She opened her eyes. It hurt.  She opened them again and it hurt, but she kept them open.  She could see the figure of a man standing over her.  She couldn’t see much, it was dark outside, but she could tell he was dressed in black.  She lay there afraid to move.

He stood motionless for a moment and then in a throaty whisper asked, “What are you doing out after curfew?”

Was he talking to her?  What did he mean curfew?  She wasn’t a kid anymore.  She tried to sit up.  It hurt.  She tried again and felt pain sear through her head and she shut her eyes.  It hurt.  She wanted to open her eyes but was afraid.  What if the man in black was still there, she opened them anyway.

He was no longer standing over her.  Now he was kneeling right over her with his face very close.  It was dark where she was, but she could see him clearly.  Dark eyes, dark hair, a handsome face, but something about him scared her.

He opened his mouth and again asked, “What are you doing out after curfew?”

Something told her to move and fast, get up she screamed at herself, but it hurt.  He leaned closer and then her strength found her.  She pulled her legs close to her and punched them out with all the force she had.  The man flew back into what must have been metal trashcans judging by the crashing sound.  Get up! Her mind raged.  God it hurt, but she struggled to her feet and took a couple of steps.  The man caught her arm and swung her around so she was now staring into the face of the man.

But it was no longer a man. His forehead had peeled down below his jaw and his right eye was hanging from the lower lid.  Was his skin green?  Run, Run, Run!  She pushed the unsteady man-thing and ran.  Get out of here! She kept telling herself.

She heard running footsteps and the sound of his voice screaming, “Hold your fire!”

She ran.  It hurt.  She felt a searing pain again but her legs kept moving.  She kept running while the voice faded.  Spying an alley she ran into it just trying to keep ahead of them and out of sight.  Then she saw a stairwell and dove into it not caring what or who might be at the bottom of it.  She landed.  It hurt.  She listened, no voices.  She fell back against the wall of the stairwell and closed her eyes.  It hurt.

She opened her eyes.  It hurt.  He was there, the man in black and asked her the same question.  “What are you doing out after curfew?”

The dream was happening again.  No there was something different this time.  He knelt down close to her and she could see his face clearly.  Dark eyes, something’s different, dark hair, something’s different, a handsome face, something’s different…not the same face.  It didn’t matter she had to get away.

Again her legs pulled up and delivered the same thrust as before.  He is propelled backwards, but this time the man caught her by the legs and pulled her down.  They struggled until she felt a cold hard object in her throat and she stopped moving.

Out of the dark she heard a voice call out, “What’s going on?”

Saying he caught a spy the man in black pulled her to her feet then promptly threw her against a wall.  She moaned and the man was made aware both he and she are covered in blood.  She managed one look into his eyes before hers closed.  This time they stayed shut.  It hurt.
 

WAKE UP CALL

She woke up.  It didn’t hurt.  Though her eyes were still closed she knew she was in bed, safe in her bed.  She would never again doubt her brother’s advice about eating too much salsa and chips before going to sleep.  If it produced nightmares like the one she just had, she’d never go near spicy food again.

But when she opened her eyes and instantly regretted it.  This wasn’t her room.  This wasn’t her house.  She didn’t even think this was her town.  Stay calm she thought, sit up and find yourself and then a door or window.  The fluorescent lighting was bright, too bright for a bedroom.  Where was she?  Looking around she saw a sink, three small wooden chairs and cabinets with what looked like medical supplies.  And were those guns in the corner?  Get out of here.  Move the feet she thought.  I can do this, slow, steady, up on your elbows first.  She froze.  Someone was in this strange room with her.  It was a young woman.

“Lie still,” the woman said.  “It’s alright, no one is going to hurt you.  You’re safe here.  I’m a doctor.  My name is Julie.  What is your name?”

She’s a doctor?  She’s a girl, not much older than I am.  Where am I?  She looked, but the good doctor just kept staring at her.  Where am I?  Again, Julie said nothing.

“What’s your name?” Julie repeated.

I asked ‘you’ where I was!  Answer me!  Dr. Parrish remained silent.

“I think the medication is keeping her from speaking right now,” Julie said to someone behind her.  “I was afraid I might have over medicated her since she is on the thin side.”  Turning back Julie brushed the hair from the eyes of her patient. “Go back to sleep.  We can talk in a while.  I just want you to know that you are safe here in the infirmary.  I’ll check in on you soon.”  Julie then turned and mumbled something to someone standing in the shadows.

Time passed.  Was she alone?   She was afraid to look.  She did anyway.  She was alone.  What hospital was she in?  Had she been in an accident?  Where was her brother?  Get up!  This time she managed to sit completely up and swung her legs over the side of the bed when something the good doctor Julie had said hit home—“You’re safe here in the ‘infirmary”.  She was not in a hospital.  She moved a bit more and felt a deep, burning pain in her left shoulder.  She gasped and would have fallen off the bed if Julie hadn’t been there in time to catch her.

“You need to lie still,” Julie said.  “I know it hurts and scared, but if you move around too soon, the bleeding will start again.  What’s your name?”

“AJ. Where am I?”  She wondered if she actually spoke.

She must have because Julie answered, “You’re in a safe place here in the city.  You were shot with a laser and found in the alley.  I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but can you prove who you are?  Your name is AJ?  Is that short for something?  What’s your last name?”

“Andrea Somers, and what do you mean prove who I am?  Why?  You brought me here and now I have to explain myself to you?  I haven’t done anything and you can’t hold me here.  I’ll call my brother, he’ll take me away from here.”

Something about this girl touched Julie and she felt awful that she had to treat her as if she were the enemy, but as others had proved to be dangerous over the years, she learned to be careful when dealing with new people.  “You had no identification on you when you were found, and you were wearing odd clothing.  Plus the fact that you were shot with one of the Visitor’s guns, we have to be very careful.”

Whose guns AJ wondered.  This woman/girl doctor was talking in riddles.  She was about to beg for a phone call to her brother again when a man strolled into the room and she froze.  It was the man in black.  With a sudden burst everything came flooding back to AJ at once.

Julie noticed the fear on AJ’s face, “It’s okay, he won’t hurt you.”

AJ didn’t hear Julie.  She flung her legs over the bed and attempted to run out the door.  But she was instantly dizzy and lost the element of surprise and once again felt a cold, hard object in her throat.

“Stop it!” Julie yelled.  “I just told her she was safe and no one would hurt her.  Let go of her before you tear the bandage.”

“I’m alright,” AJ said.  “He’s just trying to get my attention the only way he knows how.”  She glared at him.  He didn’t look back.

It hurt.  Every time she saw this man she felt pain.  His face is different.  He’s shorter.  Don’t think about it. That would be bad.  Green.  No, mottled with green.  Don’t think about it.

For the second time she felt herself being lifted into his arms, but this time he placed her without much care back into the bed.  He stood close glaring down at her.  Following his gaze and realizing that she was only wearing underwear and a T-shirt AJ grabbed the blanket from the foot of the bed and pulled it up around her chin.

The corner of the man’s mouth went up in an attempt at a smile, “Don’t bother covering up on my account.  You’re too scrawny for my tastes anyway.”

“Ham, get outta here!”  Julie shouted.  “Mike, good I’m glad you’re back.  Did you find anything?”

“Nope,” the man identified as Mike said.  “Just some blood three alleys over.  How long has she been awake, Julie?”

“Long enough to be assaulted and insulted by Ham,” Julie turned back to AJ.  “I’m sorry about that.  This is Mike Donovan and you have already met Ham Tyler.”

“Hell, Julie,” Ham said.  “Why don’t you just tell her where we are and ask what time the lizards would like to pick us all up and shoot us?”

Mottled green skin.  Did he say lizards?  Don’t think about it.  But AJ couldn’t help it.  The realization that something was terribly wrong was sinking in.  This was not the man in black whose face peeled off, but there was someone, some ‘thing’ out there.  And it was scaring these people too. Uncontrollable shaking took over her.

Julie noticed it and rushed over to the bed. “What is it?  Are you sick?  Lie back.  Mike, get some water.”  He did.  “Here, drink.”

AJ did as she was told this time.  And then in a voice that was devoid of any emotion she whispered, “His face came off.”

Julie, Mike and Ham looked at AJ and then at one another.  Why did she act as though it was the first time she had ever seen or heard such a thing; the lizards true identity had been divulged years before. But this girl was truly mystified.  Where had she been?

AJ sat there.  She knew what was coming.  By the look on their faces they knew what or whom she was talking about and they wanted to know more.  She didn’t know more and she didn’t want to.  “May I please have something to go back to sleep?”  Her voice was low and difficult to hear.

Julie sat on the edge of the bed.  “I’m sorry, but no.  If I give you too much within a short amount of time I’m afraid you may not wake up.”

“Would that really matter?”  Andrea, this girl also known as AJ wondered aloud.  “What day is it?  How long have I been here?  And why did I see a man’s face fall off like a ripped pocket on a shirt?  Something went wrong.  Oh God, something went wrong!”

Her statement piqued Ham’s curiosity.   “Look, what’s your name, Adrienne?”

“Andrea.”

“Fine” he sighed, “Andrea.  Are you trying to tell us that you’ve never seen the true lizard face?  Who shot you?  Who was this guy whose face fell off?  Why were you wearing clothes that were hand sewn?  How long have you been in this city?  Where do you live?  Who do you live with?  Why were you shot?  How did you end up in our alley?  When…”

“Ham, that’s enough,” Mike piped in.  “Beside the fact that she doesn’t impress me as someone who would answer you in the first place I don’t think she knows anything.”

After a deep breath AJ nodded, “You’re right, Mr. Donovan.  On both accounts, Mr. Tyler here scared me before, but not now and I don’t know anything.  I woke up with a severe pain in my head and then saw a man wearing a black jumpsuit that had a gold v-neckline was looking at me and he asked me why I was out past curfew.  My gut reaction was to get away from him so I kicked him and he fell.  When he regained his stance, his face had fallen.  I’ve encountered many things in my life, but this was new.  I ran and soon after I felt my shoulder explode, but I kept running until I found a stairwell.  When I woke up again, ‘this’ man in black was asking me about curfew and then he threw me against a wall.”

When she said man in a black jumpsuit, a shiver ran through Julie. And Mike and Ham looked at each other in surprise.  Was it same man in black they were thinking of?

“Ham had to get you against the wall, out of sight,” Mike said.  “We heard troopers coming and your hair was reflecting in the light.  Did the man in the black jumpsuit shoot you?”

“Troopers?” AJ asked confused.  “No. It must have been someone else who shot me because I heard him shout to someone about not shooting me.”

“Donovan,” Ham said as he gestured towards the door.  Mike walked to him; Julie followed.  AJ watched them step outside the doorway just out of earshot.  “You know who she’s talking about, don’t you?” Ham asked.  “Charles, Chuckie, the King Lizard himself.  This girl’s bad news.”

“We can’t be sure of that,” Julie whispered.  “She was shot by them.  That must mean something.  If she really didn’t know who Charles was, why would anyone shoot her?”

“Julie’s right,” Mike agreed.  “Until we know why she was shot, we can’t always assume the worst in someone.  Not everyone’s a bad guy you know.”

Ham just smiled at them.  That was fine if they wanted to trust her on sight.  He would watch and learn.  If she really were okay, fine, he’d release her like a captured butterfly, but if she wasn’t—he knew he would have to stay close to her, just to be sure.

They walked back into the room.  AJ was looking at her hands.  Voice still a bit shaky she asked, “Did you take my backpack and ring?”

“I didn’t see any backpack,” Mike shook his head.  “Did you Ham?”  Ham also shook his head negatively. Mike continued, “And as far as anything else, your jacket was shredded by the laser blast.  And I don’t know about a ring.”

“What kind of ring?” Ham asked.  Why did he ask that unnecessary question?

AJ looked pale and replied, “What difference does that make?  It’s my ring and I want it.  And I need my backpack to get home.  Please, go back and look for it.  I am not a threat to any of you. I just want to get out of here.  Oh, never mind about the ring, find my backpack.  Please, please.”  She was in tears now and breathing hard.  She had to get out of there.  She knew she couldn’t tell these people where she came from, especially this Ham person.  If they found the backpack, she would just leave and be rid of this nightmare once and for all.

Julie stepped forward. “Mike, you and Ham better leave for a while.  Go look for her things.  I don’t want her any more upset.”

Mike turned to leave, but Ham stood fast.

“C’mon Tyler,” Mike said.  “I doubt she’s is going to attack Julie.”

Ham stood there a moment and slowly turned and walked out behind Mike.

“Turn slightly,” Julie said pushing AJ’s shoulder.  “I want to check your bandage.  Are you okay?  I know your shoulder hurts, but like I said before about the drugs…”

“I’m alright,” AJ interrupted, “Besides, I’ve felt worse.”

Julie raised her eyebrows at that remark.  “You’ve felt worse?  How?  When?  Where?  Oh, I’m sorry, now I am sounding like Ham.  He’s not really so bad, you know.  He just doesn’t trust new people right away.  You’ll see.”

AJ replied, “Yeah, I know, those CIA types are all pussycats once you get to know them.  Nice to see he’s just as charming as the rest of them.”

Julie’s mouth dropped a little.  “How did you know he was CIA?”  Was Ham right?  Was this girl a threat after all?

“My brother had dealings with those type once and I learn fast.  There is something about them that sticks out in your mind when you encounter them.”  She spoke of them as though they were things and not individuals.

Julie lifted the bandage off AJ’s shoulder.  This was amazing.  The blast must have hit something she was wearing – maybe the backpack because when she first treated the wound she found pieces of plastic and metal imbedded in her shoulder.  And this girl said she had felt worse?  In any case she oly survived the blast because it had hit something else first.  It was still a very serious wound and would have to be treated against infection as well as for keeping the bleeding under control.  AJ’s breath caught in her throat and this always made Julie feel uneasy when she couldn’t prevent someone from hurting.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could give you another painkiller,” Julie said.

AJ didn’t say anything she leaned back against the pillow and stared at her hands.  Not knowing what to do or say, Julie made an attempt to straighten up the medicine cupboards. Ham was right about one thing there was something different about this girl.  Maybe Mike would find something in the alley that would explain who she was.

Fifteen minutes had passed before AJ broke the silence. “When can I get out of here? You don’t think I’m an enemy, I know that.  Let me go and you can forget you ever saw me.  You can blindfold me and drive me to the middle of nowhere if you want.  Just let me go.  I don’t know anything about who or what these Visitors you spoke of might be, but if the faceless man is one of them, I don’t want to.  Please let me go?”

Julie was tempted.  Keeping a person against their will was wrong.  She knew first hand from when she had been captured by Diana.  Still, she knew if she did let this girl go now it would be the same as killing her.

“I can’t let you go now.  This kind of wound is dangerous.  You see, not only is the wound bad in itself, but infection is very possible.  The bandage has to be changed three times a day and you need medication each time.  If I let you go as you put it, you would be dead by morning.  You can’t take care of this by yourself.  The angle is too difficult and if not done properly, the result would be death. And, in your weak condition, you would be at the mercy of anyone who found you.”

“How long does this kind of treatment have to go on?” AJ snapped.  “I’m not a child who has to be reminded to brush her teeth.  And I can do it by myself!”  She wasn’t getting anywhere and she knew it.  She was stuck there for a while.  “How long, Julie?”

“Five or six days, depending on how quickly you heal.”

“This is bullshit,” AJ rarely swore, but times were tough.  “Then can you at least keep me by myself?  I don’t have any answers to questions anyway and I don’t like being treated like an enemy spy.”

Spy?  Who had said the word spy Julie thought, never mind, she knew who used that particular noun: Ham (I don’t know you, so therefore you must be a spy) Tyler.

“Don’t worry,” Julie assured.  “I’ll keep you quarantined.  Besides, it is best if not too many people know you’re here anyway.”

Knowing she was beat, AJ acknowledged with a polite thank you.  Julie left the room, but AJ knew enough not to even attempt going to the door.  She couldn’t see him, but she knew he was out there, waiting.  Besides, Julie made a good point, if she was too weak to defend herself from the CIA guy, she wouldn’t have a chance against a walking lizard.

Walking lizard, this was not real.  Something was going on here, but there was no way in the world she was willing to accept the fact that the earth now had walking lizards—‘now’ had walking lizards.  What time was it?  What day was it?  Suddenly AJ didn’t care that Ham Tyler was out there or not.

She carefully got out of bed, grabbed one of the guns she had seen earlier and crept towards the door.   He did it again.  Third time’s a charm.  For the third time she felt a cold, hard object stuck in her throat.  Where had he come from?  She never even saw him coming.  He was very good this CIA guy.

Again the shaking started and then she heard own voice pleading, “What day is it?  What month is it?  Please, please answer me!”

For the longest time Ham remained silent with his gun in her throat.  She noticed he was careful not to crush her injured shoulder.

Finally he answered, “It’s October.”

October, that was good.  But AJ had one more question and though she was afraid of its answer she had to ask.  “What decade is it?”

As expected the question startled Ham, but she seemed serious, so he answered.

Math had never been her forte, but AJ didn’t need to be a genius to know that based on the year Ham told her it was, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On impact from the answer she felt herself slump back against him. Ham caught her before she could fall to the floor.  Taking the gun she still held he informed her that it wasn’t loaded then he guided her back to the bed.

Once AJ was in bed, Ham went to the doorway.  “Willie!  Get Julie back down here and tell Donovan to come too.”  His attention back on AJ he sat on the edge of the bed with his gun resting on his crossed arms.  “How did you know I was CIA?”

AJ’s eyes narrowed, “You know, Mr. Tyler, when we eavesdrop on private conversations, sometimes we get our feelings hurt.  You heard me tell Julie how I can tell your kind apart, so don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.  I’m not an amateur.”

“Amateur?  Now that’s an interesting word.  Who are you?  Who are you, really?”  Ham wasn’t playing with this little one any longer. “I want answers and now.  Who are you?”

“Oh, not again, Tyler,” Mike entered the room.  “Wait until she recovers before you shoot her.”  He winked at AJ.  “I have some good news and bad news for you.  First the good news, I found this ring in the alley.  Is it yours?”

AJ took the gold band with a small opal attached and closed her eyes.  “Yes, it’s mine.  Thank you.”

Ham watched as she put the ring on her right hand.  He had looked closely at the ring when Mike had found it.  There was a small inscription in it:  ‘To AJS, Love JAS’.  He felt funny, why would he even care if she had a ring or not?

“And the bad news, Mike?” AJ asked.

“Well,” Mike started.  “We looked through both alleys and didn’t find any backpack.  Then Ham rummaged through some garbage cans and found this.  I think it used to be a backpack.  It looks like something melted inside it.  Is this yours?”

AJ reached for the twisted piece of material and leather and sighed, “Yes, it’s mine.”  She looked at Ham and for the first time since she had awakened, the three of them saw her smile.  But it was a sad smile.  “You dug through garbage cans to find my backpack?”

Ham looked a little embarrassed and nodded.

“Hey, part of your healing process doesn’t include starving you to death,” Julie said hoping to break the tension.  “Are you hungry?”

“I am,” Mike grunted.  “Digging through all that garbage should have given you an appetite, right Ham?”

But Ham wasn’t listening, he was looking at this spitfire of a girl who had been about to threaten him with a gun in one instant and then completely resign herself the next.  Who was she?

“AJ,” Julie said.  “Are you hungry?”

“I…um, sure,” AJ answered.

“Okay, good, what would you like?” Julie prodded.  “You shouldn’t have anything too heavy, how about some soup?”

“How about some chips and salsa.”  That was the answer AJ softly said to herself, but Julie hadn’t heard it.  She and Mike had already left the room.  AJ looked up at Ham and said nothing.  She leaned back against the pillow, and turned on her side with her back to him.  He took a deep breath and then he too left the room.  He returned to where he had spent most of the last 24 hours, the little wooden chair outside the infirmary.  He had to watch her, just to be sure.

The sound of footsteps woke her up, but AJ didn’t move.  She couldn’t see who had entered the room based on the way the bed was positioned.  Was it friend or foe?  The footsteps were soft and almost impossible to hear.  Then she heard, no, felt someone leaning close to her, looking at her.  Fear.  No, not again, was it the man in black?

A hand softly brushed the hair out of AJ’s eyes and a girl’s voice asked,  “Are you awake?”  AJ turned slowly to see the face of an angel.  A girl not yet 20 was leaning over her with concern in her face and eyes.  AJ felt as ease, something about this girl/angel calmed her.  “It’s alright, Julie asked me to bring you something to eat.  Do you want to sit up?  My name is Elizabeth.  I know your name is Andrea or AJ, which do you prefer?”

Andrea or AJ just looked in awe at this girl, why was she so special?  Some people could just be calming she supposed.  While others could drive you crazy.  Don’t think about that.  She watched as Elizabeth brought over a cup with a spoon in it.

 “Julie didn’t think you would like to be hand fed and Ham said…” Elizabeth stopped suddenly.

“Ham said what?” AJ asked.  “Elizabeth, what did he say?”

Elizabeth looked embarrassed and a little frightened.  AJ thought the girl would run from the room when in walked a tall, very good looking young man.  He walked over to Elizabeth, took her hand in his, looked at AJ.  “Ham said you would probably bite Elizabeth’s hand off. Hi, I’m Kyle Bates.”

For a moment they stared at one another, then they started laughing.  Oh I bite alright Mr. Tyler, AJ mused.

AJ finished the soup and really did feel better.  Laughing had helped her mood and she didn’t feel as frightened.  But the feeling was temporary and she knew it.  Kyle and Elizabeth stayed with her a little while and soon Julie returned.

“Okay, I’m going to change the bandage and I think it is safe enough to give you some pain killer.”

No one had noticed Ham enter the room until he spoke, “You think it is safe?”  Why should I care, he thought.  If she OD’s we won’t have to worry who she is anymore.  She felt good in my arms, don’t think about it.

“Well yeah, I think it’s safe,” Julie said.  “I’ll give her less than I did last night because I’m not removing debris from her shoulder.  If I hadn’t given her more then, she would have woken up in agony.”

“You’re the doc,” Ham snorted.  “Will she sleep through the night?”

“You mean do you have to stand guard again, don’t you?” Kyle had piped in.  AJ looked at Kyle, then Ham.  No love lost there.  Kyle added in AJ’s direction, “Did you know you have been placed under house arrest?”

“Kyle,” Elizabeth said in her soft voice.  “Please don’t start anything.  I’m sorry, AJ, no one thinks you need a guard.  I’m sure Ham was just keeping close in case you woke up and needed something.”

Kyle grunted and muttered something under his breath.  Ham ignored them both.

From AJ’s perspective, the girl Elizabeth obviously loved Kyle a great deal, but she also seemed to have a great fondness for Ham.  AJ wondered if he even knew.  Not likely, men like that seldom saw beyond what was right in front of them.  Unless they smelled danger, their minds stayed shut.  And so did their hearts.

“Okay, everybody out,” Julie motioned towards the door.  She walked back over to the bed and began removing the bandage.  AJ tried not to wince but couldn’t help herself.  Yes, she had felt worse pain, but it was a long, long time ago and she knew none of that mattered anymore.  She doubted if anything would again.  Julie continued, “The pain killer will not only help you sleep, but you won’t have any bad dreams either.  People usually don’t dream while under this medication, I’ve heard.”

“Julie,” AJ spoke slowly.  “When are you going to tell me about those things with the removable faces?”

“I’ll tell you what, you sleep now and tomorrow I’ll tell you the whole story.  You need the rest and I have to wake you in eight hours to change the bandages.  We can talk then.  And maybe you will tell me about yourself too.”  She smiled at AJ and the smile was returned.  “And if you need anything, I don’t think anyone will be out of ear shot.”  She arched her head towards the door.  “There, now lie still and try not to worry about anything, okay?”

“Okay,” AJ didn’t sound convincing though.

Julie left the room and by the shadows in the hallway knew she was talking to Ham.  Julie’s shadow disappeared down the hall and Ham’s sat down.  AJ was annoyed that he felt he needed to guard her, but she also felt very safe by it.
 

Someone was pulling her arm.  Wake up! The pulling stopped, but someone still had hold of her hand.  Her ring, they were stealing her ring.  Wake up!  Soft touch, no pain.  Wake up!

“AJ, AJ, wake up!” Julie was shaking her softly.  “Time to change the bandage and re-medicate you.  AJ?”

Eyes flew open and AJ sat up so quickly that Julie jumped backwards.  AJ pulled her hands close to her body and then looked at them.  Her ring was there and nothing appeared to be wrong with her hands, only some dirt under a couple of her fingernails on her right hand.  She had a dream after all.  At least she thought she had.  Julie was looking concerned at AJ and Ham who had followed Julie in was looking intently at her as well.  He looked uncomfortable.

“Are you alright?” Julie asked.

“Yeah,”AJ sighed.  “Bad dream after all.  Someone was pulling at my hand.  Okay, it’s morning, Julie, tell me about them.  What are they, how long have they been here?”  She didn’t want to know, by knowing it would make them real, but she needed to know the enemy.  And there was no doubt that these lizard people were the enemy.

After changing the bandage, Julie told her the long and difficult story about how and when the Visitor’s first come to earth and how they had been defeated once by the Red Dust and hopefully the earth’s people could hold on a little while longer until something else was discovered.

AJ’s mouth was dry and the shaking had tried to overcome her, but she grasped the pillow to conceal it.  She didn’t want to show fear again.  She sat quietly for a minute or two and then asked, “And who was the one that found me in the alley?  You seemed to know who he might be and were upset by it.”

Ham and Julie looked at each other.  Julie smiled uneasily at AJ and replied, “We’ll get into that later, okay?  So now, tell me the story of your life.”

“Yes, tell us,” Ham said with no expression.

AJ glared and was about to throw a suggestion at Ham when Mike, Elizabeth and Kyle walked in with breakfast.  This was too much, except for Ham all these people seemed to be going out of their way to make her feel like part of their family.  She felt out of place and they must have sensed it.  Ham seemed to be part of their family without trying or wanting it.  He was just there.  And now so was she.

After breakfast it was story time.  AJ was terrified, but at this point it didn’t matter if anyone believed her or not.  These people had saved her life and even with years of training not to trust anyone, she trusted them.  She had no one else left to trust.

Inhaling, she began, “Well, I want to say this first of all.  I doubt you will believe me and I’m sorry.  I can’t prove it anymore than you can disprove it.  The answer as to why I don’t know who the Visitor’s are is because they weren’t in my world in my time.  I don’t mean that ‘I’ came from a different planet, I’m human like you, I came from a different time.”  She knew they all wanted to laugh, but they sat around the bed quietly, except for Ham who was leaning against the doorway.  An attempt to keep her in custody?

“By a different time,” Mike asked, “do you mean you were cryogenically suspended in time or something?  That would make sense to you waking up and not knowing about things of such magnitude.”

AJ smiled.  “No, Mike.  To put in as simple an explanation as I can, I time traveled.”

Ham exhaled loudly and threw back his head.  Then to the surprise of everyone, he laughed.

“Shut up, Ham!” Kyle shouted.  “Give her a chance to talk without adding your worthless two cents.  Get outta here if you aren’t going to be quiet.”

Ham regained his composure and straddled one of the little wooden chairs and resting his head on his folded arms stared straight at AJ, the time travel girl.

“Look,” AJ went on. “I said you wouldn’t believe me and I couldn’t prove it.  This is why I want to get out of here.  My unit, which would have returned me was in my backpack and it was destroyed. That’s what was imbedded in my shoulder, Julie, what you had to dig out.  I’m only telling you this because I have nothing to lose anymore.  Everyone I knew is probably dead or has been captured by those monsters.  Don’t you see, I have nothing to lose or gain by making this up.”

“What about someone?” Everyone turned to look at who had asked the question—Elizabeth.  “Did you leave someone special behind?  A boyfriend, a husband?”

All eyes turned back to AJ who had lowered her head.  “No, no one like that.  I left behind a brother, that’s all.”

“Then who’s JAS?” Ham asked not realizing he had asked it aloud. Those were the initials on her ring. When he realized they had heard the question, he felt almost foolish.

“Jeffery Andrew Somers. My brother,” AJ answered.  She glanced at Ham, and was surprised that he turned his eyes away from her.  She went on. “From what I have learned about these Visitor’s is that if they had come during my time, the world would not be here today.  That is why you need to let me go and now.  Your technology is advanced enough to have a way to fight them, mine may not be.  And if they find out about me and what I could do it might put everyone in danger.  And I have no intention of letting you suffer because of me.”

“Let us worry about the suffering,” Ham said sarcastically.  “Back to your story, if you’re not from now then when?”

“Twenty years ago,” AJ said while examining her dirty fingernails.

“Ah, a girl of the sixties?” Ham continued his sarcasm.  “Okay, I’ll play your game.  Who built the device?  What was the purpose?  And why were you chosen to use it when they could have used a…”

“Man, Mr. Tyler?” AJ broke in.  “You mean, why send in a woman to do a man’s job?”

“More like a kid,” Ham muttered.

 “There were two reasons why I was chosen to be the test pilot,” AJ ignored Ham’s remark.  “First of all, they needed someone they could trust completely not to try and change things.”

“Change things?” Mike asked.  “Like what?”

“Since I would be going into the past, it was important for someone not to feel compelled to try and re-write history.  You know things that were destined to happen.  Lincoln being shot, Jesse James robbing banks.  Stuff like that.  And because it was my brother’s project, they felt that I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it.”

“And the second reason they chose you?”  Ham asked with such fake enthusiasm that it caused chills to run up AJ’s spine.

AJ looked around at the others.  They had thrown a frown towards Ham, but they were keeping their opinions to themselves.  At least until she was through telling her story.

“The second reason,” AJ said quietly.  “Was because I was the only one who was expendable.”

“Expendable?” Julie questioned.

“Yeah,” AJ replied softly. “For obvious reasons, there weren’t too many people even involved with this project.”  She threw a sideways glance at Ham.  “And of the few people who were qualified, I was the only one who wouldn’t really be missed.  They all had families.  Besides my brother, the only other soul who cared about me was our Golden Retriever, Huxley.”

Thick silence hung in the air.  Finally Kyle broke the tension.  “So how old are you?”

Everyone but Ham and AJ chuckled.  Ham looked at her closely, but she kept staring down at her hands.  Then she lifted her head and replied with a wry smile, “I’m much older than I look.”

“I don’t understand,” Elizabeth said.  “How could you not have someone who cared for you?  The way you look, I mean the way you are I would think you would have had men lined up for blocks.  Didn’t you have a lot of boyfriends in high school?”

Oh god, AJ moaned internally.  Why did Elizabeth keep asking those kinds of questions?

“Well,” AJ tried to speak in a matter of fact tone.  “I didn’t have the normal kind of life I’m sure you did as a teenager, Elizabeth.  I guess you could say I was kind of sheltered.  I began my…career in…I started working at a very early age.”

“Alright, I’ll bite,” Ham all but growled.  “How old are you?”

AJ felt a little more in control now.  She would let him know in no uncertain terms that she was not a kid.  Hell, she was older than he was in a manner of speaking.  “When I ‘left’ twenty years ago, I had just turned twenty-five.  Now I suppose I would be forty-five.”  She practically sneered when she answered.

“Gee,” Mike laughed.  “I guess we better respect our elder here.  Right, Ham?”

Ham was not amused.  She was a kid.  No, she wasn’t and he knew it.  “This is bullshit,” he snapped.  “She’s either delusional or making this up for reasons known only to herself.  I’m not listening to any more fairytales about time travelers from the past.”

He turned to leave, but was stopped by AJ.  “Why can’t you believe it, Mr. Tyler?  Why is it so easy to doubt me when you can believe that flying saucers with walking alligators invaded the planet?  I honestly don’t care whether or not you believe me, but it’s true and you had better consider what I said about them finding out about it being a possible threat.”

“She’s right, Ham,” Julie said.  “If any of this ‘travel’ is possible and they got hold of the technology to use it, we wouldn’t have a world to live in.”

Ham grinned without humor.  “She’s nuts.  Something like this wouldn’t have been kept a secret for the past twenty years.  Someone would have known something about it.  I would have heard something.”

“Is that why you don’t believe it?” AJ snapped angrily.  “Because you, the great Ham Tyler, CIA champ of the world wasn’t notified!  Tell me, pal, how old were you twenty years ago, thirteen, fourteen?  Do you honestly think any government agency would ask the opinion of a headstrong adolescent whose only thoughts in life were probably comic books and getting his hands up some girl’s shirt?”

Anyone who knew Ham was aware that the movement in his cheek happened when he was very upset.  He glared at AJ, turned and walked toward the door. Then he paused a moment remembering how she had become so upset when he had told her what year it was earlier.  It doesn’t matter she’s nuts.  He walked out of the room and this time continued down the hall.

AJ frowned.  She looked at Mike because he seemed to be looking through her.  He spoke.  “Look, it doesn’t matter what Ham thinks.  I don’t know what to think myself here, but you are right about one thing, we can’t take the chance that you’re telling the truth and the lizards finding out about it. And besides, you made a good argument about flying saucers not being any more credible than time travel.”

A smile formed on AJ’s face.  “Thank you for not thinking I belong in a rubber room.  I told you I couldn’t prove what I said.”

Julie spoke.  “You should get some rest now.  Kyle, I’d like you and Elizabeth to check in on her later.  Mike and I have some errands to run.  Bring her some lunch later.  AJ, we’ll see you later.”  With that everyone left AJ alone.
 
 

Later came.  And as requested, Kyle and Elizabeth brought AJ lunch and as it turned out, dinner too.  She enjoyed their company.  They didn’t ask her questions that made her feel uncomfortable.  AJ did notice that Elizabeth looked at her intently sometimes, but didn’t know why and decided it didn’t matter.

She learned that Kyle was actually fighting against his own father where the lizards were concerned.  She felt bad for him; she had lost both her parents at an early age and missed not having a daddy’s shoulder to cry on when necessary. Why did she think about that now after all these years?
 

It was late when Mike and Julie returned.

“There now,” Julie said after tending her patient.  “I think you’re a quick healer.  The wound looks a little better each time and your fever is down.  A few more days and I think you will be well enough to stop this treatment.”

“And then can I leave here?” AJ asked quietly not sure which answer she wanted, yes or no.

“Let’s just wait until you are completely well to discuss your options.  You spoke of a brother before.  Do you want us to try and find him?”

“No,” AJ answered.  “If he is still alive, I don’t ever want him to know what happened to me.  Before, when the machine worked properly, I was in the nineteenth century and had found someone who had cared for me.  ‘Traveling’ sometimes caused the severe headaches I spoke of and I had been found then by someone who helped me, just like you did.  Anyway, Jeff, my brother would have assumed that the machine malfunctioned and I was stuck back then. We knew that was a possibility.  At least he knew that I wasn’t alone and would be able to live a somewhat normal life.  If he knew I came forward into this world, he would feel guilt for the rest of his life and I don’t want to do that to him.”

“What was his involvement with the machine?” Mike asked.

“He designed and built it.  And it really was kept very hush, hush,” AJ commented.

Mike and Julie looked at this sad, wisp of a girl who seemed so sincere in everything she spoke of that they couldn’t help believing her.  It was late and sleep was needed, AJ felt drained and didn’t want to think about anything or anyone.  Mike and Julie said good night and left the room.  Their footsteps echoed down the long hall.

There were no other noises; no one else was in the hallway.  AJ closed her eyes.  It hurt.  But the pain was not physical this time.  Tears rolled down her cheeks and ran down her neck.  She knew she was truly alone tonight.
 

Morning came.  She supposed it was morning.  There were no windows where she was and the only way to gauge time was by listening for the chimes of a clock somewhere within the building.  Julie and Mike walked in after the clock had chimed six times.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Mike exclaimed.  “It’s going to be beautiful outside, maybe later you can come upstairs and get some fresh air for a change.”

AJ grinned.  “That would be wonderful.  I’m beginning to feel like a lab rat stuck in a cage, no offense.  And this lab rat needs her cage cleaned or at least herself cleaned.”

Mike grinned back at her.  “I’ll bet.  Having alley dirt and dry blood stuck in your hair can’t feel very good.”

“Julie,” AJ said.  “Do you think I could take a shower?  After all, it has been twenty years.”  She smiled, but didn’t feel funny.

Julie smiled back.  “Yeah, sure.  As soon as Mike and I get back, I’ll help you.”

“Help me?” AJ asked incredulously.  “I’ve been showering by myself for some time now.  What do you mean help me?”

“You’re still unstable on your feet from the medication plus, I don’t want you to get the bandages wet,” Julie responded.  “Wait here a minute, I’ll be right back.  I have something for you that may make you feel a little better.”  Julie left the room leaving Mike with AJ.

Mike was looking closely at her again.  Why?  He looked, Elizabeth looked, what were they looking at or for?  Had she turned green lately, turned green, don’t think about that.  Mike must have realized he was staring because he looked away and then back at her and spoke.  “I know you want a shower soon, you must not feel as though you look your best right now.”

“Look my best?” AJ asked shocked.  “I feel disgusting and want to clean up to feel better.  I’m not trying to impress anyone.  I’m not looking for a date, Mike.”

Mike shuffled his feet. “Sorry, I guess I misread you.  It’s just that I’ve noticed every time you hear footsteps you look toward the door in what looks to me like anticipation and then disappointment when they walk by.  Like you were expecting someone.”

“Expecting someone?” AJ asked.  “I don’t know anyone to expect.  Who do you think I’d be looking for?”
“Ham,” Mike said.

“Ham?” AJ asked sourly.  “I haven’t seen him since I told my ‘fairy tale’ yesterday.  I don’t think he considers me a threat anymore either because he wasn’t outside the door last night.  I think he just thinks I’m some nut case who read too much science fiction as a kid.  I haven’t heard the word ‘boo’ from him.  And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to read me.”

“Sorry,” Mike replied.  “You’re right.  Please don’t get upset, Julie will kill me.”

AJ eased up a bit.  “I’m sorry too, Mike, I think this medication does strange things to my usually charming personality.”  They both laughed softly.

Julie came back in the room.  She was carrying some clothes and to AJ’s delight a comb and best of all, a toothbrush.  “Since the clothes we found you in were pretty much ruined, I picked these up for you yesterday.  I guessed on the sizes.  After your shower you can put them on and come up stairs.  And don’t worry about Ham bothering you.  I told him to stay away from you from now on.  So, take another nap and I’ll be back soon, okay?”

With a nod AJ thanked her.  She then picked up the clothes.

She hated doing things behind peoples backs, but sometimes she did anyway.  AJ carefully walked to the doorway, no one was visible.  She closed the door and noticed there was no lock on it.  Damn.  Well, she would be quick anyway.  She was supposed to be sleeping and no one would want to disturb her. Taking the provided undergarments and a tank top into the bathroom with her, AJ very carefully got into the shower.  She was careful not to get the bandage wet and she didn’t. The bandage made it difficult to lift her arm, but still managed to wash her long hair.  It felt good to stand under the familiar feeling of water running over her face and down her body.  She needed to be quick though and shut off the water as soon as the shampoo was rinsed out.

Quickly drying herself off, she put on the bra, panties and tank top. It fit much nicer than the baggy one she had been wearing before.  The undergarments also made her feel better.  She put too much toothpaste on the toothbrush but she didn’t care.  Her mouth felt awful and she wanted to change that.  In the cupboard under the sink she found a small hair dryer.  She climbed up on the bed with her legs tucked under her and began to dry her hair.

The moment AJ turned off the dryer, she heard it.

“Boo.”

It was Ham.  He was leaning against the now opened door and though his lips were together, he was definitely smiling.

At first AJ could only stare in disbelief.  Had he said boo?  Finally her voice found her.  “How long have you been standing there?” she demanded.

“Long enough to change my mind about you being scrawny,” Ham shrugged

Her face turned hot, she knew she was blushing.  Damn him.  She hated it when anyone made her blush.  “What are you doing here?”

 “Making sure you didn’t fall in the shower,” he said closing the door.

“You watched me take a shower?”  More blushing for AJ.

“No!” Ham snapped not smiling anymore.  “I don’t get my thrills peeking through key holes.  I just heard Julie’s concern about you not being stable on your feet.”

Again AJ could only look at him.  She had nothing to say.  What could she say, there she was sitting in her underwear while this man watched her dry her hair.  Well, no sense in acting like a shy schoolgirl now.  Reaching for the shirt Julie had supplied she attempted to put it on, but the bandage catching pulled at the wound.  A short breath caught in her throat.  Ham was instantly at her side to help.

“There, and I wasn’t trying to get my hands up your shirt either,” he stated.

“Leave me alone!” she said feeling her face heat up all over again.  “I can put the rest of my clothes on myself.  And besides, Julie told me she wanted you to stay away from me. And she and Mike will be back soon.  They’re taking me outside.”

“The hell they are,” Ham grumbled.  “You don’t leave this room until I say it is safe and don’t feel you are a threat to anyone.”

Her a threat to anyone?  That was it.  She couldn’t figure this man out at all.  Hadn’t he just almost paid her a compliment about not being scrawny and he was there in a flash when the shirt caught her bandage.  Wasn’t he really smiling before?  Didn’t he want to make sure she didn’t fall in the shower?  And now he was taking on the role of self imposed keeper of Andrea J. Somers?  Well, no more.  He confused her and she hadn’t lived through as much as she had by being confused.

With total control of her emotions and much hostility AJ pointed to the door.  “Get out of this room.  Don’t come near me again or I will prove more dangerous to you than any lizard you know.”

Somewhat amused Ham didn’t move.  Then a look of shock came over his face and he started moved quickly toward her.  Thinking he was calling her bluff AJ made a muffled cry and tried to crouch away from him.  The action stopped Ham dead in his tracks, his eyes wide and confused.  He had scared her, and badly.

“Your shoulder, it’s bleeding again,” he said pointing.  “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

The mirror above the table AJ was braced against showed him her back and that the shoulder was indeed bleeding again.  She felt weak and very foolish for thinking she could have taken on this man if had been trying to harm her.  He was a good guy after all.
Ham went to the door an opened it just in time for Julie to walk in.

“Ham, I told you to stay away from her!” Julie yelled.

“It’s okay, Julie,” AJ interrupted.  “My shoulder started bleeding again and I saw him walk by so I called him in here and asked him to go find you.”

“Alright,” Julie said guiding her to the bed.  “Sit down and I’ll be right back.  If you pulled the stitches loose I’ll need my sewing kit.”  She left the room.

Ham walked close to AJ.  “Why did you say that?”

“Just call it professional courtesy,” she answered looking at the floor.

“Who are you?” Ham asked sitting so close he could tell soap she used in the shower was rose scented.

AJ said nothing.  She only looked at him trying to see inside his head as he was certainly trying doing to hers.

Julie came back into the room and noticed the tension.  “You need to remove your shirt.  There’s blood on it.  Ham, leave.”

Without a word he got up and walked out of the room. But he wouldn’t go far. Oh no, he wouldn’t go far.  He would continue to watch her.  Just to be sure.

Julie sighed and turned to AJ.  “You couldn’t wait until I got back, could you?  I’m sorry I took so long, but you shouldn’t have taken a shower alone.  You could have really hurt yourself.”

AJ wasn’t listening.  Though he had left she could almost still feel Ham sitting next to her.

“AJ, Andrea. Are you listening to me?” Julie looked a little concerned maybe AJ had hurt herself after all.

AJ came out of her dazed state.  “I’m sorry, yeah, I’m fine.  And I’m sorry I took the shower, I guess I couldn’t help myself.  Where’s Mike?  I am looking forward to getting out of this place for a while.”

By the look on Julie’s face, AJ knew that plans had changed.  Had Ham talked to them about not letting her leave?  No, he wouldn’t have had the chance. “What’s wrong?”

Julie seemed upset, but was nice in her explanation.  “You tore open your stitches, it wouldn’t be safe for you to go out now.  I told you, the lasers cause very serious injury.  And since you are still running a fever, I don’t think it would be wise for you to venture outside.”  She could see the obvious disappointment on AJ’s face and continued, “I’ll tell you what, we’re under a pretty good restaurant here and every Monday since the place is closed, we usually have some kind of party type get together.  It’s safe then for a lot of us who fight the lizards to be able to have some fun.  We eat, drink, dance, talk, you know, all the things people do when they want to have a good time.  You can come upstairs and join us.  You can meet some more of our people and it will be a safer way for you to get out of this room.  How does that sound?”

AJ nodded her head to Julie indicating that she liked the idea.

“Good,” Julie said.  “You really should get some sleep now and Mike and I will come and get you around three.”

“Thank you, Julie that sounds fine, but can we skip the painkillers?  They really do make me dizzy and I would like to be aware of what is going on around me.”  AJ said.  “And, I’ll need something else to wear.”

Julie smiled.  “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

This time AJ did take a nap.  She was tired and since she didn’t have any painkillers she needed to lie still.  It hurt if she moved too much.  She wouldn’t move too much this evening though.  Did Julie say dance?  That was a laugh.  Even her brother who had been a very good dancer cringed at the thought of dancing with his sister and her two left feet.  AJ smiled at the memory of him holding his breath when dancing with her because he knew it was a matter of time before she stepped on his toes.  Besides, whom would she dance with?  The thought of a nice slow dance tried to enter her thoughts, but she fell asleep before they reached her.
 

She woke up.  It hurt.  Now she knew why it hurt and she didn’t mind.  No painkillers meant her head would be clear and she would no longer think of things that she didn’t want to.  And the fact that she was going to get out of this little room for a while and see some new faces lifted her spirits.  AJ heard the clock down the hall chime three times and knew Julie would be in shortly.

Sure enough, Julie walked in a few minutes later and she was carrying a simple, but very pretty sundress.  Julie was also wearing a dress.  She helped AJ to dress and then opened the door to allow Mike in.  He looked at both of them, smiled and then extended a bent arm to each of them so as to escort them to a ball.

It was the first time AJ had actually been out of the room and she looked around as they led her down a long hall and through a larger room.  There was a spiral staircase in the room and Julie started to ascend it.  They walked through the kitchen and out into the main dining room of the restaurant.

Andrea J. Somers was actually having a good time, all things considered.   She had met the owner of the restaurant, Elias Taylor and his friend/assistant, Willie who apparently didn’t have a last name.  Willie seemed like a nice sort, but was a bit unsure of himself.  It amused her when he called her, ‘Miss. AJ’.  Kyle and Elizabeth were there and a girl named Robin Maxwell whom AJ thought must be Elizabeth’s sister.  And there were many other individuals present that AJ had been told were all Resistance Fighters.  Ham was not there.

Elizabeth would look over at AJ every now and then, especially when a man would walk over and ask her if she would like to dance.  Mike and Kyle had both asked her, but she politely refused claiming she felt a little weak still.  They had no idea she was saving them from broken toes.

The sound of a door crashing announced Ham Tyler had arrived.  Startled, but not surprised by his dramatic entrance all watched him scan the room.  When he found who he was looking for all realized he was focused on AJ.

He moved to the table that she shared with Mike, Kyle and Elizabeth, took a deep breath and threw two pieces of paper at her.  “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you are not AJ Somers.”

Everyone stared at him, stunned.  AJ picked up the first paper and looked at it.  It was a slightly smeared right handprint in black ink.  Mike took the paper from her and asked Ham what the idea was.

“I ran this through every system I could and absolutely nothing close came up.  The only reference to an AJ Somers is on the other paper.  And that AJ Somers has been dead and buried for twelve years.”

Mike started to say something when AJ broke in.  “It wasn’t a dream, you took my prints when I was asleep the other night!”

“Oh, you didn’t,” Mike moaned.

“Oh yes he did,” AJ corrected hotly. “That’s why I found ‘dirt’ under my nails and why I couldn’t get it off in the shower this morning.  You son of a bitch!  Well, not finding anything on me only tells me that you’re not as good as you think you are Mr. Tyler.  Oh yes, I’ve been printed, but not with my right hand.  I had an accident just before being printed and so they used my left hand.  Elias, do you have an ink pad and a piece of paper?”

Elias answered, “Yeah, but I don’t want to run any prints on you.  No one else here does either.”

“Bring them anyway, please,” AJ said.  “I’ll give you my hand, Mr. Tyler and then you can choke on the results.  I am AJ Somers, the one and only and obviously I didn’t die twelve years ago!”

“Then who did they bury in the cemetery?” Ham countered.  He gestured toward the second piece of paper on the table.  AJ picked it up and began reading.

All eyes were on Ham.  They were all looking at him as though he had just pulled the whiskers off a kitten.  Had he gone too far this time?

“You’ve gone too far this time, Tyler!” Julie shouted as though she had been reading his mind.  “You fingerprint one of my patients while under sedation?  How could you?  That’s it, you stay away from her and anyone else I’m treating.  You can’t just violate someone because you’re paranoid!”

But Ham wasn’t listening; he had been watching AJ while she read the article he’d found from files of her hometown newspaper, dated twelve years earlier.  Her brow was knotted and she had lost the color in her face.  Hadn’t he just seen her face blush when she realized he was watching her dry her hair?

Elias brought the inkpad and paper and placed it in front of AJ.  “You don’t have to do this,” he said.

AJ looked up at Elias as though she didn’t understand him at first.  Then placing her left hand on the inkpad she walked to Ham.  Eyes locked on each other she gently but firmly pressed her hand against his chest.  A moment later his white T-shirt bore the mark of that hand.

Those around gasped, yet Ham stood still and silent until AJ turned and walked towards the kitchen.  He started to follow, when Mike grabbed his arm.

“Leave her alone, Ham!” Mike growled.  “You’ve done enough for one day.  She doesn’t want anything to do with you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Gooder,” Ham said in a monotone voice.  “She was just trying to get my attention.”

With that said, Ham picked up the paper AJ had been reading, left the dining room and headed towards the kitchen, down the spiral staircase, down the long hall and to the doorway of the infirmary.
 

He watched her.  She was sitting on the bed with her back to the door clutching the pillow in her arms.  He watched.  Maybe they were right, he really did go too far.  That night he thought to take her prints in the first place—he had watched her then too.

But then she had been asleep as he watched her.  Even with dried blood in her hair, she looked good.  He had brushed the hair off her forehead and thought it would be dirty blonde in color once cleaned.  And when she was recovered she would have color in her cheeks and she would be even prettier.  But pretty was not important, too many pretty dangerous faces in the world.  He needed to find something about this girl to make her go away.  She was special.  He wanted her gone.  Why?  He had no answer.

So that night as she slept he had carefully taken her handprint.  He cleaned the ink away except for the small amount that got under her fingernail.  He would run the prints and find something on her to get rid of her.  Why?  Again, he had no answer.

Well, now Ham had found something.  AJ couldn’t have been who she said if that AJ Somers was dead.  But now he didn’t know if he wanted her to leave.  Really leave.  And what did she mean she wanted him to run the prints again only using her left hand.  Could he be proved wrong?  Was it possible she was telling the truth?  He would have to find out.

He walked to the bed and sat next to her handing her a paper. “What did you read in this that upset you?”

Her hand shook and she spoke so softly that Ham had to lean into her, but she did answer.

“It said that Andrea was buried next to her parents and brother.  My brother is dead.  I am alone here.”

Damn, how could he have missed that, she’d spoken of her brother, Jeffery Andrew Somers—JAS on the ring.  The article did say brother.  Ham felt a chill run up his back.  If this girl were an imposter who had assumed AJ Somers’ identity, why would the mention of a dead brother upset her?  Maybe she wasn’t an imposter?  She was telling the truth.  He knew that now, but his mind wouldn’t let him accept it.  People could not travel through the portals of time.  It was not possible.  Was it?

One tear fell, hitting the paper AJ held in her left hand.  Ham’s attention was drawn to the paper and he noticed black ink smudged on it.  The ink from her hand, the ink on his shirt.  Not knowing what he should say to her, he reached for and took her hand in his.  Startled, AJ looked at him.  Ham gently turned her hand over to reveal the ink.

He spoke softly.  “You better wash that off before you get it all over yourself.  Or me again.”

AJ’s eyes dropped from his face down to his shirt where the handprint stared boldly at her.  Unable to hold in a smile she looked back at him.  Then they both laughed.  He still had hold of her hand.

“Um, excuse me,” a little voice came from behind.  They turned to see Elizabeth standing in the doorway.  Ham let go of AJ’s hand.  Elizabeth continued, “Mike wants you upstairs right away.  Both of you.”

AJ looked at her hand and then said, “I’ll be right up, I’m just going to clean this off.”

When AJ disappeared into the bathroom Ham turned to Elizabeth and motioned with his head that she should go on upstairs by herself.  In understanding she smiled broadly, turned and walked out.  Why did she smile that way, Ham thought.

Emerging from the bathroom, AJ stopped in surprised at seeing Ham still in the room.  He walked over to her and took her hand into his as if to inspect how clean she had gotten it.  The dirt under her fingernails made him smile.  While still holding her hand, he led her down the hallway.
 

As soon as they walked through the door and into the kitchen, Ham let go of her hand. Mike, Julie, Kyle and Elizabeth were waiting for them.  Something was wrong—dead wrong.

 “What?” Ham questioned true to form.

Mike handed him a piece of paper.  Not more papers AJ thought.  She watched as Ham’s face seemed to pale.  She stepped closer to him to look at the paper.  Shock, fear and total disbelief.  It was a picture of her with the word WANTED above it.  Actually, it was a drawing, but it looked enough like her for her to be recognized as the same person.

“What the hell is this?” Ham asked impatiently.  “Is this your idea of a joke, Gooder?  It isn’t funny.”  But he knew by the look on their faces that the wanted poster was authentic.

“Kyle and I were starting to take a walk just now,” Elizabeth explained.  “We went down the alley where AJ said she first encountered Charles.  There were several of these posted all over it.  And then we came back here a different way and saw even more of them.  We tried to tear as many down as we could.”  Elizabeth looked very upset.

Ham read the rest of the flyer then looked up at AJ.  “It says you’re wanted in connection with the death of Charles’ nephew, Rodney.  Jeez, there’s a ten thousand-dollar reward out for you.  Did you really kill this lizard?” he asked almost smiling.

AJ just looked at him for a moment.  “Did I kill anyone?  No!  I’ve never killed anyone.  What are they talking about?  I don’t understand.  Why would this Charles want me?  I’ve never even heard of him.”

“Well, apparently you made quite an impression on him, sweetheart,” Ham said almost sarcastically.  “And what do you mean you never killed anyone?  You worked for the Company, didn’t you?”

“I never said where I worked, but I was definitely in a different Department than you, Mr. Tyler!” AJ shouted.  “And you don’t have to be a killer to be good at what you do!”  She had said that a little nastier than she had intended, but she was scared.  Really scared.  This Charles Lizard King wanted her and from the details on the drawing, he must have spent a long time looking at her that night in the alley before she woke up.

“AJ,” Julie spoke up.  “Are you sure you didn’t accidentally hurt one of them when you were running?”

“No!” AJ cried.  “I told you, I heard the one I now know as Charles call to someone else “hold your fire”.  They shot me first.  I don’t know what happened after that.  Charles wanted me unharmed.  If his nephew was shot it was by someone else, I didn’t have a weapon, remember?  If I had, I would have shot Charles and probably Mr. Tyler here as well.”

Ham raised his eyebrows at that comment. “I thought you couldn’t kill anyone.  Alright, what are we going to do about this?  Even if we remove all the posters from the area, who knows how many others might be out there and how many people already saw it.”

“We have another problem besides the posters,” Mike said.  “All those people out there in the restaurant.  They saw AJ tonight.  We know a lot of them, but many come with friends and we don’t know everyone.  Ten thousand-dollars is a lot of convincing to turn someone in.”

Oh, what a good night to see the world outside the little room AJ moaned inwardly and walked to the sink.  She was shaking and wanted the warmth of the water to calm her.  Moving beside her Kyle turned off the water, picked up a towel and dried AJ’s shaking hands.  Everyone was silent.

“AJ,” Julie started.  “I’m afraid it isn’t safe for you here now.”

“I know,” AJ said.  “It’s okay, don’t feel bad.  You helped me and now I’ll help you by leaving.”

“No!” Mike piped in. “We’re not asking you to leave.  You’re still too weak and could never defend yourself.  We were thinking of a safe house.  You go there for a while and then when things calm down here, you can come back or then leave if you want.”

“What safe house?” Ham questioned.  “The last one we had was ambushed and destroyed.”

Oh that was encouraging, AJ thought.  Stay here and be sold to the highest bidder or go to a safe house and wait to be ambushed.  She felt sick.

Mike continued.  “We were thinking of your place, Ham, up in the mountains.  It’s cold up there this time of year and the Red Dust will be working.  She can recover and take the time to learn about the lizards so she won’t be so uninformed when she comes back.”

“Fine with me,” Ham agreed.

 He threw the keys to Mike then caught them by reflex when Mike threw them right back.

“It’s your cabin,” Mike nearly grinned.

“No way,” Ham and AJ said as the realization of Mike’s meaning hit home

“Look,” Ham went on, “she needs a safe place, fine, be my guest, use my cabin.  But I am not going up there to baby-sit.  There’s too much to do around here.  Let someone else take her.” And, his mind suddenly raged without permission, ‘I can’t possibly be alone with her in that small cabin—don’t do this to me, Gooder.’

“Are you kidding?” Mike countered oblivious to Ham’s inner turmoil.  “With all the traps you’ve set up there?  Anyone else would be dead in five minutes.  Besides, there isn’t anything that needs doing around here that someone else can’t do in your place for a while.  You’re not that indispensable, Ham.”

Kyle spoke up.  He didn’t think Ham was the best choice to keep a watchful eye on AJ either.  “I don’t trust Ham anyway.  Who’s to say that he wouldn’t drive her into the middle of nowhere and leave there?  He’s made it clear he doesn’t trust her.”

“Kyle!” Elizabeth had joined the conversation.  “Ham wouldn’t do that.  He has too much honor.”

“Honor?” Kyle laughed.

“I don’t like the idea much myself, Mike,” AJ spoke up from a chair in the corner of the kitchen.  Oh, she didn’t like the idea.  Her mind too had taken on its own life and suddenly the thought of being alone with this man with no distractions was far more frightening than anything the lizards could do to her.

Mike walked over to her and knelt down. “He’s not going to hurt you, AJ.  He’s mean and dangerous, but I trust him.”  Turning around he looked at Ham.  “Do you promise not to do anything to her?”

Ham answered Mike, but was looking at AJ as he did.  “Not unless she makes a move on me first.”

With a nod Mike turned back to AJ.  “There, you see, he won’t…”

What kind of an answer was that Mike thought?  He turned again to look at Ham, but his look was not returned.  Ham was still looking at AJ.  And AJ was looking right back at Ham.

Sensing this was a good time to interrupt, Julie did just that.  “Ham, you’re going to have to learn how to change the bandages and give her the medication and painkiller.  Both of you come downstairs with me now and I’ll give you instructions.”

Julie disappeared through the door and Ham followed.  AJ stayed seated in front of Mike a few moments.  She looked into his eyes.  Was he smiling?  She got up and slowly walked towards the door.  Now she was really scared.  And it wasn’t because of the lizards.

Mike stood just as Elias and Willie walked into the kitchen from the restaurant dining room.

“You show them the picture?” Elias asked Mike.

“Yeah.  She’s scared,” Mike said.  “Ham’s taking her up to his place to use as a safe house.”

“Is that wise?” Elias asked.  “No wonder she’s scared.  I mean, he doesn’t exactly act like he trusts the girl.”

“I agree,” Kyle added.  “I think someone else should at least go along.”

“Kyle,” Elizabeth said.  “Ham isn’t going to hurt her.  In fact, I think he’s a little afraid of her.  I think they are afraid of each other.”

“Afraid?” Elias asked unbelieving.  He’d seen Ham do too many things over the years to think that he would be afraid of one helpless little girl with a laser blast in her shoulder.

“What do you mean, Elizabeth?”  Willie joined the conversation.

Elizabeth continued, “When I went downstairs just now, to bring them up here, it looked like they were holding hands.  At least it looked like Ham was holding her hand.  He let go of it when he heard me come in the room.”

“He was probably trying to take her fingerprints again,” Kyle added in a snide manner.  “Don’t worry, Elizabeth, I don’t really think he would drive her to the middle of nowhere and leave her for the vultures, but I still don’t think she should be up there alone either.  Maybe Julie should go incase she needs care.”

“Kyle,” Elizabeth snapped. “You don’t understand what I mean.  I think they are afraid to be alone together!”

“Why?” Kyle asked.

“Kyle,” Mike chimed in.  “Sometimes I truly wonder about you.  Are you really that dense?  Can’t you put two and two together?  Sparks have been flying between those two since Ham found her in the alley the other night.  Think about it!”

It sunk in.  Kyle moaned. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me.  Why would a girl like her be attracted to someone like him?”

“I think you’re right, Elizabeth,” Elias said.  “That would explain his more than usual foul mood lately.  Something’s been bugging him.  Or someone.”

“Mr. Ham and Miss. AJ,” Willie said quietly.  “That is an interesting consummation.”

Four sets of wide eyes looked at Willie. Trying not to laugh out loud, Mike said, “I think you mean ‘combination’ Willie.”

“Yes,” Willie nodded his head.  “Combination.”

On the other hand, Mike mused.  Maybe Willie had the right word the first time.
 

AJ walked back to the infirmary very slowly. Even with everything she had learned over the years both from her brother and from working in the different Department of that Company, she did not know what to do next.

Elizabeth had been right.  There were men who had shown interest in her.  She had even dated one or two a few times.  But there had never been anyone special.  No one that she thought of to the point of distraction.  With the work she did, it had been hard to get close to people anyway.

She stepped into the room without making a sound.  Their backs were to her.  Ham had changed his shirt and was now wearing a black turtleneck sweater.  She noticed the shirt with her handprint on it was lying on the bed folded.  She looked at Ham’s back.  He had broad shoulders.  And strong arms, she knew that from the times he had kept her from trying to get away. A little sigh escaped her and Ham and Julie turned around.

“Good, you’re here,” Julie said.  “It’s close enough now to the time you would need the bandage changed and your medication, so let’s do it now and I can instruct Ham on what he needs to do to you.  You can’t be concerned with modesty, AJ.  The bandage can’t be changed if you’re wearing a shirt with sleeves.  Either wear a tank top or if you are wearing a regular shirt, take it off.  Ham can work around your bra.”

I’ll bet he can AJ thought wickedly.  Oh, this wasn’t going to work.  Just shoot me and let’s be done with it so I don’t have to go through all this agony you want to put me through.

“Here,” Julie said giving AJ a pair of jeans, a tank top and a sweatshirt.  You can wear these on the drive up.  It’s cold up there.  “But before you put on the sweatshirt, come out here and let me show Ham what to do.”

Obediently, AJ turned and walked into the bathroom to change from the pretty little sundress she started this lovely afternoon in, to the jeans and tank top, so this man could learn what to do to her.  Well, he had already seen her in her underwear once.  Wasn’t that just this morning too?  How could so much have happened to her in one day.  But then she thought look how much has happened in twenty years.

Ham was quiet.  Too quiet Julie thought.  Was Mike right about him?  She had laughed at first when Mike told her what he thought, but this Ham was acting very differently than the other Ham she knew.  That Ham wouldn’t have spent more than five minutes with an injured person that had been brought in.  She knew that from experience.  But this Ham had spent almost every minute near this particular injured person.  Still, she had given up long ago trying to figure out this man.  If he had any kind of life outside their little world of resistance fighting, she never knew anything about it.  His friend Chris Faber was the only other person she knew of that Ham ever associated with and Chris had been away setting up a camp in Montana.

Julie was still staring at Ham when AJ opened the bathroom door and walked to the bed to sit down.  Ham sat down to the left of her.  She flashed a quick glance at him.  He was fumbling with the syringe.  She hated injections and he didn’t seem too sure of himself.

He looked up at her and smiled slightly.  “I’ll try not to stick you too many times with this.”

“I appreciate that,” AJ answered.  She too had a slight smile on her lips.  Then she bit her lower lip and turned her back to him.  She felt the needle, but held still.

AJ sat quietly while Julie guided Ham through the proper way to apply the topical medicine and then the bandage.  All this done, Julie then handed AJ two of the painkiller tablets she had been popping so much lately.

“Do I have to take these?” AJ asked almost in a whine.  “They really make me dizzy.”

“Yes,” Julie said sternly. “It’s a long and bumpy drive up to Ham’s place and you’ll be in severe pain without them.”

With no more objections AJ swallowed the tablets.

“And one more thing,” Julie said in a very determined voice. “Even if it drives you crazy, no shower for at least twenty four hours.  If you tear those stitches again, I won’t be there to help you and I doubt if Ham wants to practice his sewing abilities on you.”

“Don’t worry,” Ham assured. “She won’t be taking another shower alone while I’m around.”

He didn’t realize how that had sounded at first, then all three of them laughed.  Really laughed.

“Okay,” Ham said.  “Get your stuff together, we’re leaving.”

“Right now?” AJ asked. “I thought we would leave in the morning.”

“Too many people saw you tonight,” Ham stated.  “Getting you out of the city as soon as possible is our best chance.  It takes about two hours to get there we can be there by midnight.  Let’s move!”
 

Julie had packed a small bag containing more clothes and some literature about the Visitor’s for AJ to read.  Since it was mid-October and just starting to get chilly, Elizabeth provided AJ with one of her warm jackets.

Everything was all set.  They had food, clothes and blankets.  Everything they needed to survive in a mountain retreat.  Everything, but courage they both lacked that.  They each seemed to have the same fears running through their heads yet neither of them knew it.

Mike and Julie escorted Ham and AJ to the alley where Ham’s small pick-up truck was warming up.  Ham opened the passenger door for AJ to get in.  She turned and gave both Julie and Mike a hug and thanked them for all they had done for her. Once inside the truck Ham handed AJ the seatbelt.

“You have your walkie-talkie?” Mike asked Ham.  “You call if there is any hint of trouble, got it?”

“Gee, Gooder,” Ham grinned without humor.  “How’d I get along without you before?  Yeah, I have everything I need.  I don’t like this, if we get pulled over, she’s history you know that.”

“You won’t,” Julie said Ham.  “Just drive carefully so she doesn’t hurt too much.  And remember her next dose of medication and all should be at five or as close to it as you can.  Okay?”

Ham acknowledged Julie’s instructions.  Mike extended his had out to Ham and wished them luck. Ham got into the truck and looked over at this AJ.  He wondered what he was getting himself in to; he really didn’t want to go away with her.  She’s dangerous.  The lizards were after her.  More than that, the king lizard was after her.  She was dangerous he could lose his life on this one.  Or worse yet.  He could lose his heart.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Would it matter if I said no?”

“Nope, not a bit.” Ham answered.

His attention drawn back to business he drove slowly out of the alley and down the quiet street.  It was after all past curfew.
 
 

THE RIDE UP
 

After riding in silence for the past two hours, the sudden blast from a tire blowing out startled them both.  Ham struggled to control the truck and did fairly well until he hit a rut in the road.  The truck swerved and hit a fallen tree.  It hit gently though and they were only tossed forward a little.  The seatbelts did their job.

“Damn it!” Ham shouted.  “We’re almost there!”  Obviously angry, he hit the dashboard causing AJ to flinch and drawing his attention to her.  “Are you alright?  Did you get hurt?  Is your shoulder okay?”

“I’m okay,” she said in a somewhat shaky voice.  Her shoulder did hurt, but she wasn’t going to tell him that, he was too upset already.

They sat silent for a couple minutes and then AJ asked, “What do we do now?”

“Well,” Ham said smoothly.  “We wait.  We wait until it gets light enough out and we hike the rest of the way.  It’s only about another mile.  It’s a good thing we aren’t a date or you would be home way past your curfew.  Then I suppose your brother would banish me to another time.”

 “Hike?” she asked ignoring his remark.  Panic set in.  Someone might find them.  “Ham, with all the painkillers Julie’s pumped into me I can barely walk let alone hike up a mountain.”

“You don’t think I know that?  I wasn’t planning on loading you with a full pack.  I’ll help you.”

“I’m sorry,” AJ muttered.  “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“Ha!” Ham growled.  “Sweetheart, you have to have feelings in order to have them hurt.”

Chills ran through AJ.  What did that mean?  Her stomach hurt.  She seemed to have a knack for upsetting him.  But he did the same to her, didn’t he?  She was getting more fearful.  Maybe she should try her luck at getting out of this mess with the lizards.  Ham was mad she knew that.  He hadn’t wanted to be here in the first place, he had made that clear with his babysitting remark.  And now his truck was wrecked.  But she knew she wouldn’t be able to leave.  Both physically and emotionally she was drained.  She looked over at him, but he was deep in thought staring out the side window.

“Don’t you ever get afraid?” she wondered aloud.

Startled by her small voice he sighed.  He hated it when people asked him this question.  Finally he answered.  “Afraid is the wrong word.  I am cautious so as not to die.  I try to defeat my enemy.  But to actually be afraid of one thing, I got past that a long time ago.  It doesn’t change anything to be afraid and it can be dangerous.”  He looked away.

Well, she was afraid and after a little more silence in the dark, AJ had one more question running through her mind.  “What if they catch me?”

Since he was still angry with himself and the situation they were now in, Ham’s first reaction was to answer her by saying that if the lizards did find them then at least he would be relieved of babysitting duties.  But when he turned again to look at her he saw the beginning of tears in her eyes and pure fear on her face.  He changed his attitude and his answer.

“Don’t worry,” he said softly.  “I would shoot you before I’d let them get their hands on you.”

He meant it. And she knew he meant it and somehow it made her feel a little better.

Ham broke the silence.  “Look, it’s a while until it’ll be light enough to walk.  We may as well try and get some sleep.”  He tossed a blanket to her.

“I’m too cold to sleep,” AJ moaned.  “Don’t you have heat in this thing?”

“Yeah, but I lost it when we hit the tree!”  He was cold too and that made him angry. “Alright, scoot over here and we’ll share the blanket and body heat like they do in the movies.”

She looked at him to see if he was kidding, but he was serious.  So as he phrased it, she ‘scooted’ over next to him.  Since it was her left shoulder that was injured, she swung around and though still seated on the bench seat of the truck, she now had her back to the steering wheel and was closely facing him.

They looked at each other in silence only a moment before AJ rested her head on Ham’s shoulder.  Then with a directness Ham would normally admire, AJ made a simple request, which brought the ever pragmatic, Ham Tyler to his knees:  “Please don’t make me fall in love with you.”

Her head against his shoulder, Ham sat motionless.  Shocked, cold and not knowing if he had heard her correctly, he stared out the window. A smile slowly appeared on his face and he had only one thought running through his mind.  He was very glad this truck did not have bucket seats.  Then it hit him.  ‘Now’ he was afraid.
 

Sometime during the night it had started to snow.  A branch heavy from the weight of it snapped off and fell onto the hood of the pick-up truck.  The noise instantly woke both of them.  They looked at each other a little confused at first as though they didn’t know where they were or why.  Then AJ moved over to the passenger side of the truck.  It was still very early, but it was just beginning to get light outside.  It hadn’t been snowing very long so there was only about three inches on the ground.  Still, it would be slippery.

“Snow, just what we needed,” Ham hissed under his breath.  “Are you at all dizzy?”

“No, I’ll be okay.  I used to live where it snowed a lot, I’ll be fine.”  AJ tried to sound convincing, but she was in pain.  Sleeping in an upright position and the fact that the painkillers had worn off were causing her shoulder to scream.  Nevertheless, she was determined not to cause any trouble.

Ham grabbed the gear and extended his hand indicating for AJ to slide across the seat and get out of the truck on his side.  She did.  He noticed a small frown on her face and knew that her shoulder must be giving her trouble.  It was past the time for her medication too.  They would have to make good time getting to the cabin.  Ham pulled his backpack around and up onto his back.  Then he took her hand and they started slowly up the road towards his cabin.

The walk up to the cabin took longer than it should have because of the snow and AJ’s inability to walk faster, but except for a couple slips on a protruding rock or two, they made it to the cabin without incident.

As they approached the building, AJ was surprised to see that it was really very charming.  Secretly she expected a rope bridge over a ravine to a structure suspended on the side of a mountain.  But this place was nice.  It had a small covered porch that ran along the front and a window on each side of the door.  Probably the only door she thought.  They climbed the three steps up to the porch and Ham let go of her hand.  He took out his keys, opened the door and they stepped inside.

“Wait here,” he ordered.  “This place doesn’t have electricity other than what the generator provides.  I’ll go fire it up.”

AJ looked around as best she could.  The sun was just starting to peek through the trees.  It was a small one-room cabin. The first thing that came to her mind was her relief that there weren’t any dead animal heads on the walls staring down at her.  She kept looking, there was a small two burner stove, a sink, a table with two chairs, a small couch and a bed.  There were also two doors, which she assumed were to a closet and bathroom.  She sat down on the couch and waited for Ham to come back inside.

In a few minutes she heard the sound of the generator and Ham appeared shortly afterwards.  He flicked the light switch that was near the door and a small lamp next to the couch came on.  He grinned.  “Good. I was wondering on the way up here if there were any light bulbs in this thing.  Okay, we need to get that bandage changed and all that other stuff done too.”

AJ took off her jacket and carefully lifted the sweatshirt over her head.  She stayed seated on the couch and Ham sat next to her.  He replaced the bandage and gave her another injection.  This time his hands weren’t shaking and the needle didn’t hurt.  He stood, walked over to the sink and ran some water.  At least the place had running water she mused.  Ham brought back a glass of water, handed it to her and instructed her to take her painkillers.  No need for convincing this time, AJ hurt.

“Now,” Ham said still standing in front of AJ.  “You lay down and take it easy.  I’m gonna to look around the area and make sure no one’s been up her lately.”  He reached in the backpack and took out a small gun.  “You do know how to use one of these don’t you?”  She nodded.  “Good.  Lock the door behind me and if anyone but me comes through it, shoot them.”  Then he added with a slight smile, “And AJ…kill them.”

She too smiled; it was the first time he’d said her name on a personal level.  “How long will you be gone?”

“Only an hour or so. The sun’s up and I’ll have no trouble looking around.  Go on, lie down and go to sleep.”  He paused a moment, then turned and walked out of the cabin.

AJ hated doing things behind people’s backs, but sometimes she did anyway.  She knew how to avoid tearing her stitches in a shower this time.  Before, the painkillers hadn’t told her not to stretch too much.  Now, if she took a shower before they took effect, she wouldn’t damage to her shoulder.  She knew Ham would be mad about her taking a shower in the first place, but she couldn’t help it.  Once she was done, what could he do about it anyway?

She opened the door and stepped into the bathroom.  It too was small.  There was one towel over a small bar.  That’s all she needed.  She ran the water and realized that it wasn’t getting any warmer.  The generator hadn’t been running long enough for the water heater to adequately heat up.  She stepped in and at once shivered but continued her shower.

Shower done, she put on a clean tank top and panties and climbed into bed.  The pills were starting to take effect now.  It was seven-thirty.
 

With her eyes still closed, AJ woke up.  She started to stretch and stopped suddenly when it hurt.  It shouldn’t have hurt; she had just taken the painkillers.  Maybe she had done more damage when she took the shower.  Well, no matter, she would just take it easy and not move around too much.  Ham would be back soon and she didn’t want him to know she hurt herself again.

Opening her eyes she looked around the room again.  Maybe there were no dead animals on the walls, but except for a couple of coat hooks and a clock there was nothing else either.  Most notably there were no pictures.  She hadn’t asked anyone about Ham’s personal life, but certainly there must have been someone worth having a picture of.

She lie there a few more minutes thinking how nice the place must be in the spring when it wouldn’t be so cold and the sun would be brighter.  Brighter, the sun was just coming up when she decided to rest her eyes.  It should be brighter in there now she thought.  Her eyes darted back at the clock.  It was five-thirty—in the afternoon.  She had slept for ten hours.  Where was Ham?

AJ had just finished putting on the rest of her clothes when she heard a noise on the porch.  She picked up the gun.  Terror filled her, but she stood steady.

“Don’t shoot me, Spitfire.”  It was Ham.

She opened the door and Ham nearly fell inside.  His forehead had blood on it and he was soaking wet.  AJ flung her arms around him and held tight.  Ham stumbled a little and then returned her hug.

“I woke up and it was dark.  I thought they got you.”  AJ was breathless and almost crying.  She hadn’t noticed he called her Spitfire.

Ham sat down in one of the chairs at the table.  “Yeah, well sorry, I was looking around and stepped on what I thought was the ground.  It was a small pond and I fell through the ice.  I knocked myself out and I just woke up a little while ago.  I’m freezing.  Are you alright?”

Was she alright?  With what he had just gone through he wanted to know if she was alright?

“Yes, I’m fine,” she told him.  “But you need to get out of those wet clothes before you freeze to death.  Go take a hot shower and warm up.  If you’ve got any cans of soup around here, I’ll heat some up.”

Ham gestured towards the cupboard above the sink then he stood and walked unsteadily into the bathroom.

AJ found the soup and a small saucepan.  Everything in this place seemed to be small.  Standing in front of the stove AJ nearly jumped when Ham’s voice sounded so close behind she felt his breath against her neck.

“Andrea.”

‘Andrea?’ She thought and turned to look at him.

“I haven’t been up to this place in four months.  And yet the towel and shower seem to be wet.”

She’d been caught.  She looked up at him with a sheepish grin and was more than relieved to see that it was returned.  Without another word, Ham returned to the bathroom and AJ heard the shower running.

Ham came out of the bathroom wearing a black sweatshirt and sweatpants and his feet were bare.  He sat at the table and though her back was to him AJ could feel him watching.  She poured the soup into two cups and put a spoon in each.  When she placed the cup in front of Ham she saw him smile and knew he was thinking about the remark he had made when Elizabeth had brought her soup the other day.  AJ also smiled and then sat down at the table.  They ate in silence.

With the soup gone, AJ took the cups to the sink then ran a towel under the faucet.  She walked over to Ham and placed it on his forehead.  Not surprising he took it away from her.

“I’m fine, but it is way passed time for your medicine,” he said pointing to the bed.  “Go sit down and let me change that bandage.”

As directed AJ moved to the bed and removed her sweater.

“You know,” Ham said gathering the bandages, “Julie’s gonna skin us both if she finds out you went against her orders and took a shower.”

“Are you going to tell on me?” AJ quipped.

“Maybe.  Do you always do the opposite of what people tell you, Miss Somers?”

“That all depends on who’s doing the telling, Mr. Tyler.”

I’ll bet it does Ham mused.  He also knew he didn’t like not knowing if this young woman was playing games.  Her time travel explanation still didn’t wash with him, yet something told him she at least thought her tale was true.  Maybe she’d been brainwashed or, worse—converted.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said finally.  “I won’t tell Julie about your shower if you’ll tell me who you are.”

“I’ve already told you who I am, Mr. Tyler,” AJ turned to face him.  “I’m who and what I said I was.”

“A time traveler?” Ham shook his head, “Uh uh, no way I’m believing that story.  However, the others seem to want to, so I’ll let that lie for the time being.  What I want to know is who you became after you were…”

“Caught?” she asked sharply.  “Nice try, Mr. Tyler, but I don’t fool that easily.  The ‘they’ you’re thinking of never caught me because like you I’m good at what I do.”  She paused briefly then pulled her brown eyes to lock on to his.  “You wanna know something funny?  I think it’s because I am like you that I want you to believe me.  As you just said, the others believe or want to, but it’s your opinion I actually think I need most.”

The comment surprised Ham.  “Fear’ll do that.”

“They don’t fear you, they respect you.  A few of them even like you.  And don’t tell me you don’t know that.”

Again Ham was taken by surprise.  Not so much by what she had just said, but by how she said it.  She saw things he didn’t want seen.  The cat and mouse game had two cats it seemed.  Then he reconsidered at the memory of her plea not to make her fall in love with him.  Maybe there was only one cat after all.  And for the first time in his life it wasn’t him.  It was time to change that.

“We’re getting nowhere,” he sighed.  “What the others think or want to think is their business.  Getting you healed and outta here is mine.  You’ve already pointed out it doesn’t matter whether I believe you or not, so I’ll tell you what; I’ll believe you believe.”

In response AJ nodded and turned around, then Ham heard her shakily whisper, “Healed and outta here.”

He no longer felt like the cat in this game, or the mouse.   In fact, he longer felt it was a game at all; it was survival.  And if she didn’t gain control, she wouldn’t survive.  Right now Ham was the stronger of the two, so right now he was in control.  With a rare humor he knew how to restore her control.

“You know,” he said pulling down the sleeve of her tank top to reveal the wound.  “You should be glad you were shot in the back.”

Understandably confused, AJ turned around. “Why?”

“You could have been shot in the front,” he said with a glint in his eye.

The rare humor understood and maybe even appreciated, AJ blushed and turned back around.  If she hadn’t she would have seen an even rarer Ham Tyler smile.  It faded quickly though when he again pulled the sleeve of her shirt.

Maybe it was the lighting in the cabin or maybe because Julie wasn’t there watching him change the bandage, but as Ham was removing the old bandage, something caught his eye.

The small white line of a scar was visible on AJ’s left shoulder. He had seen it before, but now he thought he saw another peeking just above the shirt’s scoop neck.  He tried to determine if it really was another scar, but couldn’t without actually touching it.  He continued to change the bandage.  As always, AJ held still during the procedure, she never said anything, but he knew it must hurt.

Curiosity finally got the best of Ham and he gently ran his fingertips over the tank top across her back.  He felt her body tense, but that was all, she didn’t move.  Then with one finger, he pulled down on the top of the shirt and was horrified.

Not one, but many white scar lines were present.  He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like they were whip marks.  That couldn’t be right, he thought.  He then carefully took hold of the bottom of her shirt and lifted it to reveal most of her back.  It was covered with even larger scars. His stomach wrenched. These were old scars too.  Someone had done this to her probably before she reached her eighteenth birthday. If she had been facing him, AJ would have seen that jaw twitch of his moving more rapidly than she ever witnessed.

“Who did this to you?” he managed to ask in a hoarse whisper.  What kind of individual could do such a thing to this small and seemingly gentle girl sitting next to him?

AJ kept her back to Ham.  Her voice was very soft.  “Please, don’t.”

In answer to her pathetic plea he pulled the top back down.  His hands were shaking, he was angry, no, more than angry.  He was filled with rage.  Almost without touching her, he turned her around to face him. The front of her shirt was spotted.  She had tears streaming down her face. She cried without sound, he thought.

Using soft fingertips, Ham lifted her chin so that she was now looking at him. “Where is the person who did this to you?”  She tried to lower her head again, but he wouldn’t let her.  Again he asked, “Who did this to you?  Where is he now?”  She wouldn’t answer.

After about a minute of holding her chin up, he let go.  To his surprise she kept her head up.  Finally she spoke.  “I don’t…won’t talk about this, not to anyone.  I never have.  Only two other people know about this.  The one who did it and my brother who found and treated me; he was doctor, my brother did I tell you that?  All I will tell you is that it happened in the line of duty.”

Line of duty?  What did she mean by that?  Surely she wasn’t working on Company business at eighteen years of age.  Still, he remembered she had told Elizabeth that she’d had a very different teenage life.  Sheltered was the word she had used.  Who was this she?

He lowered his head, whatever had happened to her, he’d let her keep it to herself.

Lost in thought Ham nearly jumped when AJ raised her hand, touching the side of his face.  Fire, he thought, she’s burning my skin.

“You’re burning up!”  AJ said surprising him.  “You need to take something to bring down your temperature.”

All the medicine in the world wouldn’t accomplish that my little spitfire his mind raged.

Oblivious to his thoughts AJ stood. “Do you have any aspirin?” He gestured once again to the cupboard above the sink.  She took two tablets out of the bottle, filled a glass with water and brought them over to him.  “Poetic justice, don’t you think?  Now I get to treat you.”  She tried to smile. “You need to get some sleep, Ham or you’ll end up with pneumonia.”

It was the first time she’d called him anything but Mr. Tyler.  And now she seemed concerned about him. He wasn’t strong enough for this. This is why he had fought against being there in the first place.  Like it or not she was driving him crazy.  He wanted her.  Ignoring what he wanted he nodded that she was right about getting some sleep.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said. “It’s early, but I am tired.  You take the bed, I’ll take the couch.”

AJ agreed by lying down while Ham moved to the couch.  He turned off the light.  It was dark, but after a few seconds the moonlight reflecting off the snow illuminated the inside of the cabin.

Propped up on her elbows AJ watched Ham remove his sweatshirt then just as he was about to lie down a thought occurred to her.

“Don’t sleep there.”  Oh god, had she said that out loud?

Ham froze. That was the second thing she’d said to him that he wondered if he had heard correctly.  He could see that she was sitting up and looking in his direction.  The light was reflecting off her hair, just like the night he’d found her.

Very slowly he moved to the bed and stood for what seem like an eternity before again very slowly he sat down.  His hands placed one on each side of her he leaned close and in a careful whisper asked,  “Are you making a move on me first?”

Silence.  Then, almost in slow motion they moved toward each other and did what each had been had wanting to do forever, they kissed.

Ham leaned back slightly to look at her.  Raising her hand, AJ gently ran her fingers over the scar on his face.  He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them up back up.  She was smiling at him and again he kissed her. Then he leaned forward and softly pushed her back against the pillow. They no longer cared about the world around them.
 

The wind was blowing and crackling.  AJ tried to turn over and regretted it.  Her shoulder was on fire. She hadn’t taken any painkillers since they first arrived at the cabin nearly twenty-four hours ago.  How could she have forgotten to take them, then she remembered that Ham had been touching the scars on her back.  Lightly stroking his fingers over them.  It was no wonder she hadn’t been thinking of popping pills.

Lying on her back with Ham’s arm draped across her stomach she didn’t want to move, but she needed a pill if she was ever going to get back to sleep.  She thought of Ham and reconsidered sleeping at all.  But she still needed the painkiller.

Slowly she slid from under Ham’s arm and got out of the bed.  She wondered what time it was and if it was snowing again.  When AJ pulled the shade back from the window she heard another gust of the wind along with the crackle sound.  Something’s wrong.  No, everything in the world finally seemed good.  Something’s wrong she thought again.  She looked out the window a little longer and then it occurred to her.  There was no wind outside at all.  Then what was she hearing?  It sounded like the wind, but what was the crackle.  Then AJ knew what was wrong—she smelled smoke.

“Ham!” she screamed.  “Ham, something’s on fire!”

He was still half-asleep and lazily replied, “Yeah, I know, it’s us.”

“Ham!” she screamed again.

This time she had his full attention.  Something was burning.  He didn’t see anything though.  Then fear appeared on his face.  He grabbed AJ’s clothes and shoved them at her.

“Get outta here!” he shouted pulling on his pants.  “Run as far away from the cabin as you can.  Run!”

“Why?  What’s wrong?  Come with me!”  AJ was terrified.

“Run!” Ham shouted again and pushed her roughly towards the door.

This time AJ didn’t fight back.  She opened the door and ran.  The snow was cold on her bare feet but she ran about a hundred yards before stopping to turn around.  She still couldn’t see anything wrong with the cabin.  Where was Ham?  She was freezing.  She had lost her sweater somewhere, but put on her pants, tank top and the jacket Elizabeth had given her.  She had dropped her shoes when she jumped from the porch.  They were lying in the snow near the steps.  Nothing was happening.  Where was Ham?  He knew something was terribly wrong, but what?  She couldn’t wait she had to find him.  But as she was approaching the little cabin a flash of light brought her to a stop.

“Ham where are you?” she screamed into the night.  Seconds later the cabin exploded.  AJ was thrown backwards into a snow drift, dazed she sat up.  “Ham!”  She screamed.  “Ham, Ham!”  A moment later she lost consciousness as she drew another breath to call him name.

Ham knew immediately that if there was something burning and it wasn’t upstairs, it had to be downstairs…in the basement.  The basement where he kept things, ‘little toys’ as Chris referred to them.  Dynamite, ammunition and other assorted devices to liven up a party.  If he couldn’t contain the fire, the roof would blow off the place killing himself and AJ in the process.  AJ, she was outside, wasn’t she?  Please little girl, he thought, for once in your life do what someone tells you to do.  Stay away from here.  He opened the closet door and knelt down to lift up the trap door.  The floor was warm but he didn’t care, he needed to check.

Fire extinguisher in one hand and pulling the door open with the other, Ham braced himself.  As soon as he opened the door he knew all was lost and he better get the hell out of there.  Dropping the extinguisher he ran and flung himself through the back window of the cabin.  The back of the cabin faced a small decline and he knew gravity would help him roll down the hill when the place blew up.  And blow up it would.

Crashing through the glass, Ham felt fire shoot through his arms and shoulders. The impact of the explosion propelled him further than he expected and he hit the bottom of the hill with enough force to render him almost unconscious.

The cabin was burning fiercely.  Where was AJ?  Please don’t be in there he pleaded to no one.  He picked himself up and staggered up the hill.  His shoulders hurt and he was cold, he realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt.  At least he had been able to pull on his boots before opening the trap door.  Where is she?  He walked wide around the burning cabin to the front of it.  No AJ, that’s good he thought.  He called her and got no answer back.  He tried again and still nothing.  He stopped.  Her shoes were at the foot of the steps.  She couldn’t have gone far without shoes, could she?  Footprints, leading away from the cabin, running away.  Good girl! He walked straight out following the prints in the snow, then stopped.  The prints were coming back at him, oh god no.  The footprints stopped in front of him.  Slow realization crept in.  She was heading back to the cabin when it exploded.

Ham closed his eyes.  Then eyes open and trying hard to swallow, he looked back beyond where the footprints had ended, and he saw her.  A little form in the snow.  His jaw was tight and his stomach was in knots as he walked over and knelt beside her.

“AJ,” he nudged her.  Nothing.  He tried again.  “C’mon little Spitfire, don’t do this, wake up!”

When he heard her moan he felt hot tears forming in his eyes.  He rolled her over gently.  She was unconscious, but breathing.  Help, get help.  The two-way radio that had been in the cabin was of no use now.  He would have to hike down to the truck and get the walkie-talkie Mike had given him.  The blanket was still in there too.

By now a good amount of heat was reaching them from the fire, so Ham carried her a little closer and lay her down so she wouldn’t freeze.  Not too close, something could explode again.

Without even a shirt on his back, Ham walked through the snow down the same path he had come up yesterday morning with the girl he had been afraid of.  He was still afraid, but this time it wasn’t of her.

He reached the truck and was relieved to find the keys were still in his pants pocket.  Inside, he pulled the blanket up around his shoulders.  The same blanket they had shared he thought painfully. Opening the glove compartment he activated the walkie-talkie.  What time was it?  Would anyone even hear him?

“Wilderness to Shiloh, Wilderness to Shiloh!”  Silence.  “Damn it!”

He continued shouting until finally he heard a tired, yet familiar voice respond.  “Shiloh to Wilderness. Come in.”

Ham said three words.  “Get up here!”  He then clipped the walkie-talkie to his back pocket and with the blanket wrapped around him, walked as fast as he could back up the mountain.

AJ was lying just as he had left her.  He sat down and pulled her close to him.  “Share blanket and body heat just like in the movies.” The fire had died down now and the temperature was dropping.  “Hurry, Mike,” he whispered into the night, “please hurry.”  For the next two hours Ham held her.  AJ…his AJ.
 

Ham felt half frozen when the van carrying Mike, Kyle and Julie pulled up.  They got out of the van wide eyed and mouths open.

“What the hell happened?” Mike asked almost in a daze.

Ham wasn’t listening, Julie and Kyle had rushed over to him and they were kneeling beside AJ.

Julie’s forehead frowned.  “Her temp is way down.  We need to get her warmed up and fast.  Mike, turn the heater up and come here.  Kyle, carry her to the van.  Ham, where’s your shirt, don’t you have a coat either?  You must be half frozen too.” She hadn’t noticed he was bleeding in many places on his arms and shoulders.

Kyle lifted AJ off the wet ground and hurried to the van.  Mike and Julie helped Ham to his feet and followed. Once in the van Ham lifted AJ so that he was cradling her again in his arms.  Julie sat next to him and put blankets around both of them.  Kyle sat on the other side of AJ in an effort to share more body heat.  Mike got behind the wheel and drove as fast as he dared.  It was daylight now so they could go faster on the roads and not worry about being pulled over for being out after curfew when they approached the city.

AJ opened her eyes but she couldn’t see very well.  She didn’t care.  Ham was dead.  The cabin exploded and he had never come out.  She moaned.  Instantly Ham stroked the top of her head.

“It’s alright,” he soothed

“AJ,” Julie said.  “Andrea, sweetheart can you hear me?  It’s Julie.  We’re taking you home.”

Home, her mind screamed, my home is dead, but they couldn’t hear her.  She was mumbling and finally was able to speak with some clarity.  “Ham’s dead.”

“No, no, I’m right here,” Ham said calmly.  “Open your eyes AJ.  Come on, that’s it. Look I’m okay.”

Voices. She was hearing voices now.  Was it Ham’s voice?  No one sounded like him.  She opened her eyes and saw only a blanket, but could feel someone holding her.  She felt a hand under her chin pull her head up.  Then she saw him.  He nodded and tried to smile.  Her hand raised to touch him, but was too heavy.  Ham closed his eyes and remembered how a few hours earlier she had touched his face.  He took her hand and brought it up to his face for her.  She smiled.  Then closed her eyes.  Ham closed his eyes too.

“She’s lost consciousness again.  At least she’s warming up.  How are you Ham?  What happened?”  Julie asked too many questions for him tonight.

When it became obvious that he wasn’t going to talk, Julie stopped trying.  Because he sped most of the way, Mike pulled into the alley in a record one hour, thirty-eight minutes.  Again Kyle carried AJ while Julie followed close behind.  Mike helped Ham down the stairs and into the building.

“Robin!” Julie shouted.  When Robin appeared, Julie continued, “Get her out of those clothes, they’re wet and take the old bandage off.  I’ll be right back.”

Elizabeth came running down the hallway into the infirmary.  She gasped.  AJ was very pale, almost blue.

“Elizabeth, help me!” Robin screamed  “Get some towels and start drying her off as best you can.  I’ll get more blankets.”

Robin brushed past Ham as he was limping into the room with Mike.  Elizabeth looked at him with fear and sadness in her eyes.  He wondered if she knew about him and AJ.

Ham, still with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders walked over to AJ and picked up her right hand. He saw she still had her ring and smiled a little, that would be important to her later.  Robin returned with the blankets and stopped when she realized Ham was standing next to AJ’s barely covered form.

“Ham, back away,” Julie said softly when she returned.  He did, but only a few steps.  Oh no, he wasn’t going far. Julie listened to AJ’s heart through her stethoscope.  “It’s weak, and her blood pressure is too low.  Come on, AJ fight…fight!”

Julie continued working feverishly, but it was no use and she knew it.  Finally she looked up at Ham with tears in her eyes.  AJ was dead.

I told you I didn’t want to go up to that cabin to baby-sit her!  Ham screamed silently.  This isn’t happening.  I took her there to be safe!  His mind was spinning.  Everyone was looking at him.  Get out of here.  Run!  He turned around slowly and Elizabeth touched his hand.  She had tears in her eyes and he envied her.  He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come to him. Once again he had lost a connection to his soul.  And once again, he believed it was his fault.

Amid tears and silence Ham Tyler walked out of the room past the little wooden chair he had occupied so much lately and continued slowly down the hall.
 

THROUGH THE TUNNEL

A swing set.  A little girl on a small swing was gliding back and forth.  The wind was blowing her blonde hair behind her.  A man was pushing her on the swing. He was smiling and the little girl was giggling.  It’s my brother.  She knew this and he was pushing her on the swing.  No, not my brother, this man is too old.  It must be my father they looked alike.  Laugh my little pet laugh.  I have to go back home now they want me.  I’ll find you again, little pet and we will share lost times. I have to go…

No, don’t leave me.  It burns.  I can’t breathe.  The hand is searing.  Come find me.  I can’t find you.  Elizabeth?  Are you here with me?  Where are you?

“AJ, AJ!” Julie’s words rang in her ears.  “Andrea, can you hear me?”

“Ham?” AJ’s voice was almost inaudible.

“It’s Julie, AJ, talk to me.  Can you hear me?”

“Ham’s dead,” AJ moaned.

She tried to turn away, but Julie’s voice kept pulling her back.

“AJ, Ham’s fine, he’ll be here in a minute.  Open your eyes, squeeze my hand.” AJ squeezed and Julie sighed.  “She has a regular heartbeat and her blood pressure is much better.  Andrea, open your eyes.”

AJ’s eyes did open, but instead of focusing on Julie, she only stared at Elizabeth.  Was she the little girl in the dream?  No that had been me AJ thought.  Why was Elizabeth in her dream?  Elizabeth took her hand she looked very tired.

“Mike, find Ham!” Julie cried.  Instantly he disappeared.

Mike searched downstairs.  He went into Ham’s room knowing he wouldn’t be there.  Then upstairs to the restaurant…no one.  Think like Ham.  Most of the time Mike wouldn’t have wanted to think like Ham.

The alley, the alley where he found her.  Mike ran back downstairs to the door leading to the alley stairwell.

Ham was sitting in the stairwell leaning against the wall.  The same wall he had thrown her against to keep her hair from shining in the light.  The same way it had shined last night.  Last night she cared for me painfully grasped his senses.

“Ham!” Mike gasped.  “Come on!”

“Leave me, Gooder,” Ham said flatly.

“She’s not dead!” Mike said pulling Ham to his feet.  “Ham, AJ is alive!”

Ham looked at Mike.  He’d known him a long time and at times considered him a friend, but no more.  How could he play such a vicious joke on him?  He pushed Mike and growled, “Go away!”

The door opened and Elizabeth walked through.  She took Ham’s hand and led him without objection back to the infirmary.  Mike shook his head and followed.

When he returned to the room Ham noted that everyone was smiling…everyone but AJ.  He went to her and looked down.  Her eyebrow was knotted.  Was she dreaming?  Was she really alive?  Taking her hand he absently felt for a pulse.  She had one.  He looked at Julie.

Understanding his unasked question Julie nodded towards Elizabeth.  And then he understood.  Elizabeth had pulled AJ back through the tunnel.  The same way she had saved Willie once before.  Now he felt tears.  Julie saw them first and looked away.  In an effort to help Ham keep some of his tough guy image she then ordered everyone to leave the room.

As the others were leaving Ham turned in surprise when he felt a soft touch on his hand again.  Elizabeth had brought him the little wooden chair from the hall.  They shared a smile and Elizabeth left the room.

Now alone with the one he called Spitfire, Ham held on tight to AJ’s hand, lowered his head and cried.
 

 
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