A scream was building up in Alise's throat, and yet one would not come. Because despite being in the grasp of 30 foot machine, she knew that it could have easily crushed her the second she landed in its hands. She somehow knew it wasn't going to hurt her. And that made her feel... safe. It wasn't the monster that hit her into the air. She realized this not only from the striking difference in their eyes, but because this machine's whole demeanor was different. While the monster looked at them with disgust and malice, this one looked at her with curiosity and a bit of wonder. And she looked at him right back with the same expression.

Suddenly, a scream ripped through the air. At first, Alise thought it was coming from herself, but then she realized that it was coming from Camila. Still in the machine's hand, she looked over to see the monster looking at Camila on the ground, his head just feet from her's as he looked down at her. Panic bubbled inside of Alise, and she looked desperately at the machine holding her. She knew it was a long shot that he would understand her, but he was her only hope.

"Please!" she pleaded. "Please! Can you save her? PLEASE!" Alise could feel the tears falling down her face.

He looked at Alise with a sad expression on his face, as if he understood the girl's pain. Suddenly, his demeanor changed. Alise felt herself being lowered to the ground, and he opened his hand so she could step off, which she did. He kept his gaze with her as he stood back up.

"Please," she whispered again, the tears continuing to flow down her face. Alise was losing hope. He doesn't know what I'm saying, she thought despairingly, a heavy weight hanging on her heart for her dear friend. But then, he did something unexpected. He nodded at her.

The machine broke their gaze and took off in a sprint in the direction of the monster. Alise watched as he ran at the beast full force, and then tackled it to the ground.

Alise was in shock. She watched as the machine landed two blows into the monster's head and cringed as the monster returned one into his stomach. She was suddenly struck with the fear that Camila may have been stepped on, but then she watched as her friend got up and ran away from her previous location, stealing only one glace at the fighters as ran off. Alise was filled with gratitude for the machine, and watched as the two continued to brawl. The monster had the height advantage on the machine, but the machine seemed to be the more skilled fighter. She felt her heart sing every time he injured the monster, and jump when the monster landed some kind of blow against him.

The fight seemed to go on forever to Alise, and yet, in actuality, it had only been going on for about five minutes.

She wanted it to end now.

She knew she needed to help the machine. But how? She looked around her environment, and tried to find anything that would help. She saw sticks, some plants, rocks. Then an idea came into her head. She picked up some of the rocks and ran out to where the two continued to fight. The monster had just landed a crushing blow to the machine and Alise felt her heart swell up. The monster was standing over the machine and was about to make another blow against him, and Alise knew it was now or never. With a mighty throw of her arm, she threw two of the largest rocks she had at the monster, one hitting it on its hand, the other on the side of its leg.

The monster abruptly turned away from the machine and looked at Alise with those piercing red eyes she'd come to fear. It started to make mechanical clicking noises at her, and she froze in her place. The monster, seeming to forget about the machine, charged after Alise, in full pursuit. She let out a frightened squeak and turned around, sprinting in the opposite direction. She knew she couldn't out run the monster, but that didn't stop her from trying. Unfortunately, she tripped on a hidden rock, and fell to the ground. She turned around and faced the charging monster.

It was about to run her down, but at the last second, the machine side rammed the monster at the side, causing it to be thrown off its feet. Being close to the edge of the hill, the monster slid down the side of the hill and rolled into the crater where the first 'meteor' was. There was a loud slam as the monster and the meteor collided. The monster got up from the crater and looked at Alise, and angrily hissed at her in mechanical whirs and clicks. She thought the monster would come back and continue its fight, but to her surprise, it turned around and ran from the scene.

Alise wearily got to her feet, wondering if it was going to come back or not, but realized after a few minutes that it wasn't going to return. She couldn't move and she felt like she was glued to the ground. She heard a chirp from behind her, and remembered she wasn't alone. The machine was standing behind her and looking at her with a curious expression on his face. He looked a little worn, but ultimately intact. They just stared at each other for a moment in the dark, neither of them moving in the slightest.

"Thank you," she exhaled, looking him in the eyes. Those hypnotizing blue eyes... " for saving my friend. And me."

She didn't expect him to respond, which is why she nearly jumped out of her skin when he replied, "'My pleasure' (static) 'ma'am'.'"

She blinked at him. "You can... talk?"

The machine nodded. "'XM Satellite One' (static) 'Digital Cable brings you' (static) 'Columbia Broadcasting System.'" It wasn't the voice she had just heard before hand. None of them were the same. It was like he was creating sentences through different sections of broadcastings.

Alise couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you intercepting radio signals?"

The voice of a game show voice Alise recognized came on. "'We have a winnnner!'" he said and the machine started to point in her direction and clap.

She couldn't help but smile and laugh. "That's... incredible," she mused.

Elvis Presley's voice came next. "'Thank you, thank you very much,'" and the machine did a little bow.

Alise laughed again. "Who are you?"

The machine was about to answer, but was cut off by the sudden blast of a gun. Alise jumped and the machine moved in front of her, his leg shielding her from whatever or whoever was coming towards them. Suddenly out of the dark, came a group of 20 or more locals with shot guns, followed by the police and the town sheriff. There was a unified gasp as the locals saw who they were about to try and take down. Then there was a voice yelling of "Move!" coming from the back of the crowd and eventually Sal came to the front of the crowd, flaring.

"Where the hell is she?" he yelled at the machine. Sal was carrying a large shot gun with him and he cocked it in front of the machine, trying to be intimidating. The machine merely turned his head to look curiously at the boy and his weapon. It hit Alise that she was originally speaking English to the machine, and that he may have not been able to comprehend Sal's Spanish so quickly because of the sudden change in languages. "Well?" he yelled again.

"Sal?" Alise stepped out from behind the machine's leg. She was touched that he was trying to be her knight in shinning armor, but he didn't seem to be getting the hint that pointing a puny gun at a 30 foot mechanical man was a bad idea.

Sal looked at her. "Alise?" A relieved smile came across his face. She ran to him, and he embraced her, letting out a tense breath. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she responded. She glanced back at the machine, who seemed to be looking at her strangely now that she was using this new language also. Sal's smile dropped and he let her go, standing between her and the machine.

"Alright you prick," he said at the machine, raising his gun at him. "What the hell are you, and what the hell are you doing here?"

"NO!" Alise screamed and she ran from Sal's side to stand in front of the machine. "Sal, no! Don't hurt him! He saved me from the other one!"

Sal looked confused, and lowered his gun. "Other what?"

"The other, well, him!" she said, and she looked at the machine, who was now glancing down at her. "The one who attacked us! It wasn't him!"

"Where's the other one?"

"He... ran away."

Sal momentarily lowered the gun. He didn't know what to think. All he knew was that one of his best friends had disappeared during a rampage by a large mechanical man. When the five remaining survivors had returned to town, they went directly to the police. They told them everything that had happened that night, including about the meteor that had previously been there before the second one arrived and everything started blowing up.

The authorities had a hard time choosing whether to believe the kids or not. Considering Tono and Felix's run-ins with the law, they weren't the most believable or trustworthy people. However, Sal and Camila were trustworthy kids with good records. That and the fact that Sal was absolutely freaking out made the police want to at least take a look. They called in back up just in case, which was basically all the local trigger-happy gun enthusiasts with time on their hands. But he made his decision. This machine was the enemy.

"Alise, get out of the way."

She stood still.

"Alise! Get out of the goddamn way!"

"No," she said stubbornly. "I won't let you hurt him."

Sal raised his gun. He wasn't trying to aim at her, but she wasn't getting out of the way. He took the safety off the gun. The machine knew what this meant. Thinking he was going to hurt the girl, the machine gently grabbed Alise and he started to dash away into the desert.

So what do you think? This will be the last chapter I fish out this weekend. I've been writing non-stop to get this story on the move! Luckily, I think it has a pretty decent start. Let me know what you think! As always, I own nothing!

~Mel