Part 5

As they made their way down the hall, they could hear the footfalls of more guards coming their way. “Duck!” Rocky yelled, pushing Max down, as half a dozen troopers came around the corner and started firing. Rocky fired back, pushing himself against the wall, trying to get away from the fire coming at him. He ignored the pain as some shots hit him and in less then a minute all six men were down. “Get up! Come on let’s move.” Rocky said, grabbing Max and helping him up.

As they hurried down the hallway Max could feel his right hand start to throb and pulse. “Rocky, my hand...”

“Hold on kid.” Rocky said, stopping at a big wooden door. “Angel! Get back!” he yelled and aimed the gun at the lock. A second later the lock was blown off and the door opened.

“Rocky! Thank god...Max!” Angel ran to them and hugged Max. “You guys are hurt! What happened?” She asked, helping support Max while Rocky recharged his two guns. She cringed just seeing the bloody wounds on both guys.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle.” Max said, smirking.

“Yeah right, now let’s find a way out of this hell hole before Vadar does.” Rocky said and cocking the gun they moved out.

That’s when Max felt his hand start throbbing again, this time worse. He looked at it and heard Angel gasp. The sphere was glowing faintly under the skin. “Oh my god.” Angel said in shock.

“It’s throbbing. Rocky, what’s going on?”

Rocky turned to see Max’s glowing hand. “Oh shit, it’s here. The other key.” Rocky turned around looking for another door or some hidden room.

Angel then remembered the legend. The key that Max had in his hand would tell when the second key was near. Once together the world would be reborn. “We have to find that second key.”

Max, with hand extended, was walking around the hall. “It get’s worse this way. I think the second key is around here.”

“We’d better hurry and find it. I hear more troopers!” Rocky said, gun raised. Indeed, the shouts and foot falls were getting louder and it was coming from all around them.

Max lifted his hand towards one of the stone walls. “I feel something powerful here..” he muttered, bringing his hand closer. As he laid his hand upon the wall he felt the cold stone underneath. Then all of a sudden it was replaced by thin air! “What the.. hey I think I found something...”

Just then a shot from a laser bounced off the wall a foot away from Max. Startled, Max jumped but tripped on some loose rocks and fell forward right into the wall! He heard Angel shout his name and then he felt ground as he fell face forward.

“Max!” Angel shouted and lept after him. She expected to be met with stone but instead as she reached out, she felt air where the wall was suppose to be! “Rocky hurry!” she shouted turning to see Rocky shooting at the person that had shot at them. Rocky turned to run after her when all of a sudden Vadar came around the corner.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Vadar fired on Angel. Rocky quickly dove for Angel, pushing her and himself into the wall. Angel fell into darkness and landed on dirt, the air being pushed from her lungs. She heard the grunt from Rocky as he too fell on the hard ground.

“Angel! Rocky!” She heard a shout and felt strong hands picking her up.

“Max?” she felt like crying in relief as she was embraced in his arms.

“Where are we?” she heard Rocky ask and felt him get up beside her.

The only light was Max’s glowing sphere. “Follow me. I think we found the second key.”

Holding onto each other they followed Max down a very dark hall. It smelled musky and damp. Like nothing here had seen the light of day in ages. Just then a light could be seen in the distance. All three saw it and it grew brighter as they neared it.

“Oh my..it’s beautiful!” Angel proclaimed in wonder as they came upon the source.

Standing in a small marble room stood a pillar about five feet high. In the middle was a golden sphere with many circles and lines running through it. It was the only thing creating the light. There were no torches or lamps anywhere in the room.

Max felt his hand vibrate as he brought it near the other symbol. Both glowed and sparkled like gold. All three were in awe at the site.

“Go on Max. Touch it.” Rocky said.

Max turned to look at them both. Angel had tears in her eyes and she nodded. Rocky also nodded and smiled. “Go on kid.”

Max turned and extended his hand. The two symbols glowed brighter and Max could feel the electricity and energy from the two spheres, like a magnet meeting another magnet.

Suddenly there was a burst of red light and the sound of gunfire. Max turned to see Rocky go down as the laser shot through his chest! Max heard Angel scream and then he saw Vadar step into the small room.

“Step away from the key Max.” Vadar growled, gun aimed right at him. “Don’t make me kill you too.”

Max turned to see Angel looking at him from where she was crouched beside Rocky’s fallen body. Slowly, Max withdrew his hand.

“That’s a boy.” Vadar said, smiling wickedly. “I knew you’d see it my way.” Then Vadar raised his gun and cocked it, pointing it right at Max’s head. “Of course I’ve always wanted to kill you.”

There was a shot and Max flinched, expecting to feel the laser go into his body. But he felt no pain and he opened his eyes to see Vadar’s mouth open in surprise. Then he fell to the ground, his chest blown open. Max turned to see Rocky lower the gun he had just shot Vadar with.

“Rocky!” Max cried, snapping out of his frozen state and running to Angel and his friend. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Rocky muttered but Max could tell he was in alot of pain. Angel was already taking off her jacket and applying pressure to the open chest wound. Max turned to Angel but her eyes were sad. They both knew Rocky was anything but fine. “He’s dying Max.” she whispered, her eyes teary and frightened.

“No..Rocky please...stay with me. We’ll get help.” Max pleaded, taking Rocky’s big hand in his.

“It’s your move kid. You have to...put the two keys..together.” Rocky said but a coughing fit broke it off.

“No...don’t move Rocky...everything will be fine. I’ll get you help.” Max was on the verge of tears. This couldn’t be happening. First his father and now his best friend. Rocky was the only thing he had left.

“Max.” Rocky said and his grip got harder on Max’s hand. “Do it now. Make your father proud.”

Max looked toward the glowing pillar. In the distance he could hear the shouts of confused guards. Rocky was right. They had come this far. It had to be done. Max nodded and slowly stood. He didn’t notice a slight movement to his side as he walked up to the pillar.

Again the vibrating started in his palm and slowly he extended his hand towards the other sphere. He heard the cocking of a gun in the background and Angel’s shout of “Look Out!” But before Max could move his hand was jerked into the other sphere and the two keys were together!

A blinding light burst forth, flooding the entire chamber and beyond. Max screamed in pain as energy flowed into him. His hand burned and he couldn’t rip it away from the now hot stone. He heard another scream of pain behind him and Angel’s cry but he couldn’t see anything. Only a blinding white-gold light that blinded him and burned. It felt like the pain would never stop.

Then as sudden as it had begun, the light disappeared and Max fell to the ground unconscious.

~~~~~

The black grew lighter and the sound of chirping filled Max’s ears. Slowly he opened his eyes. The sky was blue and white clouds dotted the sky. Was he dead? Earth never looked like this before. Slowly he turned his head and saw green trees, their branches slowly moving the breeze, and lush grass under him. This defiantly wasn’t earth. He moved to sit up and groaned in pain. His body felt like it had been run over by a truck. His shirt was torn and his side had dried blood from his wound. Yet his ribs didn’t hurt like they had before. He felt them with his left hand and even pushed on the old wound, but nothing hurt. It was like it had been healed. How long had he been laying in the meadow? Yet, he couldn’t be dead either. He had been told that when you died, you didn’t feel anymore physical pain. And Max defiantly felt pain.

He cried out as he moved his right hand and looking down he noticed the skin was burnt, the sphere was gone. Clenching his teeth in pain he slowly stood, his right hand tucked against his chest. Where was he then? He remembered being in the little room with Angel and Rocky. Angel! Where was she? Where was Rocky?

“Angel!” he shouted. “Rocky!” He desperately looked around but all he saw was green meadow and trees. Mountains loomed toward the sky in the distance and birds flew overhead. But Max couldn’t enjoy any of these things. He had to find his friends.

He ignored his screaming muscles and jogged up the hill. He suddenly heard laughter and shouts and he quickened his pace. Who was down there?

As he got to the top he saw tons of people laughing, cheering, hugging and dancing down below. It was like a huge party. More people were immerging from the woods. Some dogs ran around the people barking and leaping.

“Max?”

Max spun around to see Angel standing a few feet away. Her face broke into a huge smile and laughing, she ran towards him.

“Angel!” he laughed too and picking her up, spun her around. “Are you okay?”

“Great and you?”

“Except for a burnt hand, I’m find now that you’re here.” Max said, cupping her face in his left hand. “Yet...where is Rocky?”

Angel’s face looked surprised. “Why, look behind you.” Max turned to see Rocky standing a few feet away. Except for a very dirty shirt, he looked perfectly healthy. “Rocky?”

“Hey kid, nice work. You did it.”

Before he knew it, Max was enveloped in a huge as Rocky squeezed him hard. “You did it. You’ve made your father proud.” Rocky whispered.

“Thanks Rocky.” Max said, looking up into his friend’s face. “But I don’t understand. “Where are we? What happened and how did you get healed?”

“Same way you got healed. I guess when you touched the other key, everything was rejuvenated. Where we’re standing now is where Vadar’s fortress use to be. This,” Rocky pointed at the sky. “is the way Earth use to look like, before.”

Max smiled and nodded. “I guess this was a one time deal, huh?” he said, lifting his right hand and looking at where the sphere use to be. “We don’t get a second chance.”

“But we did get a second chance Max.” Angel said, coming up to him and wrapping her arms around him. “You gave us that second chance.”

“Then we’ll just have to make the best of it, won’t we?” Max said smiling down at Angel and lightly kissing her on the lips. They were broken up when a shout was heard.

“There he is!”

Suddenly a dozen people were surrounding Max, Angel, and Rocky. “You’ve saved us! Thank the Lord!”

“Whoa!” Max shouted, quieting everybody down. “I’ve only given mankind another chance at life.”

“And everyone has to work together to make it better.” Rocky joined in. At that cheers erupted.

Max turned back to Angel. “It’s going to be hard. To start over again and all.”

“Yes, but I believe we’ll make it through. We’ve made it this far.”

“Okay everybody, let’s go down and celebrate!” Rocky shouted, shooing the people away from Max and Angel. Max shot him a thankful grin and turned back to Angel.

“Now where were we?” he asked, lightly kissing her on the cheek.

“I believe we were at making the best of a good thing.” With that their lips met in a strong passionate kiss. As they fell to the ground and made love, the sun seemed to grown brighter. Earth was once again mankind’s. And they would fight to keep it theirs.

The End

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