Rahn
Chapter 12
XII
It was an almost imperceptible noise, but the soldier standing guard in the highly secret, well-protected underground passageway under area 51 was no ordinary soldier. He was part of an elite unit… a highly trained, highly motivated product of the most rigid army training, in superior physical condition, with trained, keenly-honed sensory abilities. This was a man who would notice something that any ordinary soldier or other person would likely never be aware of until it was too late.
The sound had been as quiet and as innocuous as a leaf falling on the ground, but Major Manuel Ruiz whirled around, his weapon at ready. He never had time to pull the trigger. His mouth opened in a silent scream, as the thirty-something-foot-long anaconda uncoiled its entire length with all the speed of a bullet, throwing loop after loop of its huge muscular body around its victim.
Ruiz tried briefly to call for help, but no sound would come from his lungs, which were already being pressed mercilessly, preventing any air from entering. He struggled, but the snake merely coiled more tightly around his chest and stomach. He tried to keep air in his lungs… to keep his chest from being crushed… but each time he breathed out even a puff of air, the anaconda tightened its hold a little more. He heard one rib crack… then another… Then everything faded into darkness.
**********
Major Manuel Ruiz put his helmet on and brushed his uniform off, making sure that everything was in peak military form. He pressed the edges of his shirt back into his pants tightly, smoothing the last trace of a wrinkle out with his hand. Then he picked up his rifle and walked down the hall purposefully. At the end of the hall, he looked briefly one way and then the other. Then he turned and walked down the hall to the left, nodding as he passed another guard. The guard nodded back. Ruiz walked further down the hall then turned right into another hall, nodding to another guard. This guard didn't nod back…
"Who's guarding your post, Ruiz? You're out of your area."
"I was relieved by another unit, sir."
"Then why are you going this way? The relief post is the other direction… but you know that," the guard said, eyeing Ruiz suspiciously.
"Yes, sir. I was merely… Here! Here are my orders, sir." Ruiz took a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York, who reached out and took it, momentarily leaving himself vulnerable. Ruiz brought the butt of his rifle up sharply, catching the surprised guard under the chin and knocking him unconscious. Then he quickly switched clothes with the unconscious man, handcuffed his hands behind his back with his own handcuffs, and tied his feet with his belt.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York straightened his uniform and placed his helmet on his head. Then he walked down the hall to the end and turned left into yet another hall. This hall was extremely long but essentially unguarded. Saying that it was unguarded might actually be inaccurate, though. The only reason there were no guards posted in this hall was that, in the past, several had been killed when they tripped the lasers that protected the half-mile-long passageway… and it seemed almost superfluous, besides dangerous, to post guards here among the active lasers. When official personnel visited the area, as they did regularly, the lasers were turned off for them. The guards did not have that option available to them.
Lieutenant Colonel York studied the passageway for several moments, searching with eyes that seemed to have an eagle-like intensity. Then he stepped into the hall and began to walk down it, swiftly and confidently walking first along the left side then along the right side… occasionally stepping high or leaping over unseen beams. He reached the end of the hall after about ten minutes and looked at the steel door in front of him. York placed one hand over the lock on the steel door and watched the lock slowly melt then drip to the ground, forming a small lake of molten ore at his feet. Then the door swung open.
It was dark inside the room, but York had no trouble seeing the two men inside. One sat in the corner, his head resting on his arms, which were rested on his knees. The other sat leaning against a wall, his legs stretched out. Both appeared to have been sleeping… or perhaps trying to sleep… and both appeared to be emotionally drained, malnourished, and in a severe state of mental and physical fatigue and stress from recent injuries.
The young man in the corner looked up at the guard for a moment then laid his head wearily back on his arms.
"Psst."
The young man looked up again. York held his hand in front of him, and his hand began to glow, casting light on his face. Then, as the two young men watched, Lieutenant Colonel York's face began to change.
The young man in the corner gasped. "Rahn!"
The man in the doorway placed a finger over his lips.
"Rahn… What are you doing coming back here? You'll get caught!"
"No, Zan. I will be careful."
"Why didn't you go back home," the second man in the room asked in a whispered voice.
"I couldn't… I owe you, Rath… I owe both of you my life. You helped me to escape… after sixty years…" Rahn lowered his head, as he remembered his many torturous years in captivity. "I owe you my life… both of you. I cannot abandon you now. You would not have been caught again if you had not been protecting me… helping me to escape, too."
"Can you get us out of here?" Michael asked.
"It will not be without danger."
"Danger I can handle," Michael said. "It's better than what happens in here. I don't know how you survived sixty years in here, Rahn. I'd be dead now if Zan… if Max… hadn't been here to heal all my wounds… after each session with Doctor Vulture and Agent Stoneheart."
"Those are strange names for humans," Rahn said stoically.
"They're not names, Rahn," Michael said… "They're… descriptions. Show us how to get out of here!"
"Follow me… Do exactly what I do. We will have to avoid the lasers in the long hall. At the end, we will go left… then I will lead you."
"How did you get past the guards," Michael asked. "Won't they be looking for us?"
"Yes."
"Did they see you?"
"Yes."
"Then how…"
"I became a large serpent… an anaconda, I think you call it, to protect myself from the first one."
"Did you… kill him?"
Rahn was silent for several moments, as he led them further down the hall, zigzagging just as he had on the way here.
"Did you know, Rath, that a serpent like the anaconda can go for many months without eating after it has ingested a large meal?"
"You… you ate him?"
Rahn smiled slightly. "No. I had to change back to a human form to remove his clothes so that I could take them to put on the next guard. Perhaps it will confuse our pursuers and slow them down somewhat… though it will not slow them down for long, I am certain. I merely restrained him… as I did the other guard. The first guard will have some broken ribs… but he will live. The other one may have a broken jaw. However, it would have been better for you if I had eaten them. As it is, they will be found, and they will talk… and because of that, the others will be hunting for us. It is inevitable."
"Could you have eaten them?" Michael asked with a certain curious fascination.
"Certainly," Rahn replied. "But then I would have had to hide somewhere for several months until they were digested before I could change back from a serpent into a human again."
"Sorry I asked," Michael said. "Max, we need to find Maria and Isabel. We don't know how badly Isabel was wounded."
Max turned to Rahn… "Did you hear anything about the army looking for Maria or Isabel? Do you know whether they escaped or not?"
Rahn shook his head. "I've been watching. They have not shown up in town or in any of the places where they might be expected to be if they had escaped from the base. But they also do not appear to have been found by the army."
"I felt that that was the case," Max said. "Agent Stoneheart kept telling me the gruesome details of how they were recaptured and he dissected them… but that only made me more certain that they hadn't been found, because he would not have been able to resist showing me what he had done… if he had anything to show me. He never had anything… It was just talk. Also, I've had strange feelings… I don't know how to describe them… like I was needed and had to help in some way. Sometimes… I felt like someone was… this sounds crazy, I know, but… tapping into me somehow and using my power. You lived on Antar, Rahn. Is that possible… to tap into another person's power?"
Rahn was silent for several moments, then he nodded slowly.
"It's possible, Zan. It's not likely… but it's possible. Your Grandfather once healed a man… through a 'source.'"
"What's a source?"
"A person who is capable of making a connection with another person in some way and sharing their power with them in order to do something that must be done… when the other person is not present or able to help. There were probably no more than five known successful sources on Antar, Zan. There certainly cannot be any on Earth."
"How does one get to be a 'source?'"
Rahn shrugged. "That is not known. Perhaps they have inherited the talent… or perhaps it came to them spontaneously…"
"Spontaneously… due to need…?"
"Need… Intense psychological desire… overwhelming empathy… or love…"
"Max, do you think Isabel is tapping into your healing power to heal herself," Michael asked.
"I don't know. Somebody is using me, though… I feel it."
"They cannot," Rahn said… "unless you allow it."
"I feel like I'm needed," Max said. "How could I not allow it?"
"Still," Rahn said, "it is unlikely that Isabel would be able to use your power to heal herself. If she is hurt badly enough to have a need that desperate, I doubt that she would be able to call on your power… even if she were a source. And if she is not hurt so badly… it is unlikely that she would be able to make a connection… because the need required would not be there. It would almost have to be another person… one who has the need but who is not desperately injured themselves and can summon the energy needed to make the connection."
"Maybe it's all just my imagination," Max said. "I've been poked and prodded and cut so much lately that… I'm not sure what is real and what is not any more, Rahn."
"I understand," Rahn said quietly. "I was there."
Max looked at Rahn and nodded. "Sixty years… How, Rahn? How did you keep your sanity?"
"I didn't," Rahn said smiling.
Max and Michael both looked at Rahn questioningly.
"I set my mind free… several times… so that it could roam far away from here. One might say that I went… insane at those times. But it was to protect myself."
"The insanity defense," Michael said with a weary smile.
Rahn nodded. "Yes… yes, you might call it that… The insanity defense. That would be an accurate description."
**********
Somewhere inside area 51, in an unfinished army tunnel several hundred feet below the mountain, Isabel had begun to shake again. Maria wrapped her tightly in the tattered piece of a blanket she had found and held her to try to stop the shaking, but it wasn't helping much.
"I'm… slipping…" Isabel
mumbled softly. "I… can't hold on, M'ria."
"You've got to, Iz… We need you." Maria looked at the blanket. The bleeding had started again. Isabel's back was drenched. Maria unwrapped the blanket and removed the band she had put around Isabel to keep pressure on the bullet wound. The wound had grown larger… it was infected now… and it was bleeding profusely.
"Let me go, Ma… M'ria. I'm dying anyway. I'm jus' hold'n you ba'. Get yourself 'way f'm here." Isabel's voice trailed off. Then she took a ragged breath and closed her eyes. Maria waited for her to open them again… And she waited…
"Iz? IZ!" Maria placed her hand under Isabel's nose. She was not breathing. Quickly, Maria started to give CPR, the way she had once been taught in a Health and Safety class she had taken… but after several minutes had passed, there was still no response.
"Dammit, Isabel," Maria said, swallowing the salty tears that filled her eyes and ran down onto her lips and into the corners of her mouth, "You are not leaving us! Not now! Not after all we've been through together here. Max! I need you! Oh God, I need you, Max! Help me! Please!"
Maria pressed her hands over the wound, and her hands glowed softly. She jerked them back…
"On top of everything else… this damned place has made me radioactive, too. I'm probably killing Isabel every time I touch her."
Maria pressed her hands to the wound again. "Come on Isabel… This helped before! You've got to come back!"
Maria's hands glowed again, a bit brighter this time, as the stream of blood slowed to a trickle… then stopped altogether.
"I'm sorry," Maria said, taking her hands off of Isabel and collapsing onto the ground. "I let you bleed to death, Isabel. I guess there's no more blood for you to bleed. You needed me, and I couldn't help you." Maria put her face into her hands, laid her head on her knees, and began to sob.
"I'm so sorry, Iz. I really tried. I hope you know that. I know we weren't such good friends in high school, but… I guess adversity really does bring people together. After what we both went through, you and me, Iz, I feel like I've lost a sister… No, more than a sister. I hope you know that, Iz! If I ever get out of here, I'm never going to forget you… What we went through together in there… how we helped each other… how we cried with each other… how we comforted each other. You're part of me now, Iz. You're in my heart forever. I won't forget that. Not ever! I wish I could have helped you when it mattered."
"You must have done something right," a soft voice said. A hand reached under Maria's chin and lifted her face up, and Maria stared into Isabel's eyes. She was smiling.
"I don't know what you've got, girlfriend, but whatever you did, you should bottle it and sell it. Ever since I got shot back there when we were escaping, every time you touched my wounds they felt a little better for a while. It just wasn't enough. But this time… I don't think even Max couldn't have done much better. I don't know how you did that, Maria, I don't… but you did it… somehow."
Maria looked at Isabel's back. The wound was almost gone. It had stopped bleeding. And there was no longer any sign of infection. Isabel's fever was gone… so were the chills and the shaking. But most importantly, she was alive.
"I didn't do that, Iz. I couldn't. I think these tunnels have made me radioactive. My hands glowed every time I touched you. Maybe the radiation is what healed you."
"Isabel looked at Maria's hands and held them in hers. "They don't look radioactive to me, Maria. You have a healing power. You did that. You… not radiation."
Maria looked at her hands and at Isabel. She hadn't seen Isabel looking like this since before Isabel was shot when they were escaping. Isabel had barely spoken after she was shot… until now. There was no denying that Isabel was a new person… almost her old self again. If she wasn't completely healed, she was well on her way to being. And she was clearly out of any immediate danger. But that might still all be for nothing if they couldn't find a way out of these tunnels… without being discovered in the process. Maria knew that if they were caught and returned to the place where they had been held before, neither of them would stand a very good chance of surviving what would be waiting for them.
**********
Back in town, most people were going about their daily lives, unaware that a life and death struggle was playing out at that very moment for three unfortunate human-alien hybrids, one alien shape-shifter, and one human girl only a few scant miles away. Nor did they know that at Roswell General Hospital, a teenage boy and girl lay unconscious, sucked into the same drama that threatened the lives of the alien hybrids. Like any other day, doctors walked the halls, checking on their patients, nurses went about their rounds, patients came and went, an orderly walked down the hall and stopped at the door of one of the rooms…
The orderly looked around then let himself into the room and looked at the patient, briefly checking her chart. "Elizabeth Parker." She appeared to be sleeping, but she had been hooked up to an IV for hydration and to keep her electrolytes in balance. Except for that, there really did not appear to be anything wrong with her. She appeared healthy. She was paralyzed below the waist, but that wasn't obvious as she lay sleeping on the hospital bed.
The orderly looked around then closed the door behind him. Then he took out a hypodermic needle that had already been filled and walked over to the IV line. He took one last look at the angelic face sleeping on the hospital bed and prepared to plunge the contents of the hypodermic into the IV line. Then something strong gripped his arm like a vise. Surprised, the orderly swung around to face Sheriff Jim Valenti.
"Where did you come from? I… I didn't hear you come in."
"I know. What's that you've got there? I didn't see any injections prescribed on Miss Parkers chart. What's in it?"
The orderly shook his head. "It's just vitamins. She needs vitamins."
"We all need vitamins, son," Jim said. "I'll tell you what. You take this dose, and I'll have the nurse find some more for Miss Parker."
"I can't do that."
"Oh, sure you can. Here. Give me the needle. I know how to give these things."
The orderly made a feeble attempt to escape, but Jim had him firmly by the wrist of the hand that was holding the hypodermic. Jim took the hypodermic from the orderly's hand and looked at it.
"Vitamins, huh?"
The orderly nodded.
"Roll up your sleeve."
"No!"
"What are you afraid of?"
"Nothing. I'm not afraid."
"Good. Roll up your sleeve."
The orderly twisted quickly and pulled loose from Jim, who did not attempt to catch him as he fled through the door and ran head on into Deputy Hansen. Hansen spun the orderly around, pushed him against the door, and handcuffed him.
"Good work, Hansen," Jim said. He held the hypodermic up. "I'm going to have this checked out. If it's anything but vitamins, this guy's in a world of hurt. Take him down and book him… on suspicion of attempted murder… resisting arrest… and… we'll see if there's anything else."
"Yes, sir."
Deputy Hansen led the orderly out of the room, leaving Jim alone in the room with Liz. Jim looked at Liz and, feeling that it might be a little cool in the room, pulled the cover sheet up over her, then he turned to leave.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Jim turned around and looked at Liz. "Did you…?"
Liz opened her eyes and smiled.
"You're awake! Liz, you don't know how relieved I am… or how happy your parents are going to be. Where were you? What happened to you?"
"I don't think you'll believe me, Sheriff."
"Try me."
"Okay… Alex and I were on Antar. The orbs did something that sent us there… well, our DNA code, not our bodies. Then it recreated our bodies there and put our consciousnesses into them. Do you believe me so far?"
"No."
Liz's smile faded.
"Yes, I believe you, Liz. I really do. It sounds incredible, but so has a lot of what I've seen."
Liz smiled again. "Sheriff, have you checked on Alex? You need to check on Alex. He should be awake, too."
"I checked on him twenty minutes ago. He was fine then. I'll check on him again when I leave you to see if he's awake now, too."
"He is."
"Traveled together, did you?"
"Yeah. It was a two for one travel opportunity, Sheriff. You know how it is, when you have to just drop everything and fly."
"Yeah… but I've never been to another planet, Liz. That's kind of extreme. By the way, I have your orbs. I'll bring them back to you when you're out of here. Doc found them down between you and Alex and picked them up. He thought they were Indian souvenirs, and I took them to keep them safe for you till you were back."
"Thanks, Sheriff… again. I don't know why some woman hasn't come along and put a rope around you, Sheriff."
"Well, you were away, Liz, and I didn't know if you were coming back, so I had to marry someone else."
Liz smiled. "Yeah, right."
"Oh, you don't believe me? What? You think nobody would marry me?"
"No, no, I didn't mean that… I mean who wouldn't… well, not me, of course, I'm in love with Max, but… you know what I mean… Sheriff, what did you mean you had to marry someone else?"
"Amy and I tied the knot while you were away, Liz. I guess she threw that rope you were talking about around me."
"Are you kidding me, Sheriff? You really…! Omigod! Congratulations! That's so great! How did it happen? When did it happen?"
Jim laughed. "All in good time, Liz. There'll be time to tell you everything. We're going to have a more… formal… wedding, anyway, at some later date… when Maria can be there."
Liz smiled again. "Thanks, Sheriff."
"For what?"
"For believing that Maria's alive. You need to check on Alex. Please make sure Alex is okay."
"I'm going, I'm going!" Jim smiled. "Welcome back, Liz. I'll call your folks right away… see about getting you out of here… but they'll be here in about an hour anyway. They're here every day during all the visiting hours… and any other time I can sneak them in. I'm going! I'll check on Alex."
Jim left and went to Alex's room. Opening the door, he found Alex sitting up in his bed.
"I hear you and Liz took a vacation on Antar, Alex. Next time leave a note and tell us where you went or leave a forwarding address, how about it? Maybe an e-mail address… on Earthlink or something!"
"Liz told you, huh? What else did Liz tell you?"
"Just that. Is there anything else she should have told me?"
"No. But if she starts talking about me wearing women's undies and stuff… don't believe a word of it, Sheriff."
Jim smiled. "I wasn't aware that they had spring break on Antar, Alex. You should have told me."
Alex grinned sheepishly. "Sheriff, just between you and me, that girl may look deceivingly innocent, but take my word for it, she can be a spring break all by herself."
Jim nodded. "She got you back with one of your own jokes, huh? It must have been good. I wish I'd been there to see it."
"I'm glad you weren't. Sheriff, when can Liz and I get out of here? The nurse says I have to stay until the doctor checks us out, but there's nothing wrong with me."
"Well, you could try telling them that a pair of alien orbs recreated your body on another planet with your DNA and put you into it, that you celebrated spring break there, and that you returned… I haven't heard that part of the story yet. Just explain it to them."
"I see your point, Sheriff. They'd lock me up. Alright. I'll wait until the doctor checks me out. That WILL be today, right?"
"I'll see what I can do… after I let your parents know you're back among us. Did you bring me a T-shirt, Alex?"
"A wha… from Antar? You know what, Sheriff, we did buy some clothes while we were there, and we wound up leaving them. We left so suddenly we forgot them."
"Yeah, those cheap flights are like that. You have to grab the seats when they're available or you lose 'em."
Alex nodded. "I'm glad you understand."
"Well, I'm really happy… and relieved… that you and Liz decided to come back home, Alex. I've got some work I've got to take care of, so I'll talk to you more later… maybe you can tell me more about that Antarian spring break stuff."
Alex grinned. "Catch you later, Sheriff."
Sheriff Valenti left Alex's room and walked down the hall to the lobby. As he walked out the front door of the hospital, he saw that something was going on. Deputy Hansen was crouched behind his squad car with his gun drawn. The orderly was lying on the ground behind him, by all appearances, quite dead. Everywhere, people were crouched down behind cars or had run behind other cover. But nothing was happening. It was almost like a painting… no sound, no motion, nothing. Jim looked around quickly then rushed to the side of his deputy.
"What happened?"
"Somebody shot at us as I was bringing him out, Sheriff. One shot… to the head… sharp shooter. I'm okay, but the orderly's dead."
Jim looked at the body lying behind them. "How convenient… for someone. Hansen, what is it about that little girl in there that scares the bejeebers out of the U.S. Army and the FBI? Huh? That's what I want to know! What is it that makes these people unable or unwilling to rest until she's dead? She's just a young girl! A teenager! A sweet, innocent little girl who just graduated from high school. She's not a terrorist! She's not the head of a crime cartel or Ma Barker! She's not a drug runner or a foreign agent trying to destabilize our country! She's never hurt anyone… She wouldn't hurt a fly! And she's in a wheelchair! Tell me, Hansen, what is it that these assholes think is so dangerous about this little girl that they won't rest until she's dead… that they're willing to kill me or you to get us out of the way… or this orderly, to keep him from talking! Can you please tell me that!"
Hansen shook his head. "I don't know, sir. But if I had to bet, I'd say you're going to find out."
"You'd win that bet, Hansen! I'm going to be all over somebody until I've got some answers! And you can fv@k!n quote me on that."
tbc
Coming up: What the Army knows.