Goodness! I am so happy there are a few kind souls still willing to read DA stories! So without further ado…

Chapter Two

August

"Have I mentioned how much I love it when you ask for help?"

"Shut it," Max snapped. "We just need a distraction."

"We need to get to the safe house," he countered.

They were pinned down by White's men, bullets flying just inches over their heads where they were crouched behind a mound of brick and garbage that used to be a building.

Since the Jam Pony incident, it was harder to get out of TC, but it wasn't impossible and bringing in supplies was a constant concern. Alec might be griping about getting shot at, but whenever she asked, he was there, front and center and his contacts and deal-making skills had become invaluable.

While things had changed, they had also stayed the same. White's people and the Sector Police still tried to pick them off on sight. As a result, they'd decided to set up safe houses in several spots around the city for anyone caught outside TC, and there was one close by. She and Alec just had to get to it. They'd been spotted on their way to a meet and hadn't even got the supplies yet.

"We're never going to get out of here if we don't do something," Alec said, looking around them in annoyance. There definitely wasn't much to see. Rubble blocked them in too many places and White's men were shooting at them from everywhere else. "Ok," he took a steadying breath, "I'm going to lay down some suppressing fire." He grasped his gun, readying himself. "You bolt and I'll follow."

Max frowned, but since she wasn't armed, they didn't have much choice as to who was going to try to get White's people to quit firing long enough for them to run for it.

Without waiting for a response, Alec threw himself to one side so he'd have a line of fire and began shooting. Max stood but still kept low and blurred down a nearby alley. A second later, Alec was right behind her. Max kicked open a door and after that it was a chase through abandoned buildings, dilapidated houses, down streets and alleys, through parks, and even one school. On and on it went, until finally the sounds of pursuit fell away.

They ducked down yet another alley and waited to see if White's goons still had their scent. Finally deciding they could relax, Max leaned back against the slimy brick wall. They'd been playing hide and seek for hours and she was beyond done with the game.

Alec fell against the wall beside her and bent forward, his hands on his knees. "I know we're in good shape and all, but even I don't like running that long," he said, sounding a bit winded.

"That's what happens when you're being chased by genetic freaks," Max commented.

"Only fair, I guess since that's kind of us, too." He straightened and mirrored her stance against the wall. "Running from the Sector Cops is just too easy. I always feel kind of sorry for them."

"Well, I don't. Their bullets move faster than they do and will kill us just as dead."

"Fair enough." Alec pushed away from the wall. "Come on. There's another safe house not too far from here. I say we hole up for the night and try to arrange the supply drop again for in the morning."

Max just nodded. She really didn't want to spend the whole night in a dumpy one room apartment with Alec, but she had to admit it was the most reasonable thing for them to do. If they headed back for TC like the cult people would expect them to do, one of White's men might spot them and then the chase would start all over again.

Alec led the way and Max followed, both keeping an eye out for anyone following. The safe houses weren't anything fancy, and they weren't really houses. They'd rented a craphole apartment here and there, places where there was a strict nobody notices anything policy and everybody had the sense to mind their own business.

This particular safe house was an apartment on the top floor of a building that had been a rat's nest even before the Pulse had turned everything back to the stone ages. They climbed an exterior staircase on a neighboring building and jumped to the roof of theirs. None of them bothered with keys. They could all pick a lock as easily as remembering which keys went to which safe house, so they stuck with their tried and true B&E skills.

Alec already had the lock picked to the roof access before Max could say anything about needing to hurry up. To be honest, the last month had been a lot... quieter. Alec did his job, and Max certainly didn't have anything to complain about, but since he'd come back with the cure, he'd just been... quiet.

Max took her turn opening the door to the apartment. It had been used several times since they'd chosen it. The apartment was empty except for a couple of blankets, and some shelf-stable food items kept in a locked cabinet in case some non-Transgenic decided to crash there. It wasn't meant to be anything other than a place to hide for a few hours and they weren't going to waste resources on it.

Alec closed the door and locked it. "Home sweet home," he muttered. "Or maybe dump crappy dump."

"You wanna go back out there and do another dance with White, be my guest."

Rather than offer a quick comeback, Alec just sighed. He walked around her and grabbed a blanket from the cabinet. He then leaned against the wall, slid down to sit on the floor and began to ball up the blanket, she supposed to use as a pillow. Apparently, he would rather take a nap than talk to her.

"You ok?" Max asked before she could think better of it.

"Yeah, sure," he answered, his tone dull. Not even an "I'm always all right," Max noted. He put the balled up blanket on the floor and slid sideways. He lay down, then spent a few seconds messing with the blanket until he was more comfortable.

"It's just... since you got back..."

"Back?" He cracked one eye open. "Back from where?"

"From wherever you got the cure."

Alec immediately shut down. He closed his eyes, and made a show of settling into his blanket/pillow. "Let it go," he said, and to Max's ears it was almost a plea.

Max crossed her arms and planted her feet. She was normally fine with suppressing emotions and refusing to talk, but she'd let it go too long already. "I've been trying to give you space and all," she said, "but you're still acting weird. Joshua is worried and I promised I'd talk to you so… This is me talking. You wanna tell me what happened?"

"No." He didn't even bother to open his eyes.

"M'I gonna have to beat it out of you?" she asked, going for deadpan.

"Max, we've been running from White's goons for hours. Can we just rest for a while and count ourselves lucky we got away."

"Yeah, we're the luckiest people ever born, or cooked up in a lab as the case may be. Now, talk."

Alec clenched his teeth and sat back up, his movements jerky and angry. He pulled his legs up so he could rest his arms on them, and did his best to look at ease, although he was anything but. She'd been around him enough now to know the difference.

"How's Logan?" he asked, going for a change in subject.

"He's fine. Already had his second shot."

Alec nodded. "Good. Haven't seen him much lately. Figured you two would be thick as thieves."

"He's busy. Eyes Only stuff. Better safe than sorry anyway 'til the virus is done."

He nodded again. "Yeah, I guess," he said, but it didn't sound like he meant it. She didn't know if he was annoyed that she and Logan were still an item at all, or if it was because he'd never understood why she and Logan hadn't been all over each other before the virus kept them apart.

"Logan had another lab verify the stuff you brought back. They said it should work."

Alec sniffed. "It better."

The implication was that the price had been stiff. "How much did it cost?" she asked. "I can pay you back."

"No," he shook his head, "you really can't."

"Just tell me how much. You know I'm good for it."

In answer, Alec scooted back down and laid his head on his makeshift pillow. "Whatever. I'm going to sleep. I don't care what you do, as long as you do it quietly."

With no other choice, Max sat down on the floor opposite Alec. The floor was dirty, but it wasn't anything too bad. She was sweaty and filthy anyway from their chase and she wished she could take a bath, but that would have to wait.

Unfortunately, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. Her shark DNA made sure of that. Instead, she was forced to sit still while Alec took his cat nap. She wished she had something to do, something useful, but she was completely out of luck. She was forced to resort to making mental lists of all the things they needed to do, supplies they needed for TC, contacts they needed to follow up with, etc.

After a while, Max wasn't sure how long, she noticed that Alec was dreaming. He'd been perfectly still at first, his breathing even as he slept, but now his breathing had sped up and he was moving restlessly.

Max considered going to him and trying to wake him, but waking a Transgenic was a good way to get punched. It was just instinct. They had a tendency to come out fighting.

Alec's dream, however, wouldn't let him go. His breathing turned frantic and he twitched, almost like he was trying to run. He let out a whimper, but she couldn't tell whether it was fear, or pain.

Finally, Max couldn't stand it anymore. On hands and knees, she clambered to his side. In one swift movement, she grabbed both wrists, so he couldn't take a swing at her, then she gave him a hard shake.

Alec's eyes popped open, wide like a startled horse. He fought her, but Max kept his wrists locked and after a few seconds, he calmed.

"Max?" He looked around the room in confusion, then seemed to realize where he was.

"Now you wanna tell me what happened when you went to get the cure?"

Alec sagged back to the floor, refusing to look at her. She released him and backed up a few feet. She knew being crowded wasn't going to help.

When he didn't say anything, Max added, "I got all night."

Alec glared at her, but he sat up to face her. "Why do you care?" he demanded. "What difference does it make?"

"Because it does," she snapped. "Things are different now. This isn't like when we were kids. If something's wrong, we all help each other. So get that through your thick Manticore skull."

Alec just shook his head. "You don't want to know, Max."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't," he said more firmly. "If I tell you..."

"What?" she sneered. "Let me guess. You did something stupid and it all went south."

Alec just looked at her, a sad smile on his lips, pain and... something else in his expression. It hurt her to see it.

"What?" she almost shouted. "What happened that's so bad?"

Alec's smile turned grim. "You asked me what it cost to get the cure."

"Yeah."

Alec looked at her, now refusing to break eye contact. "The man who made the cure set the price and it was non-negotiable."

"What was it?" she asked, trepidation filling her.

"He wanted me to kill someone," Alec answered. "So I did."

Cue the dramatic music… More soon…