Terrestrial Alien ✔

Chapter 31: Home

Seth

I take Joshua to the only place I know.

At least, I try to, anyways. I don't really make it before my limbs begin to slow, or before my mind begins to return to me piece by piece, until I'm suddenly shockingly aware of what I'm doing.

There's always this little space of time, before I change back fully, when I'm cognisant of everything. And it's at this time when I realise that charging down 7th, looking like a monster from a horror movie with a teenage boy clutched in its arms, is a terrible idea.

I let out a frightened squawk as I become aware of all the wide-eyed humans staring at me from shop fronts and pedestrian crossings, and I veer sharp left into an alleyway. I hear their murmuring voices following me like a swarm of bees, and I push myself faster. I can feel my body tiring, my bones aching to go back to where they're used to, and I push myself to get us farther away before that happens. Before I change back.

In my arms, Joshua has stopped moving. He was squirming around before, screaming at me till his voice broke, but I wouldn't set him down, because I didn't understand him then. I had only one goal in my beasty mind, and all I could do was follow it: get the both of us out of there.

I feel a stab of guilt as I tilt my head to glance down at him, where he's buried his face against my bony neck. He's trembling. His arms are wrapped around my neck, his fingers gripping at the mangy black fur over my shoulders so tightly that it almost hurts. He clings to my waist with his legs, and I support his back with one clawed hand, using the other to run and clamber over dented dumpsters and pointy chain-link fences.

I know he doesn't want to be here, in this position, but I can't let go of him now, not yet.

I keep going until I can no longer hear the voices, and until I can no longer push myself any further. Making it into another obscure alleyway, I stumble to my knees with a groan that sounds more human than animal. The alley around me is dark, trash littering the damp concrete and steam leaking from a vent somewhere; there's not another soul in sight. I find it safe enough that I let myself go.

It's less painful changing back, more of a relief really, as bones begin to slide and pop back into place, as the slick, oily black muscles beneath them begin to slip back around the bones, back under my skin. I've never watched myself change, but I know it's probably a rather... unsettling sight, to say the least.

With clawed hands that are gradually becoming human again, I reach back to untangle Joshua's arms from around my neck. His muscles are tense everywhere I touch, and I practically have to pry him off of me. Gently, as I get him off, I lower him to the ground. I watch his face as it comes into view, and I find his eyes are squeezed shut, his eyebrows furrowed tight in a grimace. As his back comes to rest against the cool concrete, his expression relaxes.

As I let go of him, his head lolls to the side.

His legs around my hips stop squeezing so much, and they come to fall on either sides of me.

"Joshua?" I ask quietly, leaning closer to him as the last parts of my face shift back into place. "Joshua... The people are gone now... We got away." Tentatively, I rest a hand on his shoulder. I shake him. I don't get so much as a twitch in response.

Has he... fainted?

His expression looks so relaxed like this, his eyelids gently closed, his lips slightly parted. I can't help but stare somewhat, fascinated. I realise only now that I've never seen him relaxed like this. With the realisation comes a tinge of sadness that falls over me, and I have to shake it away. It doesn't matter if he's never relaxed around me. It doesn't mean he never will in the future.