The girl woke with a start, looking around with confusion, each limb poised to kill before she realized there was a small boy next to her. She looked at him, trying to recall what a hug felt like, and if anyone had given her one before him. Sadly, there was nothing to recall about the subject before sunset the previous day. She looked around, it was nighttime still, and the moon was high in the air. She felt like there was danger, but she couldn’t see where. She looked towards the trees quickly as she heard a rustling noise. Two glowing eyes stared at her from the dark. They blinked shut and disappeared. She looked after them, planting four limbs in the ground for support, two for defense, and two for attacking. She waited for a few minutes before the eyes appeared again. Another set opened next to that. They looked at each other and looked back at her. Another set of eyes came from the darkness, this one squinting as if it was hard to see, or maybe it was suspicious. The three pairs of eyes just watched her. She raised a limb. Their eyes followed. She set it back down, and flashed the hooks on each limb, which glowed like they had a bit of moonlight splattered on them. The things in the dark growled, flattening closer to the ground. She set down each limb very quickly, not wanting a fight. One of them ignored her action of peace. The squinty one jumped from the darkness at the girl, white teeth bared. The girl didn’t have time to see what it was before she had hit it and flung it against a tree, where a crack resounded and a wolf flopped to the ground, very dead. The other two disappeared as quickly as they had come. She looked after them, sad to have shown her limbs in the first place. She looked back to the boy. He was still asleep. She smiled at him, then clawed and jumped into the trees. After a while, the purple horizon of the sun appeared. Although the view was better with a little light, she realized she couldn’t actually see very far in detail so she dropped back down to the boy. He stirred when she had landed.

“Are you awake? I feel like it’s probably not safe to be out here at night…” She admitted, looking around in the still mostly dark forest. The woods seemed to be full of eyes now, even though it was mostly empty. The boy yawned, sat up, and rubbed his eyes.

“Yes, I’m up. Why are you up now?” He asked curiously. The girl looked around for a moment, trying to think of a reason. The boy stopped yawning and looked at her as if remembering something. “Can I give you a name? If you’ve never had one before, then I guess I could give you a name!” He decided happily, remembering last night’s sad conversation and the decision to run away. “I’m Aaron, by the way.” He finished, remembering she didn't know his name.

“Sure!” She said quickly, not even pausing to decide. She already knew that she wanted a name. Aaron squinted at her decisively, looking her up and down. In the bright moonlight, it was clear she had two of her needle like teeth that didn't fold back like the rest. Of course he didn't know her mouth was full of needles.

“Do you like the name Sailas?” He asked, tempted to poke her odd teeth. Now that he thought about it, he really wanted to feel her ‘hair’. He wasn’t sure how they worked, but he figured there was probably a bone inside, or something that acted like it since her hair bent very clearly at joints.

“I do like it, does it have meaning?” She asked curiously, wondering why he didn't have the same ‘fangs’ she had. She also had already noted that her hair was very different from everyone elses.

“I don’t think so, but doesn’t it sound pretty?” Aaron asked, swaying back and forth as if trying to remember something. She watched him for a while, unsure of what to do. “Oh yeah! We were gonna run away, huh? I wanna go and grab some stuff from the house, do you wanna come?” He asked, starting back to the house slowly. She nodded and followed through the tall meadow, the grass a very new feeling for her. She picked up a few strands and held them in her hand, eventually dropping them.

“What is this called?” Sailas asked, raising a few new blades of grass into the air to show him. He turned back and smiled.

“It’s called grass, that kind has perennial roots, which means it is deep rooted and takes a long time to grow. Mom wouldn’t teach me so I taught myself after I learned how to read! I’ve read all her books!” He called back proudly. She nodded.

“Perennial roots… grass…” She said, feeling each portion of the grass individually. Eventually she realized she was being left behind and ran to catch up. Aaron hadn’t noticed she’d lagged behind, and was near the entrance of the shack. The boy went inside, leaving Sailas alone outside for a while since she couldn't fit without smashing in the walls.

“Are you gonna come in?” Aaron called back after a while, but quickly realized she couldn't fit through the door, and even if she could, she would be uncomfortable with the comparatively low ceiling. “Sorry I asked,” He amended after seeing her very sad face. He ran upstairs and grabbed a backpack, a set of knives, fishing poles, and a tackle box. He took a second look at his lighter, then grabbed it too. He hurried down to the fridge, about to try opening it before he realized that they had locked it up when they left, not that he had noticed when they left. He almost left it alone, and started to walk back to the door. Then he had a bright idea. “Can you reach the fridge?” He asked with excitement.

“I can try!” She said with determination, bending one of her limbs just right so it would fit. After it was through the door she extended it carefully, Aaron getting his chance to feel the strange appendage as he guided it to the fridge. It felt a bit like wire with tiny metal hooks and plates, but it looked just like hair. It stopped, fully extended about two feet from the fridge. He helped guide it back, which was much more difficult than getting it to the fridge.

“Sorry, I thought if you could reach the fridge you could break the lock.” Aaron sighed in defeat. Sailas bent down and pat him on the head, then looked up to inspect the house again. There was a sliding glass door on the other side, much closer to the fridge than this door was.

“I think we’d have a better shot if we tried that door!” She said, pointing happily. Aaron turned around, remembering the sliding glass door as she pointed over his head. When he saw it, at first it somehow became his idea to use that door, then he remembered it was Sailas’s idea. He nodded and ran over to it, figuring Sailas would go around. He opened the back door about a second before she got there. He didn’t need to guide her this time, she could see through the glass door and guide herself. Eventually, her hooked limb caught on the lock. She tugged gently and watched with surprise as it snapped off. She expected it to be much stronger than that. She withdrew carefully, snagging a chair once which Aaron quickly freed. That chair now had a gash in it that seemed excessive coming from something moving so slowly. By the time she’d managed to get out the door, Aaron had a backpack full of mostly non perishable foods. A mystery forever of why nonperishable foods were kept in the fridge. It wasn’t a mystery that water was kept in the fridge, which Aaron had grabbed all available. It was a long hike ahead of them, since they had no idea where they were going.

“Thanks for that idea! You made this way easier!” Aaron admitted happily. He ran towards her and offered her a granola bar. She took it and looked at it curiously. She bit it, needle like teeth coming down and stabbing into it. Aaron jumped at first, shocked, then reached up to pull it off of her teeth. He couldn’t reach so she bent down. He pulled it off her teeth and unwrapped it, handing it back to her. She took it cautiously, this time, nibbling it as best she could. Granola wasn’t easy for her and her teeth, but she discovered if she folded them back and chewed slowly it was easy enough to eat.

“This is really sweet tasting, what is it?” Sailas asked curiously, tearing off a bigger chunk than she could handle. Aaron just watched her try to chew, holding back a laugh.

“It’s called a granola bar, it’s pretty common food.” Aaron admitted, pulling one out of his stuffed and overly heavy bag for himself. He started to walk and gestured for Sailas to follow. He was heading back to a dirt road at the front of the house. Sailas followed, although after ten feet she realized they weren’t actually going very fast.

“I can probably carry it…” She offered, bending down a little bit to look him in the eyes. He stared back with a fiery, undeterred determination to carry the bag. She tried a different tactic. “I want to carry it so I can become strong like you!” She ‘admitted’, knowing this was the only way they could get anywhere.

“Ok!” He stated instantly, plopping backwards and slipping out of the shoulder straps. He struck a manly pose while she tried to remember if he’d said how old he was. She picked it up, carefully loosened the straps, and put it on. She was much thinner than he was, but her hands were what required the straps to be loosened so much. After she had the bag on, she tightened them. Progress would continue much quicker now. Aaron was already far ahead down the deep rutted dirt road by the time she realized it, so she ran to catch up.

“This bag is pretty heavy, you’re pretty tough to have been carrying this for so long!” She admitted, for real this time. He smiled up at her, in full daylight her size becoming fully clear. She was about a full two feet taller than most ceilings, and her arms were longer than Aaron was tall, not that Aaron was very tall.

“Yeah, I hope you can handle it!” He joked, keeping his young pride undamaged. Sailas smiled at him and took a few big steps ahead and smiled back at him. He ran to catch up, smiled, and then ran past her. She smirked for a second, confident she could beat him. To her surprise, however, the backpack weighed her down much more than she’d expected. She realized it must’ve been adrenaline that kept her going with the concrete slabs earlier. Nonetheless, she kept up with him quite easily, but pretended to be out of breath early for him. He was really out of breath, but doing his best to impress her.

“Wow, you’re really fast!” Sailas admired, not really very impressed, but acting for her friend. He smiled at her wearily.

“I… I hope I wasn’t… going… too fast… for you…” Aaron panted, attempting to catch his breath. He clutched his heart quickly and collapsed. Sailas checked his pulse in worry. It was normal. Must’ve been something with his heart, she’d had a guard who couldn't run that was assigned to watch her during physical exercises. He couldn't keep up, but she didn't notice until he collapsed. They said he would be fine, just a minor issue with his heart, rest would fix it, but they hadn’t intended to tell her that. She assumed this boy had the same condition.

“Up you go!” She grunted, picking him up off the road and attempting to find a good position to carry him. Eventually, though it couldn't have been comfortable, she slung him over her shoulder and proceeded down the road. After a few hours, Aaron stirred. He realized pretty quickly that he was being carried. He blushed furiously but didn't say anything until he was sure he could move his arms again.

“Umm… could you put me down?” Aaron pleaded, now sure he could walk again. Sailas kneeled down and let him slide off her shoulder. Aaron hit the ground a little hard and stumbled for a second before righting himself. “Thanks!” He sighed, brushing himself off from the tumble.

“No problem!” She sighed, standing back up. She wobbled for a second, forgetting she had a bag she needed to account for in her balance. Eventually she stabilized and continued to walk slowly. Aaron started to follow. They continued on in silence for a while, each enjoying the beautiful scenery. After about thirty minutes Aaron broke the silence.

“What was your life like where you came from?” Aaron asked, kind of curious.

“Well, it was pretty dark, and cold… I hated it there. They sent in things for me to kill. I didn’t want to hurt them, but they wouldn’t even feed me if I didn’t. Sometimes they would prod me with electric things instead of giving me food. They induced reactions from me by drugging me and then injuring me. They would cut off little bits of me and see how long it took to heal…” Sailas sniffled, shivering at the memories.

“I didn’t mean that, I meant the other home you talked about!” He said in frustration, completely ignoring the horrors of her recent home. Sailas was a bit taken aback, she hadn’t remembered saying anything about a home before that place. Aaron remembered full and well that she said she’d had a better home once. “Well, what was it like?” Aaron asked again after a few seconds of silence. Sailas thought about how to answer.

“It was really pretty, I loved it there. There were creepers going up the walls that had the prettiest pale blue flowers, it had giant pine trees that stretched up towards the ceiling and pretty green grass where there wasn’t rocks and scrub oak, and it was so much brighter than this forest!” She sighed happily, eyes sparkling as she remembered her home. Aaron was a bit caught off guard by the fact there was a ceiling, and less so by the fact that there was walls.

“Your home had a ceiling that the trees grew up to?” He asked with surprise. She thought about it for a second then nodded.

“I guess it wasn’t a ceiling, it was rocks. But they glowed very brightly, so did the grass and moss, and when the scrub oak bloomed, so did they! Water dripped from the ceiling too, it was fun to catch!” She sighed happily, remembering the fluorescent glow in the dark green and pale blue of her home. Even the water there had a bit of a glow.

“That sounds beautiful, was it a cave of some sort?” He asked, thinking to himself how beautiful that place would be, especially with the darkness on the edges of the glow.

“A cave is a hollow in a rocky place, right?” She asked. Aaron nodded. “Then yes, I suppose it was.” She finished happily, thinking about it for a long while. By the time she had finished thinking, they were walking along a road on the edge of the mountain. Beautiful scrub oak and pine trees gave way to vast canyons and sagebrush plains. Gigantic sandstone rocks stood against the desert like giant ocean beasts breaching the surface of a sandy ocean.