Chapter Three: Kyle’s Guilt

Kyle opened and closed his hands as he stood in front of Isabel’s house not knowing exactly why he was there. After several minutes of standing in the incredibly chilling cold he finally found himself having the courage to knock on her door. After three knocks or so the door opened slightly to reveal a very cautious and tense Isabel. She shoulders loosened when she saw him.

“Kyle? What are you doing here?”

“I—I don’t know, exactly.”

“What?”

“Um…well. I couldn’t sleep. And I don’t know. I just thought I’d drop by?”

“Kyle,” Isabel said opening the door wider now so that he could step in. “It’s dangerous. You shouldn’t be wandering the streets. Especially with helicopters flying all over.”

“I know…and I know. I just…wanted to talk.”

“Talk? You…could’ve called, Kyle.”

“Right,” he sighed nodding his head and walking towards the door. “Sorry.”

“No. You’re here now, just stay. Kyle, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. Really.” Michael opened the door from Max’s old room and stepped out.

“What the hell are you doing here, Kyle? You’re suppose to be looking after Ava with your dad.”

“Ava isn’t back yet…I thought she was going to spend the night at Maria’s?”

“Did Max call saying that?”

“No,”

“They’re in trouble,”

“Don’t be paranoid. Look…they’re probably talking and lost track of time. I mean…I lost track of time. What time is it anyways?”

“It’s two in the morning, Kyle.” Isabel said worried. “Kyle you stay here. If there’s anything…anything wrong…take my parents and run. Michael let’s go.”

“Iz…I can help you guys. Wait up!”

“Stay put,” Michael said rushing past him. When Michael and Isabel got to Maria’s house the place was destroyed. The whole house had collapsed with nothing but wood and dirt on the ground. Immediately Michael ran to search upon the rubble.

“Michael!” Isabel’s voice seemed to tremble.

“What? Is it Maria?”

“It’s Liz…”

***

“Oh, my God!” Kyle screamed as Michael threw open the door and brought in a bloodied Maria. Isabel was behind him with Liz. “What the hell happened?” Valenti came out of his room and rushed to Liz.

“What happened?” he demanded. “Michael! What happened?”

“I—I don’t know. I just…I got there and…they’re dead. They’re all dead…” Michael put his hand over his face, smearing Maria’s blood over it.

“Who?” Kyle choked.

“Liz’s parents. Maria’s mom. They’re all dead.”

“She’s not breathing…” Valenti said putting his hand over Liz’s chest and pushing it.

“Oh, God…” Kyle said falling onto his couch. “Where’s Max and Ava?”

“Not there. It looked like there was a fight. I think they’ve got them.” Isabel said hopelessly. Liz began coughing.

“Good, she’s back.” Valenti said taking in deep breaths as he fell back against the sofa. “We’re going to need to bandage them up.” Michael stood with Maria in his arms and sweat running down his face. He was shaking his head with a dizziness that he couldn’t seem to shake off. The world was spiraling out of control and he had no idea what to do. How could Max have kept his cool all those times they were in a bind? All he could think of was to hurt someone…to do something to the animals that were responsible for this. Liz’s parents...Maria’s mom…

“Michael,” Isabel said snapping him out of his trance. “What are we going to do?” Michael’s head began running wild. Ideas popped into his head that weren’t even coherent to him. What in the world was he going to do?

“C’mon, Mike, give us something here. You’re second-in-command. It’s your calls now.”

“I know,” Michael growled. “Okay? I know. Look, there are only two options. We find out who the hell did this to them and get back Max or we run. Whoever’s out there has Max and Ava. The two strongest of the Royal Four. Now if we go after them…we’re going to suffer the exact same fate.”

“Doesn’t seem like you to go with reason,” retorted Kyle. “This seems a little too logical for your way of thinking. What’s going on here? You’re not scared are you, Mike?”

“Shut up,”

“They have Max. Max, Michael. We have to go after them.”

“And get killed? Great idea,” Anger was swelling inside of Michael now. Did this guy really think that he didn’t want to save Max just as badly? Even more so. Max was his brother. His best friend.

“We have to do this. Isabel…”

“We don’t even know where they are, Kyle.” Isabel reasoned. Kyle punched the air and sat down next to Liz and stroked her hair softly.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Kyle muttered, his eyes swelling up with tears. “Is she going to be okay?” Valenti gave his son a frown.

“I don’t know,” he answered, his face grave. “She’s lost a lot of blood. The wounds are a lot deeper than the ones Ava endured even.”

“We should let Maria and Liz rest. We all need to rest. It’s really late. We’ll think of something tomorrow. What happened, happened. There’s nothing we can do for Max now.”

“She’s right,” Valenti said nodding his head. “Get some rest, Kyle. We’ll deal with all this in the morning…”

“In the morning? Dad, Max is out there! He can be hurt…dying…or dead. We have to go save him.”

“Kyle,” Valenti said moving close to his son and putting both hands on either of Kyle’s cheeks. He pulled him close to his face. “There is nothing you would’ve done. You couldn’t have known that Ava wasn’t going to stay with Max. She’s not your responsibility. She’s mine. If it’s anyone’s fault, Son, it’s mine.”

“She is my responsibility, Dad. Max told us to protect her. Us. I’m suppose to protect her, Dad. When she wasn’t home I should’ve done something. I should’ve called. I should’ve said anything. But I didn’t. If I had done something sooner we might have gone there and saved them in time…”

“Or we might have all been killed.” Isabel said walking towards Kyle. Valenti released him. “You might’ve just saved all our lives.” Isabel held his hand and brought it up close to her breasts. “Stop thinking about what could’ve happened or what should’ve happened. We have to think about what is going to happen. But not now.” She smiled slightly. “Look I can stand here and tell you a thousand things that I think should’ve happened,” she seemed to be looking at her ring now, her eyes glistening with remembrance and hope. “Truth is…there’s nothing we can do about the past.”

“Not true,” Kyle said pulling away, his heart beating slightly harder than usual. “Max went back in time and changed the past.”

“So what,” Michael demanded getting angry, “you want to travel back in time now? Are you insane?”

“Kyle,” Isabel said frowning. “I know how hard it is for you. You wanted to protect Ava because of Tess isn’t it?” Kyle looked away.

“What are you talking about?” Michael asked looking curiously at Isabel.

“You feel bad that you never got to tell Tess that you forgive her for everything she’s done before it was too late.”

“I don’t forgive her,”

“Do you?”

“Look, she was the sister I never had, okay? We talked. We laughed. She was family to me and then she betrayed me. I hated her for that. I thought that she just used me and my dad. But when she saw me that day she came back four years ago…it seemed like…”

“She genuinely misses you?” Isabel frowned.

“She cared about me. I was her family, too. That’s why she never hurt me. I just kept thinking that because she made me carry Alex’s body into the car that she didn’t care about me, but the truth is she could’ve killed me too. I should’ve at least told her that I didn’t hate her anymore. But I didn’t. And she died. And Ava…”

“Is identical to Tess,” sighed Isabel giving Kyle a hug. “She’s not her, Kyle. Just because she looks like her doesn’t mean it’s her. And you are not guilty for not telling a murderer that you forgive her before she killed herself.”

“I should’ve...”

“Again,” Isabel said smiling kindly. “Should’ve? Would’ve? We have to look at what’s going to happen. And if protecting Ava is something that will make you feel like you’ve told Tess you forgive her then let’s focus on getting her back.” Kyle nodded, tears running down his cheeks. “Okay, now get some sleep.” She kissed him on the forehead and turned to look at Michael. “You should go rest, too.”

***

Kyle’s window opened gently. Kyle managed to squeeze through it without a single sound. He landed on wet grass. Turning back he looked at his bedroom. This could be the last time he was seeing it. It didn’t matter. He hadn’t seen it in four years. If there was one thing he learned on his four-year trip with these three aliens was that it was never too late to go out and fight crime. Usually it was Michael who would be sneaking off in the middle of the night without the rest of them knowing. It would always end up with him hurt and Max coming to save the day. Kyle chuckled. Maybe he was going to be just like Michael and need Max saving him. Only Max wasn’t going to be there. But that was a risk Kyle was more than willing to take. Max had saved his life on more than one occasion. Especially the occasion when he literally disintegrated a bullet within his stomach and healed his wound. No, he could never thank Max enough. He could never repay the debt.

Kyle walked slowly to his father’s car and took out the keys from his pockets. He opened the door and got in. Crossing his fingers, Kyle put the key in and started the car. No one heard. He was safe to leave. Pulling back to reverse, Kyle could feel the chill of the night air on the back of his bare neck. Kyle knew where to go. The only place to go. The crash site. The others might not want to put their necks on the line for Max and Ava but Kyle knew deep down that if he didn’t do this he would never forgive himself. Not if anything happened to them.

He parked the car a few meters away from the actual crash site. Suddenly the remembered. Where were the helicopters? How could he have gone here undetected? The helicopters were something that he had forgotten to calculate into his plans yet they weren’t there. Looking around he saw. To his horrendous amazement he saw them. All the federal agents that were sent to Roswell to protect the secret were dead. There were stacks of bodies. Bodies piled upon bodies. Blood was everywhere. Kyle felt his face grow cold. His whole limp.

Shaking his head, Kyle continued on foot down towards the crash sightings. As he approached he saw them. A whole group of people walking slowly towards the many different space ships. And there at the tip of the long line of people were Max and Ava. Their hands were bonded but they didn’t seem to be hurt in any way. This was it. It was now or nothing. Kyle felt his body go limp. He felt his hands shake and his legs unable to move. He felt the cold wind upon his sweaty neck. He was frozen in place. How could he take upon over a hundred of them? He couldn’t save them. Not by himself. And what gain would there be in dying? Nothing. Kyle felt his heart sink. He was a coward. He was going to let them be taken away without even a fight…

***

“Where the hell have you been?” Valenti’s voice came as Kyle opened the door, his whole body still freezing. Isabel and Michael were seated on the couch and leaped up as they saw him. Kyle continued in without saying a single word and fell upon the couch sinking in.

“Kyle, what’s wrong?” Isabel asked grabbing his hand. He flinched away. Choking back tears, Kyle cleared his throat.

“I…uh…saw Max and Ava.” He finally said not looking at them. He had his eyes closed as he laid, tears following down the side of his face.

“Where? How?” Michael demanded.

“I went to the crash site. The recent one. All the FBI agents are dead. Everyone’s dead. I saw the Skins. Nick was there. There were over a hundred of them. I saw Max and Ava being taken into a ship and they all flew off. They left…they left Earth. And I didn’t do a single thing. I was there…and I didn’t do a single thing.”

“There was nothing you could’ve done, Kyle.” Isabel reassured him.

“I could’ve tried. I froze. I let them take Max away.”

“If you had done anything you would’ve been killed. And we wouldn’t know where Max and Ava are. Or if they’re even alive. Now we know. You did a good thing. It was a good thing you didn’t try to fight them on your own. Okay?” Isabel took Kyle’s hand again and once again he flinched away.

“We have to go after them.” Michael finally said.

“Go after them how?” Isabel asked looking up at Michael.

“We have to find a spaceship and go after them. Liz was right. We have to go back to Antar.”