…
The Hunter immediately knew something was wrong. Seconds before every possible alarm blared for immediate attention, he could sense his ship was off. He was known throughout many clans for being one of the best in logistics of their ships. He checked everything religiously, but this time his arrogance had finally caught up with him. He had failed to run a thorough system check between his planet and the nearest game preserve planet, where he could have stopped and beaconed for help.
But no, he assumed everything was fine. He assumed this mission was black and white. Clear cut. An easy in and out. Usually that was how it was for the hunt and extermination of a Badblood. Usually clans rallied together to find the most suitable Hunter to purge the clan of a dishonorable limb.
He should have known better. His gut had told him this mission was different. Obviously someone had sabotaged his ship. There was no way the internal mechanisms could be so far off to immediately implode and fail upon entering Earth's atmosphere.
Most Hunters would allow their ships to land in a large body of water, detonating the self-destruct moments before impact to ensure the human race did not land their naïve hands on their technology.
He would not go down without a fight though. He knew the control monitor was useless at this point. With his Hunter grace and agility, he swung away from the control panel and raced to the core room. It was a mess, and he had only moments to make a decision. He quickly looked upon all the hissing, smoking mess that was his core ship engine.
He needed just enough control. Making a few quick adjustments, he then ran back to the control panel. He quickly scanned the area around his destination of impact looking for the least populated area. Finally, an area lit up on his screen. A region surrounded by mountains and much foliage, like a jungle. Sparsely populated. Easily surrounded by high population within a few hundred miles, but it would have to make due.
His braking system had been sabotaged the most, but a few adjustments with some hoses attached to his propulsion system would hopefully merit enough control in slowing down to minimize overall damage.
Luckily, his cloaking mechanism still worked, so he quickly switched that on and braced himself for impact.
…
Amy's night had been pretty good. She couldn't complain. It was her first night of a two week vacation. Not that she was beholden to an employer anyway being self-employed. Her professional life was amazing and fulfilling in every sense of the word, even if she was bored out of her mind. Being an appraiser of just about everything –homes, antiques, land, vehicles- had its perks though. It allowed her much free time, but she still had bills to pay.
For one, she loved her toys. And by toys, she meant her big super duty quad truck, her racing ATV, and all of her hunting equipment, specifically her bows. That stuff wasn't cheap. Then her beloved horses, her pets.
Amy realized the place she grew up in had a huge impact on her life and interests. The Appalachian Mountains provided a lot of room to roam and grow. She was a country girl through and through with just enough experience living in a big city for school to be well grounded and balanced in life.
Although she was an introvert, she easily accepted invites to hang out with some local friends. They all wanted to see her newest ATV. Yeah, it had been a pretty good night. But she was relieved to be headed home.
It was dark, nearly midnight, and it was a long way home and many miles on a pitch black back road barely wide enough for her large truck. Amy always loved the changing roads signaling her trip farther and farther from civilization. Two-lane highway to paved back road, and finally to gravel, dirt roads. Those were the kind she loved most. On the way to her family farm, she even had to drive across a low lying creek twice. Although, it was her family farm, her grandparents had left a few years back to live closer to town and their doctors as they were getting up there in years.
Her home life was quiet. Just the way she liked it. Quiet and peaceful. She was a few miles from home now, but she could already feel the tension from the conforming bonds of society easing from around her tight muscles and escaping out her partially rolled down window. Her place was the only one on this back road. It was a warm June night, just the way she liked it.
Not a care in the world.
Until a streaking ball of fucking fire roared right over the top of her truck to explode several yards to the left of the road.
She immediately slammed on the breaks, fishtailing slightly, and gravel flying everywhere. The force had rocked her truck enough that she was damn sure one of the wheels had been off the ground, and that was saying something about her big truck already weighed down by a mean metal machine, aka, her ATV.
For a moment, she just sat in her truck, staring straight ahead. A part of herself told her to just go on home and ignore this incident. Her truck wasn't damaged. She was fine. Just go home.
Her hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel, feeling the warm leather beneath her flesh. Focus. Breath. It was probably just a meteor. Of course she was pretty sure meteors didn't swerve up to avoid moving vehicles.
She was losing her mind!
With a yell and a bang of her fists, she yanked open her truck door and hopped down.
She finally looked at the wreckage. Although it was pitch black outside, she could see clearly. Several trees had been downed, incinerated, combusted. They were currently smoldering. One was still very much flaming high. In the back of her mind, she hoped the fire didn't spread.
There was fire. Trees were destroyed. There was obviously a path of grooved deep into the dirt leading to a huge pile of dark soil. But there was nothing there. It was as if whatever had landed, had just poof! Disappeared.
Taking a hesitant step forward, Amy looked closer. Something was off.
Sure enough, although she couldn't see whatever had crashed, she could just barely make out a shape. No wonder there were so many trees down. Whatever it was, it was huge. No way was that a meteor. A meteor that size would have destroyed this entire region.
Looking down at her outfit, she grumbled to herself. Just great, of all times to wear something girly, it had to be now. Sighing loudly, she looked from side to side along the road, as if her agitation would magically reveal some lost soul along this road. Yeah right.
Ballerina shoes and a knee length summer dress were not ideal to be traipsing along in severely churned up dirt, but she had no way of knowing if this thing was a covert operation jet running a training op. There could be someone in there needing help.
At least, that's what she kept telling herself.
trees had been downed, incinerated, combusted. They were currently smoldering. One was still very much flaming high. In the back of her mind, she hoped the fire didn't spread.
It was surreal.
There was fire. Trees were destroyed. There was obviously a path of grooved deep into the dirt leading to a huge pile of dark soil. But there was nothing there. It was as if whatever had landed, had just poof!
However, not even two steps closer to the edge of the road, she heard a click and a hiss cutting through the silence of the night. And just for a second, something flickered over the near invisible "jet", revealing the beast of a machine in all its glory. Yeah, that was like nothing she had ever seen before. Nothing like a jet.
Her mind kept screaming alien, but that was crazy!
And then she saw him.
All seven foot, hulking muscle of something not human. Not human.
He stumbled backwards away from his ship. He appeared disoriented, but that didn't seem to last long.
Amy was sure that she was just staring in shock, mouth gaping wide open. Some self-preservation mode finally clicked on, and Amy made a decent attempt at stealth by creeping her flat shoes slowly behind her.
Luck was not part of her night apparently. No sooner did her foot hit a loose piece of gravel, making a slightly audible crunch sound –although how the hell he heard it over the hissing sounds of his ship and the crackling flames on the trees, she had no clue- than his head whipped to the right, instantly locking onto her form. His dreadlock-like hair whipped behind him and gracefully settled around his shoulders and along the bulking mass of his biceps.
Amy put her hands up in a placating manner in front of her chest as he crouched down into a defensive crouch. Or maybe it was offensive, if the weapon in his hand was anything to go by.
"Easy, big guy." She calmly breathed. It was so low, yet he heard her. He cocked his head to one side, but his weapon stayed locked on her.
She dimly thought of the shotgun in the back seat.
The big guy began to make rather odd clicking and growling sounds. Inhuman sounds. She couldn't tell exactly where his focus was with the metal mask he was wearing, but Amy was pretty sure he was staring intently at her just as she was staring intently back at him.
When he began to relax, Amy eased her other foot back, but once he heard the crunch of gravel, he made a sharp clacking sound and a very loud growl. Like the low roar of a lion. Before his roar had even panned out, she spun around, slipping and sliding in her haste on the gravel, and headed straight for the safety of the open truck.
Amy heard a low whoosh, and thinking that he was after her, she spun to the left, and barely caught herself on the edge of the open door, making a loud protesting squeak as it bore the brunt of her sudden weight. It was hard not to notice the loud crunching sound of metal.
Spinning again to face him, Amy looked to her left. He had shot a clawed spear weapon at her! It was embedded deep in the back door of the truck, the metal crunched up like a ball of foil. What the fuck! Her truck!
And before she could even get over the outrage for that, he ripped the claw back into his hands from some suspension rope, taking the truck door with it.
Amy was pissed. Seething. The truck payment and insurance for it combined were not cheap! And she was pretty sure her insurance didn't cover alien attacks. Brooke, the insurance agent, was a total scrooge who barely allowed her busted headlight from an errant deer to be covered. This would not be!
Before her brain caught up to her mouth, she shouted, "Hey you dumb brute! That was my truck you just damaged!" Amy shouted a few more obscenities his way, waving her finger at him, and even taking a few steps in his direction without realizing it. Without thinking.
He did put his weapon away after easily ripping the undamaged spear free from the crumpled metal that was once the door of her truck. But he just stood there staring at her, with his head cocked to the side, as if he were trying to figure her out. Or plan his next method of attack. Amy wasn't sure. Maybe he wasn't sure either.
Amy was at an impasse. She didn't want to risk an attack by attempting to flee. He didn't seem to like it when she moved. But she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.
"Look, you, whoever you are, I don't want any trouble. I just want to go home. No harm, no foul, right?" Amy tried to reason with him.
He seemed relaxed. Not quite as tense. Maybe that was a good thing. He seemed to make a decision though and began making quick strides in her direction. He was headed her way with deadly intent.
Oh shit.
