I watched as Hal grabbed the handgun from under the table and fiddled with it for only a second before popping a shot into the head of the Intruder that I had shot, killing it. Hal then went to check on Blaine’s head injury.
Jared pushed the Intruder off of him. I stood in the corner, watching as the Intruder was taking its last breaths. Slowly, I made my way to it, setting the shotgun on the bed beside me. I knelt next to Jared, who was cleaning the Intruder’s blood off his arm and shirt. I searched him to make sure he had no injuries. He assured me he was okay and gave a thumbs up. “Just some scratches.” I then turned my attention to the Intruder, still alive, lying on the floor beside me.
It was strange. We had seen what they could do, destroying communities and killing people in their path. But at this moment, while dying, the Intruder seemed almost harmless. It was so vulnerable that I couldn’t imagine it hurting anyone. Just as this thought crossed my mind, the Intruder raised its hand, reaching for me. It was as though it was requesting that I comfort it as it died, one last touch before an eternity without breathing.
I don’t know what compelled me to reach out toward its hand. Curiosity, maybe, as if I had stepped out of my body at that moment and was witnessing myself lifting a hand toward the Intruder.
I looked away, toward Blaine on the floor across the room, still breathing, while Hal checked his pupils. Jared placed his hand on my back. “Kara, no. What are you doing?”
“It’s okay. It can’t hurt me,” I said to him, my eyes locked on the Intruder. I could feel Jared’s grip on the back of my shirt, his attempt at keeping me from doing something dangerous. But I ignored it. I couldn’t hear anything, my vision fuzzy around the edges. My only focus was the Intruder. Why were they here? What did they want? How long had they existed? I knew of only one way to find out.
Holding my breath, I clasped my fingers around the cold, moist skin of the Intruder. My heart was trying to escape my chest, adrenaline causing it to go wild against my sternum. Then it, no he, closed his fingers around mine, gripping tightly as the light surrounding me began to fade into darkness.
END OF PART I
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