I wake again, slower this time, the pain reduced to a dull thud. My eyes remain shut, but I feel there are no more bodies around me. Their heat is replaced with an icy atmosphere — a cold air that swirls around my naked skin, pimpling my flesh and raising all the hairs on my arms and legs.

A hard shiver starts in my legs and crawls up my body until I'm in a full-body bind from the intense cold. I don't want to open my eyes because what if I see that my fate is worse than I could have imagined? What if I'm in some new prison or some horrible torture chamber?

What if I'm back on the exam table in the HHP and all this was a horrible nightmare while under the influence of their drugs?

My son kicks me back to reality.

No. I need to be aware. Look for any way out of this. Save him. Save the people of Earth.

My eyes flutter open and take in the surroundings. I try to sit up, but my shoulders are restrained with a thick strap across my chest. My arms and wrists are secured to the table as well. I stretch my legs out and realize with dread that my legs are fastened together by more straps as well.

I'm stuck.

I'm covered in a thin material that feels like gossamer strands of steel that was buried in an arctic snowdrift.

The room is black. Opening my eyes has done me no good as it's just as dark as my unconsciousness.

I pull at the restraints. "Hello?" I whisper into the room, attempting to hide the terrified tremor in my voice. "This is Commander Janika Lorn of ARC10. Is anyone here with me?"

No one answers.

I repeat my question.

More silence.

I try one more time.

Blue lights blaze on.

I squint through the violent brightness. I attempt to turn away, but my forehead is trapped too. I shut my eyes tight, but the blue flares beyond my eyelids.

A low grumble emits from somewhere near my feet. Its sludgy garble is just out of my line of sight.

"What do you want?" I ask it, squirming in my restraints. "Let's negotiate. Let me out, and we can discuss terms." As much as I want to open my eyes, I can't. It hurts. The light stings when I try to peek through my lashes.

Something touches my head. I shout from the surprise of it's slimy, fingerless appendages grazing over my scalp. A shock of frigid liquid rushes under my skin until all senses disappear — the cold from the room, the light from the overhead blue sun, the sensation of the jelly seeping through my hair.

This time, as my mind shuts down, I fight it.

No. I'm not going under. I writhe under the restraints, my scream building and bursting from my throat.

I can't hear it.

I can't hear anything.

I say is Dean's name on repeat like some kind of prayer. I feel my mouth form the word, but I don't hear the name scratching up my throat as I scream. I scream louder.

I can't breathe.

I want to pull myself from this nightmare and return to Earth where the enemy was only in the sky.

I can't go black again.

No. Not to the darkness.

I won't.

I don't know what will happen when I wake up.

If I wake up.

Don't sleep.

Stay.