_I wonder where Lilli and Baba Ghanoush are? I hope they’re alright…_ Andor wondered to himself as he scrambled up the hillside in the rain. Thankfully, he didn’t have to go too far before he came across Lilli pacing back and forth in a small grassy meadow next to a brook. Baba Ghanoush was close by, taking shelter in the pines. When she saw him, she bounded across the creek and threw herself into his arms. “Why did you let go!?” she screamed in a rage. “I didn’t want to slow you down… so I let go,” Andor stammered, a lump rising in his throat under the weight of Lilli’s fiery stare. “What the fuck, Andor B. Kellogg!? I just found out I’m pregnant — I don’t need to be a widow alone in the woods!” “I’m sorry,” he mumbled nervously - she only called him by his full name when she was particularly upset. “I’ve survived worse… so I figured I’d be alright. I just wanted you as far away from the madness as possible.” Lilli crossed her arms and glowered at him over her nose. “You scared me half to death. All I could hear were explosions... Then you were gone." At the recollection of the terror that had only just passed a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm sorry..." Andor muttered unsure what to do or say next. "Hmmmph! What the hell were they trying to blow up, anyway?” Andor opened his mouth, then closed it again. His mind raced to find the right words. “Well… umm… I don’t really know.” “What do you mean, you don’t know?” Lilli snapped. “It was some sort of alien monster.” Lilli narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Tell me the truth.” “I’m serious! It was huge — and it took down an F-16 by throwing a tree at it.” “WHAT!?” Andor nodded grimly. “It looked like Godzilla had sex with a python, and their messed-up offspring had a fling with a hunchbacked alien — and then this thing was born. It was glowing this eerie orange color... same as its eyes. And it looked right at me.” He shivered, remembering the way its eyes pierced as it glowered at him. “I was so far away — there was no way it could have seen me. But it sure felt like it knew I was there.” “Are you fucking with me?” Lilli asked, her voice cracking from her parched throat. “No. I swear. That’s what I saw.” Lilli shook her head, struggling to wrap her mind around it. “Do you think it came from the meteorite?” “I don’t know. But I’m telling you — it wasn’t from this world.” Lilli spun around, scanning the misty trees around them, fear flashing up and down her body. “Where is it now?” “I’m pretty sure it won’t come back to this valley,” Andor said. “It was taking a serious beating from two attack helicopters.” “Wait — you said it took down a fighter jet. I saw those - but I didn’t see any helicopters.” “They came later,” Andor explained. “After one jet crashed, the other bugged out down the valley. A few seconds later, two helicopters showed up — flying low - right over me actually with their guns blazing. I even got burned by a few of their shell casings.” “Oh my god, let me see!” Lilli rushed to Andor’s side, gently inspecting the burns on his neck and back. “You poor thing. Are you going to be alright?” Andor gave a half-smile and lifted his prosthetic arm slightly, as if to say, _If I survived losing this, I’ll survive a few burns._ “I’ll be fine,” he said softly. Lilli wasn’t convinced. “Let’s get you back to the cave. I’ll bandage those up.” As they started walking, Lilli’s mind was racing. “So, you said you didn’t think it would come back. Which means it’s still alive. How come the fighter jets and attack helicopters couldn’t kill it? Were the pilots missing?” “No. They were on target. But it was like... like the thing was protected by some kind of force field. Nothing seemed to hurt it. Rockets, bombs, machine guns — nothing. It was straight out of science fiction.” Lilli shuddered. “Well, there’s no way I’m going back to the village now. Not if something like that is out there.” Andor hesitated. “Umm... about that.” “What?” Lilli stopped, arms crossing again. “There’s no village left.” “What!?” she shrieked, clutching her head. “The flooding last month took out most of the cabins. Whatever was left, the monster finished off. I watched it — smashing homes like it wanted to destroy everything. Then when the fighter jet exploded, it started a wildfire. What the monster and the crash didn’t destroy, the fire did,” Andor’s voice cracked as a tear rolled down his cheek. The thought of losing most of their food and supplies was too much to bear. “All the food we stockpiled in the treehouse... we barely got half of it up here. We don’t have enough to get through the year. Not even close.” Lilli’s face softened. She touched Andor’s hand gently. “I know. It’s bad. But think about it — if we had stayed in the village, we’d be dead right now.” Andor nodded, a chill running through him. “Or,” Lilli added dryly, “we would’ve survived... with absolutely nothing! At least we have our cave… and Baba Ghanoush.” “I guess Dustin was right...” Andor muttered. Lilli stared into the distance. “If what Dustin’s book said was true... and staying here in the canyon was the better choice... I don’t even want to imagine what’s happening to the others out there.” “We should have warned them,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “We should have made them stay.” “Maybe we should have,” Andor said heavily. “But there’s been too much death. Too much loss. Nothing makes sense anymore. They would've thought we were crazy and made us leave with them.” They walked in silence for a while, rain spattering against their faces. Then Lilli spoke, her voice low and steady. “Dustin wrote about a ‘malevolent force... a darkness beyond reckoning, bent on the annihilation of all life.’ I think we know what he meant now. But he also said, ‘The last glimmer of salvation is here — somewhere in this canyon.’” Andor sighed. “God, I wish we knew where to look for this salvation. It could be anywhere.” A sudden, deafening boom of thunder cracked overhead. “We should hurry back to camp,” Lilli grabbed Baba Ghanoush’s lead. “This storm’s getting worse.” ![[asi-summer.jpg]] “I’m freezing!” Andor exclaimed as they scampered up the embankment towards the cave home.  “Me too. Where are we going to put Baba Ghanoush though. She won’t fit in our cave with us…” “How about under the lip of this smaller boulder?” Andor offered. “It’ll do for now. Once this storm lets up we’ll build her a proper home.”  “Okay. I’ll get the big wool blanket and drape it over the rock so she has some shelter.” Lilli said as she handed the lead to Andor and ran into the cave.  Lilli returned a moment later carrying a big blanket. Together they draped it over Baba Ghanoush. “She’s got a thick coat and with this blanket too I think she’ll be just fine.” Andor replied as a chill caused his arms to shake.  “Brrr… The wind sure is cold. Let’s get inside.” Lilli offered as she took Andor’s hand. “Good night Baba Ghanoush.” they said simultaneously as they scampered towards their cave home. Once they were inside Lilli tossed a log on the fire and lit the lantern with a match. “Okay… Let me see those burns.” she said with a firm tone as Andor stripped off his wet clothes.   Lilli grabbed the first aid kit and pulled out the burn ointment “You poor thing…” she winced as she blotted Andor’s burns.  Andor didn’t hear her though, he was fast asleep snoring with his head in her lap.  --- It was a wet night, the stars and moon were swallowed by a restless blanket of clouds. The forest was eerily silent save for the soft, haunting song of a few frogs calling to one another.  A sudden pop cracked through the night air, silencing the chorus. Then without warning, a fierce wind rose from nowhere, whipping the trees violently as its howl grew steadily louder and louder. Another sharp pop reverberated, and just above the forest’s canopy, a swirling vortex began to take form. At its center, a faint light flickered and grew, swelling with each rotation until it bathed the forest in a ghostly glow. From its eye, bolts of lightning lanced outward. One struck a tree with explosive power and shattered it into splinters. Then, as swiftly as it had come, the storm began to unravel. In its place, suspended above the forest floor, hovered an orb of bluish-green light. Slowly, the orb drifted downward, its radiance dimming as it descended. As it reached the forest floor, the last of its glow ebbed away—revealing two shadowy figures standing in the mist. Without a sound, they slipped into the underbrush and vanished. --- In the morning, the sky was still filled with ominous storm clouds and the rain was coming down in buckets. Andor rolled over and kissed Lilli on the forehead. “So… babe.” she began. “What is it?” Andor propped his head up with his hand.  “I can’t stop thinking about what the lady said… The one who broke into our home in the middle of the night.” Lilli continued. “Okay… go on.” Andor said, unsure where Lilli was going with this.  “It was almost like her warning for us to leave was to protect us from retribution. She said repent - before calamity overtakes you. It seemed like the lack of love was the reason for the impending calamity she was warning us about. Then maybe a day later we’re driving east when the meteor went screaming over our heads. The last we heard millions are dead, there’s horrendous wildfires, huge earthquakes, tsunamis wiping out entire coastlines. Then we find Dustin’s novel and it’s about us and it’s warning us not to leave the mountains. That some sort of salvation for mankind is here… Somewhere. Now we’ve seen this alien monster which is impervious to our most high powered weapons destroy an entire village in a matter of minutes. What in the actual fuck is going on!?”  “I don’t know. You’re right, the world has gone absolutely berserk. I don’t know… maybe the monster hitched a ride on the meteorite?” Andor shrugged.  “Do you remember the smaller chunk falling off as it flew by? Then suddenly the animals were running away? It was the creepiest feeling I’ve ever had in my life. Like a great evil was unleashed and I couldn’t get far away fast enough.” Lilli shuddered remembering the horror of that night. “That’s exactly how I felt. Totally powerless and scared shitless…” “Well I hope it doesn’t come up here.” Lilli sat up and put the kettle over the fire. “I don’t think it will. It seemed like it was desperately trying to get away from the attack helicopters…” “Do you think they were trying to herd it? You know if it did hitch a ride on the asteroid then it’s come all the way from California…” “Well, if they can’t kill it, then maybe they’re trying to drive it further north where there aren’t as many people?” “Perhaps…” Lilli’s voice trailed off for a moment. “The last month and a half has been nuts - visitations, prophetic literature, alien monsters… I’m kind of scared to think what could be coming next.” “Yea, I feel the same way. This last month or so has been a crazy and insane time. I guess we have just gotta try and focus on each day and do what needs to be done to survive all this…” Andor wrapped his arms around Lilli and squeezed her tight. “Speaking of that we need to make Baba Ghanoush a proper shelter as soon as possible,” Lilli peered out at the llama who was huddled up against the boulder looking forlorn and soaked. “Yeah we do. Poor thing. Too bad she doesn’t fit in here with us,” Andor stretched “She did survive for nearly a month without us, though.”  “How are your burns?” Lilli asked as Andor winced putting on his jacket. “It still hurts like hell… Not much can be done about it though.” Andor sighed as he delicately touched the burns on his neck.  “Don’t touch them. They’ll get infected.” Lilli barked as she swatted Andor’s hand away.  “Okay - geez,” Andor stood up and walked to the door. “I’ve gotta pee…” he called over his shoulder as he opened the door and walked outside. When he came back inside Lilli was sitting at the table writing in her journal.  “So… since the village is gone. What are we going to do about our food situation?” “Well I was working out a few things in my journal… I think we have enough canned and preserved food which we had brought up from the village to get us through the winter. But we cannot eat any of it this summer and fall.”  “Okay, well do you think we can harvest and forage enough food to get us through until winter?”  “I think so… The land has been good to us this past month,” Lilli opened the window. “Hey look the rain has stopped.”  “Oh great! Let’s go check on Baba Ghanoush.” Andor flopped onto the bed and put on his boots.  --- “Oh you poor thing!” Lilli cried out as she snuggled with Baba Ghanoush who was more than happy to see them.  “We’re going to give you a proper home.” Andor scratched her behind the ears. “What did you have in mind?” Lilli asked as she fed Baba Ghanoush a great big carrot. “Well we could lean several large logs up against this boulder. It already has a nice alcove under the overhang. Then we’ll create a lattice work with saplings, add in a thick layer of moss, and cover it all with huge strips of pine bark then lash the bark down with vine rope to keep it tight against the frame.” “That sounds nice,” Lilli smiled. “What’s she going to sleep on though?” “We’ll collect pine, and fir boughs to make a nice insulated mattress for her.” Andor offered. “Alright perfect, a palace fit for a queen… our queen,” Lilli chuckled. “Glad you approve,” Andor said with a bow. “Let’s get to work then.” ### Next Chapter: [[4 - Kevin & Ben 👨🏼‍❤️‍👨🏽]] ### Previous Chapter: [[2 - Strategy 🦇]]