Unidentified by Mikel J. Wisler

both lost in thought. He ran back through what Diego had said.
    The man seemed sincere enough, but Evens wondered about his story of seeing alien beings. Was there anyone in this town that didn’t believe in aliens or hadn’t seen a UFO? But he reminded himself that just because O’Conner and now Pastor Diego seemed to think there might be something to all of this that didn’t mean the whole town shared such experiences and beliefs. It was just a lot to take in so quickly.
    Eventually they reached a spot where Mitchell pulled over, but Evans, lost in thought, hadn't tracked where exactly they were now. Mitchell looked down at her phone where she had a map pulled up. She had marked a spot on the map. She closed the app and looked up at him.
    “We’re here,” she said. “I guess.”
    Opening her door, she got out of the car. Evans followed her, starting to understand why she was single. On the one hand, he admired her tenacity. On the other hand … he was hungry.
    Mitchell walked up the road a bit then stopped to look at tire marks in the road. “So the woman was coming from that direction,” she pointed up the road. “… saw Stephanie in the road here, and slammed on her breaks.” She looked back in the opposite direction. “So where did Stephanie come from?”
    “Hard to say,” Evans replied. “She could have been walking on the road for a while or just have come out of the woods.”
    He looked around. The road cut through the woods. There were trees going on endlessly lining the road from either side. There was no way of really knowing where Stephanie might have come from.
    Mitchell headed to the side of the road and then walked into the woods. Evans followed her to the edge of the road and then looked out at the woods. I hope the FBI pays their consultants well, he thought, looking down at his shoes. I probably should have negotiated my fee first, right? He followed her into the woods.
    “Might I remind you that it’s tick season?” He called after her.
    “Don’t worry, I can check you for ticks later,” she called back to him.
    He was taken aback as he tried to determine if this was simple humor or if there was some other undercurrent of flirtation or innuendo meant to be associated with this remark. He opted to just move on.
    “What do you expect to find out here?” he said.
    Mitchell stopped, looking around at the vegetation around her. “Any indication she might have come through here,” she said. “And what direction she came from.”
    She stooped and looked at the ground closely. Evans caught up to her.
    “Was there any mud or leaves on her clothes?” he asked.
    “Not according to the report. But her clothes were on inside-out,” she said, standing back up. “I’ve noticed that’s common in UFO abduction cases. Why is that?”
    “Well, from what I’ve read, it’s because subjects are stripped for examination. Presumably, in the process, the aliens peel their clothes off, which end up being inside-out. Then they put the inside-out clothing back on the people before returning them.”
    “So these beings that travelled here from some other galaxy don’t know how to deal with clothing?” Mitchell frowned.
    “Well, in their defense, in most abduction accounts they’re usually naked themselves, or maybe it’s deliberate. When you consider just what is involved in most alien abduction accounts, it’s like everything they do is designed to inflict the maximum amount of terror and humiliation.”
    Mitchell turned and moved further into the woods, looking about. “Designed, huh? Coming around to my theory that there’s someone behind this?” She remarked.
    “I still strongly suspect emotional trauma as the real issue. But I have to admit that there is something quite perverse about abduction stories,” he said, moving after her.
    “Snatching people out of their beds at night is pretty perverse.”
    “That’s the tame part. Abductees claim to be subjected to humiliating