Alien

Boyd had invited him, and Ryan had no reason to refuse.

He had only just arrived and wanted to get to know the town.

They stepped outside into golden sunlight. People walked along the road, their faces showing the relief of having survived the night.

Boyd looked around. "Looks like last night was peaceful after all."

He was right. There were no signs of casualties on the street. Ryan followed Boyd down the road. "You survive every night like this. When does it end?"

"When we die." Boyd said it with an easy smile.

He led Ryan along the roadside. There were no cars, only green lawns beside the road.

Detached houses in a European style stood on the lawns. Whenever Boyd ran into a resident, they exchanged a few greetings.

The town was so quiet and peaceful that morning, it was hard to imagine how troubled the night before had been.

Boyd turned to him. "Ryan, it's a little late to say this, but welcome."

"You said you hated outsiders."

"That was before. You strike me as someone who can make himself at home anywhere."

"..."

"What do you think of the town?"

"It looks like a town."

"That's hardly an answer."

Boyd complained as they stopped outside a house. He looked up at its window.

It was an ordinary glass window, the kind that slid upward to let in air.

But that ordinary window was enough to make Boyd knock on the door.

Ryan stayed where he was. After walking this far with Boyd, he had begun to understand the place.

Night aside, the town was relaxed and quiet. So quiet that it reminded Ryan of how people back home described a place cut off from the world.

Peach Blossom Spring.

A place with no fighting and little