He found himself rooted to the spot, held back by the alarm etched in her body language, the fear that had seeped into his veins leaving him immobilized. His instincts screamed at him to follow her, to seek answers to the questions rapidly piling up in his mind. But the sight of her, a silhouette against the fading sunlight, engrossed in a conversation clearly of significant importance, held him back.
The words that drifted back to him were snatches of a puzzle too complex for him to comprehend. Phrases like “metallic skin” and “national threat” hung in the air, their meanings ominous and shrouded in uncertainty. Each word wrapped around his heart like a vice, tightening with each heartbeat, his mind racing to make sense of the situation.