Summer 2001
" What are we going to do?"
The shaky question had been one that no one had had the strength to voice, and now, it seemed to sap what little of it was left right out of the room.
Liz Parker shut her eyes, glad that for the moment at least, her back was to Maria and Kyle. At least for now, they wouldn't see that she was as lost as they were, that she was just as scared and more unsure about what their next step would be than she had ever been about anything in her entire life. Was this was Max had felt like the whole time? Confused, uncertain, and scared to death that each decision he made would cost someone his or her life?
Her eyes flew open.
On that count at least, Max was blameless. It wasn't he who had made the decision that had changed the path they were on because that sin had been all hers. She might not have killed Alex directly, but her hands were stained as red as the one who had.
The moment that Tess's treachery had been discovered, there had been a frantic race through the desert, a mad scramble up the rock formation and then wasted minutes of pounding on a solid stone face. Miraculously, Kyle's frustrated waving about had drawn forth the familiar silver handprint that had been the start of so much, and there had only been a beat before Liz had placed her shaking hand on it. Had they been less desperate, it had surely been a moment to ponder the implications of what had just happened, but as soon as the barrier had slid back, they were scrambling through. In seconds they had rushed to Isabel's pod and tumbling into the chamber. The noise was deafening, and Maria was shrieking Michael's name in terror could, the three of them slipping and sliding as the shook the world down around them. A particularly violent shudder knocked them all to the ground, and frantically, Liz lifted her head to see what had happened to the Granolith.
It was still intact, they were still inside, and Max was staring right her, eyes wide with fear for her safety.
Time stood still as they had locked gazes through the shimmering field cast over the four hybrids. In that one instant, in the moment that had seemed to last forever, the magic that had once made them Max and Liz, the single look that could communicate everything they were feeling, everything they needed to say, flared to life one more time.
And then she knew.
It too late, it couldn't be stopped; they were going to leave the planet with a killer, for God only knew what terrible fate. This time, though, this time, she wouldn't give up without a fight. Even as Kyle and Maria screamed at her to stop, as Max raged silently behind the force field for her to back down, Liz managed to leap to her feet and reach into the field surrounding the Granolith…and her hand had made it through.
Max's hand touched hers for the tiniest sliver of time.
Then the world had exploded in a roar of sound, and light and pain. There were a thousand voices, shrill and piercing and then one so ancient and ageless echoing in her head all at once, consuming everything, blocking the world out so much that when she had finally awoken, with Maria half sobbing next to her, and Kyle near frenetic with concern …they were gone.
They were gone.
Liz squared her shoulders. They were gone, and now, it was up to her to make sure that Maria and Kyle didn't pay any more than they already had for her mistakes. She had saved the world, but managed to ruin so many lives in the process. Maria and Michael had been separated. Kyle had been forced to be an accessory to a cover up. And Alex…as usual, her throat closed over at the thought of her absent best friend, but she breathed through the pain. She would have no more of it. When she turned to face Maria and Kyle, she kept her face composed and calm.
" We're going to go on like normal people would. We're going to answer the police's questions, we're going to go to their funerals, and we're going to go back to school. And when everything has died down, we're going to make sure everything else…is taken care of." She chose her words carefully, mindful of the fact that they might not be alone, that they were being watched. She had to be careful now. No one else could get hurt.
Logic, a friend who had been much more familiar to her before a bullet almost ended her life, was ruling now. In her mind, Liz was running through a list of the things they had to do to throw suspicion off them, a list of the things they had to hide, details they had to remember in order to stay safe. Miraculously, logic, and her fierce desire to ensure that no more suffering came to those she loved dampened the gnawing ache in her heart.
It was a relief to feel something other than pain for once.
Kyle and Maria stared at her, dumbfounded. Each was wondering where the girl who had been almost catatonic for the first day after the hybrids had blasted off planet had gone, but then they had seemed to accept her words.
It was just the three of them now.
FIN.