only she'd paid attention to where they were going, she thought.
*
The next day, she was released from the hospital. When she came home, she looked in the mirror. She would have that scar... probably her whole life... That night, she cried herself to sleep.
In the morning, she left early to start looking for work. She had to walk, since she had no money left. Also because she didn't want to take another taxi. She was done with them, never again...
All day, she looked, but found nothing. And then...
"Excuse me, Miss?" She turned to see who was talking to her and found herself in front of two tall men.
"Y... yes?"
"How would you like to gain a large sum of money and be part of a scientific breakthrough?"
"What?"
"We are looking for young women to test a new... product."
"Uh... I don't know..." said Liz, slowly backing away.
"Please, don't be frightened, we mean you no harm. Think about it, all right? If you change your mind, call this number," said the second man, handing her a card. And with that, they were gone.
The next night, after another exhausting day of searching, she picked up the card and stared at it for a long time. Why not, she thought. She had nothing to lose, after all.
*
Two days later, she was on a bus with a bunch of other girls, all about her age. Every one of them remained silent during the trip, except for a few whom whispered to the girls sitting near them. Liz was one of them, talking to this girl named Gina. Neither knew what this whole thing was about, but they had both come for the same reason: they needed money.
They couldn't see where they were heading, because the windows were too dark to see through. All were thinking the same thing, although none said it aloud: What had they gotten themselves into. They would soon find out part of it.
Three hours later, the bus stopped. The door opened and a man, Liz thought he looked to be in his thirties, came aboard.
"Welcome ladies, to Manticore. My name is Donald Lydecker, I run this place, so you listen to me. You will be escorted to your quarters, and I will meet with you in the mess hall in two hours." With that, he left. The next step happened so fast, they weren't sure what was going on.
Two men came on the bus, and Liz drew in a scared breath. They started yelling, "GET UP! GET UP! OUT! OUT! OUT!" The girls hurried out, not wanting to find out what would happen if they didn't listen. Once off the bus, they were split in two groups of thirty each. Gina was with her. They had to all but run to catch up with the men as they yelled to follow them. They were taken into the base and into a large room with thirty beds in it. And that was it. Just the beds. Nothing else. As she passed the door, she saw what was written on it... X5. She had a feeling things would get extremely worse before they got better.
She managed to get a bed next to Gina's. The two girls remained close to each other at all time, both shaking as they observed their surroundings. The other twenty-eight girls were equally frightened. The two men came in again, and placed a large box on the ground.
"Line up and come to pick up your gowns," shouted one of them. Unsure of what else to do, the girls obliged.
"Now change into them." The girls did as they were told, trying to hide themselves as much as they could from the men who observed them. Liz and Gina glanced at each other once they were done. Before they could say anything, the men barked out another order.
"Pair up." Then, they escorted the first pair out of the room.
Every ten minutes, another pair was taken away. Liz and Gina were fourth. As they left the room, they came across the first two girls. They looked so different. Their hair had been cut to their chins. Liz established eye contact with one of them. The girl indicated their bare ankles, as they were left barefoot. She saw it just as she was about to cross them. A barcode... tattooed on their left ankles. Explained why they were limping. Liz looked to Gina, and she had seen it too.
Some time later, Liz, Gina, and the other girls were sitting in the mess hall. All had the same haircut, all had a barcode on their ankles. Finally, Lydecker entered.
"You are the X5 group. Remember that. You will be on this base for ten months. After that, you will be returned to wherever you came from." That was the first good thing they had heard ever since they arrived.
"Now someone will explain to you what will be happening through the course of your stay here." And he left. Liz didn't like the sound of it.
*
Three months later
She had been at Manticore for three months now. And she had been right. It had only gotten worse day after day. She looked down to her belly, which had taken a small roundness by then. She was pregnant. That was the thing that shocked her the most when she found out what they were on the base for. They were going to be impregnated. Tested on, monitored, they were watched 24/7. At first, she was furious. How could she have let this happen? She was almost angry at the life inside her. But as time went by, as her body changed and she started to show, she found that she had become attached to her. She was told it was a girl. Knowing what it was had made it so real for her. There was no ignoring it anymore. She was going to be a mother.
And every time that thought came to her, she had to remind herself she wouldn't get to keep her child. They would keep her and she would be taken back to her little apartment, which she didn't think would be free when she got to it again. As she sat on her bed, in the position she'd found herself to adopt more and more, with her left hand on her belly and right hand on the barcode on her ankle, she thought something that surprised her. Escape. She could do it... not at the moment... but at some point. She'd take her time, observe the halls, and try to think of a way out. She'd continue to act as if nothing was wrong, but one night, she'd leave. "Hey, said Gina as she sat next to her.
"Hi." "What are you thinking?" she asked, her hand at her belly as well.
"I wanna get out of here."
"Yeah, like we don't all want the same thing..."
"We'll get out of here. You and me. In a few weeks, you'll see."
*
Four months later
"Come on!" whispered Liz. The two girls were sneaking across the halls of Manticore, with a little trouble walking, understandable as they were in their seventh month. Their bellies had grown tremendously since they first started planning their escape. They should have done it months ago, but the opportunity never presented itself until that day.
"We've been walking for an hour, Liz, we have to get out of here before they realize we've left our beds. It won't take long now."
"Keep your voice down!" Liz urged. Half a second later, the alarm sounded.
"No!" Gina whispered.
"Hurry up, we're almost there!" said Liz as they passed a corner.
"THERE!" they heard. They'd been found. They started running for the door.
"Stop now!" one of the guards yelled. Scared for her daughter, Liz stopped for a second and hesitated. Gina, on the other hand, didn't stop.
A single gunshot right to the heart. Gina hit the ground, dead.
"NO!" Liz screamed. She looked back to the one who'd fired at her friend. Lydecker.
"Please! Help her! Save her! Save her baby! Please, do something!"
"Take her to delivery, it might not be too late to save it," said Lydecker, indicating Gina's still form, floating in her blood.
"And take this one to solitary. I don't want her to be able to get out of here, is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," the two guards shouted. Before she could do anything, one of them went to Gina and the other grabbed at her arm and started dragging her away.
"NO! GINA! LET ME GO!" She struggled and struggled as the guard pulled her across halls and finally took her into a room and strapped her to a bed.
"You're lucky you and your baby are still alive. What were you thinking?" said the guard before leaving. He was one of the only ones who showed a shred of compassion from time to time, although they never did in front of their superiors. After he left, Liz spent hours screaming and struggling against her restraints. Finally she stopped, as she fell asleep.
*
Two months later
She was now full-term and they were coming to induce her into labor. The last two months had been hard. She'd found out, thanks to one of the people at Manticore, a woman named Hannah, that Gina's baby had been delivered safely, a baby girl, born ten minutes after her mother had died. All over the base, the girls who had come at the same time as Liz and Gina were giving birth. And now it was her turn.
Two guards came into the room. She got up peacefully and followed. But the moment she was brought into the room, she started screaming and tried to escape. Finally, they picked her up, laid her down on the bed and strapped her down. She kept pulling at the straps but soon found herself feeling dizzy. They had drugged her. Just before she passed out, she heard the first sound she'd heard that made her feel her heart beat happily. The cries of her baby girl. And then her world went black.
*
Over the course of the next two days, although she was unaware of the actual time elapsed, she came to and passed out, came to and passed out... When she finally came out of it, she woke up in a room very different to the one she knew at Manticore. A window, with curtains, a sofa, a table with a chair, a gentle light at the ceiling, blue walls, and a comfortable bed.
"Good morning," said the woman, about 30, as she came in the room.
"Wh... where am I?" asked Liz.
"You're at Snowhill."
"Snowhill?" said Liz, letting the word out.
"Snowhill psychiatric institute," the woman explained.
"No... no... where's my daughter? Where have you taken her? I don't belong here!" Liz said, attempting to scream, but still too weak, it was more of a high-pitched mumble.
A Roswell/Dark Angel crossover fanfiction
April 30th 1999, Roswell, New Mexico.
"Hey, Maria," said Max Evans, 19, uneasily as he approached Maria DeLuca, also 19.
"Hi." She was mad, he could tell. Then again, he couldn't blame her.
"Have you talked to Liz?"
"No."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I wish I could have done as I'd planned, but this was a major opportunity for me."
"I understand that, Max. But put yourself in her place. She transferred to that school to be with you and now you're leaving?"
"I'm aware of that. But this is..."
"I know, it's great, okay? But it still stinks for her."
"I know that."
At that moment, Nancy Parker came into the Crashdown dining room.
"Hey, Mrs. Parker," said Max and Maria.
"Have you seen Liz?" she asked, her tone obviously panicked.
"Something wrong?" asked Maria.
"I think she ran away..." she whispered.
"WHAT?" Maria shouted. Max was speechless.
"I... went to her room... to see if she was okay..." she started, stealing a quick glance towards Max. "... but she wasn't there... I was about to leave and I saw... a sheet stuck to the wall by her door..." She showed them.
"Mom, dad. I need to get out of here. Too much has happened and I just can't stay. I'll try to keep in contact with you. I'll call as soon as I've found a place to stay. Please don't worry too much, I'll be fine. I love you, Liz."
*
May 2nd 1999, somewhere in Wyoming.
Liz Parker, 19, looked around the small apartment. It wasn't exactly luxury, but it would have to do. She had a job interview in about half an hour. She quickly left her new home and when on the street, she hailed a taxi. When it came, she gave the driver the address. She was too busy reviewing what she was going to say, she didn't notice the driver wasn't going where she'd told him to. When the car stopped, she finally looked up.
"Where are we?" she asked.
*
"19-year-old female, she was found in an alley..." started the paramedic as she was wheeled into the emergency room.
"Miss? Miss, can you hear me?" the doctor asked. She moaned as a response. She looked really bad. Her clothes were torn and she had a large cut across her left cheek. She was so weak, she couldn't remember what happened. Then she passed out.
When she regained consciousness, she felt slightly better. She was on a bed, in a hospital room, she knew that. How she'd gotten there, she didn't know. Then, slowly, it came back to her. The driver attacked her. He took her money, all of it. He left her in the alley. That's where she realized she was when the car stopped. If only she'd paid attention to where they were going, she thought.
*
The next day, she was released from the hospital. When she came home, she looked in the mirror. She would have that scar... probably her whole life... That night, she cried herself to sleep.
In the morning, she left early to start looking for work. She had to walk, since she had no money left. Also because she didn't want to take another taxi. She was done with them, never again...
All day, she looked, but found nothing. And then...
"Excuse me, Miss?" She turned to see who was talking to her and found herself in front of two tall men.
"Y... yes?"
"How would you like to gain a large sum of money and be part of a scientific breakthrough?"
"What?"
"We are looking for young women to test a new... product."
"Uh... I don't know..." said Liz, slowly backing away.
"Please, don't be frightened, we mean you no harm. Think about it, all right? If you change your mind, call this number," said the second man, handing her a card. And with that, they were gone.
The next night, after another exhausting day of searching, she picked up the card and stared at it for a long time. Why not, she thought. She had nothing to lose, after all.
*
Two days later, she was on a bus with a bunch of other girls, all about her age. Every one of them remained silent during the trip, except for a few whom whispered to the girls sitting near them. Liz was one of them, talking to this girl named Gina. Neither knew what this whole thing was about, but they had both come for the same reason: they needed money.
They couldn't see where they were heading, because the windows were too dark to see through. All were thinking the same thing, although none said it aloud: What had they gotten themselves into. They would soon find out part of it.
Three hours later, the bus stopped. The door opened and a man, Liz thought he looked to be in his thirties, came aboard.
"Welcome ladies, to Manticore. My name is Donald Lydecker, I run this place, so you listen to me. You will be escorted to your quarters, and I will meet with you in the mess hall in two hours." With that, he left. The next step happened so fast, they weren't sure what was going on.
Two men came on the bus, and Liz drew in a scared breath. They started yelling, "GET UP! GET UP! OUT! OUT! OUT!" The girls hurried out, not wanting to find out what would happen if they didn't listen. Once off the bus, they were split in two groups of thirty each. Gina was with her. They had to all but run to catch up with the men as they yelled to follow them. They were taken into the base and into a large room with thirty beds in it. And that was it. Just the beds. Nothing else. As she passed the door, she saw what was written on it... X5. She had a feeling things would get extremely worse before they got better.
She managed to get a bed next to Gina's. The two girls remained close to each other at all time, both shaking as they observed their surroundings. The other twenty-eight girls were equally frightened. The two men came in again, and placed a large box on the ground.
"Line up and come to pick up your gowns," shouted one of them. Unsure of what else to do, the girls obliged.
"Now change into them." The girls did as they were told, trying to hide themselves as much as they could from the men who observed them. Liz and Gina glanced at each other once they were done. Before they could say anything, the men barked out another order.
"Pair up." Then, they escorted the first pair out of the room.
Every ten minutes, another pair was taken away. Liz and Gina were fourth. As they left the room, they came across the first two girls. They looked so different. Their hair had been cut to their chins. Liz established eye contact with one of them. The girl indicated their bare ankles, as they were left barefoot. She saw it just as she was about to cross them. A barcode... tattooed on their left ankles. Explained why they were limping. Liz looked to Gina, and she had seen it too.
Some time later, Liz, Gina, and the other girls were sitting in the mess hall. All had the same haircut, all had a barcode on their ankles. Finally, Lydecker entered.
"You are the X5 group. Remember that. You will be on this base for ten months. After that, you will be returned to wherever you came from." That was the first good thing they had heard ever since they arrived.
"Now someone will explain to you what will be happening through the course of your stay here." And he left. Liz didn't like the sound of it.
*
Three months later
She had been at Manticore for three months now. And she had been right. It had only gotten worse day after day. She looked down to her belly, which had taken a small roundness by then. She was pregnant. That was the thing that shocked her the most when she found out what they were on the base for. They were going to be impregnated. Tested on, monitored, they were watched 24/7. At first, she was furious. How could she have let this happen? She was almost angry at the life inside her. But as time went by, as her body changed and she started to show, she found that she had become attached to her. She was told it was a girl. Knowing what it was had made it so real for her. There was no ignoring it anymore. She was going to be a mother.
And every time that thought came to her, she had to remind herself she wouldn't get to keep her child. They would keep her and she would be taken back to her little apartment, which she didn't think would be free when she got to it again. As she sat on her bed, in the position she'd found herself to adopt more and more, with her left hand on her belly and right hand on the barcode on her ankle, she thought something that surprised her. Escape. She could do it... not at the moment... but at some point. She'd take her time, observe the halls, and try to think of a way out. She'd continue to act as if nothing was wrong, but one night, she'd leave. "Hey, said Gina as she sat next to her.
"Hi." "What are you thinking?" she asked, her hand at her belly as well.
"I wanna get out of here."
"Yeah, like we don't all want the same thing..."
"We'll get out of here. You and me. In a few weeks, you'll see."
*
Four months later
"Come on!" whispered Liz. The two girls were sneaking across the halls of Manticore, with a little trouble walking, understandable as they were in their seventh month. Their bellies had grown tremendously since they first started planning their escape. They should have done it months ago, but the opportunity never presented itself until that day.
"We've been walking for an hour, Liz, we have to get out of here before they realize we've left our beds. It won't take long now."
"Keep your voice down!" Liz urged. Half a second later, the alarm sounded.
"No!" Gina whispered.
"Hurry up, we're almost there!" said Liz as they passed a corner.
"THERE!" they heard. They'd been found. They started running for the door.
"Stop now!" one of the guards yelled. Scared for her daughter, Liz stopped for a second and hesitated. Gina, on the other hand, didn't stop.
A single gunshot right to the heart. Gina hit the ground, dead.
"NO!" Liz screamed. She looked back to the one who'd fired at her friend. Lydecker.
"Please! Help her! Save her! Save her baby! Please, do something!"
"Take her to delivery, it might not be too late to save it," said Lydecker, indicating Gina's still form, floating in her blood.
"And take this one to solitary. I don't want her to be able to get out of here, is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," the two guards shouted. Before she could do anything, one of them went to Gina and the other grabbed at her arm and started dragging her away.
"NO! GINA! LET ME GO!" She struggled and struggled as the guard pulled her across halls and finally took her into a room and strapped her to a bed.
"You're lucky you and your baby are still alive. What were you thinking?" said the guard before leaving. He was one of the only ones who showed a shred of compassion from time to time, although they never did in front of their superiors. After he left, Liz spent hours screaming and struggling against her restraints. Finally she stopped, as she fell asleep.
*
Two months later
She was now full-term and they were coming to induce her into labor. The last two months had been hard. She'd found out, thanks to one of the people at Manticore, a woman named Hannah, that Gina's baby had been delivered safely, a baby girl, born ten minutes after her mother had died. All over the base, the girls who had come at the same time as Liz and Gina were giving birth. And now it was her turn.
Two guards came into the room. She got up peacefully and followed. But the moment she was brought into the room, she started screaming and tried to escape. Finally, they picked her up, laid her down on the bed and strapped her down. She kept pulling at the straps but soon found herself feeling dizzy. They had drugged her. Just before she passed out, she heard the first sound she'd heard that made her feel her heart beat happily. The cries of her baby girl. And then her world went black.
*
Over the course of the next two days, although she was unaware of the actual time elapsed, she came to and passed out, came to and passed out... When she finally came out of it, she woke up in a room very different to the one she knew at Manticore. A window, with curtains, a sofa, a table with a chair, a gentle light at the ceiling, blue walls, and a comfortable bed.
"Good morning," said the woman, about 30, as she came in the room.
"Wh... where am I?" asked Liz.
"You're at Snowhill."
"Snowhill?" said Liz, letting the word out.
"Snowhill psychiatric institute," the woman explained.
"No... no... where's my daughter? Where have you taken her? I don't belong here!" Liz said, attempting to scream, but still too weak, it was more of a high-pitched mumble.