Part 16

"Kyle, please, slow down," Liz cried, trying to wrench her arm from Kyle’s grasp. She looked back behind them, straining to catch a glimpse of something, anything to tell her Max was okay. She couldn’t stop this terrible ache that filled her heart and made her desperately worried that Max was dead.

The gunshot had been impossibly loud. It had brought back horrible memories of the day Max had been shot with the acrid smell of gunpowder, with the sharp smell of blood. Max’s blood. When he’d fallen down, his body limp, Liz had screamed and lunged for Max only to be caught by Kyle. Kyle had dragged her kicking and screaming away from Max, the tears running down her face.

"Kyle, please, let me go back to Max. I need to know that he’s ok. Just let me go, please," Liz cried. She didn’t care that she should be trying to calm Kyle down, trying to reason with him. The second he’d fired a gun at Max’s head all reason had fled.

Finally, Kyle stopped and pulled her roughly around to face him. Liz’s eyes darted around wildly, taking in where they were. Still in the park, but now standing next to the swimming pool. The rough concrete floor tore at her bare feet where Kyle had dragged her behind him.

"What did I do wrong, Liz? Why don’t you love me?" Kyle asked sadly, his eyes full of tears. Liz tried to form her thoughts to answer, the only thing coming through was an urgent, instinctive need to get to Max.

"I don’t know, Kyle. Some people just aren’t meant to be together. I liked you, but we’re just too different," Liz said desperately. Kyle’s face immediately hardened.

"No! I’m not going to lose you. No, no, no, no," Kyle repeated over and over, his eyes starting to look dazed. Liz felt his fingers loosening on her arm and she thought maybe if she calmed him down he’d let go of her enough so that she could escape. She could get to Max and she could call the sheriff.

"Kyle, we can still be friends. We were friends first, remember?" Liz prodded. Kyle fixed his eyes on her and nodded.

"You won’t leave me. Not like Mom did," Kyle proclaimed. Liz struggled with what to say. She had no idea how to reason with Kyle, he’d obviously been severely damaged by his mother leaving.

"Kyle, your mom leaving didn’t have anything to do with you. And your dad, he loves you. Don’t you think he’s worried about you? About where you are?" Liz said softly. She saw Kyle’s expression soften at the mention of his father and his fingers on her arm seemed to ease up just a little bit more.

"I’m just so tired," Kyle said plaintatively. Liz nodded.

"I know you are. So am I. Why don’t we go see your dad? He can help," Liz suggested, praying Kyle would listen. Her words seemed to sink in for a minute and Liz felt her heart beat triple, anticipating whether Kyle would let go. Her thoughts were clouded with Max.

He’d been shot.

He could be bleeding to death.

It had been too long.

Max needed her.

Just when she thought Kyle might let go, she tried to step back a little and his fingers tightened on her arm. She felt her body grow cold as Kyle fixed his clear blue eyes on her, his face eerily calm.

"No, we’re going somewhere else," he said. As Kyle pulled her with him Liz began to cry again, not willing or able to hide her despair.

"Hey man, where should I put these?" Alex asked Michael as he pushed in through the Crashdown kitchen doors with his shoulder, his hands full of cups and glasses. Michael pointed to the sink.

"Just put them over there. We’ll get them in the morning," Michael commented. He shut off the sink and joined Alex at the door, watching as Maria and Isabel sat on two stools at the counter, laughing over something.

"So, how did things go on the big first date?" Alex asked. Michael ducked his head, unable to hide the grin on his face.

"Really great. I don’t know how to explain it. We’re the same, but now it’s different. It’s—it’s better now, somehow," Michael said. Alex nodded, patting his best friend on the shoulder.

"I know what you mean, don’t worry," Alex said. Then he met Michael’s eyes, his expression serious.

"Just so you know, Maria’s like a sister to me. You hurt her and you’re a dead alien."

"Ok, ok, I get it! Liz gave me the same speech. I’m not going to hurt her, not if I have anything to say about it. All I want to do is make her happy," Michael replied, his eyes fixing on Maria as she twirled around on her stool, listening to her laughter that rang like a bell.

The two boys watched Maria and Isabel for a minute, both grinning like nothing could possibly disturb the night. Then Michael turned to Alex and nudged him with his shoulder.

"Speaking of first dates, how was yours?" he asked. Alex tried not to grin like an idiot and failed miserably.

"God, she’s just—she’s amazing. She’s beautiful, she makes guys look twice and yet she doesn’t look at anyone but me. In heels she looks me straight in the eye and I can’t look away. She’s got these brown eyes like chocolate and this deep laugh that makes me lean in for more. In a word, I can’t even describe it in a word. I never thought that I, Alex Charles Whitman, would ever be able to get a girl like Isabel Evans to go out with me," Alex commented. Then he laughed.

"But then, before I met you, I never thought there was such a thing as aliens."

"Come on," Michael suggested, itching to stand near Maria, just be next to her, touch her. They joined the girls and were laughing over some of the things that had happened at the dance when Alex brought up Max’s performance.

"I can’t believe he did that!" Isabel said. Alex grinned.

"I swear it was all his idea. He came up to me before the dance and told me what he wanted. I pulled in a few favors and we timed it just right," Alex said, clearly proud of himself.

"Did you see the look on Liz’s face?" Michael asked, remembering how his sister had been so happy, her eyes glued to Max. Isabel’s face softened and she nodded. Without a word her hand drifted over to find Alex’s and their fingers intertwined. Alex tried not to look surprised, recognizing that what Isabel was offering him was more than she’s ever opened up to anyone.

Michael watched his best friend and his thoughts turned to the realization that nothing could ever be as perfect as that moment, as perfect as that memory. All of them, all six of them, were happy and together. Wanting to feel Maria against him he turned to find her standing by the front door, her hand on the doorknob and her back tightened with tension.

Frowning, he walked over, feeling the sudden fear practically rolling off Maria in waves. He finally reached her and laid his hands on her arms. He leaned his head down, trying to catch her eyes. Maria wouldn’t look at him, her eyes were staring straight ahead, into the darkness of the night.

"Maria, what is it?" he asked.

"Something’s wrong. Everything was fine, better then fine, and then I suddenly felt this, I don’t know, this panic. It’s out there. Michael, I think it’s Liz. They’ve been gone a long time, I’m worried," Maria said. Michael took one look at her frightened face and he glanced back at Alex.

"Alex, man, come on," he called. Without a question Alex immediately stood up and walked over, Isabel following close behind.

"What’s going on?" he asked.

"Maria thinks something’s happened to Liz. We’re going to look for her," Michael said, reaching for the door.

"We’re coming too," Isabel announced. Michael shook his head.

"No, you two stay here, in case they come here," he said.

"Michael—"

"Maria, I’m not doing it to leave you behind or anything. You know I’m right. It’s better if half of us stay here to wait. If we’re not back in thirty minutes get my parents from upstairs," Michael said. Maria finally nodded as Michael kissed her on the forehead quickly before following Alex out the door.

Maria sighed and watched them disappear into the darkness. Isabel laid a reassuring hand on her arm.

"It’ll be ok, they’ll find them," Isabel said, trying not to let her own worry lace her words. Maria nodded hopefully.

"I just hope it’s not too late," she murmured.

With a groan Max slowly came back to consciousness. He couldn’t tell if he was upside down or right side up, his head hurt so bad. It felt about ten times its normal size and throbbed like a train had passed through his ears.

He tried to open his eyes and found only darkness. He couldn’t remember anything that had happened, all he could think of was how much his head ached. Slowly he sat up, immediately wishing he hadn’t. He gasped as the darkness around him exploded with bright stars of pain. Reaching a hand up to cradle his head he felt the wetness there and pulled his hand back, the pain fading just enough for him to see the dark red blood painting his fingers from where he’d touched his forehead.

Suddenly he remembered. Liz. Snowflakes. Liz’s words. I love you. Kyle. The gun. Liz’s scream. The pain in his head. Complete darkness.

Feeling an urgency all the way to his toes he gripped a tree nearby and struggled to stand. He had no idea how long it had been since Kyle had taken a shot at him, the bullet seemed to have just grazed his head. Max knew he’d been lucky. He also knew without a doubt that Kyle now had Liz and she might not be as lucky if he didn’t get to her. He had to find her.

Ignoring the throbbing in his head he looked around, his eyes readjusting to the darkness of the night. He tried to concentrate, tried to feel her. Sometimes he thought he could, like their connection gave him some kind of special Liz Parker Radar. Drawing on the essence of her, on everything that reminded him of her he began to run across the field, towards a swimming pool by the basketball court.

The urgency increased as he got closer and as he came in sight of the swimming pool he skidded to a halt, his eyes darting around. Cursing, he didn’t see them anywhere. He thought he’d been so sure.

Just as he was about to turn around he heard a scuffling noise off to the side of the pool, over in the shadows. Squinting, he stepped closer and felt his anger immediately flare at the sight of Kyle, crouching in the corner, soaking wet, hugging his knees and rocking back and forward.

Max quickly hauled him to his feet and pushed him against the wall.

"Where is she? Damnit Kyle, what did you do to her?!" Max screamed into Kyle’s face. Kyle seemed to look past him, his face blank.

"I tried to take her with me, but she didn’t want to go," he said vacantly. Max shook with anger, barely able to contain his urge to snap Kyle in two.

"WHERE IS SHE?!?!" he yelled again. Kyle didn’t respond, just continued to stare behind Max, at the swimming pool. Max felt the chill run down his spine before the thought trickled into his mind and he dropped Kyle like a rag and spun around to face the pool.

The instant before he hit the water he registered the sight of Liz floating underwater, her filmy blue dress drifting almost peacefully. He didn’t even think as he dove into the water, reaching her in an instant and pulling her close to him, and then swimming to the surface. He broke through the surface of the water and gasped at the cool night air, immediately turning to look at Liz in his arms.

As he swam over to the side of the pool he saw how still she was, how cold she looked. He tried to ignore the pounding fear in his chest, deep in his gut, spreading all over his body. He knew she was gone, he could tell just by looking at her. But his mind wouldn’t accept the fact. He’d just found her, she couldn’t be gone.

Trying to remember what he’d learned in CPR he leaned over her, listening for any sound of breathing. No sounds came and he tried not to sob at the utter silence around them. Suddenly he remembered who he was, what he was capable of doing.

Placing a hand on his chest, near her heart, Max concentrated, trying to find some part of Liz that was still alive that he could bring back. He got flashes of water in front of him, felt the choking feeling of liquid in his throat and lungs. He gasped and coughed, unwilling to give up. He pushed his power into her, he could feel his energy flowing from his body to hers.

All of a sudden he felt very cold, very wet and tired. He tried to stay sitting up but found he couldn’t. He sank down to lay next to Liz, shivering and coughing water.

Just before the darkness bled in again he heard a welcome sound next to him.

Liz gasped for air, coughing and sputtering water as her chest heaved and she drew air into her lungs.

TBC...