"Eric!"
He jumped and looked up at his friend, Will, standing in front of him. "Yeah?" he asked.
"Jesus, man. You visiting Jupiter or somethin'?"
Eric grinned. "Nah, man. Just Uranus."
There was a loud chorus of raucous laughter from the direction of the fire pit a few yards away. Will scoffed, his freckled face looking disgusted. "Only in your dreams, babe. Especially with puns that bad. You want another hamburger or what?"
Eric shook his head. "Nope, I'm good. We bring stuff for s'mores?"
Will shrugged and looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Alex, did you get stuff for s'mores?" he shouted.
"Luc stopped at Walmart. There should be a bag in the truck cab."
"Good deal." Eric pushed up from the picnic table bench he'd been sitting on and headed toward the blue truck parked on the grass a little ways away. "It locked?" he called.
"Catch!"
Eric turned and raised his hands just in time to keep the keys Luc threw at him from catching him square in the face. "Shit, Lucas. You trying to take me out?"
Luc just laughed. Eric rolled his eyes and unlocked the driver's door, popping open that and the little half door so he could rummage through the crap in the back seat. A few bags in, he found a Walmart bag stuffed with marshmallows, graham crackers, Hershey's bars, and cheap metal skewers. He tugged it out, relocked the truck and went to claim his chair by the fire.
He’d barely sat down before his friends mobbed him, grabbing skewers and ripping open the bags of marshmallows. Eric laughed and quickly took some of his own before they were gone.
He stuck his skewered marshmallow in near some embers and looked around his motley circle of friends. They were an odd bunch. All five of them had grown up on the fifth floor of a shitty apartment building in a poor, mostly white neighborhood. He figured their childhoods had been pretty standard. But that a black kid, a Mexican boy, two white kids, and a Japanese boy had managed to become friends and stay that way though racist parents, stupid teachers, college in different states, and careers in a couple different cities was pretty freaking awesome. They still got together a few times a year, but the late summer camping trip was the only one that was set in stone.
Eric sighed happily and leaned back in his camp chair, watching the others poke and prod at each other around the fire. With his free hand, he idly rubbed his fingers back and forth over the bracelet he still wore. Would the food he left be enough?
Kaz leaned over and poked him in the arm. "Your marshmallow's melting, Eric."
Eric looked back down at his treat just in time to see it ooze its way off the skewer onto the coals. "Shit."
Kaz laughed, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. "What's with you, man? You've been distracted since we got here."
Eric shook his head. "Nothing." When Kaz just looked at him, Eric groaned. "It's nothing. It's stupid."
Eric found that he immediately had everyone's attention.
Alex brushed his very blond hair out of his eyes and raised a brow. "Hey guys, isn't that exactly what he said right before he finally told us he was bi?"
Luc nodded seriously. "It is."
Eric shrank back in his chair. "Shit. Come on."
Will scooted his chair closer to Eric's right side. The big white man leaned his brown-haired head on Eric's shoulder and sort of draped an arm over his back. "C'mon. Spill. You'll feel better."
Eric groaned and sank lower in his chair. The others laughed quietly. Will straightened so that he wasn't leaning on Eric anymore but left his arm where it was.
"Seriously, dude. What's up?" Luc asked.
Eric glared at the short, slender Hispanic man over the fire. "Nothing's up."
Alex shook his head, looking very serious. "Nope. We all call bullshit. Tell us. Now."
Eric looked around the fire. "This is starting to feel like an intervention or something."
"Nah, man," Kaz said from his left. "Just trying to figure out what's going on in that weird big brain of yours."
Eric glared at Kaz. "My brain is big and weird now?"
Luc laughed. "You're a geeky librarian that likes to bring home strays regardless of their species and how likely they are to try to eat you. You're pretty weird."
Bring home strays. Eric's cheeks heated. He ducked his head and poked at the fire with his skewer.
"Oh, shit!" Will said suddenly. "You picked up a stray!"
Alex laughed. "Really? That's why he's spacing out?"
Eric sighed and stabbed his skewer into the dirt, watching the loop handle wave back and forth after he let go. "Sort of."
Luc raised one dark eyebrow. "How do you sorta pick up a stray?"
"I'm feeding somebody. I haven't seen them yet."
"Say what?" Will said.
Eric turned his head to look at Will. "They're camping out in the empty store in that horrible strip mall."
Lucas nodded sagely. "And you left your babe by itself to come camping and now you're freaking out. This totally makes sense."
Alex bumped Luc with his elbow. "Remember all those critters he brought your mom? Like, at least once a month he'd bring home some poor half-dead animal he'd found and get your mom to help him fix it."
Kaz laughed loudly. "My favorite was the raccoon. Remember? He hid it in a box in the laundry room in the basement? Old Mrs. Jackson found it and yelled all the way up to his apartment. You could hear her two floors down cussing him out."
Eric listened to them trot gleefully down memory lane, rehashing all the poor animals he'd brought home as a kid. He was just glad his present ‘critter’ was out of the direct spotlight for now.
Will leaned in close, not quite resting his head on Eric's shoulder again. "I'm sure they're fine," he said quietly.
"I know. I just wonder about them, you know? It's weird, though, right? I mean, I don't even know who they are."
Will shook his head slightly. "Nah. Not weird. Just you. Anyway, you'll check in when we get home. They'll be fine."
Eric nodded. "Yeah," he muttered, trying to convince himself he believed it. "They'll be fine."
Will rubbed his hand roughly over Eric's head and straightened. Eventually Eric let himself be drawn back into the conversation going on around the fire. He tried to be present, but the mystery person stayed around to nibble at the edge of his brain for most of the long weekend.
*~*~*
I stood at the windows looking out. It was getting dark and there weren't many Humans around. I should be able to sneak out while there was a little bit of light left. Not that it mattered. It would be full dark long before I got back.
I didn't want to go out tonight, but I hadn't found enough food when I had gone out two days ago. I had eaten all the grain bars and most of the dried berries, as well as the meager findings from my first two, mostly unsuccessful, trips. I had thought the Human would come back today and I wouldn't have to go out again, but now it was late, and I didn't think he would be coming.
I waited a few minutes longer, really wanting to leave while there was still some light but unsure. I fidgeted, scuffing the edges of my shoes in the dust. The sole got caught in a crack in the floor, pulling the straps across the top of my foot uncomfortably tight. I winced and bent down to fix them, then forced myself to stand still and watch the world outside the windows.
Finally, I opened the door and crept down the sidewalk to the end of the building. I was so glad my empty room was at the opposite end of the building from the busy place that seemed to be some kind of store. Even if one of the Humans appeared when I wasn't expecting them to, I should still have time to hide.
I quickly darted around the side of the building, keeping close to the wall until I reached the dirty little road behind it. Crouching in the shadows, I watched the road carefully. When I was satisfied no one was there, I crossed and ducked through some bushes on the other side.
I had found a Human food vendor about five minutes away that almost always left something out by their rear door. Once there had been several small crates of fruit. I disliked my thievery and had only taken one, but had eaten well for days. I always checked there first. I had found other places too, but this one was best and so far I hadn't been caught.
I quickly reached another dirty little road that went behind the food place. I crept up to the door, wary of anyone who might come out. I slumped when I saw that I wasn't lucky tonight. I was either too late or too early and there was nothing. I dared not wait.
I continued down the dirty street, heading to the next closest place. I made it there without any problems and found a box of dark, heavy bread sitting outside. I sighed in relief and reached into the box. There were many loaves there, so I took two, hoping they wouldn't be missed. I wouldn't have to come back out tomorrow, even if the Human didn't bring me anything.
As I straightened, I heard a rustling noise behind me. Startled, I turned quickly, almost tripping over the box of bread. I regained my balance as I stared at the intimidating four-legged animals in front of me. They were big, reaching up to my hips. Their muscular shoulders were covered in dark fur and their ears were pointed and aimed toward me. The one closest to me was growling, showing me very large, sharp teeth. The other started to stalk toward me, its huge feet landing quietly in the dirt.
I glanced behind me. There was no wall at the end of the dirty street. I could try to run. I looked back at the animals. The one growling was standing still, its legs braced, and had not moved. The other was still creeping closer. I stepped to the side and back, moving around the box without looking away from the animals. The one that had been still came towards me until the beasts stood shoulder to shoulder. Both of them were growling now. They stepped forward together. One bared its teeth at me and I shuddered.
I would have to run.
Would I be fast enough? I didn't know how fast the animals were. They had long, slender legs. Probably very fast. I was not very fast. But I had to try.
Clutching the bread to my chest, I spun around and raced down the road as fast as I could. I didn't look back, knowing that would slow me down. The ground was rough, tripping me up and letting the animals gain on me. I could hear them right behind me.
I reached an intersection and turned, hoping to circle back and reach the safety of my hiding place. I had managed to turn again to go back in the direction I had come when my foot slid in some loose rocks. I fell hard and landed on my chest in the dirt. I turned my head as I fell, but the side of my face hit the ground, stunning me for a moment. I blinked and spat grit out of my mouth.
I tried to get to my feet without losing the food, but one of the animals caught my shoe in its teeth. I scrambled to my knees, trying to pull away. A harsh scream escaped me when the second animal grabbed my other leg.
I flipped over as much as I could, reaching for the strap that held the thick sole to the bottom of my foot. I tore at the buckle, pulling my foot loose and kicking hard. I caught that animal in the jaw, making it yelp in surprise and back up shaking its head.
With one foot free, I kicked as hard as I could at the animal holding my other leg. I hit it hard, but it didn't let go. Instead it backed up while I kicked at it, dragging me over the sharp rocks and tearing my leg with its teeth.
I gasped in pain as the rocks tore through the thin fabric of my clothing and gouged into me. Desperate, I grabbed a handful of the pointy gravel and flung it at the animal. Again and again I threw rocks and dirt and kicked at the beast holding my leg.
The one that I had lost my shoe to came back and tried to catch me again as well. I flailed and kicked, trying to keep it from grabbing me.
Finally, the animal holding my leg yelped and let go. I lurched to my feet panting. The other lunged for me, but only managed to catch its teeth on my already torn sleeve. I spun and ran down yet another small dirty street.
I could hear them behind me. I lunged to the side and grabbed a long piece of round metal. It was heavy, but not so heavy that I wasn't able to turn and swing it at my pursuers. I caught the first on the side of the head and it staggered. I stumbled sideways on my bad leg, swinging the metal haphazardly. I hit the other animal in the leg. It yelped and went down.
I backed away slowly, holding my weapon ready. When the animals seemed disinclined to follow after a few steps, I turned my back and moved as quickly as I could down the street. It was hard to walk with only one shoe when I already had trouble with my balance. I paused and quickly ripped off the remaining shoe before continuing. Everything sharp on the ground bit into my skin as I walked. I hoped I wasn't leaving bloody footprints for someone to find and follow later.
I looked around as I limped. Somehow, the animals had not chased me into one of the main streets where the Humans would have found me. I even knew where I was. Those two things were luckier than I expected. But I had lost my bread.
My torn-up leg gave out and I tumbled into a wall. I stayed there, gasping and trying to catch my breath. There would be no trying to get more food tonight. And maybe not tomorrow either. I would be lucky to make it back to safety. If the Human didn't come, I would be very hungry.
I righted myself and stumbled along. I used the metal pole for support until it grew too heavy. I dropped it just before stumbling through the bushes into the small street behind the building I was hiding in. I made my way around the side and into my safe place. I only realized I hadn't looked for Humans once I had closed the door and was leaning against it, panting with the pain and exertion.
When no Humans immediately tried to chase after me, I limped further into the room. I looked towards the pair of chairs, hoping. There was no new food. Disappointed, hungry, and hurting, I went slowly back to my hiding space behind the boxes.
I made it to the tunnel-like space, but didn't have time to do anything else. I watched the brown lines blur as I crumpled to the floor.
*~*~*
Playing catch-up on his first day back at work kept Eric at his desk for an extra three hours. He had expected it, but it still sucked. He groaned and shoved his chair back from the keyboard. There was more to do, but it was almost eight, and he was wiped. He saved his draft and put the computer to sleep.
Eric stretched his arms over his head as he stood, arching his back and hearing things pop that probably shouldn't. He shrugged on his coat, grabbed his bag, and was out the door. He hit the sidewalk just in time to see his bus go by. He checked his watch. They were early, dammit. And at this time of night, there wouldn't be another one for more than half an hour. They only ran on the quarter hour during the regular commute times. He frowned. Maybe he should have just stayed at work.
No. He could go to grocery store and be slow about it, instead of rushing. He had told whoever he was feeding that he would be there today with food, and it was already later than he usually went. Eric headed down the still-busy sidewalk, not really thinking about anything in particular. Just sort of zoning out for two blocks.
He stepped into the store, blinking at the brightness. Maybe he should get something other than granola bars. He headed for the snack aisle instead of the breakfast aisle. A few minutes later, he was back outside with a few packs of snack crackers and another bottle of water. He needed to start buying in bulk if he was going to keep this up.
It was only eight twenty, so Eric settled into a spot at the empty bus stop bench next to the store and scrolled through Facebook while he waited. By nine, he was standing on the sidewalk outside the strip mall with imaginary spiders crawling up his spine.
Something had changed again.
Eric examined the filthy windows of the empty storefront for any hint of what was giving him the creeps. He couldn't see anything different. Finally, he reached for the door, shuddering uncontrollably as soon as he touched it. He cursed in aggravation and pulled it open. It didn't stick, swinging open smoothly to reveal the shadowy interior. He didn't know why that freaked him out, but it totally did.
He stepped inside and let the door fall shut behind him with a quiet thud.
It was dark enough that he had trouble seeing, but he hadn't ever noticed a light switch. He guessed they were tucked discretely behind that door he had never been able to open. And with the case of the heebie jeebies he had now, there was no way he was trying to open it again. All his childhood nightmares said a monster would jump out.
Eric tried to shake off his unease, telling himself that it was only because he'd never been here at night before. The place was a little creepy during the day. It was only reasonable that it would be worse at night. It was a nice little argument, but his invisible spiders weren't convinced.
Using his phone for a flashlight, Eric went over to the chairs. Everything was gone except for the apple juice. That was tucked out of the way under the chair, obviously undrunk. He laughed a little when he saw the one juice box with a straw in it. Apparently his mystery person didn't like apple juice. But they had tried it, so they hadn’t known they didn't like it. That was interesting.
He was bending down to grab the juice boxes when he heard a quiet scuffing sound from somewhere behind him.
Eric jumped and spun around, catching his foot on a chair leg and tumbling to the floor. He wound up on his side with his legs tangled in juice boxes and chair legs and the strap of his bag twisted around his arm and chest. He lay there panting, staring into the gloom. He felt like a kid in a haunted house, afraid to move lest the monsters get him.
Just as he managed to get his heart rate and breathing back to normal, there was a rough groan from the back of the room. His heart shot right back into his throat, and he stared into the shadows along the back wall.
At first he thought there was nothing there except that old pile of boxes. As he stared, though, he saw a twitch of movement. Eric stared some more, until he realized there was a leg sticking out from behind the boxes. The movement he had seen was the foot twitching. There was another groan and the leg was pulled out of sight.
He swallowed hard.
He’d dropped his phone when he tried to maim himself on the chair. He could see the notification light blinking out in the middle of the room, several yards away. That meant he was left to untangle himself in the dark.
It wasn't too bad. Mostly he just had to shove the chairs off his legs. Both of the chairs were broken now, jagged chunks of wood going every which way, and he'd managed to scratch up the back of his right hand. It stung, but he wasn't dripping blood or anything, so he ignored it. He stumbled to his feet, resettling the messenger bag so that it was no longer trying to hogtie him.
The notification light on his phone blinked again briefly, and Eric went over to pick it up. A few taps turned the flashlight app back on, and he shined the meager light toward the pile of boxes. Eric frowned. They looked different.
Before, those boxes had always looked like they were pushed right up against the wall. Now, though, it was obvious that there was space behind them. Had they been moved? Or was it just the lighting?
A quiet whimpering sound echoed out from the corner and Eric winced. He was going to have to see who was back there, check on them. It was probably whoever he was feeding and from the sounds of it, they probably weren't okay.
Eric walked slowly over to the boxes, his eyes locked on the foot-wide shadowy gap between them and the wall. He rested a hand on top of them, leaning over slowly to look into the space behind them.
He couldn't see much. Just feet attached to a shadowy lump. Eric aimed the light from his phone at the lump. The light reflected off some sort of shiny fabric, and the lump whimpered and hid its head in its arms, curling into a defensive ball.
Okay then.
He couldn't very well drag whoever it was out of the little box cave. The logical thing was to move the boxes, then. He set his phone down on the floor with the flashlight app still running and took hold of the box he'd been leaning on. It was large, so he had expected it to be heavy. When it turned out to be light enough he could have lifted it with one hand, he lost his balance and stumbled backwards several jerky steps. Cursing, Eric righted himself and shoved the box against the side wall.
Unfortunately, only the top few boxes were light. The rest were seemingly filled with rocks. He would have gladly left a few of them where they were, but the mystery person kept retreating farther into the corner. He abandoned the last box of bricks with the others and collapsed ungracefully onto the floor next to the shivering ball of misery.
Since his phone had long since timed out and turned itself off, Eric still couldn't see anything. He groaned, then stretched out his leg and caught his phone with his heel, dragging it to where he could reach it. He opened the flashlight app again and aimed the screen at the figure next to him.
They were small and fine boned, and were wearing some sort of silvery jumpsuit that had been ripped and shredded in multiple places. He assumed the dark stains near some of the tears were blood. Not good. Their legs seemed to have gotten the worst of it, but there were a couple bad looking spots on their arms and shoulder as well.
Suddenly the slender form twitched, arms and legs jerking, then went completely limp. For a second Eric panicked, until he realized the narrow chest was still rising and falling softly.
Eric blew out a breath. Yay. Not dead. Just dramatically unconscious.
After setting his phone face up on the floor by his hip, Eric gently reached out and moved the limp arms away from their face, intending to check for more injuries. That thought got completely derailed, though, when he got his first look at a face that was definitely not Human.
Their features were delicate but flattened. The lips were wide and thin. The nose didn't protrude out of their face like a Human's, but instead rose softly up from the cheeks in a gentle curve. Where a Human would have defined cheekbones, this creature had almost no curve. Eric couldn't quite see the shape of the eyes with them closed, but he guessed they would be slanted and large. The brow above them was also flattened, making the face as a whole look smooth and slightly eerie.
As different as the grouping of facial features was though, that wasn't really what caught his attention. Eric took all that in in a few shocked seconds and was then left with the oddest two features.
The creature had cat-shaped ears with little feathery tufts at the tips sticking out of the side of their head, like a freaking anime character. And they didn't have skin.
Or, rather, they didn't have much visible skin. Because they were wearing some kind of jumpsuit, and what wasn't covered by the jumpsuit was covered in not-feathers like the one he had found over by the chairs.
Not quite believing what he was seeing, Eric reached out and pulled gently at the not-feathers on their face. The not-feathers lifted up a little when he tugged but nothing else moved. He pulled at the collar, looking for edges. Nope. Not a mask. Definitely an alien. Or something. Maybe he was nuts and imagining the whole thing. A muscle in his back twinged and he winced. Nope. One did not pull back muscles moving imaginary boxes.
He looked down at the creature again. Really? Like, really? This type of weird shit didn't happen to him. Eric was boring. He was a really good librarian, but all in all, he was normal and relatively boring. Events out of science-fiction novels did not make their way into his real life.
Except they apparently did.
Eric took a deep breath and shook his head. Okay. He'd been feeding an alien. That was freaky but also sort of cool. Impossible. But cool.
What wasn't cool was that he still didn't have enough light to figure out what was going on with their injuries.
The creature shivered slightly before going limp again. Eric sighed and took off his jacket, draping it carefully over the still form. He settled in against the sidewall, next to the poor thing's head. What now?
They couldn't stay here. The… whatever it was… was still alive, but staying in an abandoned storefront was not conducive to keeping them that way when he didn't know how badly they were hurt. Were they dying? Just in shock? What? He wouldn't know until he got them cleaned up and took a better look. The most logical thing was to try to get them home where he could take care of them.
Eric sighed. Taking them to a hospital would be convenient but stupid and cruel. Yeah. No contributing the alien to science. Home was the best bet.
Shit.
There was no way he'd be able to move them by himself. The creature was small but still Human sized. He didn't have a car, and he couldn't carry an alien through the streets without them looking like either an alien or a corpse. And he'd have to get them past the upstairs neighbors somehow if they weren't asleep already.
Shit, shit, shit.
Okay. His friend Will still lived in town and was a contractor. Will had a truck. And a tarp or something. The two of them were crazy close. Eric would call Will, who would come and help him deal with the proverbial dead body situation. Of an alien. That wasn't actually dead. Okay.
Eric picked up his phone and cursed again at the low battery. Twenty-five percent would just have to be enough. He opened the keypad and held his finger down over the two until speed dial pulled up Will's contact info and auto-dialed. He got to his feet and wandered to the center of the space with the vague idea of not disturbing the still-unconscious alien. The pacing while he held the phone to his ear was automatic and jerky.
After several more rings than Eric had wanted to listen to, Will picked up, shouting and music in the background.
"Just a sec!" he shouted. Eric listened anxiously as the background noise faded to a bearable rumble. Finally, there was a thump and quiet. "What's up?" Will asked. "You don't usually call this late, early bird."
Eric stopped pacing next to the creature and stared down at it. "I need a hand."
"I say again, what's up?"
"You got your truck?"
Will snorted. "Sittin' in it. Why?"
"I, ah, need you to come get me. And someone else."
Will must have started the truck, because Eric heard an engine rumble to life in the background. "You got a drunk date or something?"
Eric groaned. "Or something."
There was silence on the line, then, "You all right? You sound upset. Where are you?"
"I'm at that strip mall by my house. The one with the convenience store you like."
Will grunted. "Yeah, okay." A pause. "I can be there in twenty. You gonna be all right?"
"Yeah." Eric started to say bye and hang up but remembered. "You have a blanket or something in the back?"
Will groaned. "Fuckin' hell, man. This better not be the help me bury the body phone call. See you in a few."
Eric looked at the screen just to confirm that Will really had hung up on him. Great. Well, at least they had similar trains of thought. There was a reason they were such good friends.
Okay. Twenty minutes. What could he do with twenty minutes? Eric looked down at the creature lying injured on the floor and then peered around the room. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He thumped back down onto the floor next to the alien and waited for Will's headlights to pull into the parking lot.
*~*~*
Will stood next to Eric, staring down at the alien, which was once again curled into a fetal ball on the floor. They groaned and Will jumped and stepped back.
Will turned his head to glare at Eric. "Seriously, man?"
Eric shrugged. "Don't know what to tell you. It's not like I knew I was feeding an alien bird-cat-person."
"And it's not like we can let it bleed out on the floor." Will sighed. "Shit. Only you, man. I'm gonna go get the blanket out of the back. We can haul them out of here body-in-a-rug style. The convenience store at the other end is still open, so we'll have to be quick." He shook his finger at Eric. "If somebody calls the cops on us, you are going to owe me until the end of time."
Eric raised his hands up to his shoulders, palms facing Will. "Fair enough, man. Just help me get them home." He dropped his hands to his hips and looked back down at the creature when they whimpered again. "I think they're in shock."
Will sighed again. "Yeah. Probably. Be right back."
Will quickly returned with a clean but ratty blanket and snapped it out on the floor next to the alien. They edged around behind them, Eric at their head and Will next to their feet. The two of them crouched down and carefully got handholds. The silver fabric covering their narrow shoulders was slick and Eric struggled to get a solid grip. Will had an easier time of it, simply wrapping his big hands around their calves. Eric looked at Will and nodded.
"On three?" Will asked.
Eric nodded. Will counted. Somehow they moved the alien into the middle of the blanket without dropping them out of either surprise or clumsiness. They carefully wrapped the edges of the blanket over them.
Eric looked down and groaned softly. It really did look like they'd wrapped up a dead body so they could get rid of it. Crap.
Will chuckled next to him. "Here. Take the keys and unlock the passenger side. Open both the doors. I'll follow you out and put them in the back."
Eric nodded and took off for the truck parked out front. He paused at the door to the shop, waiting until a lone car finished pulling out onto the street before jogging to the truck. Just as he pulled open the door to the back, he heard Will push the store door open. He moved out of the way and watched while Will tucked the alien carefully into the back seat, laying them out as straight as possible.
Will shook his head. "Shit," he muttered softly. "Get in. Let's get out of here before someone really does phone us in."
Eric laughed a little hysterically but got in the truck. Will pulled away as quickly as he could without doing anything that would draw attention. Eric winced as the passed another car in the parking lot entrance. That was a little too close for comfort. Thirty seconds sooner and they would have been seen.
It was only a few minutes' drive to Eric's place. Will pulled up to the curb across the street from the house.
"Now what?" he asked.
Eric looked around. There weren't any open spaces on the other side of the street, so this was as close as they were going to get. He couldn't see any lights on in his landlord's windows, but that didn't mean they weren't up. He pulled out his phone to check the time. A bit after ten. Okay. They'd at least be in bed and the bedroom was at the opposite end of the house from the side gate and his entrance in the back.
He looked at Will. "I think this is as good as it's going to get. I'll go unlock doors. Give me a couple minutes and then bring them in?"
Will looked up and down the street. It was mostly dark, and there was no traffic. "Yeah. See you in a few."
Eric nodded and hopped out of the truck. He shut the door as quietly as he could and dashed across the street. A dog barked a few houses down and he winced. Great. Perfect timing. He picked up his pace. If the dog kept barking and woke somebody up or had someone check on it, they'd be screwed.
The lock to his back entrance stuck per usual. It took too long. He'd just gotten it open when he heard Will's quiet cursing at the side gate. The dog barked again. Will came around the side of the house at a quick trot, the alien in an awkward fireman's carry. Eric shoved the door open and got out of the way.
Will ducked through the door and moved down the stairs. Since they were inside and there was, thank god, no noise from upstairs, Eric figured he may as well cover their asses. He went around the side to make sure Will had managed to close up the truck. Everything looked fine, so he quietly latched the gate and then went inside and locked the house door.
Will was glaring at him from the bottom of the stairs. "Hurry up!" he whispered.
Eric hurried to the apartment door and got it open. "Had to close the gate," he muttered.
Will grunted, going over to the couch and putting his bundle down on it. Eric and Will fussed over the alien until they were more or less straight and tugged the edges of the blankets loose, draping one side over the back of the couch and letting the other fall to the floor.
Eric stepped back and looked at the obviously alien creature bleeding all over Will's blanket. Shit. Now what? He winced when Will cleared his throat next to him. Eric turned his head and met Will's eyes.
"So..." Will let the word trail off into a question, raising an eyebrow.
Eric groaned and rubbed a hand over his close-cropped hair. "We need to clean them up and stop the bleeding."
Will barked out a laugh. "Awesome. You know how to do that? Because I don't know how to do that."
"Is Luc still in town?" Eric asked.
"He left this morning. Besides, he's a vet, not a people doctor."
Eric waved his hand toward the couch. "Dude. We have a bird-cat-person. It's pretty even odds what kind of doctor we'd need."
Will grunted. "True." He sighed and pulled a utility knife out of his back pocket. "Here. You start getting rid of the jumpsuit. I'm gonna go get towels and water and crap."
Eric grinned at Will's disgust. "Thanks, man."
"Yeah, whatever." Will headed to the hall closet, muttering the whole time.
Eric sighed and knelt on the floor next to the couch. Might as well get started. He snicked the blade out and locked it.
The jumpsuit type thing the alien was wearing was made of some sort of silvery material. It looked thin and was loose enough that he should be able to cut it off without hurting them further. He carefully pulled the fabric taut at their right wrist and slid the knife between the fabric and the creature's arm. He held his breath and tried to cut.
The knife slid through the fabric easily with a quiet tearing noise. Oh, thank god. Not some kind of impenetrable magic space fabric then. Eric made quick work of the sleeves and legs, trying to move the alien as little as possible. When he had that done, he whispered a quiet apology and cut down the center of their chest. A few more slices, and he pulled away what was left of the jumpsuit. He didn't try to pull the fabric out from under the alien, instead just leaving it bunched up where it was.
He got to his feet and looked down.
The alien was beautiful. Their whole body was covered in the delicate not-feathers. They shimmered softly in the light from the ceiling fixture. A soft, silvery grey was the dominant color, but whenever the alien moved slightly or Eric shifted, bright iridescent tones of copper and purple flashed along the hairs.
The not-feathers were slightly larger at the center of its body, growing smaller along its arms, legs, and neck. The ones on its feet, hands, and face were so tiny they just looked like regular fur.
He reached out and stroked his finger along the back of the alien's hand. So soft.
"Are you petting it?" Will asked in disbelief from the doorway.
Eric jumped and turned. "Um..."
Will laughed at him. "Yeah, okay. Let's get 'em cleaned up." Will walked over to the couch. "Huh."
"What?"
"Did you notice it doesn't have, ah, genitals?"
Eric went to stand next to Will and bothered to look at something other than those gorgeous, shifting colors. The alien's chest was smooth, without breasts or defined pectoral muscles. Where he would have expected to see genitalia, since its shape was otherwise Humanoid, there was just a smooth curve of flesh between the creature's legs. Like a child's doll or something. "Huh."
Will shrugged and knelt to set the big bowl he was carrying down on the floor. He dropped a couple of Eric's oldest kitchen towels in the bowl, swished them around, then retrieved one. He wrung out the excess water and started gently rubbing at a scrape on the bottom of the alien's foot.
Eric grabbed his own towel and started dabbing at the scratches on their face. It was immediately evident that you had to rub in the direction of the not-feathers. Otherwise they just bent backwards and got all snarled up, making them impossible to clean. He cursed and tried to flatten them back out as he cleaned the scrapes. The water matted down the hairs, allowing the skin underneath to peek through. It was a pale, dusty purple. The not-feathers seemed to be completely absent from the alien's palms, lips, and the bottoms of their feet. The skin there was purple too, though it was a little darker.
"I think I might be in over my head," Eric muttered.
Will laughed softly. "You think?"
They worked in silence, other than muttering at each other when they needed to move the alien to reach the rest of their injuries. Thankfully, most of them were minor and the not-feathers cleaned easily, shedding blood and dirt with little effort.
They were briefly stumped by the small but thick panel full of buttons and tiny screens strapped to their left forearm, covering most of their arm from wrist to elbow. It was filthy and needed to come off. Will found a set of tiny buckles running along the edge of the panel. They almost needed a magnifying glass to undo them, but eventually it was off. Eric set it aside to be cleaned up later.
The worst of the injuries seemed to be the gash on their right calf. It looked bad enough to need stitches, but that wasn't going to be an option. Eric fetched gauze and pads from the first aid kit in the bathroom, and Will wrapped the wound tightly while Eric held them still. The alien had started to grow restless as they worked, though it was still unconscious.
"You sure we shouldn't put disinfectant on it?" Will muttered as he secured the end of the gauze.
"We don't know anything about them. I don't want to start slapping chemicals on them. What if they're allergic or something?"
"Fair enough." Will pushed to his feet and picked up the bowl. The water in it was a dark rusty red now. "I'm gonna get rid of this and wash up. Be right back."
Eric nodded and stood as well. "I'll get something clean to wrap them in." After a quick detour to the bathroom sink, he went to the same closet Will had retrieved the old kitchen towels from and pulled out one of the blankets from the pile on the bottom shelf. Will met him back at the couch and they frowned at each other for a moment.
"Do you think you can pick them up again?" Eric asked.
Will shrugged. "Don't see why not. They're small. Ready?"
Eric put down the fresh blanket and grabbed the edge of the soiled one under the alien. "Yeah. Do it."
Will carefully slid his arms under their knees and shoulders and lifted them. Eric quickly pulled the dirty blanket off the couch and snapped the new one open, letting it drape over the cushions. Will gently set the alien back down and stepped back, letting Eric wrap the edges of the blanket over the still form.
"Now what?" Will asked.
Eric stepped back and looked at Will. "I have no idea. Wait for them to wake up, I guess."
Will scrubbed a hand through his hair then looked at his watch. "Okay. Unless you think you'll need help with them, I'm gonna head home. I've got clients early in the morning wanting estimates and shit and it's late."
Eric glanced up at the clock on the living room wall. He winced. Cleanup had taken a while. "I'll be good. Thanks for the help man."
Will slapped him on the back. "No worries. It's not every day I get to haul bodies in the back of my truck and clean blood off aliens."
"Ass." Eric laughed. "Go home."
"Let me know how it goes. I get to meet them when they wake up."
And then Will was gone and Eric was left alone with an unconscious cat-bird-person on his couch. He sighed and got another blanket from the closet, draping it over his houseguest.
He grabbed the book he'd been reading before the camping trip from the coffee table and settled into a chair to wait for them to wake up.