A Second Chance

A Place of Refuge

Tomak was jarred awake by the female's annoyingly loud voice.

"We're here!" The tarp was half-hazardously tugged down, revealing the windshield's view.

Relying heavily on his good arm, he used what strength he had to push himself up against the window to peer outside. But what his eyes saw was nothing special. The only small difference he could see to the forest they were driving through, were the bare limbs. There was hardly a hint of snow and nothing to get excited about.

As he continued to scope out the area, his prominent brow lowered when she suddenly pulled off the road, the car lurching from the uneven shoulder. Tomak hissed in pain as his head slammed into the roof of the car. He would have reached forward and throttled her for her stupidity if his attention wasn't pinpointed on the large tree they were about to crash into!

His claws gripped the seat.

For a brief second, he wondered if the female was suicidal, but just when they should have made impact, the once giant tree phased away to being a hidden dirt road. Tomak stared ahead in disbelief, his mandibles parting slightly within his mask. He didn't know such technology was possible for the human species. Perhaps thousands more of their years he could expect such a thing, but not now. He began to question the identity of this human female and wondered if she truly was what she appeared.

In a short period of time, the trees lessened, and his eyes was brought back to the scenery ahead of them. He saw the beginnings of a large body of water and scenting through his mask's filters, he also detected a large quantity of salt in the air, which was telling of this planet's oceans. It would never be the habitat he would choose to hunt in, but on past occasions he recalled visiting areas such as these with his hunt brother to better study their prey. They hadn't learned much other than humans' odd fascination with cooking their hides to darken their complexion, while the younger ones created structures in the sand. Tomak could hardly understand how this benefitted them, since neither activity seemed to boost their intelligence or health. It seemed like a waste of time that could be better spent on honing their survival skills.

It took him a moment to realize the car had come to a stop. From his angle, it was difficult to tell, but there seemed to be a small structure on a ridge overlooking the shore, but before he went to scan it, the closing of the car door snapped his attention, once again, to the increasingly mystifying female.

He watched her vigilantly as she came to stand at the door closest to his cramped legs. She seemed hesitant, that was clear. Her mannerisms were almost fidgety as she had some sort of mental battle on whether to open the door or not. If she didn't make the right choice soon, Tomak was more than willing to force her to. But fortunately for her own sake, she took a step forward and grabbed the handle, swinging the door wide. Then she just stood there, staring.

Rae finally found her voice. "Hey there." Her eyebrows lowered in a thoughtful expression as she assessed his current state. "Um... I'm going to open the door behind you and try and get you out that way, just," she exhaled tiredly, "try and work with me."

Although he understood what she was saying, her usage of many words was hurting his head. The three words that mattered to him were open, door, and behind; everything else was completely unnecessary and shortened his already short temper. He much preferred direct communication rather than all these fillers that did nothing but waste time getting to the point. He was aware some intelligent creatures would be extra chatty when nervous, and he faintly wondered if this proved true with this one.

Tomak watched her circle the car, his eyes following her every movement until she disappeared past his peripheral vision. He resisted the instinctive urge to tense, as if waiting to be attacked. Then all at once his senses were put on high alert as he heard the door open and felt the cool air at his exposed back.