He hadn’t expected his first encounter with a living alien species to be him pancaked on the ground. It wasn’t a bad fall, only about 15 feet, and he had landed on spongy moss. When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring into the eyes of something. Adrenaline shot through his veins, with him practically leaping back onto his feet. He found himself staring at what looked almost like… a dragon?

Except, the face was strange. Instead of a set of jaws, flickering mandibles churned. Normally he would be terrified, but this was a very, very small alien. And it’s eyes, they were almost human like. It crawled closer to him, hopping awkwardly with arms fused to wings. A strange chirrup exited its mouth, and it turned its head, almost like a begging dog. Averi. Adlai scolded himself for forgetting about the two girls.

“Godammit.”

He had lost the leaf. Looking left and right, he couldn’t see the neon green saucer anywhere. He walked back to the base of the tree, picking up the hatchet and his lantern. The alien hopped along with him, following.

“Shoo, go along.”

“Godammit.”

It stared at him, its eyes excited.

“Godammit, goddarmit, godammmmit.”

Adlai racked his brain for something the professor had on aliens that could mimic humans, but he came up blank. It must be a new species or something. I wonder if the researchers ever found this guy. Turning around, he debated climbing the tree again. It was going to take a long time, and he wasn’t excited to do any more climbing. He rummaged through the bag he had brought. Nothing useful. He’d have to go back and talk to the girls, tell them he couldn’t find anything. Sighing, he rose and turned to see the alien holding the leaf.

“Goddamit?”

Adlai slowly walked towards the alien, reaching for the leaf. The alien’s eyes sparkled with mischievous intent, and it hopped backwards, flapping its wings. Having dealt with a young Averi, he knew enough about dealing with little kids, or semi-intelligent aliens. He pretended to lose interest, walking away from it. The thought of Averi itched at his mind, he needed to get back as soon as possible. He couldn’t rush this though, He needed the leaf. His next step, he pivoted on his planted foot, rotating to face the alien again. Pushing off that foot, he lunged for the leaf, and grabbed hold. The alien screeched in surprise, flapping off. Wrapping his arms around the leathery stem, he jogged his way back to them, ignoring his aching side. What Adlai didn’t see was the mimicking alien engulfed in a set of bone crushing jaws, limbs falling to the sides. The eyes of the predator however, were not on the alien it was eating. They were on him.

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It watched. It loved watching so much. The little squealer was fun, but not as fun as the screams, oh how fun they were. It glided into the shadows, beneath hanging vines, watching. The tall one gestured with its arms, and the shorter one, the one that wasn’t broken, got up. They were lashing rope together, around sticks, and around a leaf. It didn’t understand why, it didn’t really care. It could smell them, oozing fear. Fear was an interesting scent, almost delicious, but so fleeting and intangible. It remembered the older ones, the ones it caught. Oh, how fun those had been! It loved the screams, the fear. It all intermingled, and it was enraptured by it. It was fulfilled, covered in blood, covered in what was meant to be inside, but ripped outside. It loved fear.

The others feared it, but not in the same way. It was a fearful confidence, or a dull, boring fear. They didn’t scream much when it caught them, when it ripped them apart, shaking back and forth. Not much fun. These ones, the new ones, were much more fun. It knew where they were going too! Oh, it loved knowing. They were going to the egg, where all the new ones gathered. They weren’t much fun now, too tired to run, to scream. It would watch, and wait. One of them smelled familiar however, the blood leaking from it, like those old ones it had made scream. That one would be fun. It twirled in the air, its body pulsing lights. A low grumble, too low for the new ones to hear, trickled out of its jaws. It would watch, and it would learn. It loved their confusion before their fear, loved tricking them. Oh how fun! So fun! But it must stay quiet. And watch. With barely held back enthusiasm, the Skyren, as it was known, watched from behind a curtain of vines. It watched, and it thought.

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Adlai whipped around, something inside him, something incredibly old, screaming at him that he was in danger. Nothing. His eyes tried to push through the hazy darkness, like a heavy blanket being held back only by the now weakening light of his lantern. It was enough to change his slight jog to a full run. Fear of the dark was a human instinct, something shared by Adlai all the way back to the first person to light a fire. Fire kept those terrors away with a bright cheery light, and so Adlai, about to be enveloped by darkness, ran. He wasn’t ashamed of his fear, never would be. So with his lungs aching, his legs refreshing his pain with each step, he ran. He saw the comforting light of a fire, two faces illuminated by it. His pace slowed, and he finally took a seat, the soft moss barely disguising the discomfort of the rock. Averi’s state seemed to have improved a bit, her face holding a little more color.

Shawna stared into the fire, not looking up at Adlai. “We’re not leaving here today are we.”

“No.”

“What did you see out there?”

Adlai wondered how to describe to Shawna that feeling, one he could hardly even fathom mentally. “I didn’t see anything, but I felt something. It was there, I could feel it. It was like… like something was watching me.” He shuddered. “To be completely honest, it was terrifying.”

“It’s probably a good idea to get moving again, especially with her like this.”

“I just hope we don’t have to deal with any rough terrain.”

“How far is it?”

“According to the GPS, it’s 40 miles away. I’d bet with us dragging Averi we could manage maybe ten miles a day? Probably a little longer.”

“So four days. That’s going to be rough.”

“Maybe five.”

They both stared into the fire, the embers growing as it began to burn out of fuel. Adlai tried to free his mind, all of his worries like angry mosquitoes buzzing in his head. He almost missed the homeworld. Almost. He thought of how he was before his training. That wasn’t life. He wasn’t alive, he was going through the motions of life. Essentially dead. This wasn’t an alien heaven, but it was better than what he had called life. He felt alive, he could feel again. Looking up over the fire, Adlai saw Shawna starting to nod off. She was oddly beautiful in the dim orange glow, her face glowing. Sighing to himself, he wondered why he was thinking these thoughts, especially now. He stood up, hands on the small of his back. He would watch over them tonight.