Chapter Twenty-Three – Action
"I'll call my dad," said Kyle. "He should be able to get there faster than us."
"No, nobody else can know," said Max.
"Max, Kyle's right. You have to trust him. His dad's our friend, not our enemy. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but it's true," Liz said. She passed her cell phone to Kyle and he dialed while the three of them ran back out to the Jeep.
"Dad, it's Kyle," Kyle shouted into the phone over the sound of the Jeep as the engine roared to life. "Alex Whitman and Isabel Evans were in a car accident by the Pullman Ranch. NO! Don't send an ambulance. Just trust me, Dad. Please get out there, and hurry. Maria is out there right now, with Michael Guerin. Tell them Max said it was okay. Just tell them, Dad. We're on our way."
The Jeep flew down the streets. Kyle and Liz held on tightly, bouncing in their seats as Max hit every bump on the road.
"Max, slow down!" Liz shouted over the wind. "Getting us killed isn't going to help Alex, or Isabel!"
Liz's words struck a chord of reason in Max, and he eased up slightly on the accelerator. Liz breathed a sigh of relief, and relaxed her death grip on the Jeep's roll bar. She looked out the window, to the darkened highway that stretched on before them. A faint glow in the distance alerted them to the fact that they were approaching the accident scene.
The Sheriff's SUV was pulled off the side of the road, behind Maria's Jetta and signal flares lit the area with an evil glow. Max slammed the Jeep into park and climbed out and ran over to where Michael and Maria stood. As he drew closer he realized that Isabel was kneeling on the ground crying over a body, the body of Alex Whitman.
"Max," she said, her voice filled with tears. "You have to save him. You have to."
"Get out of the way," said Max. He knelt down beside Alex and placed his hand on Alex's body.
"What the hell is going on here?" demanded Sheriff Valenti.
"Dad, just be quiet," said Kyle. "We'll explain everything, later."
"Max will take care of it," said Isabel, her voice confident. "He'll heal Alex. Of course, we'll have to come up with a cover story to explain the accident, but we can do that."
"What do you mean, heal him?" asked the Sheriff. "We need an ambulance. We need to get this boy some help."
"He's fine, Sheriff Valenti," said Max, standing back up. Everyone looked down and saw Max reaching out a hand to help Alex stand up.
"Does someone want to explain to me what happened?" asked the Sheriff. "And the long version please. Don't leave anything out."
"We will Sheriff. I promise," said Max. "But first we have to find out what happened."
"We were run off the road," said Isabel. "This big old pick up truck came out of nowhere and forced us into the ditch. And Max, the driver got out and came down and just stared at us. Almost as if he was reassuring himself that we were dead. And he said the strangest thing."
"What? What did he say?" asked Max.
"He looked right at me and said 'Poor Vilondra, what a waste, to have you die again.' Max, he knew me, he knew us," said Isabel.
"Did you recognize him?" asked Michael. "Was there anything about him that was familiar?"
"He was just a little boy," said Isabel. "He couldn't have been any more than twelve or thirteen."
"Nicholas," said Max. "His name is Nicholas."
"Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here!" roared the Sheriff.
"Call a wrecker," said Max. "Say you saw an animal dart out in front of Alex's car. He swerved to avoid it, and that's how the accident happened," said Max.
"I'm not doing anything, until somebody tells me what's going on here," said Jim.
"Dad, look, just do it," said Kyle. "I promise you, nobody's doing anything illegal. We'll meet you at the Flying Pepperoni, and we'll explain everything."
"Kyle," Jim said, a warning in his voice.
"Sheriff Valenti, they're telling the truth," said Alex, who had, up to now, been silent. "I'll wait with you for the wrecker, and then we can meet them at the Flying Pepperoni."
Jim looked doubtful, but acquiesced, and he an Alex watched as the rest of the group climbed into the remaining vehicles and headed back towards town.
"Start talking Alex, and it better be good," said Jim. He reached into his SUV and grabbed the mike to his radio. He radioed for a wrecker and then turned back to Alex.
"Let's have it," he said. "Start at the beginning, and don't leave anything out."
"Well, to start with, I don't think I'm supposed to be alive. I think I should have died in that accident. I'm pretty sure I did the last time."
"Alex, what are you talking about, the last time?" asked the Sheriff. "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe we should have an ambulance out here for you."
"No, really, I'm good," said Alex. "See, the thing is, well, Max has this, um, ability to heal people. That's why I'm here right now, and why Maria isn't dead, too."
"That day at the CrashDown," said the Sheriff. "She really was shot, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, Max saved her," said Alex, but then some really strange things started happening."
"Max saving Maria's life isn't strange?" asked the Sheriff.
"No, stranger than that," said Alex. "We, all of us, started remembering things, kind of like déjà vu type of a thing. We were trying to make sense of it, when the accident happened."
"So what are you talking about, you should be dead? I'm confused," said the Sheriff.
"We all are," said Alex. "But I think if we figure everything out, I'm going to end up dead."