Aleigha sat in the chair in the middle of the tent, keeping her head hanging. Her wrists were tied, one to each arm of the chair. She felt fortunate that they didn't tie her feet to the chair, also. They took her pocket knife. She was thankful they didn't find her bladed staffs that were hidden in both of her boots.

The man, Steve, was angry at his friend Eric. Steve had found Aleigha at the ravine, but Eric didn't trust her because she hadn't been in the city with the rest of them. He immediately had her detained. She didn't fight back, or they would know she was far more than what she seemed. She needed information, not a bullet in the head.

Steve stood at the opening of the tent, looking out. "You shouldn't be tied up," he told her. "You're human." His voice was hard. It was clear he was more than angry about her situation.

Steve noticed Eric heading toward them, so he left the tent, pushing the door flap roughly to the side in anger as he left. From her chair in the middle of the tent, Aleigha could hear him arguing with Eric about her being tied up. He was arguing the point that she was human and not one of the aliens. Eric's argument was that he didn't know her. She wasn't from the city. He didn't know if she could be trusted.

"I told her we could help her. Tying her up isn't helping her," Steve argued. His face was red, his jaw tight.

"I'm going to talk to her," Eric told Steve evenly, brushing past him and into the tent.

Steve entered with him, not sure what to do for the girl he had found.

Eric stood in front of Aleigha, his hands on his hips as he stared down at her. "When did you turn?" he asked her coldly. His body was tense, as if he expected her to say something wrong.

Aleigha kept her head down, trying not to look at him. She needed to look as weak as possible. "About a week after the invasion. I was hiding in a tunnel system in a city not far from here. I was attacked by those flesh-eaters. I was bitten on the side, and I became infected, too. Two weeks ago, everything changed. All of a sudden, I was me again. I don't know how or why, but I'm no longer infected," she told him, her voice quiet as she tried to sound scared. Her story was only partly true. She was cured long before, two weeks ago.

"How old are you?" Eric shot at her; he sounded only a little less hostile.

Remembering what Steve had said about timeframes, she decided to play off of what she knew they believed. "Time moves differently when you're infected. All I can tell is that I was bitten when I was sixteen. I don't know how long I was infected. All I know is the world changed when I was me again," she explained, sniffing and forcing tears to fall. She was trying to play the scared little girl. It worked before when Merrick had found her. She was hoping it would work for them, too."

"Where were you headed when Steve found you?" he shot at her. He was still in front of her with his hands on his hips. His hostility was evaporating slowly. That told her that he believed what she said.

Aleigha wiped her eyes on her shoulder but still looked down, not making eye contact with him. Her tears on the dirt she smeared on her face itched. She used the gesture to look like she was crying more than she really was. "I was looking for food. I wasn't going anywhere but looking for food. Sometimes you can find gardens with food still in them, but I didn't find any last night. I didn't want to be seen, so I was walking at night. I don't know what they'll do to me if those green aliens find me," she sniffed, forcing tears to fall again. "Let me go," she whined. Her thoughts were on her worried mate and infant at home. It helped bring real tears. She needed to be as convincing as she could.

Eric stood in front of her for several minutes, watching her, not saying anything more before bending down to her level. "If I let you go, what are you going to do?" he asked, looking at her closely, forcing her to make eye contact with him.

Aleigha let the tears fall. "I'll leave. I've been finding my own way since I was myself again. I'll find my own way again. I don't want to be here to be tied up. I didn't do anything wrong," she sniffed, forcing herself to cry more.

Eric sighed before untying her. "You're not going anywhere; you're still just a kid," he told her, his voice still even. "You'll stay with Steve. He's the one who found you." Eric stood up and walked out of the tent, leaving Steve and Aleigha alone.

It took everything she had not to sigh in relief. She had been cleared by Eric so she could stay and not be executed. The alternative was a bullet in the head if he decided he didn't trust her. That's what Eric had told her when he tied her to the chair that night.

Aleigha didn't move, still playing her 'scared little girl' act. The rope that tied her wrists to the chair was lying on the ground at her feet. She let her head hang as she thought about her mate and infant son. She didn't want to stay with Steve or anyone else except for her mate. Tears fell. She was suddenly worried she wouldn't see them again. She wasn't sure what to do. Something in her told her that her plan wasn't going to work. Coming here was a waste of time.

Steve bent down to her level, pushing her hair to the side. It was a gesture to try to comfort her. "It will be okay," he told her gently. "Let's get you something to eat."

Aleigha nodded slightly, letting Steve help her up. She didn't need it, but allowed it anyway. As long as no one tried anything, she would be fine. Lonely for her mate and child, but she would be fine.

Steve walked her out of the tent. The dome was clear during the daytime. She looked at it and gasped, not because of the dome but because she noticed her mate and Vorik were watching her.

"I didn't see that last night," she told Steve, trying to give a reason for the gasp she had done when she saw her mate and Vorik. He thought she was referring to the dome. She was referring to her mate and friend watching from the gate. She wasn't going to tell Steve that, though.

"It was dark, and we didn't pass in front of it when I brought you here," Steve told her as he looked up at the two looking down at them.

Aleigha looked at Merrick and Vorik as they stared down at her. She watched as Seeran pulled a pair of binoculars and looked down at her, also. She looked at Steve. "That's what the aliens look like?" she asked. Hoping she didn't sound false. She already knew. Her baby was a half-alien, so she definitely knew. She just didn't want to let them know that. She needed to act like she had never even seen one before.

Aleigha bent down and slowly scratched her leg. Her finger was pointing to the bladed staff tucked safely in the hidden pocket of her specially designed boot. She was trying to let them know that she still had it.

Once she knew her mate, Vorik and Seeran saw what she was doing, she stopped and then followed Steve to the bonfire, who handed her a bowl of stew and gestured for her to sit down.

Aleigha looked at the contents in the bowl, seeing meat and root vegetables in a broth. "Can I get one of these without meat chunks in it? I can't eat meat after, well, you know," she told him, pushing the bowl away from her. She didn't have to fake looking disgusted with what was in the bowl. She had been a vegan before the invasion and still was. The meat chunks made her want to throw up.

Steve handed the bowl to someone else and got her one with just vegetables and broth. She thanked him and ate it slowly. It wasn't bad, but she liked her replicator more. She was spoiled; she could order anything she wanted, and if it wasn't programmed, Merrick would program it in for her.

Steve sat down beside her and started silently eating his own.

"Why is this camp by an alien city?" she asked him, trying not to sound obvious that she was after information. She already knew that they were there for some specific reason; she just didn't know the details of why.

Steve smiled over at her. He looked proud at what he was about to say. "We're going to take it over to save our kind," he said proudly.

Aleigha pretended to think about it, hoping he didn't figure out that she was faking, trying to get information. She needed to think of another question that wasn't obvious. She wanted to know how they planned to take over the city. It was a full-size city, and the group at the camp wasn't very many people.

"How can taking over this city save us?" she asked. "I don't understand how it could save us." She told him, trying to act confused.

Steve looked up at the dome and the aliens looking down at them. "We're going to kill anything that isn't human," he smiled proudly. "Then we can take back the planet."

Aleigha flinched at his words. She started coughing to hide her flinch. He patted her back, thinking she choked on her soup. "Wrong hole," she fake wheezed, then started coughing more to make it more believable. Steve continued to pat her back until she stopped.

Taking a deep breath, she took another bite of the soup, turning her head to look at her mate and two of her friends who were still watching. She knew they couldn't hear the conversation that she had with Steve, but she wished they could. They needed to know these humans' plans for the city. She didn't want anyone to leave the city, just be killed because of these idiots. Besides that, she feared for her mate and friends.

The three races inside the city were doing well at coexisting. She wanted to keep it peaceful. These people wanted to break that peace.

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