Liz barely noticed the change of scenery.
She had to get up. She had to do something.
But her peripheral vision caught sight of something on the ground nearby. It was Max. He was holding someone, Michael, who was lying on the ground.
Michael was hurt, she could see. No, not hurt, the inner voice said.
Max put Michael gently to the ground. As he did, he moaned. It was a terrible sound that told her without a doubt that Michael was much more than hurt. It was then that Liz saw another figure beyond and partially behind Michael. Though Max was mostly blocking the figure and it was not… completely intact, Liz was certain that it was Isabel. And that she was also much more than hurt.
Max got to his feet. He was wobbly, unsteady. He turned slowly to look at her and the site of her seemed to steady him… to give him strength. He gestured vaguely to Michael and Isabel. And she nodded that she understood.
Somehow, she found her voice. "It's coming, Max," she said, pointing behind him, from where the thing, what- ever it was, was coming. "You have to get out of the way”
Then Liz realized there was something odd about Max. "Liz, you look different," he said, speaking her own thought about him out loud.
He was different. He wasn't the Max who waited for her back in the band room. He wasn't even the Max who was sitting beside her in the van, up above the waterline of her dream.
This Max had not happened yet, and would not happen for almost fifteen years. Nevertheless, he had come to visit her. She and Maria had called him Future Max. He had come to warn her once.
Now it was her turn. "Max, behind you!" she shouted.
He held his eyes on her for a moment. She saw all the pain and grief in his eyes. And something else. Something just for her. Then she could see that he was determined. He would fight for her. He would give everything for her.
It won't be enough, the voice inside her said.
Darkness was racing toward Max as he steeled himself and lifted his right hand. Liz didn't need her newfound ability to see the future to know what would happen next.
She felt it, from someplace older and deeper than the source of her new powers.
"NO!" Liz screamed.
She didn't want to be here. She wanted to wake up, but she sensed this was not a dream. She didn't want to watch what was about to happen. Liz found that she could not even close her eyes. She watched Max steel himself from the darkness that was flying toward them now.
When the darkness was almost upon them, energy flared from Max's hand, and a green defensive shield appeared in front of them.
It's too big, Liz thought. Too strong.
She knew she had to do something. She had to help Max, but she knew it was already too late. Then the dark shape reached the shield and tore through it after less than a second's pause. There was only a moment now, Liz knew, and Max used that moment to fire a burst of energy into the darkness that swallowed it without even hesitating.
"NO!" Liz screamed as she watched the darkness tear into Max. Finally she was able to turn away, but she didn't need to see it to know what happened next. Whatever had raced into Max almost instantly tore him apart, and Liz felt him die.
Liz Parker screamed.
Liz was stirring.
She's having a bad dream, Max realized. No, not just a bad dream… a full-on nightmare.
As she tossed in her seat, Max considered waking her. He couldn't remember if it was better to let someone who was having a nightmare sleep or to wake them up.
Maria would know, Max realized.
"No!" Liz practically shouted in her sleep.
"Maria…," Max began, but he was interrupted by Liz saying, "Max, behind you!" Her voice was clear, and for a moment Max was certain that she had woken up.
Then she lapsed into unconscious moaning and twist- ing in her chair. That's it. That's enough, Max decided.
He reached for Liz. Maria did the same and said, "Hey, Parker.”
As they did, Liz let out a terrifying scream and pitched violently forward in her seat. "NOOOO!" she howled as she thrust her hands forward.
Her hands would have cracked into the windshield if it were there. But a burst of white energy exploded from her hands and shattered the windshield outward. Max slammed on the brakes and swerved the wheel as the van skidded.
He was vaguely aware that the blast that came from Liz's hands traveled down the highway. Hoping there were no cars in front of them, Max skidded onto the road's shoulder.
As soon as the van came to a stop, Max turned to Liz, who was wide awake and reaching for him.
"Max," she sputtered as her hands cupped his face and she studied him with a wide-eyed stare.
As someone opened the side door of the van, Max pulled Liz toward him. "It's okay, Liz," he said, fighting to keep the worry out of his voice.
"No," Liz said forcefully, pulling back from him. "It's not okay. Oh my God, Max, you died.”
She's terrified, Max thought. Completely terrified.
"No, I didn't, Liz. I'm right here," he said gently.
Max could see that Liz was fighting for control. She pulled him toward her and started to cry. When her sobs began to die down, he whispered reassuringly into her ear, "Liz, it was just a dream.”
Pulling away again, Liz looked at him with a new expression on her face. It wasn't fear this time. It was grief. "No, Max, it wasn't," she said clearly.
3
Liz crumbled into Max's arms as Michael appeared at Max's side.
"There's a pretty big hole in the ground a few hundred yards ahead, but I don't think-anyone saw anything. Isabel is filling the hole now.”
Old habits die hard, Max thought. He's making a report.
Max simply nodded and held Liz. The others kept a respectful distance, though Max could feel Maria's tension. She was pacing a few yards away. Max was aware of move- ment in front of the van, and Isabel appeared, joining Kyle, Michael, and Maria.
As Liz's breathing returned to normal, he noticed for the thousandth time how small she felt to him. She was the smallest of the three girls, both in height and stature. As she nestled under his chin, Max gently stroked her straight, dark hair and felt a reflexive desire to protect her.
Protect her? Max thought. He had not done a very good job of that in the last three years. She had suffered too much because of him.
When her breathing slowed, he leaned back and said, "Did you have a premonition?”
Liz nodded. "I watched you die, Max," she said.
Michael stepped forward and said, "Where was it? What happened? And what do we have to do to stop it?”
Liz shook her head and said, "It's not that simple…”
"Tell us what you can from the beginning," Max said.
Starting from the beginning of the dream, Liz told about being in school and meeting Max in the band room like they had the day after he had healed her in the Crashdown. "I think you touched my cheek while I was sleeping," Liz said.
Max nodded.
"That's when the dream changed into one of my premoni- tions," Liz said, and told about seeing Michael and Isabel dead. And then seeing Max face the unseen force on his own. "You fought, Max, but…," she said as her voice broke.
Max nodded and kept his expression neutral.
"Maybe it was a dream, at least partly," Isabel said.
Liz thought for a moment and then said, "Partly, yes, but I'm sure I saw Max die, as well as you and Michael.”
"Do you have any idea how far in the future this was?" Max asked.
"Fifteen years," Liz replied immediately.
Max started at that. There was something unnerving about her certainty. "That is pretty exact. Are you sure?”
Liz nodded and said, "I recognized you…" Then she shot a glance at Maria, and something passed between the two girls.