Maria was busy teaching herself how to bake. She figured since she had to finally accept the fact that Michael was a pretty good cook, she would just learn how to bake well. Her and Liz had found a wild patch of strawberries that they had picked. So today she baked a homemade cheesecake and decided to top it off with some a strawberry topping. She baked homemade bread, rolls and cookies. The cookies Michael loved as she always remembered to bake half of them with tobacco sauce.

Alex spent most of his days playing with the computer he had set up. He still didn't attempt to go online in fear the enemy would be able to trace their location. Instead he studied as much as he could about the system so when Max gave the word, he would be ready.

Michael and Max became quite the fishermen. They would spend hours down at the lake, relaxing and talking about the plan to exterminate the other aliens. Out here they both found such peace that it was like they had no problems or concerns anymore. Besides with all the blood Max had been donating to the cause, he didn't have the strength to do much of anything except sit around and fish. A few hours a day though they along with Isabelle would practice controlling and advancing their powers. As tranquil as the lake house was, they knew it was only a matter of time that they would need them.

Liz spent her days writing in her journal, watching Max and Michael down at the lake, talking with Maria or reading one of the books that was in the den. She too felt a sense of peace being here, but also knew it was only a temporary situation.

They had explored their surrounding area so they were aware of their location. About a mile and a half away from the lake house they discovered a large cave. Max decided this was a good spot for them to meet in case of an emergency and they couldn't get away by car. He had packed a few essentials and stored them at the cave. It was better to be prepared then not he thought.

Max had sent his *package* to their father's office in Clovis as planned. Along with a note stating they were all fine and another package would be delivered next week. Hoping by then he would have donated enough blood to take care of their enemy and be done with this situation. Between the dreamwalks to Tess and the sheriff, Isabelle was able to keep everyone up to date on how everything was coming around with the plan. Agent Motley was scraping up as many dart guns as he could locate without bringing a lot of suspicion to why he needed them and brought them to the sheriff.

The sheriff slowly began to trust the FBI agent, but not completely. Until he knew that Max trusted this man thoroughly he couldn't do it either. Jim Valenti was still amazed at how he found himself a Max follower. Here he was years older than Max, the county sheriff, but yet there was something about how Max handled himself. It was nothing he could put his finger on that made him want to be so loyal to Max, it was more than that he had saved his son's life and his own. But, it was more in the way Max spoke or the way he was always in such control. The way a great leader would be and the sheriff knew that Max was a true leader of people.

He had spoken with both the Evan's and the Parker's, knowing that all four parents felt the same way. It was nothing they could actually state why they felt this way, they just did. They had all been kept inform of what Max had planned. Agent Motley had even tested the dart guns that he had loaded with Max's blood with the alien that he had frozen. The results were as expected, the alien basically disintegrated in front of his eyes. Once all the arrangements were made they just simply waited on word from Max that the plan was a go.

Another week went by, another delivery of blood was made, and finally Max felt it was time. Isabelle and Alex would drive to Las Cruises and Alex would send an email to the sheriff to meet them at Bingham in two days at noon and then drive back. Agent Motley, Sheriff Valenti and Tess would already be at Socorro. Along with a hand picked crew of military personnel by both the agent and Tess. That way their was no confusion who could be trusted.

Even though Max hated the idea of leaving Liz, he could not not be there when this all went down. It was Liz that finally persuaded him everything would be okay. So Max, Michael, Alex and Isabelle left for Socorro early in the morning to meet with the sheriff and Tess. Even though Tess had helped pick the military personnel Max wanted to be sure of everyone's safety. As Agent Motley introduced Max to each individual Max shook hands with them and made a quick connection with each of them. Max took on the leader role once again and informed the group of military personnel what they were up against, but instead of stating they were actually aliens he said they were advanced human hybrids that had escaped from a government lab. He was shocked that none of the group of men that were chosen for the mission had asked many specific questions. Max figured it was how they had been trained and then informed the entire group that only he and Michael would be going along with Agent Motley and the military group to inform them of who was who.

Isabelle and Tess both started to protest, but Max was adamant with his decision. He was not about to endanger their lives as well. The sheriff took a little more persuading to stay behind, but in the end he realized that Max was asking him to stay behind for the others protection. The meeting place was outside the town in an old abandoned farm house. Max would be the bait for the other aliens. He knew he could produce a force field around himself for protection, while Michael would be the spotter for the other aliens. The military personnel took their positions as previous told to them, while Michael and the agent took more a look out position away from the barn.

Max cautiously approached the barn. It wasn't long before the first few aliens made their presence known. They shot their energy blasts at Max immediately trying to kill him, but to their dismay Max's own personal force field (he had told the military people it was a device he had developed) held it's own against the initial attack. As more and more of the other aliens arrived surrounding Max, stalking him and waiting for his powers to waiver. Knowing he wouldn't be able to continue the force field forever and then they would be able to complete the mission they were assigned. Eliminate the king, take over this planet and then the king's home planet would fall easily.

Michael watched and waited impatiently. He wanted nothing more then to go down to where Max was and start blasting them away. But, he also knew what the plan was. They needed to draw out as many of their enemies as possible in this one set up, so he waited. Both he and Max knew precisely how long Max was able to hold the force field together as they had timed it many times in the last two weeks.

The military personnel watched in amazement how it seemed all these so called human creatures were stalking this young kid. They were also aware that they would each only get one shot to eliminate them. If they were to miss their target, they would be eliminated themselves. There was no second chances in this game.

As Max waited he watched as one of them seemed to take charge of their attacks on him. They kept firing their energy blasts at him randomly, testing the power of his force field. As his powers began to fade the other alien leader stepped right in front of Max. "Today you will die, but just so you know. You will not be dying alone. We've taken care of your mate already and your child will be dead within the hour." His voice was void of emotions, more cold and sinister then anything Max had ever heard before.

He immediately thought of Liz and knew something was wrong with the aliens statement. If they had already taken care of her he was sure he would have felt something was wrong, but at the moment he knew Liz was still save. But, then the words of the alien's threat against his child rang in his ears. "You realize you've just signed your own death warrant. I may die today, but not before I make sure you turn to ash!!" He screamed.

Michael watched the exchange between Max and the other alien. He was unable to hear what they were saying, but by the look of angry that had appear on his friend's face he knew it was time. He signaled Agent Motley and the FBI agent gave the go ahead to his troops.

At the same time each solider took aim and fired their weapons. Since there were close to twenty of the other aliens Vs about ten soldiers, their only hope was the two darts that each gun held would be enough to get all of them without any mistakes that would mean the necessary reload of their weapons. The military personnel were all selected sharp shooters and the battle was soon over before it really had a chance to start. Each alien began to evaporate as Max's blood was shot into their bodies.

The other alien leader, however had the same type of ability to move quicker then the dart guns and dodge the dart. He barely had time to readjust his body from the quick movement he had made, when Max grabbed onto him. "You will never be able to threaten my child's life again." Stated Max as he made final contact with him.

Before he evaporated though he smiled at Max. "Your mate and child are dead." Is all he said and then he was also gone with the rest of the other aliens. Max didn't have time to relish in his victory, because as Max turned he saw Michael running toward him and pointing in the opposite direction. "There's more coming!" He screamed.

Max then turned back to the soldiers and yelled. "Reload, NOW!" It was at this point that the other aliens began to come in view. Before half the soldiers had time to react the energy blast came at them. Max pulled Michael so he was standing just beside him. "Michael, I'm going to need some help." He grabbed onto Michael's arm and then reestablished the force field surrounding both himself and Michael using some of Michael's energy to sustain it. They watched as Agent Motley was hit with one of the energy blasts, falling to his death. A few of the soldiers were also hit, but most were able to take cover along with Max and Michael inside the barn.

"Thanks Maxwell, I would have been dust out there." Michael said once they were safely inside the barn.

Max nodded accepting his best friends thanks and then turned to the rest of the soldiers that had made it. "I don't think the dart guns are fast enough. Wait until they are close enough and take out as many as you can with the dart guns. Then use your machine guns to slow them down and I'll try to finish them off before they have time to regenerate themselves."

The soldiers didn't hesitate. They had both their guns ready and prepared for the next round of battle. It was at this moment the first wave of panic hit Max and he knew it wasn't his. Max then turned to Michael. "Do you think you could make it out of here and get back to the house?"

"Max, I'm not leaving you here alone." Michael stated firmly.

"Their after Liz, Michael. I can't leave or I would. You have to do it Michael, I'm asking you to help me save my future wife and child. Please Michael." Max pleaded not only with his words, but with his eyes.

Michael knew at that moment what was going down. He didn't question him any further. He simple nodded, grabbed a couple of the blood darts and carefully made his way out the back of the barn through the planned escaped route. Once outside the tunnel he hopped in one of the army jeeps, using his powers, started hit and headed off in the direction of the lake house.

The first few other aliens that made their way close enough to the barn were met with the blood darts. It didn't take the other's long to figure out they weren't going to get close enough to fire their energy blast to hit the barn without being hit by one of the darts. For a while it looked like it was going to be a long stand off between the two groups. Then the attack came swiftly. Max realized they didn't care about the number of them that were killed, they just cared about one thing and that was killing him.

Once the soldiers shot their two darts they began using their machine guns as Max had instructed them. Max tried to help them out by reloading the dart guns for them to reuse. The fear from Liz though kept growing inside of him and every ounce of his being was scream at him to leave and help her. But, he also knew if he would abandon the small group of soldiers that were helping him, they would soon be dead and he would never be able to live with that on his conscious. His only salvation was the thought that Michael would get there in time.

The bloody battle didn't last very long as most of the other aliens were either lying on the ground while their bodies took the time to regenerate themselves or were turning to dust from being hit by one of the blood darts. A few of the other aliens had made it close enough to blast through the barn and had succeeding in killing most of the soldiers. The few that were still alive along with Max were able to fend the rest off until they had finally retreated. As soon as the very few of the other aliens had retreated Max left the barn and began his job of using his blood to kill the ones that were stilled by the machine guns, but not yet dead.

The other three soldiers that were still alive also stepped outside the protection of the barn and began to help Max by using the blood darts and puncturing them into the aliens that appeared to be dead. One of the soldiers was in the process of finishing off one of the *dead* aliens when the alien had just finished rejuvenating itself and shot an energy blast directly into the soldier's chest. He got off two more energy blasts one at Max and one at another solider before the third solider used his dart gun and fired. Solider number three ran to his two associates knowing as soon as he seen them, they were killed. He then ran over to where Max stood.

At first he thought Max had been hit, but as he got closer he seen Max standing almost as if in shock. "Sir, are you okay? Did you get hit?" When he got no response he shook him gently. "Sir, are you okay?"

The shake stirred Max out of his state. "I'm fine. It's my wife, their after my wife." He stated to the solider as he looked upon the only face still alive out of the battle he had just went through. Then he saw there were only a few more aliens that needed to be dealt with. "Come on, we need to finish this. Stay close to me though." As they finished making sure all the other aliens were taken care of Max felt he owed the truth to the young solider that was still alive so he tried to explain as much as he could in the short time period they had.

"So they are really aliens from another planet and so are you, but your the good alien and their the bad aliens. They want to take over our planet, where you just want to live in peace here on earth and your blood is the only thing that can kill them?" Max knew it was a lot to try to absorb at once, but he didn't really have the time to explain it in full details. When the last of the other aliens were finally dealt with Max thanked the young solider for his help and then started to leave. "So what's your name?"

"They call me Max." He stated but, before he walked away any further he continued. "Now you know the truth, watch your back. I don't know how many more are out there, but if you ever need my help you can contact Sheriff Valenti from Roswell, NM. He doesn't know how to contact me personally, but I stay in touch with him regularly."

"Roswell, you mean as the 1947 crash, Roswell?" The solider questioned.

"That's me. What's your name?"

"Ryan, Ryan Hatcher."