Instead of feeling the cold splash of water against her face, Evelyn felt the hot sun of summer beating down on her. Blinking rapidly, she took in her surroundings. She stood on the edge of a square lake, with grass and trees that reminded her of the kind you see in nature shows. It was a sunny day, with a warm, muggy breeze that made her wish there was no wind at all. Everything looked and felt normal. Except for four things:

1) It wasn’t night anymore, but rather mid-afternoon.

2) This wasn’t the lake in her neighborhood.

3) There were two suns in the sky, which logically meant she was no longer on Earth. That conclusion wasn’t too far-fetched in her opinion, backed up by,

4) She had just interrupted an alien picnic.

Jaws dropped when they laid eyes on her, and everything seemed to slow down. Those who were stuffing their faces were nudged by their friends to look at this strange being who had interrupted their feast. A hush fell over the crowd except for a few aliens who whispered gibberish to each other, and pointed at her.

Women, men, and children, seemed to be attending the interrupted celebration. Everyone shared the same pistachio green skin tone, curved horns that protruded from their skulls, and a row of bottom teeth that rested in front of their droopy top lip. A flattened pig-nose made their concave eyes look smaller, and they all appeared to have a similar portly, brutish figure. They wore mahogany sandals along with matted fur pelts, and sometimes metal armor on their heads and shoulders. Unluckily for Evelyn, most of them also possessed a weapon, the most popular choice being a brutal, hulking ax.

“Kuhja! Saka kawrun!” shouted one of the males. He stood up and slowly sauntered towards her, swinging a huge ax in his right hand. He chuckled at the easy target, and it was a low, gravelly sound. He wore shoulder armor and a metal helmet. Evelyn held up her hands in a sign of peace.

“Woah, woah, woah, I don’t...I don’t want to fight you,” she said defensively, “I,” she pointed to herself, “no,” she shook her head and made a crossing motion with her arms, “fight,” she pretended to hold up a sword and swing it around, “you,” she finished, pointing at him.

He just laughed again, now standing directly in front of her. She tripped backwards, and almost fell into the lake, but she moved parallel to it, so her back wasn’t towards the water.

He swung at her with the heavy metal blade. Once again, she felt something behind her eyes, and suddenly, a glowing translucent shield appeared out of nowhere, with the arm strap attached to her. Surprise, fear, and thankfulness briefly flashed through her mind, but she saved her questions and concerns for later. Whatever it was, it was saving her life. Evelyn blocked his attempted blow, and shoved him backwards, using his momentum against him. As quickly as the shield came, it disappeared and was replaced with a glowing, translucent sword.

As her attacker rushed towards her, she moved towards his side that was carrying the ax, twirled the sword, and sliced his arm clean off in one sweeping motion. He staggered back, clutching at his now stubby arm. The limb dropped to the ground and let go of the ax. Green blood gushed from one of his biceps and the alien bellowed in pain. The sword dissipated along with the sensation behind her eyes. She felt the blood drain from her face as she was overwhelmed with the realization of what she just did.

“What the hell?!?” she screamed out loud. She tore her gaze away from the oozing forearm as she heard war cries coming from the other aliens. She spun around, and her eyes widened as she saw the massive group of warriors charging towards her.

“Son of a…,” Evelyn glanced side to side, trying to find some method of escape. There were no gaps in their line; she was totally surrounded. They would catch her if she tried to run. She took a step backwards, and felt something slick underneath her foot. Her heel skidded out from underneath her, and she felt her center of gravity shift. She was falling backwards, into the lake. Again. Tripped up by a stupid rock...again. Why?