Last to Fall

ch 10

Alita~

The sound of some kind of strange chirping woke me, and I tried to ignore the animal’s cries. In turn, I curled up in the blanket not wanting to open my eyes or get up.

The chirping was constant and seemed to only get louder and louder as time went on, causing my aggravation to grow. I tried to cover my ears and block out the sound, but it was pointless...

Annoyed beyond comparison, I know I’m not getting any more sleep with that animal chirping up a storm.

I sat up angrily only to see I wasn’t in my bed, not my room. I’m in a cave... How did I not realize it sooner? This isn’t my home...

Looking around the cave I noticed the fire was dead, nothing but coals, and the alien who was with me before was gone, making the place seem a bit cold and dark...at least I’m alive...

Sighing I looked through my bag to make sure everything was still there, and sure enough, I had everything... I smiled, relieved nothing crawled inside of it while I slept and the alien didn’t try to take my belongings.

The constant chirping outside continued relentlessly and I got up walking over to the cave entrance. Peeking outside, it was clear whatever was causing the ruckus was somewhere in the trees, and there was more than one.

I stepped outside into the treeline looking for the culprits of the constant chatter, it didn’t take long to see some strange-looking winged creatures climbing around in the trees. They were vibrant in color with strange patterns and had wings on their front arms, and small claws on their hind legs.

They had no feathers like any bird I’ve seen before and seemed to be covered in scales, in fact, I’m not sure they resembled any kind of animal from homeworld... But the one thing I knew for sure? They were giving me a headache!

Glancing at the ground I picked up a rock testing its weight in my hand. I didn’t want to hurt the creatures, just scare them away so they would shut up.

Pulling my arm back I got ready to throw the rock into the trees, only for something to grab my wrist from behind. I gasped and spun around to see none other than the alien man standing there looking down at me while holding my arm.

Gulping, I dropped the rock and he let my arm go. I stepped back a few paces looking at him stunned. How long was he standing there? How did I not see him?!

He looked me over and glanced at the creatures in the trees who had grown quieter after I dropped the rock.

He waited, watching them closely until they moved and started chirping again a short distance away.

He didn’t seem worried much about the creatures, in general, it was more the noise they were making...he couldn’t honestly like all that racket, could he?

As if reading my thoughts his eyes immediately moved back to me with a glare and I lowered my head like a scolded child once more.

He didn’t say a word and walked back towards the cave, spear in hand. Reluctantly I followed as he went inside and started hanging all the furs back on the racks.

I stood by and watched awkwardly unsure what to do or even what he was doing... Once he finished he made his way outside of the cave, I quickly followed suit as he went deeper into the forest.

Glancing back at the cave I was a little nervous to leave the safety of cover and confused, this wasn’t his home?... I decided i’d rather take my chances with the alien than be alone.

As we continued through the forest he only glanced back at me once as we went and grumbled something in irritation, I felt awkward following him around and knew he was annoyed by me but what choice did I have?

I struggled to keep up with his long strides as he moved through the forest effortlessly.

Being barefoot seemed to help him greatly as he had better traction and control over his steps, whereas my shoes were constantly making me slip and stumble. Even when I tried to follow in his footsteps I couldn’t seem to keep up…

As hours seemed to pass by I could feel my energy draining from my body, and the grumble of my stomach only reminded me that I haven’t eaten in a long time.

The man seemed determined to get somewhere, and I tried my best to keep up but was slowly falling more and more behind.

He seemed to notice my slacking pace and suddenly stopped before looking at me, and the forest ahead of him. He growled before turning around and walking back towards me.

As he got closer I looked up sheepishly as he stood before me. With his spear in hand, he glanced around the area before motioning for me to go stand by a particularly large tree.

Moving over to the tree I sat down on one of its large protruding roots and looked back at the alien.

“Ke’et” He spoke something in his native language that I didn’t understand but based on his gestures I assumed he wanted me to stay.

Once he was satisfied he walked off deeper into the forest, I grew nervous and a bit fearful as he left my field of view. He wasn’t going to leave me again, was he?!

I waited for him to come back as fear crept along my spine, and I glanced around the forest scared of what other dangerous creatures might be around.

The constant chirps from the birds were all I could hear, so against my better judgment, I ran after the alien in the direction I had last seen him.

I looked everywhere for any signs of him, I couldn’t find any footprints or even the smallest sight of him. I was alone again.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I made my way back to the tree, sitting under its shade I hugged my knees against my chest and closed my eyes sulking.

A few minutes passed and the snap of a nearby branch grabbed my attention. I sat upright and looked around the area but couldn’t see anything but the trees and various plants.

Slowly I stood up ready to run at any given moment, to my absolute joy, however, my alien companion came out of the treeline carrying some of the familiar fruit we had eaten before.

Before I knew what I was doing I rushed over and hugged the alien. My small frame and short arms could hardly fit around his torso. He was taken by surprise and was completely frozen.

He held the fruits in both his hands while his spear was strapped to his backside. His face showed his clear confusion and shock as he stood there.

After a moment I came back to the present and realized exactly what I was doing. In a panic, I pulled away and backed up a few steps.

Turning away I grabbed my head and cursed myself for being so foolish, what was I thinking?! He might have taken it the wrong way!

“Sa’te” I paused and looked back at him as he spoke, his face was back to that stoic unreadable expression like nothing had happened…

He held out the fruit and repeated his words. “Sa’te”

He had said that before… is he telling me to eat?... Sulking I took the food keeping my head down.

He sighed before walking back to the tree to sit down and eat. I followed suit and ate the fruit feverently. Right now I don’t care about table manners or if I made a mess, I was hungry…

As I finished off my second fruit I noticed he was watching me from the corner of his eye. Once I faced him he quickly turned his attention away as if he hadn’t just been staring. At least he doesn’t seem bothered by the fact I hugged him…

I was mostly just relieved he didn’t leave me again. If he did, who knows what I would do or what might’ve happened to me out here…

The lack of communication between us didn’t help my constant worries or fear either…at the thought of communication, an idea popped into my head.

Clearing my throat I grabbed his attention and sat up straighter looking him in the eyes.

“Ah-le-ta…alita!” I put my hand to my chest trying to show him that it was my name. He looked at me strangely and I repeated my name once more.

At first, I thought he would just ignore my attempt to communicate, and my face fell when he looked away. He looked back at me and hesitated.

To my surprise, he spoke up. “Al leet da” I looked at him in shock as he watched me and I smiled.

“Alita! ” I repeated slowly, after a few more close attempts he finally got my name perfect. “Now you!” I gestured to him and he was silent once more, looking at me unsure.

“You have a name right!... I’m Alita, and you are?...” After a moment he turned his face away and spoke quietly.

“Az-ri-el…”

I played with the sounds in my mouth and tried to speak his name the best I could. He had some kind of purr in his speech that made it difficult to repeat his name exactly...“Azrael?”

He shook his head and looked at me saying his name again slowly. “Azriel..”

“As-rel…no az-ri-al…Azriel!” I smiled once I got it and he only nodded slightly, before sitting back…

He put his hand to his chest and looked at me sincerely. “Azriel…”

I pointed to him and spoke his name before pointing back to me, in turn, he spoke my name quietly and I smiled.

He was quiet for a moment before standing up and waiting for me. I grabbed the last fruit he had brought and stuffed it in my bag and got up to follow him as he started walking.

The excitement of just knowing each other’s names put a big smile on my face and in truth I liked his name. It was just so exotic…

looking back up at him I noticed just how exotic he looked as well. He wore a loincloth that mostly covered his front and backside but besides that most of his body was exposed, and very defined.

I’ve seen many fit men before within the empire but he took ‘well toned’ to a whole new level… any woman would think of him as eye candy, despite his savage nature and attitude, in fact, his personality just seemed to fit…

Wait… I paused and blushed realizing what was just going through my head, am I seriously thinking about that kind of stuff right now?! Slapping my cheeks I tried to reign in my delusional thoughts, I must be going crazy i-

My thoughts were cut off as Azriel suddenly tackled me to the ground behind some bushes. “Ah?! Hey-?!” I was quickly silenced as his hand covered my mouth.

He pressed nearly his entire body down on top of my own trying to lower himself as much as he could to the ground. I wanted to protest but the sounds I made were simply muffled by his hand.

He looked down at me with an almost worried and angry, ‘shhh!’ Coming from his mouth as he looked through the bushes as if waiting…

I paused, taking in the look of worry if not fear on his face as he started ahead through the shrubbery. What is going on?

As I focused on what was happening I realized the constant chirping from before had completely stopped, the forest was now dead silent.

Gulping, I looked around and heard a horrifying clicking sound. Slowly I turned my attention to where Azriel was looking and could feel him lower himself even further.

The clicking sound grew louder as well as the thudding of something large approaching…

Through the bushes, I could see the claws of some kind of creature step mere feet away from us. The clicking continued to echo from the creature as it moved around as if looking for something…

Ariel didn’t dare move, and the concern on his face was clear as day.

I couldn’t get a good look at what was stalking around through the bushes but I did catch a glimpse of part of its face that looked like it was wearing another animal’s skull over its face.

I could hear it breathing as it sniffed the ground and continued to make the clicking sound. It seemed to pause for a moment in search of our hiding spot and my heart was racing as the clicking suddenly stopped.

It seemed to lower itself closer to the ground and I nearly screamed at the sight of its red glowing eyes looking through the hollow skull covering its face.

After a moment it stood up and continued making the clicking sound before wandering off into the forest.

I was absolutely terrified and shaking as time went by and the chirping of the birds slowly returned.

Azriel removed his hand from my mouth and lifted himself up, looking down at me.

“What was that…”

He looked to the spot where that monster had been then back at me.

“Draven”