Two Sides of the Coin
Rating: Teen/Mature
Part Three
"I don't know what you're talking about," Zan bluffed.
"That's bull," said Liz. She reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and gave a vicious tug and it came off in her hand, revealing the foursquare tattoo on his arm. "I know what that it, and I know you know what it is. Now, what I want to know is who the hell are you, and how did you dream walk me? Only Isabel can do that, and you sure as hell aren't Isabel."
Isabel, and Lonnie, Zan thought to himself. He tried bluffing again.
"Lady, look, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anybody named Isabel, and as for the tattoo, I saw it in some guy's book down in New Orleans, and I liked it. I thought it looked cool. There's no crime in that, is there?"
Liz shifted position, and pressed her hand up against Zan's chest. "Look, I don't know who you are, but I know where you're from, and you obviously know who I am. So, I'm guessing you also know that I can kill you, and I will, unless you start answering some questions."
Zan tried to shift slightly, but Liz had him pressed against the back of his seat and the side of the bus. He knew he didn't have any options left but to come clean, or he was going to end up an incinerated pile of dust. He opened his mouth to tell Liz everything when he was hit by an epiphany.
"Okay, okay," he said, stalling to give himself some time to think. "Relax and stand down. I'll tell you everything. I'm one of the protectors sent down with the Royal Four."
"You're a liar," said Liz, pushing her hand harder against Zan's chest. "Nescado is dead, and Cal Langley is out in California."
"You think our people only sent down two protectors?" bluffed Zan. "To protect something as important as the pods? There were four of us. Two protectors for each set of pods, got it, princess?"
"Sure," scoffed Liz. "Convenient. And where's the fourth protector?"
"Dead," said Zan. "He didn't survive the crash."
"And where have you been all these years. Why didn't you ever reveal yourself to Max and the others."
"They weren't my charges," hedged Zan. "I was responsible for the pods that we hid in New York."
"Right, and you did such a great job with them. They killed their Max, and tried to kill my Max and wanted to steal the Granolith!" Liz half whispered, half shouted.
"Shhh," Zan said. He looked around to make sure nobody had overheard her outburst before he continued talking. "My job was to watch over them, not interfere with their free will. I know what they did, and what they tried to do. I'm not condoning it, but there wasn't anything I could do about it."
At least that much was the truth, Zan thought to himself. He didn't like what they did, and since it was him they tried to kill, there really wasn't much he could do about it.
"That doesn't explain the whole dream walking thing. What gives you the right to invade my dreams?" Liz demanded.
Zan thought fast. He needed to come up with an answer that was close to the truth, but didn't give him away completely.
"Because I wanted you to know I was nearby, and that I was watching out for you, but I didn't want to freak you out completely," said Zan.
"But why are you following me, why aren't you watching over Michael and Isabel? They need your protection more than I do," Liz asked.
Damn, she really is smart, Zan thought. "I, Liz, look, this is going to be hard, are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Tell me," she said through gritted teeth.
"I was there when Max died. Michael did everything he could, but he couldn't revive him. I have some healing powers, and I tried to heal him, but it wasn't enough. He was too far gone. He was conscious for a few minutes, and in that time, he told me to protect you, to watch over you."
"And you have to follow his orders, so here you are," said Liz, bitterly. "Well, I order you to go back and watch after Michael and Isabel. Keep them safe."
"Sorry, no can do," said Zan, grinning a little. She was so noble; of course her first thoughts would be to help the others. "Max said to watch over you, and that's what I'm going to do."
Liz glared at him, and he quickly lost his grin, but it didn't matter. Underneath that grin was a will of iron. She could sense that nothing she said would persuade him to leave her alone. Liz sighed, and stood up, and quickly sat down again.
"It was you, wasn't it?" she asked.
"It was me, what?" Zan asked.
"All those times I felt someone watching me, it was you."
"Yeah, it was. I watched all of you," Zan admitted.
"Then why didn't you save Alex?" she asked. "Why didn't you keep him alive. You could have done that."
"No, I couldn't, Liz. I really couldn't," Zan said, swallowing hard. "I can't read minds, and I didn't know what Tess was doing to him. I really didn't. If I had, I would have stopped it. I need you to believe that."
Liz did believe it, but it didn't help. Alex was still dead. Max was still dead, and she was still a part of the alien craziness that she was trying to get away from. She stood up again and started back to her seat, grabbing a nearby seat when the bus swerved unexpectedly. The bus swerved again, and Liz tried to sit down. There was a sharp bump, and a load metallic scraping as the bus collided with the guardrail. The bus listed to one side and then rolled down an embankment tossing the passenger's about as if they were rag dolls.
"Liz!" Zan yelled, struggling to project voice over the crashing glass and screaming people.
Suddenly, everything was silent, and then pandemonium broke out. People were yelling and screaming, trying to find a way off of the bus.
"Fire!" someone shouted, and people began to scream louder. Zan pulled himself up into a sitting position and looked around. The bus was upright, but listing precariously. He swung around in his seat and tried kicking the window out. When that didn't work, he looked around quickly to make sure he was unobserved and used his powers to blast the window into oblivion.
"Hey!" he shouted to the people nearby. You can get out this way. Let's get a couple of uninjured people out there to help the injured people out."
"I'm okay!" a voice called, and a young man made his way to Zan. "If you can lower me out the window, I'll catch people. I tried the door, but it's blocked by a tree."
"Great," said Zan. "You sure you're okay?"
The man nodded, and Zan helped to lower him out of the bus.
"I'll start passing people out to you," he said. He turned to look and found that a small line of people had started to form.
"I'm not hurt too badly," a beefy college student said. "Help me get out, and I'll help catch people too."
"Me too," another voice called.
"I'm not injured, but I'll stay in here to help with the injured," a voice said. "I'm a nurse."
"Has anybody seen the woman I was traveling with?" Zan asked. "She has long dark hair, and she's wearing a denim jacket and she had a tapestry bag with her. Can anyone see her?" Zan hated the pleading tone that was in his voice, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't lose her.
"Here she is!" a voice called, and Zan abandoned his post at the window and pushed past the people, trying to make his way to Liz. The nurse joined him and began to check Liz's vital signs. She lifted first one eyelid then the other, and shined a small light into each eye.
"This isn't good," she said. "We need to get her out of here."
"We will," said Zan. "But I'm taking her out myself. Go up there and let her know I'm coming."
He waited until the nurse had left them alone. He pressed his hand on her head and focused all his healing energy into her head. Images of Liz filled his mind, he saw her as a child. He saw her getting shot, and he saw Max heal her. Snippets of her life with Max filled his mind, filling his heart with a bittersweet agony. Her eyes fluttered open and he smiled.
"Liz, keep with me," he said. "Keep looking at me."
"Oww," she said. "I think my leg is broken."
"Keep looking at me," Zan whispered. He moved his hand down to her leg and healed it. As he did, more images filled his mind, and he saw Max and Liz together on her rooftop patio, Max down on one knee, proposing. He quickly severed the connection and hoped that Liz didn't see any images of his life. If she did, she'd know for certain he wasn't who he said he was.
"I'm good," she said. "What happened? I feel like a bus ran over me."
"Close enough. Look, can you use your powers to get the door opened? Someone said there was a tree blocking it." Zan asked.
"I'll see what I can do," said Liz. "You'd better get back there. I'm sure there are people who are going to need your help."
"Be careful," Zan said. He turned and headed to the back of the bus.
"You too, Zan," Liz said under her breath as she watched him walk away.