He shivered. The cool desert wind swirled around him. Sand scratched at his bare skin. He didn't know where he was. The landscape looked the same in all directions. A big white moon hung low in the sky. It was bright enough to cast sharp black shadows. He turned his own shadow behind him and began walking.

He tried to be careful, but it was hard. Prickly things kept scratching at his legs. He brushed his hand over the tiny cuts and they faded, but there were so many sharp things here. New scratches covered him almost as soon as the old ones disappeared. He shrugged. It didn't hurt too much. His quick eyes picked out a large rock. It was big, high enough to see from maybe. He moved toward it, hopping every once in a while when something sharp poked his feet or he stubbed his toes. Finally he made it to the boulder. Digging his tiny fingers and toes into invisible crevices he scrambled to the top.

He sat down on the rock and looked out at the desert. Something else prickled him. Inside this time, not outside. He could feel it in his head. Someone else was here. He could feel them. Two someones. Together. He shivered again. Why were they together, he wondered? Why was he alone?

A small movement on the desert floor below him caught his eye. He could see them. The ones that he could feel. He scrambled quickly to lie flat against the rock and tried to make himself as small as possible. He knew that they couldn't see him. They walked slowly, more carefully than he had. They held hands. He looked down at his own hands. They were dirty and scratched and there was something dark trickling out of a cut in one of them. He looked back at the others.

He knew that they could feel him, too. He could tell by the way they stopped and looked around them. He waited. They walked some more. They walked close together and he knew that they were communicating. He could almost feel what they were saying. But they weren't talking to him. He wanted to reach out to them. Tell them he was here. Talk to them. But they were together and he was alone. Maybe it was supposed to be that way.

He watched them walk for a long time. They walked near the rock where he was lying, but not too near. He stretched out as flat as he could. The stone was cold and had sharp points but he ignored it. They walked past him. They walked away. He frowned worriedly. What if they didn't come back?

***

"He said he saw us, but that he was afraid. So he just watched us for a long time. When he finally revealed himself, he was standing on this rock. Just like you'd expect from Michael. "Here I am. Deal with me." He said it was the hardest thing he's ever had to do...to trust us." -Max

He watched them walk farther and farther away. He didn't know what to do. The easiest thing would be to just let them go. He wouldn't have to do anything then. They would leave and never know anything about him. He would be safe. If they did leave, though, he would be even more alone than he was now. He wasn't sure he liked that idea. Just seeing the others from a distance was better than being completely alone like he'd been before. But what would happen if he did show himself? Maybe they wouldn't even want him, he thought. There were two of them. Maybe they wouldn't need another.

But what if he needed them? He just wasn't sure. If he waited much longer they were going to be out of his sight and it wouldn't matter what he decided. He didn't know what he would do after that either.

He stood. He didn't climb down. He didn't run after them. They could decide what to do. He would stand and wait.

One of them turned. Then the other. They stood looking back at him.

He didn't move.

They walked back toward his rock. When they stood at the foot of it he finally climbed down. He moved toward them slowly. They seemed happy to see him, but he didn't know if they would change their minds. They might look him over and decide that they didn't want to be with him after all. He straightened his shoulders. If they didn't want him then he'd just come back here.

***

"We all saw the headlights at the same time. Isabel took my hand. We knew we'd be safe as long as we stayed together. I held my hand out for Michael. I knew he wanted to. He just wouldn't take it. So we just looked at each other for a long time. Wouldn't see him again for 3 years. Isabel would cry every night, wondering where he was." -Max

They reached out to him. He could feel their happiness and relief. They were lost, too. Maybe there were others, he could feel them wondering. If they all kept walking together maybe they could find someone who knew where they were supposed to be. He didn't know. He hadn't felt anybody else except these two. He could see a long way from the top of his rock and he hadn't seen anybody else either. He walked with them anyway. Just the three of them was better than just the one of him.

They walked a long way from his rock, but he was certain that he could find it again if he had to. The others still walked close together. He walked beside them. They all stopped when they came to a strange change in the rocks and sand. A flat black stone stretched out in front of them as far as he could see one way and the other. It went on and on exactly the same. The rocks they had just come from were much more interesting and he looked back at them longingly. But the others had stepped onto the flat blackness. He started to follow.

A pair of bright lights startled them all. The lights came toward them and a noise grew. The others held hands again. He stared at the lights uncertainly. He could feel the others' hope. Maybe these were ones that could help them. He wasn't so sure. The new ones didn't feel the same. One of the others held out his hand. He knew that both of them wanted him to take it. They would be safe if they stayed together.

He wanted to take the other's hand, but the lights got brighter and the noise grew closer. He wanted to go with them. But he couldn't. He had watched the others for a long time before he had found the courage to show himself. Trust wasn't something that he could give blindly. He would have to see what these new ones were like first. Then he would decide.

The others stared at him for a long time. When the lights were blinding and the noise a roar they finally stepped away from him. He wasn't sure that they understood what he was waiting for. They stepped toward the lights. He stepped back into the shadows. He watched carefully as two new others approached the ones that he knew. The new ones were much bigger and they wrapped something around the small ones. He could still feel them urging him to come with them.

He still wasn't entirely convinced that the new ones could be trusted. They didn't feel right. They didn't feel the same. He wanted to wait just a little longer, just to make sure. He watched the big ones tuck the others into the thing that they had emerged from. He wasn't sure he trusted that thing either. But none of them seemed to be hurt or in danger. The others sent waves of reassurance to him and encouragement… and suddenly urgency.

The thing began to move again. He stayed in the shadows watching in astonishment as the others were taken away. He could feel their panic. It matched his own. He stepped out of the shadows then and onto the black stone. But the thing continued to move away. He watched its red lights grow smaller and smaller. He felt his connection with the others grow weaker and weaker. Finally he couldn't see them or feel them. He stood on the black stone staring at where they had been.

He knew that he had made a terrible mistake. He had been wrong. He had waited too long and now they were gone. Without him. Now he was completely alone.

He turned then and ran. He ran back to the one place he knew. He didn't slow down until he tumbled. He was shocked by the sharp pain in his hands and knees. He tried to brush away the scrape on his knee like he had done with the little scratches before. It was too big and it hurt too much for him to concentrate. He pushed at the cut in frustration and cried out as more dark liquid flowed down his leg. Everything was going wrong and he knew that it was all his fault.

He got up and tried to run again. His feet hurt, too. It was hard to see through the water that filled his eyes, but he finally stumbled back to his rock. He climbed to the top, not caring anymore how much he hurt. It didn't matter anymore. He sat down and wrapped his arms around his legs. Water coursed down his cheeks and splashed onto his raw knees. He sobbed, not understanding why he was crying or why he hurt or even why he was there at all. He sobbed until his weary body shut down and consciousness slipped mercifully away.

***

He blinked up into the bright sunlight. His hands and knees and feet didn't hurt quite as much as they did before. Now his chest ached and his throat was dry. His stomach was making a weird growling noise, too. He sat up and poked curiously at the dirt caked on his knee. It flaked away as he picked at it. He winced quietly as the dirt pulled at his wound, but he kept picking.