e groaned and sat up. The other—alien or human—was gone.
"Where—?" he began.
She was trying to help him to his feet, and he got up groggily, with his head beginning to clear.
"He just ran out, Will." Ellen was crying, this time almost silently, with the words coming out between shakes of her shoulders. "Will, we've got to get out. We've got to. The men are coming for you. They'll be here any minute. And it's wrong—it won't work! Oh, Will, hurry!"
"Men? Men are coming?" He'd almost forgotten that it could be men who were after him.
"I called them, Will. I thought I had to. But it won't work. Will, do anything you like, but get out! They are fools. They...."
He opened the door and peered out the doorway into the hall, which seemed quiet. He'd been a fool again. He'd trusted her for some reason, as if a body and loyalty had to go together. They'd been smart, picking a virgin for the job. It must have cost them plenty, unless they'd twisted her mind somehow. Maybe they could do it.
But he knew that whatever they looked like, it couldn't be real men who'd meet him out there.
"Why?" he asked, and was surprised at the flatness of his voice.
She shook her head. "Because I'm a fool, Will. Because I thought they could help you—until he came! And because I'm still in love with you, even if you'd forgotten me."