Blue Roses
Part Four:
"Wait, we can't go," Isabel said suddenly. Max spun around, anger painted on his face. "She's all blue," Isabel said calmly. "Helen's in her alien form. People will notice."
"Good point," Said Max suddenly. He turned towards Helen. "Helen, could you......." But she was gone. Max looked back at Isabel, then to Tess.
"She just disappeared," Tess stammered.
"I did not," Helen said form no where. "Invisibility is an ability I've learned to use. Come, let us go we haven't much time. I will tell you where to go Max, but we must leave. Now!"
Everyone gathered into their cars. Maria, Michael, And Alex went into the Jetta. Max, Isabel, Tess, and invisible Helen went into a jeep. It was a long drive, at least an hour, and far, far out into the desert. Helen did not become visible once, but always whispered directions into Max's ear. Finally, the came upon a white dome, at least four stories high. Max parked the car outside of it, as did Maria, who was following him. Helen became visible again.
"This is what's going to happen," Max said. "Isabel, Michael, and I are going inside with Helen. Tess, Alex, Maria, I need you guys to wait here. We want Liz to get out of there as soon as possible."
"Wait," said Maria. "You just expect me to sit here when my best friend could be dying!"
"No body's going to die tonight," Max proclaimed. "No one." He then turned to Helen, who had opened some secret door. "Come on. Let's go." The three aliens followed Helen in the building leaving Maria in the outside by the car, helpless. Max didn't feel at all guilty about it. Maria was a human. She couldn't defend herself.
"Stay here," Helen said. She gestured for them to wait in a semi-hiddin space under some stairs. She opened a white door and walked into a white room. Distantly, Max could see hundreds of blue-green people walking around. Helen walked up to a small one with long, red hair. Helen kneeled and kissed the woman's feet.
"Where were you," the woman said.
"I was out among the humans," Helen replied. "I was studying, just as you requested mother.(I was out among the humans. I was studying, just as you requested mother)
"Very well," the woman said. Max noticed that she, like Helen, had a fluid-like voice, and that they both spoke very quickly, in an almost musical way. "Go to your room and rest." (Very well. Go to your room and rest.)
"I heard that you have one of the fires," Helen said. "May I see it?" (I heard that you have one of the fires. May I see it?)The woman with red hair nodded.
"It is not a fire, my daughter. The fires are dead. This is but a clone." Helen nodded and the red haired alien speaks. "She is alone in the pit. Go." Helen kneels once more and kissed the floor and then leaves, returning to Max. (It is not a fire, my daughter. The fires are dead. This is but a clone. She is alone in the pit. Go.)
"Do you know where she is?" Max asked.
"Yes," Helen said. "Follow me, but do not speak." Helen turned quickly, and Max ran to follow her. Her head was bowed in concentration. Max wished that he knew what was said between her and the alien, but he couldn't understand.
Max noticed that he was walking down a ramp. He didn't know where it would lead. The air around him was getting colder and colder. It was so thick that Max was almost sure it would snow. Before long a mist thicker then any fog Max Evens had ever seen surrounded them. Max, Michael, and Isabel grabbed hands so that they could keep together. Max put his hand on Helen's shoulder, but she didn't notice.
"Where are we going?" Max asked after five minuets had passed. He was sure that he had traveled down this circle-like ramp many stories, and he was so worried and curios that he didn't care about ignoring Helen's order. She had told them not to speak.
"To the bottom," Helen answered.
"Why is it so cold?" Isabel asked.
"We are trying to recreate the environment of our own planet," Helen explained. "Our cities are made inside of oxygen bubbles deep within the oceans. We spend much of our day in the freezing water, which is why they have the fog here."
"Liz will freeze," Max commented as he shivered slightly.
"No she won't. She has a higher tolerance for cold then you do, she's a half-breed."
"Why couldn't we just have...."
"Shh!" said Helen forcefully. Max heard a fainting beeping noise, as if she was dialing the number on a phone. Then a door opened as, huddled in the corner of the room, unconscious, was Liz. Max ran over to her.
"She is freezing," he said immediately. Her skin was cold to the touch, and her skin was white. Max could barely see her breathing. There was dried blood crusted on her forehead from when they had attacked her and taken her earlier that day.
An alarm went off. The aliens had been discovered.
"Liz," Max called. "Liz." She groaned a bit. Though she was barely conscious, Max quickly forced her to her feet. Michael and Max balanced her between them, and they half-dragged, half-carried, her to the other end of the room were Helen had opened a small door which lead to and unfogged hallway.
"Go," she ordered them. "Go right until you reach the latter. You'll have to climb up with her, but it's the only way you have a chance. At ground level you'll find a window. Open it, leave, and don't come back."
"What about you?" Max asked.
Grimly Helen said, "Don't wait for me." The more forcefully she said, "Go!"
Michael took the lead. He pushed Isabel into the crammed hallway and dragged Max and Liz into it. "It's harder for us to see with Liz, so you need to go first Isabel," Michael half-shouted. The alarms were growing louder.
They ran down the hall way, reaching the stairs in seconds. "Isabel, Michael, you two go first, then I'll hand Liz to you and you can pull her to the next landing before I climb," Max said as he quickly judged the size of the ladder and how tall it was. It was tall, at least three stories, but there was a little hall way, like the one they were in now, every story up.
Isabel wasted no time questioning Max's orders. She went up right a way. There was a stressed look on her face and she climbed tensely. Max was scared for a different reason. Why were Helen's people letting them escape? This was almost too easy. Were they waiting for them outside?
They had made it up the first landing. Max looked down through the clear flooring. There was still no one coming. Max could here something other then the alarm. They were on the second landing. Max could here screaming and banging and running. Max climbed up onto the third landing. He looked down and saw people. Max heard a faint explosion. There was a hole in the flooring next to him. They had guns. Isabel screamed. "Just keep going!" Max shouted. "Go!"
Isabel climbed. Max looked down. He was a sitting duck. He had nowhere to run.
Suddenly Max was knocked away from the ladder. His head was spinning. He sat up quickly. Liz was next to him, still unconscious, but the ladder, which Michael and Isabel had just climbed on, was gone. Max looked up. His friends were okey. Then, he looked down. The ladder had fallen, crushing four men with guns. Max saw only two aliens left-Helen and the red head.
The red head was yelling. Helen was thrown against the wall by some invisible force. He body fell onto the floor. Blood, blue as the rose petals that had been found in Liz's room, covered the wall. Max knew instantly that Helen was dead.
"Max!" Michael called. "Max! Are you alive?"
"I'm fine Michael!" Max called. "I'm handing Liz to you. Can you reach her."
"I've got her," Michael said. Liz was pulled up out of sight. Michael turned his attention back to Max. "How are you gonna get up here?" Max looked around. There was nothing for him to grab, no place for him to run. Max looked down again. There were two people there, well one. Helen's body lay on the floor. There was someone next to her, washing her blood, preparing her body for the grave. No one knew that the red head had killed Helen. Everyone believed it was Max and the other aliens. Yet, the blue alien looked up, as if seeing Max, or at least smelling him, and nodded sadly, then continued on cleaning.
"I'm going to jump," Max said. "It's only three of four feet, right?"
"Max, it's ten feet down, you can't!" cried Isabel.
"One, two three." Max jumped. His hands griped the edge of the opening. Michael grabbed his arms and helped him up. Max didn't waste time catching his breath. He dived out the small window opening, grabbed Liz, and ran to the Jetta. He hopped in and he was gone.
It had been two days since the rescue and no one had spoken of it. Liz had been home with a head cold. Maria had been covering her shifts. Isabel seemed to have endless social events. No one else had an excuse for no speaking, but simply did not speak. Now they were gathered in Liz's room. Together. "Will they ever come back?" Maria asked.
"They haven't left," Max said. "The question is, will they ever attack."
"Why did they attack in the first place?" Isabel wondered.
"We don't know," Max said, "and I hope we never do. Not if it could coast someone their life." He shoot Liz a glance. Liz looked away from him. She didn't believe what Max said about her being half alien. She didn't believe a word.
"So what do we do now?" Alex asked. Max sighed.
"Nothing."
The group split. Max drove around. He wanted to talk with Liz, but she wouldn't even look him in the eye. So much for gratitude. Well, she had thanked him she had first regained consciousness on the night they saved her. She smiled at him.
Max was restless. He couldn't go home. He couldn't go anywhere. Just drive forward turn right. Drive forward, turn left. Till suddenly he stopped. He got out of his car, It was sunset, but the sky was still bright. He was in the desert, in the middle of no where.
He walked out into the endless sand. He had to go forward today. Just forward. It didn't take look before he knew why. Just ten feet away from him, kneeling in the sand was a boy his age. He seemed to be praying to a cactus, kneeling down on one knee. He got up and walked away, not noticing Max at all. Max looked at the desert plant and saw another plant. A beautiful bouquet of blue roses.