Sinth Salvation - Pearl Tate Page 0,22
week ago. I’ve seen them around, of course. They live here among the humans, and in many cases, they seem to dominate in positions of authority. Until today, I just haven’t had a reason to deal with many.
Glancing back, I see the school representatives are all watching me, and I know there’s no way I’m going to get away with phasing through this fence. Damn. I guess I’m climbing.
Dropping onto the other side, I look up to see everyone staring at me. Lilibeth leans forward, clutching the chain link in her fingers to whisper, “Next time don’t stand on the top and jump down. Watch.”
With that hiss, she begins climbing in front of me, swinging her leg over the top. Despite the awkward angle, she manages to follow with her other leg over, climbing halfway down as I watch her clothing cling to her ass before kicking her feet out and dropping to the ground. Turning around, she puts her hands on her hips, smirking. “Normal Humans can’t stand up on a pole like that. I’m going to have to make up a story about how you were in the circus or something.”
Shrugging, I walk over to the mutilated body. Yes, now that I’m closer, I can see the reason it probably wasn’t spotted earlier was because of how perfectly the mottled scales blend in with the brush which stands almost knee-high around me.
This is clearly a Taxin, although I’ve never seen one this small. Or one out in public without their cloaking technology. Walking up the berm, I see a fairly flat expanse of ground before it reaches the ocean in the distance, as I suspected. Continuing to walk out of sight of the school representatives, I motion to Lilibeth to follow me.
“That’s a Taxin.”
Lilibeth shakes her head, clearly lost. It’s then I realize she’s never seen one before. It’s interesting considering there are some at her office, and I glimpsed some at Mannvit too. “They’re another alien species which dwells permanently here on Earth … at least from what I can see.”
Planting my hands on my hips, I consider how to handle this. “I need to report this and get the appropriate authorities out here—”
“It sounds like Principal Donavan already contacted the authorities, but it might take a while before they show up …” She says as we walk back up the slope back toward the body.
Nodding, I agree she might be right. Standing on the top of the berm, I look down the beach and notice a commercial dock not too far away where large and small boats are coming and going. Walking back to the small Taxin body, I figure we might as well see if we can tell what happened to it and it came here by looking at it.
Kneeling by the body, face-down in the grass, I glance up to hear Principal Donavan say, “One of the children said it moved. Is that possible? It’s not alive, is it?”
I doubt it. It’s so small, about as long as one of my legs at most. Despite the scales covering its body, which identify it as a Taxin, the body appears soft. Decomposed, maybe?
Is it a child? Is that even possible? I’ve yet to see any Taxin children going to school cloaked with Earth children. Despite their involvement in Earth politics, I was under the impression that Taxin society and their schools were totally separate from the Humans’.
Moving around the body, I reach out to the small creature, wondering if checking for a pulse in the neck like my species would even help me see if it’s dead.
As I near it, a snarl comes from the creature as it cuts through the air and flips over onto its back, lunging for my hand. I easily evade it, but realize instantly it’s not only a small child, it’s female.
Throwing myself back, I catch Lilibeth in my grasp, holding her behind me. No … no, it’s not alive. It’s been exposed to the Wen virus, and it’s transitioned.
CHAPTER TEN
- Lilibeth
I’m taking pictures of the strange creature, documenting the compressed brush around the body and the way that multiple trails appear to come from the direction of the ocean, when a strange snarl has Nikon jumping back, catching me behind him.
“It’s alive?” I can’t believe it. It looks terrible, but it’s also so little. The fine lines of its humanoid body are covered in a rainbow of brown and green scales. It’s not as odd and grotesque as I’d