Andy's Fan-Fiction Archive

ENEMY ALONE (Rewriten)
By
Doc Heller

Timeline: After "Enemy within" (Day 49)
Author's E-Mail: DrHellar@aol.com

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Almost two years later, I've decided to go through and edit some of my earlier work. This is for two reasons:
1 - My editing skills, while still not perfect, have improved quite a bit and seeing several errors in my work has been driving me up the wall. 2 - As with anything, practice makes you better. Much of the stuff I didn't know how to express then, or omitted, has now been added. Overall, it's the same story but I think it's a much smoother read and much, much more interesting.
And so, the re-release of "An Enemy Alone," the story that started it all. :)

The Original Author's Note:
Here's my first crack at fan fiction, so I make no claims to being a professional. All of the other stories in this area are exceptional, so I hope mine can at least compare. This is my version of all that went on that was not shown in 'The Enemy Within.' I used Simpletext to write it, so it should be in a pretty general format. Hope you enjoy and send all feedback to DrHellar@aol.com.
-Heller
Put the usual disclaimer here. :)

An Enemy Alone
Extension to 'The Enemy Within'
Doc Heller
VR.
It was only VR. Devon Adair hadn't just been thrown to her death. She was here in the tent. With John Danziger, Yale and a venom-eyed Bess Martin.
If confusion had ever been a tangible object to Doctor Julia Heller, it was a giant weight upon her chest now. She was strapped down to a cot. She didn't know whose protection it was for, but it only increased the downspiral of emotions within her. They were asking her questions. Why couldn't Devon and Yale just leave her alone? She needed time. Time to think, sort out the jumble of emotions inside her head.
Her life was spinning out of control. The war inside of her had reached the climax and was now at full force. The two sides of her struggling desperately to gain a foothold in the battle: Citizen Heller, patriot to the Council and Julia Heller, physician to the the Eden Project and real person.
After what seemed like hours, Devon and Yale stopped the interrogation, and Bess demanded to know where Morgan was. Noticing the anger in Bess's eyes shocked Julia, unaccustomed to seeing the inner spunk of the seemingly gentle woman. Words, if there were any, remained frozen in her throat. Danziger, Yale and Devon pried Bess off Julia and exited the tent.
Julia watched them leave through teary eyes before she saw a lone figure next to the door. Lifting her head slightly, she met Alonzo Solace's eyes, losing herself in them as she had so many times before. In them she could see betrayal, hurt and confusion.
The caring and affection had disappeared. Those eyes showed a coolness, a distance. And it was then she realized any hope, any wish she held for them was gone.
She needed to tell him so much. It couldn't be over now. She remembered the other night. She remembered what it felt like to kiss him as she wanted to the day his leg healed. She could still feel his hands as they roamed her back, the safety of his arms.
None of that was said. She watched helplessly as he stood and left. 'No!' she wanted to scream. 'Alonzo, come back! Please don't do this to me! I'm sorry...I need you...'
All that came was a single, broken sob.
Excluding the children and Heller, Eden Advance sat around the campfire. The looks of the group showed a variety of bitter emotions. This group, these people who had worked so hard to trust each other, wore the masks familiar after the crash. Guarded souls assembled there, scared by the enormity of what lay before them. It had been weeks since any had last used the protection of facades. Eden Advance thought they were a united front.
One of their own had not only abused their trust, she destroyed it. Her loyalty was to the Council, the very government bent on destroying Eden Project.
Julia Heller was the first to have initially gained any sort of trust. As a doctor, it had been her job to insure the health of the group. Every single one of the people now around the camp fire felt as if they had been slapped across the face. Their belief in her and their friendship, the only form of payment they had on this planet, had been used. All so one woman could continue to show her loyalty to an organization light years away.
"So? We certainly can't act like nothing happened. We have to do something," Morgan Martin querried.
For once, the majority of the group nodded in agreement with him. He had reason to be angry. Julia had, after all, kidnapped him and left him tied to a tree.
Magus, always the level headed one, suggested, "We could leave her here. Give her a sedative, then pull up and leave.
"She could track us once she woke up," Walman countered quickly. "Hold up a second. Magus might have an idea here," Devon interrupted. "John, is there any way to cover our tracks?"
"Find a clearing in the middle of the forest, don't take any of the vehicles and leave her. That's the closest were going to get," John replied.
"We should leave her with some basic supplies, a tent, and all of her belongings," Bess spoke up. Morgan leaned away from her as if she had suddenly sprouted fangs. Seeing his look, she explained, "It seems only fair. How else would she survive?"
"Bess, the supplies won't last forever," Devon said in a tone frequently used when speaking to Uly.
"Yes, well, by the time the supplies ran low she would have probably found a way to improvise. Even though I want to leave her behind, I don't want to sentence her to death," Bess calmly shot back.
"Bess is right. We should put it to a vote. All in favor of leaving Julia please raise your hands now," Yale stated.
All of the group, except one person, raised their hands immediately. "Are you saying you want her to stay?" Baines asked Alonzo, his voice registering surprise.
Alonzo, who had remained quiet and in the shadows during the entire conversation, looked at the faces of the others. The question of 'why?' all read so clearly in their eyes and he opened his mouth to respond.
He remembered the utter joy he had felt seeing her in his tent, knowing his affection might finally be reciprocated. And the proverbial slap in the face that had followed the next morning when she hadn't even recalled being in his tent. She hurt him more than he wanted to acknowledge. And slowly, his mouth closed and his hand went up.
Even Yale registered shock upon seeing Alonzo agree to leave the doctor behind. As the hands went down, he spoke, "Then it is unanimous. The question is, where are we going to leave her?
"There was a clearing we saw the other day during a scout," Danziger suggested. "It's far enough away that even if we were still here when she woke up, she would have trouble finding us."
Devon gave him a wary look. "And how far away is this?" "Not far at all, Devon. It's also close enough where we could easily take all her stuff without the help of the vehicles," Magus put in.
Silently the group agreed and began planning. Alonzo slowly faded completely into the shadows, not wanting to hear anymore of the discussion. Confusion haunted his soul. He was angry, yes, but his heart ached much, much more. Deep
down, there was already a small twinge of regret at knowing he had voted to leave her behind.
Alonzo slowly entered the tent to find Julia still asleep from either complete exhaustion or a sedaderm. He stood over her, awkward, not knowing why he was there. She was so beautiful, but so very deadly to the existance of the group.
Sighing, he slowly pulled the chair over to her cot. He would have to memorize her features for a lifetime to come. Why did she have to do this? It could have been such a fabulous ride...
Taking her hand, he slowly began to talk. "Julia...right now I'm not sure what's going on." He paused, trying to organize his thoughts into enough coherency to speak. "You betrayed us. Betrayed me."
*You hurt me.*
"I know you were experimenting with Uly's DNA, which is probably why you were in my tent that night. You don't remember it, but I do."
*And I will for a long, long time.* "I don't regret it. I just wish you could know...because all of what I told you was...is...true. I just wish I could know if what you told me is true."
Letting go of her hand, Alonzo Solace slowly stood up, knowing there was still much more to say. Words that would remain unsaid and locked away. He cast one more look at the delicate woman and walked out of the tent.
Somewhere in the limbo between unconsciousness and consciousness Julia Heller heard him. Felt his hand gently take hers and then let it go, let her go, as he walked out of her life forever.
He would never know. He would never even be aware that night had become a memory, a treasured one, held deep within her heart.
Julia Heller woke slowly, surprised to find her body no longer restrained. Confused, she opened her eyes and immediatly noticed her empty tent.
She sat up, instantly feeling the invisible impact of a ton of bricks landing on her skull. The last time she felt this bad was the night after her twenty-first birthday when she had gotten knock-down drunk. Her mind raced, trying to sort through everything that had happened in the past few days.
Julia felt better. The haziness of the Terrian DNA was gone and her mind, excluding the headache, felt crystal clear. The person the past few days had been such a shadow of herself. She had seen her dark side and it had been more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. She needed to go out to the group and apologize. Tell them she was sorry and let them know she would never betray them again. Explain to them why a thread of her loyalty remained with the Council, despite the past weeks on the planet.
Most of all, she needed to talk to Alonzo. Tell him everything. And pray for forgiveness. Julia was not going to let him slip by her like everything else good in life ever had.
When she stepped out of the tent instead of the usual atmosphere of camp, she saw only nature. They had left her. And for the first time in her life, Julia was, literally, all alone.

--Continued in 'Redemption.'

Send all feedback to Dr Hellar@aol.com

This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.