Chapter 45 – Chloe's Demise
Liz was helping Maria and Isabel clean up the house after their meeting when all of a sudden she had a flash.
She was standing in the middle of what seemed to be a deserted road. It was dark out and the only available light was coming from the moon above. She wasn't able to see anything around her except for the cornfields on either side of the highway until the lights of an oncoming vehicle reflected off an upended vehicle in the ditch. The car drove on by, not seeing the accident that had occurred on the road just a few short minutes prior. Fear gripped her as she recognized the vehicle as Chloe's. Approaching the car she tripped on some gravel and using the moonlight she noticed a huge hole in the middle of the road. Going around the hole she moved towards the ditch where she saw Zan and Mandy in the back seat, hanging from their seatbelts, their only saving grace. They were each bloodied and beat up pretty bad, but at least they were stirring. Liz moved over to the driver's side and panic seized her. Chloe was in pretty bad shape. She was also hanging from her seatbelt, but it looked like she had hit the steering wheel in the process and there were lacerations across her forehead where she was bleeding profusely.
Pulling herself out of this nightmarish vision and dropping the plate she was holding Liz screamed "MAX!!!"
She didn't have to explain the situation, because Max witnessed the same vision and he was instantly at Liz's side. "I know. Let's go. We've got to go get Clark."
"What's going on?" Maria and Isabel exclaimed as the rest of the group entered the living room.
"There's no time. Chloe, Zan and Mandy were in an accident" and without any explanation, Max and Liz were out the door, followed closely by Michael, Maria, Isabel, Kyle and Jesse. They got into the van as Max pulled out of the driveway.
Kent Farm
"Hey Clark, how about a game of B-Ball?" Pete suggested holding up a basketball in his hand.
"Sure" Clark agreed.
"No super powers!" Pete said laying down the rules. Clark just grinned; grabbing the ball from Pete and dribbling it up to the basket he jumped up and slam-dunked it.
"Showoff"
Back on the Road
Not able to find his voice, Zan called out in his mind, 'Mandy, are you alright?'
At first there wasn't a reply, but then he heard a faint voice, 'Zan, my head really hurts and I can't feel my legs.'
Zan was finally able to open his eyes to the salty feel of blood running into them stinging them in the process. He raised his hand to wipe away what he could and looked over at Mandy. She was hanging upside down just like he was, her matted hair reaching for the ground below. Her legs were pinned under Chloe's seat and he could see a bone sliver sticking out of her leg.
He then took in his own situation. He was cut and bruised, but no serious injuries. "Hold on Mandy, I'll get us out of this" he said aloud, as he reached for the release to his seatbelt, pressing it and falling to the ground below. He then looked towards the front seat and called out, "Chloe" but there was no response. Fear struck him. He maneuvered around and faced Mandy.
"This is going to hurt," he warned. He released her seatbelt as she dropped into his arms. She screamed out in pain, as her leg was jostled around. "I'm sorry," he kept saying to her over and over again, as he shimmied out from underneath the vehicle and pulled her along as well. Once they were free, he laid his hands on her leg, healing it and then he moved to the driver's side.
Chloe was still unconscious, hanging upside down. The sight really scared Zan. "Mandy, I need you to call out for Clark and my dad. We need their help. Chloe needs their help."
Mandy concentrated and sent out her message, not sure if they heard it or not. Her head was throbbing from the unhealed lacerations, but at least her leg wasn't hurting anymore. Zan proceeded to unbuckle Chloe from her seat and pulled her from the vehicle. Once she was free he went to work. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he started at her head and worked his way down. Trying to repair what he could. Mandy sat at his side, lending him any energy she could.
Back on the Kent farm
Pete had the ball and was dribbling around Clark, when Clark felt a buzz in his head. Not defending the basket, Clark closed his eye and concentrated on the faint voice in his head. It was Mandy. All he could gather was that they were in trouble.
"Earth to Clark. Are you in there" Pete said, tapping his friend on the shoulder.
"Something's wrong" Clark said, as both he and Pete turned towards the driveway as Max's van pulled in and pulled right up to Clark as Max got out of the vehicle.
"Max, I just got this faint message from Mandy, what's going on?" questioned Clark.
"I got the message too on our way over here, but before that Liz had a vision. They were in an accident. I need to get there quick" Max said.
"Okay, come with me" and then Clark scooped up Max as he took to the sky.
"Oh my God Clark! I didn't think you'd fly me there" exclaimed Max as he closed his eyes. The helicopter ride was his first experience flying, but this was a totally different experience and it was so unexpected and scary. Finally gaining some confidence, Max opened his eyes as Clark flew them above the Kansas cornfields, scanning the ground below looking for the vehicle. "There it is!" he said, moving them towards the vehicle and then he saw the hole. What the heck happened? He thought to himself, but there was no time for reasoning. He saw the kids lying on the ground next to Chloe's lifeless body. He landed with Max and they both hurried over to them.
Zan was spent. He didn't have any more energy to expend. His head was pounding and he was on the verge of passing out, when he saw Clark flying in with his father. Max ran to his son's side as Clark went to Chloe's. He felt for a pulse and scanned her body. "She has a faint pulse and there's a lot of internal bleeding."
Max went to Chloe's other side and got down close and tried to awaken her. "Chloe, I need you to look at me."
Clark lay down next to her, whispering in her ear to come back to him. Chloe heard his voice and then she heard Max's. She had to open her eyes. She concentrated the best that she could and was able to open one of her eyes. That's all it took for Max to form a connection. He went to work. He got to see Chloe as a little girl and felt her disappointment when her mother left, then he saw her when she moved to Smallville and joined up with Pete and Clark and how she felt about Clark back then. He then witnessed the spring formal Clark and her attended and the disappointment following when he went after Lana. Time moved forward and there was a scene where she saw Clark catching a car and then her first trip to the Fortress and learning Clark's secret and then things got personal, but Max wasn't going to turn back until she was completely healed. He got to see the intimate encounter in the barn loft as well as Lana's interruption. Max finally released her and sat back. He was drained.
"Will she be okay?" Clark asked.
"There was a lot of damage, but I believe we've taken care of the worst of it."
"Dad, did I do it wrong?" Zan asked.
"What do you mean?" Max asked exhausted.
"I didn't have to have her open her eyes, I just laid my hands on her" explained Zan.
"We're you able to form a connection?" asked Max,
Zan blushed, "I'll take that as a yes" Max said understanding what Zan had witnessed. "I find it easier to form a connection if I can make eye contact. You may not have to do that. I don't know, but if you were able to form a connection, then I think you're the only reason we still have Chloe around." And then Max looked over towards Mandy and laid his hand on her head, healing her cuts and bruises as well as Zan's. Soon, they heard mumbling.
"Clark" came a muffled voice. "Clark?"
"I'm here sweetheart," Clark said, cradling Chloe in his arms.
"I was floating through the stars. It was amazing," she said dreamily. Clark looked up at Max, concern spread across his face.
"That's part of the healing process. We have to connect to the individual and during the healing process; there's an exchange of memories. She was picking up on both Zan and my memories, just like we saw some of her memories."
Fear crossed Clark's face as Max said, "And anything Zan or I see in a healing is kept between us, right Zan?"
"Yes" Zan said sitting at Mandy's side.
"Oh, and then there's Liz too, because she was there as I was healing Chloe, but she'll be discreet."
"Thank you" Clark said, as he held Chloe close to him. "You scared me."
"You can't get rid of me that easily," Chloe said coyly.
Soon the group saw the oncoming headlights as Pete found his way to the accident site and then he noticed the hole in the highway and swerved unexpectedly, missing it.
"Whoa!" and "Watch Out!" among other screams of excitement was all Max and Clark heard as the van barely missed the hole. Pete parked the van on the side of the road as its occupants got out. Looking at the upended vehicle in the ditch sent worry down each of their spines until they made it to the other side of the vehicle and saw Clark holding onto Chloe and Zan holding onto Mandy. Everyone seemed to be okay. Max got up off the ground and met Liz. "I think they're just a little bit shaken up, but they'll be okay."
Then Liz communicated, 'Max, she was so close to death.'
'Yeah, I know. I was really scared I wouldn't be able to pull her back.'
'Do you think you changed her' questioned Liz.
'It would really surprise me if she didn't change because Zan was working on her first.'
'Oh' Liz communicated, 'I wonder how this will play out' Max shrugged when he heard Michael.
"Hey Maxwell, where do you think this hole came from?"
The group gathered around the hole and peered into it, looking for some reasoning, when Chloe came up behind them with Clark and said, "Right before the accident, I heard this big boom and then this streak of light came flying in our direction, causing me to swerve. That's how we ended up in the ditch."
Clark scanned the hole with his x-ray vision, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. No meteor rock or ship, not even a trace of Kryptonite. "There's nothing in there," Clark said as everyone stared into the empty hole confused.
"We really need to fill in this hole, before someone else hits it and ends up in the ditch" suggested Pete.
Isabel, Michael and Kyle laid their hands on the ground, as it came to life and filled itself in as the bits and pieces melded together. Once done, it was hard to determine that there was ever a gap in the road.
Then Chloe asked looking at her car, "How am I going to get Mandy and myself home?"
Clark went over to the ditch, grabbed Chloe's car and righted it as Michael and Kyle went to work repairing the infractions left from the accident. When they were done, Chloe's car was put back to together as if she just pulled it off new dealerships show lot.
"Thanks guys. Well, it's getting really late and I need to get back to Metropolis" Chloe said trying to get into her car.
"Not so fast" Clark said, sliding into the driver's seat. You didn't think I'd let you go back alone tonight after what happened. Did you?"
Chloe smiled as she got into the passenger's seat and Mandy got into the back. Zan stayed back and said goodbye to his father and then joined Mandy. Clark gave one final look at the spot where the hole used to be and then drove off towards Metropolis. The rest of the group got into the van and made their way back to Smallville. This had definitely been an eventful evening.
Just after the accident, a black shadowy figure had crept out of the hole and was now staring out from the other side of the road, hovering in the shadows. Lex had just witnessed the whole scene. Who were these people? He had waited his whole life to learn the secrets Clark Kent was hiding and had recently learned he was actually an alien, but he wasn't the only one hiding secrets. The young boy looked like he was healing Chloe and then Clark flew in…that baffled the mind too. Clark could fly. Anyways, Clark flew in with this other guy who completed the process. And then they resurfaced the road and Clark lifted Chloe's car out of the ditch. Was there anything he couldn't do? And were these other people meteor infected or could they be aliens too? Because all they did was lay their hands on the car and it repaired itself. These people would be definite assets in his research. As the groups went in their separate directions, Lex used the natural abilities that came with his new body by zooming off in the direction of Luthor Mansion. He had to find Zod and use that black crystal because he didn't want to live the rest of his life as a phantom.
