Chapter Twelve

Walking across the desert grasses and sands, Max and Liz kept their arms around each other. Sometimes they talked, whispering just to hear the other one speak, sometimes they kissed, leaning towards one another and letting their lips meet for seconds, and sometimes they just walked silently, enjoying how their legs kept the same pace and the sound of their soft breath came at the exact same time. Yet however happy both of them were, Max and Liz were also still working through the steps that had brought the two together.

Max was wondering how in all his life in Roswell, he had never seen Liz. She had lived in the same town as a child, and although she went to a private school, shouldn't he have noticed her somewhere, sometime? There were only so many people in Roswell, New Mexico.

And Liz, unknown to Max, was actually wondering the exact same thing. Why had she never seen him at the Crashdown Café or around the town? Some things just seemed so strange. Liz made a mental note to talk to Max about this when both their minds were functioning more fully. Max! He was hers for real now; they would be a couple, they could date! Simple luxuries like knowing what Max was wearing or doing each day made Liz so excited. Their love was so, so… pure, Liz thought, struggling for a definition. It wasn't like they were innocent children or anything, it was just that their relationship was so fresh and so focused. There weren't any Jerry Springer problems: no one was pregnant, no on was cheating, no one was a secret homosexual prostitute…Life was good! It was almost like they were meant to be, like Max had said "soul mates." They were each other's destinies. After all, hadn't life led them to each other without Liz and Max knowing so? It was fate, beautiful, amazing, fate. All those unexplained feelings, those triggers to call Mom, the way she blurted out coming to Roswell so fast; Liz hadn't even thought about it, yet she was being led to Max anyway. Yet by whom? Who was leading her and sending those signals?

Max's thoughts again followed the same path as Liz's. That day he had met Charlie, Liz's brother when he had been precisely thinking about Liz! And the feelings that had been pulling him into town… could Liz have been in town right then? A spark of realization hit Max. Maybe he hadn't been drawn to Joshua that day with Michael in the desert, maybe he had been drawn to Liz.

He had to confirm it. "Liz?" Max whispered to the beautiful woman on his left.

"Mmmm?" She looked up at him with a look of amazed love, like she couldn't quite believe he was standing right next to her.

"Liz, three days ago I was searching for Joshua in the desert with Michael and I kept getting this feeling that was drawing me into Roswell. It was like something was calling me from there. Where you in Roswell a couple days ago?"

Liz smiled lightly. "Yes, I was."

Max returned her smile. "I think fate was pulling me towards you." Liz felt a burst of surprise. Max had just said exactly what she had been thinking about!

"I think so too, Max. Like right before I saw you this morning, my whole body was shaking. I knew something or someone was coming, I could feel it. And someone was." She whispered softly, "It was you."

"I felt the exact same thing right before I saw you too. My arms and legs were shivering, but I wasn't cold. My whole body had a life of it's own! And then, the most amazing thing is, it went away as soon as I became close to you! Because a few seconds later I saw you by the car."

Liz kissed him lightly. Max kissed her eyelids and her button nose.

And then they heard a scream. It wasn't loud, yet it was filled with pain and agony. Max and Liz had pulled away at the sound, and now Liz was looking extremely scared. "Max! That's Joshua's voice! I know it!"

Max looked at her for a second before grabbing her hand and running off in the direction the sound had come from. About 60 feet later, Max and Liz saw a small opening into a cave. It was so discrete that if just glanced upon, wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Max and Liz exchanged a worried look. They could hear hurried breathing coming from inside the cave. And a quick snapping sound followed by a moan on pain and faster breathing.

Before looking at each other once more, Max and Liz squirmed inside the cave entrance and fell on their hands and knees facing two men, a whip, and a terrified boy.

Liz raised herself quickly. She ran over to Joshua who was clumped against the cave wall. His eyes were rolled back and tiny tears were dried along his cheeks. His pants had been torn up, his feet bloody and mangled. He was missing two toes. The stubs were only evident under the crusted blood and new gashes. Liz rushed her hands all around Joshua's face, "Wake up, Josh! You're okay! Lizzy's here!" She put her hand over the blood forming on his chest. The whip marks had hit hard and long, rapping themselves around Joshua's small frame.

Max had lunged at the guns by the side of the cave. He brought them both to each hand and inched closer to Liz and Joshua, keeping the pistols pointed at the two men.

The men were still dressed in suits, yet the color was faded and the cuffs worn. The agents had been caught by surprise, having been pretty preoccupied with the whip, as it had turned out to be pretty hard to control. Before they could do a thing, Liz was already at Joshua's side and Max at the knapsacks. Now he held their two guns and they a knife and whip.

As Max reached Liz and Joshua, he stood in front of them. He would not loose Liz or Joshua before he had given his own life first. Yet as he looked at the men's expressions, he became a bit scared. Both men had huge smiles plastered on their face.

One man said in a hollow and cracked voice, "They're empty."

Max was confused for a second before he saw the man's gaze lift to the guns. Damn! As Max shook them lightly he realize they were right, the guns weren't loaded with a single bullet.

The taller man shifted his grip on the long whip. The shorter man brought a knife out of his pocket. The silver of the blade caught a beam of sun from outside the dim cave and shone for a second. Max put the guns in his jacket pocket. Liz stood up beside him, shielding Joshua behind them.

Stalling time, Max asked angrily, "Why the hell did you kidnap an innocent little boy?"

His voice was menacing and confident, even without a weapon.

The taller man grinned slightly. "This boy," he said emphasizing 'boy,' "is an accomplice to aliens." He took a step forward. Max did too, unafraid to close the distance between them. "He works with Them. He's friends with one of Them-"

"So?" Max challenged angrily. "What's wrong with aliens?"

"They're here to kill the human race! They want to take over Earth! People have been abducted and tortured!" It was the shorter man who had cried this.

Max gave a deep laugh that surprised them all. "Kind of what you're doing now."

"We're trying to cleanse the planet! Aliens are evil and so is anyone who associates with them! Don't you see? You're just making this worse for yourself!"

"Then why don't you kidnap aliens and not innocent kids?"

"Because it's easier to work from within their weaknesses! Some of them actually like the idiot humans who talk to them." The taller man took another step forward.

"You're lying." Liz stood forward too. "That's not why you've only kidnapped humans. You're afraid. Afraid of what the aliens will do to you." Her words echoed loudly.

"They're dangerous. They can do horrific things."

Max took the guns out of his pocket and dropped one of them. It hit the floor with a deafening bang that caught the men's attention. "I am an alien."

The men looked scared for a second and then skeptical. "Nice try, human. You're going to die no matter-" The agent was cut off because Max had taken the gun he was till holding and transformed it into knife. A knife was jagged edges and a longer blade than the agents'. The two men gasped. "You're one of Them, you freak!" The smaller man started stepping backward, frightened. The taller man made a lunge for Max, hitting him at his ankles and driving them to the floor.

"Max!" Liz called, trying to snatch the agent off of him. The man's knife made a slash at Liz but she backed away in time. Max called out to her, "Take Joshua and go! I'll handle them and meet up with you!"

Liz hesitated as Max continued to wrestle around with the taller man. The other agent was backed up against the cave wall, muttering "alien, alien." Liz took some ropes by a wall and ran to the smaller agent, tying him against a large rock as he whimpered softly. Right before she left, Liz whispered in his ear, "I'm an alien too. If you move I'll kill you with my death ray eyes!" The agent held still.

Liz then ran to Joshua and grabbed him across the middle. She brought him outside the cave and ran back in. There was no way she was leaving Max with that psycho.

Max kept his hand on the agent's knife, making sure he couldn't use it. As he fought to keep the man from using his other hand to choke him, Max tried to focus his powers. All he needed to do was connect. The second he was connected, Max could pick a blood vessel and pop it. This way the agent would be knocked out and easy to arrest.

But he couldn't concentrate. Every time Max felt the connection start to grow, he was thrown off guard by a punch on push from the agent.

And then he heard a call. It wasn't spoken out loud… Max knew he had heard it from inside himself. Someone was telling him something. As he opened his mind fully he heard a female voice clearly, "Concentrate Max, you can do it. I'll help you." He knew it was Liz. Without looking up to search her face, Max focused on Liz's voice and the body of the agent. And then all of a sudden, he was in. The connection was there! He had no time to ponder how fast the connection had sprung up, Max quickly began to search for a medium sized blood vessel. Finding an appropriate one in seconds, Max popped it with his mind.

The man fell still, totally out cold. His hands loosened off Max's neck, his legs falling still. Max stood up and looked around. And sure enough, Liz was a few feet away, smiling grimly at him.

He took a few steps towards her, his body tired and his mind strained from forcing the connection. Liz wrapped her arms around Max's body as he let his head lean against hers for a second. Then they walked out of the cave to meet Joshua.

Seeing her little brother, Liz broke free from Max and picked Joshua up. He was so thin and small! Liz thought sadly. She let a small tear fall down her cheek as she cradled Joshua to her chest. Max took a step from Liz and Joshua. He focused him mind once again, this time tying desperately to reach Michael's consciousness. Three hours later Michael parked by Liz's house. Liz was still holding Joshua, leaning against Max in the back seat.

After Max had painstakingly contacted Michael, Max and Liz had checked on the two agents. They were still asleep and tied up, and they stayed that way even as Michael and the others arrived to bring the agents into the car and to the police station. There, Michael had explained that Liz and Max had been walking around the desert when they had heard Joshua's call. One of the agents had knocked his head against a rock and Max had tied up the other. Then Liz had called Michael on her cell phone. The police seemed to buy this story as they took the two agents into jail. After finishing that, Michael had driven Liz, Max, and Joshua to Liz's house to notify her family.

Liz stepped out of the car and knocked on her front door. A few minutes later, Mrs. Parker answered the door, screamed, and fainted. Liz fanned her mother until the poor woman woke up.

"My God! My baby! He's home! My beautiful baby!" Mrs. Parker had taken Joshua into her arms. She ran her fingers lovingly over Joshua's mangled legs. Tears fell off her cheeks at an alarming rate.

"Mom," Liz cried as she hugged her mother. "I have to show you some people. They helped me find Joshua." Liz's mother nodded and turned to see two men sitting silently in a car. They looked somber and tired. "This is Michael Guerin and Max Evans." Liz gave Max a private smile as she paused at his name. "Mom, they can help Joshua. You'll have to trust them."

Mrs. Parker just nodded. Anything to help her baby.