It was dark. Darker than Zack remembered.

And in some small part of his dormant consciousness, Zack realized this was a dream. But that didn't
matter.

He relived those moments in the woods behind Manticore as if he were right there, all over again.

Search lights flickered over head. Logan's voice was speaking in his ear through the transmitters they were
all wearing. The trees and bushes were thick with the possibility of enemy attackers.

He could hear Max's sure steps as she ran behind him, keeping up to the mad pace he'd set without even
breathing hard.

Then she stopped.

And Zack turned, and saw what she'd seen. He saw her. Nine years old all over again, standing there in
the darkness in her battle fatigues, gun at the ready. Of course, it wasn't really her. It was one of those
suped up X7s Manticore had cloned using their DNA.

But she looked enough like Max to fool Zack, for just a moment. She looked enough like her counterpart
to fool Max for just a moment more.

One moment too long.

Zack knew what was about to happen the second he saw her standing there. It was like Fate. He'd always
feared that if he and the X5s were brought back to Manticore that this would happen. That Fate would
catch up to them. Their lives had begun here. It only stood to reason that they would end here, as well. So
he'd avoided Gillette, Wyoming like the plague. But he hadn't been able to avoid it this time.

And now Fate was standing in the shadows holding an automatic weapon. And pointing it straight at Max.

"Max, no!" Zack screamed, even before he saw the X7's weapon tilt up, just a bit, the way it did right
before it fired. He was screaming for her even before he'd seen her own weapon tilt down, just a bit, as the
shock of being confronted by herself overcame her battle instincts and her aim faltered.

Zack did the only thing he could do. Firing wouldn't help. Yeah, he'd take down the X7, but by then she
would already have taken down Max. Her gun was aimed straight at Max's heart.

So Zack jumped in front of the gun.

He didn't really think about it. He didn't have to. What was there to think about? He'd never thought
twice about the sacrifices he made for his siblings. And this wasn't just his sibling – this was Max. This
was the love of his life. He'd spent his entire life loving her, and struggling to escape that love, and then
struggling to win her love in return, only to be rejected for Logan. He didn't have to think about it, he just
did it. Because if he didn't Max would die. And what the fuck did he have to live for then?

But this time, it didn't work.

In reallity, Zack knew what really happened. He jumped in front of the gun, the gun fired, and he got shot.
Simple. His act of heroism left him bleeding on the floor of the grassy woods while Max battled off their
attacker, rushing to his side just as his vision began to blur.

But in his dreams, in his nightmares, something changed.

He jumped in front of the gun, just as before, but no bullet found him. Instead, it sailed right through his
body, as though he were no more than a spector in its path. And it found its mark in Max.

"Maxie!"

Zack screamed her name, and no matter what he did, he couldn't keep the bullets from finding her again
and again. Their attacker fired repeatedly, and Zack stood there, untouched, as Max cried out in pain
behind him.

"Max!"

Zack turned just in time to see Max fall to the ground, covered in blood. Her beautiful face was pale and
drawn. The attacking X7 faded into the darkness beyond as Zack fell to his knees beside Max, staring
down at the gaping wounds covering her smaller body, his bloodied hands lying helpless at his sides.

Then he pulled her into his arms, his gaze locking with her wide, terror-filled eyes. He was crying. He
couldn't help it – he was crying.

"Max! Max…"

'Jesus. Oh, Jesus, no. No, not Max…'

"Zack…"

A thin trail of blood ran from the corner of Max's mouth and down her chin. Her purpled lips were parted
as she gasped for breath, and Zack wiped desperately at the goo that covered her, trying to clear it from her
eyes and nostrils. The tubes that had been slowly draining the life from her were still attached to their
ports, and now Zack tore at them madly, trying to free her from her glass prison.

But, for all his strength, the tubes wouldn't detach. They wouldn't…

But, wait. Wasn't that…

"Tinga?" Zack whispered the name, as ghostly images of his beloved sister filled his vision. Images of
long, straight, ebony hair, and a small boy asking for a bed-time story…

"Zack!"

Zack looked down, and Max was there.

"Maxie…"

"Why did you do this to me, Zack?"

"What? Max, no. Please…"

Max glared up at him, hatred shining in her eyes, as Zack continued to cry.

"Maxie, please…"

She was beginning to shake in his arms, but the disgust in her gaze didn't waver. And he was losing her.
The more he tightened her grip, the faster she was slipping away. There was just so much…

But then there wasn't. There wasn't any blood. No blood on her, or him, or on the pristine metal floor on
which she lay…deep in the heart of one of Manticore's labs.

She wasn't bleeding, she was just lying there in an awkward heap, both her legs brocken, her neck crushed
beneath his merciless grip…

Zack screamed and jumped backwards, crashing into the instrument tray behind him.

"Why did you let this happen?"

Images and memories flashed through Zack's brain. From childhood. From Manticore. From Seattle and
from that cabin of Logan's, sitting there in a quiet wood by a picturesque lake…

Flash.

Max smiling. Firelight and wine and a plan to get over the Canadian border…

Flash.

Max dying. May glaring at him, hurt, betrayed, angry, scared.

"Max. Max, no. I love you…"

Flash. Lydecker suddenly appeared.

"Pull yourself together, soldier! Get off…" Every angry, barking command he'd ever given wrang out all
at once, fading together into one, big cacophony about duty and discipline and objectives.

Flash.

"Why, Zack?"

"Tinga…"

Flash.

Suddenly Max was gone. The room was gone. The lights dimmed and there were stone walls all around
him, covered in shadows; ghoulish apparitions shaped like ravens. And as far as the eye could see, there
lay corpses. Bloodied, bar-coded, toothless corpses lying all around Zack.

And in the far corner of the darkness, a single figure crouched into itself as two razor-teethed X2s slowly
approached. The figure screamed, and screamed, in absolute terror, calling Zack's name again and again.

"Zack! Zack!"

"Ben! I'm sorry!…I'm so sorry…"

Then Zack woke up.




Zack sat very still in his chair by the window, where he'd fallen asleep. He didn't move. He just
concentrated on breathing. On slowing his heart. On opening his eyes and reassuring himself of where he
was and where he wasn't.

That accomplished, he shot out of his chair as if it were on fire, and headed out of the cabin as fast as he
could without running.

He vaguely acknowleged Zane's voice in the background, asking where he was going, but he didn't
respond to it.

He just kept walking until he was out of cabin. And then until he was into the woods nearby. And then
until he was standing next to the lake just within it.


Then he just stood there, staring at the water. For an hour. Reminding himself that he was here to put an
end to the nightmares, not to relive them.

Hoping that he wouldn't just make them worse by allowing his brothers and sisters to come here.

Images of Max, suffering because of his carelessness, of Ben and of Tinga, who had met that same fate
already, came unbidden to his mind.

Zack shook his head to clear the haunting visions. Then he stripped out of his clothes and dove into the ice
cold water of the lake.

He didn't emerge for three hours more.