Page 70 of Rebirth

And just a moment before, when he’d been leaning over me… Waking up to see him there, my heart leaped for a reason that wasn’t fear.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I’m pretty sure it’s not something normal. Or regular.

But I’ve never been regular.

Where little girls used to dress up as princesses for Halloween in my little town in the middle of nowhere, I used to dress up as a zombie, Frankenstein, or my favorite one—various afflictions I’d been reading about. I’d made my father proud. And in high school when teens my age used to obsess over the latest music or dance moves, my obsessions had been something else completely.

Death. Disease.

Again, my father had been proud.

Would he be proud now? If he saw me here, shamelessly watching streams of water run down the body of an alien and wishing it was my fingers instead? Or would he be horrified?

Swallowing hard, I try to clear my thoughts.

I’m way off the mark here.

Nothing He’rox has said or done has communicated he finds me even mildly interesting beyond the fact that I’m a scientist like he is and a creature not of his kind.

Yet…

I swallow hard once more, running my tongue over my lips as I pull them into my mouth and bite down hard.

Just a moment ago, I came back to consciousness to smell the sweetest vanilla hovering over me. It reminded me of home. A place where I felt safe.

He’rox reminded me of something I’d lost…and maybe…maybe this whole confusion that’s happening deep inside me is just my brain trying to latch on to the one thing I’d lost because of this apocalypse.

Home.

Forcing an even breath from my nose, I reach for my pack, wincing only slightly as my shoulder protests. Pulling out my sleeping bag, I spread it on the floor to ward off the cold and wet before turning my gaze back to the outside of the shelter.

He’d found the first aid kit and patched me up well. Even that is surprising, given that he doesn’t—or at least, he shouldn’t—know how to use my stuff. But if one thing is clear, humanity isn’t the smartest thing out there.

On the grand scale of things, we’re just reaching levels of intelligence other lifeforms in the galaxy have already surpassed.

We were lucky they came here. The Vullan. We were lucky they came to save us.

The rain picks up, coming down harder, and He’rox remains unmoving outside. His shoulders are hunched, his arms hanging stiffly at his sides. He makes no move to get out of the onslaught, yet does not seem bothered by it either.

After a long moment, he finally crouches, gaze finding mine through the entrance of the shelter. His eyes pierce through the encroaching darkness with an intensity that leaves me nervous and unsettled, given the thoughts swirling in my head.

I want to say something, yet I fear breaking this strange silence that has descended over us. But finally, I can’t take it anymore.

“He’rox,” I whisper, sure he can hear me. “Please, come back inside.”

He doesn’t respond for several beats, those eyes colder than the falling rain, before he finally says, “No.”

His voice is flat, devoid of emotion and I remind myself he is not a human. I can’t judge him based on how I would relate to another being like myself.

“Why not? You’ll catch a chill out there.”

“I do not catch what you hyu’mankin call colds,” he replies, though still he does not move.

My confusion grows. But so does a bubble of humor in my gut. Is he throwing some kind of tantrum? Did I do something I shouldn’t have? Did I say something?

I’m not sure I should, but I risk asking him anyway. “Why are you out in the rain?”

He doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, he watches me with that same intensity that makes a thrill skitter across my skin.

---