The hedges were a welcome reprieve, but they were only a small blimp of darkness amongst the lamp light. The backyards behind the backyard with the hedgerow were my next step.

Although now that I was closer I could see the far lights reflecting off rippling waves.

"I'm not killing anyone. Not again." I murmured quietly.

"Not the time for this..." I growled softly. It was clear what the other was doing. It was trying to push me into attacking.

Into killing.

The best solution for a problem, was a permanent one.

Except that logic went out the window when it came to dealing with larger organizations like a company or the government. If it was indeed a large organization, then it could be assumed that someone had ordered these people here. If they did not return, then their superiors would definitely know something was wrong.

Federal agents or not, they had to live, and they must not see me anymore than they already had.

Hopefully they didn't have a recording already. If they did, and they could somehow track me, then these hunters would only be more persistent.

I poked my head over a white fence, my route blocked by lamplight. The river was only one or two streets away. If I could get to the darkness it provided... I could keep my head down while I flew low, safe in the knowledge that any silhouette I cast would only be seen by fish. From there, it would be easy to follow the river out of the town and seek safety in the endless darkness.

A light flashed between two houses in front of me. I didn't even wait, I ducked back below the fence.

More high beams lanced through the air above me. I peered through the gaps between the fence's boards. From what little I could see, more black vans and white "company" trucks.

I cursed quietly as they parked along side the river's edge. They had to have known where I was. And how I was planning to escape.

But how?

How did they know?

It didn't take a great leap of logic to figure out how I wanted to get out, but how did they know where I was? In hindsight, it did look like they had been searching, those runners had kept looking at their watches. The vehicles had taken the first turn they could when they drove directly by. If they had a GPS location, they wouldn't have bothered with the search patterns. Which meant they only knew which direction I was in.

I could now see figures hopping out of the one truck I could clearly see.

It would not take them long to triangulate my location if there were multiple detectors.

I let slip a quiet snarl. As correct as the Other was, it didn't need to sound so cheerful.

I glanced around, hoping to find inspiration.

The best thing I could see was a bit of fence that was shrouded with a decent shadow.

Better than nothing I guess.

I climbed over the shaded bit of fence, hoping the darkness would provide some cover from prying eyes. Otherwise my best idea was to strike like lightning and flee into the night.

No it wasn't a good idea. But what choice did I really have?

But not from here. It'd be like a medieval army marching for 10 miles and then charging up a hill. Easy to spot, and even easier to break.

The new yard was shaded, although it had a distinct lack of good cover, so I cautiously prowled, keeping my head low, and taking care to keep my steps light and soundless. I skirted around a mildew infested birdbath, ducking behind the corner of a house.

One more front lawn.

I could clearly see the agents, and there was no doubt now that I could get a good look. Black "tacticool" full body armor. Batons and riot shields were common, but rifles, that were certainly not standard issue, were also prevalent. I kept expecting to see the letters "FBI" or at least "SWAT", but the armor was unmarked.

Curiouser and curiouser.

They certainly didn't belong to any gang or cartel. The soldiers were far too orderly and disciplined. Similarly, their gear was far too uniform. No, this was a government agency. They had to be. But which one? On that front there was no clear clue.

Which was a clue in on itself, knowing that the American Government frequently made use of "secret" agencies.

These people had to be from one of those "off the book" organizations.

The only remaining question, was what did they deal with? How had I tripped their alarms?

My first guess, would be something to do with aliens. Now a much less "insane" idea since I was, y'know... An alien. But that didn't necessarily answer my question.

If the U.S. government could detect some sort of "biosignature" like a radar blip, then they let way too much slip by for comfort. 'Yeah, let's put the zodiac killer's DNA into the machine, learn where they live, and then do nothing with that information.'

Absurd.

Therefor my best guess, would be something to do with magic. But that didn't make sense, according to "mainstream science", magic did not exist. Although clearly that was wrong because... Again, former human turned alien. Could that mean that the U.S. government knew about magic? If they did, would they hide it from the public?

Who was I kidding? Of course they would hide that.

Something something, keeping power out of the hands of the many to maintain the power of the few or the status quo.

I felt the tips of my ears begin to burn as my anger rose like an ancient leviathan from the sea.

The soldiers began to gather, discussing with each other too quietly for me to hear what they were about to do. But I could take a guess.

They triangulated that I was close, and were about to push forward into the residential area.

This was probably going to be my last chance to get the jump on them.

I didn't scream a war cry.

Or shout.

Or exclaim in any way.

But I charged forward as the soldiers were just beginning to form up.

I saw the eyes of the soldier, who I had chosen to knock over with my charge, widen as he saw me moving far too fast and close for comfort.

"Th-!" he started to exclaim for his fellows. But it was too late for his shins.

If I were to stand straight on my four limbs next to a regular human, my head would only reach up to their waist. Which kind of upset me a little. One of the few things I was "proud" of as Lucas, was that I tended to be at least half a foot taller than most people.

I slammed into the bottom of his riot shield, managing to slip underneath the lip without too much trouble. But doing so made me bowl into his shins, forcing him to tip forward over my charge.

I was sure I could hear him exclaim something else, but the rest of the soldiers had erupted into pandemonium, so my hearing was a blur of muddied sound.

I left the fallen man behind and jumped at his friend behind him, this one armed with one of the rifles. I still had my momentum though, and he hadn't brought his weapon to bear yet.

I slammed into both his shoulder and weapon, forcing him to fall backwards. I allowed myself to fall back down with him, landing harshly on his chest as he hit the ground.

The formation had been only two men deep. The path to the river was clear.

Pfffth!

Something suddenly stung my left shoulder.

I looked down. One of the metal darts that had embedded themselves in the tree trunk were now sticking out of my shoulder.

"Motherfu-!"

Darkness.