Living Again
A tale of love and of hope and of what can come of the two
Adam gave a grunt as he shifted the beam into position. From below him he heard a yell of encouragement from the men hauling on the thick rope that kept it in the air. With a final push the beam fell into the grooves and the other men on ladders at either end of the growing structure moved swiftly to secure it with lashing and long wooden pegs. With a final cheer at the completion of the morning's work the ladders were brought down and the men gathered for lunch. Adam took his time getting down, pausing to admire his work. This was now, and its immediacy held him captive. It was such a relief to be able to lose himself in work again after the dreams that haunted him in what little time he was able to spend asleep. Glimpses of death, of torture, and every once in a while a girl with dark hair filled his sleeping moments. Now they filled his head during the day as well, and only the greatest exertion allowed him to focus. His attention returned to him, Adam gave one last satisfied look at the growing barn before joining his teasing compatriots. It was good to be a part of such an extended family. But why did he feel like there should be others here?
The Command Center in Terminal City was a madhouse as usual. X Series and Nomalies mingled together as supplies were brought in and catalogued and outside communications monitored. In the midst of it all Alec and Mole turned the wild crowd into at least organized confusion. Who knew that these two would put aside their sarcastic natures to shape the Manticore rebels into a formidable fighting force? The atmosphere outside the walls was still tense, but with the National Guard and regular military surrounding the area it had been more difficult for White and the Familiars to foment more violence. With standing orders to steer clear of all government forces and Sector Police while on supply runs, the transgenics had been able to keep an uneasy peace for the past four months. While Max was happy to see her dream coming true and more transgenics joining the cause every week, she had quickly faded into the background. Sure, it had been her speech that had turned Terminal City into a virtual country, but she did not have the desire or support necessary to lead. She was still a traitor, an oh-niner, and many of the others, especially X5's, looked down on her as a result. Not that she minded it much. Due to Zack's orders all those years ago she had always been a loner. Sometimes she made friends like Original Cindy, Sketchy, Herbal, and Kendra, but mostly she was her own woman. The only thing that kept her going was the hope of finding her family someday, and none of them were here. They had been independent for too long to join the very system they had tried so hard to escape. Tinga, Eva, and Ben were gone, and Brin might as well be. Krit and Syl probably thought she was dead, and Jace was somewhere in Mexico while she had never even seen Jondy or Zane since the escape. The only one she could find now was Zack, but after everything Manticore had done to him, could she disrupt his normal life like that? More important, could she do that to herself?
Once she had her family on her mind though, Max could not push those thoughts away. Now that Manticore was gone and attention focused on Terminal City, it should be at least marginally safer for them to meet. The problem with that was once again it all came back to Zack. He knew, or had once known, the contact number and locations of her family. Whether he did now or not was a good question, but it only took a week for Max to decide that it was worth the risk. A raid on Logan's apartment got her the address of his contact that had taken Zack in after his memory wipe. Now she just had to disappear in a way that didn't get anyone too suspicious or freaked. As she had been in that bit with the Reds, OC turned out to be the weak link. Max couldn't just leave without telling her boo what was up, but apparently Original Cindy couldn't let her leave without getting Alec to make sure she knew what she was doing. And although he had shown impressive leadership and maturity in his new role, he was after all still Alec.
Cell phones were a tricky thing. While they were great when you really needed to get in touch with someone, they could be real pains. By the time Max got back from talking to Original Cindy, Alec was already waiting in her quarters. His face was an impressive shade of red as he rounded her on things like operational security and acceptable losses and honor and duty. Than he tried another tactic and tried to convince her that she had to keep Logan safe from the roving assassin slash time bomb that was Zack. Her arguments that first he shouldn't care about a norm, especially Logan given their history, and second that she wasn't bringing him back to Seattle anyways only made things worse. How dare she leave the cause when it needed her so badly? Well of course it needed her despite the fact that she had been sitting on her ass except for the occasional supply run for months now. Finally he gave up and stormed out of the room. His parting shot of 'I won't be able to break you out of this screw-up' and her 'At least I won't have to worry about a virus' only sealed the matter. She was gone within the hour, only stopping to say good bye to Joshua and some others. It was time to wake up Zack.
Adam was cleaning up in the ranch house after another hard day of work when he heard the motorcycle racing by into town. That sound – it reminded him of a dream where he had been on a motorcycle as well, racing into the night with a dark-haired angel on her own bike beside him. He smiled at the dream? memory? and moved into the spacious dining room for supper and a well-deserved rest.
Max pulled into the motel parking lot and quickly obtained a room, ignoring the desk clerk's suggestive leer as she did so. All she had was a small bag and an address to check in the morning so with nothing else to do she made her way to the nearest bar. She was low on cash and some pool hustling and a little alcohol would definitely help her shaking hands. Tomorrow would be rough.
The bar was packed as Adam hopped out of the truck and joined his rowdy coworkers. He had been plan hoping for an early night, but they had teased and prodded until he gave in with a grin. His skills at the pool table were almost legendary and they hoped to make some money off any out-of-towners around tonight,
When they moved inside, the area around the pool tables was already crowded with gawkers. At Adam's query one of the bystanders replied:
"Some chick is cashing in. Unbelievable at the table and has just as unbelievable a body. What more can a guy ask for out here?
Smirking at the man's obvious infatuation with the newcomer Adam squeezed through the crowd to get a better view of the woman. She had her back to him as she lined up her next shot. The cue ball flew off the end of her stick as she racked up three balls in quick succession. As she moved around the table for a better angle, Adam gave a start. It was the girl from the hospital! The girl from his dreams!
Sensing abrupt movement behind her in the crowd, Max let her attention shift from the game for a moment to find its source. When her eyes locked on the tall, well-built man across the table she gasped. It was Zack! In her confusion and astonishment she let the cue slip from her nervous grasp, the ball knocking about wildly in tune with her suddenly increased heart rate.
Adam stumbled backwards in confusion. How could she be real? With the onset of his dreams he had been able to write off her hospital appearance as a drug-induced hallucination, but now… Now he wasn't sure what to think, what to believe. Throwing caution and common sense to the wind he ran from the bar and his muddled past, his bewildered comrades left in the dust by his superhuman speed. As the dark-haired girl abandoned the pool game to follow with equally impossible swiftness, one of the ranch hands who had accompanied Adam to the bar lifted a cell phone to his ear, a worried look on his face.
Max exited the bar at a dead run. From the look on Zack's face he had recognized her, but the only way that was possible was if he had already had his memory start to return. If that was happening, why was he still here? Why had he not moved on? The old Zack would never have stayed in one place for so long. That meant his memory retrieval must be only partial like it had been the last time. She might be here for a while if that was the case. Of course, she had to catch him first.
Adam ran through the quiet streets, his normally logical mind ruled for the moment by an overwhelming urge to escape something he did not understand. His body unthinkingly made its way around and over obstacles and obstructions with a strength and grace he had been only dimly aware he possessed. Even as he ran his mind was a wild ten steps ahead of his movements as knowledge seemed to appear in his mind. He knew how to disable her in one swift motion or he could lose her with a seemingly random pattern based on a complex mathematical pattern that he suddenly understood. Instead he focused on overcoming his instincts and stood his ground. Whatever was coming, he would face it and if need be defeat it.
When his pursuer appeared around the corner, skidding to a halt on the gravel, his relief was as palpable as her wariness. She approached him cautiously as he waited like the good little Manticore boy he was. His confusion at that sudden random thought must have showed on his face, because the girl spoke.
"Zack?"
That word, that name, brought back a confuse jumble of half-forgotten dreams and nightmares.
A cabin where he curled up on a couch with the girl in front of him. An apartment building filled with soldiers.
Swinging into an alley, shooting at kidnappers as another girl, Tinga?, was taken away.
"X5-599 – I have your heart."
Another memory that only lives in nightmares. Children run across the snow fleeing an armed menace that shoots at them as they scale fences with inhuman strength.
His mind flashes back to the present as a hand touches his face. Without thinking he garbs it and spins, the girl grunting as she twists with him to save herself from a broken wrist and dislocated shoulder. When they land he sends his fist in a blurring strike at a shoulder that is no longer there. Its absence throws him off balance, and the girl uses that to launch him into the wall. Adam grimaces in pain as she follows with a strike to a nerve cluster on his neck, stunning him momentarily. He rolls off the wall and staggers to his feet, his hands raised in surrender. She makes no move to attack him, only speaks again. Her tone tells him she is ready to cry – from sadness or anger he does not know, but his tactical mind tells him it is a weakness to be exploited.
"Zack? Do you remember me? It's Max!"
Max. That name brings with it a further onslaught of dream memories. One that stands out in particular is of a group of children huddled in front of some sort of light source as one of their number creates shadow creatures on the wall as he tells them about…
"Am I a 'Nomaly?" The words slip out before he can stop them. He does not understand them yet they cause him to have a deep feeling of dread, and that is all he really needs to understand.
"Of course not,: she replies, edging cautiously closer to him like he is the sick cow he treated the other day for gout.
"Then what am I?
"You're my brother." Finally she reaches him and places her hand lightly on his shoulder. Looking up into his eyes she continues. You're my protector. You're my commander, and most of all you're my friend. I need your help.
He looks at her in confusion. How can she need his help? He barely knows himself right now and is no condition to help anyone else. She seems convinced however, and he has never been abele to turn her down. Or has he? He just doesn't know anymore, and without finding out about his past that she seems to know so much about he never will. His decision is made.
"Tell me everything."
It comes out as an order, not a question, but she obeys without thought. He finds himself back in her hotel room. The night is spent in remembrance as she goes over every point in their lives together. As she speaks his mind puts the bits and pieces together. Other memories appear that link the gaps in her story together. When dawn breaks she tells him of their raid on the Manticore facility that ended in disaster. She stops with sacrifice to save her life, and he looks up, not surprised to see the tears in his eyes mirrored in hers. She has been honest with him, more honest than he could have hoped. His feelings for her were real, yet she rejected them. The subtle catch in her voice as she told him was enough to assure him of the story's veracity. Then she stops. Adam, Zack now, blinks.
"But I'm alive? What happened?"
She is hesitant to tell him, but finally it pours out of her. His appearance as a cyborg when she thought him dead. His attempts to kill her friend and ally. She won't even say his name for fear it will trip his programming again. He is in the past she says, and he doesn't matter anymore. He believes her. He believes her grief at condemning him to a life without his family as well. A life without her. She tells him about Terminal City and Familiars, Alec and Joshua and 'Nomalies. When she finishes he has missed a day of work.
"His boss must be worried but right now he doesn't care. He has Max and maybe he will find the others. Life is real now, and for that he would give up anything.
Max sat there in silence after she finished her narrative. Zack had taken it much better than she had expected him to, but rather than reassure her it frightened her instead. If he was not in shock it meant that either he had already begun to regain his memory independently or he was going to snap somewhere down the line. The second option was obviously bad, but the first had the potential to be so much worse due to his Manticore programming. All she could do now was hope.
Zack had stepped out to think when her phone rang, jarring her from her thoughts. Picking it up she was surprised and chagrined to hear Logan's voice on the other end.
"How could you?!" he screamed into the phone. "I trusted you and this is how you repay me
Warily she answered. "What are you talking about, Logan? What happened?"
"Don't play with me, Max! I know where you are! Is this an X-5 thing, playing with other people's lives? What if he comes after me while I'm alone? What am I supposed to do then?"
"Logan, chill! You want the DL? Yeah, I came out to get Zack, but you don't need to worry about it. He's not coming back, and neither am I."
Logan sputtered on the other end for a moment before regaining his power of speech. "What do you mean you're not coming back? You won't survive without me! How many times have I got you out of trouble? You think Zack will do everything for you? Just wait, he'll turn on you, too. He can't be…"
Logan's voice faded into the ether as Max severed the connection in disgust. Whatever had brought her and Logan together in the first place had faded during her months in TC. His inability to remain in the infested area had made their moments of contact that much more sporadic and they had slowly drifted apart. Now that she had ruined any chances with him by reawakening Zack it was like a brave new world was opening in front of her. By the time Zack reentered the room a few hours later she was ready to go – ready to take on the world.
Zack spent the next couple days saying his goodbyes. It would have been funny to think abut just how much their positions had reversed in only a couple years if it hadn't been so heartbreaking for her to tear him away from his only chance at a normal life. Still, it was definitely a relief to pull out of town with Zack behind her on the bike. They had no plans but to find his past, and hopefully their family on the way.
They drove for days stopping only briefly in small towns as they headed east and south. Zack had a vague memory of being in Dallas, and without any other options it seemed like as good idea as any. As they traveled the significance of what was happening became more and more apparent. Driving through Idaho they passed through a small town whose Welcome sign had an addition: 'Transgenics Not Welcome'. The searching stares they got as they swung south through Wyoming spoke of more than mere small-town close-mindedness. In one town just before they hit the Colorado border they were forced to leave at the business end of a shotgun when Max's barcode flashed while she was pumping gas. Through it all the two of them fell back into old patterns as they fell back into old X-5 income gathering techniques – theft. This meant they had to hit at least a few larger cities – Denver in particular proved to be a lucrative haul – but it was also easier to fit in that way. As they traveled Max found herself looking at Zack in a new way. Maybe it was a result of their previous limited contact or maybe she was seeing Adam, but Zack seemed more human somehow. Every new experience was met with a wild enthusiasm that proved to be infectious. Zack was no longer her big brother and overprotective CO. He was her friend. It was obvious that he wanted it to be something more, but that was not something Max was ready for. Sure, he was good looking, but as an X- Series he had had it written in his DNA. Still, they were growing quite close. What started as a double room became a double room with only one used bed as they sought comfort from their nightmares. Even that charade was gone after only two weeks when they started renting only a single room. It would have made her uncomfortable if she actually stopped to think about it, but for now she was content.
In the end it took them a little over a month thanks to gas shortages and having to evade a statewide search after a little bar fight in Oklahoma City. Zack had taken it upon himself to defend her 'honor' from a hick who turned out to be the abnormally popular mayor's son. Zack showed more of his old self now, though some of the best parts of Adam – his compassion and patience – remained. They stopped to train at least once a day, generally at night, so that Zack could be up to par when and if the needed him to be. There was no telling how far the Familiar's reach extended, not to mention any of the other government agencies out for their heads.
Dallas had been one of the few cities only marginally affected by the Pulse, but the general breakdown in law and order following the attack had hit just as hard here as anywhere else. It was definitely easier to move than in Seattle, but only if you stayed on the highways. Once you were in the city proper you had to negotiate your way through gang turf and scattered police fortifications that were just as likely to shoot you as they were to help. For days Max and Zack just drove the streets, waiting for something to jump-start his memory. At night they patrolled; it seemed the new Zack was something of a bleeding heart. He thought hey should be helping those they could. Of course he only went out in full combat gear and masks, but he was still doing something about his beliefs. It was a side of Zack that Max had never seen before, and she had to admit that she liked it.
Three weeks into their stay in Dallas all they had accomplished was to increase the tensions on the streets by causing all the gangs to go after their rivals' gangs to which they thought the two new heavy hitters belonged. Of course these actions would make the right people take notice, but Max was hoping for that. The people out to kill them were loud enough in approach for them to scatter, and if someone got close enough to take them out, chances were that was who they wanted to see.
They were out patrolling the alleys yet again when Zack stopped short, signaling for Max to take cover. She obeyed without question and sure enough, just after he went to ground as well they saw two dark figures leap over them running across the rooftops at X-series speeds. In silent agreement the two of them leapt up to the rooftops themselves to follow at a safe distance. For over twenty minutes they were led in a silent chase, their targets not giving any sign of having noticed their distant pursuers. Finally, though, they stopped and swung into an alley below. Cautiously Max and Zack approached and cased the area for signs of an ambush before dropping into the alley themselves. There was only one place they could have gone – a door left slightly ajar in silent invitation.
Max moved up to the door and eased it open. A dark hallway inside led to a tunnel. Without any other option if they wanted to find the identity of the others, they followed. A mile later along the dirt passageway they came to a door. On the other side it was still dark, but their night vision made it clear as day, highlighting the adjacent room's Spartan atmosphere. With only a table and two chairs in view they moved inside. They were only halfway across the room when their escape route clanged shut behind them and the lights turned on, momentarily blinding their sight. The sound of multiple peepholes sliding open and gun barrels poking through filled their ears. Max looked over at Zack in disgust for falling to such an obvious deception, but with no other alternative they raised their hands in surrender. Six masked persons then entered the room, their movements giving them away as two men and two women. Efficiently they surrounded the captured pair, their movements showing of extensive military training. Quickly they moved in, slamming Max and Zack down onto the table and shackling their hands and feet. They were then manhandled into chairs and their masks stripped off. There was silence as their captors stared at them, and one of the females let out a strangled gasp.
"Zack? Max?"
The speaker quickly tugged off her own mask, followed almost immediately by the others. There stood the people from Max's dreams – and Zack's all too frequent nightmares. Krit, Syl, Brin, and Jace stood there real as life with two others whose identities were given by Zack's choked out recognition.
"Zane, Jondy, is that you?"
Swiftly Brin and Jace moved behind them to release them from their bonds. Within seconds it was a madhouse with everyone talking at once. Max found herself face to face with Brin.
"Are you back, big sister?""I'm back little sister. I'm so sorry."
Max just moved closer, enveloping her lost sister in a hug. Together they shed the guilt of pain of Tinga's death. Finally they could move on.
With the shackles off, the room soon filled with transgenics. They were mostly X5's, but a few humanoids were there as well. Some Max recognized from her reindoctrination, but other faces were as strange to her as those in Terminal City had been at first. It turned out that this was indeed another transgenic enclave, one of many in the larger cities throughout the continent. This particular group had started from the oh-niners gathering up homeless and lost survivors to create a home in the sewers. Given their experiences at Manticore, it wasn't so bad.
Once their family had finally been reunited, it was natural that they would stick together. With the government's attention primarily centered on the Northwest it was much easier to create a niche here. It was the best time Max had ever had – even better than the brief stint in which the Jam Pony served as Transgenic Central. She and Zack continued to cling to each other even within the confines of their unit, and in time Max allowed their relationship to officially become one, ending years of fear of commitment and also the muffled giggles whenever they passed their comrades in the halls. The situation in Seattle continued as a stalemate, the National Guard no wanting to risk the literal fallout a bombing would cause or the massive casualties from a conventional invasion while the Transgenics were content to stay put while they tried to discover what freedom truly was. Of course it couldn't, and wouldn't, last, and Max's DNA had a few tricks of its own left, but that is another story. For now, suffice it to say that the guy got his girl – or maybe the girl got her guy – and they lived happily ever after. Well, at least until the next time someone accidentally flashed their barcode in public…
A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. It was a different type of story than I generally write, but I think it may have come out all right. If you disagree, by all means tell me and we can work on making it better. Thanks for reading. Peace.