"Stop."

Kira doesn't expect it to work. The creature is halfway across her dining room, mid-step, when it pauses. Kira's hands are shaking, the dying light outside making her more nervous. There was no fire to offer any light tonight and soon it would be pitch black and she was inside with this strange, alien creature. It could be weeks before anyone found her body.

But nonetheless, the creature stays frozen where it is at her command, watching her with unseen eyes. She stares at it for a good while, the light fading faster and faster. She slowly reaches out, fumbling against the wall for the light switch. The creature flinches as the light turns on overhead, just the subtlest of movements.

"What the hell are you? And what the hell do you want?" Kira almost winces at the shakiness of her voice. But given the current situation, she's not all that ashamed of her fear. It was clearly justifiable.

The creature tilts its head slowly, hissing lowly. It crouches down on its haunches, putting it nearly at her height. It had been towering over her standing, easily two feet taller than she was. Despite its hulking size, it was bony and emaciated looking. She was no biology expert, but she wondered if it always looked like that, or if it was actually starving and looking for a meal.

But if that were the case, it probably would have eaten her by now. It would have done so last night. Unless it was playing with her.

The creature slowly puts its hand down on the floor, leaning its weight forward onto it slowly and deliberately. Its head doesn't move, invisible eyes still on her as it shifts its body, its other hand following the same movement. Kira takes a half a step back, the creature pausing and hissing again at her. She's still gripping the gun, knuckles white around it. She should just shoot it, attempt to kill it before it gets a chance to kill her. Her heart is hammering in her chest, hands shaking so much she's not sure she could hit it even this close to her.

The creature begins to move again, slowly crawling towards her. The distance between them gets smaller and smaller, the creature starting to drip drool all over her floor. Kira's stomach flutters in fear, her finger attempting to find the trigger.

It all happens very quickly: the explosion from the shotgun, Kira's adrenaline forcing her to turn and run, the air leaving her lungs as she's slammed down on the hardwood of her living room floor. Her vision goes white for a moment, heavy weight on her back making it harder to breathe. The shotgun has slid a few feet away, nearly against the wall. A hand with too-long fingers touches her head, more sticky drool hitting the back of her neck. Kira feels tears burn her eyes, knowing her death must be imminent.

The creature hisses angrily at her before it quiets, the hand sliding down her head and face until it's on her shoulder. The weight on her back disappears, and she's pulled rather unceremoniously off of her stomach and onto her side. Her back hits something hard and ribbed, bony limbs encasing her in. Its spiked tail curls in front of her, the knifelike end disappearing over her head. Was it...holding her? Was this how it would eat her? Absorb her into its body?

Kira can't help it, the strangeness of the whole situation plus the terror of not knowing what's going to happen hitting her all at once. She begins to cry, hot tears spilling across her skin and pooling on the floor under her. Her lungs burn as she cries, sobs rocking her body. The creature doesn't move except to rest its head on top of hers, making low hissing noises at her.

Kira is alone when she wakes up. The sun is up, light coming in through the window. She's sticky and feels sick to her stomach. Her face is tight from the tears she had cried last night and despite the sleep she'd gotten, which she can't even recall falling asleep in the first place, she feels exhausted. Her back is sore and her chest, no doubt from being slammed on the floor by the alien. The throbbing in her head gets worse as she sits up, groaning slightly in protest of the movement.

There's no sign of the alien as she stumbles through the house, finding the ibuprofen and some water. The only sign that last night had been real was the shattered back door and the hole in the wall from where she'd missed the shot. She grabs a broom and a dustpan, cleaning up the glass before going out to the barn to find the tarp to tape over the missing glass until she could get it replaced.

She's in the process of filling the bullet hole when there's a knock on her door. She nearly jumps out of her skin, half expecting to see the alien outside her front window. But that would be ridiculous. She opens the door, surprised to see two men in suits standing on her front porch.

"Kira Matthews?" One of them asks. Kira nods in response. "I'm Agent Jameson, this is Agent Hitchcock. We're investigating the explosion that happened the night before last. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions."

Kira hesitates before nodding. "Sure. Come in."

She moves out of the doorway, letting the two agents into her house. She guides them to sit on the couch in the living room, taking the old rocking chair across from them. She hopes they don't notice the tarp over the back door. No doubt it would raise some questions.

"Ms. Matthews, you live here by yourself?" Agent Jameson asks her.

Kira nods. "Yes. I prefer the quiet and the isolation."

"Where were you on the night of March 24th around 3:20 in the morning?"

"I was in bed, upstairs, asleep. The explosion woke me up."

"You didn't report it?"

"My cell phone service was down and the power was out."

Agent Jameson nods, writing everything down. "What did you do after the explosion woke you?"

"I went outside to look at the fire, made sure it wasn't too close to the house."

"And then?"

"I stayed up and watched it. Made sure I didn't need to get out of here in a hurry."

"Ms. Matthews, did you notice anything strange that night, anything out of the ordinary."

Now was her chance. Now was her chance to bring up the strange creature that had been in her yard, that had broken into her house. But would they believe her? Would they shrug her off as being some kook who lives out in the woods alone?

Kira shakes her head. "No. I mean, outside of the explosion, no."

Agent Hitchcock stands up, looking at the photos on the walls. They had been there since Kira was a little girl, pictures of her with her parents, from a different time in her life.

"My parents." She says, answering the question hanging in the air. "My dad moved into town not long after my mom died. He couldn't take being around so many reminders of her, so he bought a place in town and I stayed out here."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Agent Hitchcock says.

"It was a while ago."

"You're sure you didn't see or hear anything strange?" Agent Jameson asks her again.

Kira shakes her head. "Nothing. I was outside on my porch all night. There was..." Kira swallows, her heart racing. She could do it. She could tell them. Get them to hunt it down, kill it before it killed her. "Two deer that ran through, but that's not that unusual for out here."

Why couldn't she do it? Why couldn't she tell them about the alien? They obviously expected her to say something strange, something about some creature that obviously wasn't from earth that probably crash landed in the spaceship that caused the explosion and the fire that found its way to her yard and to her and now wouldn't leave her alone.

"Right." Agent Jameson says, closing his notepad.

"What happened back here?" Agent Hitchcock asks. He was standing in front of the tarped back door.

She could tell them. She could tell them an alien broke through her window to get to her.

"Oh, some local kids played a prank last night. Not a lot happens in this town. Sometimes they come out here and vandalize the houses in the woods."

"Did you report it to the police?"

Kira shakes her head. "No. What can they do? I have no proof it was them."

"No security system?"

Kira shakes her head again. "No. Like I said, it's quiet out here. Things like that don't happen very often. Usually it's the empty vacation houses they hit."

Kira's heart is nearly pounding out of her chest. Why can't she just say it? Why is she protecting an alien that most likely wants to consume her in the near future?

Agent Jameson stands up from the couch. "Thank you for your time, Ms. Matthews." He pulls a card from his pocket as his partner joins him. "If you see or hear anything, please give us a call."

Kira takes the card, nodding. The agents show themselves out, Kira watching the SUV back out of her driveway and head down the road, no doubt going to the next house down the road to ask the same questions. Kira lets out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Why hadn't she been able to tell them? Why had the words stuck in her throat? She had just protected an alien that was very capable of killing and eating her.

A laugh bursts through her lips, loud and manic sounding. There was an alien somewhere in the near vicinity that had made contact with her twice and no doubt was playing with her before it ate her and had broken her window and she had just lied to the Feds about it all. She laughs harder, falling to her knees as tears stream from her eyes. The whole situation was completely crazy. There really was an alien out there, an alien that had for some reason taken a liking to her. An alien that had, for some reason, decided she was going to be its prey.