The human had pale long hair. These people had silky strands of hair that hung straight or curled in various colors and lengths. Viper's people had something entirely different. Beyond the hair on their head it seemed the humans were hairless, not possessing pelts like some species. The exception being that the males sometimes possessed fur on their faces.
This human appeared female and certainly smelled it. His senses bristled with the awareness. The distinctive feminine hormone held the same sweet notes as Anguis females. This human was also slight of form, not bulky like many of the Homo sapien males he'd seen images of. Although the human males tended to be a head shorter and not nearly as broad as the average Anguis.
Viper didn't smell blood or any indication of injury, just sadness and fear radiating from the female. It was pungent overpowering the scent of the pines.
"It can't be fear of me. She has yet to notice my presence." Viper considered as he stood blending into the tree line.
She'd undoubtedly witnessed what had happened to her people.
2 Something Wicked this Way Comes
Hope
Hope just needed to rest a minute. She pulled into the spot at the side of the road. The park map showed there was a camp site a half hours hike along the path through the trees ahead, but she had to take minute to get herself together after the nightmare she'd witnessed. It was too horrific to even imagine.
Hope didn't really know what else to do. Every motel, gas station and restaurant she passed had been inundated with people fleeing the bay area. She had five days worth of supplies in the trunk. The best plan Hope could come up with involved doing what she originally came here to do, camp till the worst of the panic among the local population subsided.
Hope didn't really know what else to do. Her cell failed to work, and she only had half a tank of gas left. She had played the radio as she looked for a campsite, listening for emergency instructions, but there was nothing but static on all stations.
So here she was.
Hope pulled her head off the steering wheel, sighed and pulled back her hair into a ponytail. She rolled up the windows, glad it had stopped raining, then grabbed her tent and supplies from the trunk. This hike would have sucked if it was raining.
Hope left a note on the dash in case someone found the car and worried about the missing occupant, then started up the trail.
The trees towered over her as she traversed the narrow incline. The air still smelled intensely of the ocean rather than of cedar. The trail wasn't too taxing, which was a bit disappointing since she could use the distraction.
She wasn't hot in her tank top, khaki capris, and tennis shoes, but moisture still poured off her since the air was so humid. At the fork in the trail Hope took a left as indicated on the trail map.
If things had been different, she might sing a tune as she hiked, but her mood was too morose. So instead she listened to the sounds of nature. Strangely the birds were quiet, but that was probably because she'd disturbed them, or they too were freaked out by the carnage nature had wrought. At least the trees rustled peacefully in the wind.
Though the sky had been obscured with meteor debris, enough light filtered through the forest to still make camp if she didn't dawdle.
Half an hour give or take and Hope made it to the clearing marked by a wooden post. There was a flat spot, a log and an iron ring for building a fire. She quickly set up her tent and rain fly, then went about collecting firewood, though much of it was damp. It took another half hour search just to locate enough dry material to start up a decent fire.
Viper
He'd gotten distracted following the female as she wound her way along the path through the woods. She moved with a bounce in her step that was indicative of this species, and far less fluid than the movements of his own kind. It reminded Viper of a small long eared furry hopping mammal which flourished on Anguis. So that's what he called this intriguing human female, Lepus.
Lepus stopped at a clearing and unpacked her bags as Viper sat on a lower branch of a nearby tree watching. Only once had she glanced about then dismissed him when Viper made too much noise moving from tree to tree.
Viper observed as the female set up some kind of nest-like shelter made of fabric then began searching the surrounding forest. Her skin was smooth and pale with a slightly pink tinge. He even got a good view of her determined eyes, the irises were blue, with round, black pupils. They darted about as she collected brush.
The hike had raised her body temperature, so that the scent of her filled the clearing. Moisture clung to her skin soaking parts of the clothing covering her torso. The white shirt with small straps, covered two large mounds on her chest. Viper wondered with such large mounds if she had young somewhere. The females of his species only had breasts when they were required to feed young.