After cleaning the cuts on his arm, the guys fashioned another sling for him, with towels wrapped around his arm to provide some support and a belt around his neck to keep it suspended. All in all, it didn’t hurt too badly and the burning sensation in his face was starting to subside as the cuts closed over.

The girl’s torture had come to a brief pause at about the same time Michael awoke. For 12 hours they had been repeatedly shocked and drugged as they were pounded with questions from the medical attendants. When one attendant tired, they would leave and another would take their place. It was relentless and each girl felt sure that the sweet release of unconsciousness would take over eventually, but it never came.

Finally, the woman in charge called a halt to the “procedures” and pulled her attendants out of the rooms. She had been listening in on all four sessions and had gained a few useful facts but nothing concrete. She had been working on the premise that there were four aliens living in the town of Roswell, New Mexico for over 5 years now and had finally concluded that these four girls were the likely candidates. If they were who she thought they were, they were certainly good at hiding it.

One particularly interesting tidbit she had picked up was that one girl kept calling out a name as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Michael. The woman had also been listening in on the guy’s conversations and was pretty sure that she had figured out their identities. There was a Michael in that room and she was willing to bet money that the boy in Maria’s cries, and that boy, were one and the same.

She ordered a guard to remove Maria’s straps and bring her to the living quarters. If the attendant couldn’t get anything out of her then maybe this Michael boy could.

The guard did so and pulled Maria to her feet. She immediately collapsed from exhaustion so he picked her up and carried her to the room.

Inside, the guys were all sitting around the table when the door opened and Maria was unceremoniously dumped on the bed Kyle had been using. All four jumped up and Michael ran to her side. Patches of skin on her wrists, legs, and chest, were red and looked burned. She was deathly pale and just lay on the bed without moving. Michael wasn’t even sure if she was breathing.

“Maria,” Michael shook her shoulder gently. “Maria, wake up.” He shook her more firmly.

Maria moaned and opened her eyes just a little. She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. Alex saw this and ran to get some water. The guys had been given a small meal earlier with bottles of water and Alex grabbed one of them now.

Michael sat next to her on the bed while Max arranged some pillows under her head and Kyle covered her shivering body with blankets. Alex stepped in and tilted her head to pour the water in.

Once she had taken a few sips she looked a bit better and Michael could see the colour starting to return to her cheeks. She reached her arm out towards Michael’s cheek, “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about me. What happened? What did they do to you?”

Maria smiled a little. “They tried to get it out of me.”

“What? Get what out of you?”

“The truth. They think that I’ll tell them but I won’t.”

Michael looked up and caught Max’s eyes. With a worried glance in Max’s direction, Michael turned back to Maria.

“What do you mean?”

“They think I’ll tell them what we are, where we’re from, but I won’t. They can’t make me.”

Now Michael was more confused than ever but the idea hit him that Maria was saying too much right here. He leaned in closer to her. “Shh, it’s okay now. They’re not here. Just sleep okay?”

Maria nodded sleepily. “You won’t tell them will you?”

Her voice had dropped to a whisper so Michael leaned in even closer. “Tell them what?”