I N V A D E R S **also being trashed and rewritten soon**

||Chapter 11 - Enlist at Midnight||

 " We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl year after year." 

~Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here  

  ☽☓☾  

Stella

12:00 AM

I had not left the safety of the shack for hours. Despite Winston's constant knocking, I would not open the trap door for him. I was so upset with myself, I couldn't bare to look him in the eye after what I'd done, so I pretended he wasn't there. He went away eventually. 

I was becoming a monster, and I had to find away to stop myself before I hurt someone that I loved. My solution was to remove myself from the equation. If I wasn't a factor, I couldn't effect the final outcome in a negative way.

Winston would be better off without me anyway...right? 

I tried my best to convince myself of this, but there was a shadow of doubt in the back of my mind. Conflicting thoughts plagued me as I tossed and turned among my blankets. The piece of paper in pocket made a soft crumpling noise as I rolled over. I recalled that it was the mysterious note Winston had found... I dismissed it, my worries overtaking all other thoughts.

If I left, who would protect him from bounty hunters or that other hybrid? 

He could handle himself, couldn't he? 

Well, fine, but what if he ran out of food? 

Does he know enough about Earth to fend for himself?

A cold knot of indecision settled in my gut. 

Maybe I should just talk to him.  I relented.

I sat up and looked out the window. It was dark and the stars were peeking out from between patchy clouds. The orange glow from the fire illuminated the  clearing and Winston slumped over on the log. He appeared to be sleeping.

My heart leapt into my throat. Aliens don't sleep, I remembered.

My mind raced to conclusions, thinking only of the worse scenario possible. Someone had knocked him unconscious. Maybe he was even dea--

No, I could not think those kind of thoughts. I couldn't bare to think that the last words I had ever said to him were not in anyway kind. 

I sniffed the air. My breath froze in my chest as I scented the other hybrid. It was here. I looked around the clearing, but there was no one to be found. Where was it?

After a heart pounding second, I silently slid my hand under my pillow to retrieve my gun. Fear was clouding my thoughts, impairing my vision and blocking my airways. I needed to calm down. The cold handle of my gun calmed me as I counted to ten in my head,  and cautiously crawled across the floor to the trap door. I was just about to unlatch it, but a thought occurred to me. The creature would expect me to come out that way.

I turned back to the window and looked out again. There was a series of sturdy branches just below the sill that would provide a natural staircase to the ground below. Quiet as a mouse, I slipped out the window and carefully lowered myself onto the first branch. I stopped to listen. Lungs breathed in and out in a peaceful repetition. I was relieved to know that the breathing was from Winston. He wasn't dead, that was good. I could hear no other sounds, the smell of the other hybrid still hung heavily in the air. It was so close, but I could not pinpoint exactly where it was.