I quickly released my sister from the reuniting hug and looked up at Lynn with concern. She was grasping onto her ankle in pain, and the wounds didn't seem to look too good, even if they were small.

I should have expected the release of my sister would not be so easy, that it would be some kind of trap.

Turning to my sister, I beckoned her to follow me as I walked over to Lynn's foot. She obliged, though reluctantly.

"Lynn," I called up, "how bad is it?" 

"Painful...but I'll live" came her reply through grit teeth. Intrigued, I stepped onto the fleshy surface of her foot.

"Let me see it."

Lynn hesitantly removed her hand and lifted the ankle of her pants to reveal a series of consistent red dots along her ankle. I gently ran my hand along the wound and she lightly flinched back in response. It was clear to me that the weapon used were no simple bullets. Who were the people behind this, and what was the end to the alien technology they could obtain? Did we even have a chance of getting out of this mess, considering we were simply at the beginning?

I stepped back off of her foot and Lynn slowly stood to her full height, visibly uncertain of her balance with the new injury. Lynn experimentally moved her ankle to test for greater injury, but nothing bad looked obvious. She looked like she could do a fair job standing normally in the least.

Allison grabbed onto me from behind with a whimper as she looked up at the sheer size of Lynn towering above us.

I must admit, even I had to swallow a gulp of instinctive fear when I saw Lynn rise to stand. Everything inside me told me to run. She was massive. I would never completely wrap my mind around the fact, no matter how many times I saw her or how hard I tried. However, she was really sweet. Her personality was surprisingly compassionate and positive, even when she joked around. I hadn't thought about it much before, but I was taking a liking to her. The thought twisted around in my mind. If you'd told me about what I am doing now a few weeks ago, I'd have laughed at you and thought you were insane. If you'd told me you thought I'd be falling for a ...giant... in the future, I'd have recommended a psychologist. But at this moment...I couldn't be sure what my response would be.

Lynn looked down at us with a halfway forced smile. She kneeled down in front of us on both of her knees, examining my sister with an expression full of genuine concern.

"Allison, you can trust me."

However, my sister was on the verge of tears. While Allison had been an infant when my family was attacked, she took this event much deeper than I did. You could even say she was left with a true phobia. It seems sort of ironic that she and I would end up in a situation like this, but that seems to be the way life works.

"It's okay," I began in an attempt to sooth my sister, "at least trust me. Lynn won't harm you."

Allison returned my glance and shook her head, breaking into a full stream of tears. I turned and looked up at Lynn to see that she was biting her lip, unsure of what to say or do.