She gained a distance from the world while looking through the viewfinder of the video camera. She was terrified by what was happening to the family, but she seemed to remain aloof, separate from the events by keeping the camera between herself and reality.

The camera did not shake, a fact that spoke volumes to Marie, as if deep in her core she knew nothing would harm her.

She moved in discomfort, the clasp of her bra biting into the soft skin of her back. A myriad of minor adjustments that needed to be made to her clothing after the run from the gully only now coming to her attention.

Briefly, the feel of small hands touching her came to Marie’s mind, the touch so repulsive it had burned itself into her memory and waited for the right moment to arise. Cold, leathery hands that sought... something.

She tried to brush the feeling off as she squirmed in her clothes, the camera picture fluttering to the movement, but it stayed and grew like an urge to vomit.

The alien in the gully had never touched her, had never even gotten close to her. She knew that if she rewound the video, she would see the alien as it shot the men in the gully and then the flight back to the house; there was no chance for the thing to touch her, yet she felt violated by the foreign hands.

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Marie tried to concentrate on the camera, watching her mother walk from the room and stand in the kitchen looking for all the world like she had forgotten something important.

Barb was trying to calm Jim. Marie’s brother was always excitable, yet he was close to rage. She could remember nothing to generate his anger and, from the puzzled look on his and Barb’s faces, they could not understand his behavior either.

Sally and Bobbi were staring out the front windows because... because John and Ian had gone outside. How could she have forgotten that? They had grabbed guns and run outside. And where was Guy? Lia was sitting in a chair watching the television roll through another commercial. Typically, Guy had been at her side, now he was gone.

Marie zoomed the lens and saw tears slowly making their mark on her sister’s cheeks.

She was looking at a puzzle, a human puzzle.

Even Lia’s absentminded tugging at her clothes fit into the picture that Marie could almost understand.

Where was Dad?

Mom would know.

Marie walked to the kitchen, aware that Sally was moving to the front door as she passed her sister. Mom would know the answer to everything.

Stopping in the kitchen doorway, Marie swung the camera, taking in the room and her mother. Carol was standing by the rear door and leaning against the lintel, her shoulders bowed from the weight of her thoughts.

If she had not known better, Marie might have thought her mother was crying. When Carol turned to face Marie, she saw a grim determination on her mother’s face that added to the well of fear in Marie’s soul.

When Bobbi screamed, the time to ask her question disappeared.