3 The Turtle

It spoke!

He withdrew his hand and crouched into a defensive position.

Whatever this thing was, it was sentient.

"What are you?" He drawled in his most boring uninterested voice possible to hide the fact that he was nervous as hell.

"I'm not a what. I'm a person." The voice boomed out from the carapace that was barely the size of a carry-on piece of luggage for a plane ride.

He looked around with guarded eyes. "I don't see any person. All I see is this old turtle shell."

Suddenly and without warning, he was pushed over by an invisible hand.

He didn't see it coming so was unable to brace for the jolt backward.

His back landed on the sandy loam with a THUD, his head whacking on a large Coulter pinecone.

"Owww!" He sat up, rubbing his head.

Normally, his sense of sight and hearing were decent, but this time, he could sense nothing!

He needed stronger senses.

Opening his mouth, he stuck out his long tongue, tasting the air.

There it was.

That slight scent of a person, standing somewhere to his right. His eyes shifted towards the scent that he had tasted.

"Who are you?"

The air shimmered in front of him until the form of a short bald being with pale sage colored skin appeared.

He stood up and looked down at the being.

From his height of 6'3", it did not look as intimidating as he feared.

"My name is Jesse. I'm a chelonian."

"A what?"

"I'm a turtle." The being gave him a desultory look. "Just like you're a serpentes."

"A what?"

"You're a snake."

For a moment, panic erupted within him.

He had taken great pains to hide the monstrous scales on his back. How could this short bald green being named Jesse possibly know he was turning into a snake?

"You may be a turtle, but I'm not a snake." He snarled, showing his fangs.

The turtle named Jesse laughed. "What makes you so sure you're not a snake?"

"I don't look anything like you!" He pointed at Jesse. "You're short, bald, and green!"

For a moment, the short, bald, green Jesse stood motionless.

And then a shout of laughter erupted as the being devolved into peals of helpless laughter.

"Hahahahaha!!!"

He stood there, slightly perturbed at the sight of laughing green-skinned being who barely reached his armpit.

"Are you done laughing yet?"

"Hahaha. I'm sorry. What's your name?" Jesse said, between fits of laughter.

"My name is Alekai."

"Well, Alekai. I may be short, but I'm hardly bald and green."

With a quick movement, Jesse reached up and pulled the full-head mask off, setting a tumble of silver-blonde hair tumbling down in a fluid mess.

Alekai felt something hit him in the guts.

For a moment, he could barely take a breath. And then he gasped out the first thing that he could think of.

"You're—you're a girl."

"Look at you! Such an observant snake." Jesse laughed. "And here I thought snakes are supposed to have bad eyesight."

"I'm a human. There is nothing wrong with my eyesight." He hissed.

"Says a guy with a forked tongue."

Too late.

Alekai had forgotten that he had stuck out his reptilian tongue a few minutes ago to taste the air.

"Anyway, we don't have too much time for all the pleasantries. I've been sent to collect you."

"What?"

Jesse glanced around. "It's not safe to talk here. Do you have a place we can hide out? I promise, I will tell you what you need to know."

"Why do I have to trust you?"

Jesse was about to respond when a volley of falling comets appeared from out of nowhere.

She threw her hand out and covered them with a hovering clear green carapace just in time, as the comets began peppering them.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT

The burning comets banged up against the carapace, leaving dark burn holes, but the carapace held up.

"We gotta go! We don't have time for this!"

"My bike is that way. Can you keep this shield over us while we run for the bike?"

"Yes!"

"Follow me!" He grabbed her hand and ran for the bike. As he jumped on, he could feel the bike bounce as Jesse launched herself onto the seat behind him.

Alekai only had the one helmet, so he reached behind him and shoved the helmet onto her head.

The rounds of comets hitting them intensified. Cracks were starting to form on the outer surface of the carapace.

"Hurry! Go!" She yelled and punched his arm.

He pushed off, squeezing the clutch. With a roar, they took off down the deserted two-lane highway.

The volleys of comets followed, striking the tarmac around them leaving smoking pock-marked strikes.

This was not a random meteorite shower.

Someone was targeting them!

"Hang on!" He shouted over the roar of the motorbike. "I'm going to find us some cover!"

He felt her arms tighten around him and her helmeted face pressing into the middle of his back.

Normally, this would have been something completely amazing since he'd never taken a girl on his bike before.

But there were fireballs raining down on them, for crikey's sakes!

Above them, the firestorm continued unabated.

Alekai increased the speed of the bike as much as he dared.

There were two of them on the bike which meant he had to be more careful than usual. He didn't care what happened to him, but he could not cause her any injury.

Up ahead, the road split around a small hill.

Going to the right would take them to the road that eventually would get him back to his house, but the road was wide open and treeless.

Going left meant they went into a redwood forest with huge canopy covering the roadway.

His initial instinct was to run for the forest canopy, but then common sense took over.

The firestorm was following them. It would set the dry redwood trees ablaze and they would be trapped inside a burning inferno.

But staying out in the open was not a good idea either, as they were wide open easy targets.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

The road split was approaching quickly. He had to make a decision in a few seconds.

Alekai gritted his teeth as a panicked sweat poured from his brows.

Left or right.

Left or right.

At the last moment, Alekai made his final decision.

He wrung his throttle and plowed through the minimal fencing, straight up the hillside.