[ Kinship ] I am not an elf!

Jiosh-lo-hrun sat in his favorite booth in Jelly's Cafe, and lit a clove cigarette.  Staring at Five, he blew smoke in the odd man's direction.  Five didn't react.  This was the first time Jiosh had seen one of the Numbers Clan up close.  They were a reclusive group.  It was called the Numbers Clan because each member had a number tattooed on their foreheads.  Suddenly, the back of his neck tingled, and he shuddered.

"I don't like mind-speak.  Talk."  He set the cigarette in the ashtray, and poked at his salad.  Five shrugged, and held his hands palms up.  "Oh you can't speak?  Well... okay, what is it you want?"

Five pulled out a spiral notebook, and a pen.

"Questions?  you want to ask me questions?"  Five smiled and opened the notebook.  "Fine...whatever..."

Munching a slice of tomato, Jiosh grimaced.  "No, I am not an elf!"  Five winced.  "Oh sorry, I guess I thought too loud. Heh... Well, I am not from your world, oh wait, are you from the world that many here call home?  The Earth? Anyway, I am not what you would call an elf."

Taking a puff from his cig, Jiosh noticed that Five had an Uzi sitting on the seat beside him.  Nice weapon, but not too effective when fighting zombies.  He patted the sword on the table.  "This is what you need for zombies.  I can take the head clean off in one swipe."

Five, writing in his notebook, stopped, and set down his pen.  He reached behind his back and pulled out a big knife.  Jiosh had seen one like it before in the sheriff's office.  It was called a Bowie knife.

"Okay, back to your questions.  Like I said I am not an elf, I am not from Earth, I do not like it here, I don't know how I got here, this whole place seems wrong... what?  Oh, I'm almost seven feet tall.  Yes, I have pointy ears, but that doesn't make me an elf!"

Jiosh saw Five silently laughing.  "Keep it up, and I won't answer any more of your questions.  Got it?"  Five nodded.

"Oh, how did I get here?  I came through the forest.  I was in a huge battle, and things were getting bad.  I had to make a strategic withdrawal, and was pursued by a Xuctar.  What's a Xuctar?  I guess the best way to describe it in your language is... well, it's a freaking huge red magical spider."

Jiosh saw the look on Five's face, and it was his turn to laugh.  "Yes, a giant spider.  I was running fast, and when I realized I had escaped the Xuctar, I also realized I was in a strange forest.  I walked for a while, and soon found myself here... in this... town."

Five nodded, quickly taking notes.  Jiosh couldn't read the writing.  He knew it wasn't English.  In fact Jiosh realized that Five had used his native language when mind-speaking with him.  Maybe the Numbers Clan didn't speak English?  Whatever the case, mind-speaking was giving him a headache.

"Well, I really need to get back to my post.  Wandering zombies won't kill themselves... well not usually."  He finished his salad, and picked up his sword.  "I've got to go, yeah, we can continue this later."

***

This forest was dangerous... different... delicious... much prey... As soon as the female Xuctar laid the last of her eggs, she would molt one last time, and the hunt for the pale one would continue.  She knew the pale one was close, and there were others... food which her offspring would need, otherwise they would turn on each other.

This was her last hunt, but her offspring would continue her legacy.