Our Species

Chapter 4.

Convincing was tiring, as I had found out after one day. Branch wasn't tired...Ryan apparently accepted at once. It was dusk, and I was sitting on the sofa in front of the blasting fire-place, with Branch's back resting against my legs. He was reading while I just sat and watched the fire dance. Judith had gone out to hunt, and Ryan was having target practice with the knives in our kitchen. What he was using as a target I didn't really want to know. The quiet thump of the knife hitting the target was rhythmic and soon made me extra sleepy, and the glow of the fire around the room soon began to dim slowly as my eyes shut.

I awoke with a start as a sharp rapping at the door almost shook the whole house. It seemed Branch had dozed off too, seeing as he was on his feet with his fists turned into rock, but had clothe crease marks on his cheek from where he had been lying against my jeans. I suppressed a giggle.

'Who the hell.....?' Branch muttered as he started towards the door, his fists back to normal. I stayed seated as Ryan came into the room, although staying near the doorway of the kitchen with his knives still clenched in his hands.

'Whats going on?' he asked, without looking at me.

'Someone at the door.'

I heard lots of muttering in the porch and stood up to go and investigate.

'....left my sister alone...she didn't want to come...running for three days...'

As I got closer to the doorway I could hear the stranger's raspy voice, as if he was very out of breath.

'Welcome aboard, come inside and get rest,' Branch said to the stranger, stepping aside and holding the door open.

'Thanks,' the stranger gasped. I stepped aside too.

'This way, my name's Liberty, but just call me Lib.'

'I'm Steven,' he said.

I lead him into the living room onto the sofa, where he flopped down immediately, panting.

'I don't know why I'm so tired, I've ran much further before...' Steven muttered.

'You RAN here?!' Branch exclaimed, kneeling down in front of the sofa with me. 'Is that your ability? Speed and running?'

'Yeah, fastest I've done is 674 miles an hour so far.'

'Jeez,' I whispered 'That speed should be useful for us.'

'Good, I didn't leave my sister and run all this way for nothing.' Steven shut his eyes and his head rolled back, and after about twenty seconds his breathing became slower and deeper. Looked like we would get into more details about his life tomorrow.

'I'm off to bed too, Branch. You coming?'

'Later, I want to finish off the swords I've been making.'

'Sure.' I got up and walked up the stairs to our bedroom, got changed and collapsed into bed. It had all happened so quickly. There were three people in my home I had met that day and barely knew anything about. It would have to wait until tomorrow. The room around me went fuzzy and dark, until my eyes shut completely and I thought no more.