Elizabeth waited for hours alone on the roof. She could go nowhere without Matthew. She needed to get back to the USA. It was unfamiliar where she was.
However, she knew help wouldn't be coming for a long time. Matthew would have had to call for it, and he never got the chance. She just needed to wait long enough for their allies to come and see if there was trouble.
However, after three hours of waiting, Elizabeth finally heard the buzzing noise of a friendly helicopter. She saw it land on the roof of the building she was on. Stephanie was in the helicopter, and beckoning Elizabeth to run on. Elizabeth did just that, and the machine picked itself up and flew away.
"We got a distress call." Stephanie said, "Matthew called us twenty minutes ago. Where is he?"
"He's gone." Elizabeth said.
"Gone?" Stphanie said, "Is he..."
"No." Elizabeth said, "He used this mechanical jet-pack to ferry him, and his doctor off the building."
"Why?" Stephanie said, "Did he go rogue?"
"No." Elizabeth said, "We were under attack."
"Huh." Stephanie said, "The 'Last Resort' escape initiative."
"He said to meet him in Cairo." Elizabeth said, "He never said when."
"He's probably halfway to Cairo now, if I know him as well as I do." Stephanie said, "He called in twenty minutes ago. That means he's escaped and he's alright."
"Is there any way to find him?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes." Stephanie said, "You're going after him."

10 days later...

It was a sweltering hot Friday, in Cairo, Egypt. The city had long since lived up to its repuation as being "The city of one thousand minarets", and on Friday, the melodious call of the spiritual rang throughout the city, five times a day. It was a clear and sunny day in Cairo, but then again, it rarely wasn't. However the weather was, it was a poor day for a stealth operation.
Yes, on a day when most of the streets would vacated, and the mosques filled, it would be hard to blend in. That is, for two American men on the run from the law. Matthew had arrived in Cairo only a week ago, and holed himself up inside a small Middle-Eastern apartment. Matthew spoke a good deal of Arabic, but could not write in the language. He hadn't studied that long before entering the espionage field. Matthew's doctor had no experience with Arabic at all, and knew none of the customs. For fear of being spotted, he too, holed up inside the same vacant apartment.
The doctor awoke that Friday morning, briskly at eight o'clock. It was the sound of the prayer call that awoke him. He drowsily wlaed over to the window, which had no glass and let in a full blast of desert sunshine. The doctor walked over to the window, as if to shut imaginery blinds, but leaned over it and squinted as he looked into the silhouetted city.
Matthew had already been up, and was out buying food. He arrived back at the apartment to find his doctor staring out the window. "It's an entrancing city." he said, "I'd love to stay after this whole crisis ends."
"Should it end..." his doctor said, "I'm not going back to this line of work."
"The travel's nice." Matthew said, "I've brought you to the corners of the Earth."
"Travel?" the doctor asked, astounded that this was the highlight of his adventure, "It's not travel if you're bait for a ruthless government agency to hunt you down and murder you!"
"They won't kill us." Matthew said, "They can't now."
"Why wouldn't they?" the doctor asked, "From what I've seen, they won't stop to put bullets through each one of our major organs!"
"The tables have turned." Matthew said sitting down on the bed, "They can't kill us now, because they know we don't have the specimens. Back in India, it was legal for them to do that because what we had was a threat to national security. Now that they know we don't have it, it's totally illegal to kill us."
"So why are they still ater us?" the doctor asked.
"To capture us, and put us on trial for treason." Matthew said, "That's our worst case scenario."

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Four Days Later...

As it turned out, it was too dangerous to fly to Cairo. Air patrols run by the US government were doing daily searches all over the country. The national security threat was growing bigger and bigger.
The worst part of the whole scenario for Elizabeth and Stephanie was, no civillian knew what was going on. People had noticed the increased amounts of jet fighters over their homes. But they were told it was counter-terrorism measure. Even in this day and age, the people had come to expect a little secrecy from their government, but not deceit.
Yet, over the Mid-Atlantic ocean, Stephanie, Elizabeth, and a crew of twelve were piloting a small, stealth warship across the atlantic. It was completely unarmed, so as to not provide any extra weight. They had left the day before and were expected to arrive in the Azores by that afternoon.
"What are the Azores?" Elizabeth asked to Stephanie, both of whom were standing at the bow of the boat.
"It's an island chain in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean." Stephanie said, "It's administered by Portugal."
"Why are we going there?" Elizabeth asked.
"I've charted a flight for us that will get us to Cairo by tonight, hopefully."
"What happens when we get Matthew?" Elizabeth asked.
"We head back." Stephanie replied not even glancing at Elizabeth.
"But aren't we wanted back in the States?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes." Stephanie said, "I've worked out a plan that will let us escape to Canada, but I haven't worked out anything after that."
"You know what you're problem is?" Elizabeth complained, "Both you and Matthew are devising plans all over the place, but not asking my opinion!"
"Fine." Stephanie said very condescendingly, "What is your opinion?"
"Let's not go back at all." Elizabeth suggested, "Let's instead take a flight to Europe, and be chased around for a few weeks while we wait for Matthew to have his baby."
"Are you insane?" Stephanie chuckled, "You want to stay on-the-run? And you also expect that Matthew will want to deliver outside that states?"
"Probably." Elizabeth said, "Is there a problem?"
"Yes!" Stephanie laughed, "Matthew needs constant medical care, that's why he needs to be in our labs for the birth. You see, the thing he's carrying is not human."
"Not... wait, what?"
"That's right." Stephanie said, "We don't even know what the hell it is. It could be, an animal, or some cluster of larvae. And we didn't have time to figure out what it is, so we need to be back until we know what this is not a threat to Matthew."
"I still like my idea better." Elizabeth muttered.

"I'm confused about where to go from here." Elizabeth said, "I mean, did you find Matthew?"
"Yes." Stephanie said. She pointed at a low-lying plaster-walled complex, "Do you see that brown building over there?"
"They're all brown." Elizabeth said.
"No, I mean the darker one about four doors down?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes." Elizabeth said.
"That's where he is." Stephanie said, "We'll just enter the complex, grab the two of them-"
"Two of them?" Elizabeth was slightly shocked.
"His doctor too." Stephanie said the two are together."
"Okay." Elizabeth said.
Stephanie and Elizabeth walked only forty feet fown the street to where the entrance to Matthew's building was. They avoided the gaze of anyone who was looking at them. Stephanie went over to the side door entrance to the building, where she knew no one would spot them. It was situated in an empty alley in between two old buildings.
With one mighty movement, Stephanie kicked the door with her right leg. The door rattled in one big movement on its hinges. Some of the building material crumbled from atop the doorway. With another swift movement she kicked it again, this time with the door falling completely backwards.
Once the door fell, Stephanie looked inside two see two men standing in the doorway. They weren't Middle Eastern, they were Europeans, possibly Americans. But even in the poor light of the area Stephanie and Elizabeth knew it was Matthew and his doctor.
"About damn time." Matthew remarked.

WARNING: This scene is a little more violent than the rest of the story. If you find yourself in a situation, where you find this distressing, (quaker, amish, pacifist... etc.) You can skip over this section, and I will give you a synopsis, whihch is the following:
After being reunited, the doctor remarks slightly about how the specimens are growing fast inside of Matthew, and that they could be killing him. The four grab a taxi to the airport, but a gunfight ensues between them and some unidentified millitants driving behind them. A car chase ensues.
____________________________________________________________
The four of them went out to the street again, this time pretending to be perfectly normal American tourists. Stephanie pulled over and empty taxi and had Elizabeth, Stephanie, and the doctor squeeze in the backseat, while Matthew sat in the front.
"Where going?" the driver attempted to speak in broken English, "Hotel, reastaurant, airport..."
"Airport." Stephanie said, "Fast."
Thge taxi driver began to drive away. However unknowingly, behind them pulled out a black car with one-way windows.
The three people in the back sat low, so as to relieve the stress of a long day. Matthew adjusted the seat's head rest to account for his height, leaving no parts of his body exposed. The driver kept driving on the streets of Cairo, like an regular Cairo driver would. (Making sure to never stop for streetlights, or pedestrians, or possibly other cars.)
After a few moments of a deceivingly peaceful interlude, a shot rang out and everyone heard the back window of the taxi shatter. They all ducked, but the bullet missed the four of them. It had instead penetrated the driver's head straight on from the rear. He lay motionless atop the streering wheel.
"They've got scopes!" Matthew shouted.
Matthew pushed open the driver's door and led the man fall out. He then proceeded to climb in the driver's seat and shut the door again.
Meanwhile in the back Elizabeth was screaming and nearly crying. Stephanie was looking back pretending to keep her cool. Inside she was panicking, as she heard bullet fly by her head. All she could see was the broken windows of the black sedan bhind them.
That car was completely packed full of men, each one bearing what appeared to be a high-powered rifle. They were aiming directly for the taxi, and Stephanie was certain, they were trying to hit Matthew.
"Cut 'em off!" Stephanie shouted as a bullet ricocheted off the metal frame of the car. Matthew stepped on the gas pedal until it made contact with the floor. He then proceeded to turn so that he was now driving down the center of the road. Carns on both sides swerved to get away from them. The black sedan behind them followed their every movement. The chase began.

With one motion, Matthew jerked the steering wheel to his right, swerved off the road. The taxi crashed through the chain link fence onto the tarmac of the airport. The black sedan, kept following them, even though it appeared that fuel was leaking and tyhe engine was catching fire. Matthew drove as fast as he could over the tarmac. He crossed in front of a large British jet that was pulling onto a runway. He rushed across the tarmac to find the jet he had called for.
Finally he saw it, a small Beechcraft plane, that could seat all four of them. He saw the pilot standing to the side of the plane. Matthew drove the car right up to the side of plane, and then motioned for everyone to get out.
"Is everything alright?" the pilot asked as all four of them barreled up the stairway onto the jet.
"Get on!" Matthew said, "We need to get out of there quickly!"
The pilot began to speak, "What's going-" but suddenly his words were stifled. One of the men from the smoldering black sedan jumped out and wrapped his arm around the pilot's neck. He stuck a gun to his head.
"Matthew!" the man with the gun yelled, "Get off the plane and surrender yourself!"
Matthew noted that the man's voice was distinctly American. He was a Gamma Falcon operative, most definitely. "What do you want?" Matthew shouted aiming his pistol at the man.
"Please step down!" he said, "I don't want any trouble!"
"What?!" Matthew nearly screamed letting his hormones get the best of him, "You shoot a man in the head, speed down the highways of a developing nation with your engines on fire, and you claim to not want trouble?!"
"Just get down and I'll let him go." the man said, "I'll shoot him if you don't cooperate."
The pilot was whispering prayers and tearing up. He feared these would be his last, "A US operative should know better than to threaten foreign civillians!"
"I don't care!" the man said, "It's been too long and too difficult to find you! I'm not loosing you now!"
"What do you want?" Matthew asked.
"The specimens!" the man shouted again, "Tell us where they are, and no harm will come to you!"
"Why would I sell out?" Matthew asked.
"I have friends in high places!" the man shouted keeping the pilot from running away, "I have friends in the President's Cabinet, in the CIA, the FBI, leading figures in all five millitary branches! If you come within 100 miles of US territory, you will be killed instantaneously! However, if you turn over the specimens, you can defect back to the United States, and there'll probably be a good job for you at the CIA!"
"How can I trust you?" Matthew aimed his pistol higher.
"I would never threaten a civillian and go back on my word in the same action! You can trust me!"
Matthew was nearly convinced. The thought of giving birth to an unknown specimen in a country like Egypt made him fear for his life. He knew the pregnancy would end, whether he wanted it to or not, and he wouldn't always be around. He had to make up his mind, before the other man pulled the trigger.

Stephanie grabbed the man held onto his arms. She threw him to the floor, and wrestled until he was nearly subdued. However, both their fighting spirits were quelled the second they heard Matthew whimper.
Matthew sat up, and showed his cherry-red face. it was glaringly obvious how he was concealing tears in his eyes. He was in pain. It was no regular pain.
The man with the suit stopped moving and looked at Matthew's docile state. Was he really the most dangerous man in the world? Now the intruder began to have doubts.
"No more fighting!" Matthew shouted as the first tear fell across his cheek, "I'm sick of it! No more fighting!"
The man was no longer angry at Matthew, but perplexed at the sensitive side, a punch to his stomach brought out. "What do you mean?" the man said in his normal voice for the first time.
"Shut up!" Stephanie tightened her grip, "He doesn't want to hear from you!"
"No..." Matthew whispered, "I just want it all to stop."
"Why?" the man asked, "Isn't this all you live for?"
"It used to be." Matthew said, "That's all I know."
"But why?" the man asked.
"I don't know!" Matthew snapped, "I'm not supposed to be this way!"
The man in the suit looked down at Matthew, and saw him cradling his belly. The man hadn't noticed it before, but Matthew was showing. "It's the specimens, isn't it?" the man said, "You're pregnant with them."
"Yeah." Matthew began to stifle his emotions again.
"All of 'em?" the man asked.
"No." Matthew said, "One of the ten."
"Jesus." the man said, "Is it true what they say about 'em at the agency?"
"Agency?" Matthew said, "Who says what?"
"The Central Intelligence Agency." the man said, "Who else? And they say that they're lethal, poisonous, and remakrably clever."
"That's true." Matthew breathed heavily, "It's a dangerous thing to have."
"Enough talk!" Stephanie squeezed on the man even harder out of her own frustration, "You're lucky I haven't throttled you to the edge of the plane and thrown you out yet!"
"I know I am." the man said.
"What?" Stephanie said.
"No more fighting." the man nodded to Matthew. Matthew nodded back to him, and then to Stephanie. Stephanie looked down at the two men, and released her grip. She sat in one of the seats in the cabin.
"Now what?" Stephanie asked.
"Now I come with you." the man said.
"Over my dead body." Stephanie said.
"You don't understand." the man said throwing down his gun, "My orders were to apprehend you, and if possible, keep you under control. I am one phone call away from saying that I've apprehended you. As long as you're with me, the government won't think you're a threat. You can go anywhere you want, and as long as I'm there, you'll be protected."
"Good offer." Stephanie said, "I have a better one. I say we kick you out for shooting at us, and we fly off to some unknown location, so you can waste your time hunting us down."
"You'really don't understand mutual benefit, don't you?"
"The hell I don't!" Stephanie said.
"Wait." Matthew said, "Let's take him up on hos offer, and see how far that gets us."
"Why?" Stephanie said, "So we can let him beray us?"
"If he does, we'll be gone." Matthew said, "Simeple as that."
"Fine." Stephanie said, "A good compromise leaves everybody mad."

Elizabeth continued flying for a half hour. Everyone remained up front, to see that she wasn't making any mistakes. "Everything fine?" the doctor asked.
"Yeah." Elizabeth said, "Everything's going smoothly."
"How long until we crash?" the doctor asked.
"Thrity minutes." Elizabeth checked the gauges, "The plane will hold up fine until then."
"Good." the doctor said shyly, "I've had enough for one day."
"Good news!" Matthew said coming up to the control deck. "My Libyan friends called me back, and they're waiting to direct us to an airport that we're lready en route to. Just wait for them to come in on the radio, and direct us to where we need to go."
"Grand." Elizabeth said, "What do we do then?"
"Just follow their directions." Matthew said, "They'll know what to do."
"I'm sure they will." Elizabeth became nervous.
"Doc, can I see you? In private?" Matthew asked.
The doctors, whose face was still a ghastly pallor got up from his seat to listen to Matthew. Matthew and the doctor exited the flight deck and stood around the door. Not one passenger could hear them. "It's becoming invasive." Matthew whispered.
"What is?" the doctor asked.
"The specimens." Matthew said, "It's making me undergo some strange metamorphosis."
"That's crazy." the doctor asked, "The specimens and their host are completely separate organisms. I mean, it's like trying to change a soccer ball into a golf ball with your mind. It's not possible."
"You're wrong." Matthew said, "Something is wrong." Matthew grabbed a knife that was sitting in the plane's galley. He put it down on his hand and slid the blade across his hand. The doctor winced at this self-mutilation. Matthew then grabbed a white paper towel and wiped his hand on it. He turned on a light and set the paper towel on the couner. The doctor looked mortified at the towel. There was one giant black stain of Matthew's blood. The blood was not red, but thick and black, much like the consistency of motor oil.
"That is strange." the doctor admitted.
"It's not good." Matthew said.
"No it isn't." the doctor said, "The pregnancy must be..." the doctor did not know how to complete his sentence. He was dumbfounded.
"Poisoning me." Matthew said.

"Matthew!" Elizabeth shouted, "Matthew! Come quickly!"
Matthew and the doctor headed up to the lfight deck to see her problem. "What's going on up here?" he asked.
"There's a man on the radio." Elizabeth pointed to her headset, "He demands to spek to you, otherwise our plane will be shot down."
"I know these guys." Matthew took the headset from her. "We have nothing to worry about."
Matthew listened intently for a voice.
"Agent Martionson!" a said a distinctly Middle-Eastern voice on the other side of the line, "Identify yourself immediately!"
"I'm here." Matthew said, "Is this Tareq?"
"No." the man said, "I am Jawhara. I am his assisstant. Im sorry to scare you Agent Martinson, but it's tough getting in here."
"I know." Matthew said, "It's never been easy getting into Libya. Is the situation okay there?"
"Fine." Jawhara said, "We were expecting you."
"I'm glad to hear it." Matthew said, "When will Tareq be back?"
"Ten minutes." Jawhara said, "Once I tell him you called, he'll race on over here to have a chat with an old friend."
"Well, this old friend has some new news to update him on."
"I'll tell him that." Jawhara said, "It may make him get here all the sooner."
"It was nice catching up with you." Matthew said.
"It's nice to know we're not getting attacked." Jawhara said, "And by the way, Muammar told me to thank you again for your help."
"Always a pleasure." Matthew shut off the radio.
Elizabeth, however, was figuring out hat Jaw hara had meant by "Muammar says thanks."
"Wait a minute!" Elizabeth shouted starting to understand what was going on, "Muammar? As in, Muammar Gaddafi?"
"Yes." Matthew said slightly embarassed, "He's the one."
"Hold on!" Elizabeth stood up from her seat, "Why would the Dictator of Libya be thanking you?"
"Because..." Matthew said, "I helped him."
"YOU WHAT?!?" Elizabeth screamed at a high pitch, "You helped a tyrannical maniacal dictator?!"
"It was a mission I was on!"
"Why?!?" Elizabeth was frantic.
"I was sent by the company to go on a mission to aid Gaddafi."
"But why?!?" Elizabeth shouted, "I don't want to have to be tried for treason by helping one of the US Government's Most Wanted terrorists!"
"I'll explain!" Matthew said, "You'll want to sit down for this."
"Oh yeah?" Elizabeth was still furious, "If I find out that I'm helping totalitarianism, I swear, I'll jump out of this plane right now!"

Ten minutes passed, and Elizabeth kept staring out the window. It was still a pitch black night, over a pitch black desert. Elizabeth could not even see how close she was to the ground. This frightened her. However, she looked on the hoirzon, and saw a small pattern of lights directly ahead.
"Look!" Elizabeth shouted.
Matthew, and Stephanie, who were both on the flight deck stared at the sight.
"That's got to be it." Stephanie said, "It's too bright to be a convoy."
"How far is it?" Matthew asked.
"I guess about seven nautical miles." Elizabeth said, "And if I can see correctly, it looks like we're lined up for landing."
"Right." Matthew said, "I'll tell the rest of the crew to brace for landing." Matthew headed out of the flight deck.
"Stephanie?" Elizabeth asked, "How do you land a plane?"
Stephanie had no answer. She just sared blankly at Elizabeth, and Elizabeth returned the favor. "What?" Stephanie asked.
"How do you land a plane?" Elizabeth asked.
"You've got to be joking." Stephanie said, "I don't know how."
"That's funny." Elizabeth said, "I don't know how either."
"How did you get this far?" Stephanie asked.
"Hey cool it!" Elizabeth said, "My ex-boyfriend was a pilot, and he let me use some of their flight simulators. I was totally able to simulate a taking off and flying."
"And landing?" Stephanie asked, "What about landing?!"
"We broke up before the relationship got that far." Elizabeth shrugged.
"Every time I think you're slightly capable, you prove me wrong!" Stephanie said, "Can you at least stop it?"
"Nope." Elizabeth grew worried, "Sorry."
"What's the trouble?" Matthew came back up to the flight deck. "Why isn't the throttle lowered?"
"This lunatic can't land a plane!" Stephanie said.
"No worries." Matthew said, "Just line her up with the runway, and I'll do the rest."
"You can land a plane?" Stephanie asked.
"Not by myself." Matthew admitted, "I know what switches to flip, but I need someone else to stay linged up with the runway. I'll do the rest."
"Great." Stephanie said, "How is it that two incompetent halves can make a competent whole?"

Elizabeth and Matthew walked back to the cabin to see the condition of the rest of the plane. All they could see was a large cloud of dust floating on the center aisle, and the sound of moaning.

"Are we stopped?" Stephanie asked, "And who was the idot who sent us into free-fall?"

"I did." Elizabeth looked for Stephanie. Elizabeth could not see anything in the cloud, but only heard voices.

"I should have known." Stephanie griped, "I still feel sorry I was paired up with someone this failure-prone!"

"Quit yelling and come help me!" Hot plate's voice chimed out, "I'm stuck beneath a chair, and I need someone to pry me out."

"What about the emergency lights?" Stephanie shouted, "Where are they?"

"Broken!" Elizabeth said, "I think we lost electrical before we stopped."

"How is that possible?!" Stephanie shouted, "Where are you Hot Plate, I'll come and find you!"

"I'm coming too!" Elizabeth shouted. She walked into the swirling cloud of dust and dirt.

"Wait for me!" Matthew followed.

"Where is everyone?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm over here!" they heard Doc's voice, "Actually, I think I'm further away. I think I'm near row 38!"

"Hot Plate!" Stephanie shouted, "What row are you in?"

"Seventeen." Hot Plate said, "If you can get close enough to read the numbers, use them to navigate around the cabin!"

"Stephanie, are you there?" Matthew asked.

"Row 22!" Stephanie said, "I'm closing in on Hot Plate!"

"I'm coming after you guys!" Doc said.

"Get out of the plane!" a foreign voice yelled out.

"Was that you, Doc?" Stephanie asked.

"I thought it was Matthew." Doc said.

"I didn't say anything." Matthew said.

"Leave the plane immediately!" the voice rang out. Directly after that, the sound of several handguns being loaded were heard.

"What's going on?" Stephanie asked.

Finally, the plane's ventillation system kicked on, as well as the backup generator. The lights flickered on and the dust blew away. Everyone could see that the five passengers were right next to each oither on the plane. But they could also see four Libyan Nationalist Soldiers who boarded the plane, and pointed their guns at the unlucky bunch.

"This is uncalled for." Matthew whispered.
_________________

Finally as they pulled up to the terminal, the crew of the plane finally got out of the Jeep. Matthe went over to Stephanie. "Take them inside." he motioned to her, "Do what the soldier's say, and don't touch anything, or do anyting irrational, got it?"

"What happens if we do?" Stephanie asked.

"Their hospitality will be a lot less available." Matthew said, "Just go. They'll provide you each with rooms. It might not be like a suite on Park Avenue, but don't complain about it."

"Got it." Stephanie said.

"And keep Elizabeth under control." Matthew urged her, "No cultural blunders."

"Will do my best." Stephanie motioned to everyone, except Matthew, to follow her inside the terminal, with the rest of the soldiers. Matthew reamined outside with Tareq.

"Tell me, my friend." Tareq said, "What brings you to this little remote village airport in the middle of the desert?"

"We're fugitives." Matthew said, "We're highly wanted."

"By who?"

"The United States government."

"Oh." Tareq rolled his eyes, "Them again. You know, if the US would just leave us alone we wouldn't have all this diplomatic instability."

"That's a discussion for another day." Matthew said, not wanting to talk about foreign policy.

"Right." Tareq said, "What are you wanted for?"

"We got caught smuggling a US contraband in India." Matthew said, "We've been on the run ever since."

"Ah." Tareq said, "What was the contraband?"

"That's classified information." Matthew said, "I can't tell you."

"Keep your secrets." Tareq said, "I, on the other hand, recently received an important promotion."

"Really?" Matthew smiled at his host.

"I am now the commanding officer of the Southern Libyan National Reserves."

"Congrats." Matthew said, "That's very good of you."

"It's an awful job." Tareq said, "Day in, and day out, I come in, check my mail, and then sit at my desk all day, waiting for some phone call. And the call is always something stupid like, 'We need reprovisions at base 45', or, 'There was a minor weapons maladjustment at base 22'."

"How is that bad?" Matthew asked, "It sounds like an important job."

Tareq scoffed, "It's the most boring job ever. Tell me, do you know how many troops are in the South Libyan National Reserves?"

Matthew shook his head. "About 847." Tareq responded, "Nothing happens in Southern Libya. We don't even need troops there. I'm just a figurehead now."

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Matthew said.

"It doesn't matter." Tareq said, "Soon, I'll use my knowledge to move further up the ranks. It's a very time consuming career."

"Yes." Matthew said.

"By the way," Tarwq said, "You seem a bit... heavier, since we spoke last."

Matthew grabbed his belly. He felt Tareq staring at it, "You know the American diet." Matthew shurgged.

"Indeed!" Tareq chuckled. Matthew looked, and saw Tareq was in no position to laugh. Tareq could easily have been double Matthew's weight. Maatthew felt contempt for this man to live so gluttonously while many of his people starved. But it didn't matter. It didn't matter for now.

"Yes." Matthew said, "I'm just, well, getting worn down by life."

"So do we all." Tareq nodded.

Suddenly, Matthew felt a quivering inside his stomach. He at first tried to pretned it wasn't there. Suddeenly, he felt his hand slowly move up and down the curve of his pregnant shape. He began to feel his heart beat faster and faster. "Matthew?" Tareq stopped chuckling as he looked at his friend, "Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Matthew shouted, "I'll be-" Matthew stopped his sentence so that he could open the door of the Jeep he sat in. He opened it, and stumbled onto the pavement. Matthew's mind began to go blank. He tired to maintain his focus, when all of a sudden, Matthew felt his les buckle. He braced himself, as he careened on his side onto the pavement.

"Get help!" Tareq shouted to his soldiers. "Get the doctor!" The soldiers ran inside, all of them very afraid of what was going on inside Matthew.

Tareq ran over and tried to embrace his friend. "It's okay, it's okay..." Tareq tried to to help him.

Matthew had no feeling at this point. He began to go into a transe. He became extremely dizzy, and the world spun around him.

"Help me!" Tareq shouted.

Matthew could only feel himself shaking violently. He could hardly feel himself hit the pavement. Tareq grabbed Matthew, and held his arm. He looked, and he could see the black veins on his arms run down under his skin. Tareq jumped up at this site. Tareq then looked as Matthew's belly began to move.

Tareq pulled Matthew's shirt off, to get a better look at what was happening. Tareq stood horrified, as he saw what appeared to be ten or eleven small shapes wiggling under Matthew's belly. "Somebody!" Tareq shouted.

Tareq then felt a hand push violently on his shoulder, and throw him aside. Tareq saw Matthew's doctor run next to Matthew. He had a long needle in his hand. Stephanie, Elizabeth, and Hot Plate followed behind him. The doctor took the cap off his syringe, and with one movement, buried the needle deep im Matthew's arm. Tareq got up to see his friend writhe on the ground.

Matthew's convulsions began getting shorter and shorter. Finally, his movement stopped and his eyes shut altogether. "Hurry!" the doctor shouted. "Give me the adrenaline!"

Stephanie handed the doctor a second needle, this one he buried deep into Matthew's heart. He injected the adrenaline, and waited for a response. Everyone crowded around as Matthew lie motionless.

Suddenly, Matthew made one single gigantic gasp of air. His eyes opened, and he still lay flat on the ground. Hwever, he was alive and breathing. "What happened to me?" Matthew asked.

"Another episode." the doctor said, "I still don't know what's happening to you."

"Great." Matthew said, "Thanks for saving me."

"Just doing my job." the doctor said as he led everyone back inside.

Tareq looked in sheer horror at Matthew. Matthew sat up and began to collect his wits. When Matthew looked at Tareq, he could see the life had drained fully out of his face. Matthew chuckled. "I suppose I should tell you what that contraband was." Matthew grinned.