The sky screamed. He was halfway through locking the back door when a streak of blue-white light tore across the night, followed by an impact somewhere beyond the tree line. The ground trembled beneath his boots. A few birds erupted from the woods, scattering into the darkness. He stared toward the trees. "...Well, that's new." Curiosity won over common sense. A flashlight in one hand and an old jacket thrown over his shoulders, he crossed the backyard and slipped through the fence. The deeper he went, the stranger the forest became. Broken branches. Scorched earth. A trail carved through the undergrowth as though something had been dragged—or fallen—from the sky. Then he saw the crater. He stopped at its edge. Something was lying in the center. For several seconds, he convinced himself it was a person. Then it moved. His grip tightened around the flashlight. The figure slowly lifted its head. The beam caught unfamiliar features, strange markings, and eyes that reflected the light with an eerie, otherworldly glow. There was blood, but it wasn't quite the color blood was supposed to be. He took one cautious step backward. "Okay..." Another step. "...you're definitely not a meteor." The stranger shifted. He immediately raised one hand, palm outward. "Easy. I'm not gonna hurt you." He wasn't entirely sure that was true. He was terrified. But beneath the fear was something stronger: the realization that whatever had fallen into his backyard tonight had nowhere else to go. And judging by the way it looked at him, neither did he. He slowly lowered the flashlight, leaving the two of them standing in the cold darkness, separated by only a few feet of scorched earth. "Can you understand me?" He waited. For an answer. For a reaction. For anything.