My Xenomorph

CH 19: After This Day

My shoes were covered in mud and my soaking wet clothes were starting to irritate me. Xaez was happily walking on the slippery mud as if it was nothing while I slipped once in a while. A few times I had to grab onto a tree to prevent myself from falling, and once I even had to grab onto him.

I was wishing the rain would stop now, it was nice at first but when it didn't stop after a while I just got angry and frustrated. "Xaez, when are we going to get there?" He ignored me, it was probably the third time I had asked that same question.

Grumbling, I crossed my arms and continued to trudge through the mud. I was happy the wind and lightning had died down but the rain was still going strong. 'Stupid weather.' It was good I finally had other things to think about, mainly how to keep myself warm and try not to whine to Xaez when he didn't listen.

Xaez looked back at me, his head lowered, he didn't seem to mind the rain one bit. I still enjoyed watching the sparkly rain drops drip off his head, it made it look like he was sort of drooling.

"We there yet?" I asked again, putting my cut up hands under my arm pits and shivering slightly. I had lost track of time a while ago, not being able to remember how long we had been walking or how far we had gone, not that it mattered.

Xaez made a snorting-like sound and ended with a low long hiss before turning forward and raising his head up a bit. He stood like that for a moment before lowering it and continued his walking. Just now I began to notice the sound his feet made whenever they hit the mud, a low "flop, flop, flop" sound.

I tested to see if my feet made the same sound only to hear squishing. Frowning, I tried to warm myself and chased after Xaez, who had walked quite a bit farther ahead. He abruptly stopped and I ran right into him, causing me to yelp and an irritated growl from Xaez as he looked at me.

"Sorry..." I said quietly before slowly getting up. Xaez stood where he was for a moment but once I was up he then, quite gracefully, leapt up onto the nearest tree and crawled along it and paused at a branch to peer down at me once again.

I just stared right back, unsure on what to do. He beckoned with his head, which I guess meant for me to follow, and he continued his graceful leaping from tree to tree. Sighing, I watched him as I followed at a steady jog. I didn't want to lose sight of him but the rain was making it difficult when it went into my eyes, I had to squint and find the blur that would be him.

He occasionally screeched when I lost sight of him and when I had to stop to see clearly again, I would just follow the sound of his screeches until I could see him perched up in the trees again.

Xaez had stopped and was standing on his back legs, perked up at his full height, he seemed to be looking at something in the distance and sniffing the air. He then made one of the loudest, fiercest screeches I had ever heard.

I screamed, covering my ears to protect them from the ear-piercing screech. He screeched like that for what felt like forever before he stopped and went back on all fours. Irritated, I removed my hands from my ears and glared at him. 'What was that about?'

He turned his head in my direction and sniffed and growled, he then continued on his way, running straight ahead. Now he wasn't waiting for me either. "Xaez!" I yelled and sprinted after him, always having to wipe the water away from my eyes as I ran. "Wait!"

I had tripped and slipped multiple times in the mud and a few times my pistols had fallen out of my pockets. Panicking, I'd search all over the ground trying to find them and as soon as I did I holstered them and took off in the direction Xaez had been going in. I constantly cried out his name in hopes that he'd come back but he never did.