"I don't want you involved!" Matthew yelled. The only answer he received was the slamming of the front door. "Cant you stop her?" He turned to Mandy who stood at the top of the stairs. "You're her best friend she is going to get killed."
"I tried. She won't listen to me. Matthew she believes that the Visitors are responsible for her parent's death, fighting with the resistance is the only way she feels useful."
"There is no evidence that the visitors had anything to do with the plane." He ran a hand through his hair. "I have done everything she asks." He said climbing the stairs slowly. "I give money and supplies. Why does she risk her life?"
Mandy shook her head. "Come here. I promised I wouldn't show you but I think it's time you see this." Mandy pulled out the video tape of the crash and played it for Matthew; showing him the green streak and the explosion and the correlation to the mother ship. "The green light must have come from the Mother Ship, it must be a weapon."
"Mandy." He started and then stopped letting out a breath. "Even so. We were lucky that Rob took his girlfriend and that he didn't tell anyone. The assumption is that Criss died on that plane." He looked at Mandy and realized that she no longer wanted to be protected or hidden either. "I will take the tape to someone I trust and have them review it." He said finally.
"Matthew I am starting classes in the fall. What is Criss going to do?"
"I hadn't thought of that." He responded realizing for the first time that not only had Christien given up her Olympic dreams but also her dreams of college and career.
"She can't apply, or go to campus locally." Mandy shrugged. "Have you thought that maybe the resistance is the only thing she can do?"
Criss dropped behind the box panting, the gun in her hand felt foreign and heavy. She peaked over the wooden panels and sighed seeing only K.C. coming around the corner. He streaked past her and it took a second for her to realize that he didn't know she had stopped. She stood and streaked after him, giving him a call. He paused and turned. "Criss! Get down." He yelled, and she dropped. The green flashed over her head and K.C. yelped.
"No!" She scrambled back to her feet dropping the gun he had given her and rushed to him pulling him up. "Run." She screamed at him pulling him forward. "We are almost out of the building a few more feet." She encouraged.
"Crissy, whatever happens don't stop running." K.C. gasped out trying to pull his arm from her.
"As long as you don't." She replied. She could hear the sound of their pursuers catching up to them. "They are not even close. Besides you are the big foot ball star you gonna let some stupid alien out run you?"
"I was the quarterback." He replied trying to stifle a groan as she tugged him faster. "It was Rob who was the running back."
"I could never understand the parts. But I promise you get us out of here and I will play cheerleader for you."
"Naked?" He asked.
"Naked." She promised.
K.C. finally managed to pull himself from her grasp and slipped to his knees. "Crissy run. Now." He demanded when she stopped. "They will only get me then and you can go."
"No." She dropped down in front of him, only then noticing the wetness on his t-shirt. She put her hand on his stomach and it came away wet and red. "No. Not you." She shook her head.
K.C. grabbed her arm squeezing. "Stop it. I knew what I was doing now get out of here."
"You are hurt because of me."
"You did not pull the trigger but if you don't run." He ran out of breath his free hand going to the bleeding spot on his stomach. He looked up at her, his blue eyes gray in darkness. "I am so sorry." He whispered. "Crissy I love." There was a hiss and K.C. fell forward against her knocking her back onto the ground.
Her hip burned from the impact of K.C and the ground. "K.C.?" She whispered. Trying to get him to move. He lay; his eyes closed his head awkwardly on her shoulder. "K.C.?" She asked again. "Get up. You can't sleep now we have to go." He moaned softly, but didn't move. "Please." She pleaded. Pulling on his shirt and his arms but his body still lay like dead weight on top of her.
"Stop!" The resonating voice yelled at her.
Criss looked up at the red and black clad Visitor and the laser riffle he was pointing at her. "He needs help." She whispered.
A second visitor joined the first and reached down grabbing K.C.'s arm and pulling him off of Criss' body. She felt suddenly lighter, ignoring the pain in her hip to watch as the second guard crouched to check K.C.'s pulse. "He's almost gone. No sense prolonging it." He stood pointed his hand weapon at K.C and fired.
Criss screamed, launching herself from the ground and into the visitor that had fired the shot. She scratched and punched at his face and then stopped seeing that his face had shredded beneath her nails. "You killed him." She started to hit the startled guard again only to have the other guard swing the butt of the riffle into the back of her head.
"Load her. She may have answers for Diana."
The room hummed and vibrated beneath her cheek. The cool floor was the only thing reassuring. Criss pried open her eyes and wished she hadn't when the room began to swing and spin wildly around her vision. Her stomach heaved, causing a burning sensation in her hip, she was grateful that there was nothing in her stomach to loose. She closed her eyes concentrating on her breathing, waiting for the room to slow down before opening her eyes again. Finally she was able to open her eyes and look around. The floor, walls and ceiling were white; everything looked the same. She pushed up onto her elbows and then forced herself to sit the pain in her hip taking her breath away. She placed a hand over what she thought was a bruise and started when her hand came away sticky and wet. Letting out a cry she slid to the wall and leaned back pulling up the corner of her black t-shirt, blood covered her stomach and her black jeans. She had to push down the jeans to see the wound, a bloody hole the size of a pencil just above her hip bone. Even as she watched blood dripped out of the wound, her stomach heaved again and she pulled the t-shirt down new tears streaming down her cheeks. K.C. was dead, and she would be too and there was no way she could tell Matthew what had happened. No way to apologize for getting K.C. killed.
The Visitor punched the buttons on the keypad and waited while the door to the cell slid open. The woman inside the room had been brought in the night before from a raid in the state of Idaho. She was huddled against the wall a large smear of blood on the floor in front of her. He shook his head. The woman had an injury more complicated than the bump on the head that had been reported. It would be impossible to help her escape now, he was glad he hadn't said anything as he stepped into the room. Hopefully he would be able to make her comfortable enough to pass quickly and avoid further punishment or interrogation. His footsteps echoed in the tiny room and her head flew up from her knees and he stopped as her pale gold eyes met his. She couldn't be more than sixteen, a child, her blond hair most of it having escaped the rubber band was ratted and stood out framing the soft oval face and the eyes that stared warily at him.
"What do you want?" She asked her voice soft but firm.
He stepped further into the room and crouched in front of her. "I am to here to look at your wounds and dress them."
"You're a doctor? Why?"
"A live prisoner answers more questions than a dead one. Where is the blood coming from?" He asked hoping to distract her from her line of questioning.
"My hip. What kind of questions?"
"You were arrested during a raid by known resistance members; Diana wants to know more about the local resistance."
The girl shook her head. "I don't know anything about the local resistance."
He looked over her black t-shirt and jeans and leaned back on his heels. "I am not here to interrogate you or to have a debate. Would you like me to help you or not?" He asked and then realized he shouldn't have given her the choice.
"I don't want your help." She said quickly.
He let out a sigh. "I suppose that I should not have phrased it as a question. You can either cooperate with my examination or I can bring in guards to help you cooperate."
Criss looked at the door where he had entered and then back at the man in front of her. She shook her head. "Get away from me." He reached to take her arm and she kicked out at him.
The door slid open and two guards stepped into the room. The doctor pushed himself to his feet and stepped back. He turned his back on the girl in the room, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He wished he could block out her scream and the sounds of the scuffle from behind him the same way he blocked out the picture. Finally the noise stopped. "Okay doctor I believe your patient will be more compliant now."
George turned around the guards held the girl upright against the wall. She averted her eyes from his, her left eye already swelling and her lip bleeding down her chin and throat. Each guard held an arm and pressed her back against the wall. George stepped forward and lifted her t-shirt and pushed the edge of her jeans down. The laser blast was clean the wound was barely bleeding. He cleaned it quickly putting a bandage on it after checking to see if it had gone all the way through and it hadn't. He then turned his attention to her head the original injury reported. "Does your head hurt?" He asked, not expecting an answer.
"Yes." She replied meeting his gaze, her eyes flickering to each of the guards then back to him. "It hurts badly."
He checked both of her pupils and then checked her scalp, finding the bump on the back of her head; she let out a pain filled hiss when he felt around the edges of the wound. "Concussion." He said finally, stepping back and retrieving the bag he had carried into the room. He pulled out what looked like a gun and inserted a vial into it. He returned to where the guards continued to hold her pushed the sleeve up on her arm and pressed the edge of the gun against her shoulder. It made a thunking noise and she tried to struggle letting out a hiss of pain. "Keep her still." He hissed. The medication from the gun slid into her. Warmth crept from her shoulder down her arm and then across her chest, her knees gave out and the only thing keeping her standing were the hands holding her to the wall. George watched as the medication took effect, rage shown from her eyes even as the medication took hold and her body slipped into unconsciousness. "Let her go. Diana can question her right away." He turned and walked from the room. If Diana questioned her and didn't kill her then maybe he could still get her on the shuttle to the surface and help her escape. The medication he gave her was something he had concocted to help fight the effects of the truth serum, though it didn't work all the time it did help to keep the prisoner from telling all of the secrets of the fifth column and the resistance.
The guards let go of her arms and she barely managed to keep from falling on her face able to slide down the wall into a heap on the floor. Why would anyone want to ask her questions? She was only a kid it was obvious she didn't know anything. She could barely open her eyes trying to fight the effects of whatever that hateful doctor had given her, but the pain in her head and side eased enough that she didn't feel like throwing up any more and breathing was easier. She heard the hiss of the door opening and shutting as the three men left the room, leaving her alone again. Loneliness was almost worse than the fight she had had with the two guards. It really hadn't been a fight, they had beaten her and she had merely watched and felt it, flailing her arms around like stupid bird.
She berated herself a few more times slipping in and out of consciousness and didn't hear the door until hands grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet. Startled she was surprised that she could stand and blinked at the two men. "Diana wants to see you." One of the guards said. The second guard pulled her arms behind her back and put them into restraints. The two of them pulled her from the room, gripping her upper arms so tightly she was sure she would be bruised. She tried to slow her breathing. Diana. The head of science. The Visitor who had worked closely with her father. It was likely that Diana had seen pictures of her, might even recognize her. If that were the case then Matthew and Mandy could be in danger. If she were linked to the Resistance then all of the Matcliff companies could be implicated. For the first time in a year she was grateful that she had been dead, hoping that Diana would not know her. Swearing that if she were able to get out of there she would never put anyone she loved in danger again.
The room that the guards took her to was smaller then she had thought it would be and she didn't see any science fiction tools of torture that she had expected from all of the movies, only a large chair. The guard released her hands and all but dragged her to the metal chair and then pushed her into it. He flipped a switch on the side and she found herself unable to move. She tried over and over but the only thing that would move was her head, her breathing sped up along with her panic as she fought against the invisible force that held her down. She searched the room, after the two guards that had brought her in had left there was nothing, just an empty room, white like everything else she had seen in this damn place.
"Welcome." The female voice was strangely familiar and came from behind her. Criss struggled to look over her shoulder and was unable to see who had spoken. After a few moments of struggling she gave up and tried to concentrate on not saying anything about Matthew or her home, the woman who had spoken stepped in front of her. "My name is Diana." Had Christien been standing she would have been several inches taller than the Visitor and yet to woman made her feel tiny, trapped in a chair without any bonds. Diana smiled and stepped closer. "What is your name?"
"Christien." Criss answered softly staring at Diana.
"Christien, why were you at my warehouse last night?" Diana stepped closer and Criss desperately wanted to sink back into the chair away from the predatory glare.
Criss shook her head. "I don't know." She had followed behind K.C. knowing only that they were watching the door and were back up for those inside. She didn't know the true reason that the Boise resistance had entered the warehouse. "They didn't tell me."
Diana lost all sense of softness and stomped away behind the chair. "That is not what I wanted to hear Christien." She said returning with the same injection device that the doctor had used. "Let's try this again shall we." Diana took a handful of Christien's hair and forced her head to the side and injected the serum into her neck. "What were you looking for in my warehouse?"
Her headache returned in a flash and her stomach rolled, Criss looked at the woman and was surprised to see two of her. She blinked, "I"
"Yes?"
"I don't know." Criss answered again.
Diana let out a huff her anger clear and stepped forward injecting a second dose of the serum. "Answer my question truthfully." She hissed into Criss' ear before stepping back.
The edges of her vision clouded leaving only Diana. In the back of her mind Criss watched the plane crash over and over. K.C.'s voice replayed over and over in her ears, "Run Crissy run." Criss shook her head not realizing it was the wrong thing to do until after her stomach rolled again. She squeezed her eyes shut and was caught unaware when the chair finally released her slid from the seat to the floor onto her knees with a squeak.
"Loosen her tongue." Diana said to a guard that had stepped into the room. "But gently. She is young enough that she may be of value." Diana walked to a table that was Criss had not seen behind the chair and began to shuffle through a stack of paperwork and then medical slides ignoring her completely.
Criss felt confused, sick. She watched Diana waiting to see what the woman would do to her. Diana didn't even look up from her papers, the guard she had spoken to stepped up to where Criss knelt on the ground. Criss looked away from Diana and looked up at nameless guard; he grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her to her feet. She tried to push his hand off her shirt to back away from him but his hand was wound in the fabric, his free hand flashed and she heard the slap before she felt the pain across the side of her face. The second punch landed where she had been bleeding and she screamed in pain her vision darkening for a few seconds and her legs giving out on her as she gasped to regain air. He hit her again in the same spot "Please!" The word escaped her before she could stop it. "Stop please." She said again trying to twist away out of his grasp.
Diana stepped up to them. "Why were you there last night?"
Criss tried again to pull away shaking her head. "I was helping." She tried to explain, only to have Diana pull her head back and inject her again with the medication. "Stop please I don't know what we were there for. I was just helping."
Diana gestured and the guard let go and Criss dropped again to her knees tears streaming down her cheeks she wrapped her arms around her stomach afraid she was going to vomit. "Who heads the resistance movement in Idaho?" Diana asked and then growled when Criss shook her head.
"I don't…" Criss started to say and then couldn't control herself any longer and leaned forward and threw up all over Diana's shiny black boots.
Diana crouched down and forced Criss to look at her. "You will pay for that." She hissed and then smiled. "You may not know today. But you will." Diana stood. "Get her out of here and clean that up."
The guard pulled her from the floor and all but dragged her from the room. She felt herself start to heave again and forced herself not to. The hallways on the mother ship where the same as the rooms, white, only longer and it seemed to take forever until the guard dropped her into the same cell she had been in before. She new it was the same room because of the blood still smeared on the floor. The door slid closed and she was left alone. She stumbled to the corner of the room farthest from the door and slid down the wall. She tried at first to pull her knees to her chest but the pain in her side was too intense. Instead she leaned her knees against the corner wall and laid her head back closing her eyes.
The room was black. She didn't know what had caused her to start awake, only that she now sat, stiff against the wall in solid darkness. "They can't hear or see us so you need to listen very carefully. I have only moments before they realize the lights are out in this section and they turn them back on."
"Who are you?" Criss asked into the darkness.
"Someone to help." He replied and she felt a hand on her arm and almost screamed. "Sorry, I forget that you can not see in this light. Be still I am going to give you a pill and some clothing. It is a visitor uniform. Take the pill first, then put on the uniform right over your clothing."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I can not have you infiltrating the resistance and I do not wish to see you killed." He placed a pill in her hand and then laid clothing over her legs. "Put them on now and don't argue or you are going to be converted and there will be nothing I can do for you."
Criss put the pill into her mouth and pulled the uniform over her clothing. "What is the pill?"
"For the pain." He said and helped her to stand. "You are bleeding again." He made a tisking noise and sounded frustrated. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah fine."
"I will walk with you as far as the loading bay. Keep your face down and this hat pulled over your eyes." He helped her step into a pair of boots that were several sizes too big and easily fit over her shoes. "When you get off the ship" he continued as she gathered her hair and tucked it into the cap. "Go to a club and tell them George sent you." He gave her the address and made her repeat it several times to be sure she understood. "They will get you medical help and then you can find a way back to Idaho."
She followed him out of the cell and did as he told her keeping her head down. He led her through the darkened hallways like a maze then stopped just as they were about to step into a brightly lit hallway. "Straighten your back and walk as though you belong here."
Criss did as he asked, never once looking up at him. She followed his swift footsteps the pain in her side worse that any she had ever felt before. "When is this pill supposed to work?" She asked quietly.
"Quiet we are almost there. And it will start working soon, just take slow deep breaths and stay calm you are doing great." He led her to a door and stopped. "The shuttle is loading over my shoulder nod if you see it."
Criss looked over his shoulder at the enormous room. Her eyes grew wide, she shook her head. "There are too many."
"Nod if you see the shuttle."
She nodded. "But."
"Trust me. Walk straight to the shuttle. Do not talk to anyone. You will be safe and you will not be questioned. Now go."
She didn't look at him. "Thank you." She took a deep breath and walked away, trying to pretend that the red clad soldiers in the room in front of her were nothing more than spectators at a meet. Keeping her eyes focused on the boarding shuttle. She walked to the door of the shuttle and loaded on behind a short man dressed in the red and black uniform of a visitor guard. He even carried a side arm. She glanced at the interior of the shuttle and stood as the rest of the passengers did holding a bar that ran the length of the ceiling. The door to the shuttle closed and the engine began to hum and they lifted off hovering out of the loading bay and then into the cloudy air of Los Angeles.
The shuttle landed and all of the visitors unloaded and left as though nothing happened. She stepped off the shuttle and the door immediately closed and the small ship took off again leaving her in a small empty lot somewhere in down town Los Angeles. Criss looked around. All of the businesses in the area were closed, nothing but run down and boarded up buildings. On the corner was a public phone and she rushed to it only to find that the handset had been cut off and the coin slots broken. She realized then that she was still dressed like a visitor and how odd it would seem for a visitor to be looking for a public phone. She stepped back into the recess between two buildings and took off the uniform, boots and the hat. Her hair was a mess so she chose to keep the bright red hat pulling her matted blond curls through the slot in the back. Her shirt and pants were worse, the guard had ripped the neck of her t-shirt and though you couldn't see the color you could tell that something had stained the front of her shirt and jeans.
She went back to the pay phone and thumbed through the trashed phone book that still dangled under the broken phone until she found a map of the city. It took her forever just to locate a map that showed her where she was, and then even longer to find the streets the visitor had told her about. It was going to be a long walk. She ripped the map out of the book and took it with her.
The bar was hopping. Criss stood out front for several minutes, afraid to go in. She looked down the street and noticed another public phone. The area was nicer and far more crowded. She walked to the phone and was grateful when the receiver was not only attached but also had dial tone. She dialed 0 and then made a collect call home and waited but there was no answer. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she hung up and then tried again this time calling the Matcliff offices in Boise. It took several moments before the secretary agreed to accept the call and then a few minutes longer while she waited on hold for Matthew to answer.
"Miss Christien?" Came his exhausted and worried voice.
"Matthew." She began to cry for real then the story of the last two days pouring from her over the phone lines.
"Are you sure you will be alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"Hospital?" She asked. "No I can't go to a hospital. They will find me there."
"Okay. I have some contacts in California. It will take me a few days to get the proper travel documents for you to come home. Go to this place that he told you about see if they can hide you for a couple of days and call me tomorrow." She could hear him breathing heavily.
"I am so sorry Matthew." She whispered.
"No. I didn't listen. Mandy showed me the video." He replied. "I am just so happy to hear from you, and that you are alive. Now go and get off the street."
Criss hung up the phone and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt and took a deep breath and then crossed the street. She pushed open the door stepped inside and walked up to the bar. "Excuse me." She tried to catch the attention of the bartender.
The young black man behind the bar barely glanced at her. "I don't serve kids. Hit the diner down the street chica." He smiled and went back to work.
Criss almost left but realized she had nowhere to go. "No. I was told to come here by George." She tried not to talk too loud but the man's head flew up and walked over to her taking a closer look.
"Referred by old Georgy huh?" He asked searching her face. She nodded not sure if she should say anything else. "My name is Elias." He held out his hand.
"Christien." She took his hand and he noticed that hers shook when she held it up.
"Well Christien, a friend of Georgy is a friend of mine. Would you like a soda and something to eat?" He asked letting go of her hand and walking around the bar he came to stand next to her.
"I am really not dressed for eating out." She whispered embarrassed at how dirty and disheveled she must look.
Elias smiled guiding her to register, "Nonsense. It will be a few minutes before the rest of your party arrives you can use the ladies room to tidy up a bit and here." He pulled out a dark navy t-shirt that advertised his bar from under the counter. "This will help."
The mirror in the ladies room was far too honest. Her eyes were sunk deeply in her head and a deep brouse covered one side of her face. She pulled of the hat and shoved as far into the trashcan as she could and then walked back to the sink. Criss washed her face and used a torn piece of fabric from her old t-shirt to hold back her mane of unruly blond curls and then threw the old shirt away. She pulled on the new t-shirt it was snug meant to show off every curve, but wished it were a bit bigger to make sure it covered the dark stain and hole in her jeans. She made sure her hands and face were clean and then left the room.
Elias took her elbow before she reached the bar and led her to a table hidden in a back corner. On the table was a plate of French fries and a soda. "How bad?" He asked and she looked at him in confusion. "How bad are you hurt?"
"The doctor said concussion." She admitted and touched her stomach. "I am not sure how I got cut but I have a cut on my hip too."
He nodded. "Okay, eat. A guy will be here in a few minutes to talk to you Christien."
He left her at the table and she picked at the fries, finding it funny that her athlete's diet was ruined. She hadn't had French fries in so long that she was surprised at how good they tasted. K.C. had teased her about her diet. He had tried over and over to get her to break the diet; the only time he had succeeded in the last year had been with his home made chocolate cake. She had never met a boy who could bake before; he made her promise not to tell anyone that he had made it when he brought it first for her sweet-sixteen party and then several times a month.
He would tease her when she would complain about the empty calories and then have a second piece. She set the fry she was holding down on the plate and wiped away the tears that had gathered on her cheeks. It was not the time to think about K.C., she needed to get home. Then she would mourn him. She blinked away the tears and tried to concentrate, worried about who she was going to meet and what was going to happen while she was waiting for Matthew to get her home. Traveling across the state lines had changed in the last few months, the fighting between the visitors, local law enforcement and the resistance groups had forced the borders closed and for all travelers to need special papers in order to travel even if for a family vacation. Not that anyone could afford a vacation since the cost of everything from gas to groceries had more than doubled in the last six months.
"Christien?" The male voice was soft but she jumped anyway. "Sorry." He grinned when she looked up at him. He sat in a chair across from her and then looked around. "So George sent you huh?" He asked, Criss nodded. "Elias said you asked for our help."
"I, uh" She stared at the man in front of her sure that she had seen him before. "I live in Idaho and my family can't get me any help for two days." He was the journalist. It finally dawned on her, the man in front of her was Michael Donavan one of the leaders of the Los Angeles.
"Elias also said you were injured?" He phrased the comment as a question.
"A little, but it isn't bad."
The man laughed lightly running a hand through his sandy brown hair and then unzipped his pale brown leather jacket and leaned back in the chair. "He gave you one of those pills didn't he?" She nodded. "Shit," He mumbled and stood and walked around to her. "Stay here I will be right back." Criss watched him walk away and speak quickly to the man at the bar and another younger dark haired man. The young man looked over at her and smiled and then started her way.
"Hi," The young man looked only a few years older than she was, he wore jeans that were faded by wear and a black button front OP shirt "I'm Kyle."
"Criss" She held out her hand to him and he happily accepted it.
"Come on I am gonna take you somewhere you can be lying down when that pill wears off."
"What?" She asked as he helped her out of the booth and to stand. She was surprised when she wobbled and the room swum before her. "I thought that was soda." She whispered.
"It is." Kyle answered laughing softly. "The magic pill that George gave you is wearing off. He only gives that pill to people who have been injured pretty badly so that means you need a doctor.
"But he said I wasn't hurt that bad." She started to pull away and stumbled. Kyle put an arm around her waste and pulled her close to his side. "Let go." She tried to argue but the argument was weak and she stumbled a few more steps toward the bar.
Kyle laughed harder to distract the customers in the bar from looking to closely at her. "Come on honey let's get you home." Kyle tugged her toward the back door of the club.
"No I don't want to."
"Please Criss." He whispered in her hair. "You are going to pass out on me any moment let me get you outside without getting any one else in the bar involved."
She looked around and noticed that a lot more people had entered the bar since she had gotten there, and many of the patrons were visitors. She turned her face back to the shoulder of the man holding her. "I'm sorry." She whispered and started to walk easier with him toward the back door.
Kyle helped her into the back of a van and then joined her. She looked around the old empty van, the only seats were the two in the front. "Mike will be here in a moment." He said when he noticed her looking around. "You are safe now, I promise."
Criss looked back at him then. "It's not that. I mean yeah it was scary but it's more that you said I was hurt worse than I feel. Are you sure?"
Kyle shrugged. "George has been sneaking captured resistance members off the mother ship for a few months now. I have never seen him give anyone that pill that didn't really need it." He leaned forward and smiled at her. "But you look like your feeling pretty good, maybe I am wrong. Where were you hurt?"
"They hit me in the head, and I have this cut." She lifted the corner of her t-shirt only to see that bandage and the shirt were soaked in blood. "I am not sure how I got cut though." She shook her Head.
Kyle let out a soft whistle. "Lie down for a second and let me look." He pealed back the tape and gasped. "That is not a cut that is a laser blast." Criss started to sit up only to have Kyle push her back down. "Oh no. You stay right there." The front door opened and Mike climbed in. Kyle looked up and the two shared a moment of silent conversation. "She's been shot." Kyle said his hand still holding her down.
"Christien, why didn't you tell Elias?"
She shook her head. "I didn't know. He didn't tell me."
"Didn't you feel it when they shot you?" Kyle asked her in disbelief.
Criss shook her head trying to remember when she first felt the pain in her hip. When K.C. has fallen on top of her, she had heard a hiss and then he had toppled over onto her. She had been so upset she didn't know that he had been shot a second time and the laser had gone through him and into her. "They didn't shoot me. They shot my friend." She stopped then unable to continue and turned away.