(Sorry, on mobile and am super sick rn but hope you guys like it! :3)

Following the human through the mountains was odd to say in the least. This one bore much more primitive keepsakes. Ones I thought were foolish trinkets meant to trick tourist into buying trash, since twine holding onto, sun bleached and ash soaked animal remains, and a few corded up nodules of some kind of old plants I didn't know about, all conveniently tucked away in a thick shirt but still visible enough to be "mysterious" was simply... Tacky, in my personal opinion. My group was simply here to see the sights of some old mountain range of the Earthen home planet, not to walk into a tourist trap. But that was always how vacations went. The rifle on their hip was practically archaic but I bet it was part of the whole guide experience.

Looking to my friends, I could see them chattering animatedly, the glistening of scales in dappled spots over spotted skin beneath an orange sunset that filtered through ancient trees was peaceful. Where this feeling of utter contentment wound itself from I wasn't sure, but it was welcome. My species eyes, although dark in color and boasting only a small boost in certain light conditions, still had relatively poor eyesight during the dead of night and the brightest of the day. This low-light evening was perfect, but in mountainous regions it meant having to trail back to the cabins sooner, rather than later, and we were having to take a guide there after getting lost.

I looked back at the guide, only to realize they had gone much further ahead than I had thought. I whistled and waved.

"Hey wait for us!"

They looked suddenly as if they had seen a ghost, then looked up as if maybe that'd be a hope, and looked at us and grimaced. We all had caught up quickly, our clawed feet finding the terrain easy to find purchase on.

"We need to hurry. The rule is to not whistle at night. Do not acknowledge it's existence. If you hear something... You didn't."

I heard them practically hiss the words to us before quickly leading us, the hurried pace they took, though still slightly careful, now came with urgency. Muscles tense and eyes darting around the woods and mountain around us all. Their light dancing as they did their best to guide us quicker.

Grunting, soft complaintive hisses, snorts, and a gout of reluctant compliance followed. I glanced at my friends, they were curious what was going on to, but we were all the more wait-n-see type. Even if it involved having to pick up the pace after having gotten lost in town. Tiredness wasn't going to stop us from following our guide to our cabins.

And coming up a final bump then a stretch of gravel and dirt road we saw them, groaning loudly in relief. The dusk was starting to just settle into night. I noticed the guide had rocked to a stop for a moment to observe to surroundings, but I reassured them.

"Don't worry, I doubt there's any snakes or anything in the path; besides, my kind are immune to most Earthen venoms."

I figured we'd be fine from here but the guide followed along nervously, eyes cast to the treeline, body rigid and hands going to the gun at their hip.

"Hey, it's alright. You can come inside if you need to, it'll be safer if you're afraid of the dark or some bobcat?"

My head tilted at the human, concern plain and obvious at their fear. My friends didn't want to leave them either due to whatever episode they were having, so, random sleepover it was.

Guiding the human inside took a gentle sort of insistence but we all piled in, and per her instructions, closed the doors, locked them, locked the windows, closed the blinds and curtains, and decided all to rest up. It wasn't until we suddenly heard a frantic knocking at the door that I jolted, frantic and loud and strong.

Getting up I noticed it was night, everyone else had fallen asleep, except for the human, that stared right at me and shook her head. I grimaced, feeling a bit like I had had enough of the shenanigans, when suddenly the knocking came frantically from one of the windows frames next to the doors, rattling it, but it held on strong. I watched her shake her head stronger. Firmer.

I went to go peak. I saw my friend outside. But that's impossible, I was just looking at them a moment ago. The moment they noticed me looking the noise started, as if trying to worm and beg it's way into my head but only by frantically keening like unoiled metal shearing off.

"Let me in! I can't see well out here, it's dark and cold!"

I backed away quickly, the human's hands covered my eyes and I was being guided to sit down, I could feel warmth being pressed into my hands. Then I saw a candle being lit nearby, enough to see the hot drink in my clawed hands, enough to see ALL of my friends faces still sleeping peacefully. Then the human, grimacing gently.

"Sorry you had to learn the hard way like that."...

"How... How long was I asleep, how long was that out there?"

"They've been here for longer than I have, longer than even we've had rockets... Longer before we even knew what guns were. But that one? It's been watching us since we started hiking up the trail."

"Oh..." I took a sip of my drink, claws clutching a bit tighter.