Different Similarities

Remnants

Up close the building was larger than expected. Even The Colony back home was smaller than the metallic circle in front of them. The main Colony headquarters was designed to house thousands of people, not counting the renovations added throughout the years. This structure was ridiculously larger in comparison. From the outside one could see a ginormous saucer with a tower in the middle. This tower reached towards the sky hiding between the clouds.

"This must be what they call a skyscraper" Luna awed, lowering herself from the pick up. The roads had become crowded with overturned vehicles. No longer able to safely drive around, the duo decided to walk the rest of the way.

"Thankfully my feet don't hurt anymore" Luna rolled her ankles stretching them out before the long walk to the skyscraper.

The closer they got the more viscously gruesome the remnants became. Military vehicles surrounded the building. While most cars were overturned some were partially melted down or even torn into. Claw marks forever embedded into the surrounding trees and metal walls of lookout towers. The two even passed by human remains. Luna was haunted by the fact that the corpses were in different stages of decomposition.

Fenced walls were fallen over and or ripped apart, human size holes cut in the metal chain linked walls.

They had finally made it to the front of the structure. Luna was so dumbfounded at the broken sliding doors. The human pushed along by the hand at the base of her neck guiding her. The Martian steadied her whenever she stumbled and man over her away from the acidic puddles burning through the concrete floor.

He could feel her thundering heartbeat underneath his fingertips. The tanned skin felt hotter than last night, his thumb pressed softly on her jugular vein feeling the blood pumping underneath. Her skin became slick as the day went on, perspiring increasing with her heart rate. Breathing in the elite could taste the saltiness around her even with his helmet on. So far the human female has taught him that this salt water that humans produced was for their wailing or sweating.

"Though we barely walked, she seems to be overheating." The elite huffed, humans were delicate species that could adapt under the right circumstances yet his human barely held on to life. Still the woman fought against an impossible survival rate. Being malnourished, sick, and on a foreign planet the Yautja was astonished that she had not perished. Though he was the main reason for her survival.

"Come" he grumbled in his own voice making sure to gently push the woman towards the building at her pausing. Soft fur brushed his knuckles, her neck craned all the way back to stare at the tower. Slender neck bare, the tendons prominent as she leaned as far back as possible. The curve of flesh and bone, a nose, pointed towards the setting sun. He wanted to touch that neck that bobbed slightly when she swallowed her nervousness. Did they have the same windpipe? Same muscle structure or vital points? This elite has never fully haunted a human before. Such practice had been banned long ago. The self destruction of their planet, Earth, had left the species without a home and thus became a protective species.

The humans he had helped, unbeknownst to them, were far too frightened to interact with any of his people. In fact he had given up on just standing side by side with such a skittish creature. Even now, as she entered the laboratory and took everything in mesmerized, she would flinch whenever their hips bumped one another or he crouched too close to her.

His claws twitched against the flush nape. He felt his hide absorb her body heat, her moisture, her scent. She was dangerous; he felt equally memorized at her as she was with her surroundings.

"Where are we-'' the further they walked in the more she gawked at. From the inside she could see the building resembles more like a donut or bagel. There was a courtyard surrounding the skyscraper in the middle. The floor was once a pristine white tile and the walls used to match. Even the flickering ceiling lights were a blinding white. Everything was stained with old blood and corrosive liquids which seemed to have splattered everywhere.

"Come here" the alien spoke in his own voice for once.

"I am here?" Luna questioned having been guided by him though the rooms.

"No. Here" He curled his claw at her and pointed to the spot to his right. A hiss escaped him as he brought the same finger in front of them.

"Did you just shush me?"

"Sss" he hissed again, his finger still pointed in between them.

"You're doing it wrong" she hissed quietly looking around in alarm. She was tired, hungry, and needed another shower. Despite her dizziness and soreness her body always managed to tap into that adrenaline when needed. If her grumpy yet stoic companion perceived danger she had to be on her toes, literally.

Walking beside him on her tiptoes she wondered how this seven foot something meathead managed to walk so silently. The whole time they had been together he always stumped his feet almost on purpose and now he was quieter than her. They looked room to room and crouched around the corrosive spots as he inspected them.

"What the hell is he doing?" Pondering at his elusive moments the human observed him continuing to follow the damage and tap the side of his helmet. Eventually after wandering for minutes he pulled out the dagger on his thigh and activated another blade hidden in his gauntlet.

Before them layed a long dead humanoid alien. Its elongated head long ago decomposed. The rest of its body is nothing but an empty husk with a yellow ring around it. The floor was damaged by its acidity. It was the pale monster from the aircraft.

"Ss!" Big hand claps against her mouth, claws tickling her ears, a chest pressed against the back of her head. A slight whooshing sound as the blade in his gauntlet retreated. Had she stopped breathing or was she breathing too much? Something was moving in her chest, was it her lungs or the jackhammering of her heart. She knew her legs buckled as her vision lost the ability to see color. Everything was black, white, and ever graying. Her world was getting darker as she no longer found the strength to keep her head up. She could not feel someone shaking her; the only clue was her remaining vision swimming away from the corpse at her feet.

"No, here. Here." Her companion growled, holding her up. Her head lulled at every movement. He grabbed her jaw once more to peer into her eyes. They dilated slightly, she was still conscious. With a huff he hauled her over his shoulder and made his way out. He could not scout the rest of the area with the human on the verge of collapse. It was more than risky to find a resting place without fully securing the area. However he knew the human could not continue on for today. Her body was still weak and will continue to be weak for weeks to come.

Humans were also extremely responsive to fear. In his years of observation he noticed that humans had three main responses to danger: fight, freeze or run. He could taste the smell of fear on her now. It overpowered the salty taste of her sweat. A fruit once sweet now bitter, terror rotting away her core.

"For now I must assure the safety of human. I will have to stay with her once more till she awakens. Then I can focus on barricading and scavenging for supplies. If there are any internecivus raptus still alive we can not stay here long, the human would not survive. I also need to replace the battery in my control gauntlet in order to contact the mother ship." The elite had gotten into the strange habit of chatting to the female even though she rarely reacted to his one sided conversation.

Abandoning the acidic tracks the male carried the woman to the opposite side of the circular laboratory labyrinth. The barracks seems the safest option for now. Human artillery stashed in containers and shelved. Thin mattresses stacked upon one another and lockers full of personal items. The human should have plenty of supplies to better her survival chances.

"Zahad'uid... Asahid... where are you when I need you."