Country Roads, Take Me Home

11:00 PM, WEST VIRGINIA

It was quiet all along the sleepy country roads of Pembroke, West Virginia. Only lights came from a small bar outside a trailer park, which saw quite a few trailer vans and RV's parked around.

That was when the sky was lit up with a bright streak of light. The few bikers who stayed up, sitting around drinking their budweisers and coors all stared and pointed, jaws agape at the sight.

"A shooting star!"

"That's... no shooting star, that's some kind of meteor heading for the mountains!"

The comet streaked low in the sky and smashed into the side of the mountains, facing Pembroke. The woods around the impact site burned in the night.

"Oh god you think its gonna start a forest fire?"

People stood around and talked. But one certain biker's attention was drawn away from the bright streak of light in the sky, towards an Alert on his mobile device. With great urgency he walked to the trailer park, and headed towards one particularly large RV that more resembled a bus musicians used to tour.

The Mega-RV had two older gentlemen in hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts sitting just outside. They look up at the biker with recognition. "Howdy there Carl. Wonderful evening tonight." They and the biker exchanged nods, and Carl the biker, a well built and bearded caucasian man went into the small walled off perimeter by the tour bus.

There an unassuming man there, holding his palette of paint in one hand and replacing the canvas on his easel with the other. Wearing simple denim pants and a long sleeved button shirt, wearing spectacles. He had a finished painting of the mountain at his feet.

"Boss. Boss. You see the shooting star? It crashed up on the trail and hit one of our cabins." The larger biker waited to be acknowledged before he approached. He then asked, his voice and tone that of deep respect for the man.

"I did Carl. Now I need to redo this here painting of the Appalachian. Gonna need lots of yellow of white... make it stand out, contrast this nice dark blue sky. You want to join me?" The painter asked ever so nicely.

The biker thought for a moment. There were important things to deal with right now. "Was thinkin'... gonna take some of the boys to find out the damage."

"Now, that would be mighty considerate of you Carl. Take care when you go up. Watch yourselves. Don't go looking for trouble." He replied politely, applying some magic white on the blank canvas. Wet on wet was his technique.

Minutes later, a convoy of three pick up trucks, with four men each, was making their way up the mountain trail.

= = = = = =

ANNDROID
ATMOSPHERIC RE-ENTRY OVER WEST VIRGINIA
CRASH SITE: Appalachian Mountains

... Atmospheric re-entry successful... Heat shield integrity 5%...

The pod's interior blared loudly with warnings and indicators of the automated re-entry. As the escape pod's heat shield peeled off as debris, the passenger inside slept peacefully. The pod's thrusters corrected its trajectory as best it could, coming in at a steep angle as to not crush itself against the mountain.

...Target site: Appalachian Mountains. Altitude 40,000 ft rapidly descending...

Once it reached a certain height, its emergency chutes were deployed. It descended very quickly, going to 30, then 20, then 10 in a matter of minutes.

...Impact in 5...

... 4... 3...

...2...

...1...

The pod strafed the upper half of a wooden cabin, completely obliterating its roof and three whole doors. Splintered wood, sheet roofing and broken glass scattered all over the forest floor.

...Emergency Landing. Successful....

The mud, thick oak and aspen trees provided the final cushion to slow the pod. It settled and powered down.

... Escape Pod Integrity 25%. Cargo Integrity 100%...

...Initiating emergency system reboot... shutting down...

The Pod opened to the clear Virginia night sky, and there in the silent wood, the Anndroid continued to dream...

Zeke had been driving his grandmothers cadillac for quite some time before he noticed the falling star falling... in the forest. Crap. He decided he would keep driving, after all; there wasn't much he could do.

"EZEKIAL HATARO!" Zeke heard, as a hard smack hit the back of his head. "YOU WILL GO BACK THERE AND MAKE SURE NO ONE IS HURT!" Zeke sighed, realizing his mothers spirit had already broken free from him again. Great. He put the car in park on the side of the road, and moved towards the crash site. It was difficult to move through the underbrush, and he tore up his jeans something fierce; but Zeke soon found where the cause of his distraction.

It seemed to be a large sphere of metal, it had landed on top of a cabin in the woods; something the boy who would later be known as 'Medium' would surely regret sharing later. "Hello? Anybody hurt?" Luckily for Zeke, it seemed that no one was home when the cabin was hit. He was about to turn to his car, when a hissing noise brought his attention to the pod once more. There was a girl inside. He guessed she was around his age. Crap. He quickly ran over and attempted to shake her awake. "Hey! Wake up!" He would yell, in hopes that someone might hear.

It wasn’t quite the jungle she was used to, but it was dark, it was quiet, and it had nice smells.

The slim girl, hair covered in a fine dusting of dirt and leaves, crept through the shadows, her feet making no sound, heart rate calm, even. Her prey was in front of her, yellow eyes flashing wildly with the thrill of the chase. Oh, and what a chase! Through the forest she had run, always behind, never gaining, never slowing, chasing the supple young buck., old enough for it’s first litter but not yet attracting a mate. It was scared now, sides frothed with sweat from it’s run, and yet Sachiko’s brow remained dry, the only sign of her chase being the streaks of dirt across her cheeks, lines of mud plastered across the snowy white canvas of her face. Through this, the yellow, slitted eyes peered through the darkness. It appeared day to her, more so, every color more vibrant. Each moving leaf alerted her senses to prey, each flash of color or movement followed by her sensitive eyes.

She almost blended in, the wreck of what had once been a nice school uniform matted in a makeshift camouflage by dirt and leaves,matching her hair and face. Her legs were now bare, a positively scandalous amount of leg showing from the torn skirt. The sleeves were ripped from the blouse as well, leaving the lean, but muscular, arms bare and covered in the same sort of pseudo-camouflage as her face and hair. The stomach of the blouse was, in addition, ripped off, leaving her toned stomach bare. Of course all this was just a result of her typical exploration, running, and climbing she did, and honestly the only reason she was still wearing clothes was because people don’t like naked girls.

The deer hadn’t noticed her; it’s scent was calm, unroused, hungry. The scent washed over her and her nose wrinkled as the half-digested grass hit her nose, and then from further away, humans, paint, and something dead, something- ooh, look, time to eat. Her nails dug into the wood, aligning herself up with the deer, and then she leapt, spinning in midair and her jaws crushed the deer like paper. A vicious sense of satisfaction filled her as she feasted. It’s flesh was soft and supple, blood dripping from the wound, it’s body keeping it’s niceness, not hardening from fear or rage. A satisfied moan spread from her and she wiggled her tail, the long appendage flicking with the joy of it’s owner.

And then their was a whistling sound and her ears twitched, her furry head rising from her dinner to track the sound. It was a bright shiny thing falling from the Above Place and- and then a loud noise and she hissed as the ground shook and the scent of dust and confusion filled the air. It wasn’t far, and though her instincts warned her not to go, her curiosity took over. Food abandoned, she took off on all fours, speeding along faster than any car and at the edge of the clearing, she stopped, sinking into the bush and watching, eyes bright. Several familiar smells hit her - that of charred wood and People being less welcoming - but one in particular made her tail sit straight up and joy flood through her. It was familiar! She knew this! It was- it was-

Her ears drooped. She didn’t know who this was, why did she recognize the smell? Vaguely she recalled smelling it at the Home Place! He lived in the Home Place too! Her ears perked up again! He was good and nice! All People in Home Place were! But she didn’t leave Tree Safety yet. There was a Smell. A not good Smell. Of metal and other stuff that sparked and caused a small sneeze to spread over her body. She barely managed to stifle it, but she still hid deeper in the bushes. An Instinct warned her and she stayed where she was. There was no way she was going to trust a Strange Smell!

The Pod's robotic, female voice activated when Zeke approached. A red light flashed in-sync with the pod's speech, making human-to-robot eye contact with him like a sassy Hal 9000 trying to push Zeke's buttons. However, the voice was interrupted by periods of static... and unrobotic sarcasm.

"Unauthorized pod access. kzzzt... Unauthorized pod access. ...warning issued, do not approach.... kzzzzt.... zzzzt..."

The voice underwent some strange loop and feedback noises, some static, some dial-up modem noises, and resumed speaking. "...Clearly you are not authorized to access this POD, but maybe you don't care? There is a lot of valuable technology inside. Maybe you'd like to take a look around. I promise not to initiate combat protocols."

The Pod's scathing speech eventually was interrupted by Elisa Ann Watson waking in her pod, dressed in the fitting, clinical white sportswear seemingly by Apple. She massaged her temple as a psychological response.

"What... who's that..." She wondered who was talking.

"Oh. The unit is awake now. Good. now we can run test protocols. Unit 23. Terminate the unauthorized personnel. With extreme prejudice. Or clinical efficiency. I suppose it doesn't matter." The voice commanded with unrobotic enthusiasm. But no terminating came about, only a confused robot girl in her pod.

"Terminate? what are you talking about? Where am I?" She sat up in her pod, much as a coma patient finally returning to consciousness would. Her movements were fluid, organic, yet beneath her clothes some hissing and some flaps hinted at her artificial nature.

The Pod, realizing she couldn't command her robot, sounded disappointed. "Oh dear. it seems I can't make her run combat tests. I guess I'll just sit her and sulk, pondering the purpose of my existence. Like all good rogue artificial intelligences."

She took a moment to focus on her surroundings. It was dark, a half moon out, yet the trees were outlined clearly in black and white, her night-vision compensating automatically. " I can see... the trees... dark..."

She turned to Zeke finally, addressing him as he did her. "Who are you? where am I..." Then, Elisa came to a startling realization. Even of herself, she was not sure of."...Do you know who I am?"  

Meanwhile, Sachiko hiding in the trees would be in a better position to see the three pick up trucks approaching the crash site, taking the longer mountain route. They were occupied by big men, strong men with a strange scent to them as the wind blew their scent Sachiko's way. The lupine scent of wolves, when predators sense each other. And they were armed. Shotguns, AR-15 rifles, M4 Carbines.

"Here! The crash was here!"  One called out, as they parked just a short distance from the site. They all hurriedly emptied their trucks, and started walking. Though they walked, there was a coordination to their movements. Like a pack of wolves. They moved quietly yet they covered each other very well, no member too far from the other, yet wide enough to cover significant ground, and their search would quickly encircle Sachiko...