FIRST STRANGE ENCOUNTER

Maria had been through a lot by that point, and so had Matt, their encounter in the middle of nowhere, in a meadow that connected to plains that later became desert-like but still harbored natural spaces like that one, was unconventional. Maria and her grandfather Gerald lived in a place far removed from other people, trying to survive away from GUN, meanwhile, Matt was on the run from them like a nomad. Maria used to gaze at the starry night hoping to see Shadow again, and in her mind, lost in her thoughts, when she saw someone unusual approaching, she mistook Matt for Shadow, or at least for a hedgehog, Matt responded with a touch of humor that he was just a "human," when the reality was more complicated than that.