That night after everyone had fallen asleep Maria put on her oldest shabbiest looking dress and left the safety of her small desert spring. She was on a mission and if it killed her she would stop the Antarians from finding her new home and her people. She set out towards Roswell hoping that her brother and friends would forgive her and that she would be able to see them again.
***
As the cold desert night began to fade into the morning Rath continued on his was in search of someone, anyone. It had been days since he had seen another living thing and he feared that he would not be able to make if back to Roswell alive, yet he would not allow himself to turn back just yet. He sensed something just out of reach, someone to help. And there in the distance he saw her, a desert beauty. He began to run towards her praying that she was real and not just a hallucination, an image from his fried brain from being in the sun too long.
***
As the sun began to rise in the distance Maria could make out a figure running towards her. Could it be the leader of the Antarian army? As they grew closer to each other she realized it must be him for she had never seen this man before, she had never seen anyone like him at all. He was tall and muscular and his brown hair stood on end. She had never met this man before yet she felt as though she knew him, as though she was connected to him. He was only 10 feet away now and they had both stopped moving. He looked as if he was about to say something when he collapsed to the ground in front of her. Forgetting that he was her enemy and that she should be afraid of him and that he could destroy her and everything that she had left she hurried to his side. His skin was badly burned and his body was hot and slick with perspiration. She grabbed the canteen of water she had and poured some into his mouth. She looked around hoping to find some shade to carry him to. She spotted an overhanging rock about 20 yards away. She put the top back on her canteen and dragged him over to the shelter of the rock.
***
"Kyle!" Liz screamed running towards his shack waking up everyone else as she went. She pushed open Kyle's door and flew to his bed. She shook him violently and he began to stir an angry scowl on his face.
"What is wrong with you Liz?" he asked rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"It's Maria, she's gone."
He was wide awake now, "What do you mean she's gone?"
"I went to her shack to check on her because she wasn't up yet and she is always the one knocking on my door before the sun is even up, so I went to check on her and she wasn't there, I looked everywhere, I can't find her, no one has seen her since she retired last night. Kyle, do you think she would..." Liz swallowed the lump in her throat before she finished, "do you think she would have gone by herself to mislead the Antarian army commander?"
"Go wake up Alex, we have to find her before she finds him, I can't believe she did this, she is reckless, she'll get us all killed!"
***
Maria didn't know how much time had passed since she had dragged him over to the rock, perhaps it had been 20 minutes, perhaps it had only been 20 seconds when he began to stir. He blinked his eyes a few times and then looked up into her face. "You're real?" he whispered.
She smiled slightly and nodded, "Yeah, I'm real. What are you doing all the way out here in the desert though. You could have killed yourself."
"I'm trying to find help, we're in so much trouble. Khivar is going to kill us all, even the humans. I have to find them, warn them, and ask for their help. Do you think they would help me? Do you know where they are? Oh please say you do, they have to help, we're all dead!"
"Shh, its ok, just relax. You're exhausted."
"You're one of them aren't you? You're a human! Oh please, where are the rest of you. Will you help us? I'm sorry about taking Roswell, you can even have it back, please just help us!"
"I'll do anything I can to help, but I'm afraid that I am all that is left," she felt bad lying to him, he was so scared and truly concerned.
"You're it? Everyone else is dead? You survived out here all by yourself for all this time?"
She just nodded.
"Okay, well we have to go." He struggled to get to his feet and when he did he began to run towards Roswell. Maria followed behind him. She prayed this wasn't a trap and was thankful that at least if it was she would be able to spare her loved one and her people.