An Unlikely Ally

Chapter 13 - Aftermath

The creature sat in the corner of the room, staring off in nothing particular as the night slowly went by. It heard the sounds of nighttime creatures through the window outside that was slightly ajar, the breeze slightly making its way inside and causing the curtains on either side of the window to gently sway. Its gaze was outside the window as it sat there concerned.

He is waiting for me to make myself apparent but I do not want to speak to him.

The creature looked back to the steady motion of the human's breathing, watching how peacefully it slept. I can't let him get hurt, I owe him that, especially leaving him alone in what I believed was a nice gesture, only to come back and find my kin stalking him.

I didn't know he of all things survived, last I saw of him was when he left to find and hunt food. This was days before my home was destroyed, and I believed he had been killed, yet here he is.

The creature looked back to the human, before clenching and unclenching its claws.

Am I choosing the enemy of my species over my kin? This would certainly have me killed, maybe even by my brother if he knew I was letting a human sleep in my den.

Moments passed in silence, however from outside came a familiar call, only making it feel more tense.

If I keep him waiting, he might choose to seek me out and will certainly stumble across the human and it will be the end of him.

The creature stood up quietly and stalked off to the door of the bedroom, slowly opening it and stepping through before giving one final glance to the human that was fast asleep at the end of the room.

If you wake up during the night, please don't think I abandoned you.

The creature quietly opened the front door of its house and stepped outside in near silence onto the porch, before closing the door behind it and stepping out onto the memorised location of the footpath. The creature didn't want to risk giving away its location just yet as it wanted to get further away from its den before it attempted to actively see, so it was walking blind and off memory.

It made a right turn away from the direction of town and went to go further away when a loud click rang out from just in front of it.

"Female." Came a flat voice, the creature stopped. In front was another one of her kind except much taller, over by a metre. She winced but kept her nerves calm as she spoke. "Why did you come here? I had told you this is my territory, that human you thought you heard earlier, has already been taken care of." The taller alien didn't seem to notice and simply stepped closer, now towering over her. "That only applies if you have a mate." He looks around before turning back, "I don't see any mate of yours, so this land is not your keep. Let me ask the question now, where is that human?" He questioned, having ignored her previous statement. "Taken care of, as I said. Leave please, you disturb the prey." She reiterated, and the taller creature scoffed. "You do think this is your territory? Why should I leave?" He remarked with cold disdain.

She stiffened as his aggression was starting to show and she didn't want this to progress further. "Because there are no humans here, only small animals. You can find bigger kill elsewhere." She said calmly, "If there were humans here, you would have heard them." She added before the male clicked to silence her before he spoke.

"That much I agree with, a point made female. But why are you here if not for humans?" He still had a tinge of suspicion in his question, she jided herself for not thinking that far into her lie. "Because I prefer wildlife over humans. I was injured as you can see and I don't have a mate that can assist, humans have weapons that can kill us from a distance so I-" She was cut off with a click, making her shift with the volume of it. The male looked down upon her with disgust as he spoke. "Small wildlife, snacks, over humans. To think I had expected something to come of meeting a mateless female, certainly not now. Humans damaged your head by the looks of it, not just your armour. We starved in our home, moons would go by without a single morsel, yet you still choose the scrapes here. Remember who tried to kill you female, humans, they are easy to kill and rather pleasurable to do so." She winced and turned away from him, his words made sense but hurt. "I ask of you to leave." She said quietly, the male quickly turned and started walking away. "Gladly, just know if a human goes into 'your territory', I will not hesitate to take it as my kill. Since you are incapable of doing such a task." He spat as he picked up his pace and disappeared into the distance.