Author's note: I did not want to offend anyone with my characters' attitude to religion. I also wanted to show more details on Lily. Hope you like it. Want to add more humor soon but now it is barely possible with a playful cat and the alien who does not get humor and sarcasm.
The oven with an almost cooked dinner was probably as hot as hell, the heat came even into the living room. Lily looked around. She was sitting on the carpet, some of her toys were scattered around. A copybook with cursive letters that uncle Roger wrote in the beginning of each line for her to practice cursive that was not compulsory at schools already...Right, she remembered, he made a game of it, "When you write in cursive not many young people will be able to read it. You can send notes to your friends and the other peers won't understand anything. Or if someone fakes your handwriting it will look just shitty! And it's good for your brain to write in cursive."
She heard her mother's voice from afar, probably talking on the phone, "We need to change this horrible name! Lilith! It's stupid to name her THAT just because you just got lucky to draw a short straw, Roger! You did it to mock the whole parish! Now I have to send her to the public school that is who knows where while the Catholic school rejected her!"
Lily suddenly thought it was for the best not to go to a Catholic school, uncle Rodge said they would brainwash the kids in there. Would they cut their heads open and wash the brain? Oh well, practicing on cursive is much more fun than praying maybe. She grabbed a pen and started writing neatly on the paper. However, she could not read what she wrote, the ink melted from the room temperature..."Mommy? The oven is too hot"...
...Lily almost jumped in the bed and shook her head. Just a vivid dream...Several blankets she got for the night probably slightly overheated her body. Oh yeah, she is still here, alone in the wilds. And there are only dreams and memories left from the family and home. Sometimes it seemed like it had never existed. Or on the contrary, all that alien horror and her long dwelling in the cabin could be a long nightmare. The alien! Right! So much information and many unanswered questions wore her out and she fell asleep immediately. She talked to an alien yesterday if it was not a dream. No, not a dream. Her stomach has started growling already reminding her to go look for food. The morning hunger has always been the hardest for Lily.
Lizzie was on the coffee table licking her paw. The tuna can was already on the floor, probably the cat tried to get the rest of the food but could not open the lid. The young female reluctantly got up and opened it for her pet. Well, at least some stomach will not be empty for now.
Lily was doing her usual morning routine but her brain kept wandering to the yesterday's guest. She could not help noticing his royal manners, soft low voice and wonderful golden eyes. The alien definitely was highly intelligent and at the same time really gentle. Would not it be nice to make friends with an alien like that if he is really trustworthy and benevolent? And what are those people at Charleston really like? What would it be like to go back to the society again?
Lily thought she has spent enough time in this safe place, the settlements or almost all possible food targets have been all cleaned up long ago. She could not just rely on rabbits or fish. Lizzie could be fine on it but a human also needs carbs: rice or pasta or canned fruits. Lily would kill for a Hershey bar or more of those granola bars. The garden that she has made in the backyards of abandoned houses nearby was not yet giving crops. And she still had to wait for berries to ripe in the forest. Yes, the cabin was still fine and warm, the fish would go to the nets pretty but how long more would she last? How long more would she have to hide like a mouse? The calendar she drew monthly to mark days showed the proximity of the 3rd year. The three year practically talking only to herself and to Lizzie what made Lily wondering if she was still sane. Food preparation, water filtering, washing clothing and finding woods for heating took a lot of time. Survival 101 from Donovan, she would giggle at the cabin owner.
Lily was glad she remembered her grandmother Emma's life hacks and ability to cook from scratch or how to fix a hole in a jacket. Emma would also tell Lily how she made uncle Roger and her mother Kate work in the garden with her, even though Kate worried more about her nails and Roger was making projects and calculations for greenhouses. The old woman even got to do it with Lily, later bringing her carrots or home-made jam to show the results of the labor. Jam was the best reward for the plump little one, and sly Emma knew it.
While uncle Roger was rather a father figure, a highly intellectual gentle guy who named her and taught to rely on science, Russell was a wonderful friend, rather an uncle figure, the uncle who taught her to hunt, fish and some basic survival skills. "C'mon ya city girl", he used to say, "help the ol' man preparing the fish. And don't wrinkle your nose like that, one day it might save you from hunger!" And it was saving her from day to day. His cabin felt like home now. His son never showed up at the gathering point. She remembered being irritated when he joked and winked, "Let my boy arrive, and ya'll like it more in here!"
Lily buried him not too far from the house he got killed in. They were scavenging when Russell heard the noise and practically pushed Lily under the bed to hide, thus saving her life. The next moment a crab, or, like Cochise called them, a Skitter, dragged the man to the hall and killed in an instant. She could not see anything from the tears and had to hold her mouth closed with her hands so that the aliens don't hear her teeth chattering. She did not know how long she had spent there under the bed staring at the mattress springs before she went out to take care of her friend's body.
A day later the gun silencer, that Russell had got from his old friend from the military, was of great use. Two Skitters who still were hanging out in the area looking for humans got their heads blown off without any sound. Shooting lessons from Russell didn't go to waste. Sitting at the house attic, Lily felt no emotion when pulling the trigger. No happiness, no satisfied revenge, and almost no pain. The twenty-three-hour waiting was worth it. Risking her life was not in Lily's priorities, as well as killing many Skitters in one area to attract attention of the robots(well, mechs). But if there is a chance...not now...somewhere else...a single crab each time...She will wait.