AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you're reading this, then I really would appreciate a review

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you're reading this, then I really would appreciate a review. I kind of started to wonder, "How am I going to get them out of this?" and I had thought that nobody was still reading it, so I just sort of set it aside. But then I got an encouraging review. I have many new ideas, and can mold the story at this point (after this latest chapter) to what my valued readers want. I tend to make things pretty weird, but things can go either way. Tell me what you think of this! I am appreciative of any feedback, positive and negative both equally valuable.

As the strange man was about to begin talking to us for the first time, I remember that he looked over at me as he tilted his head for a moment. I looked into his eyes and saw a flash in them, a sort of glimmer. As if the bright light from a lighthouse bounced off a reflective surface for a moment as it swung around. After we exchanged this very brief look, he straightened his head out again. We actually heard a sound come out, as words were soon to follow.

"Wait," I cautioned, and the man quickly shut his mouth. I had not taken my eyes off him since seeing the glimmer. Looking at him closely, I saw something, something that didn't look quite right. It was a large protrusion on his neck, sticking out like a big lump. His high collar covered most of it, but it was there. If I hadn't known any better – of course with everything we had gone through from the other pods, to the summit meeting, to Tess's betrayal – I'm not sure that I ever really do no better anymore – but it looked like a venom sac. Something you might find on a spider or a snake maybe. It hung there, and as he moved his head, I thought that the strange man's protrusion had something in it. I had no way to be sure because I'm not good at those kinds of science and medical things. They sort of gross me out, but I know I have to be strong. I set aside my so-called "instincts" for being brought on by fear, and tried to look at this skin apparition for what it could really be. Fear and doubt can be good and healthy, and instincts should always be trusted. I know that now, but then, then fear and doubt ruled my life.

"What?" Max asked me, surprised by interruption and why not? This bizarre character was about to speak and I prevented him from doing that.

"That," I said, pointing to his neck. At first Max and Michael looked at him (Valenti had stepped back to let we aliens deal with our problems), they didn't see it. They looked at me, but, seeing the earnestness in my face, they looked back at him. Then it was clear.

Michael took a step back, still facing the man who held our complete attention. "What is it?" he asked.

Max got a look of curiosity on his face. He stepped forward. "Open your mouth,"

The man did and an inch thick acid-like spray came shooting from his mouth! It was a frightening moment – I was terrified. I ducked and screamed in terror! Max put up his green shield barrier and it deflected the spray. I know now that is what happened, but at the time I wasn't looking to see it.

The man looked at us strangely. He seemed just as surprised as we were at his shooting that spray, except he was surprised to see Max's power. He looked to Michael, I feared another attack, but I let Max be the judge of that. "I thought you had a weapon," he told Michael, his voice showing him to be shaken, "but this," he shrieked, directing his attention at Max, "What are you?"

Max gazed at him, "What are you?" My brother did not seem sympathetic to this person in anyway. Not to say that I was feeling for him at that moment, but I look back on the incident with mixed feelings of fear and sympathy. That, as so many things in this matter, would soon change.

"You answer my question first," the man said in terror.

"No!" Max yelled, stepping toward him, to corner him, an aggressive move. What is he doing?!? I thought, how could he just attack this frightened thing? It didn't make any sense, clearly this person, if he was a person, was nervous, and Max was breathing down his neck. That wasn't like Max, and I thought it was wrong.

I put my hand on his shoulder, "Max," I said, "he's terrified."

Max looked into my eyes for a second, then back at this man, "Is he?" he asked, more to himself than me, the man himself, or Michael, who was just standing there with his mouth gaping open. I think Michael was just as confused as I was here.

"I just want to know what you are?" the strange man pleaded.

Max looked at him for several seconds, then he blinked, and by studying his reaction I could tell, he had made a decision about something.

"You're lying," he told the man. I was shocked. It certainly didn't seem like he was lying. Of course, bad liars and Roswell, New Mexico aren't the best mix, but my mind seemed closed to that possibility.

"I…" the man started to plead, but Max wouldn't let him do it.

"You know who we are! You're stalling. Why?" Max demanded an answer, and the man full of mystery and intrigue knew it. Mystery and intrigue, yet for a while there I felt sympathy for him. Doubting that he was at all related to the strange sightings of the deceased.

The man looked up in terror, and allowed his gaze to pass out into the street. He stared for several seconds. Max started to become annoyed. Then the man smiled.

"I was stalling," he said sinisterly, "waiting…"

"Waiting for what?" I said, a headache from all this deception. The twists and turns felt like a go-cart banging against the walls inside my mind.

"…For my army!" he said, sounding kind of like at little weasel, there was a high pitch in his voice. Something that didn't sound quite right – something that just didn't sound…human.

We turned to see that Valenti was gone. We saw Pete Reynolds, a farmer who died last year (He used to visit the elementary school, so we all knew him), another guy, who fit the description of Valenti's friend Dave Sanders, and someone who I wasn't expecting to see. Someone who I was kind of hoping to see and someone I couldn't bear to see. It was Alex. As the three of them entered the alleyway, I couldn't take my eyes off of Alex. And this time, I noticed a small sac on his neck. I hadn't seen it before. I made up my mind at that point that the person I saw, the person I was looking at, wasn't really Alex. I turned to face the mysterious man again, about to confront him about fooling all of us with people back from the dead. If they had those sacs, then they couldn't really be the people we all loved, cared about, and missed. Could they?

Before I could move, before I could react, the thought to be corpses took action. Pete got the jump on Michael and I heard him yell. Then, Max made a squeal as I saw Dave right behind him. Before I could confront the man who I felt was responsible for all of this, I noticed Alex behind me. Even though I knew he wasn't himself, I wasn't expecting me to grab me from behind. His left hand held my stomach, and his right hand went over my mouth. I tried to struggle, but couldn't. Almost as soon as his hand was placed over my mouth and nose, I began to feel really tired. I could almost sense the energy just draining out of me. I fought to stay awake, a struggle that would only last a few seconds. Then, I blanked out I guess because I don't remember anything else from the alleyway.

The next thing I recall is waking up, feeling very fuzzy. I was lying on my back, and as my eyes opened for an instant, I could see I was staring at a ceiling. The bright light in the room made my pupils burn so I quickly closed my eyes. My body felt stiff, as if I hadn't moved a muscle in weeks. I started stirring a little, trying to move around. Feeling the pain from stiffness, and my eyes watering from the light irritation, I began to moan.

"The first of them is awaking," I heard a voice call. It sounded faint and distant, but I wondered how accurate my hearing was. I definitely recognized it though. That squeaky, high-pitched screech, it could only be the strange man who was suspected of being behind all this. It hurt badly, but I forced my eyes to open and adjust to the light. Moments later the man was standing over me.

"You," I said weakly, "get away from me!"

As my eyes remained fixed on the ceiling, another person came into view.

"Alex," I said very quietly, probably so quietly that the no one else could hear me.

"He's not so bad, Isabel. I know you're scared, but you shouldn't be frightened of him," Alex told me. I didn't notice at the time, but the strange man who I had feared, stepped away as Alex came in to comfort me.

I fixed my eyes on the sac attached to his neck. "It's not really you though, is it Alex? It can't be," I said, still feeling weak.

Alex looked down to find what I had been staring at. He tore off the sac. "Oh, don't let this fool you, Izzy."

I gulped, everything spinning around me like I was in a whirlpool. Thoughts, ideas, memories, I couldn't breathe, I needed someone to save me, someone to grab on to. All I could see was Alex.

"How can it be you?" I asked him, fighting to regain my strength, "You're dead!"

"Oh," said Alex coldly, a slight smile evident, "well, I think you're mistaken then. I'm not dead…" Dave and Pete stepped into my field of vision. "…We're not dead," Alex continued, "You are."

To Be Continued