Blood is not one of my strong points.

I mean, not to say I can't handle like, a cut or something, but not like... Uh, spurting blood. Those gushing cuts in like, an anime or something? Those are okay. That's animated. It's just red paint. Or, markers? I dunno.

Anyway, real-looking blood and I have problems. Lots of blood? Means I might just pass out.

Yeah. I know. Real manly of me.

And so, I passed out.

I had already fallen to my knees, so at least it wasn't like a full-on faceplant. But looking at my hands and seeing all that blood? Not to mention realizing that I could understand the alien? It was too much. My brain short-circuited, and then the world went dark. And I went bump in that dark. Face-first, bump into the floor.

If you've never passed out before, I would almost recommend the experience. It's like taking a four-hour nap in a few seconds. Your mind gets all swimmy-like, and you get flashes of all sorts of dreams.

This time, my mind was on overdrive. I must've been out for seven? Eight seconds tops? But I had the craziest of dreams. The alien thing was in it, but so were a bunch of other creatures just like it. I saw this other planet with purple skies and silvery-blue towers all over the place. There were more ships, and some of them were the size of Earth's moon. Crazy stuff. Really not my normal kind of dream either. Usually, I'm more of a flying-in-the-clouds dreamer, or sometimes I play out some fantasy-world adventure. Of course, it made sense that some sci-fi craziness would be on my mind.

But, like I said, I was only passed out for a few seconds. That's usually how it goes. It's not like in the movies where someone gets knocked out and they stay asleep for however long the plot needs. In real life, you get knocked out, and you're back up pretty quick.

So, I opened my eyes, and the only thing that had changed was that the alien was hunched over me. Their head was tilted as they reached out with a washcloth. Which, that was kind of funny. I guess I imagined that everything would be futuristic on a spaceship, but I guess a washcloth is still a washcloth, no matter how crazy-good technology becomes.

The alien wiped the blood off my hands as best as it could, and then they wiped the side of my head. Guess there was blood there too. The washcloth was nice and hot, and it was surprisingly centering to feel that sort of contact. That's one thing very true about passing out. You get disoriented as fuck.

Then I remembered Jess. She had been screaming. I pushed to my feet and turned to her. Except, she was down on the floor. She was passed out. Her hands were bloody. There was blood down the side of her neck.

I spun on the alien. "What the fuck did you do!?"

The creature sprang back with a display of speed that was terrifying. One second they were within reach, and the next they were all the way across the room. "She is okay. I simply performed the same procedure on both of you."

"Procedure!?" That only made me angrier. This asshole had done something to my girlfriend! They'd done something to both of us! I took a step toward the alien, but that one step felt like I'd hit a trampoline. Or one of those airport walkways. You know? The ones that are just conveyor belts on the floor? You walk on one of those, it feels like you're a superhero. You take one step and you're going ten miles an hour.

That's what it felt like when I charged at the alien. Except, I wasn't expecting it, so I ran straight into a wall. I barely caught myself as I hit the smooth surface.

My fingers dug into the material and left gouges.

"You must remain calm," said the alien. "Your body will take some time to finalize its adjustments."

"Adjustments!?" I stumbled away from the wall. I couldn't tear my eyes from the gouges. The way I'd torn into the wall like it was butter. I hadn't even felt any strain from doing that. "What the fuck. What the fuck did you do to me!?"

The alien made a soft buzz-click sound. "I do apologize. You have been modified. Some might say that you have been improved. Both of you have been adjusted in the same fashion."

"Trae? Mmm." Jess mumbled from back on the floor. "I had the weirdest dream." She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her hand smeared blood across her forehead.

I turned to her. "Jess! You're okay!" Just like that, most of my anger and fear and worry dissipated. I rushed to her side, barely managing to catch myself as one step vaulted me across the room. That would take some getting used to. I dropped to Jess' side and took her in my arms. "Oh fuck, I thought you were gone."

She blinked at me. She glanced around the room with woozy incomprehension. "Shit. It wasn't a dream?"

I shook my head. "No. No, it fucking wasn't. This shit keeps getting crazier, but it's real."

The alien moved closer to us, but they seemed warier than ever. Their partially-glowing eyes scanned back and forth between the two of us. "I must say, the adjustments are taking to your bodies quite well. That is promising."

I glanced up. "You mean you didn't know? What, like we could've been killed or something?"

The alien tilted their head back and forth. "It was a chance, a risk, that I was forced to take. Again, I apologize."

Jess nuzzled the side of my neck, then glared up at the creature. "Apologize all the fuck you want. What the hell did you do to us!?"

The alien made a similar buzz-click sound as from before. "Ah, well. The simplest way to put it is that I was forced to further my species by modifying yours. We three are now the last of my kind."