Chapter Twelve


Max looked at Thaman. " You have to know where she is. Where is she? " he yelled.
" My lord I do not know "
" Don't you? "
" No I do not forgive me " Thaman's head was whirling, he shouldn't have left them like that. He should have stayed behind instead of Kyle.
Max opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Maria. " You took her " she whispered.
Max turned around and looked at her, fury and curiosity in his eyes. " What are you talking about? "He moved closer to her.
" Max it was you but a different you " said Kyle holding his head.
" What? " asked Michael looking at Max.
" It must have been a shape shifter " said Max
" No " said Thaman looking at the trail of blood on the floor. " It was not a shapeshifter "
Everyone noticed it too. It wasn't alien, it was human blood. Kyle's knife was a few feet from the door.
" We have to get Liz back " said Max as he tried to follow the blood trail. He looked almost delusional.
" We have to remain calm My lord " said Thaman sticking his arm in the way, blocking Max.
"Remain Calm! How can I calm down when someone has Liz and we don't know who? " said Max throwing his arms in the arm. He looked at the kitchen. " Now there are three people dead in there. How are we going to explain this away? I can't heal them or else they'll know all about us and everyone's going to start asking questions. "
" I am aware of that my Lord. We cannot cover it up. The only thing we have to do is make sure we are not looking suspicious. You must look like you have no idea what happened. Nobody knows that Liz is kidnapped except everyone in this room. Yes the murders were mysterious, but I will fix that. We'll frame whoever it was and they will go to jail. It seems they are human somehow and if we can get him before he does anything to Liz, we can also dodge the attention in case anyone from the FBI suspects. "
" How can we do that? " asked Valenti eager to hear his plan.
" If this person is in jail, they have no where else to look cause the person is already in custody. I will take care of everything once we catch him. We just have to make sure we know who we are up against " Thaman walked into the kitchen. Everyone followed him. He knelt down beside the bodies and swiped his hand over the Red Triangles on their chests, the marks disappeared. " Maria call the Police and sound very hysterical "
" You don't have to worry about that " she said clinging to Michael.
" Tell them that it all happened so fast. Be very vague and urgent. Bring the police and everyone who you can. Bring a lot of attention here. "
" Why? "
" So we have nothing to hide " he looked at Max, as Maria scrambled for the phone. Leaving Michael who looked at her as she picked up the phone. Max still had that horrified and worried look on his face. " My Lord, you must heal the bones but not the organs "
" Why not? "
" You do not want them to come back to life "
Max looked at the bodies. He knelt beside the chef, Jose. Jose who had worked at the Crashdown for so long. He put his hand out and brought it back shaking his head. " I can't do it. I can't do it " he said.
" My Lord you must concentrate. We will find Liz, you must do this for all our sake " He nodded at Max.
Max looked at him and sighed. He stretched out his hand over Jose's body. He closed his eyes as he removed all the Cadmium X from the bones. Just in case, he healed the organs enough to take away the burn from them. He did that to all three bodies.
" Please do not look " said Thaman to everyone before he put his hand out toward Jose's body. Nobody ended up closing their eyes. Thaman made a puncture in Jose's stomach, making it look like a stab wound. " Bring me the knife Kyle " said Thaman calmly as he made more punctures in different places on the other bodies. Kyle walked backwards as he continued to watch Thaman.
" This is too freakin real " he said, he almost slipped on the blood on the floor.
Isabel stood there sick to her stomach. She had never been ready for this to happen. She was on the verge of panicking.
" My lady, could you take care of the mess outside? " said Thaman. " You too My Lord " he said to Michael." We have to take a sample of the blood first and take it to the UFO Center "
Michael nodded as he put his arm Isabel and lead her toward their assignment. Kyle and Valenti stood above Thaman and Max.
" Are we going to survive this dad? " whispered Kyle looking at his dad.
Valenti looked at him. " It's started Kyle " he looked back down at Thaman. He was now finished with his puncturing. He took the knife that Kyle handed him and cleaned it off with a wave of his hand. He then dipped it into each of the three bodies. Kyle had to turn his head away. This was more graphic than he ever wanted to see. Thaman's face was emotionless as he threw the knife on the floor, drops of blood splattered onto the wall.
" We have to make this look as real as possible " he said.
Valenti nodded at him understanding.
" We have to go find Liz now " said Max getting up. " She's out there alone "
" We will find her My Lord, " said Thaman putting his hand on Max's shoulder. " We just have to be just a little patient "
Max only looked at Thaman, he didn't say anything.
Thaman looked at the rest of them.
" We have to go to the UFO Center now " he said. He pushed Valenti, Isabel, Max and Michael with him. He looked at Kyle and Maria. " You're the only ones who really saw this. You have to be the witnesses "
Maria was freaking out but she managed to nod to him.
" Where are Liz's parents? " asked Michael
" They said they were going to deliver some pies "
" They'll be back any minute. Let's go " said Valenti making his way to the front door.
Kyle looked at Thaman. " And I thought I was going to miss all the action "
" Brody will be there, " said Maria motioning towards the Center. Michael looked at her questioningly. The way she said his name gave him a weird feeling.
" We should not worry about Brody " said Thaman walking out the door.
" But Liz's parents are going to look for her " said Maria calling after him
He stopped and looked at her. " They'll see Liz "

~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Ow " said Liz as she tried clutched her head. She had the biggest headache. But she couldn't reach for her head. She was tied. She tried to pry her hands away from where they were and then started getting hysterical. Her breathing started going wild as she frantically tried to get lose. She could hear a humming sound from the darkness. It sounded like a heart beat mixed with fans. A hollow kind of sound. She was thinking about what had happened at the Crashdown. She had seen his face. It was Max, but not Max. He didn't look like Future Max either. Probably a shape shifter. Where was she? Her hands started getting sensitive has she continued to try and loosen the rope. She was tied to a pole beside the couch she was on. All she could do was sit up on the couch. She leaned her head against her hands and squinted her eyes. Her head was throbbing. Movements from across the room made her snap her head up. She couldn't see cause the room was too dark. There was only a faint streak of light in front of her. " Who's there? " she said looking out blindly in the darkness.
" It's me Liz " she heard. The mention of her name caused shivers to go up her spine.
" Max? " she said
The figure stepped into the small ray of light. Liz's eyes grew wide in horror. The figure looked exactly like Max, even the clothes and hair and his eyes. Those eyes that she always could read. Those loving eyes were there looking at her. When Nascedo had been Max he didn't look at her that way.
She squinted at him. " You're some shape shifter. What do you want with me? "
" I'm not a shape shifter " he said, his eyes still had that longing look in them. She looked at him confused.
" You came into my dreams last night didn't you? "
She could faintly see him nod.
" You're not Max " she said as the figure came closer to her.
" How do you know that Liz? " His tone was so reassuring.
" Max is gone " she said. "I saw him take off from with the ship "
" You're right, " he said getting still closer. Liz pressed her back tightly against the wall. " I'm not Max "
" Then, then who are you? " she asked swallowing loudly. His face was right in front of her. Those eyes, those eyes that you couldn't pretend to have. That look that always made her so happy. Why did he have to torture me like that? Who was this person?
" I'm Zan " he said. Liz looked at him again. He changed in front of her. His hair turned spiky, he had piercings on his eyebrow and ears and his chin. He had a Goatee too. His voice was husky and he had a slight New York accent. Lonnie and the others had strong accents. Why didn't he? Besides he that obvious he looked exactly like Max.
" Zan? What do you mean Zan? " her head still hurt her but she tried to focus.
He just looked into her face. He looked at her with those same loving eyes that she thought only Max could give her. She got chills thinking that this alien could so perfectly resemble max, more than Nascedo, and his gift was to impersonate people. Her head started throbbing again with her thoughts and she tried in vain again to clutch her head. " Let me get rid of some of your pain " he said. His voice should have made her shudder cause of its harshness but she didn't shudder. She let him touch her. He lightly brushed her hair with his hands, pushing her hair away from her face. He then focused as he placed his hands on either side of her face.

Liz was immediately engulfed inside him. She jumped back involuntarily from his images. She saw all his feelings. He was angry beyond anything, for revenge. He wanted to kill Lonnie and Rath for killing him. She saw the truck run over him and the last things going through his mind. He was in disbelief and fear when he saw how fast the truck was coming towards him. She saw him being brought back and the terrible things that were going on in his mind. He had hate and fear and love. Love? How was that in there? Then she shuddered. She saw him watching her. She saw the first time that he had seen her. She was confused, why would he love her? Wasn't he with Ava when he was alive? What did Ava say to her? ' It just always looked like he was waiting for someone else to come into his life'? Then she could feel him withdrawing his hands and panting. Healing her must have taken a lot out of him. He rested his hands on either side of her and continued panting.

" You're the dupe " she almost whispered.
" The reject, yes " he said turning from her finally.
" How can that be? You're dead. They killed you " she said, " How could you still be alive? "
He turned but she saw only the side of his face. " They did kill me, " he said angrily.
" Then how is this possible? "
He looked at her again. He was standing in the light for her to see him. " I was brought back "
" How? We had the healing stones "
" Khivar's men brought me back " he answered. " They brought me back for the soul purpose of killing Max and replacing him. I'm one of Khivar's back up plans in case Nicholas or anyone else failed "
" Nicholas brought you back? "
" No, Khivar's other men " he said " They healed me and when they did that I changed. I turned out like them. I have all this hate inside of me and all this need for violence. But I also got their knowledge and I got smarter " he was looking at his hands. " I was always getting into trouble before with Lonnie and Rath but then there was always a limit. They killed me and then I was brought back with only one thing on my mind, revenge. I started killing people without even thinking. I started getting these thoughts into my head about killing Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess " he was babbling.
Liz was staring at him with tears in her eyes. He was a part of Max and she could see Max in the words he was speaking. Max would react the same way he was. He looked a little rough around the edges but there was still Max in his way.
" Why am I here? " she said. He turned around almost surprised she was there.
" You're part of the plan Liz " he said. He was walking towards her again, but this time she didn't flinch. His face softened as he knelt in front of her. He looked scared. She felt herself leaning closer to him as he looked at her face. His hands were on her sides, not touching her but they lay beside her.
" How could I be part of your plan? " she said. Somehow she wasn't scared.
" If Max knew that you were in any kind of trouble he would come back to Earth " he said leaning closer to her, she could feel his breath on her face.
" So you're going to keep me here until he comes? "
" No, I just. That's just what they wanted me to do " he said, he was holding his head like he was fighting his mind. " But I've tricked them. I'm going to trick them. I used their laboratory " he put his arms up to show her. " I, I "
" What did you do Zan? " she asked calmly but tears were still flowing from her eyes. She felt so sorry for the betrayal of Lonnie and Rath. He had trusted them and they had killed him. She knew how Max would have felt if Isabel and Michael ever did anything like that to him. She felt sorry for him because he loved her. She felt sorry for Ava because she had been a good person, the opposite of Tess, and she had loved this Zan so much.
" I made you " he said putting his head on her shoulder.