White streaks filled the video picture for a few seconds as Marie looked through the viewfinder. The figures of the men coming into focus slowly as the picture cleared.

She could see her father and older brother standing next to her sister’s husband. It took her a moment to remember what they were doing outside the house, and then she remembered the strange light that had passed over the house.

For a brief second, as she looked through the viewfinder, she filled with the insane idea that she did not really know the men she stood with, that they were strangers she had recently met. The feeling passed when Ian looked at her and frowned.

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“Maybe you should go back in the house, Marie.”

“No way,” she protested softly. “I’m coming with.”

Sighing, Bob faced Marie. “Then turn the light off on that thing.”

“We won’t be able to see anything.”

“I can live with that.” John was still angry.

Her sister’s husband frightened Marie vaguely; his was a voice of authority holding greater strength than those of her blood relatives. John was a no-nonsense sort of man, the perfect cop.

She turned off the light and followed Ian as he made his way across the lawn. “What if there’s someone with a gun out there?”

“Don’t borrow trouble, kiddo.” Came John’s soft reply.