“My name is Matt A. Lien. I’m a forensic agent. Or, well, not anymore exactly. I haven’t officially been fired or anything, but I don’t think the US government would want me back in the country, which is, unfortunately, where I work, so, yeah, not really anymore. I used to live in a small town near Las Vegas called Goldfield. If you’ve never heard of it, I don’t blame you, less than 300 people live there now. It used to be a huge mining town in the early 1910s, but a flash flood in 1913 caused its economy to go downhill. Later, in 1923, an enormous fire caused by an explosion of moonshine destroyed 80% of the buildings in the town. Now, it’s literally nicknamed ‘The Living Ghost Town.’ Anyways, enough about me, where are you from?”

“%\+]^,%!^{=€•>&:,@/$,”the creature in the backseat responded in a conversational tone.

“I still can’t understand you,” Matt said as he glanced back at it, then back at the road. “We’re gonna have to work on that.”

“&/),)(/&\+%~.” This time the thing sounded sarcastic.

“Uh-huh,” Matt said dismissively.

The darkness of north Nevada would be downright surreal to an outsider, but to Matt, the long roads with nothing but desert and the huge sky full of stars didn’t feel strange at all. It felt like home. He took a breath, knowing that it might be the last time it felt like that.

His old grey subaru let him feel every little bump in the road, but the creature sitting in the backseat didn’t seem to care. It was small, about 2 or 3 feet tall, with a small body and a big head relative to it. It’s eyes had pupils that were like rings that went on the outside of the iris, so all of the color was in the middle. It had six limbs, two of which seemed to be used as arms and two of which seemed to be used as legs, and the middle two seemed to be used as whatever was convenient. Its scaly, mottled brown-green body seemed to be used for camouflage.

Matt stopped at a Royal Farms and got out of the car.

“Stay here,” He told the creature, as he walked into the store.

“Will that be all, sir?” The tired cashier asked as she rung up the coffee and fried chicken.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“$3.57 is your change.”

“Keep it,” Matt said as he grabbed his food and quickly walked out of the store. The car door opened and he climbed back inside.

“Do you like fried chicken?” He asked the creature. It looked at him, confused.

“It’s food. Like the stuff you eat and it gives you energy?” He tried to explain the best he could, which wasn’t great.

“&/)(@^]*+~€?¥•” It asked.

Matt couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he grabbed a piece of chicken and took a bite. The creature perked up.

“@$1@)%” It said excitedly as it grabbed the piece of chicken out of his hand and put it whole into what Matt could only assume was its mouth.

“Cool.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

“Why am I being so nice to you?” Matt asked calmly. “I mean, you completely ruined my life. I guess there wasnt much to ruin… but like, still.” He paused. “I guess I’m just still in awe from meeting an alien.”

“@$?-(*\%+,!+]” It said, annoyed.

“I mean, I never should’ve taken the job in the first place. But the pay for it was so good… I guess my need for a stable life sort of made my life more unstable.” He chuckled at the idea.

“PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!” A yell echoed across the parking lot.

Matt sat up and looked around. There was a guy with combat armor, a swat shield, and a rifle on his side, pointing at Matt’s car.

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath as he gunned the car and sped off. He heard yells and sirens. They wrre following.

He took turn after turn trying to get them off his tail, but to no avail. (hey, that rhymed.) He was absolutely speeding, going 100, 110, 120.

“I just gotta lose ‘em.” Matt said frantically as he took a swig of coffee.

“@$2&&:”¥\^]+@&” The alien asked.

“I wasn’t supposed to find out about you. Nobody was.”The red and blue flashed closer and closer. “But why not? Why?” He was starting to yell. He was also starting to cry. “WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?” Tears were pouring down his face so much that he couldn’t see the road anymore. “IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!” Closer. “I DIDN’T MEAN FOR ANY OF THIS T-“

Bang.

Matt’s head fell, his voice cut out. His car came to a spinning halt.

“Target secured. Nobody saw it.”

Another voice came over the radio. “Good. Nobody can. Nobody will.”

“What’s the cover up story here?”

“Just make something up. It shouldn’t be too big of a deal.”

“Sir… may I confide in you for a moment?”

“Of course.”

“I sort of feel bad for killing all of these people that simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“I understand, commander. Just remember.”

They both spoke in unison. “For the good of the country, not the individual.”