"We were just driving," Fiona explained weakly, not desiring to give out the full details regarding just where they had been, what they had been doing, and why they had been together alone, not right now, not when there were more important issues to be discussed. "And the car stopped going forward. The engine was running, Clu's foot was on the gas, but we couldn't move forward. By the time it occurred to him to try going in reverse, or to stop the car, it was too late. We found ourselves in the ditch, tossed out of the car, like we were little dolls or something."
Here she choked up a little. Jack squeezed Fi's hand encouragingly, urging her to continue.
"So we tried to get up, though we were both a little confused about just what had happened, since not five minutes before we had been driving along normally, everything was fine. First it took him. It dragged him away from me, into the trees, into the dark, until I couldn't see him anymore. I screamed for him, I tried to hold on, but it was determined. I could hear him screaming and I stood out in the middle of the road, waiting for a car to come by, waiting for somebody to help, but there was nothing. And then everything was just... quiet."
"Fiona, honey, what 'it,' what are you talking about?" Molly asked with more than a little concern.
"I... I don't know. There were hands, fingers, claws, we could feel them. It had legs, because of the way it moved. But there was literally nothing there that you could see."
"Maybe it was too dark," suggested Jack.
"The car's headlights were still on. If it had been human, we would have been able to see it just fine," she retorted defensively.
"It could be related to amnesia," Molly said. "Selective amnesia, that kind of thing. Sometimes it affects victims so they can't remember their attackers... I've read about that."
"I don't have amnesia." Fi was beginning to get angry. "This is not the time for you to not believe me." Now she was near tears again.
It was silent in the hospital room except for the steady beep of the machines until Jack spoke up, albeit quietly: "What happened then, after you couldn't hear Clu anymore?"
"Then it took me. I don't remember much. I must have hit my head on something while it was dragging me away from the car. I woke up in the woods, next to Clu, positioned exactly the same way, when the police showed up with their flashlights, shining them in my eyes."
Molly blinked back her anger and said, "We're going to find out who--"
"What."
"What?"
"Not who. What."
She sighed, then decided to humor Fi instead of arguing at this particular point in time. "We're going to find out what did this to the two of you. You're just lucky neither of you were seriously hurt, beyond relatively minor blood loss and bruises the doctor assures me aren't as bad as they look." She glanced at Fi cautiously and tried not to wince as obviously as she had when she had first entered the room, offering a weak smile.
"Gee, thanks, Mom," Fi joked, trying to break the tension, but neither Molly nor Jack was in the mood to laugh, being driven by the same homicidal urge to track down the mysterious attacker as quickly as possible and having absolutely no idea where to begin. They left quickly when ushered out by the stern nurse.
In the hallway, Molly gave a consoling hug to Ned and Irene as she and Jack headed home for the slim remainder of the evening. Once they did arrive home, neither bothered to turn on the lights, so they sat in the slowly brightening living room, shell-shocked. Finally Jack said: "Clearly they weren't attacked by some kind of invisible monster."
"No, clearly not."
"But I have to admit that thing about the car was pretty bizarre."
"Yep."
"So it's not entirely impossible that it was something... you know, weird."
"No."
"So if that's true, maybe the first place to look is where Fi always goes first to find information."
"The laptop."
"Yeah."