"Hey, Liz," he said. "Is Alex around?"

Alex walked out of the kitchen wearing the traditional alien head apron and the antennas.

"Does that answer your question, Kyle?" giggled Liz.

"Why's Alex helping you out today?" asked Kyle.

"Isabel isn't here today…I don't blame her…"

"Where is Isabel?"

"Oh…uh, she is…at home, sick. Yup, she has a really bad cold."

"She seemed fine last night."

"Yeah, I know. Uh, it just hit her this morning. I have to get back to work Kyle."

"Yeah, sure," said Kyle, walking back out to his car. Instead of turning left to go home, he turned right, down highway 285.

He drove in silence, enjoying the desert sunshine. Something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Something out the desert, moving.

He pulled over to the side of the road and looked in the direction in which he had seen something. He could make out what looked like a person…but from this distance it was hard to tell. He shaded his eyes from the sun and continued to stare out into the desert. He got back in his car and pulled off the shoulder of the road, right into the desert. He drove slowly towards the movement.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Michael stretched and walked out of the cave to relieve himself once again. He decided that he needed a little bit of exercise before heading back into the cramped and hot cave. He ran back and forth in front of the cave entrance, working up a sweat. A glint of sun on metal flashed into his sight. There was a car in the distance, on the highway. For some reason it was stopping. Michael stopped running and looked up at the car. Someone got out and seemed to be looking straight at him.

"Max!" he yelled. "Get out here! We might have trouble!" Max came running out and looked in the direction in which Michael was pointing.

"Who's that?" asked Max.

"I don't know, but whoever it is seems to see us." They watched nervously as the person got back in the car and began to drive straight towards them. "Oh man," said Michael, running a hand through his messed up hair.

"That looks like Valenti's car," said Max. The guys looked at each other in horror and ran back into the cave.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Alex waited on the last customer and headed back into the back room to take a break before starting to work on the dinner rush. He sighed and sat down on the couch. Liz followed suit and sat down next to him, sighing.

"This job is exhausting," said Alex. "I have a whole new respect for you and Isabel doing this practically every day." Alex looked around and said, "I'm really thirsty."

"I'll go get you a drink," volunteered Liz. As soon as she stood up a bottle of water came flying out of the kitchen straight towards Alex. "Oh my god," screamed Liz. She backed away from Alex quickly, while Alex ducked to avoid being clobbered in the head by the water bottle.

"What the hell happened?" asked Liz.

"That's like what happened with the aspirin. It's like, if I think about something I want, it comes flying at me!"

"Do you think…that Isabel really did somehow change you? And how? I mean…did Max change me too?"

They looked at each other in fear. "We need to find them," said Alex. "They're probably hiding, but we need to find them and figure this out."

"Alex, it isn't safe-"