Chapter Fourteen: Michael
Rath
breathed heavily. He no longer felt the
hands of his fiancée and his lover; he couldn't hear their breaths or the wind
that flowed through from his window. It
was as though he was in a trance, memories flash before his eyes in currents.
Maria trips, dropping her books. She sees the aliens and dusts herself off,
faking nervous laugher. "She's kind of
weird," Michael mutters.
Michael sat across from Liz, studying
her, not enjoying the slightly frightened look on her face. "Thank you for giving me one more reason to
envy Max Evans," he says. She smiles.
A book sat open between them, along with
a pile of food from a nearby vending machine.
"So," Maria asks, "do you get hungry just like the rest of us?" He looks at her as if she's just asked the
stupidest question in the world.
"Yeah. Of course I get
hungry." But she's not finished. "What, uh, other human urges do you
feel?" "Not if you were the last woman
on earth," he tells her. She purses her
lips. "Ditto."
He wishes she would just go away. She talks too much. "Underneath that weird, poorly bathed
exterior, there's, like, this whole ... deeply wounded, vulnerable guy." "Listen, all right, in terms of what
happened yesterday between us, that was just – we were on the road. All right, we talked. That's all over."
They're waiting. Max and Liz are late and their tensions are
high. She pours sugar from one
container to another and then back again and it's driving him crazy. They argue.
Then suddenly, he whirls her around and kisses her. Her lips are soft, her fingers lightly touch
his cheek. When he pulls back, he's
shocked by what he's done, what he felt.
"That was to calm you down," he sputters. She nods. "Thank
you." And they turn in opposite
directions.
He's in the desert and they're all there
with him, holding these little stones.
He sees Maria, who pulls him down for a kiss. Alex walks up to him, shaking his hand, and offering a smile. Max comes to him, but stops, looking behind
him to Liz, who's just now come into their circle. Then it's Isabel. She
kisses his cheek, hugging him tightly.
And then he's a boy again, reaching for Max's hand, wanting him to pull
him from the dark hole. He holds their
hands – his family, and he feels better.
"Mud."
She pulls back, her kiss still felt on his lips. "What?" she asked, clearly confused. He swallows, the tight spandex of the wrestler's
uniform bunching up in all the wrong places.
"I'm thinking of mud."
He has to get out of here, he'll do
something he'll regret if he stays.
"Told you to do the wash," the filthy, drunken man snarls at him from
his seat in front of the television.
"I'll do it later," Michael answers.
"Today," comes another snarl, this one sterner than the last. "I'm not your maid." "That's right," the man staggers, "you're
good for nothing. Do the wash
now." Michael walks past him. "Go to hell, Hank." "No wonder your parents left you in the
desert!" Hank yells, "who'd want 'ya?!"
For some reason, he's outside her window
in the rain. "No, no. You can't come in," she tells him firmly
from the window. But she lets him in
anyway. She towels his hair, and helps
him into her bed. "Shhh," she soothes,
rubbing his arms and kissing his cheek.
And he does something he's never done in front of anyone before. He cries.
Everyone else has left and it's just the
two of them. She apologizes, and for a
minute, he's confused. "For what?" "For that whole 'being the perfect
boyfriend' thing. After what happened
to Alex last night, that's just, like, not what's important to me at all. So, if that's why you're acting strange, you
can just stop. It's over. I mean ... just go back to being your usual
self." He softens at her words, feeling
terrible for the way he's treated her recently, for buying her generic
shampoo. "Come here," he says, and she
moves into his arms. "If anything
happens, I mean to me, I just want you to know that …" She's shaking her head, rubbing her hands
across his shoulders. "I know. Nothing's gonna happen to you," she
promises. He believes her.
He
wakes up from his dream and goes to her.
She's standing at the window and can barely make eye contact. "You've seen them too, haven't you?" she asks. Michael nods. "The dreams?" "The rock
formation, the symbol …" "… the two of
us," he finishes. She glances
down. "The baby."
He's frustrated and angry and panicked
all at once. Max needs him and he can't
even scan a damn fingerprint into his brain.
It doesn't help that Nasedo is standing over him, disciplining him for
being too human. "Hey, I didn't get the
manual!" he explodes, "all this time I've been alone. Where have you been?
Where the hell have you been?
Huh? Why'd you let this happen
to us? To me?!" Nasedo's expression doesn't change. "Emotions are a weakness, Michael. Focus."
Oh, god. He killed him. He lifted
his hand and killed him. Max appears
over his shoulder. "You were just
trying to stop him," he reasons, "I know you didn't mean to kill him." Michael shook his head, his eyes still wide
with shock. "But that's just it. I wanted to
kill him. I mean, that's all that I could think about. I wanted him dead.
Knowing that, I just did it. It just happened. What kind of person does that
make me?" And then there she is. He can't take it and walks away from
her. "Why?" she pleads. He shakes his head slowly. "Maybe because I love you too much."
"I
miss you." "I know, but don't."
"The only
time I ever stuck my neck out to save anyone and it all went to hell." "You saved me."
"I'll
tell you what, Mikey G. The slut wants
in your pants." "That might work."
"Well,
I know one way to make the time go faster."
"Oh, funny."
"I know you hate it when things get all
goopy, so …" "So, I'll see you
soon." "Yeah." "No, I will."
He tapped
lightly at her window, not wanting to wake her mother. Maria looked at him and sighed, debating
whether or not to let him in. But there
was something in his eyes. "What?" she
asked irritably, after he hopped inside.
He stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Look, I just wanted to apologize.
For the way I treated you the other day." She raised an eyebrow.
"And to tell you that we're leaving.
Tomorrow, just after dawn."
Maria sank onto her bed.
"Oh." Michael sat next to her,
their thighs touching. "I, uh, just
want to tell you … that I'll miss you."
Maria looked up at him and smiled softly. "Me too." He relaxed and
put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her head down to lean against his
chest.
It was still
dark when he crawled from her window.
She was sleeping. He had covered
her nude body with a blanket and kissed her forehead lightly. "I love you," he whispered, taking a final
glance, and leaving her behind.
Michael's eyes shot open. He saw Max standing across from him, a smile
on his face. Isabel and Tess were still
deep in concentration. "Don't let go,"
Max warned, "they have to come back too."