I sighed as I laid down on my bed. I took a shower and put my clothes in the wash, and Krystal was in the living room with Fox, though I offered my guest room. I showed her the kitchen and guest bathroom, along with the linen closet. I thought about the blood on the couch from Fox and shrugged. A small sacrifice to save a life. I knelt by my bed and prayed, thanking God for helping me with Fox's care and Krystal's lodging, then prayed my daily devotion. I read my Bible for a few minutes, then snuck to the living room and checked on my guests. Sleeping soundly. I looked at Fox's wound again with my light. Nothing green or yellow around the bandage, good. I went back to my room and laid down.

I was woken by a male voice, "What do you mean?!" I heard Krystal say something, but couldn't make it out. I sat up, stretching. It was already morning. Good, a nice day to sleep in. I heard more unintelligible chatter between Krystal and the male, whom I assumed to be Fox, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps and a knock on my door. "Who is it?" I called. "It's Krystal. Fox wants to meet you," she replied.

"Alright. Be out in a minute." I heard departing footsteps. I got myself together, did my morning hygiene and got dressed. No need for military garb today. I grabbed a pair of tan slacks and a burgundy polo, with matching socks and tan Army-issue boots. When I rounded the corner to the living room, I saw that Fox was sitting up, still bandaged. My mind went through the necessities instantly. "Good morning. How's your wound?" I asked. Fox looked at me quizzically. "Uh, it hurts, but it's not bleeding," he responded.

"Does it ache?"

"No," he shook his head.

"Do you mind if I replace the bandage?"

Krystal spoke up, "Our medical bay has been returned to a manageable state. We're going to return to the Great Fox."

"Your ship?"

"Oh. Yes, sorry." Krystal blushed, obviously forgetting that I didn't know about them in detail.

I smiled. "No need to apologize. Would you care for something to eat before you go? Or something to drink?"

Krystal looked at Fox. His stomach rumbled and I chuckled. Fox blushed, too. "Yeah, something would be good af-"

They were interrupted by a beep. Fox opened the gauntlet on his right wrist. "What's up Falco," he asked.

"DUDE! WHERE IN THE - HAVE YOU BEEN!" I cringed inwardly at the language. I hated cursing, but tolerated it. Not many hated it on earth.

"Um…" He looked at Krystal. She picked up the cue, "A local resident patched fox up. We couldn't tend to him in the medical bay, remember? We're at the local's house now. He's pretty hospitable."

"Oh…" came the reply. "You could have let us know?!"

"Like you would have let me take Fox off the Great Fox on an unknown planet."

Silence.

"Thought so."

"So, what? You coming back, or still making buddy-buddy?" He sounded displeased, and that was putting it lightly.

"Falco, can it." Fox spoke up this time. "You wanna come say hi, or rant and rave?"

I heard a sigh. "Whatever. Shoot me your coor-"

"No need. First house on the right after you exit the Great Fox's bay," chimed Crystal.

"Whatever." With that, the sound of white noise of the comms link cut off.

Suddenly, I heard a beep again. Fox pressed a button. "Falco?"

"Uh, you wanna look outside?"

I shot out of the loveseat, grabbing the 9mm and chambering a round. I peeked out of the window. Sure enough, there was a pack of lions in front of the house. Man. "There's a pack of wild animals outside. They ain't small," I said. I went to the arms room and grabbed my M203 and DragonSkin. I loaded the hollow-point magazine into it and chambered a round. I grabbed some grenades and chambered one as well, then went to go outside. Krystal shot out of her seat. "You can't be serious?!" She shouted as she stopped me at the door. I shushed her, "You'll attract attention."

"You're not going out there."

"Says…?"

She had a look of motherly ire. "Me."

I chuckled. "Don't worry about it. They'll be dead in a few."

"WHAT?! You're going to kill innocent life?"

I looked at her. "They're attracted by his blood," I said, coolly. "They'll try to break-"

As if on cue, we heard a load roar, followed by the front door cracking from a blow.

"GET TO THE ROOM AT THE BACK- LEFT OF THE HOUSE! NOW!" Fox and Krystal quickly complied.

"Fox! We're coming down th-," I heard Falco, before the front door cracked a little more. I fired a few rounds through it, hopefully hitting something. I ran out the back door, passing the room Krystal and Fox were in. I ran to right, came up the side of the house and saw the lions. They were pacing back and forth, sniffing for blood. There was one, a female, on the ground bleeding. My hollow-points did their job. I leveled the grenade launcher and fired. I quickly jumped back and cleared the corner of the house just as I heard the explosion, and everything went black.

~~Fox's POV~~

I saw David running past us after he ordered us to this room. It had a LOT of different-looking weapons. I heard a loud explosion and shattering glass, followed by silence. We waited for what seemed like an eternity until we heard a growl, followed by the familiar sound of blasters. Then, bdddom, bdddom. A blaster again, but louder. I sighed thankfully. Someone brought a rifle. Then silence, followed by the front door getting kicked in. I braced myself for what would happen.

"Fox!" I heard Falco and breathed a sigh of relief. "Back here!" I shouted then came around the corner.

"Thank Corneria you're ok!"

"Yes, where's David?"

"Who? Oh the guy that shot that exploding thing. He's…uh…not moving."

Krystal shot past us to go out the back door and I followed. When I rounded the corner where she went, my heart went into my stomach. David was covered in blood. "Falco! Krystal! Take him to the medical bay, now!

I rushed into the Great Gox and called ROB as I did. "ROB, alien life-form coming to medical bay. Carried by Krystal and Falco. He is friendly."

Roger, friendly alien located...scanning…multiple shrapnel injuries to head and extremities, torso unharmed…scanning…chance of survival without med-

"Just give me the chances with medical care."

…scanning…97.23%.

Alright. Prep the medical bay.

Affirmative.