Dreamwalk

14

«I'm going to call for help," Liz said, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket.

«Wait a minute.» Max's mind was racing as dozens of scenarios played out in his head, although none of them ended well. «Maybe there's something we can do first.»

«Max, you heard him.» She ignored the phone for a moment. «The beam is loose. He could fall any minute. We have to get someone out here.»

He knew she was right, but he also knew that if she made the call, their situation would immediately spiral out of control. «Liz, whoever we call is going to alert the media. Think about it… a kid trapped in a mine shaft. They eat this kind of thing up. We're talking national news. Our faces will be plastered everywhere, and I'm not just worrying about Jason's parents finding out I stayed the weekend.»

Liz stared at him blankly.

Then Max stopped for a moment to truly understand what he had just said. I'm putting my secret ahead of Jason,

he realized. I'm risking his life to protect my own. Without thinking about it further, Max reversed his decision. «Make the call.»

«Okay," Liz said, «but then you've got to get out of here. I'll handle everything on my own.»

«No," Max replied. «I'm not going to leave him.»

Knowing she was wasting time, Liz picked up the phone and switched it on, dialing 911 without noticing that the numbers weren't beeping as she pressed them. When she held the phone to her ear, the realization struck her with horror. «My cell's not working.»

«Here, try mine.» Max pulled his out and handed it to her.

Pressing the «on» button, she quickly discovered that it was also out of the service area.

«What are we going to do?» she asked, handing his phone to him and placing her own back in her pocket without realizing that both of them had irretrievable messages waiting. Into the hole, she yelled, «Hold on, Jason! I'm going to get help. Max will stay here with you.»

Jason suddenly screamed.

«What's wrong?» Liz yelled.

«The beam is slipping!» he hollered back.

«Jason!» Liz and Max yelled in unison.

«I'm okay," he hollered back, a little more calmly. «It stopped.»

«How far down are you?» Max was readying a plan of his own, removing his pads to give himself more maneuverability, but keeping the helmet on.

«I don't know!» Jason replied. «Not too far.»

«I'm going down to get him," Max calmly said to Liz as

he circled the hole. He found a point along the edge where there was enough space between two of the beams for him to easily fit his body.

«How?» Liz was concerned about the risk involved, but even more concerned for Jason's safety. «We don't have any rope.»

«I can create handholds in the wall.» Max peered into the hole so she couldn't see the fear in his eyes. «It will be just like climbing a ladder.»

«It's too dangerous.»

«It's our only choice," he insisted.

Liz felt helpless. «Be careful.» She gave him a kiss for luck.

«Aren't I always?» He shot her a comforting smile.

Turning, he started down the mine shaft.

Max carefully kicked his feet into the wall of the mine shaft. Holding for a moment, he allowed the dirt to form around his shoes as he used his alien powers to manipulate the molecular structure of the soil and harden it into a strong foothold. Then, he lowered his hands and did the same, curling his fingers into the wall of the shaft so the handhold would give him something to grasp on to.

Slowly and methodically, he repeated the procedure as he made his way down the side of the mine shaft. As he went, he made sure to keep the handholds and footholds close together since Jason would need to use them on the way up and he was slightly shorter than Max.

The sun was rising higher in the sky as more and more light filled into the mine shaft. Max couldn't quite make out Jason's form below him, but his eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness. As he continued the descent he

thought he could see the outline of a body in the shadows below. «Jason, I need you to talk to me so I know when I'm getting close.»

«You're almost here," Jason replied, looking up at him. «I can make you out against the light coming from the opening. You look kind of like Spider-Man clinging onto the wall there.»

Max beamed at the reference, considering that high praise from Jason. There were many times in the past when he'd secretly compared his alien powers with those of comic book superheroes. In fact, when he was younger, before he'd realized the truth, he'd thought that maybe he was a superhero himself when his abilities started to present themselves. He had even drawn up designs for his own costume. He supposed that, technically speaking, the concept of an alien sent to Earth where he exhibits unusual powers did kind of fall into the superhero archetype.

«I'll have you out of here in a few minutes," Max said reassuringly. «You'll be home in no time.»

«No," came Jason's reply.

Max paused where he was, clinging to the wall. «What was that?»

«I don't want to go home," Jason replied.

Recalling the clearly visible path that had led them to Jason, Max had to disagree. «I don't think that's true.»

«I wrecked my bike," Jason replied, his hollow voice sounding much closer. «George is going to kill me.»

Max continued his climb and could now see Jason sitting on a collection of weak-looking cross beams. He was pleased to see that his young charge had had the foresight to be wearing his helmet and pads when he had sneaked

off on his bike. «I'm sure he'll just be happy that you're okay," he said.

«You don't know him.»

Max examined the layout, trying to figure out the best way to get him off the beam. Jason was about four feet away from him, but in Max's current position there was only air between him and the boy. «Let's talk about this once we're out of this hole.»

Jason didn't reply.

«How did you manage to get caught on the beam?»

«There used to be a bunch more, going all the way across to where you are now," Jason calmly explained. «My bike landed on them. I could tell they weren't strong enough to hold it, so I jumped off. The bike went crashing down only a few minutes later. It sounds really far to the bottom.»

Eyeing the remaining beams that sagged under Jason's considerably lightweight body, Max could easily tell that they would not support the boy much longer. And it was also clear they could not handle his added weight, either. He would need Jason to slide over to the wall. The only problem was that Max had come down nowhere near the point where the beams met the wall.

«I'm going to have to come around to that side.» Max freed his right hand from the wall to point to the direction he was about to move. «Stay exactly where you are until I get there.»

«Okay," Jason replied.

Instead of placing his hand back in the handhold he had taken it from, Max stretched as far as he could to the right to get another grip into the wall. He followed that

with his right foot. Then, he placed his left hand and left foot in the holes he had just vacated. The beam was now only about five or six feet away. Removing his right hand from the wall again, Max repeated his move, but instead of creating a small handhold, the dirt wall started to fall away in large chunks.

Throwing his weight back to the left, Max regained his balance, but the wall continued to crumble. Focusing his power through his hands, he tried to will the wall back into place, but he could not stop the natural displacement of dirt.

Both Max and Jason followed the dirt avalanche with their eyes wide as it slid closer to the point where the wooden beams met the wall.

«Jason, hold on!» Max yelled as he went back to the position he had been in before he started moving to the side.

Jason lay on his stomach and tightly hugged the beam he was on.

The dirt wall deteriorated at an alarming rate.

The end of the beam began to slide down the wall.

Max aimed his hand at a point several inches beneath the beam, readying himself to use his force field. He hoped he wouldn't have to deploy it in front of Jason, but he knew that exposing his powers to the boy was far more preferable to watching him fall to his death.

One of the wooden beams behind Jason slipped out of the wall and started a long fall to the bottom. Max could hear it hit ground, and agreed that Jason was right when he'd said it had been a considerable drop.

Fortunately the wall stopped crumbling and the beam

Jason was on came to rest after only sliding a few inches. Max stayed where he was, afraid to move either left or right. He knew that the part of the wall he was on was stable. He had seen to it as he climbed down by using his powers to manipulate the molecular structure of the wall, but he was afraid to touch the loose dirt to the side of him for fear of it all falling away once again.

«Okay, we're going to have to go to Plan B.» Max reached out his arm to check the distance between himself and Jason.

«I'm not going to like this, am I?» the boy asked.

«You'll be fine.» Max paused to convince himself that Plan B was, in fact, a viable option. He realized that there really was no other choice. «I'm going to need you to jump to me.»

«Are you crazy?»

Max tried to keep his voice calm, although his entire body was trembling as he considered what they were about to do. «It's only a couple feet. I've got a good hold on the wall. It will be okay.» He wasn't entirely telling the truth, because his body was beginning to tire from the strenuous activity, but he knew that he would have to keep going for Jason's sake as well as his own.

Jason looked down beneath them. Although Max knew the boy couldn't see the bottom, they both were aware of the minimum distance the drop had to be based on the length of time it had taken for the beam to crash to the ground. When Jason looked back up, Max could see even more fear in his eyes.

«I can't do it," Jason said, still hugging the beam and shaking his head vigorously.

As if to help Max convince him, the beam slid another inch.

«You've got to," Max said in a forced calm voice. «Trust me.»

Jason looked up at the teen he had hardly even met.

Max could only meet his gaze, trying to be both forceful and calming at the same time. He hoped that his face showed the look of someone Jason could trust.

«Okay," Jason resolved. «I'll do it.»

Max let out a sigh of relief. «Good. Now, I need you to stand up slowly.»

Jason did as he was told, balancing himself on the unstable beam.

«All right," Max said, continuing to use the ultra calming voice. «When you jump to me, you're going to have to use the wood to push yourself off. That means you're going to be adding extra pressure.»

«Which means the beam is going to collapse.» Jason completed the thought with his voice shaking.

«So you're going to have to move quickly," Max concurred. «No hesitation. No turning back.»

«I can do it," Jason said firmly as he obviously tried to convince himself to believe what he was saying. Although Max could still hear the hesitation, he knew that Jason was ready.

Max removed his right hand and foot from the wall and leaned back to the left so he could form a pocket for Jason to jump into. «I want you to throw yourself into my body. I'll grab you as soon as you hit.»

«Can't I just reach for your hand?» Jason asked.

But Max had considered that option and was afraid that

even if Jason did manage to clasp onto the small target, his skinny hand would slip right out of Max's grip. «This will work fine.»

Jason looked unsure, but determined.

«On three," Max said, preparing his body to take the impact when Jason hit. «One… two… three!»

Jason launched himself off the beam.

The beam tore away from the wall.

The boy's body slammed into both Max and the wall at the same time.

Max threw his right arm around Jason and turned his own body into the wall.

The beam crashed down many, many feet below.

Jason was cradled in Max's body and pressed up against the wall. They were both breathing heavily and holding tightly onto the wall. As the realization struck them that they had been successful in what they had just done, both boys started laughing uncontrollably.

«Max! Jason! Is everything all right!» Liz screamed from above. Obviously she had heard the crash.

«We're fine!» Max hollered back up to her as the laughing subsided.

He looked to Jason to confirm that he was «fine," and found him to be shaking and breathing heavily, but surprisingly unscathed.

«Time to make like Spider-Man," Max said with a look of relief. «The hard part's over. Let's get out of here.»

Still cradling himself in Max's body,, Jason turned around to face the wall. Max instructed him on how to use the handholds and footholds that he had left behind on the way down, hoping that Jason just assumed they were a

part of the original shaft design. Either way, he did not question their escape route as they slowly made their ascent to freedom, thirty feet above.

«I don't know whether to hug you or hurt you," Liz said with relief as she saw Jason's head pop out of the hole.

«I think he's been punished enough," Max said, pulling himself up onto solid ground, still shaking.

As soon as Jason had found his footing and moved away from the hole, Liz wrapped him up in the biggest hug she could muster. Jason flinched as she squeezed, causing her to let go immediately.

«Are you okay?» Her concern came back as she saw him nursing his shoulder.

«Yes," he said quickly.

«Let me see.» She leaned to him, attempting to pull the neck of his shirt aside, but he struggled against her. «Jason, hold still.» She held tightly to him and finally managed to tug the shirt away from his shoulder, revealing a huge bruise.

Suddenly, all the pieces fell into place for Max.

«We should get you to a doctor," Liz said.

«It's okay," Jason replied. «Really.»

«But you could have a serious injury from the fall," Liz said. «That bruise doesn't look good.»

Jason said nothing in response.

«That mark isn't from the fall, is it?» Max asked, almost rhetorically, since he suspected that he knew the answer.

Jason sat on the ground, but still remained silent.

«You had it last night, didn't you?» Max gently prodded.

Liz looked at Max questioningly as they both sat on either side of their young friend. She had no idea what he was talking about.

«You pulled away when I touched your shoulder last night too," Max recalled. «I thought it was because you just didn't like to be touched, but I had hurt you when I grabbed the bruise.»

«Is that true?» Liz asked, obviously concerned. «What happened?»

«Was it George?» Max carefully continued the questioning, choosing the most likely suspect.

Jason nodded, refusing to look at either of them.

Liz looked to Max, afraid that the situation was out of their league, but too concerned to let her fears get in the way of helping her friend. «How long has this been going on?»

Again, no answer came.

«Jason, say something," Liz pleaded. She was obviously upset by the surprise revelation. «Please. I want to help you.»

Max placed his hand on her shoulder as if to say, That's enough.

Liz looked into her boyfriends eyes. He could tell that she was hurt and confused. Max knew that she was probably blaming herself for not realizing what was happening sooner. He gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze.

«It's okay if you don't want to talk about it right now," Max said. «And it doesn't matter how long it's been going on. It won't happen anymore. We'll make sure of that.»

Liz added to his sense of conviction. «I promise you.»

«Now, do you have a family doctor we can take you to?» Max asked. «I want to make sure you didn't hurt yourself in the fall.» Then, he silently added to himself, and to make sure Mr. Lyles hasn't done any permanent damage.

Jason nodded his head.

Max got up and gave a hand to both Liz and Jason to help them off the ground. Hopping onto the bike, he made sure there was room for Jason to fit behind him. Once the boy was safely on, Max turned back to him. «Keys?»

Fishing in his pocket, Jason pulled out two sets of keys. «How did you…»

Max flashed him a cryptic smile and took the keys out of Jason's hand, tossing one set to Liz and starting his own bike with the other.

Grabbing the keys, Liz got on her bike and started it up. As the trio started back through the desert, neither Max nor Liz gave any thought to the cell phones in their pockets that were still out of the service area and storing some very important voice mail messages.