The Blue Blur

ACT 1: Unlikely Alliance

The wind blowing against her face is the first thing Emily feels as she wakes up. The same feeling you get riding a motorcycle without a helmet, or if you stick your head out of a window of a moving vehicle.

She opens her eyes, and her vision is blurred. However, it slowly adjusts, and she is staring at the underside of the creature's face. She screams, and the hedgehog lets out a startled scream as well. It comes to a stop, with Emily realizing it was carrying her. Not only that, but it was running faster than anything she's ever seen while doing so.

She struggles to get out of the creature's arms, and she gets her wish once it drops her. She falls to the ground, her adrenaline skyrocketing. She quickly crawls away from the creature in a panic and stares at it with widened eyes.

"Are humans usually this rude?" It says, staring at Emily in frustration.

She almost passes out again.

Am I seeing things? Is this creature talking? What is it?

"Why do you look so scared?" It says in confusion. "I just saved your life! I'm the good guy."

"What... what are you?" Emily barely asks.

"Well, I'm a hedgehog, duh." Says the creature as if that was an obvious question. "I get there's not a lot of hedgehogs like me around, since I haven't met one yet. But that should be pretty obvious."

Emily is finally able to take her eyes off of the creature, and she looks around. All around her are trees, bushes, dead leaves, the typical sights you'd see in a forest. However, none of it is familiar. She's somewhere deep into the forest. She's lost.

"So... if you're done being awkward... why was that creep about to shoot you?" Asks the creature.

The question reminds Emily what happened before she fell unconscious. She remembers her crew's retreat and the man with the shades who was about to take her life.

"I... I don't know." Emily says, mostly to herself.

"Hmm." Says the Hedgehog as it strokes its chin. "I have never talked to another human before, but you guys must suck."

Emily looks once again at the hedgehog, curiosity slowly beginning to replace her fear.

"You... you must be what we were sent after." Realizes Emily.

The hedgehog looks at Emily with a concerned look on his face.

"You were sent after me?" It says. "You were sent to kill me, weren't you? After all, you and your friends did try to blast me into a million hedgehog pieces!"

"No." Answers Emily, now standing up. "We weren't sent to kill you, we were sent to investigate sightings of a creature roaming around these woods. That creature being you."

"Well, why did you shoot at me?"

"Us humans don't encounter many... hedgehogs such as yourself. We were scared. Plus, you attacked us too."

"It's a little thing called self-defense." The hedgehog reasons. "Plus, I saved your life. While this is my first time talking to a human, I'm pretty sure you guys are supposed to say something that goes like thank you."

Emily's fear of this creature is now replaced by annoyance. Whatever this thing is, it has a mouth on it.

Might as well get some information. She thinks to herself.

"Do you... know where you came from?" Asks Emily.

The hedgehog puts his hand to his chin again, trying to remember something. It turns to Emily.