Event

was pointing at his patch, or possibly the long scar that marked the right side of his face.

'I was wounded in the war,' he said. Then he smiled. 'I hope you have no understanding of that.'

The creature again looked away. It saw Leslie and its eyes moved to the small chrome table beside the gurney. It again pointed, but this time it was indicating the syringe that had been used to ease its pain.

'No, I don't think we can give you any more, my little friend,' Leslie said as softly as he could.

The being again attempted the smile and turned its head back to the left and pointed at Lee, again indicating the scar or eye patch.

'Amazing, I think it believes you are injured and he wants you to have the same shot I gave it,' Leslie said.

Lee smiled and slowly reached out and with his fingers gently touched the being's fingertip. The alien again smiled. 'I'm afraid this wound is an old one,' he said, using his other hand to touch the eye patch.

Lee was watching the small being and leaned closer. 'Doctor, could this injury to its neck cause it to lose vocalization?'

'Right now we can't be sure if it talks at all. The wound by itself wouldn't be life-threatening, at least I wouldn't think. But is it keeping it from speaking? I really don't know.'

The creature seemed to be listening to their exchange and reached for the gauze-covered wound at its neck. It swallowed and removed the hand and looked at Lee and reached for the scar again. He leaned over so the being could touch. It lightly ran its long, thin finger along the pinkish scar tissue, then lightly touched the patch. Its eyes were slowly opening and closing. The mouth was moving. Still looking at Lee, it swallowed and again reached for its throat.

'W... arrrr,' it said barely above a whisper.

Lee was astounded. He looked at Leslie, who nodded that he too had heard the word. Lee turned his attention back to the little creature and jumped when it slowly and painfully sat up with difficulty. It was shaking badly and was obviously in much pain as it attempted to move. Lee and Leslie both tried to gently push the being back onto the white sheets of the gurney. The small alien resisted and looked at Lee with eyes that pleaded for help. Garrison relented and removed his hands. He nodded once at the doctor, and he too stepped away and allowed the visitor to sit up. It turned over on its belly and slowly slid from the gurney, almost falling. Leslie quickly disconnected the IV from its bottle and rolled up the tube.

The alien made first one step, then another tentative and smaller step. Lee and Leslie adjusted to allow for the motion. The small creature stopped after four steps and shook extremely hard, closing its large eyes in pain. Leslie reached out with a fresh square of gauze and dabbed at its chest wound, but the alien wasn't paying him any mind as it reached out and tentatively took Lee's large hand and then took Leslie's. The little hands held on tightly to both men as they slowly made their way from the plastic-lined area of the hangar. As Garrison reached out and parted the curtain that separated the hospital from the rest of the huge hangar, they felt the eyes of the Group on them. People were stunned at the sight of their boss leading the injured alien from the secured area at the back. Hendrix, with his hands now cuffed in front of him, stared wide-eyed at the strange trio as they moved. The alien stopped and watched as the Group security men, their mouths ajar, moved Hendrix back away from its path.

'Major Marcel, quickly remove everyone from the hangar with the exception of my departmental supervisors. All other personnel, including my technicians, are to evacuate the hangar, now,' Lee said quietly in rapid-fire orders. He stepped to the front of the small alien to block the view from the interior of the hangar as Marcel started barking orders.

'What did it say, Lee? Tell me!' Hendrix said loudly, startling the small being and forcing it to take a step back. 'Tell me, goddammit!'

The small alien narrowed its eyes as it took in the handcuffed Hendrix. The large head first moved left, then right, as if it were sizing up the intelligence man in its mind. The eyes, still narrowed, blinked, and then it moved on, dismissing Hendrix outright.

Lee waited until the last of the technicians were out of the hangar, then he stepped aside and allowed the alien's progress into the hangar's interior to continue.

The supervisory men and women of the Event Group were standing and watching the most amazing happening in history; one by one their activity stopped as the small alien with Lee's and Leslie's assistance gingerly stepped through the debris of the crashed saucer. Its thin legs suddenly became wobbly and it almost collapsed. Lee placed his other arm in the small of its back, helping to support it more firmly. That was when it gently removed its hand from first Lee, then Leslie. It stumbled and fell; both men reached down for it, but it stood quickly and started moving faster through the piles of debris. Event personnel moved out of its way. A couple of the women and at least one of the doctors let out a cry as the alien came a little too close to them as it walked, then stumbled and fell in front of a huge container. Again the body was racked with shudders as it stared up at the enclosure. Leslie grimaced as he could see it was bleeding quite freely from the wound in its chest.

It touched the side of the container and seemed to relax again. Then it lowered its eyes and closed them, and without looking, it pounded softly on the side with its tiny fist, producing a hollow sound that echoed slightly in the large hangar. Then the alien looked up and saw Lee standing over it.

'Destroyer... dead' it whispered.

Lee leaned down. 'I don't understand you.'

'The Beast...' It swallowed, making a face as if its speaking caused great pain. 'Dead' it repeated, then suddenly slid to the floor.

The remaining few people inside the hangar gasped as it fell over. Lee and Leslie immediately reached for it. But Lee was quicker and lifted the small alien into his arms and nodded for Leslie to take the lead. There was loud talking among the group now as they made their way back to the hospital.

'Alright, what you saw is top secret. Now get your teams back in here, let's move, people,' Lee said over his shoulder.

The small creature opened its eyes and watched as Lee carried it back to its bed. 'No, w... ar. War' it said, and swallowed gingerly. 'No ex--tinct man' It reached up and touched Garrison's face. 'Man is... safe...for now. No extinct by Destroyer.' It smiled far broader than it ever had, then it weakly tapped its chest. 'Kill Des... troyer.'

Lee quickly returned the small being to its bed and Leslie went to work, applying pressure to get the bleeding to slow.

The alien was looking at Lee, its eyes drooping and its small breaths coming in short gasps. 'We use... animal... to assist... our master race, to, to... clear... new worlds... for... Gray Masters.... Destroyer... not... meant for... here, but uninhabited planet... Some Gray... want to... clear... your world...for their... need. I... kill Destroyer, animal... is dead... No... war... this time... but... my masters... try... again maybe... kill your... world'

Lee watched as the being's gaze went beyond him to nothing. He saw the large pupils dilate, then fix. Leslie checked its small chest for some kind of movement but found nothing. Its greenish skin immediately started to turn a grayish white. It had died as if content; it went with a small smile that was now frozen in death.

Lee sat with a distraught Dr. Leslie for ten minutes, then headed toward the exit of the hangar thinking about monsters and war. His head pathologist, Gerald Hildebrand, approached him. 'Sir, I'm afraid I have something you must see.' The young professor stepped back when he saw the greenish blood that soaked the director's clothing. Lee's eye patch was almost off. Hildebrand reached out and pulled the patch back into place.

Lee absently nodded his head in thanks and placed his fedora on his head.

'You have to see this,' Hildebrand said again.

Garrison followed the doctor to a rather large piece of debris. It was at least ten feet high and the same