So many ocs...

Josh huddled in the bushes, shivering in the too light jacket. Not just from the evening chill.

Mommy told him to run when the monsters came after the car broke down. Daddy... daddy went to work but never came back. He wished deep in his little heart that his big sister and Grandma and Grandpa didn't hate him like Mommy hated them.

A scream broke the silence of the wood. It sounded close! It sounded like Mommy but hurt and scared. The little boy took off deeper into the woods. Away from the screams and crashes. He really, really wanted to go to Mommy but… She’d— she’d said to run and not to look back.  

Josh really wished he hadn't.

The monsters were too big, with too many limbs.  Giants with wings, and octopus arms, and too many eyes.  Far too many eyes. 

Josh shot out of the bushes and ran, and ran, and ran. Deep into the silent wood until his little legs tripped. He tumbled down a hill through scratchy bushes. When he finally skidded to a stop he climbed into the hollow of a tree to hide as the last of the light faded. He shivered there listening as the screams faded off into the distance.

The night was so, so dark in the woods.  Dark and horribly quiet.  Josh remembered Aunt Rose telling him that the woods at night shouldn’t be quiet. That the birds and the bugs and the animals only went completely quiet when there was something dangerous hunting.  Eventually the night got noisy once Mommy stopped screaming– the screams stopped. 

Josh looked out from his hollow in the tree when something bright and green caught his eyes. The Glowing green eyes of a Giant Robot looked in his hollowed out nest.  The glow reflected weirdly off of his glasses.  It was definitely Giant cause he was way up in the tree, way higher  than Mommy or Daddy or his big sister was tall.  Josh curled up deeper into the hollow and closed his eyes.  If he couldn’t see the Giant Robot, the Giant Robot couldn’t see him. Right?

He shook at the hissing clanking sounds the Robot made.  First monsters, now Giant Robots? Tears welled up and fogged up his glasses.

"You seem lost little one, is there someone I can call to help you get home?" Josh cracked his eyes open.  The Robot wasn’t a robot.  It was a man.  A giant man in armor with a scarred face and eyes that glowed with many swirling colors.  But his deep voice was gentle. Soft and kind. Not the too sweet fake tones of grown ups putting on a show of being nice.  Josh stared hard at the giant.  He wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers, but monsters weren’t supposed to attack on the road either.  The teacher said when bad things happened you needed to find a responsible adult to help though.  The giant looked  concerned, and he was asking if Josh had grown ups that could come for him.  That was responsible adult behavior.  His sister’s one friend’s dad had a Giant friend.  Py’tar was nice, even though his red eyes were kinda scary.  Maybe this Giant was nice too.

“Mom’s car broke down. There were monsters. Can you help?” Josh squirmed to the edge of the hole to climb down.  Large warm hands caught him as he started to slip.

“I will see what I can do to help,” Otran says, pausing, monsters could refer to all kinds of things- including Space Marines. “Which way is your mom’s car?”