Disclaimer see first chapter.
Start Rant
A/N I always liked Zack and I don't think it was fair that they brought him back only to send him away again. You don't just come back from a bullet wound to the head especially a point blank one. Zack died and that's how he should have remained, as Max puts it 'someone who's willing to sacrifice everything for the ones he loves. Anyway I apologize but I really felt like fixing the Zack situation, he's not gonna be a major character. These next few chapters might be a little less light hearted than the earlier ones but I need to sort out some major issues so I apologize if things seem rushed.
End Rant.
Part 6
Adam looked out the car window. The strange man who'd come to the farm the previous day hadn't said where they were going but Adam was sure that he held the answers to his, capabilities, for lack of a better word.
The man had said his name was Sandeman.
The whole town had been following with growing interest the so-called transgenic threat in Seattle and Bill Sewell, a ranch hand, had taken on as his own little crusade to pick on him ever since he'd arrived.
Bill was convinced that Adam wasn't normal but Adam himself was sure of this too. Buddy had pleaded with him to not show his better strength; agility and eyesight to anyone for his own safety but accidents were bound to happen.
Sandeman had come just in time to drive him to safety, but how the older man had known where to find him was beyond his knowledge.
No memories had ever surfaced of the two years he'd supposedly spent on the ranch but snippets of dreams of another life plagued his sleep.
Shaven heads and missions. Children in hospital gowns and a boy making shadow puppets on the wall for two little girls. But the figure that wouldn't let him sleep had dark brown hair and chocolate eyes and somehow he knew that it was his responsibility to keep them all safe especially her, the youngest.
The shrill ring of a phone brought him crashing back from the clouds into the car seat as Sandeman looked for the phone one-handedly through a backpack. It seemed to take forever for him to find the contraption and answer.
"Hello? Finally took you long enough to answer the phone," came the voice of a girl from the other line.
He could hear both sides of the conversation without any trouble and he did.
"One of these days that mouth of yours is gonna get you in a whole heap of trouble little lady," Sandeman replied, a small smile on his lips though.
"So are you getting your old self here or not? Jon is already loading the truck and Wes is putting the final touches on our ticket there," wherever the girl was that's were they were heading Adam realized.
"I'm coming, I'm about 20 miles away."
"Coo. Listen you know those shots you gave Kadu' and me'? What would happen if I gave them to Napoleon?" Adam didn't know who they were but he still listened trying to understand.
"You're not thinking on bringing him are you? I know you love that animal but where would he stay Spartacus?"
"Jondy said there's nuff room to put oats and hay plus there's a small park inside Terminal City with grass and I can manage at finding him food, please, pleeeeaaaase?"
Two girls giggled as he pulled back the covers. He looked at them, trying to bury his smile.
"Jondy what are you doing out of bed," he said with the voice of a worried older brother not the CO he was supposed to be.
"I can't sleep Zack and neither can Maxie," the little girl whined looking up at him with big blue eyes.
"I don't even know why I try I've never been able to say no to you," Sandeman's reply broke through the memory and he took deep breaths trying to absorb what he'd just seen.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you I love ya Sandy."
"Yeah yeah I'm sure. Wait for me to pack the lab all right missy. I'll do it. and listen. how is she?"
"She's great. Knock out. Dark hair, doe eyes, tanned.smooth skin, She's right here wit me and apparently she has heaps to talk to you about."
He crouched on the roof of a building and somehow he knew he was sixteen which made her twelve to thirteen but she held the beauty of someone much older. The grace of a princess as she walked to the motorcycle. The leather jacket and tight jeans she wore didn't change her beauty at all if not made her even more stunning.
Her hair had grown and hung in loose curls around her face but he'd be able to recognize her anywhere; Max. His Maxie.
"Does. does she hate me?"
"I don't know I haven't asked her by the way you do know she can hear you? Oh by the way you wont believe who she brought along?"
"I know she can hear me, I made her that way. Who'd she bring?"
"Alec. 494."
"I guess some things are just supposed to happen. I'll be there in a bit until then don't be a smart ass and go help."
"Sure pop!"
"You never change."
"And you love me just the way I am."
Adam looked back out the window. Or was it Zack. He didn't know anymore but that name seemed so natural as it slipped off Jondy's tongue and he didn't even know who she was; his sister? He was remembering, what he didn't know, but maybe he was starting to.
One word left his lips and though he didn't know why, he knew it meant everything, "Manticore."
****
One by one everybody got back up dusting themselves and removing bits of hay from their hair. Wesley held Mint on his hip as the two watched the others and shook their heads, "If you've quite finished there's still work to be done. What were you doing hanging from the gutter anyway?"
Spartacus looked at Max pleading and she relented, "I thought Alec was a trespasser and to have the element of surprise I came from above. Cus just followed me I guess," she shrugged but clearly sending a look to the younger girl that said you owe me for this one and we need to talk.
"Whatever anyway come on there's still some supplies to load sis," Jondy said helping Max to her feet.
"About that. There's only two ways I see that we can get back inside Terminal City. One's by foot but with so many of us it would be harder. The other is by air which I guess is why there was the sound of helicopter blades but I don't understand the truck," Max said.
Jondy smiled happy that her sister hadn't lost her touch, "You're right. They're not just gonna let us drive inside. Rook, Kahlua and myself will be driving the truck while Wesley will be piloting the chopper with you, Alec, Spartacus, Sandeman, Mint, Bintz and Zyme plus cargo. Outside the city limits we hook it up to the truck and land inside Terminal City. All we need is a diversion," Jondy explained.
Max chuckled and shook her head; "You always were one for big entrances."
"Jon, what about Napoleon? Pop said I could bring him. Please Jon," Spartacus pleaded, "And you forgot about Zack."
Max's eyes widened along with Jondy's and Alec's, "Who. did you say?"
Spartacus looked at the ground not able to meet their eyes, "I know it wasn't the best idea to go get him. Sandy had just gone to see if anyone was suspicious of him and. yesterday night I got a dream and had I not called him Zack wouldn't even be alive anymore. It's safer if he's with us then out there with no way to protect himself. and I'm sorry. I couldn't just let him die," Spartacus mumbled.
Jondy, though still unsure of what to do knew that Spartacus had done what was best and she drew her in a hug, "It's aiight Cus. You're right. I guess we found our distraction."
Max still couldn't speak as guilt overtook her and she looked at her own to feet rather than meet her sister's eyes that she felt on her back.
"It's not your fault Max. You did what was best at the time," Bintz comforted laying a hand on her shoulder.
"C'mon guys this is turning into a soap opera. We need to finish up," broke in Zyme and though his words were teasing his tone was strangely sweet and understanding.
"Ok guys new plan," Max called out, breaking out of her thoughts. Right now that wasn't gonna help anyone. She could wallow in self-pity afterwards.
"We take off from here but once we get past the gate to get into Seattle we lower the truck Jon will climb onto the roof and open the back doors while Rook gets into the drivers seat just in case they shoot out the cables. This thing could get through anything," she chuckled pointing to what seemed to have once been a truck which had been mixed with a monster truck chassis and wheels, "Can we fit Cus and Napoleon in the back without crates falling on either of them?"
Jondy nodded while Alec watched her with a small smile on his lips. He loved it when she took charge, she was always so in control and never took any shit from anyone.
"The rest of us, including Zack," she said, her voice slightly cracking on her brother's name, "Will be in the chopper. Alec and me will lower ourselves down onto the roof in the event that something should happen and Rook and Jon need back up. All of this while both are still moving. Most likely we will have cops on our tail by then but hopefully it'll take them a second to begin chase. Cus and Napoleon will have exited and they're our distraction. The second Jondy closes the back doors and is on the truck, whether holding on to the bumper on top with me and Alec or in the passenger seat, Wes you are to make sure this thing gets airborne again. We'll circle around once or twice to confuse any cops or whoever else is assigned to kill us this week. Meanwhile Cus is galloping full speed for Jam pony and find OC, to give her the vaccine and to further confuse any cops, then back to Terminal City; however you do it draw attention to yourself and ride through the front entrance. The gate's already been ripped away so the only thing you'll have to get over is either a police car or those wooden things they use to keep people back."
"We can do that can't we Napoleon?" she smiled and the horse whinnied in response stomping his hooves.
Jondy rolled her eyes and patted the horse's neck who having seen the commotion had jumped the fence and come over, "We'll take that as a yes."
"The second we know Cus is over we follow and land smack in the middle. Any questions?" Max finished clapping her hands together.
Alec raised his hand, a smirk on his lips, "Yeah jus one thing. Cus and Napoleon aren't immune to the toxins in that place."
Cus smiled and replied, "We've been immunized though I personally think I didn't need it. it's a long story. Sandy couldn't do my DNA work up for some reason so he gave me the shot just to be safe. The vaccine for OC is the same. Should she ever need to get into Terminal."
"Well people let's get this show on the road," Rook chided slapping Jondy and Max on the back, "Someone help me get the extra fuel tanks for this trip on the chopper. We need to travel round 1600 miles and the CH-53E can only do 1250. We've already adapted it, we just need to hook the tubing to some fuel."
*****
"Are you sure you wanna come Napoleon. You won't have nearly as much nature as you have here. It's your decision but if you do decide to stay here I don't know when I'll be coming back or even if I do," Spartacus whispered while stroking her horse's soft gray nose.
Napoleon whinnied and stomped his feet making his master smile, "Alright. I love you too 'leon."
*******
"Reporting sir," yelled an X8 Zane had decided to name Cola'.
Another stepped forward beside the other and repeated, "Sir, reporting sir," this one had already had a name and Zane smiled at Monkee.
His other little messengers were busy running around on errands and delivering messages but Cola' a small girl with green eyes and Monkee a boy with ruffled brown hair and hazel eyes were never too far from him.
"Everything is on schedule. The first two stories of the hospital are already restored and the Picassos have given it a new paint job while the doctors are organizing beds and equipment. Logan has checked in from Father's house and the mechanics are working their way down the list. The artillery unit is developing new weapons and explosives sir," Cola' reported at the top of her lungs.
Zane repressed the chuckle but he couldn't hide the smile. Had he not known the reason she had learned to report like that and the pain the child would have gone through at the slightest mistake he could have probably called it cute.
"Good job soldier but remember at break you're just a kid. No sir yes sirs then alright? Good now go and report to the roll monitors so they can get your details down," Zane instructed and watched her quickly scamper away.
The Picassos were the teenagers. He'd given them orders to give the whole city, inside and out a new paintjob. They could do anything they wanted on the outside as long as it wasn't blood and massacres, keep it light guys, he'd said. On the inside no graffiti, any color as long as it wasn't nauseous. He smiled as his eye caught the huge mural a cat anomaly had done.
The roll monitors were the pregnant women.
"All the sentinels have comms sir and the adults are constantly bringing in new equipment, clothes and furniture and they're beginning to furnish the apartments you assigned and repairing them. Two thirds of the population has been catalogued and in numbers we're growing. An estimated 1200 hundred said Mole but no more than 1500 sir. Transgenics are coming in at a constant rate about one every 29 hours but Dix believes there aren't a whole heap left in Seattle. Their data is being the saved on disc and file by the telecommunications team," reported Monkee just as loud standing straight.
"At ease little man. Good job. Go see how dinners coming along and ring the bell if it's nearly ready so that everyone has time to get here. From youngest to oldest," he said to the boy that could be no older than five. He was one of the youngest but seemed to have enough energy to last him a lifetime.
******
Adam watched with interest as the car pulled up in front of a farmhouse and Sandeman got out. He followed the older man round to what looked like a small barn or storehouse. People were running around, loading boxes and crates into a truck; or what used to be a truck. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened to it but it looked like someone had switched chassis, wheels and suspension and replaced it with a monster truck's.
Everyone stilled and looked at both of them in curiosity. Adam's jaw stiffened almost subconsciously and his back straightened. His body took on a life of his own as he took the posture of a general and his mind couldn't seem to be able to tell him to relax.
"Call Max. Tell her the cavalry is here," a young man around his age whispered to a little girl. She sprinted off right away and Adam had to stifle a gasp as she blurred out of view.
A teenage girl with pitch-black hair popped out from behind the truck and ran over to them. She jumped onto Sandeman under Adam's scrutinizing glaze.
The old man chuckled and spun her round ruffling her hair. The second her feet were on the ground she was back to bouncing and she bounded to a stop in front of him.
He looked at her unsure of what to do when the back of his eye spotted her. Dressed all in black his mind told him cat-suit but what it meant didn't register. He saw her hesitation as she approached him and his brain clicked on where he'd seen her. At the hospital. and so many other places more.
Without realizing it his voice bubbled up his throat and he muttered, "Max."
*****
Adam sat in the helicopter wondering how he knew that it could carry fifty- five soldiers and be mounted with 12.7 millimeter fully automatic machine guns. Ever since he'd seen their faces, flashbacks and snippets of what seemed like memories from a dream had been bombarding him. The slightest thing would set one off.
There'd been no time for explanations Sandeman had said. Everything would get sorted once they arrived in Seattle.
He held his head in his hands, avoiding eye contact with her, Max. He knew she was watching him, he felt her eyes on his head trying to bore into him it seemed.
Zack lied on a stretcher as he was pushed into a room. Doctors were crowded around the other bed were she lay unmoving. Panic floated up in his throat as he yelled her name, "Max!"
"Internal paddles."
"Charge to 30."
"Charged."
"Clear."
The doctors yelled and talked but all he could hear was the flat line tone that resounded in the sterile room; it wasn't sterile anymore. His blood and her blood stained the once white walls and linoleum floor. He struggled with all his strength to get to her.
A blonde woman walked in and Adam felt his heartbeat quicken at the memory of her. He could feel the gunshot wounds he knew were in his chest though it was only a memory.
"30 again."
"Charge."
"Clear."
The monotonous sound of the beep that seemed to be changing everything in his life. He refused to believe she was gone. She couldn't be. Max was supposed to survive. She was strong, so alive; she couldn't be dead.
Zack gasped as his eyes flew to hers. His breathing was ragged and his heartbeat felt like a jackhammer in his chest. She moved to the seat beside him and he could see the turmoil in her eyes he knew was mirrored in his as her hand reached out wavering across his shoulder to his cheek. Her hand was warm and soft. So small compared to his.
The helicopter disappeared and the drone of the blades became the lively chatter of people as he found himself in a coffee shop. He looked at the cup in front of him then to Max who seemed anxious as she watched the phone booth, occupied by two giggling girls.
"Expecting a call?" he heard himself say.
"You never know," she replied getting up from the table and heading towards the two girls and the payphone, "All right, time's up. There is another phone down the block. It's on me."
Max handed the girls some change, she placed her gum over the change slot and returned to the table."
Again he talked knowing what to say but not why, "Seem nervous."
"Compared to what? You don't even know me." She answered skeptically still distracted.
"Maybe we knew each other in a past life," he argued, a smug smile on his lips.
"Zack, don't go, please." He heard her plead. It was night and they walked on old railway lines no longer at the coffee shop. She looked desperate as she looked up at him.
"I have to," He said when he really just wanted to get her in his arms and tell her he'd never leave. He'd always be there for her.
Instead he lifted her chin with his finger; "They did a good job on you, Max. Turned out OK."
He rushed to his feet and began pacing the floor of the helicopter knowing all eyes were on him. He couldn't take it. Was he Zack or Adam? Why did he have a barcode? All these questions and not enough time for answers he wanted right now.
"Zack I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered and he halted as another batch of images assaulted his already overworked brain.
"Vogelsang knew too much," he could see himself. As if he was a ghost watching the memory from afar. He could remember and knew what was happening but couldn't and didn't at the same time.
"You murdered an innocent man," Max accused him but yet he saw himself nonchalant.
"The night we all escaped, you put your life in my hands. I have been looking out for you ever since. Every one of you. Vogelsang was weak. Lydecker would have gotten the information out of him. He would have hunted us down, one by one. And I couldn't let that happen," his voice continued and Adam watched.
"So you traded one life for twelve, is that it?" she bit back unrelenting. It was night, and they were on the railroad again, walking only because their feet took them. But Adam felt like he was floating, like wind, he was surreal, though you know it's there and feel it, you cannot see it.
"I stand by my decision. It's not safe here. Lydecker's men will be combing the city we have to leave tonight. I can get us to San Francisco and we'll split up there," he looked himself in the eye as if trying to believe that this was himself.
"They're soldiers and so are you. The only person you can rely on, Max, is yourself. Everything else is just a lie. It's phony sentimentality and it will get you killed. Now, let's go," soldiers, Adam remembered now, like Manticore.
"No," she refused and Adam felt a surge of frustration. He wanted her to be happy but safe too. And if she wasn't alive how could you be happy. Like two droplets of water Adam felt himself draw closer to Zack, like they were merging, "I am not asking you, Max, I am giving you an order."
An apartment; with paintings and artwork and a man in a wheel chair without a face, "She's gone Max."
"So we're just gonna let Lydecker have her?" the mere name sent the hairs on the back of his neck on end. Both halves of him seemed to get closer and closer with each passing word.
"You want us to go after her and give him a shot at a hat trick?" this time they came from his mouth. He wasn't Adam, he was Zack.
Max watched him in shock; "We can't just do nothing!"
Zack felt cold. Alone as he looked at his surroundings; he was jumping from image to image, and each image was a flash back, he bounced around between the cells in his brain, re-opening neuron-chemical connections, "I made myself forget; to protect you. To protect all of you."
Max's soothing voice calmed him and it truly felt like everything would be okay, "It's okay. It's over."
But he knew it wasn't true, it never would be really for them, "No. No, it's not. I'm the only one who knew. The only one. I've got to remember so that I can protect them."
"You will. You called me, right? You remembered my number."
"It's not the same," and it wasn't. Max was special. She was his little sister; his Maxie. The little girl he'd vowed to protect along with all the others but her the most. She was the youngest, the most vulnerable and at the same time the strongest of them all.
"Yes, you can do it if you try."
"No, it's different with you," and it was different, she was unique. He looked at her, into those chocolate pools that seemed to hold so much love, more than any X5 he knew, more than any human he knew, "I mean, how could I forget...a single thing about you? How could I?"
A black raven.
Barcodes.
Snow; cold feet; escape.
"Max, it's you. And me...and Brin...and Tinga," He was inside Manticore again, with her this time. They'd stopped running.
"No. Tinga's dead. Come on," his sister was dead, but not the only one. Ben and Eva. He remembers her eyes straining to see that freedom she'd never in the end ever get to feel. Jack and Jesse and countless more numbers that had become people. Never children but humans.
"The bullet went clean through. Her right ventricle is collapsed. She's gone," the cold white room again.
"Prep her for harvesting."
"No," she couldn't be gone. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. It wasn't supposed to be this way. They'd had so much suffering and a baby's breath away from happiness and they never made it.
Zack felt his wrists struggle as he looked in sorrow and horror at her lying lifeless. It was like watching a movie you have seen before and though you know the ending and you know you can't change it you still talk to the image on the screen trying desperately nonetheless. He freed himself from the stretcher and took out a Soldier guarding him. He wouldn't let it end this way. If it was up to him then so be it but he couldn't let her never wake up again.
"Bring her back!"
"Her heart's too badly damaged."
"Then transplant her."
"There's nothing in the donor bank," so many problems so little time. The gun felt reassuring in his hand. A cold comfort as he pressed it into one of his many demons' skull, "Then you need a donor."
"It won't do her any good. She's an X5. She needs an X5 heart."
Even that little revenge is taken away and he pushes The bitch away and he approaches her bed. The so final sound of the constant beep, the only sound, "Fight them, Maxie. Promise me you'll fight them," a last wish from a brother to a sister both with hearts too big. When Manticore tried to take them away they only grew. Manticore's children were the most human of all.
A sacrifice, a life for a life, "X5-599, I've got a heart for you."
Zack's eyes were as wide as saucers as they settled on her, "I remember. I died for you."
The last thing to leave his lips before he felt the blood rush away from his brain and he collapsed the last thing before everything went black, for what seemed to be tradition was her.
A/N Feel free to send me flames and fire and blasphemy but my fingers are too blame not to mention my delirious state. I have a high temperature and my doctor isn't even sure what I got. I can't walk straight so I seem to have adapted to falling down the stairs, I haven't eaten for 32 hours but I aint hungry and this morning I got poked and prodded, blood tests, chest x- rays the whole nine yards and they still aint got a clue.
Review please..pretty please. I'm not begging, it's the fever talking.
Start Rant
A/N I always liked Zack and I don't think it was fair that they brought him back only to send him away again. You don't just come back from a bullet wound to the head especially a point blank one. Zack died and that's how he should have remained, as Max puts it 'someone who's willing to sacrifice everything for the ones he loves. Anyway I apologize but I really felt like fixing the Zack situation, he's not gonna be a major character. These next few chapters might be a little less light hearted than the earlier ones but I need to sort out some major issues so I apologize if things seem rushed.
End Rant.
Part 6
Adam looked out the car window. The strange man who'd come to the farm the previous day hadn't said where they were going but Adam was sure that he held the answers to his, capabilities, for lack of a better word.
The man had said his name was Sandeman.
The whole town had been following with growing interest the so-called transgenic threat in Seattle and Bill Sewell, a ranch hand, had taken on as his own little crusade to pick on him ever since he'd arrived.
Bill was convinced that Adam wasn't normal but Adam himself was sure of this too. Buddy had pleaded with him to not show his better strength; agility and eyesight to anyone for his own safety but accidents were bound to happen.
Sandeman had come just in time to drive him to safety, but how the older man had known where to find him was beyond his knowledge.
No memories had ever surfaced of the two years he'd supposedly spent on the ranch but snippets of dreams of another life plagued his sleep.
Shaven heads and missions. Children in hospital gowns and a boy making shadow puppets on the wall for two little girls. But the figure that wouldn't let him sleep had dark brown hair and chocolate eyes and somehow he knew that it was his responsibility to keep them all safe especially her, the youngest.
The shrill ring of a phone brought him crashing back from the clouds into the car seat as Sandeman looked for the phone one-handedly through a backpack. It seemed to take forever for him to find the contraption and answer.
"Hello? Finally took you long enough to answer the phone," came the voice of a girl from the other line.
He could hear both sides of the conversation without any trouble and he did.
"One of these days that mouth of yours is gonna get you in a whole heap of trouble little lady," Sandeman replied, a small smile on his lips though.
"So are you getting your old self here or not? Jon is already loading the truck and Wes is putting the final touches on our ticket there," wherever the girl was that's were they were heading Adam realized.
"I'm coming, I'm about 20 miles away."
"Coo. Listen you know those shots you gave Kadu' and me'? What would happen if I gave them to Napoleon?" Adam didn't know who they were but he still listened trying to understand.
"You're not thinking on bringing him are you? I know you love that animal but where would he stay Spartacus?"
"Jondy said there's nuff room to put oats and hay plus there's a small park inside Terminal City with grass and I can manage at finding him food, please, pleeeeaaaase?"
Two girls giggled as he pulled back the covers. He looked at them, trying to bury his smile.
"Jondy what are you doing out of bed," he said with the voice of a worried older brother not the CO he was supposed to be.
"I can't sleep Zack and neither can Maxie," the little girl whined looking up at him with big blue eyes.
"I don't even know why I try I've never been able to say no to you," Sandeman's reply broke through the memory and he took deep breaths trying to absorb what he'd just seen.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you I love ya Sandy."
"Yeah yeah I'm sure. Wait for me to pack the lab all right missy. I'll do it. and listen. how is she?"
"She's great. Knock out. Dark hair, doe eyes, tanned.smooth skin, She's right here wit me and apparently she has heaps to talk to you about."
He crouched on the roof of a building and somehow he knew he was sixteen which made her twelve to thirteen but she held the beauty of someone much older. The grace of a princess as she walked to the motorcycle. The leather jacket and tight jeans she wore didn't change her beauty at all if not made her even more stunning.
Her hair had grown and hung in loose curls around her face but he'd be able to recognize her anywhere; Max. His Maxie.
"Does. does she hate me?"
"I don't know I haven't asked her by the way you do know she can hear you? Oh by the way you wont believe who she brought along?"
"I know she can hear me, I made her that way. Who'd she bring?"
"Alec. 494."
"I guess some things are just supposed to happen. I'll be there in a bit until then don't be a smart ass and go help."
"Sure pop!"
"You never change."
"And you love me just the way I am."
Adam looked back out the window. Or was it Zack. He didn't know anymore but that name seemed so natural as it slipped off Jondy's tongue and he didn't even know who she was; his sister? He was remembering, what he didn't know, but maybe he was starting to.
One word left his lips and though he didn't know why, he knew it meant everything, "Manticore."
****
One by one everybody got back up dusting themselves and removing bits of hay from their hair. Wesley held Mint on his hip as the two watched the others and shook their heads, "If you've quite finished there's still work to be done. What were you doing hanging from the gutter anyway?"
Spartacus looked at Max pleading and she relented, "I thought Alec was a trespasser and to have the element of surprise I came from above. Cus just followed me I guess," she shrugged but clearly sending a look to the younger girl that said you owe me for this one and we need to talk.
"Whatever anyway come on there's still some supplies to load sis," Jondy said helping Max to her feet.
"About that. There's only two ways I see that we can get back inside Terminal City. One's by foot but with so many of us it would be harder. The other is by air which I guess is why there was the sound of helicopter blades but I don't understand the truck," Max said.
Jondy smiled happy that her sister hadn't lost her touch, "You're right. They're not just gonna let us drive inside. Rook, Kahlua and myself will be driving the truck while Wesley will be piloting the chopper with you, Alec, Spartacus, Sandeman, Mint, Bintz and Zyme plus cargo. Outside the city limits we hook it up to the truck and land inside Terminal City. All we need is a diversion," Jondy explained.
Max chuckled and shook her head; "You always were one for big entrances."
"Jon, what about Napoleon? Pop said I could bring him. Please Jon," Spartacus pleaded, "And you forgot about Zack."
Max's eyes widened along with Jondy's and Alec's, "Who. did you say?"
Spartacus looked at the ground not able to meet their eyes, "I know it wasn't the best idea to go get him. Sandy had just gone to see if anyone was suspicious of him and. yesterday night I got a dream and had I not called him Zack wouldn't even be alive anymore. It's safer if he's with us then out there with no way to protect himself. and I'm sorry. I couldn't just let him die," Spartacus mumbled.
Jondy, though still unsure of what to do knew that Spartacus had done what was best and she drew her in a hug, "It's aiight Cus. You're right. I guess we found our distraction."
Max still couldn't speak as guilt overtook her and she looked at her own to feet rather than meet her sister's eyes that she felt on her back.
"It's not your fault Max. You did what was best at the time," Bintz comforted laying a hand on her shoulder.
"C'mon guys this is turning into a soap opera. We need to finish up," broke in Zyme and though his words were teasing his tone was strangely sweet and understanding.
"Ok guys new plan," Max called out, breaking out of her thoughts. Right now that wasn't gonna help anyone. She could wallow in self-pity afterwards.
"We take off from here but once we get past the gate to get into Seattle we lower the truck Jon will climb onto the roof and open the back doors while Rook gets into the drivers seat just in case they shoot out the cables. This thing could get through anything," she chuckled pointing to what seemed to have once been a truck which had been mixed with a monster truck chassis and wheels, "Can we fit Cus and Napoleon in the back without crates falling on either of them?"
Jondy nodded while Alec watched her with a small smile on his lips. He loved it when she took charge, she was always so in control and never took any shit from anyone.
"The rest of us, including Zack," she said, her voice slightly cracking on her brother's name, "Will be in the chopper. Alec and me will lower ourselves down onto the roof in the event that something should happen and Rook and Jon need back up. All of this while both are still moving. Most likely we will have cops on our tail by then but hopefully it'll take them a second to begin chase. Cus and Napoleon will have exited and they're our distraction. The second Jondy closes the back doors and is on the truck, whether holding on to the bumper on top with me and Alec or in the passenger seat, Wes you are to make sure this thing gets airborne again. We'll circle around once or twice to confuse any cops or whoever else is assigned to kill us this week. Meanwhile Cus is galloping full speed for Jam pony and find OC, to give her the vaccine and to further confuse any cops, then back to Terminal City; however you do it draw attention to yourself and ride through the front entrance. The gate's already been ripped away so the only thing you'll have to get over is either a police car or those wooden things they use to keep people back."
"We can do that can't we Napoleon?" she smiled and the horse whinnied in response stomping his hooves.
Jondy rolled her eyes and patted the horse's neck who having seen the commotion had jumped the fence and come over, "We'll take that as a yes."
"The second we know Cus is over we follow and land smack in the middle. Any questions?" Max finished clapping her hands together.
Alec raised his hand, a smirk on his lips, "Yeah jus one thing. Cus and Napoleon aren't immune to the toxins in that place."
Cus smiled and replied, "We've been immunized though I personally think I didn't need it. it's a long story. Sandy couldn't do my DNA work up for some reason so he gave me the shot just to be safe. The vaccine for OC is the same. Should she ever need to get into Terminal."
"Well people let's get this show on the road," Rook chided slapping Jondy and Max on the back, "Someone help me get the extra fuel tanks for this trip on the chopper. We need to travel round 1600 miles and the CH-53E can only do 1250. We've already adapted it, we just need to hook the tubing to some fuel."
*****
"Are you sure you wanna come Napoleon. You won't have nearly as much nature as you have here. It's your decision but if you do decide to stay here I don't know when I'll be coming back or even if I do," Spartacus whispered while stroking her horse's soft gray nose.
Napoleon whinnied and stomped his feet making his master smile, "Alright. I love you too 'leon."
*******
"Reporting sir," yelled an X8 Zane had decided to name Cola'.
Another stepped forward beside the other and repeated, "Sir, reporting sir," this one had already had a name and Zane smiled at Monkee.
His other little messengers were busy running around on errands and delivering messages but Cola' a small girl with green eyes and Monkee a boy with ruffled brown hair and hazel eyes were never too far from him.
"Everything is on schedule. The first two stories of the hospital are already restored and the Picassos have given it a new paint job while the doctors are organizing beds and equipment. Logan has checked in from Father's house and the mechanics are working their way down the list. The artillery unit is developing new weapons and explosives sir," Cola' reported at the top of her lungs.
Zane repressed the chuckle but he couldn't hide the smile. Had he not known the reason she had learned to report like that and the pain the child would have gone through at the slightest mistake he could have probably called it cute.
"Good job soldier but remember at break you're just a kid. No sir yes sirs then alright? Good now go and report to the roll monitors so they can get your details down," Zane instructed and watched her quickly scamper away.
The Picassos were the teenagers. He'd given them orders to give the whole city, inside and out a new paintjob. They could do anything they wanted on the outside as long as it wasn't blood and massacres, keep it light guys, he'd said. On the inside no graffiti, any color as long as it wasn't nauseous. He smiled as his eye caught the huge mural a cat anomaly had done.
The roll monitors were the pregnant women.
"All the sentinels have comms sir and the adults are constantly bringing in new equipment, clothes and furniture and they're beginning to furnish the apartments you assigned and repairing them. Two thirds of the population has been catalogued and in numbers we're growing. An estimated 1200 hundred said Mole but no more than 1500 sir. Transgenics are coming in at a constant rate about one every 29 hours but Dix believes there aren't a whole heap left in Seattle. Their data is being the saved on disc and file by the telecommunications team," reported Monkee just as loud standing straight.
"At ease little man. Good job. Go see how dinners coming along and ring the bell if it's nearly ready so that everyone has time to get here. From youngest to oldest," he said to the boy that could be no older than five. He was one of the youngest but seemed to have enough energy to last him a lifetime.
******
Adam watched with interest as the car pulled up in front of a farmhouse and Sandeman got out. He followed the older man round to what looked like a small barn or storehouse. People were running around, loading boxes and crates into a truck; or what used to be a truck. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened to it but it looked like someone had switched chassis, wheels and suspension and replaced it with a monster truck's.
Everyone stilled and looked at both of them in curiosity. Adam's jaw stiffened almost subconsciously and his back straightened. His body took on a life of his own as he took the posture of a general and his mind couldn't seem to be able to tell him to relax.
"Call Max. Tell her the cavalry is here," a young man around his age whispered to a little girl. She sprinted off right away and Adam had to stifle a gasp as she blurred out of view.
A teenage girl with pitch-black hair popped out from behind the truck and ran over to them. She jumped onto Sandeman under Adam's scrutinizing glaze.
The old man chuckled and spun her round ruffling her hair. The second her feet were on the ground she was back to bouncing and she bounded to a stop in front of him.
He looked at her unsure of what to do when the back of his eye spotted her. Dressed all in black his mind told him cat-suit but what it meant didn't register. He saw her hesitation as she approached him and his brain clicked on where he'd seen her. At the hospital. and so many other places more.
Without realizing it his voice bubbled up his throat and he muttered, "Max."
*****
Adam sat in the helicopter wondering how he knew that it could carry fifty- five soldiers and be mounted with 12.7 millimeter fully automatic machine guns. Ever since he'd seen their faces, flashbacks and snippets of what seemed like memories from a dream had been bombarding him. The slightest thing would set one off.
There'd been no time for explanations Sandeman had said. Everything would get sorted once they arrived in Seattle.
He held his head in his hands, avoiding eye contact with her, Max. He knew she was watching him, he felt her eyes on his head trying to bore into him it seemed.
Zack lied on a stretcher as he was pushed into a room. Doctors were crowded around the other bed were she lay unmoving. Panic floated up in his throat as he yelled her name, "Max!"
"Internal paddles."
"Charge to 30."
"Charged."
"Clear."
The doctors yelled and talked but all he could hear was the flat line tone that resounded in the sterile room; it wasn't sterile anymore. His blood and her blood stained the once white walls and linoleum floor. He struggled with all his strength to get to her.
A blonde woman walked in and Adam felt his heartbeat quicken at the memory of her. He could feel the gunshot wounds he knew were in his chest though it was only a memory.
"30 again."
"Charge."
"Clear."
The monotonous sound of the beep that seemed to be changing everything in his life. He refused to believe she was gone. She couldn't be. Max was supposed to survive. She was strong, so alive; she couldn't be dead.
Zack gasped as his eyes flew to hers. His breathing was ragged and his heartbeat felt like a jackhammer in his chest. She moved to the seat beside him and he could see the turmoil in her eyes he knew was mirrored in his as her hand reached out wavering across his shoulder to his cheek. Her hand was warm and soft. So small compared to his.
The helicopter disappeared and the drone of the blades became the lively chatter of people as he found himself in a coffee shop. He looked at the cup in front of him then to Max who seemed anxious as she watched the phone booth, occupied by two giggling girls.
"Expecting a call?" he heard himself say.
"You never know," she replied getting up from the table and heading towards the two girls and the payphone, "All right, time's up. There is another phone down the block. It's on me."
Max handed the girls some change, she placed her gum over the change slot and returned to the table."
Again he talked knowing what to say but not why, "Seem nervous."
"Compared to what? You don't even know me." She answered skeptically still distracted.
"Maybe we knew each other in a past life," he argued, a smug smile on his lips.
"Zack, don't go, please." He heard her plead. It was night and they walked on old railway lines no longer at the coffee shop. She looked desperate as she looked up at him.
"I have to," He said when he really just wanted to get her in his arms and tell her he'd never leave. He'd always be there for her.
Instead he lifted her chin with his finger; "They did a good job on you, Max. Turned out OK."
He rushed to his feet and began pacing the floor of the helicopter knowing all eyes were on him. He couldn't take it. Was he Zack or Adam? Why did he have a barcode? All these questions and not enough time for answers he wanted right now.
"Zack I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered and he halted as another batch of images assaulted his already overworked brain.
"Vogelsang knew too much," he could see himself. As if he was a ghost watching the memory from afar. He could remember and knew what was happening but couldn't and didn't at the same time.
"You murdered an innocent man," Max accused him but yet he saw himself nonchalant.
"The night we all escaped, you put your life in my hands. I have been looking out for you ever since. Every one of you. Vogelsang was weak. Lydecker would have gotten the information out of him. He would have hunted us down, one by one. And I couldn't let that happen," his voice continued and Adam watched.
"So you traded one life for twelve, is that it?" she bit back unrelenting. It was night, and they were on the railroad again, walking only because their feet took them. But Adam felt like he was floating, like wind, he was surreal, though you know it's there and feel it, you cannot see it.
"I stand by my decision. It's not safe here. Lydecker's men will be combing the city we have to leave tonight. I can get us to San Francisco and we'll split up there," he looked himself in the eye as if trying to believe that this was himself.
"They're soldiers and so are you. The only person you can rely on, Max, is yourself. Everything else is just a lie. It's phony sentimentality and it will get you killed. Now, let's go," soldiers, Adam remembered now, like Manticore.
"No," she refused and Adam felt a surge of frustration. He wanted her to be happy but safe too. And if she wasn't alive how could you be happy. Like two droplets of water Adam felt himself draw closer to Zack, like they were merging, "I am not asking you, Max, I am giving you an order."
An apartment; with paintings and artwork and a man in a wheel chair without a face, "She's gone Max."
"So we're just gonna let Lydecker have her?" the mere name sent the hairs on the back of his neck on end. Both halves of him seemed to get closer and closer with each passing word.
"You want us to go after her and give him a shot at a hat trick?" this time they came from his mouth. He wasn't Adam, he was Zack.
Max watched him in shock; "We can't just do nothing!"
Zack felt cold. Alone as he looked at his surroundings; he was jumping from image to image, and each image was a flash back, he bounced around between the cells in his brain, re-opening neuron-chemical connections, "I made myself forget; to protect you. To protect all of you."
Max's soothing voice calmed him and it truly felt like everything would be okay, "It's okay. It's over."
But he knew it wasn't true, it never would be really for them, "No. No, it's not. I'm the only one who knew. The only one. I've got to remember so that I can protect them."
"You will. You called me, right? You remembered my number."
"It's not the same," and it wasn't. Max was special. She was his little sister; his Maxie. The little girl he'd vowed to protect along with all the others but her the most. She was the youngest, the most vulnerable and at the same time the strongest of them all.
"Yes, you can do it if you try."
"No, it's different with you," and it was different, she was unique. He looked at her, into those chocolate pools that seemed to hold so much love, more than any X5 he knew, more than any human he knew, "I mean, how could I forget...a single thing about you? How could I?"
A black raven.
Barcodes.
Snow; cold feet; escape.
"Max, it's you. And me...and Brin...and Tinga," He was inside Manticore again, with her this time. They'd stopped running.
"No. Tinga's dead. Come on," his sister was dead, but not the only one. Ben and Eva. He remembers her eyes straining to see that freedom she'd never in the end ever get to feel. Jack and Jesse and countless more numbers that had become people. Never children but humans.
"The bullet went clean through. Her right ventricle is collapsed. She's gone," the cold white room again.
"Prep her for harvesting."
"No," she couldn't be gone. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. It wasn't supposed to be this way. They'd had so much suffering and a baby's breath away from happiness and they never made it.
Zack felt his wrists struggle as he looked in sorrow and horror at her lying lifeless. It was like watching a movie you have seen before and though you know the ending and you know you can't change it you still talk to the image on the screen trying desperately nonetheless. He freed himself from the stretcher and took out a Soldier guarding him. He wouldn't let it end this way. If it was up to him then so be it but he couldn't let her never wake up again.
"Bring her back!"
"Her heart's too badly damaged."
"Then transplant her."
"There's nothing in the donor bank," so many problems so little time. The gun felt reassuring in his hand. A cold comfort as he pressed it into one of his many demons' skull, "Then you need a donor."
"It won't do her any good. She's an X5. She needs an X5 heart."
Even that little revenge is taken away and he pushes The bitch away and he approaches her bed. The so final sound of the constant beep, the only sound, "Fight them, Maxie. Promise me you'll fight them," a last wish from a brother to a sister both with hearts too big. When Manticore tried to take them away they only grew. Manticore's children were the most human of all.
A sacrifice, a life for a life, "X5-599, I've got a heart for you."
Zack's eyes were as wide as saucers as they settled on her, "I remember. I died for you."
The last thing to leave his lips before he felt the blood rush away from his brain and he collapsed the last thing before everything went black, for what seemed to be tradition was her.
A/N Feel free to send me flames and fire and blasphemy but my fingers are too blame not to mention my delirious state. I have a high temperature and my doctor isn't even sure what I got. I can't walk straight so I seem to have adapted to falling down the stairs, I haven't eaten for 32 hours but I aint hungry and this morning I got poked and prodded, blood tests, chest x- rays the whole nine yards and they still aint got a clue.
Review please..pretty please. I'm not begging, it's the fever talking.