Episode I: From the Shadows

Chapter Two: Run?

As Jania shot out of the door and towards the stairs that would take her to the bottom floor and out of her apartment; she tripped over a small metal thing on the ground, PLEASE LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING said the hovering thing, it was a white and gray dog-shaped machine though it looked like no dog Jania had ever seen before.

"Is this where the signal is strongest K-9?" asked the man standing beside the 'dog' holding a metallic cylinder that seemed to be emitting a noise. The man was dressed in a light brown coat and fedora that seemed to go together with his snappy bow tie that he had around his neck. His face, which seemed like it should have a grin on it, was dark and broody as he read another small machine that was sitting in his hand. "Well K-9?" he asked, "We haven't all day my dear dog, is it here?"

YES MASTER, said the dog, IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE VIRUS IS CONCENTRATING ITS ENERGIES HERE,

Jania took another step back in shock, but always the headstrong and curios type Jania put on her best 'no nonsense face' and said, "And who are you?" unable to keep the face for long she bent down next to the 'dog' and ran her hand along its side. She stared at the dog in wonder as she asked. "What's going on here?"

"Oh I'm so sorry my dear," said the man taking his fedora off, "I just happened on this lovely home of yours and I thought to myself 'why don't I pop in and see miss Tiriel for a bit' but I can see your just headed out so I'll just make myself some tea and be on my way,"

MASTER, WE ARE NOT HERE FOR TEA - THE SIGNAL BECONINIG FROM THIS HOUSE IS STRONGER THEN THE OTHERS AND HAVING TEA WOULD-

"That'll do K-9," he said patting the dog, "Go along and deal with the virus and I'll spend some more time with this charming young woman here," he put his hat back on his head as K9 – as was the dogs name - began hovering again and went inside the darkened flat, "Now, as I was saying, my name is Centauri Alpha," he looked inside her flat for a second, and winced when he saw K-9 fire off a blast of blue energy at her television.

There was a roar and the snake-shadow's head burst out of the television and tried to grab the robot dog. "Excuse me dear," said the man, handing her the small machine he dashed inside – at a speed that seemed far beyond his small body and apparent age – and pushed K9 out of the way. Centauri gasped in pain as the monster grabbed onto his leg and tried to tear it off.

Centauri's surprise mounted as Jania grabbed onto the fire extinguisher sitting next to the TV and began slamming it into the monster… only to have it torn from her hand a few seconds later as the monster used its tail – which had finally pulled itself free of the TV – to send her flying into a closet. Grunting in pain Centauri reached out and grabbed onto the fire extinguisher and used it to blast the television. A small grin spread across his face as the monster groaned in pain and its huge snake body began to fade. Reaching into his pocket Centauri pulled out a small metallic cylinder and grinned wider as a high-pitched squeal emerged from it.

Centauri's grin widened to almost encompass his whole face as the monster began screaming; it quickly lost its cobra shape and turned into the shadow from earlier. Suddenly it shifted again and turned into a blanket of blue energy and dove into Jaina's telephone. Centauris grin quickly faded as everything electrical in the flat began to emit blue sparks, "Damn!" he shouted.

TO DAMN, said K-9 as he came floating out of the pot cabinet (covered in two pots and numerous forks that had become stuck in his armor) and tried to use a small magnet to remove the items that had punctured his hull. IS TO CONDEM- "Run K-9! Run Jania!" shouted Centauri.

"Run?!" shouted Jania in shock as she tried to get out of the closet and follow the strange man. Grabbing onto her wrist Centauri pulled the young girl out of the closet she'd been thrown into and together the two slid down the banister and grunted in pain as they bounced out the bottom stairs door and slid into the yard. "Run where?" asked Jania, dizzy from her ride. "Away from here!" shouted Centauri as he headed for the road and quickly disappeared.

RUNNING AT ONCE MASTER, said K-9 as he shot out of the kitchen window, hovered down the side of the building and took off in the direction that Centauri had taken... just as Jaina's flat exploded.

Jania was thrown into the road from impact of the flat's boom. She stared back for just a moment at the fiery ruins of her flat. Then, she picked herself up and ran...away, down the street, far towards the end of the road. She stopped, just at the start of the sidewalk up to another flat. Looking back, she saw no sign of the strange man, nor the little mechanical dog.

Suddenly Jania remembered the machine from earlier and reached into her pocket, and to her surprise she found… nothing. "He must have taken it back," she muttered sadly. Confused and frightened out of her wits, Jania went shaking up the stairs of the familiar building and then to the door. Banging erratically on the door, she waited for it to be opened.

"Buna ziua," Kyra said as she opened the door, "About time your arrived. I ordered that Pizza…" Kyra stopped in mid-sentence as she saw a familiar face. "Jania? What wrong?" she grabbed onto her friend as the girl nearly collapsed and proceeded to lead her to a couch. "Jania come on! Are you all right? Come on in and have a seat." she blushed when she sat Jania down in a puddle of blue paint, "Sorry about that, I forgot about the paint…"

Tears slid down Jania's face – but she wasn't crying – it was as if they were falling because of the shock. Gasping in surprise as she remembered where she was Jania gazed up at Kyra. "My house just blew up." Looking back at the door she'd just come through, obviously confused and completely out of it, Jania began to spout the story of the events that just took place in only about five minutes ago.

After she'd finished Jania jumped to her feet – spilling three of Kyra's paint buckets and knocking over an easel, "I never told that man my name. How did he know me?" she asked feverishly. Kyra looked at her oddly. "Are you alright?" she asked in English this time though her accent was heavy of her mother country. "Jania… maybe you should get some sleep? I er… think that you need it. It'll clear your head. My bedroom's the first on the right,"

Jania continued to recite the story of what had happen as Kyra led the scared woman towards the bathroom and then her bedroom. Helping Jania to change into one of her flannel nighties and then laying the still babbling woman on her bed Kyra squeezed her temples in pain as the buzzing she'd been hearing lately suddenly became higher pitched as her head came near Jania's when she bent down to shut the light off.

Finally Jania stopped talking and fell into a twitch filled sleep. Shaking her head Kyra headed back into her living room and proceeded to clean up the mess from Jania's intro.