Brave New World Chapter 9: Friends?👽

[Some Time in the Past]

"Ann, that guy has been following us, since we left the campus." Caroline whispered in my ear.

"You are overthinking, Care. Maybe he is headed to the subway, just like us?" I tried to reason.

"Maybe, but why does he keep pointing at us?" She asked. I could feel her getting colder with fear as she gripped my arm, "I forgot my pepper spray, please tell me you have yours."

"Of course I do." I didn't, but she needed to be reassured. All I could think was, that there were two of us and he was alone. We could take him down if he truly was trying something he shouldn't with us.

"Ann, he is catching up." She gripped my arm tighter and increased the pace.

"Care, sweetie, Do you have a pen in that bag of yours?" I asked.

"Yes?" She responded confused.

"Keep it in your hand if you are so scared. If worse comes to worst, you lodge it hard in thing or arm, okay?" I tried to prepare her.

"Ann! I can't do that!" She exclaimed.

"Well, you better, cuz he really is catching up and I lied about the pepper spray." I too had begun feeling a little threatened. I could see his reflection in the shiny posters around us, he really was pointing at us.

"What?" She looked wide-eyed alarmed at me, just as the guy finally caught up with us.

He put his hand on my shoulder huffing awful breath, without thinking, I lodged my elbow in his stomach as Caroline screamed and backed away from us. The man doubled over in pain. He didn't get up but Caroline suddenly gained the confidence to come closer and kneel down in front of him. He was holding something in his hand which Caroline took and he gave willingly.

Turned out he was just a very nice homeless guy, who had seen Caroline drop her phone as we exited college and has been following us to return it.

I had never felt more guilty in my life.

#

[Present Time]

Herbert Nathan from New Jersey held a deadly dagger in his hand as he advanced at a shocking speed toward me. Kicking all my survival instincts to action I brought the knife in my hand to defend myself from the fourteen-year-old's attack, who was going straight for my head.

We both screamed.

I knew I was successful in cutting the flesh of his arm slightly but the head wound I had been anticipating never came. I had my eyes tightly closed as I heard a screech near my left ear and Herbert hissed,

"What the heck Anara? Why are you attacking me? ugh! Tsk."

I slowly opened my eyes to see his right arm bleeding slightly below the armpit while I was safe. The dagger from his hand now stood to my left at my eye-level, slicing a huge tarantula-ish creature that might've stung me.

Realization struck!

"You saved my life." I breathed, not believing the terrifying creature, making me cringe involuntarily.

"You're welcome." He almost spat at me, "You're not as smart as I gave you credit for." He groaned in pain as I was at a loss for words.

"I'm so sorry. I thought that you-"

"- was an alien psychopath who abducted you, then saved you, and now wanted to kill you?"

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water, not knowing how to respond. So I lay silent and feeling guilty. When I didn't reply he asked exasperated,

"Wait! You actually thought that?"

I looked up to see so much hurt and ridiculous in his expression but I still could not form any words.

"God! I can't believe you Anara! seriously? From where do I give the psychopathic alien vibes?"

I opened my mouth in vain again but he interrupted, "You know what? Don't answer that!"

But I had seriously pissed him off and the poor kid had a gash on his arm because of me, so he decided to vent and I let him.

"I knew you didn't trust me. I wouldn't trust a random stranger if I met them here too. Heck, I didn't trust you either, but still, I saved you. I picked you up and dragged you here and disinfected you and cleaned your wounds and got rid of every creature eating you alive and salved you up and This is what I get as a pay-back!"

He took a deep breath as he started washing away blood and cleaning his own wound, then resumed, "You know what? I'm glad I couldn't introduce you to Kia, she is a super-smart biochemist and she deserves better people in her life than you."

He stopped to use a strange fluorescent liquid on his cut and then continued, "The moment you are up on your feet, you and I are parting ways for good. I can't believe I was an idiot enough to save a complete stranger. I've told you so much about me and I don't know anything about you and still, I ignored that red flag!"

After that, he did not speak until he had successfully patched himself up, and even after that he sat opposite to me, facing the fire, and started picking small black balls from the center of it. I could barely sit up and felt guilty enough to not say anything and let the kid cool down before I started.

After about half an hour of silence and him picking black balls from the fire and then peeling them to reveal off-white creamy paste from inside, I finally spoke,

"It was my elder sister's baby shower." He looked at me confused so I resumed,

"When a spotlight from a cloud elevated me from the ground as I blacked out and woke up in two rooms. One empty, other with food and clothes and the backpack. With that, I found myself in this death trap that I have been trying to escape for like a week." I took a deep breath as he waited for me to continue, expressionless, still pissed,

"I am sorry for how I reacted. But after the week I had, where everything that I saw or not, was trying to kill me. I am sorry that I come across the first human being and I am paranoid and suspicious. I didn't see that thing, all I saw was a stranger kid lunging at my head with a dagger when I was not even able to sit up properly, what else was I supposed to do?"

He remained silent so I added, "All I can tell you is, I am sorry. And thank you for saving my life."

"Again!" He added.

I looked at him, surprised he talked to me and not angrily, he clarified, "I saved your life again, that's you twice owing your life to me!" I could see a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. I nodded gladly, "Yep!"

Then I asked hesitating, "So? Friends?"

He nodded, offering me one of the white cream balls, "If you promise to never attack me before knowing the full story again."

"Deal." I smiled and took what was supposed to be our dinner, glad that he smiled back but winced making me still feel guilty.

The night fell sooner than anticipated. Herbert sat knitting as before, though slower due to the gash I gifted and I sat thinking about the days that I had. The cream balls we had earlier were actually some sort of hard-shelled fruit that needed to be cooked hard and long so the shell can be separated from the soft-white-sugary-inner pulp. He had found that out by accident, like everything else here. Lightning had struck the tree of these fruits and turned all the hard-shelled fruits into edible ones as the whole tree was ashified.

I was so confused about this whole place and the kid seemed to have more information and experience than I did, so I asked, "Herbert, how did you find me? I mean, how long were you in this forest to be able to build this shelter and then go saving two people?"

He looked at me for a second then stopped knitting and shrugged, "Nearly a fortnight."

"How did you manage to keep your head? You're just a teenager. I am an adult and I've bawled my eyes out uncountably embarrassing times." I asked genuinely curious.

"Well, apart from the fact that Kia and I lived alone since our parents died years ago. Kia practically brought me up. I was just 6 then. I didn't keep my head. I've lost it just as many times as you, possibly more."

"I doubt that." I told sarcastically.

"No, seriously. You're right, I'm just a kid!"

"Well, let me tell you and promise me you won't tell your sister when you meet her, once we are out of here, that I, am a Grown Baby!"

He laughed in my face as I looked at him partially sober.

"I mean it, Herb!"

"Herb? seriously?"

"What? HN or HB isn't that inviting and I couldn't make a proper nickname. Plus, you've been calling me Ann as well."

"So you thought Herb was the best idea?"

"O com'on!"

"Fine whatever!" He laughed and we laughed together.

I realized it had been almost a week since I last smiled, let alone laughed. It felt nice. I felt a slight shimmer of hope inside me. Maybe we could find a way out together and be reunited with our families. Surely three people missing in such a strange manner must be reported and looked for.

I felt a strange connection with Herbert. He was a sweet, funny kid and possibly more intelligent than I. He shared loads of stuff he knew about the jungle and I shared my own experiences. I told him about my family and he told me about his sister whom he idolized. I never had a younger sibling, I was used to being the youngest in the household but there with Herbert, it felt nice. He was possibly more mature than me, given his independent lifestyle. Compared to him I felt like a real kid in dire need of adult help. He seemed to be doing just fine on his own. He even saved two people.

The fire kept us warm for the night. He changed my moss (which he kept calling lichen, though it was totally different than that) on knee-joint, which had shrunk back to its normal size from swelling and pain had exponentially subsided. I changed to my thermoregulatory garments and was able to finally quench my thirst and hunger from Herbert's supplies. He promised that in the morning he would teach me everything he knew that helped him survive and even take me to his water source and how he extracts water from there.

I went to sleep feeling relaxed and hopeful of surviving this wretched place with Herbert by my side. The thought of seeing my family again made me impatient and giddy. It was a nice feeling though and I dreamt of hugging my mom and sister.

I was woken by loud growls. I opened my eyes to the dark. Herbert must've put out the fire. But that was not what bothered me. It was the odor of dried blood coming from the other side of the netting of our camp. I felt shuffling beside me and then Herbert whispered quite close to my ear,

"We need to run, take what you can and climb the closest tree as high as your knee allows, it must have healed by now."

I was about to question but another howl closer put me straight to my feet. Fair enough, my knee felt good as new.

He again whispered, "Let's split up. Whatever it is, it is alone and won't be able to chase both of us."

I wanted to argue but he was already running away with his backpack and a small fire he had just lit up. He shouted at me as he went, "Be quick, I am the diversion. See you in the morning here Ann, Run!"

That brought me out of my shock as I heard paws running in Herbert's direction. I quickly took what he left and zipped my backpack running in the opposite direction. I had two thoughts in my head,

First, Herbert Nathan was ready to sacrifice himself for my sake, he tried to save me again.

And Second, I was being chased as well and needed to climb a tree fast.

**Author's note:

What do you guys think of Herbert? Will he make it?**