Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, they're all Cameron etc.
Authors Note: See, I'm delivering the goods. Hope you like the chapter, remember to review and let me know what you think cause it encourages me to continue!
DARK TERROR
Chapter 16 - Tangled Webs
The room was dim with the light from the hallway hardly visible. Max lay strapped down on the gurney with tears sliding silently down her face. I'm sorry, oh Alec I'm so sorry… Max couldn't stand to remember his face, all she saw was the look of devastation and betrayal when she had left him. It had all been for nothing. Why did I trust Lydecker?
Flashback;
"What are you saying Max?" Alec asked her, his face angry and confused. "That you don't love me, that you never loved me, I was just some kind of replacement for Logan?"
Max closed her eyes trying to block out the sight of her lovers hurt countenance. "I'm sorry Alec. I thought I could pretend to myself but I cant." The lie slipped painfully past her full lips.
"Bullshit!" Alec pulled Max against his hard body and kissed her roughly. Despite herself Max felt her body respond and then Alec ripped his mouth from hers. "You cant fake that much emotion, that kind of response! Why are you doing this?"
Max pulled herself together and shoved Alec away from her. She had to do this to save him, when he wouldn't save himself. "Because it's the truth. I never meant to hurt you Alec, but I just wanted to feel. To feel alive again."
"No." Alec stated his denial but Max could see her words were starting to get to him. "No. I know you care Max, I know you love me." Biting her lip, Max forced all emotion out of her voice that could possibly give away her deception.
"I care about you Alec but I don't love you." Max's voice was whispered as she said the words she knew would cut to deepest root of Alec's insecurities. "I could never love you the way I loved Logan."
Alec recoiled as though Max had struck him. For a second Alec thought she had, he felt like he couldn't breath. It was always Logan. Always that altruistic dead man who stood between him and Max. Alec turned away from Max, unable to let her see that raw pain on his face, protecting her even now, from his own feelings. "You never had to pretend to me Max." He whispered. "I could have lived with waiting for you forever. You didn't need to lie to me."
With those whispered words Max felt her defences start to crumble. This man had given her everything he had and she was destroying him. "I'm sorry Alec." Max said through her tears that she couldn't help. I love you so much, I wasn't lying… She couldn't tell him, he deserved the life that Lydecker had spoken of and she couldn't give him that. I have to be strong. I have to be strong for Alec the way I wasn't for Logan!
Alec took a deep breath and turned to face the woman he loved. Max's face was stained with tears, her eyes bloodshot. In spite of his own pain, Alec couldn't stand to see hers. He raised a hand as though to touch her but couldn't bring himself to feel that skin that he no longer had the right to caress. His hand fell useless to his side.
"I'm sorry." The words repeated broken from Max's lips and each time he heard them, Alec's heart broke a little more. I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry for lying, I'm sorry for loving you…
"Don't Max. You want me to stop loving you, well I cant! I wish to God I could. But if you want to pretend nothing happened between us then fine. Forget it, just forget it all." Alec started to walk out of the room when he was stopped by Max's small voice.
"I'm leaving. With Lydecker." Alec turned around with an incredulous look in his face. "I cant stay with you anymore Alec." Alec shook his head and walked up to hold Max. She pulled away, unsure if she would be able to do this if she felt the security of Alec's arms once more.
"No. Max, don't do this. You don't have to leave, we'll stay together, it will be alright." Alec couldn't believe she was really saying this, that she would really leave him.
"I cant- please just go. Lydecker will run with me, he has connections that can keep us safe, that can help us stay off White's radar." Max lied. She needed to get Alec to believe that she would be safe or else he would never leave her. I'm sorry Alec but I want you to be safe. You were wrong before when you said you were poison. I am. Everyone I love dies, but I wont let that happen to you like I did Logan.
Alec tried desperately to keep his emotions in check as he tried to reason with Max. "Lydecker cant protect you the way the I can or do you want White to catch you!" Alec hated to use Max's fear of White against her but he couldn't imagine being without Max in any way. She had been the one constant in his life since Manticore had burned to the ground. He loved her and wanted her in his life in whatever form he could get.
Max bit her lip at the obvious fear in Alec's eyes. "That wont happen. This isn't your choice Alec. Its mine and I'm leaving with Lydecker." Max started to leave, knowing if she stayed much longer she would break down and confess everything to Alec.
Alec grabbed her arm roughly and held her in a tight grip. "What is wrong with you Max! Just a few hours ago you were telling me you loved me and now your saying your leaving to trust your life to a man that spent the last ten years hunting you down?" Max tried to break free from Alec's hold but he was too strong.
"Stop it, let me go Alec." Max pleaded with him, unsure how much longer she could keep it together. "Lydecker will look after me, I trust him to do this."
"Lydecker's the monster that made our childhood's a living nightmare. He's the one that was sick enough to make you in his wife's image!" Alec held Max tighter as she struggled to get free.
Present;
Max felt her heart ache in her chest at the memory of the last time she had seen Alec, the fight they had. It wasn't all for nothing. Max reminded herself through her despair. I might be in hell but Alec's safe. He'll move on, get over me, have a normal life…fall in love with some other girl, maybe even have a family someday… That hurt more than the knowledge that Lydecker had betrayed her. It hurt in a way that White could never touch her.
The steel door to the cold room Max was in swung open and she saw a dark figure walk in. Her body shuddered in horror as she recognised his face. "White." Max whimpered. She remembered the pain he had put her through, the suffering he had inflicted on her.
White smiled down at the young woman who was securely restrained. His handsome face twisted and he reached out to stroke the soft skin of her cheek. "Hello 452. Its been a while." Max squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Oh God, I'm sorry, please Alec come for me! It was a futile prayer and Max knew it. Hope was dead. Alec didn't even know she had been caught. She had left him to run with Lydecker, as far as he knew she was safe. He had tried everything he could to stop Max from going, it had taken brute force to make him let her go.
Flashback;
"Let me go!" Max was so tired, so close to just giving up the plan and letting Alec take care of her like he had the past 6 months.
"No. You want me to accept that you don't love me then fine! I'll do that, but I wont let you put yourself at risk like this. Its suicide to trust Lydecker and you know it!" Alec yelled at the small figure in his grip.
"I wouldn't go that far." The hoarse voice came from behind Alec. He spun around to be faced with Lydecker himself. Alec's wide eyes hardly had time to take in the needle in his hand before it was jabbed into his side.
"Uhhh" Alec released Max and stumbled back a few steps. He was dimly aware of Max's cry of alarm as he felt the drug hit his system. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor. Alec felt Max's arms around him as she broke his fall. Her face swam in his sight and he heard her voice call his name.
"Alec? Alec can you hear me?" She asked in a panic. Max's image blurred and he reached a weak hand up to touch her face.
"Max?" The name was slurred on his tongue and he tried desperately to focus. It was too hard. The last thing Alec saw was Lydecker pulling Max away from him with his hands on her shoulders. The last thing he heard was Lydecker's voice telling Max to let him go. Then all was dark.
Max stared at the still form of Alec before using all her strength to pull free from Lydecker. She saw Alec's eyes roll back into his head and all she felt was panic at the sight. "Alec!" Max fell beside him and felt for a pulse. It was there, steady and strong.
"Its alright Max. It was just a tranquilliser. He'll come round in about 6 hours." Lydecker spoke behind her.
Max turned around angry at the older man. "This wasn't what we planned! This wasn't the deal!" She got to her feet and faced off with the man she hated.
"Don't be naive Max. Did you think he would just let us walk out of here?" Lydecker asked her. "He wont be able to find us when he wakes, we'll be too far away and he knows you left willingly so chances are he wont even try." Max looked at Lydecker for a moment before turning her gaze back to her lover's unconscious body. Lydecker had a bag already packed and swung over his shoulder. "I have the car ready outside." He told Max.
Max nodded and looked away. "Give me a minute." She whispered. Lydecker hesitated before turning and leaving her alone with Alec. Once he was gone Max let the tears she had been holding back spring free. She knelt beside him and turned him gently into a more comfortable position, folding his arms before straightening his legs. She frowned as she realised how hard the ground was. Quickly Max pulled off the soft blue sweater she was wearing, leaving her shivering in the freezing air. She rolled up the material and tucked it under Alec's head, cushioning him.
"I'm so sorry Alec." Max looked at his still features, knowing this was the last time she would see them. "I love you so much. That's why I have to do this. Please forgive me for lying, for giving up but I cant- I cant lose you too." Max smoothed her hand over his face, feeling the warmth of his skin against hers. She bent down and pressed her lips to his one final time.
"I love you Alec…"
Present;
I love you Alec. The thought remained circulating in Max's mind as White leered down at her. When she had been in his hands before she had been desolate. The man she loved was dead and she had nothing worth living for. It had been so easy to give in. To let the pain and the darkness have her. Now, even though she wanted to loose herself once more to nothing, she couldn't. Alec's strength remained in her. His love and hers for him gave her a hope that should have been dead. Not for her life, Max knew that hers was now over, but for his. As long as Alec was alive, Max knew a part of her would remain so.
"Not happy to see me 452?" White asked. "Shame. I assumed our time apart would have made your heart fonder." Max turned her head from him to stare at the wall. Her features slipped into a mask of careful blankness.
Quickly spurred to anger by Max's lack of response White twisted his fingers in Max's long hair and yanked her head around to face him with cruel force. "Look at me transgenic filth." Max's coffee eyes flickered at the familiar insult, it reminding her of the hours he had spent torturing her for his own amusement.
"Where's Lydecker?" Max asked her voice thick from the drugs they had already started pumping into her again. White released her hair and leaned back, a self satisfied smile on his face.
"He's having some dinner I believe. Don't worry I'm sure he'll want to be here when we start the um - experiments - we have planned for you." Max flinched at the reminder of what she was still in store for. I cant survive this again Alec. I'm sorry but I cant. I know as soon as they start with me again, I'll die inside.
"What did you have to offer to get him to turn me in?" Max asked, needing to know what Lydecker had betrayed her for. I'm so stupid, why did I trust him?
White smirked and readjusted his silk tie. "Only a job. Oh and the promise that he would be involved in our project with you. Seemed pretty important to him to have contact with you. Must be because of that whole thing with his wife, although why he decided to make an animal like you, look like her I have no idea."
Max closed her eyes again as she felt the sting of tears start once more. The last thing she wanted to do right now was cry in front of White. Its not like he hasn't seen you do worse things, Max remembered. You screamed for him…
"I'll let you get your rest now 452. Your going to need it." With that White gave Max one more smile before turning and leaving. Max listened to the heavy steel door shut behind him and the sound of locks turning and bolts. Finally the tears she had been holding back were released.
"I love Alec. I'm sorry." Max wept as she wondered where her lover was now.
TBC.
A/N: I will continue this I promise! Just review and I'll try to have the next chapter up asap.