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 25: The Wrong Turn
By the time Liz got around to calling Maria's cellphone she had been waiting for her arrival at work for fifteen minutes. The fact that Maria had not called her suggested to Liz that she was in route. This was the only explanation she could think of for Maria not telephoning in to report her disposition. After the fifteen minutes had passed, her tardiness had become too long for Liz to sit idly by waiting for the door to open or the phone to bring news of her status.
"Where are you?" Liz inquired into her cellphone with a concerned inflection.
Liz listened for a couple of seconds as Maria responded to her inquiry. An instant behind that she blurted out the question that popped into her mind.
"Why not…?"
Once again, Liz listened to Maria's response and then she reacted with a start to something she heard before inquiring about it an instant later.
"Abducted… who's abducting you?" Liz questioned with a stunned expression.
Liz listened again as Maria rifled back her answer, and then she responded with a question that reflected her shock rather than being a question.
"Michael?"
Maria quickly confirmed this. Liz's shock turned to a confusion that slowed her next inquiry.
"Where's he taking you?" Liz questioned after a pause.
Liz took in Maria's reply with a look of understanding and a look of urgency.
"Okay, I'm going to get Max," Liz assured. She then listened for a moment as Maria spoke back to her and then she responded back. "Okay Maria, don't worry, I'll get back to you as soon as we have a plan."
Liz listened again for a few seconds and then she disconnected the call. She stood there, in the pantry and locker-room area of the restaurant, for nearly thirty seconds pondering the phone in her hand. At the end of that time, she concluded that a face-to-face meeting with Max was preferable to a phone call.
"Dad, you need to call someone in to fill in for me and Maria," Liz reported in an urgent tone.
"What? … Why?" Jeff fumbled out as his mind played catch up with his daughter's sudden assertion. "Where's Maria?"
Liz had already raced into her bedroom to change out of her uniform and into pants and a blouse. Jeff followed her to the door so that he could hear her answer.
"Dad, Maria has an emergency … a school emergency," Liz fibbed as she dressed. "She has to prepare for a big test that she's taking Monday and I need to help her."
"Well, can't you do this after work?" Jeff questioned suspiciously.
Liz hesitated to answer this question just long enough to devise a reasonable one.
"We have to go to the library, Dad," Liz replied with a hint of anxiety. "And the library closes early on Saturdays," she emphasized. "And it won't be open at all tomorrow," she finished with a hint of desperation.
Jeff scratched his neck and pondered this for a second before turning away baffled beyond any comeback.
"Okay."
Liz quickly redressed and raced out the back entrance of the Crash-Down Café. She knew that calling would be quicker, but the prospect of seeing Max, outside of school for a legitimate reason, was an opportunity that her subconscious would not allow her to throw away. She promptly unlocked her bicycle from the signpost that kept it secured and set off astride of it on a course for Max's house. She arrived outside of the Evan's home several minutes later. Out of breath and panting, Liz hurried up to the front door and rang the bell. Diane Evans answered the ring.
"Hi," Diane greeted pleasantly after opening the front door.
Diane had no idea who Liz was by appearance. She had seen her by chance on more than one occasion, but they never had cause to become personally acquainted. Her first thought was that she was an acquaintance of Isabel's. She waited for a reply to have that suspicion confirmed.
"Hi, is Max home?" Liz questioned with a hint of urgency.
"Oh uh, yes he is," Diane acknowledged with a surprised inflection. "Come in."
Diane had not seen a girl call on Max since he was the age of ten. She was caught completely unawares by the inquiry and was more than a little excited by the prospect. With a large smile, she ushered Liz across the living and dining rooms, down the adjacent hall to the first room on the right. Liz followed behind pleasantly. Diane stopped to one side and just outside the open doorway of Max's room.
"Max," Diane called out sweetly. "You have a visitor."
Max looked away from the computer screen he was studying and back behind him just in time to see Liz step into his room.
"Hi, Max," Liz greeted timidly.
Max jumped up from his seat with a look of shock on his face just as she spoke.
"Hi," Max returned with a surprised look.
Liz took another tentative step into his room as Max looked to his mother. She was watching this meet and greet with amused interest.
"Thanks, Mom," Max imparted to his mother.
Diane quickly took the hint. With a smile on her face, she turned about and left him and Liz alone.
"What are you doing here?" Max almost whispered seconds after Diane was gone.
"Max, Michael has Maria," Liz hastily reported without regard for the question put to her. "He's going to White Sands."
Max paused for a moment to think about what he just heard. He then focused in on Liz and responded to her concern.
"I'll take care of it," Michael reported an instant before turning about and shutting down his computer.
"What are you going to do, Max?" Liz questioned with a hint of worry.
"I'll find them and bring them back," he answered as he slipped a shirt on over his t-shirt.
"I'm coming with you," Liz announced.
Max was caught off guard by that declaration and stopped what he was doing to give Liz a surprised look.
"No, Liz," Max responded with a definitive inflection. "It's too much of a risk. I'll take care of it."
"I'm going with you, Max," Liz insisted sternly. "Maria is my friend."
Max studied Liz for a few seconds before concluding that she was not going to back down.
"Okay," Max acknowledged an instant before retrieving his keys off his desk.
Max and Liz hurried out of the room. When they reached the dining area, Diane called out to them.
"Are you leaving?"
"Yes, Mom," Max briefly stopped to report.
Liz came to a stop alongside him.
"I'll be back this afternoon," Max continued.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Diane queried just as Max started to leave.
Max stopped after taking another step. He then turned back towards his mother to respond to her inquiry.
"Oh yeah, Mom, this is Liz."
"Hi, Mrs. Evans," Liz quickly spoke up with a smile.
Diane had no reaction to Liz's greeting. She was too busy being surprised by her name.
"Oh my, are you the young lady that was shot by accident a few months back?" Diane inquired with a shocked expression.
"Yeah, that was me," Liz responded with a blush.
"Well, it's great to see that you're doing so well," Diane expressed with a large smile.
"Thank you," Liz reciprocated with a smile.
"Mom," Max jumped in softly. "We have to go."
"Where are you going to?" Diane asked with a look of intrigue.
"We're going to a show," Liz answered ahead of Max.
"Oh okay," Diane replied with nearly a grin. "Well, have fun and I hope I'll be seeing you again."
"Me too," Liz responded an instant before turning and walking away behind Max.
Outside of the house, Max and Liz jumped into his jeep and quickly took off down the street at a hurried pace. It took Max and Liz little more than an hour to traverse the distance to the outskirts of the White Sands Missile Range. Along the way they made several attempts to reach Maria by cellphone. The report they got back was that her phone was out of range. Without directions to guide him, Max navigated down the path he considered to be the most likely route that Michael took. Several minutes after leaving the highway, he came to the same open gate that Michael and Maria passed by a few hours earlier. Max stopped to consider the two paths.
"You think they went in there?" Liz questioned Max with a look of concern.
That is exactly what Max was thinking. He interpreted the open gate as a sign of their passing. His biggest concern at that moment was for Liz.
"You should wait here," Max instructed Liz with a worried look.
"I'm not getting out, Max," Liz insisted with a determined look.
Max was not committed to the idea of leaving Liz alone in such a desolate place, but he had his concerns about taking her onto the White Sands Missile Range. He knew she would at least be with him all the time. After a moment of thought, he decided to take Liz with him onto the range. As he turned off the road and through the entrance to the range, Max muttered to himself, "Damn you, Michael."
Max and Liz spent nearly an hour searching for Michael, Maria and the outcrop. He had a general idea about where they should be based upon the general location given for the outcrop in the caption below the picture in the book. Max knew he was in the appropriate section of the range. But he suspected that the rugged terrain was making it difficult for him to get to the specific area where the outcrop was. They spent most of the hour circumnavigating terrain that was too rugged for the jeep to drive over. Max thought about abandoning it and setting off on foot. But he knew Maria's Jetta was far less capable of handling the terrain than his jeep, and he elected to keep going where only a vehicle could travel with the expectation that they would come across Maria's Jetta sooner or later.
It was at this time that Max saw a vehicle moving in the distance. He could see right away that it was not Maria's Jetta, and he quickly turned his jeep about and started back for the gate at his best speed. Liz noted the vehicle at nearly the same moment as Max and was equally convinced that it was not Maria's Jetta.
"Who do you think it is?" Liz questioned Max.
"It's probably some kind of patrol," Max answered back as he continued to struggle with the steering and the terrain. "I shouldn't have brought you here," he mumbled to himself.
In the beginning Max had no idea if the vehicle was coming towards them or just passing by. It took a minute more for him to learn that it was coming directly at them, and it was gaining on them.
"Hold on," Max instructed Liz as he increased his speed by another ten miles per hour.
Max had good understanding of where he was and where he had to go to get back to the gate. By his estimation he had his pursuer beat so long as he navigated the terrain safely and efficiently. His estimation was that he was a little more than another minute away from being off the missile range when another vehicle appeared to the left and on an intersect course.
"Max," Liz called out as she noted the second vehicle.
"I see it," Max responded as he nudged the jeep a little faster. "Don't worry; I'll get us out of here."
Max began steering his jeep a little to the right of the line that went directly to the gate. He estimated that he could still beat his pursuers to the gate once he got past the one coming from his ten o'clock position. He felt he had a clear shot at this when his jeep crested a small mound that tossed it three feet off the ground. They came down on terrain that was slanted down to the right. The jeep bounced off the ground and deviated sharply to the right. Before Max could do anything to stop it, the front of the jeep hit a large boulder and came to a sudden stop. Liz was stunned but uninjured by the crash. Her seat belt kept her firmly secured to her seat. Max was held into his seat as well, but his head impacted hard with the wheel. A gash was opened above his left eye and blood was streaming down his face. After taking a few seconds to get her wits back, Liz noted Max slumped over the wheel unconscious.
"Max, are you alright?" Liz called out to him as she pulled him back off the wheel.
Moments later, the two military vehicles that was pursuing them raced up and stopped. Four soldiers climbed out of the two vehicles and moved to within a dozen feet of Liz and Max before stopping.
"Hurry, he's hurt," Liz cried out.
The four soldiers showed no reaction to Liz's summon. One of the four soldiers activated the walkie-talkie in his hand and spoke into it.
"It's confirmed, Dispatch, two occupants, one male, one female. The male appears to be injured and unconscious … Requesting a medivac at this location."