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 58: The First Step
Max and Isabel spent the better part of an hour monitoring the thoughts of their parents while sitting on their beds. It was half past twelve Wednesday night when they noticed that their parents were thoroughly asleep. It was then that they began to make preparations for their exits from their home. They quietly dressed themselves in the clothes they laid out the previous evening. They loaded their backpacks with a small assortment of clothing from their rooms, food and water from the kitchen and medicinal aids from the bathroom. They then put on their backpacks and came together in the living-room. They looked at one another with the knowledge that they were about to permanently leave the only home they had ever known. After pausing for a moment to acknowledge that big step, they turned their thoughts onto their surroundings.
Max and Isabel extended their minds out nearly half a mile in all directions. That was far more area than they needed. They had learned over the months that the OSI agents who watched their home at night were never more than two hundred yards away. This was true despite the fact that the maximum distance that the surveillance camera's signal could reach was nearly a mile. But this was at the extreme end of its range. Max and Isabel understood that the two-hundred yards was a necessity created by the array of wireless surveillance cameras situated throughout the neighborhood, around their home. The receiver had to be in the vicinity of the center of the cluster to be close enough to connect with all of the cameras. That kept the agents within two hundred yards of the homes of the Roswell Fourteen, and two hundred yards was well within the reach of the mind of any single member of the Roswell Fourteen.
It took less than a minute for Max's and Isabel's minds to feel their way to the two Air Force OSI agents sitting quietly in the back of a late model Dodge Van, parked on a side street a block away. They promptly invaded their minds and induced them both into a trance. Following that act, Max inserted a thought into the mind of the agent sitting in front of the video surveillance controls array. With the push of a button the agent froze the video feed. Max and Isabel were out the front door and making a hasty traverse through the surveillance area the instant the command was executed. Once they were clear of the cameras Max instructed the agent to unfreeze the video feed and then they nudged the two agents out of their trance. Both agents suspected that they had nodded off into a semi sleep for a second, and neither was inclined to confess it to the other.
With the surveillance cameras behind them, Max and Isabel were free to begin their trek out of the city. While trying their best not to be seen, they steered a course due west. Their ability to feel the world around them with their minds was inaccessible while their thoughts were attached to the process of walking. Because of that inconvenience, they came close to being seen by occupants in passing cars on several occasions. They had little fear of being seen by strangers, but they did fear being seen by OSI agents. Despite that concern, they managed to reach the outskirts of the city in just under an hour. They then produced flashlights and pushed on into the black of the wilderness beyond.
It was four in the morning, Thursday, when Max and Isabel approached the location where Kyle spent the night of his awakening as a member of the Roswell Fourteen. Despite the faint glow of light just above the eastern horizon, the landscape was still hidden beneath the dark of the night. The dim illumination made it easy for them to count two flashlights signaling towards them. When they arrived at the rock where the thirteen of them once stood, they found Michael and Kyle waiting.
"Is it just us so far?" Max questioned the moment he confronted Michael.
"I see two more lights," Kyle reported while staring out into the distance that Max and Isabel just came from.
The lights appeared to be several minutes apart from each other, but they both were moving in a line to their location. Kyle began signaling with a wave of his flashlight. Shortly both lights signaled back. It took another ten minutes for the first light to arrive at their location. The owner of it rushed into Max's arms. It was Liz.
"Are you alright?" Max questioned in a voice full of concern as he held her in his embrace.
Max's greatest concern, at that moment, was for the emotional pain he feared Liz was experiencing. He knew how much she loved her parents. And how much she wished they could have stayed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Liz assured as she held tightly onto Max.
"Did you have any problems?" Max asked after cupping her face between his hands.
Liz looked up into Max's eyes for a moment before softly shaking her head as she spoke.
"Nothing I couldn't handle," she reported with a slight a smile.
Max considered asking Liz what she meant by 'nothing she couldn't handle.' But he determined from her smile that it was something that could wait for another time.
The incident that needed handling was a homeless drunk that Liz accidentally came across. Eager for her company and emboldened by her sex, the drunk persisted in trying to talk to her. After a couple of minutes of forcing his company on her as she walked, Liz used the power of her mind to lift the old drunk into the air and toss him five yards backwards. The impact of the landing and his intoxicated condition combined to render him unconsciousness. Liz walked away from the slumbering stranger with the hope that she had surmounted the worst of the perils to come that night.
Several minutes after Liz's arrival, the group turned their attentions to an approaching light and watched Maria make her way to them. Maria and Michael duplicated the greeting that Max and Liz performed earlier, but they did so to a greater length. Shortly, Max, Liz, Isabel and Kyle were made uncomfortable by the extent of their affection and diverted their attentions elsewhere. The kissing stopped when their passion became elevated to the level that modesty prevented them from continuing. Maria then turned her attention about to acknowledge the others who were there. After a couple of minutes of greetings, smiles and hugs, the six of them settled into an uncomfortable silence as they waited for the others to come.
The six of them were not surprised that the other eight were not yet there. They knew that their travel from the north of Roswell added almost twice the distance to their walk. Their greatest concern was that something went wrong with their escape from the surveillance. They knew that if anything went wrong and they were spotted, they would likely not get away at all. It was approaching seven in the morning, Thursday, when the remainder of the Roswell Fourteen began to file into their location. The sight of them in the distance set everyone's mind to ease. Gleefully, they welcomed each new arrival. By seven-thirty that morning, the Roswell Fourteen were assembled. All were dressed in hiking shoes, pants or shorts, caps and backpacks and looked to be on a hike.
"So, we're going to do this?" Isabel somberly questioned as she gripped tightly to Kenneth Burton's hand.
The Roswell Fourteen stood about in a circle on the top of a rock formation pondering the first step of the rest of their lives. The morning sun created long shadows that streaked across the landscape for as far as they could see.
"There's no turning back," Max softly spoke to all there.
"What if we find this place and there's nothing there? What do we do then?" Aaron questioned the group.
"We keep walking," Michael announced as if he was speaking the obvious.
"All of us, together?" Jason tossed out to all present. "It's just a matter of time before they start scouring the desert for us."
"We can't split up," Liz spoke up in a panicked tone.
"I agree," Maria quickly supported. "We have to stay together."
"If we stay together, they will find us all," Kyle reported with a solemn shake of his head.
"I think we'll have to break into smaller groups," Jason declared with an inflection of dread. "We're too big."
The Roswell Fourteen quietly pondered this possibility for several seconds, and then Isabel spoke up with defiance in her voice.
"So, what if they find us all, at least we'll be together."
"No, we won't," Max softly corrected. "They'll split us up."
Isabel absorbed that information with a look towards Kenneth with an expression of terror. A second later she pulled herself in tight against his body and clung to him with an anguished expression. Liz, Maria, Tess, Julie, Ashley and Eve were equally affected by this thought and clung tighter to their mate.
"They haven't found us yet," Kenneth spoke up confidently for Isabel's benefit. "I think we should find this thing, whatever it is, and then go from there."
"I agree," Michael quickly concurred.
The male members of the group looked to one another for support in this thinking. Shortly they had all communicated their agreements with a nod of their heads. It was nearly eight o'clock when the Roswell Fourteen started to move as one. Their destination was somewhere in the wilderness southwest of Roswell, New Mexico. They estimated their time of arrival at somewhere around days end.