Chapter 3: Chapter 2: A new day in the new world
It seemed slow, as if the blood was unable to flow freely. Instead it slithered down what was once a face as fast as a snail might. As it reached his ear gravity pulled it down the empty space below and it dropped onto the stone pavement. It didn't take long for a pool to form.
With an open palm flat against the cold stone, Seras pushed herself back. She started with just her hands, then finally began using her legs. Slipping, she fell back .The ground hurt, but she said nothing.
Above the broken man the cloaked figure turned towards her. The hand that had been so big it had easily wrapped around the dead man's face was now picking up the discarded bottle of rum. Despite its size the steps were silent..
The figure spoke. With blood pounding in her ears she couldn't hear a word, not that she would have understood it. Mouth dry, was raw, she managed a feeble shout. "Stay away from me!"
The figure stopped. Maybe, somehow, she knew those English words. But even a dog knows when it's told to stop. She was screaming her words, and the meaning of a scream wasn't hard to interpret that way.
Throat raw, she couldn't manage another shout.. The figure took another step forward. They were slow, as if testing the ice on a frozen lake.
Legs giving out, unable to go back any more, she closed her eyes and faced away, waiting for the figure to end it.
Nothing happened.
Finally curiosity pried open her eyes. She saw her bottle standing beside her. Knees bent, the figure lowered themselves, holding out a hand for Seras. She looked between the bottle and the figure. Swallowing, she took the bottle and unscrewed the lid, taking in a mouthful. It burned on the way down. It tasted as bad as alcohol always did, but it also tasted sweet, like a dream filling her up. The spinning got worse. The ringing got worse. Her mind then followed its simple rules, finding the best way to cope. It shut down.
Weather it was the alcohol, or the shock, or something else, she woke up with no sense of the time. Her eyes opened to a gentle swaying of the road for just a few seconds, before the darkness returned. They opened again to a a face before her, dark eyes looking back. It had horns, close enough to poke her eyes out, or at least give that feeling. Eyes rolling back, this time she stayed out for much longer, slept for the first time in the new world, anything but ready to face next day.
Her body exhausted, the light playing across her face was not enough to make her stir. Her mind was worn out from going from one shock to another, and the whole way the day ended. When she finally started to return to consciousness, it came against her will.
Keeping her eyes shut, she woke in a daze.The card from Chaz, and whether it meant something. The mess her cat made every other day. Her patents' distance. The job offers and David, and how maybe it was worth staying for him. He was kind to a fault, mild and soft. It had been so easy to get him wrapped around her with just a little guilt. It was a wonder he had his job. But then, he was strict to the rules and ran things effectively. A slightly fat, balding pushover, who was almost ten years her age. Maybe there could be some charm, in a man like that. The thought made her shudder, making her take a note to go out more.
Her eyes drifted open. It wasn't her bed. Some part of her noted how it didn't feel right, but it had been filed away and ignored. But now the confirmation was clear. A small brick room, perfectly drab even with light shining through the window. Aside from the bed, the room was empty. The only features were a window and the wooden door, open ajar. There were no sheets on her for her to push back. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she felt the stiffness of her clothes. She still had her flannel, the crop top, and her khakis. Her shoes were off, same with her socks. No matter where she looked, they were nowhere in sight.
Stepping onto the cold floor, she took an anxious step towards the door. The closer she got, the more she could here an indistinct buzzing. Taking hold of the handle, she edged the door back, revealing a room similar to what she was in, only larger with three other doors and three tables. One was more of a bench, most likely for cooking. The other was wooden, long and crude with stools resting beneath it. The last was the smallest, large enough only for the device it held. It looked different to what she remembered, but she could clearly place what it was. Her mother used to love them, buying two and spending way too much time looking at them in every antique shop they passed. An old sewing machine, far outdated now, far more iron than plastic. Sitting behind the machine was a tall woman, hunched before it, working intently. She didn't react at all to Seras.
The unfamiliar building, the old machine, and the strange look to the woman sent the previous night flooding back to her, everything that had happened with the man and the clocked figure. The taste of vomit made itself known in her mouth, and she couldn't tell if she only just realised it was there, or her mind was conjuring it from the memory. She took an involuntary step back into the room, her head swirling. Falling back onto the bed, she cupped her head in her hands. They started to feel wet. She hadn't realised she was crying.
Seras sat there for a long moment, unsure how much time was passing her by. She stayed there until her stomach growled, and she knew that one way or another, she'd need to find food. Not that starvation seemed as bad a way to go, at least not anymore. Only a day earlier she would have put it as her least preferred method of dying, right over burning. Now that seemed almost peaceful compared to what happened last night. Willing her legs to stand, she pushed back to the other room.
Two of the doors were on the same wall as the one she came from, while the last was on the opposite wall. Before it was a pair of rugged boots, and beside those were her runners, with her socks stuffed inside them. With careful steps she snuck towards them. She made it three steps before a voice came to her from the old sawing machine. Staying still, frozen mid step, she turned her eyes hard to the side to see the woman as she spun in her chair, looking directly at Seras. She saw the horns protruding from her forehead, and the black iris's, and wanted to go faint all over. Instead she swallowed hard as the woman spoke.
Of course she couldn't understand what she said. Waking up and being in the home of someone who understood English would have been way too good to be true. The phonetically structure was the same as every other person she had heard in this world. It meant nothing. But it held her in place. The door was so close, and she could leave in only a few seconds. It would take a few more to get her shoes on, but even without it she couldn't leave. Not while the woman talked.. Some part of her held her in place.
As the woman spoke a crunching sound resounded outside. Instantly it took Seras' attention. It took the woman's as well. It was getting closer as footsteps came right to the door beside her. Then it opened, and a tall hooded figure framed the doorway. The same figure from last night stood in the rain. The rain was soft, enough so that only when she saw it did Seras even realise it was there. Bending down, the figure undid their boots and stepped inside and pulled down the hood.
Underneath was a face lodged in Seras' memory. She'd seen it before, but couldn't place it. Like the woman, she was part of the devil people. But she was clearly young, at least for them. Then the face clicked into place. Before the execution, she had seen a girl crying by the fountain. The tears were gone, but the girl was the same. She smiled to Seras softly, walking past to the room Seras had woken in. When she came back out a second later the cloak was gone. Her hair fell in bronze curls so tight and defined that had she held a lock out, she could have slid a pencil between without touching the sides. Her skin was tanned lightly, and the colour in her eyes was a bright green.
The woman said something to her, and the girl bit something back. The only thing Seras could understand was the subject of their conversation from the way their hands pointed towards her. Feeling herself shrink into the corner, Seras edged ever so slightly towards the door. As the woman threw her hands up the girl rushed to Seras' side and took her hand. With a forceful tug she brought her to the table and onto the seat. Once Seras was seated, the girl went to the only cupboard and pulled out a jar and a bowel. She put both before Seras before going to a box against the wall. As she pulled up the lid a cold air came out. From it she pulled another jar, this one taller but skinner.
Everything looked weird and wrong, but there was a part of it that made sense. Pouring in the flakes from the first jar, followed by the white liquid of the second, she pushed the bowel to Seras and gave a spoon. Her eyes lingered on the girl, who nodded to her encouragingly. Taking the spoon, Seras dipped it into the bowel and took it to her mouth. The milk was milk, a little sweeter, less thin than the light milk she bought at home, but it was clearly milk. The flakes tasted like what she imagined all flakes tasted like. It was hard to tell when she hadn't eaten any since she was a child.
The first bite stirred her hunger, and quickly she set into devouring the bowel. The girl sat opposite her, leaning on her massive elbows. "Manji, de?"
Seras stopped eating, facing her with her mouth open slightly with a frown creeping on. Then, as if realising she'd made a massive mistake, the girl shook her head and held her palm to her forehead. With her hand she gave a five-finger point back to the bowel. Taking it to mean eat, Seras went back to doing so. She felt the hunger die slowly. It was what she loved about milk, it always filled her up. Sometimes if she was running late for work she'd make a glass of milk and it lasted her a fair while. The problem was that it wore off faster than solid breakfasts, but it did wonders in the moment to sate her grumbling stomach. It was all she could do not to lift the bowel to her mouth and pour it down.
When the last spoon entered her mouth the girl was quick to take it away to what was probably a cooking bench, only to quickly return to take Seras arm again and pull her to the door. She gave the time to put on her shoes, watching in fascination as she tied on the shoelaces. Then she pushed outside, and when Seras followed into the drizzle she could see a farm sprawl out from her. Crops covered the ground where they could, but there was also a lot of dirt. Unlike the farms she knew from when she was growing up where they littered her suburb and many of the long distance drives, this wasn't on a plain. Instead it was on a mountain side, and there were almost no place where you could walk ten meters without having to step up or down. She didn't know much about farming, less about the world she was in, but she could still tell one thing. This place was suffering.
The girl's fingers were large enough to wrap all the way around Seras' arm. She pulled her lower across the farmland. She counted all the people she saw. Thirteen, all working the fields and covered in dirt. They looked exhausted, and by any reckoning she could use it was still early in the day. She brought her lower in the fields until they could go no more. There was a drop far too large to go down, and an old fence blocking them from it. It was just like the first one she saw. It possible was the same one, far further along the path, far less up kept.
The view of the sun was beautiful. The view of the lake was magnificent. She'd forgotten about it, it's turquoise water reflecting the sun. Their view was almost facing it directly. It was so much bigger than before, and so much clearer. She could just see a road starting up the mountain. It disappeared from view, but it seemed pretty clear that it was the path they were on, and had been on since the start.
There had been a pretty clear divide in the places she's seen. The first part looked so much older, the second part looked like it had started the industrialisation process, while this part looked like a forlorn section for peasants to live. If the street lights were anything to go off, the middle part was the wealthiest.
The top could have represented being higher and above others. The bottom could have been more practical, closer to travel and closer to the lake. Then again, maybe up was better for travel depending what was on the other side. But for the middle to be the best meant that it was purely the soil that determined the wealth. Here there was room for farming, but not good conditions. If nowhere else could do it at all, it made sense to relegate this area to that one job. And up high was too narrow, there would be no way to fit more houses, or better houses, up there. The middle had space, but not enough to farm. It made sense, thinking that way, for that distribution of wealth. Implying she was measuring off the right things. She would need to ask someone, but that returned her to the very first problem.
The girl didn't say anything, she just stood there looking over the horizon. The wind played in her hair, lightly brushing it back. She watched Seras, waiting to see how she reacted. When she turned from the horizon to face her, the girl smiled widely. She said something. A second later she said it again, this time slower. It was the way you speak to a child. Or sometimes a foreigner. "Min. Abigail. Hes." She kept repeating it, always pointing to herself when she said the middle word.
It was a familiar word. A name she had heard back on earth. She didn't know anyone ever with it, but she knew it existed. Like the name John. It was a well known name, but there was never a person in her life with it. John was at least common enough in movies. For the life of her, she couldn't work out why she knew the name. It could have been a coincidence, but the way she pointed to herself narrowed its potential meanings down. Unless she's a troll.
"You, Abigail?"
She responded with that same slow speech. It probably didn't help much, it wouldn't change the language divide. She added a point, her finger almost touching her as she asked. Her smile widening, she nodded. "De, Abigail."
There were two logical options. Either Abigail was the girls name, or her species name. Or the troll option. Deciding giving herself more information was the only way to find out, she pointed to one of the closest people. The closest was similar in size to the girl, so she chose someone else. He was older, and a man. "Him, Abigail?"
Losing her smile, she shook her head. It must have made her look dumb. Hindsight told her she probably could have just pointed. It would have given the same result without making it look like she didn't really understand. Pointing to herself, the girl repeated "Abigail." She then pointed to the man and said "Berick."
If Abigail meant woman, she would have said yes. If it meant their species, she would have said yes. If it meant young, she would have said yes. She clearly denied the man being Abigail, so it meant something about her and not him. That logic also disqualified farmer. Unless she wasn't a farmer at all. The only thing that was clear was that learning would be a very long process. Returning the gesture, Seras pointed to herself. "Seras."
Abigail tried out the name. She said it slowly, as if not sure how to say the words. She left out the 'e'. Deciding it was good enough, Seras shrugged and nodded.
The girl, who for better or worse Seras decided would be Abigail until she indicated otherwise, pointed to herself, then to Seras. Then, with a large sweeping movement, she swung her arm out across the lake and to its edge. She kept repeating the motion.
Pointing just to her would have said she was from there, pointing just to Seras would mean was she from there. Pointing at both meant something including them both. The only thing that came to her mind was going there.
Frowning, Seras replicated Abigail's movements, adding one extra after pointing to herself. Two legs walking across her hand. Language barrier or not, she couldn't fathom that movement being mistaken. She hoped the frown was enough to show she was questioning it. Abigail nodded.
Looking back to the corner of the lake where a forest grew around, Seras noticed something beyond that. Amongst all the green and blue, there was white and brown and black. She had to squint, which didn't help at all beyond placebo. But she was sure of it, that there was a city. Not like what she was used to, but bigger than the mountain road. And if there was a city there would be more people. And the more people there were, the more likely one of them knew English. Maybe no one in the world didn't, but if someone did, it was her best choice to go there. Especially if Abigail was going to take her. She saw firsthand what she could do if they ran into trouble.
Smiling, Seras held out her hand to Abigail. She didn't take it, just looked curiously at it. Seras put it down, and smiled awkwardly. It was enough to make her wonder if nodding and shaking meant what she thought they did. If not, her whole understanding was already wrong.
— New chapter is coming soon — Write a review
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone