Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.
Roswell: Re-Imagined
Written by Horatio Jaxx
Chapter 24: Alien Abduction
"Hey," Michael called out to Maria an instant after she set her left foot out of her car.
The sight of Michael standing just outside of her driver's side door caught Maria by surprise. She balked at standing up from the shock of him standing there. Michael had been waiting by a telephone poll on the opposite side of the alley for Maria to arrive and park in her usual spot behind the Crash Down Café. He walked over to her door the instant she stopped her car.
"What do you want," Maria questioned with bravado as she rose to full stance.
Maria was more than a little intimidated by his presence there, but she was doing her best not to show it.
"I need you to do me a favor," Michael announced as he held the car door open with his left hand.
"Me … the buttinsky …?" Maria responded with a hint of arrogance as she stood her ground and looked Michael directly in the eyes.
"Yes, you," Michael answered with an inflection of exasperation. "I need to borrow your car," Michael finished with a direct delivery.
Maria was surprised by that request. It was the last thing she expected. She hesitated only long enough to get over the shock and then she answered emphatically.
"No, you can't borrow my car. I need my car."
"No, you don't," Michael insisted. "You're going to be in the café all day," Michael instructed forcefully.
"I'm not letting you borrow my car," Maria insisted again with a, you must be crazy, inflection.
"Look, I'll bring it back to by the end of the day," Michael explained as if this was no big deal. "I'll even put gas in it."
"And how am I supposed to get home after my shift?" Maria questioned with a stunned expression.
"Walk," Michael replied definitively. "It's not that far."
"I got a better idea," Maria responded sarcastically. "You walk."
Michael had his mind made up from the beginning that he was going to get Maria's car. He hoped that she would loan it to him, but he did not have a lot of faith that would happen. Once he was convinced that Maria was not going to oblige him, Michael defaulted to his alternate plan. With one quick motion he snatched the keys from Maria's hand.
"Hey!" Maria called out the instant that he stripped the keys out of her hand.
"I'm sorry," Michael declared as he slid quickly jumped into the driver's seat of her 1992 Volkswagen Jetta. "But I need your car."
"Michael, you're not taking my car," Maria insisted as she watched him pick through her assortment of keys.
"I'll give it back to you this afternoon," Michael insisted as he began removing the car key from the ring.
"You're stealing my car," Maria stated in a shocked voice.
"Here," Michael instructed as he extended the ring of keys towards her, minus the car key.
Maria declined to accept the keys by taking a stubborn stance and crossing her arms.
"Michael, you can't have my car," Maria declared with finality.
"Fine," Michael responded with a flare of indifference.
Michael tossed the keys into the middle of the alley and then closed the car door. Maria noted the toss with a look of surprise. When Michael began cranking the car motor, Maria's surprise expression turned to shock. She ran over and snatched her keys off the ground, ran around the back end of her car and up to the passenger door, she opened the door and jumped into the passenger seat. Michael still had not started the car despite a persistent effort. He stopped trying the instant Maria climbed into the car.
"Get out," Michael ordered flatly.
"I'm not getting out of this car, Michael," Maria retaliated defiantly.
Michael took a moment to give her an exasperated look and then he went back to cranking the engine.
"You're flooding it," Maria sneered.
Michael continued to ignore her as he cranked the engine. After another few seconds the engine rumbled to a start.
"This is grand theft auto, Buddy," Maria exclaimed with a glare.
"Last chance to get out," Michael announced with a blank look towards Maria.
Maria gave no reply to this other than to sit back in her seat, fold her arms and stare straight ahead. After a brief stare at Maria, Michael put the car into gear and began driving off.
"Now you're kidnaping me," Maria announced in a panicked voice.
Michael ignored this assertion and drove off at a hurried pace. They drove on in silence for several minutes before Maria thought to inquire about their destination.
"I'm going to see that outcrop," Michael answered her inquiry with an almost angry tone of voice.
They were by then on the highway and moving away from Roswell. Maria took Michael's answer in silence and with an expression of concern on her face. She pondered calling the Sheriff Department, but she had no idea how Michael would react to the attempt, and she had her reluctance about doing it. Maria had no desire to see Michael arrested. Despite her protestations concerning him, she was by then a full partner in Liz's commitment to his protection along with Max and Isabel. That was something she had become only too aware of as she pondered her options. After another few minutes of plotting acts she did not have the heart to carry out, Maria's cell phone began to ring. She noted the name in the caller ID display and quickly answered the call.
"Liz!" Maria spoke almost desperately into the phone.
Michael noted these happenings with a look and then turned his attention back to the road. He was gambling that Maria would not endanger him or Max and Isabel by calling the Sheriff Department. He was prepared to stop her if she tried, but it was his hope that would not be necessary. As the minutes passed, he became increasingly confident that his gamble was going to pay off in his favor, and in that he was grateful. Despite his attitude towards Maria, the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. He saw a call from Liz as innocent and inevitable, and he suspected Maria would feel more at ease by his allowing her to have that communication. Michael knew that Liz would tell Max and he, in turn, would tell Isabel of his actions. But he knew none of them could stop him now that he was driving down the highway.
"I can't come in to work," Maria insisted into the phone.
Maria paused for a few seconds to listen to Liz. She kept her eyes on Michael as she held the phone up to her ear.
"Because I'm being abducted," Maria yelled for Michael's benefit more so than Liz's.
After another few seconds of listening, Maria responded to the next question that Liz put to her.
"By the Martian with the bad haircut, that's who," Maria stressed into the phone.
Maria took a couple seconds more to listen before answering Liz's next inquiry.
"Yes, Michael," Maria stressed excitedly into the phone.
Maria, immediately, calmed down in response to Liz's new inquiry. A few seconds later, she gave her reply.
"He's going to see that rock thing you showed him," Maria spat into the phone.
After another brief pause, Maria responded to Liz's statement.
"Yeah, tell them to bring his leash. He looks crazy enough to do anything."
Maria listened to Liz's concluding remarks and then responded with her own.
"Great, well you know where I'll be at," Maria spoke sarcastically into the phone.
A second later, Maria turned her cellphone off and put it back into her purse. She then gave Michael a look of disdain. He returned her look with a glance out of the corner of his eyes and then refocused his attention on the road. Stopping only for gas, they road on for nearly an hour without speaking to each other. Halfway into that time, signs giving directions to Holloman Air Force base began to appear. Michael drove past those exits and continued for another twenty-five minutes before taking an exit for the White Sands Missile range. Shortly after taking that exit, Michael turned off onto a dirt road that skirted the perimeter of the range. Signs reading "Government Property, No Trespassing" were attached to the barbed wire fencing and were spaced fifty yards apart. Ten minutes down that road, they came to a gate for the range. It had been busted open. Michael stopped to study the entrance. Maria took alarm at the sight of his interest and quickly vocalized as much.
"You can't be serious," Maria declared in an astonished tone of voice.
Michael considered her and then the gate for a few seconds more before driving past it. He thought the open gate was very inviting, but he suspected the trail beyond would be too much for the little Jetta. After another few minutes down the side road, Michael parked the Jetta and shut off the engine.
"This should be about right," Michael spoke to himself.
"You're not going in there," Maria asked with a shocked expression.
Michael pulled the key from the ignition and stepped out of the car.
"Wait here," Michael instructed.
"Michael," Maria shouted with alarm. "You can't leave me here."
"Maybe now you wish you had stayed in Roswell," Michael criticized.
"Michael," Maria continued with greater urgency. "You can't just go and leave me here."
"I won't be long," Michael advised in a reassuring voice. "Maybe two hours, three at the most…"
"Three hours," Maria yelled back in a shock.
"It's got to be between three to four miles that away," Michael advised with a point.
"Give me the key, Michael," Maria interrupted with a yell.
"If I know Max, he's on his way here right now. And you've got your cell phone," he continued in his best reassuring tone.
"Michael," Maria responded sternly. "If they catch you in there, they will arrest you."
"They're not going to catch me," Michael confidently replied before shutting the door.
Michael quickly crossed the narrow dirt road and climbed over the fence. Less than a minute later he had disappeared behind the distant terrain at a fast jog. Maria watched him leave with a look of exasperation. He was gone from sight when she pulled her spare key from out of her purse, gave it a long look and then put it back.