Track 22

“Boys Don’t Cry”

Abduction #4 - XU-891B

Two Years Ago

“Jake,” Cassidy whispered, turning her head. He lay on the bed beside her, close but just out of arm’s reach. A thin sheet covered him from below his chin right down to his toes. “Are you awake?”

He moaned softly but didn’t open his eyes.

The aliens had been tough on him. Taken pints of dark crimson blood. Scraped cells from his nostrils, their instruments making stomach-turning squelching noises as they dug deep. Drew fluid from his gums. Ignored the cries of their “patients.” They went about their sadistic work without a word.

Cassidy had done enough experiments in biology class to imagine what the aliens would attempt next.

Dissection.

But for that, they’d have to kill them first. She wouldn’t let that happen. She didn’t think the aliens would have any qualms in taking slices out of their brains with laser-like scalpels while they were still alive, anyway. She was sure of it.

“Yeah, I’m awake. Just…resting.” He swallowed thickly. “They’ve left you alone so far.”

“They didn’t abduct me for nothing. My turn will come.” She shivered uncontrollably and studied him. “Are you in pain?”

“Of course not.”

She wasn’t buying his brave hero act. In her eyes, there was no shame in admitting the truth.

The door opened.

They were back.

Cassidy’s hands clenched into tight fists. Her back stiffened. She squeezed her eyes shut. That’s about all she could do to defend herself. Bindings kept her rooted to the table. Virtually paralyzed.

A presence swept between Cassidy’s bed and Jake’s. It wasn’t a presence she’d come to recognize as the aliens’. For one thing, it had a delicate smell. Like freshly rained-upon jasmine flowers.

Beside her, metallic surgical instruments clattered, followed by the sound of Jake struggling against his restraints. Cassidy’s heart panged in sympathy as he groaned.

“Jake, fight it!” she said, but her words were wasted on him. In mere seconds, he stopped moving.

And she started shaking, knowing the stage was set for more torture.

Featherlight fingers touched Cassidy’s shoulder. Not the usual rough push or prod or poke. For a fleeting moment they calmed her down. Mint-fresh breath grazed her ear, whispering her name.

Involuntarily, her eyelids jerked open and her gaze landed on the face of another being.

A human being.