CH2h

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JULY 10th, 2011

Thank God that was a much softer landing than the 'crash!' Seline had expected. Jed was way more accustomed to his new reflexes than she was. Too bad Seline wasn't in any mood to be messed with. She pushed herself out of his grasp, resulting in her falling to the ground.

"Oww…" she muttered, rubbing her posterior.

"I was gonna carry you into town, but if you don't want me to…"

"Shut up," she immediately ordered him, grabbing onto his pant leg and pulling herself up onto her usable leg. "I don't want your help."

Jed frowned. "…Sorry."

"I bet you are!" She grabbed a door handle on the Jeep and used it to help support her weight, then turned to face the small woman whose ladder they borrowed. "Is there a doctor in that village?" she asked.

"There's no doctor for miles, honey," her raw accent scraped against Seline's ears. "I looked." She still had her gun at her side, but she was looking away from the two trespassers. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a pair of circular sunglasses. They were just lenses and a bridge, but they stayed on her face without a problem. Her large eyes were completely hidden behind them when she turned to face Seline and Jed again.

Seline sighed. "Can you tell us where we can go to find some fuel, then? My idiot friend here had to emergency-land his plane out in the middle of the desert and we need to refuel so we can leave."

"Friend?"

"Shush, Jed. Anyways, I see you have a way of transportation, so I figure you may know some place where we might be able to get directions?"

The little woman's large ears twitched. She lowered her tommy gun. "I haven't leave this place in years…" her voice trailed off, as if she was putting in some serious thought about her location.

"What exactly are you?!"

"Jed, don't be rude!"

Jed was staring down at the little woman. She was glaring back up at him. She hastily tore the sunglasses off of her face and stomped her foot. So insulted! "Crazy Chinese scientist make it so my brain contain all information I learn," she grumbled, all in broken English, "My body shrink though, and my brain get smaller, but everything still there. Give my migraines when it work too hard. Like when Sparky," she pointed her sunglasses at Jed, "come rampaging through my burrow! That's why I take his shiny headgear."

Jed must've come cruising along at the end of his previous episode and wound up at this 'innocent' woman's camp—that was probably why he was tied to her Jeep when Seline arrived. "I was wondering where my goggles went…" Seline looked at Jed. His flight goggles were, indeed, missing, and the hairs on top of his head were sticking out in fluffy patches in every direction. "Give 'em back!" he demanded.

The little woman put her sunglasses back on and smiled. "I don't think so. Mine now."

"They tested on you?" Seline interrupted, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Resulted in failure to cure your virus." Obviously. It seemed like whoever tried to use her to test possible cures for the virus had inflicted upon the little woman the same exact brand of transmogrification, except the carriers were lab rats instead of hyenas. The woman had an incredibly pale pinkish-white complexion, large black eyes, huge circular ears almost like a cartoon, pink feet and a pink tail. Seline didn't know at what stage of the virus she was, though, since she never studied rats or the virus in any other species. All she knew was that this woman was incredibly small and looked like more of a rodent than a human being. She'd probably make a very decent lunch if Seline was to have an episode.

"But, then why are you way out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"They stop when they could do no more and relocate me out here to spend rest of my days. It's a living." She shrugged. Seline and Jed seemed to be getting on her last nerves.

"Can we borrow your Jeep, then?" Seline quickly asked. She expected a 'no', but-

"On one condition."

"Okay?" Seline tilted her head, hoping that she wouldn't have to put herself in another life-threatening situation.

"Your friend stay tied up in back!"

"WHAT?! Why me?! I didn't do anything!" Jed blurted.

"Sounds good to me!" Seline responded to the offer.

"Seline, how can you say that?! Tell her I'm a good guy!"

Ignoring Jed, the tiny woman reached into the opposite pocket she had gotten her sunglasses from and pulled out a keychain. "Haven't driven since two-thousand-and-three! Let's hope I get her started!"

Seline let out a sigh of relief. "Awesome."