Hooded, and cautiously crouched, Keon surveyed the wet, open land in front of him. His eyes finally found the clues he sought. Staying low to the ground he slowly made his way out of the brush towards the source of the steam slithering in and out of sight between the many buildings of the city.

As he rounded the corner of a squat, collapsed shop, the object he had seen rumbling through the sky came into view. Rather than an asteroid, it was, as he suspected, a small ship. His eyes, red as blood, widened with recognition at the red and gold emblem. It resembled a crooked dagger, which bore the Atoxion character for unity, enclosed inside of an egg-like shape. There was confusion in his features as he visually combed over the single-manned ship. Keon willed himself to step forward once, twice, three times. He halted. There was movement on the ground. It was just a subtle flutter of white, but it was enough to draw his attention to the strange form strewn across the pavement amongst the fragments of metal and glass. Lightning flashed and crackled overhead illuminating the mangled body, which was, for now, motionless. Giving in to his curiosity, he crept toward it, pausing now and then to ensure all was safe. He proceeded closer in this manner until he was scarcely two arm lengths away. The body was Anthro, of this he was certain. A white, skeletal hand lay outstretched, the long spidery fingers loosely curled into the palm. A black sleeve covered the rest of the arm, save for a few tears which revealed blood underneath. Blood the color of his own. His gaze slowly shifted from the figure to the ground. A thicker, darker liquid swirled into the puddles of water. He lifted his boot to reveal the soles had been dyed red as well. Abandoning all his caution, he crouched down beside the beings head, careful to avoid the long tendrils of nearly colorless hair. He very gently turned the face toward him. It was sunken in, and grim to look upon. The lashes were long and white, as were the thick brows above them. The rest of the body was covered in the black garb, and every now and then its chest rose and fell faintly, the only indication it was still alive and, seemingly, female. He stood quickly, averting his eyes from her and turning to the ship. It was oblong, the window shattered and the door crushed. The glass cracked under his boots as he leaned inside, where there seemed to be nothing but the controls, now warped from the impact. Keon took in every detail, noting her lack of belongings and the feeble design of the machine. He glanced back toward her, contemplating. Seeming to make up his mind then, he turned gathered the petite figure up into his arms. He scanned behind him once more, then jogged to the cover of the tree line. He looked down at her again before he continued on. Her eyes were still shut though her lips had parted slightly, and her tangled hair grazed the wet rubble beneath them. Using his upper arm to support her, he collected her hair and twisted it over her shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed briefly, before he set his sight forward and vanished into the wood.

~

A few miles east of the ghostly city, where the pine trees gave way to mossy rock cliffs, is where Keon headed. Just beyond a few gravelly hills he spotted his destination; his lonely home for the last five years. It was little more than a man-made cavern jutting into the flat rock, with a thin sheet of bark for a door and framed by a few misshapen branches in an attempt to reinforce the rotting beams behind them. The entrance was small, but it allowed him to step inside without lowering his head. The inside was much wider than the outside appearance suggested, and the stony ground gave way to brown Earth, tightly packed down by the tromping of feet over the years. It was dark and musty, filled with the scent of decaying wood and leaves. He had lined the walls and ceiling with a pattern of wooden shafts, similar to those at the entrance, to ensure the stability of the stone. He laid her frail body onto a cot, which served as the only evidence that this place was his home. His elbows creaked from the sudden change in position as he lowered her, and then stepped away. From here, he appeared unsure of himself. He rested himself against the wall of the cave and sat, cautiously glancing toward the cot to his left. His mind absorbed in deep thought, he scratched a fingernail at the ground absently. The bleeding was stopped, this he was sure of. He had wrapped her wounds tightly, using strips of his shirt. The remnants of it covered only his shoulders and his chest. He continued to deliberate, picking the dirt out from underneath his fingernails. He closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. It had been long since he had seen another Anthro, or any sentient humanoid, and now, it seemed, he had to make the right decisions to determine whether they lived or died. He appeared overwhelmed, to the point that he was nearly frozen in place. He snapped his eyes open and stood abruptly, whipping himself around to look at her. He pulled what was left of his shirt over his head, and began to rip the sleeve up to the neck. He approached her gently, and eased her arm into his makeshift sling. She remained motionless as he tied it over her shoulder. He closed his eyes and clenched his hands tightly. He squeezed his eyes tighter and imagined her skin, the layers below it, blood that was alien to him. His eyes scanned, almost frantically, through the blackness of his inner eyelid. But suddenly, he relaxed, and his palms opened and hovered over her. He could feel every part of her glowing like a flame in his mind, clear as a vision. Though her heartbeat was weak, he felt each pulse, each flow of blood as though it were his own, though he was not touching her. He felt clusters of something, like tiny pricks of blue light, rushing down her arm toward the break. Her body was already healing itself. He searched for any fragments of her bones, but they had already been absorbed. He scanned the rest of her body, mentally entranced, holding off his excitement until later. The inside of her bones stood out like white hotness and they frenziedly replaced her lost blood. Her functions were all nearly identical to his own, and that of the human race, though the structures were slightly odd. He turned his attention to her head, searching for injuries. His concentration became clouded by the immense activity of her brain, each flash of activity like a shock to his own mind. Quickly becoming overwhelmed, he gasped shook himself out of his entranced state, losing his balance as he opened his eyes quickly. He struggled to stand, grasping for the wall drunkenly, while trying to look at her through his eyes again. Once he stabilized a bit, his heart jumped and the hairs on the back of his neck rose sharply. Her eyes were open. Not completely, in the way he was used to, due to a third, milky membrane drawn across them, like a reptile. But nonetheless, the pair of eyes behind it had rendered his presence, and the membrane quickly retracted into the corners. They revealed two alien, amethyst eyes that completely immobilized him, even as she lunged towards his throat.

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Please let me know what you think!! This is probably one of my favorite chapters I've written so far.

Also, can I not use tabs on this thing? o_o