Leila of the Woods [Book Five]

Recovering

  Driving the four-wheeler through the forest, I tried to maneuver through the smoothest path as possible since the giant alien was riding along on a makeshift sled attached to the back. Taking them to their crashed ship, I pulled up as close as possible so that they could lean on the craft to keep balanced.

  They got off the sled and hopped towards the ship's still-open door and went inside. The dog was splashing through the water as we waited, and minutes passed before the big alien came back out.

  I wasn't too worried about them coming out with a weapon and killing me at this point. I mean, they'd been staying at my home for the past two weeks while recuperating, and they hadn't tried harming me in that time, so there was a bit of trust present. Not a whole lot, but enough to know I was safe around them. Whether that safety came from respecting that I saved their life or something else, I wasn't going to really question it much.

  Raising a brow at the alien while seeing what they came out of the ship with, I silently questioned the metallic cylinder they sat down in front of the four-wheeler with. They pushed a button and a spike came out of one end. My brows furrowed with confusion, and I leaned forward a bit.

  "What is that?" I questioned but was ultimately ignored when they stabbed the spike into their thigh. The alien snarled as blood dripped down, and I quickly stood up. "Fuck! Why would you-" And my words were cut off by the cylinder's metal plating sliding and reforming as edges came up and embedded into the sides of the alien's thigh. They bled some more, but the shifting cylinder began to look more and more like....a leg.

  Watching in silenced awe, the metallic leg was nearly an exact replica of their actual leg, and when the plates stopped shifting, they wiggled the toes to make sure it was working.

  "....Wow." I said lowly as they wiped the blood from the sides and used the ship to help themself stand. The alien was careful to put weight on the leg at first but took a few testing steps while limping, and it seemed the prosthetic was working. They plopped back down on the sled, and I turned in my seat. "Was that all we came for?"

  They nodded, and I paused. I could figure they probably only had one of those cylinder things if they were only using one for their leg and not their arm, too, but now I was curious as to what else might be on that ship.... However, if they didn't want to take anything else off the ship, was there truly nothing useful on there, or was it simply just empty now? Or perhaps they were hiding what else was on the ship?

  Looking at the open door, I made a face and shook my head. Whatever. It wasn't my business at the time being. Driving back to the house in silence, the massive alien could walk around now after getting off the sled but still had a slight limp.

  They headed straight for the shed that was currently set up for them and left the door open as they sat down in front of the TV hooked up inside. They picked up the stick by the TV and used it to turn on the device before turning to me with an expecting look.

  Going into the shed, I leaned on the shelf of old movies and looked up at the alien.

  "So, what will it be today? Fantasy, thriller, documentary, animated, or sci-fi?" I asked while pointing to the different shelves. They pointed to the animated shelf, and I pulled out the movies and laid them out on the table. "All right, which one?" They leaned forward to look at the movie covers and pointed to the one they wanted to watch. "Lilo and Stitch? Again?" They gave a low growl, and I picked up the movie. "Okay, okay, I won't judge! I'm just surprised with how much you like this movie for being...." I looked them up and down without bothering to elaborate.

  They huffed as I turned to the VHS player and popped the movie in. As it began to play, I grabbed the other movies to put them back on the shelf. They then started messing with their new prosthetic leg, moving and stretching it out like they were trying to get used to it. I couldn't even fathom how the thing worked but somehow the technology in it seemed to be also connected to their nervous system to move the way it did.