Beyond the energy barrier, though, the zombies lurched toward the SUV

"You see them, don't you, Max?" Valenti asked. He stared at the crowd of dead people. "You see them."

"Yeah," Max said, "but… "

"We've got to get out of here." Valenti threw the transmission in reverse, looked over his shoulder, and floored the accelerator.

The SUV bucked in protest, but the tires slashed through the desert dust and caught hold of the road.

"No," Max said. "They're not real." He put his hand on Valenti's shoulder.

Valenti hesitated, braking again. He stared at the approaching figures. "They're real, Max."

"No. It's an illusion."

Valenti shook his head weakly.

"Think about it," Max said. "You have to know those people. Who are they?"

Valenti wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Accident victims. People I've seen die or already dead along the highways. Automobile accidents. Fires. Murders and suicides. All those people died hard."

"They can't all be here," Max said. "This isn't real."

"It looks real."

"This isn't real," Max repeated calmly.

"Dad," Kyle spoke from the back, "I can't see anything. Nothing's there but empty road."

"The drones are trying to scare us off," Max stated, staring Valenti in the eye. "Just like they're trying to scare off the Mesaliko and the people in Roswell." He reached out and slipped the transmission into drive. "We go through them. We're not stopping. We're too close to quit, and we may be the only chance there is to shut this down."

Valenti wiped his mouth again. His eyes looked fever bright. He nodded. "Okay. Okay, let's get this done." He put his foot on the accelerator and roared forward again.

Straining, brain hurting from the effort required to maintain the energy shield, Max watched as the SUV barreled down on the lurching zombies reaching toward them with outstretched arms.

"Not real," Valenti said under his breath, barely audible over the roaring engine. "Damn it, they're not real!"

Max halfway expected the zombies to disappear when his force field touched them. Instead the zombies passed through the energy barrier and hurled themselves at the SUV

Valenti started to take his foot from the accelerator. Max grabbed the steering wheel with his left hand and jammed his left foot on top of Valenti's foot, keeping the accelerator pinned to the floorboard. "No," Max said. "We're going through."

Incredibly the zombies caught hold of the SUV They clung to the vehicle and peered in with dead eyes through the shattered glass as they writhed and tried to crawl through. A woman with half her face missing stared at Max.

Almost unnerved himself despite knowing the drones were creating the illusion, Max stopped projecting the force field and reached for Valenti. He pressed his palm against Valenti's temple, thinking that if the drones were using whatever powers they had against Valenti that the force had to somehow be neural, biological, or chemical in nature. As such, he hoped the effect was compatible with his healing powers.

He poured energy into Valenti's mind, feeling the wrongness there, like a thorn embedded in tender flesh. The thorn held only a moment before his healing touch, then it crumbled. As soon as the thorn vanished and Max couldn't feel it anymore, the zombies disappeared as well. He took his hand away from Valenti's temple.

Glancing around, Valenti said, "Not real. They weren't real after all."

"No," Max said, slumping tiredly back into the seat. He scanned the night for more of the drones but didn't see any.

"Not much farther," Isabel said. "One more turn and we're going to be on foot."

Max got out of the SUV at the base of the tall hill Isabel's directions had brought them to. The encounter with Valenti's zombies was five miles back, and now they were at the end of even the dirt trail they'd been able to use.

The forlorn promontory was all windswept rock, a place apart even in the isolated desert. The moonlight silvered the sand, but the ridge left a lake of shadows where it blocked the moon's glow. The wind moaned in the distance, racing across the broken terrain as dark clouds scudded and obscured the starlight.

"Creepy, huh?" Liz asked. She stood on the other side of the SUV.

"Not as creepy as it was the night the storm hit," Michael said as he vaulted from the rear of the SUV He landed on the sand and was actually smiling a little, like he was enjoying the thought of the coming confrontation. "Compared with that, this is practically a walk in the park."

But it's not a walk in the park, Max thought. The travelers and the drones were somewhere up ahead.

Doors slammed behind them as Valenti and Kyle got out of the SUV Valenti carried a shotgun.

"Not exactly the 'I come in peace' look," Michael commented.

Valenti looked a little self-conscious about the shotgun. "Those things aren't exactly the type to go in peace. Figured I'd share a little old-fashioned destruction with them."

"Fine by me," Michael said.

Max looked at them. "I don't want anyone hurt."

Valenti and Michael stared back at him.

"Those things weren't exactly rolling out the red carpet back there, Maxwell," Michael growled. "And I don't think you'd find that the Mesaliko or the general population of Roswell are any too protective of them."

"The travelers are stranded here," Max pointed out. "Like we were. Like we are. Maybe they had no choice about mixing into the local population and hiding out."

"Yeah, well they could have summoned up friendly illusions," Michael said. "They're getting back what they've been giving."

Max started to argue, feeling tired and frustrated. No matter which way he turned lately, it seemed like he could do nothing right. Everything that he'd seen that was good in his life had slipped through his fingers. He'd never felt more alone in his life.

"Michael's right, Max," Liz said. "However we do it, the travelers have to be stopped."

Valenti stepped forward, snapping on a flashlight. "All this talk is putting us behind. And it could just be water under the bridge. If we get up there and have a look at that ship, it's real possible that we're not going to be able to handle it. We may be sending for the military ourselves." He paused, looking around the group. "Let's start with a look, then see where that takes us."

No one argued with the logic Valenti presented. Max nodded.

"I've got extra flashlights in the back of the SUV," Valenti said. "Let's break them out and get to it."

Valenti led the way through the craggy ravines that wind and water had cut through the hills in years past. Isabel walked at his side, giving directions as they were needed.

Max brought up the rear of the line, watching as Liz and Maria trailed Michael. Kyle followed them, gazing nervously all around.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Kyle asked.

Before the words finished echoing slightly through the ravine, a flitting hum filled the chill night air. The sound approached quickly, coming in from ahead of them.

"Maxwell!" Michael called.

Only a split second behind in reacting, Max shoved his hands out and poured energy into the force field. Before the drones reached their position, lightning blasted the rocks in front of the group and thunder exploded from the hillside.

Max held the barrier in place, not knowing what would happen if the lightning struck the force field, but knowing only bad things could come of the lightning hitting humans or alien hybrids. Moonlight glinted against the metallic edges of the flying drones. The leading edge of the attack struck the energy barrier and burst into bright sparks.

Then a lightning bolt zigzagged into the barrier. Max flew backward, feeling as though he'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. He crashed against the rock wall behind him and felt the wind driven from his lungs. His vision blurred, but he clearly saw that the barrier was no longer there to protect them.