Chapter 4

I'm in the limo again, sitting down in the back. I look up and see the seat is above me. The inside is empty besides the broken glass that peppered the floor. I focused my ears on what was happening around me, but heard no sounds. I looked down at my hands and saw I was holding my magnetic pistol in them. I tilted my head up, and saw the door to the limo was open, so I pointed the gun at the door, and waited. After a few moments passed I saw the head of a young man poke through the door. He looked very plain, and he wasn't wearing any face coverings. He was wearing tattered grey armor that had no advent markings on it. He smiled at me warmly, but his sudden entrance, and the fact that he wasn't Advent startled me, so I pulled the trigger.

Three shots rang out and hit him in the face. His head exploded, and sprayed blood all over me and the inside of the limo. It was like I had burst a balloon filled with more blood than it should have been able to contain. In an instant my vision was cut off. I felt the warmth of this man's blood coating my entire body and the gun I was holding felt slick. I dropped the pistol in shock and wiped my eyes with my hands. I opened them and looked down in horror at my bloodsoaked hands. A scream erupted from my lips. Once I started screaming I saw the familiar orange and yellow colored tail of a viper slither its way into the limo. I silenced my scream and watched it's movements. It was feeling around the inside of the limo for something. As the tail approached me I thought about reaching for the gun, but I didn't want to alert it to my presence. The tail slowly made its way towards me and eventually bumped into my shoe. It reared back like a cobra ready to strike, but instead of striking it tentatively began exploring my shoe. I sat there deathly still hoping it would get bored and move on, but it didn't. It started to curl around my shoe and it wiggled its way into my pant leg, wrapping around my leg up to my calf. It yanked me out of the limo in one graceful motion. I tried to grab onto something as I was dragged out, but everything was coated in blood, so I couldn't get a good grip.

I was laid out on the ground, and saw I was surrounded by rebels. All of their faces were covered by balaclavas and they were holding assault rifles of varying conditions. I stood up and tried to push past them, so I could get away from the limo, but they shoved me back and knocked me to the ground. When I looked up I saw another rebel without a face covering, but this one had a viper coiled around him. The viper looked me directly in the eyes, as I was laying on the ground, and bit into the rebels neck. I watched him convulse and make horrible gurgling noises for several moments before the viper tightened her body around him. I heard multiple sickening cracks. It sounded like someone breaking branches off of a living tree. The rebel's body was mangled. His arms and legs were bent at different angles, and it looked like his chest caved in. The viper released him, letting his body fall to the ground.

When the viper let his body go he fell sideways and faced me as he was falling until he hit the ground. I saw green fluid drip from his eyes, nose and mouth. As the fluid pooled on the ground under his head, he pointed at me and spoke with a raspy voice that sounded like he had a broken larynx. "You're... next..."

My eyes darted from him up to the viper, it was slithering towards me. I jumped up and tried to dive back into the blood soaked limo, but it was already upon me. It grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me close, coiling around my body. I felt air being squeezed out of my lungs. I couldn't move, but I wasn't being killed. It felt like I was being restrained with steel cable, large and muscular steel cable that was warm and had a little give to it.

She was massive, her body easily managing to surround mine in a wall of flesh. I looked up and saw her head was positioned a few feet above mine. Using the blood that coated me as lubricant, I squirmed and tried to free myself, but all I managed to do was elicit a garbled hiss from the viper. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of watching me suffer, so I looked away from her, but she grabbed my head and turned it to face her. Her thin arms were stronger than they looked. She moved her face inches from mine, and I could see she had a mischievous look to her. Completely restrained, all I could do was just stare at her face. I tried to look around her, but I felt compelled to look at her eyes. Before I knew what had happened I was staring deep into her crimson eyes and sensing the intent in them.

I did not like what I saw behind her eyes; it wasn't the murderous intent that frightened me, but the lust that I saw. I knew what was coming, so I yelled out for help. Her head shot forward and I closed my eyes bracing for the worst.

Instead of feeling fangs sink into my neck I felt her lips press against mine. They were surprisingly warm, and were not hard like I expected. They were soft, spongy almost. Similar in feeling to a human's lips, but I could feel the grooves in between her scales. I opened my eyes and attempted to yell for help again, but she forced her tongue into my mouth, silencing me. I felt her tongue exploring every part of my mouth. Her tongue was long, and it had an unnatural strength to it. It was like I had a slimy piece of smooth rope rolling around in my mouth. I tried to force it out with my own tongue, but she easily overpowered mine. All the while her eyes were lit with a fiery desire that she projected onto me. I thought about biting down on her tongue, but as soon as it crossed my mind, she slipped her tongue down my throat and made me gag. I coughed, and the Viper retracted her tongue. She giggled and put her hand in front of her mouth, as if to say oopsie.

I didn't want to choke on her tongue again, so I didn't bother calling for help this time. She winked at me, and leaned forward to kiss me again, less violently than when she started. Easing into a more sensual, passionate kiss. I felt a new sensation, a four fingered hand touched my stomach, and began exploring my torso. She lightly scratched my chest with her claws as she explored, which sent chills across my body. Much as I didn't want to admit it I started to enjoy the sensations I was experiencing. I gave into her touches, relaxing my body. The viper must have taken this as my approval because I felt her hand change direction.

Her hand began moving down. She kept lightly scratching my skin as she worked her way down to the waistband of my pants. She started to playfully pluck at it with one of her claws, occasionally sliding a finger under the waistband and rubbing my groin as she plucked away. This teasing was near unbearable. I knew what was coming, but before I could brace myself, she slid her hand into my pants past my waistband and grabbed my junk. It caught me off guard so I tried to protest, but her undulating tongue and soft lips calmed my nerves. She gently kneaded my partially erect member with her scaled hand. Her hand was as warm and as soft as her lips. It was smooth, almost textureless. She took her time, lavishing every part of my pecker with a caressing touch that sent me into euphoria. I felt the creases in her hand bump against my head as it effortlessly gilded back and forth across my cock. I looked into her eyes and saw myself reflected back in them. I bore a look of pure bliss, but something was off. I couldn't quite place it. What was wrong? Then it hit me, I was looking into the eyes of an alien.

I realized what was happening and woke up from my trance. I bit down on her tongue and thrashed within her grasp like a fish trying desperately to return to the water. I felt her hand leave my pants and her tongue slide out of my mouth. She grabbed my head with both of her hands. She tilted my head to the side, exposing my neck, and opened her maw. Instead of hissing I heard a doorbell sound come out of her mouth. What? Is this a dream?

I sat up from the couch and scanned the room. I was in my house, and not back at the limo. My body was soaked with sweat, and my heart felt like it was bouncing around in my chest. The tv was still on, playing some show I didn't care about.

I turned the tv off and leaned forward, rubbing my temples. "Fuck, that was terrible. I wish I didn't remember it. Did I have the same dream yesterday?" I had a sudden realization about the nature of my dream and cringed. I slowly pulled up my waistband to look in my underwear. Clean and dry, phew, at least I wasn't gonna have to clean anything up. I'm just gonna forget that dream happened.

The doorbell rang. I raised an eyebrow and looked at my phone. The screen was black. "Damn, guess I didn't charge it last night."

I stood up and cracked my back before walking up to the front door. I looked through the peephole and saw that viper from yesterday. "Why in the hell is she here? I wasn't planning on going anywhere today." I was anxious about letting her into my house, but my curiosity got the better of me.

I opened the door and put on a smile. "Heyyyy 11-7, what's up?" May have played it a little too casually.

She cocked her head slightly, flicking her tongue in and out. I looked past her, and saw there were a large number of advent vehicles parked on my street. I lost what little cool I had left. "So, uh you guys having a... a, uh party or something? Heh."

She squinted her eyes. "No, they are here to help me move in. Did your manager not inform you? You look like you woke up recently." Now that she reminded me, Manny did message me last night.

Oh thank god. I thought Advent found out something there for a minute. "As a matter of fact, I did just get out of bed. Why, you need my help?"

She crossed her arms and gestured behind me. "If you left the doorway that would be helpful."

I couldn't think of anything clever to say back, so I just went back to the living room and sat on the couch. I sighed, damn I guess this really is happening. Oh well, maybe I won't see her so much. Maybe this'll be like when I had the troopers guarding me. I watched 11-7 slither over to the kitchen and set her plasma rifle on the counter.

She looked at me and gestured to the rifle. "May I set this here?"

I laughed. "Leaving a high-powered rifle on the same surface I use to make sandwiches, sure, why not."

"Okay." She slithered over next to the couch and faced the door. I guess she doesn't get sarcasm yet.

Three advent troopers walked in carrying a folded mattress that looked bigger than any I had seen. One of the troopers spoke to 11-7 in advent. She spoke back and looked at me. "Where will my quarters be?"

I thought for a few moments. I did not want miss, assuming she isn't married, giant slithery snake sleeping anywhere near me, but I couldn't make it obvious. I looked back at her. "Well there is an open room across from me, but there are a couple bedrooms in the basement and it's wide open. You'd even have your own bathroom down there."

She nodded. "I'll take the room across from your room. I can come to your aid faster if there's trouble."

Shit. I faked a smile. "Great. Why don't you just sleep in my room at that point, huh. Might give you an even better response time." I mumbled that second part to myself.

11-7 gave me a weird look, but didn't say anything. Instead, she refocused on the troopers moving her stuff inside. She slithered over to the troopers and directed them. Good, at least I didn't have to do anything. I turned on the tv and watched them out of the corner of my eye. I saw them carrying in a lot of things, some of them I could identify, others I could not. They brought in some kind of giant heat pad that was a similar size to that mattress, clothes, some pieces of tech, and a lot of boxes.

I got bored quickly and watched tv for a while. Over half an hour had passed and they were still bringing in stuff. I looked over to see 2 troopers carrying a large white bathtub. It was probably three times the size of the one in my bathroom.

I stood up and walked over to 11-7. "Woah, woah! What's this? Manny didn't say anything about remodeling my house."

She said something to the troopers and they stopped walking. She turned around to face me and squinted her eyes. "Do you honestly think I can clean myself in that minuscule tub? I am surprised you fit in it."

I furrowed my brow and pointed at the tub. "I did not agree to this."

She cocked her head slightly, flicking her tongue out slower. "But you did?" She paused for a few moments before speaking again. "Not to worry, Advent will be covering the cost of all installations. You will not be charged." She seemed pleased with herself for coming up with that response.

I sighed and waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever, I guess a bigger bathtub isn't a big deal. Is there any other remodeling I should be made aware of?"

She said something in Advent to the troopers, and they went back to work. She thought for a few moments. "We'll be putting a large freezer in the basement to store meat. Will that be a problem?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't really go into the basement anyway, but why would you need so much meat storage? Are you a carnivore or something?"

She made a sound that was like a mixture between a laugh and a hiss. Hard to describe, but it sounded like someone was trying to drown a snake in a shallow pot of chili. "You don't think I live off of fruit, do you?" She kept laughing like that after she finished. I started to get visibly uncomfortable; she noticed and stifled her laughter. "You eat meat as well."

"I guess I do."

She craned her head to look over her shoulder. There weren't any troopers in the room. She looked back at me. "Don't be concerned, as long as Advent keeps me fed I won't get any strange ideas. Go back to watching the television, you don't have anything to worry about." I think that was her idea of a joke, but since it involved eating me it didn't really make me feel better. After she finished speaking she flashed a smile at me, and went back to directing the troopers.

I don't know why, but I believed her. It's not like they were redecorating my whole house, and a bigger tub would be nice. Never could fully submerge myself in a regular sized bathtub. I suppose we have our own rooms, so It's not like I'll be around her all hours of the day. I shrugged and went back to watching tv. The troopers kept marching around my house, moving things and remodeling the bathroom. A many hours later they packed everything up. I saw 11-7 slither into her new room after they all left. Good, looks like I get the livingroom to myself.

I flicked through the channels for a while until I found the movie Predator playing. My parents had told me about this movie before, but I don't remember much of what they said besides this one was different from the original. I've never seen the original, but this one is about an elite squad of Advent soldiers being sent to rescue some vips from rebels. After defeating all of the rebels, one survives and sabotages their transport, leaving them stranded. The rebel hunts them down, killing them one by one until the main character cleverly defeats him.

Overall, not a bad movie, so I started watching it. Partway in I heard some thumping noises coming from 11-7's room. I turned down the volume and looked over at her door. I listened, but I didn't hear anything else, so I went back to my movie. A couple minutes passed and I heard her door open. I rolled my eyes. Great, I had reserved myself for an extraterrestrial-less evening, but it seems that I accidentally made the reservation for two. It's bad enough that she's sleeping next to my room, but now she's actually coming out of her room and into my house.

As she slithered into view I saw she wasn't wearing her armor anymore, and in its place she wore a plain white tank top. She also wasn't wearing pants, which, I mean, how could a snake-like being wear pants, and it's not like her armor covered her waist or anything. This tank top is technically covering more of her body than her armor did, but seeing her in that tank top somehow made her look more naked. I couldn't help but notice her more feminine features stretching the fabric of her tank top as she passed in front of the tv. Oh, who am I fooling with this bullshit, I was staring at her tits. They weren't huge, but they were certainly big enough to draw my attention. I watched her sit down on the couch a few feet away from me. My couch was one of those large L shaped ones, so she draped her tail... body? over the unoccupied space.

I continued to stare as she raised her arms up in the air and stretched. Her whole body tensed up and I saw the muscles in her tail flex. Taking into account her similarity to a snake and her size, that tail was strong. Strong enough to... I don't want to think about that. I heard the tip of her tail slap the couch a few times, which caught my attention. I looked back at her to see her thrusting her chest out while she stretched, drawing my attention to her breasts further. Was she doing this on purpose? A dirty thought suddenly crossed my mind, and I had to take a step back. Oh fuck, what is wrong with me? Did I really just think that? What even are the moral implications of such a thing?

I hadn't realized it, but I was deep in thought and still staring at 11-7. She spoke up. "Are you even watching the television?" I was until you and your stupid humanlike snake tits decided to show up.

My face felt hot and I snapped my head forward to face the tv. "Uh, yeah. It's Predator, you ever seen it?" I hope she lets me change the subject.

I watched her through the corner of my vision. She squinted her eyes, flicking her tongue out more slowly than usual. "No... I have not. We do not get to experience much entertainment on duty."

I tried to look over at her and while my intentions were pure, my mind wasn't. My eyes were magnetized to her boobs. I had to force myself to look back up at her eyes. "That sucks. Well, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I'll turn up the volume" I spat that out as quick as I could and turned up the volume using the remote. She definitely noticed that time.

If 11-7 noticed me staring at her womanly features she didn't make it known to me. She faced forward, engrossing herself in the movie. Oh that's nice, well time for an existential crisis.

Why the hell did I just do that... again. Am I really getting turned on by this thing sitting next to me? I don't even know how old she is. She could be like 5 years old. I mean for god's sake she's a fucking alien, not a human. An alien who's not repulsive looking, and believe me I've seen plenty of the freakshows Advent parades around. If anything she's not bad looking. No, there's no way I could even know if she looks good, we aren't the same species, hell aren't even in the same class. She's a reptile... probably, and I'm a mammal. Wait, why do I care if she looks good? Whatever, I still can't even be sure if she's female, I'm not an alien biologist. Maybe I could figure it out?

I looked away from the movie and back at her. She was still focused on the movie, so I carefully studied her body. Unfortunately what I saw didn't help me calm down. She had curves in all the right places. Her body was lithe and toned. There was a sort of smooth gracefulness to her figure that I could appreciate. I looked down at where her torso bent at the couch and she even had hips. I don't even know how she was sitting on the couch comfortably. I've never seen a snake sit like that. Of course there were her boobs, which were still present and accounted for. I looked up at her head, and I realized something else. That hood she had didn't touch her shoulders, and was positioned like hair on a person. I imagined her head without it, and she looked bald. The scales on her body looked soft, and probably didn't act as a natural armor, like I had assumed. The scales on her arms and back were diamond shapes, but the ones running from her throat down to the tip of her tail were more like long and thin plates. I watched the plates flex as she adjusted her position on the couch. The plates weren't straight though, they had a point in the center. I noticed they weren't flat either, the points were slightly elevated. Those points made it look like she had a seam running from below her hips to the tip of her tail. What purpose it served I couldn't say, but if I'm going with my hair hood theory, then that seam might be meant to mimic legs. I don't get it, there seems to have been deliberate efforts to humanize these Vipers by the Elders, but to what end? Even if the Elders were trying to humanize them, I don't think most people would be able to get past the whole giant snake thing. What with the 5 inch long fangs, resting bitch face, and the ability to crush your ribcage like a soda can. I guess I can't be sure if it was intentional.

To conclude my analysis, oh fuck, she's shaped like a legless supermodel with a snake-like face in a hoodie. Yeah, for the sake of my own sanity, I'm just gonna assume she's female. But, is there really a girl sitting like 5 ft away from me right now? Am I sharing my house with a girl now? I hadn't really considered the implications of this until now.

11-7 made a noise, so I looked up at her face. She looked away from the movie and pointed at it. "Did you see that? That human just got blown up! This is amazing, I can see why you humans spend so much time staring at these machines."

You know, I'd like to get blown... I shook my head violently to remove that thought from my brain.

She scanned me with her eyes. "Are you ok? You are acting strange and radiating a large amount of heat." No, I'm not ok. I've got to get ahold of myself. If she can sense heat I'm already fucked. Would that be so bad? No. Stop.

I smiled and rubbed the back of my head. "Uh, yeah I'm fine. I've just got to uh... go to the bathroom."

She raised an eyebrow and started saying something, but I ignored her and ran into the bathroom.

I quickly shut and locked the door. I flicked on the lights and looked around my bathroom. That new tub Advent put in was bigger in person, the damn thing took up half the bathroom. It was right up against the toilet, but it looked like I still had enough room to sit on it. Nice of Advent to be so courteous, I'd hate to have to shit standing up.

I looked at myself in the mirror. My face was kinda red and moist with sweat. I can't believe that just happened. What would my parents think, me being guarded by an alien, much less having one move into my house and lusting after it. Yeah, that'd just be one more thing to add to the list of things they didn't approve of. Curse my stupid primitive brain, getting me worked up over something that just mimics the female form and isn't even human. Ugh, why did it have to be an alien? Why couldn't I get a cute human girl to guard me? Well, I wouldn't get a human, I'd get one of those hybrids, but at least that would be partially human. Hell I could always order the hybrid to never take off her helmet and pretend she was human. But instead, I get this serpent of temptation.

I sighed, wiping the sweat off my face with my hand and shaking it off. This is probably my fault, I clearly need to go outside and interact with people more. Even before all this terrorist bullshit I never did get out of the house much. I turned on the faucet, and splashed some cold water on my face. I shouldn't get too comfortable around her; she's definitely spying on me for Advent, and I can't have her tattling on me. If I give Advent any sort of blackmail material I know they won't hesitate to use it. My friend Carson told me about how he was forced to star in Advent educational videos for half a year because he got caught sleeping with a prostitute in between shooting scenes for an upcoming movie. Yeah, he's one of those people. It wasn't a terrible punishment, all things considered, but what rubs me the wrong way is he didn't choose to do it. Things like that tread the fine line between us vips being celebrities, and being camera slaves.

I reached for a towel and dried my face. It wasn't red anymore, and my heartbeat was back to normal. I think I've had enough time to cool down. Looks like I'm actually fine; I got all freaked out over nothing. I'm not a xenophile or anything. I'm just lonely and have a little cabin fever. This probably will never bother me again. I could just go hide in my room for the rest of the night. I do feel better now, but no. I've got to go back out there and prove I'm not a degenerate.

I turned off the light and returned to my spot on the couch. 11-7 looked at me, but didn't turn her head away from the tv screen. I sat down and ignored her alluring humanlike body. Instead I focused my attention on the movie.

Unfortunately, that only lasted a few seconds because the moment I got comfortable she said something. "You didn't flush the toilet."

"Huh?" I said, not really paying attention to her.

"Why didn't you flush the toilet?" I looked over at her and she was staring at me.

Why is she so observant? "What, were you listening to me or something?"

Her hood retracted a little, and her eyes widened. "No, I just noticed it."

Great, I hope she didn't hear anything else. Sometimes I get so lost in my thoughts I just start talking outloud. "No, I didn't flush. Why do you care exactly?"

11-7 scrunched up her face and leaned her head back. "That's disgusting."

I smirked and leaned back on the couch. "Yeah, well get used to it. This is my house, and I'm not leaving the seat down for you either."

She leaned over, closing the gap between us a little. "No need. I can't fall in." She looked me up and down. "unlike you."

I really don't want to know how she uses that toilet, but I'm definitely going to start cleaning it before I sit down. "Whatever, you enjoying the movie?"

Her face lit up. "Oh Yess, I am. It's like I'm watching someone else's assignment, it's exciting. But there is something I don't understand."

It's a pretty simple movie, so I was actually curious what she didn't understand. "Oh yeah, what is it? I could probably explain it; I've seen this movie before."

"I don't understand the human rebel character, the Predator."

"What about it don't you understand?"

"It is impressive that he can hunt down an elite Advent squad by himself. He is the important character, but I am not learning much about him."

"Um, well... He is the bad guy? You're not supposed to want to empathize with him. I mean he is fighting against Advent?"

11-7 put her hand up to her chin, and looked at the ground in thought for a while. She looked back up at me. "I'm aware of which side he is on. I just wanted to see how he hunted, so I could become better at hunting these rebels. I could have given some intel to my superiors if I saw it. You should always understand your enemy."

I just sat there awestruck listening to this long tube with arms and tits blabber on about nothing. "What the hell are you talking about? This isn't real, it was made up."

She cocked her head. "Not... real?" She paused for a few moments. "What do you mean?"

I facepalmed and gestured at the tv as I spoke. "It's entertainment, all these people are actors, I've actually met the guy who played the predator before and he's not actually a rebel."

She squinted her eyes and her pupils contracted. "Sso, you humans go out and pretend you are doing things in front of a camera to record it for others to watch?"

"Yeah, it's a big business too; I'm actually a part of it. I'm an actor, I guess you'd call me a professional pretender. Didn't you know that?"

She crossed her arms. "When I was briefed my superiors told me you were an asset worth protection, nothing more. So you do this too. It seems pointless."

"You said you were enjoying the movie, that's the point of it."

She still had confusion plastered over her face. "You just watch it and move on to the next one. Is there no purpose beyond that?"

She really is clueless isn't she. "Well, it's not that simple, there is more to it than just watching. You can analyze parts of the movie, and ask questions like you did before. You can find characters you relate to and root for them. You could project yourself onto one of the characters and ask what you would do in that situation. Sometimes there's a lesson to be learned from a movie. It's more complex than what I'm saying, but you get what you want out of a movie. Multiple people can watch the same movie and take different things away from it."

She pondered what I said for a bit before responding. "I think I understand."

I smiled. "Do you now? Who's your favorite character then?"

She pointed at one of the characters on the tv. It was a large buff man giving a monologue. "I like him, the human leader called Dutch."

"Why do you like him?"

She was quiet for a few moments. "He's brave and capable. His other squad members are breaking down, but despite his fears he tries to keep the squad together and keep the others alive. It is... admirable."

I nodded. "Maybe you do understand." I went back to watching the movie.

I was fine with finishing the movie without more talking, but 11-7 apparently wasn't. "What is your favorite character, Lucas?"

It was strange hearing her use my first name. I'm used to most people calling me Mr. Hickey. It's always refreshing to hear it, reminds me I'm not working. "Uh, same as you. I like Dutch."

She looked at me expectantly for a few moments before responding. "Why do you like him?"

I thought about my answer before responding. "You know, he's your standard action hero. Confident, contagious, strong. He's out there fighting for what he believes in, and winning. Defending his friends and fighting against evil." I sighed. "Sometimes I wish things like this were as black and white in real life as they are portrayed in movies." Shit, did I really say that last part out loud?

I looked over at 11-7. She seemed to be pondering what I had just said, but her face gave me no hint of what she was thinking. She didn't respond, she only nodded at me, and we finished the movie without talking further. I probably should have been scared that she was going to report me or something, but what would she even tell them. When the credits started rolling I yawned and told her I was going to bed. I showed her how to use the remote and went to my room.

My house did not feel so empty anymore, but at what cost? My sanity for one thing, half my couch, and one bedroom. Maybe the cost wasn't too great, I did get a free bathtub out of the deal. I guess the saying is true: Be careful what you wish for because you might just get exactly what you ask for. I chuckled to myself as I plugged my phone in. No more "incidents" tonight after I gave myself that pep talk in the bathroom, guess I really am not a xenophile. I crawled into bed, feeling quite comfortable for once. Hopefully no nightmares tonight.