He Comes in Peace

Skye felt as though her lungs would give out from screaming. She screamed as the boy jumped nimbly from tree to tree; she screamed as he leapt from branch to branch, scaling ever so higher with each mighty bound.

She fit perfectly right between where his neck started, and the first spike growing on his spine. It was as if the boy was perfectly made to kidnap young, fifteen-year-old teenage girls.

"Put me down, put me down!" she shrieked, beating her fists on his back and shoulder, half hoping he would drop her if she hit his injury. But now that she thought about it…

Skye had expected her eyes to catch some sort of scar, with silver crusted around the edges like she imagined there would be from a bullet wound, as far as she knew of bullet wounds from movies. She saw no silver, and saw no bullet. She didn't even see a wound.

Skye had guessed, the moment the boy had been shot, that the silver stuff that was on her clothes; the silver stuff that had spurted from his penetrated skin…was blood. Obviously not human blood. That was for sure. Perhaps some type of magical animal blood; she recalled unicorns having silver blood, according to J.K Rowling, of course. But as far as Skye could tell, this beast was no unicorn. And the possibility of a unicorn shape-shifter was rather slim.

Even if he was a unicorn…Honestly; of all things to morph into! she thought.

As though he could hear her thoughts, a low growl vibrated from him, and it silenced Skye's thoughts.

She looked back towards the sidewalk they had long left, and found that no policemen were blundering through the forest after them.

Skye felt her heart sinking; she was going to be kidnapped by an alien kid that didn't look much older than fifteen! Then she felt her heart being jerked around as her 'horsie' faltered on one unsteady branch, hands gripping the big twig, legs scrabbling for a steadier hold. He moved as if he were an animal built for climbing; an animal like a monkey.

The girl hoped to God they wouldn't fall. The branch they were on right now was close to the top of a pine tree, and the other branches around them did look kind of puny and unstable to be viciously jumped on by at least two hundred pounds of human and extraterrestrial flesh.

As Skye had dreaded, the twig cracked under the insistent pressure, and a split second later, she found herself slipping off his back. The alien sensed it too, and his head whipped around to stare at her.

He's got lime green eyes, Skye thought, but not for long, as she slid completely off his shoulders. Why weren't her hands of feet working right now? Why weren't her limbs finding some sort of way to cling onto him? The answer came to Skye when her brain tried to command her arm to reach out for a handhold. Her arm felt like gelatin melting under a hot summer sun.

Skye plummeted down alongside the tree. She looked up at the boy and saw that he had gotten his balance and hold back; of course he would, he had just lost half the weight he was carrying! But he wouldn't just watch her fall like that, right?

...Right?

I guess I won't die…I might break a couple of bones…Probably my legs. I wonder how long it'll take for the police to find me. Or maybe I'll pass out before that even happens, and when I wake up, I'll be in a nice little hospital bed, having the most painful stitching done to my arm! How pleasant.

Skye waited for the sickening crunch that was sure to come when she hit the ground. Maybe she would be lucky enough to skip the pain by hitting the ground hard enough to be turned into jelly.

The air whooshed past her, tossing her hair around wildly. Her eyes darted one last time to the tree. To her very great surprise, the boy had his body length-wise, parallel to the tree, his chest skimming the rough bark, and was using his hands and feet to run down the pine on all fours. He was streaking down the trunk, increasing with speed as gravity did its part and pulled him down. Soon, he wasn't even doing anything; just free-falling. The boy was reaching the ground faster than Skye.

She didn't know what he was going to do, but she found out a second later.

The boy, crouched horizontally on the trunk about ten feet above the ground, watched Skye with rapt attention as she continued to fall. Timing his jump perfectly, he launched himself from the tree, using his hind legs to push off, and caught Skye in his arms as he flew past her.