"Hey, Dad? I'm going to go take a walk," Elodie said as she stood by the front door.

There was no response. Elodie sighed and found her father in front of the TV. He was staring into space, an unfocused look in his eyes. She turned around and walked down the short hall to her brother's home office. She knocked tentatively. "Adam?"

There was the sound of papers shifting and drawers opening and closing coming from behind the door. "Yeah? Come in," Adam replied.

Elodie eases the door open. Her oldest brother, Adam, is thirty-three years old. They have four other siblings-two more brothers, two more sisters. Elodie was the youngest out of them all.

She smiled at him. "Hey, I'm going to go for a walk, if you need me," she told her brother. She didn't miss the exhaustion in his warm green eyes, or the long moment that it took him to process her words.

He nodded. "Alright, cool. I'll see you later, yeah? How's Dad?"

"He's watching TV, I think," Elodie lied. Just because he was sitting in front of a TV that just happened to be on didn't mean that he was watching it. But Adam had enough on his plate already.

Elodie headed up the stairs. Her room was painted a bright orange-yellow; like the Prismacolor pencil called "Spanish orange". She finds her Prismacolors, now, and stashes them into her backpack. Elodie rummages through the disorganized pile of textbooks and binders and notebooks sitting in the corner of her room until she comes across her sketchbook-it's ratty and torn-up and probably ten years old at this point, but Elodie loves it with all her heart. The sketchbook goes into her backpack as well. Finally, she slips into her favorite pair of boots, dons a light cardigan over her turtleneck, and bounds down the stairs and out the door.

The air was crisp and cool. Elodie sighed. It reminded her of Alaskan summers; all cool breezes and golden sunlight in the mornings, and pale, watercolor sunsets and soft moonlight during the short periods of darkness. Alas, it was nearing the end of autumn in her new home, and all the leaves had been red and gold and brown for over a month now.

Elodie began walking aimlessly down the street, letting her feet take her where they wanted. She checked her phone-one of her friends from Alaska had texted her that morning. Elodie rubbed her temples, then put her phone away. She would formulate a proper response later. Kyra was truly one of the sweetest people that Elodie had ever met, and she was also one of the few people that Elodie remembered after the accident-they had been friends since kindergarten-and yet...things were still different. The Elodie Kyra knew and loved was bubbly and outgoing. Post-accident Elodie was distant and depressed, more often than not. Elodie tried to be her "former" self for Kyra, if only to keep the other girl from worrying about her, and honestly, it was very draining. Even when the most that they could do was text each other. Needless to say, those text conversations tended to be rather one-sided.

Elodie paused in the middle of the sidewalk. Where was she going again? Had she ever decided? She rubbed her eyes. Did she tell her dad or her brother where she was going, or did she just walk out without either of them noticing? It was so goddamn difficult to remember even the simplest of things, nowadays. The doctors and nurses Elodie had talked to in Alaska weren't sure why this was happening. Elodie didn't know why, either. All she knew was that she was always tired and never wanted to sit through another history lesson again, because who the hell was Henry Kissinger and why was he important? What were Mikhail Gorbachev's three major policies? And why, for that matter, had the Native Americans helped the damn Englishmen?

The teacher had gone over all of this, and more, with Elodie, one-on-one, again and again and again. So why couldn't she just remember? At this point, it was just embarrassing. Elodie didn't remember being thought of as especially book-smart before the accident, but she somehow knew, deep down in her heart, that she wasn't dumb, either. She could learn new skills, memorize facts. And now...she couldn't.

Elodie squeezed her eyes shut. No. I am not thinking about this right now. I am not thinking about this bullshit right now, she thought to herself. She took a deep breath, then re-opened her eyes.

Elodie realized with a start that she had walked out of her cul-de-sac and towards the small forested area near the edge of town. She climbed up a small hill and stood at the top for a moment, simply listening to the sound of her breathing. In the distance, she could see the highway that led out of her town, headlights whizzing past like fireflies. Elodie turned to the other direction, where nothing was visible but trees and darkness. Elodie lay in the grass, staring up at the night sky. Stars twinkled down from up above, and Elodie stared upwards, trying to keep her thoughts from overcrowding her mind.

Some time later, Elodie sat up, distantly remembering that she should probably get home before Adam got worried. She stood up, brushed herself off, and began making her way back down the hill and towards home.

Brilliant oranges and reds painted the afternoon sky, dotted with scattered billowing plumes of fluffy white clouds. The warm hues of the setting sun blended well with the colors of fall throughout the thicket of forest that blanketed the land around the outskirts of the humble town. Nature sang a chorus which hummed and whistled amongst the trees. A cool autumn breeze gently kissed Elodie's skin, accompanying her as she relaxed amidst the forest, surrounded by bushes and vegetation. Butterflies fluttered overhead and squirrels darted playfully along from tree to tree. Some times passed quietly, leaving her to her thoughts and the songs of woodland creatures. The dull hush of the thicket abruptly broke as the shrubs a few yards from the reposed woman suddenly jostled.

Leaves hissed and twigs snapped as something loomed under the cover of shadows and foliage, shaking the bush fiercely. Through the cracks of darkness between the leaves, a pair of deep yellow orbs stared out at Elodie. They seemed to glow, refracting the dim rays of sunlight that bled through the forest canopy. A few tense moments passed as it grew ominously quiet. The rattling bush ceased to move. The hairs on the back of Elodie's neck rose and an impending feeling fell over her. Then it happened, in the blink of an eye. Leaves went flying into the air as something leapt out from its cover in the bushes. A shadowy blur of motion darted through the air, claws reaching out to pounce.

A gentle thud thumped out from the ground at Elodie's feet as the young black cat that had been skulking in the bushes captured its prey, playfully fumbling with a butterfly it had snatched out of the air. After spending a few moments pawing and nipping at the insect, the feline froze, catching a glimpse of the young woman that stood a few feet away. It seemed to watch her curiously for a few moments, one paw pressed down on the butterflies wings to keep it from getting away. After a few seconds, the cat mewed, raising its head toward Elodie. It seemed friendly.



What sounded like the breath of some colossal leviathan blowing down on the world shook the forest, causing the ground to tremble and leaves to shake loose from the trees. Startled by the ominous and oppressive noise, the cat at Elodie's feet darted off like a bolt of black fur, quickly disappearing into the bushes. Squirrels ceased their playing and took shelter amongst the trees. Birds flocked into the sky. Something accompanied them. Specs of distant light patterned a patch of the afternoon sky, piercing through the clouds high above, just as the onset of nightfall slowly took the forest.

Raging flames and molten rock glowing bright hot streaked through the stratosphere, tearing through clouds as they striped the evening sky. A meteor shower of blinding reds, oranges, and whites that filled the tinted sky. As the fiery objects hurtled toward the earths surface, blazing a trail through the atmosphere, they broke apart into pieces and split off in multiple directions, raining down through the air toward a humble looking town. Dim, pale light faintly spilled into the forest, bleeding through the trees, and casting subtle shadows across the ground as the distant sight of the meteor shower passed overhead. Power throughout the near by neighborhood flickered for several moments, as well as down the street and all the surrounding buildings. The ground and features of the forest rattled gently as a very faint rumbling resounded throughout the town. All of the strange events lasted for several seconds as the meteor shower grew closer than any before.

Car alarms and the barking of unsettled dogs began going off for miles as the strange event persisted for a few more moments before fading away with the passing of the meteors, which petered out as they streaked into the horizon. The sounds calmed down, but not before a few confused residents stepped onto their lawns, confused and slightly alarmed. Darkness returned to the sky just as power returned to the town. Sounds from nature resumed just as before, perking up over the sound of frightened wildlife and confused civilians in the middle of discussion, when suddenly the hairs on the back of Elodie's neck stood up once again. Static gently tickled her skin and warmed the tips of her fingers. Tingling sensations tickled her body. Then, out of nowhere, the earth began to shake violently. The earth moaned, rattling visibly while the ground Elodie sood on trembled. Blinding light now filled the forest, flashing brilliantly amongst the thicket. A roaring rumble like giant screaming jet engines nearly broke the sound barrier as it vibrated over the lands.



It was silent. Everything was silent. The forest was dark. The town for miles was dark. Not even car alarms or animals could be heard. Everything was as quiet as death. Then it slowly came back. Life returned to the city as people, animals, cars, and power all resumed like normal, save for the moderate fright and disorientation among the few pedestrians laying in the street or strewn across the sidewalk, bracing onto fixed objects as they recovered from the quake. With the exception of a few distant sirens and chattering between shaken residents, the night went on uneventfully. Though the smell of charred wood suddenly began to waft across Elodie's senses.

Something had crashed through the forest canopy a moderate walk away from where Elodie was. Something hot and smoldering sat at the heart of a freshly made crater in a clearing of fallen trees. Smoke billowed into the darkening sky, trailing off and merging with the sparse clouds. The smoke was too thick to see the source of the phenomena. Whatever it was glowed subtly, emanating a warm brown hue the dimly lit the immediate area. The dingy colored light just barely reached Elodie, faintly breaking through the darkness that lied though the foliage ahead. It came from a bit deeper in the forest, further from the borders of town.

Elodie, startled by the cat's sudden appearance, didn't notice the huge whooshing sound and the subsequent meteor shower for a good ten seconds.

When the fact that there were flaming pieces of molten rock hurtling towards her general vicinity at terrifying speeds finally registered, Elodie remained rooted to the spot for another good five seconds before she regained her senses and tried to run for cover, but the ground was shaking and Elodie lost her balance, tumbling a few feet down the hill before her momentum slowed enough for her to sit back up. A dim, pale light filled the forest, and Elodie squinted, trying to make out what was the cause of the light. What...what is this? What's going on? she thought numbly as car alarms shrieked shrilly through the quiet of the evening, and dogs began to bark.

The light that had filled the forest mere moments earlier faded away, and all was quiet again. Then...the hairs on the back of Elodie's neck as everything began to tingle. Elodie suppressed a surprised cry as the ground underneath her feet started shaking again. The light came again, blinding white light, blotting out everything but the pounding in Elodie's head. A the sound of a roaring rumble washed through Elodie's eardrums as she ducked, protecting the back of her head with her hands.

And, like the first wave of disturbances, everything just...faded away. Silence descended back down upon the forest again, as if it had never left. Everything was dark. Elodie could smell a hint of charred wood in the air.

Elodie cautiously glanced up, her breathing coming out in shallow gasps. She frowned as she noticed something drifting up into the air. Was that...smoke? What the hell...

Against her better judgement, Elodie stood up and began walking towards the smoke. As she got closer and closer, she could see that whatever the thing that had crashed into the middle of the forest was, it was glowing. The warm brown light filtered through the trees, and Elodie cautiously approached it, forgetting that she was walking farther and farther away from the town.

The hiss and crackle of singed logs and burning earth accompanied groaning sounds of warping metal. An oval silhouette soon became faintly visible amongst the clouds of grey smoke, lit by the dull hue of scattered burning embers. Heat carried on the air over Elodie, subtly stinging her skin as she approached the strange object through the forest, emerging at the edge of the clearing. She could see before her the rather large crater, the size of a small car, dug out of the earth just ahead. Chunks of hardened soil and broken up stone lay strewn about, scattered between the toppled trunks of a dozen or so fallen trees torched into charcoal from the objects flaming impact. Some of the displaced earth formed a mound like wall around the crater about half a foot high, which was soft sinking in as Elodie pressed into it with her heel.

The haunting silence quickly broke and a mechanical whirring screeched out of the smoke. A cacophony of robotic chirps and buzzing rang out, echoing through the clearing as something violently shifted about the smog. Wicked metal edges and curved blades emerged first, extending out into the air like the deathly reach of an arachnids legs. Strips of neon orange and glinting silver glimmered in the pale light of the rising moon, patterned across the large metallic carapace of an unearthly creature.

Elodie's gaze was met by a ferocious looking maw brimming with thin dagger like teeth by the dozens and two sets of sharp mandibles. Coal colored metal plates made up the creatures body, along with an array of long jointed appendages tipped with harsh scythes and what appeared to be some form vicious looking firearms. Rising from the smoke like a serpent from the seas came the monstrosities tail, tipped with burning light and a razor like blade. Glowing canisters of a plasma like substance protruded from its back on either side of what would be its spine. Before Elodie could absorb any more of the image, an eyeless grimace turned toward her.

A sound like nothing any human has heard roared out of the creature. Something like the hiss of an angered snake mixed with the snarl of a lion and transmitted through a bulldozer. The frightening sound shook the very bones in Elodie's body. In a ravenous flurry of motion, the monstrosity flailed its collection of blades through the air while letting out the chilling howl. Lifting a large double jointed leg from the center of the smokey crater, the metallic horror lurched forward. Elodie could feel the weight of its heavy steps shake the earth beneath her feat. The creature moved toward her, and a sense of primal terror fell over her, as if imposed on her by some strange force. Whatever instincts drew her here were screaming danger and death. The tension in the air was palpable. This otherworldly monster of a thing was coming for her.

Elodie slowed as she neared the...the...the thing. She was able to discern something vaguely oval-shaped in the clouds of gray smoke, illuminated by the light. Elodie could feel waves of heat washing over her, practically burning her exposed flesh (like that time she stuck her hand into the oven while her older sister was baking cookies, just to see how hot it really was) as she cautiously picked her way over to the clearing. There was a crater-strange-and disturbed soil and trees littered the area.

It was eerily quiet. Then, the silence was broken as a mechanical whirring sound filled Elodie's ears. She winced, flinching away from the noise. Something shifted within the smoke, and Elodie watched with wide eyes as she saw flashes of what looked to be wickedly sharp blades. She quickly took a couple of steps back. She saw neon orange and silver made pale by the moonlight, and then-

Oh my god. Her gaze locked with what could only be described as a mouth filled with "teeth" that looked about the size of a typical medieval sword. Elodie saw pitch-black metal plates and spider-like limbs crawl out of the crater, the entire alien or contraption or thing bristling with deadly blades or scary-looking firearms. Elodie's heart was pounding, her mouth dry. Oh my god, she thought, over and over again. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

Before Elodie could turn on her heel and get the hell out of there (like every fiber of her being was screaming to do), the thing-was it alive? Elodie had no idea-turned, and Elodie screamed.

It doesn't have eyes, she thought numbly as the shriek ripped itself out of her throat. It doesn't have eyes. Why doesn't it have eyes? Oh, who gives a shit? Why doesn't it have eyes? Elodie's thoughts were getting less coherent by the second as the shock and fear of coming face-to-face with...whatever this was began to set in.

The creature, or alien, or thing, screamed as well. But it was not a human scream. It was the roar of construction equipment and the hiss of a viper and the snarl of a lion all rolled into one single sound, and Elodie began to shake. It climbed fully out of the crater, streams of smoke still floating through the clearing, and howled. It came forwards-toward Elodie.

Panic and fear took over Elodie's mind. Her thoughts became nothing but one bright white blur as she turned on her heel and ran. Logically, she knew that she would have never been able to outrun the creature, but one finds that all logic goes down the drain when faced with terrifying situations such as the one Elodie found herself in. Her breath came out in ragged gasps as she ran, unsure of where she was going, but knowing that wherever it was, it was better than here.

Branches and trees rushed by as Elodie made a desperate attempt at escape. Though it had no eyes, the cybernetic creature swerved its head slowly, watching the receding silhouette of the fleeing girl, scanning her movements. A metallic rattle rose from the creatures limbs as they shuttered and twitched. Reeling back for a moment, the creature let out another blood curdling shriek which pierced the forest. With the agility of a velociraptor, the monster leapt out of the crater, shooting through the air and landing with a heavy thud several yards outside of it. Blades and guns whipped through the air in a frenzy as the creature threw itself forward, clearing yards with each massive gate of its reptilian like legs.

A chill nagged at the back of Elodie's spine. Sensations prey felt when a predator is nipping at their heels. She could feel the tremble of the ground grow fiercer behind her with each encroaching step the horror took. An impending feeling of being captured or ran through tugged at her, instincts screaming for her to run faster. The looming threat of a vicious death grew closer, accompanied by increasingly loud and otherworldly shrieks and screeches. Then she lost it. Her balance faltered, and gravity quickly claimed her, pulling the frightened young woman to the ground. She could see the hulking figure of the monstrosity rapidly approaching from the darkness.

Splinters of wood and bark scattered into the air as one of the horrors limbs smashed through the gnarled trunk of a weathered tree in its path, toppling it from the center and sending it crashing to the ground. Nearly on top of her now, Elodie could see clearly the malefic form of the alien entity, fangs and blades reaching out to embrace her. Her fear and the heavy footsteps masked the feeling of the earth crumbling below her. Instead of a series of rending slashes and stabbing pains, Elodie felt herself falling. Tumbling in fact as she hurtled backwards down a steep slope of gravel and loose dirt. The world spun around the woman, shadows and leaves dancing around her, gravity pulling her down through shrubs and around tree trunks. Pain, sharp and throbbing, stung Elodie's right hand as her palm snagged on the jagged edge of a large stone.

Finally, the ground started to level out, and Elodie's rapid descent began to lose steam. Fallen autumn leaves crinkled and hissed beneath her as she slowly slid to a halt. Scraped, scratched, and bruised, Elodie was surprisingly no worse for ware, save for the inch long gash leaking warm crimson fluid from the center of her hand. She could feel the cool damp earth staining her clothes with wet spots. As the noises that came with tumbling down a hill settled, the gentle babbling of a near by creak came to light, gurgling silently as it ran over her hands and into a divot at the foot of the hill just before her. As her vision came back to her, Elodie could see she had not just fallen down a slope, but into the scarred earth of another crater.

Sitting silently at the heart of the large indentation was a strange object. It was oval and chrome, subtly refracting the rising moons light with a metallic sheen. Its surface was flush, patterned by crevices which appeared to form plates along its entirety. It was no bigger than a toddlers carriage, and tilted slightly on axis with the broken ground below it. A few drops of water beaded across its lower half as water from the creek gently washed along its bottom. Subtle heat wafted off the object, having been rapidly cooled by the water. It was just cool enough to touch but warm enough the emanate a thin veil of steam.

Elodie could hear the thing coming after her as she ran.

It let out a terrifying screech, its metallic parts screaming as it began to pursue Elodie. She risked a glance backwards-there was no way that she would be able to outrun this creature. Maybe if I can get near the edge of the forest, and back to town... she thought desperately, trying to force her aching legs into running faster.

Elodie could physically feel the thing-slash-creature-slash-alien catching up to her. The ground was literally shaking underneath her feet as she fled. It's getting closer, it's getting closer, oh god oh god oh god oh god...

Then-Elodie fell. She lost her footing and tumbled head-over-heels over the ground, carried by her own momentum. She screamed in surprise and fear, and oh god, she could see the thing, it was practically on top of her, oh god...

The creature advanced, its dagger-like teeth in full display and the other blades attached to its body flashing in the moonlight. Elodie whimpered as it got even closer, turning away from the monstrous sight. And then-

-what the hell? Was she falling?

Elodie quickly realized that she was tumbling backwards down a steep hill. Pain shot through her body as she fell down the gravelly slope. She felt a sharp sting in her right palm; she must have cut it on one of the rocks. When Elodie finally slid to a halt, she found herself in the middle of yet another crater. She winced as she sat up. Everything hurt.

Elodie looked around, frowning. She could still hear the creature-alien-thing, but it hadn't followed her down into the crater just yet. There was a small creek flowing through the area, and she noticed some sort of metal object resting inside the shallow water. It appeared to be made of metal. Elodie inched warily towards the strange object, her muscles tense.