Lucy smiled at the warm feeling of the evening sun on her skin, the cool spring air blowing by her sweaty legs. She stopped for a quick stretch, bending down to stretch her hamstrings before continuing her hike. Her tight shorts were drenched with sweat from her exertion and her tight white tank top clung to her lithe body. Lucy was definitely looking forward to a shower when she got back to her apartment. Her winter classes were about to end and she couldn't wait for a college-free summer. Some of her old dorm mates had invited her on a trip to Mexico, and she was already working on her tan for the beach. The thought of meeting a rugged, tanned man was another thing she was looking forward to. All the boys at her college were like squids, all just carbon copies of each other. She wanted something exotic.
She went into an easy jog, increasing her breathing to match her new pace. Her legs felt good from the burn, but she was already pretty tired from the long hike. She stopped around a minute later, walking off her rapid heart rate and breathing while she brushed her cheek length red hair out of her eyes. She was pretty deep in the forest trail now, and she would have to turn back to make it back to proper civilization before the sun dipped below the horizon. She yawned, doing another set of stretches to work out the building tightness before turning around. She only made it around 10 steps back on the trail before she heard a strange mechanical noise above her.
Looking up, she saw a flock of birds that seemed to be in a panic. She blinked as she saw chopped feathers and blood rain down before she heard a crackle of static. Her eyes widened in amazement when the air seemed to shimmer, a strange object appearing in the sky for a second before disappearing. The object was gone, but she could see smoke appearing from seemingly nowhere as she heard a small explosion. A flash of fire appeared in the panicked flock of birds before she heard the sound of something descending. She tracked the smoke as it fell from the sky, jumping when she heard a boom from deep in the forest. She looked at the path briefly, wondering if she should run until she got a phone signal before calling 911. She gulped, curiosity filling her as she pulled her phone out, opening her camera app before pressing record.
"My name is Lucy Gallinger, and I'm about to discover an alien crash!" Her inner nerd rose into her throat as she left the path to enter the forest, using her phone to record her front as she spoke about what she saw. She would be famous from this! Her excitement was clouded a bit by a sudden urge of fear. If it was an alien, what if it wasn't friendly? She breathed out a sigh before pulling her pepper spray from her small fanny pack. Walking forward with a little more caution, she continued in the direction where she heard the boom.
She saw signs of damaged trees and smelled burning chemicals as she walked through the forest. Following the signs of damage, she stumbled across what looked like a spaceship! She couldn't help the wide smile on her face as she walked forward, eagerly recording the crash site. She gasped as she saw a hatch on the side open, revealing a gray skinned humanoid. It was lanky and short, its head and eyes far larger than what seemed normal. It stumbled as it exited the spacecraft, falling to the ground with a pathetic squeal. Lucy felt bad for the poor alien, putting her best smile on her face as she opened her mouth.
"First contact! Hello! I'm Lucy! I come in peace!" The alien's head snapped up to look at her, it's eyes twisting in their sockets. She couldn't help her gulp as she struggled to maintain her smile, hoping that the alien was friendly. When it got up and pointed a strange thing in her direction, her smile fell as she felt fear well up. Its small mouth opened, babbling out something in a language she had no hopes of understanding. Looking at the vaguely gun shaped object in its hands, Lucy slowly raised her hands. She flinched as the alien yelled louder, a bolt of green energy leaving the weapon in its hands above her head. She gulped as she saw the scorched bark of the tree behind her where the shot landed. She turned the tube of pepper spray in her hands as slowly as possible, pressing the plunger as soon as it was aiming at the alien. A stream of brown, almost rust colored liquid left the small pressurized can, arcing through the air until it splashed against the alien's large eyes.
It let out an unholy wail, firing off another shot at her. Lucy dove to the ground, grunting from pain as she collided against some hard roots as the green energy flashed over her prone form. The alien's yells were loud, rapidly blinking and twisting its eyes as it wildly aimed its gun around. Just as she was about to crawl backwards to safety, she saw a pink tendril shoot out from the craft, wrapping around the alien's leg before dragging it back inside. It let out a scream as it collided against the metal hull of the ship, falling limp before it was pulled through the open hatch. Another tendril left the craft, shooting out until it wrapped around Lucy's ankle. She yelled as she was dragged along the ground. She barely managed to grab the strange gun the alien dropped as she was pulled closer to the ship. Not wanting to suffer the same fate, she jammed the gun in her shorts before using her free hand to steady herself. Her arm hurt from the impact against the ship, but she wasn't knocked unconscious as she was dragged into the spaceship herself.
Bright purple and blue lights illuminated the interior, showing the tentacle that was wrapped out her ankle. She pulled the gun from her waist, lining up a shot before pulling the trigger. Bright green energy built up in the barrel before shooting off towards the creature. It only grazed the tentacle, the rest of the shot leaving a glowing green mark on the inside of the ship. Lucy teeth chattered together as she heard a wail from deeper within the ship, the tentacle uncoiling around her leg. She flipped onto her belly, holding onto her phone and the gun for dear life as she ran for the hatch. She made it two steps away from the hatch before a tentacle wrapped around her belly. She let out a grunt of air as it squeezed her, moaning from pain as she was pulled backwards. She tried to aim behind herself as her feet skid across the floor, but she only hit the inside of the ship as she was pulled onto her back.
Her body swept across the hall and around a corner before being pulled into a bright room. The doors looked like they had been wrenched apart. She saw the crumpled form of the alien, it looked very dead. She turned in fright as she aimed at whatever was pulling her. She looked in shock at what seemed to be a container. The cylindrical vessel was around 3 feet in length and 1 foot across. It had a large crack in it, and the tendrils were coming from that crack. Lucy's hands shook as she aimed at the vessel with the alien gun, grunting in pain as the tentacle around her stomach constricted.