Banished Pt. 02

"No kill," I repeated, displaying my hands. "No kill."

This was kind of bad.

I had the only weapon, and if something happened to me, Cameron would be defenseless.

I didn't sense hostility, but this... person, or creature, or whatever it was seemed scared.

If they attacked; could I reach my knife in time?

I took a cautious step toward the bush, still holding my hands up, and now that I was closer, I could clearly make out what appeared to be the face of a young boy, his features very much that of an ordinary human's, with the exception of his skin which was a hue of pale green.

Was that camouflage?

"Help?" I offered, indicating subtly, towards myself, and at this, the boy's ears perked up in response.

"Help. Yes, help!"

He seemed excited, and for a moment, I had no idea if he wanted help, or if he was excited to help me.

He stepped forward, but some movement from Cameron spooked him again.

"No kill, Auslander. No kill, please."

He cowered, almost to the floor, and I studied the reaction with interest.

Casey wasn't kidding.

We must be monsters to these people.

"No kill," I offered again. "Promise."

His ears perked up at this again, and I hoped that meant that he understood.

"Friend," I said, indicating to Cameron, and the boy's eyes darted between us, before he gave a nod, indicating, I hoped, that he understood.

I signaled to Cameron, and she began to walk, cautiously, over to me.

"This is not what I was expecting," she whispered, as soon as she was next to me.

"Really? I mean, you did see the message."

She sighed.

"Can they even be of use to us," she asked, and I nodded.

"If they have a village, and they're willing to offer us shelter, then they might as well be our fucking saviors," I replied.

The boy was studying us with a conflicted expression, when suddenly, I remembered the note.

"Lemme see the note for a sec," I said, and Cameron, slowly, retrieved the item from the pouch that was slung across her chest.

"Message?" I asked, holding the note up, and at this, the young boy's face brightened.

"Ahh. Einladung! Yes, Auslander."

Wait, wasn't that German?

Invitation, I think, right?

He began speaking quickly, much too quickly for me to understand, and I signaled for him to slow down.

Well, my German might be rusty, but guess I'll give it a go.

"Uh, this was an invitation?" I asked, in what I was certain was terribly pronounced German, and Cameron shot me a questioning stare.

"Ja. Yes, Auslander. Einladung!"

He began speaking again, too rapidly for me to understand, so I cut in-

"Slowly, uh- langsam?" I said, hoping I'd remembered the right word, and again, he nodded, and began speaking a lot more slowly.

"What the fuck is going on," Cameron asked, her frustration getting the better of her.

"He's speaking German, I think... or something like it. It's weird, just- hold on."

The boy spoke, and I listened, trying my best to understand.

"It sounds like this was an invitation. I'm not sure I get it. I think he said his uh... 'Garbung'? I think it is, sent this in the hopes that we would meet with him."

"What's 'Garbung'? Something in German?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"If it is, it's a word I've never heard. It could be a title, or something from a different language."

"Why would it be a different language?" Cameron asked.

"That's the weird thing. Some of the words he's speaking are German, but some of the words aren't at all, and there's some English in between. Have you ever heard of Patois?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Patois. It's spelled like, P-a-t-o-i-s, but pronounced, pat-wa."

"No. What is that?"

"During French colonization of the Caribbean, the slaves developed a language that incorporated the French that they were forced to learn, with the grammar and sentence structure of their native languages. The languages blended more and more over time, until it became basically its own unique language."

"Weird segue, but okay..."

"Sorry. This language is basically like that. German, mixed with some English, and something else that I don't understand at all.

"By the way, can we address the fact that you speak fucking German?" Cameron asked, and I chuckled.

"That's a long story," I replied.

The young boy was now looking between us with a worried expression, so I figured it was time to get back to the task at hand.

"Will you take us to your, uh, Garbung?" I asked him in German, and he quickly nodded in response.

He began to climb the hill, though making sure to keep very low, and we followed, carefully behind.

As he got to the top of the hill, he signaled for us to wait, as he climbed the rest of the way on his stomach.

He took a proper look around, then after he was satisfied that the way was clear, he stood up, and I noted, now that I could finally see him standing properly, that he stood just under five feet tall.

He appeared to be young, like, maybe the equivalent of a twelve-year-old human.

"Diesen weg," he called, as he pointed to us to an adjacent hill.

We walked, and as we got to the hill, the boy stopped, then began to stomp around a particular spot.

As soon as he hit a spot which produced a hollow sound, he stopped, and I watched with interest as he lifted what appeared to be a somewhat flat rock, covered with tufts of grass that were designed to look like the rest of the hill face.

He pointed towards the hole, and I shot Cameron a worried look.

"Fuck me, we have no lights," I muttered, and she frowned.

"This seems risky," she said, a worried look on her face.

"If you want, you can head back, and get the rest of the group to meet up here, maybe?"

"And if you don't come back, we wait?"

I shook my head in response.

"There's a patch of woods over the hills, in that direction," I said, indicating as subtly as I could. "If I'm not here, by say, four hours to sundown, head that way and find a place to make camp. Just make sure to plan your purchases. Spend everything, get at least three weapons, and as much supplies as you can."

Cameron studied me, a strange look on her face, until she let out a sigh.

"Fuck it, let's just see where this goes," she replied, and I shrugged.

"Well then, ladies first?" I touted, and she rolled her eyes at me.

She stepped up, then climbed carefully into the hole, which was quite spacious enough for an average sized person.

The green boy nodded to me, and as I followed her down, he came in, though, from what I could tell, he seemed to be closing the space with the rock, as he climbed in.

He struggled for a bit, then the light disappeared as the rock went into place with a dull 'thud', but as the sunlight disappeared, I noticed, with curiosity, that I could still see.

"Is it just me, or is there some kind of light in here," Cameron asked, and I nodded, looking around as I did.

We seemed to be in a hollowed-out space, large enough for about five people to stand comfortably, and the space lead to a narrower corridor, which, like the larger space, wasn't exactly a tight squeeze.

"Diesen weg," the boy said again, and we followed him as he led us down the corridor, though as we walked, I noticed that boy still seemed on edge.

Strange, I thought. If they built this passageway, shouldn't it be safe?

I considered enquiring about the peculiarity, when the boy suddenly froze, and he put a hand up to stop us.

Cameron and I came to a halt, and as we stood silently, I suddenly noticed that Cameron had grabbed ahold of my hand.

We waited, our eyes on the boy, until suddenly, his expression changed.

"Auslander. Kill?" he said, and Cameron's hand quickly tightened around my own.

I tilted my head, feeling confused, until the boy indicated ahead, but as I looked on, I saw nothing.

I kept my gaze forward, straining my eyes to see, until finally my eyesight began to adjust to the darkness, and then I saw it.

A large creature.

If I didn't know I was on another planet, I would have immediately guessed that it was a bear, but whether or not earth animals even existed here, I didn't yet know.

The creature, nonetheless, was hairy and large, standing about as tall as the tunnel was.

Seven feet, maybe?

It cut an imposing form, and as I studied the scene, I saw that it seemed to be occupied with something on the floor.

"Do you see it?" I whispered to Cameron, and as she did, her hand went to her mouth as she muffled a shriek.

She nodded.

"What do we do?" she asked, and I now noted that the boy seemed to be looking at me, expectantly, a confused look on his face.

Fuck.

We were supposed to be super-monsters, weren't we?

I reached towards the knife on my back, and traced its length around its sheath.

The blade's unique sharpness would no doubt slice the creature with ease, but was its length enough to make a thorough enough slice?

On a good note, it was short enough that I could swing it within the tunnel's narrow space.

There was no doubt.

I would have to go for it.

I withdrew the blade slowly, and as I did, I could see the young boy's eyes light up.

He shrank back, giving me room to move forward, and as I did, I felt Cameron's hands, clinging to me.

I looked back, and she shook her head, her face frightful.

She bit her hand, and as she looked forward, I followed her gaze to where the creature was, and now I saw that its head was visible, as it bit into... something, on the floor, with rows of wicked looking teeth.

Shit.

This was the moment.

I shook her hands off of me, then moved my hand slowly in the arc that I imagined I would have to swing, making sure I had enough room to deliver the blow.

Then, without another word I dashed forward as fast as I could.

Shit.

How far away am I?

Too far idiot! I thought, as the creature looked up, clearly catching sight of me.

But whether it was the assurance it felt in its space, or the lack of danger it perceived from me, it seemed to barely move, only growling as I neared it, and I swung, my blow aimed at the neck.

Did it land? I thought.

As I sliced through, I skidded to a halt, but a new thought suddenly occurred to me.

Shit, what if it swipes at me with those claws?

I immediately leapt several feet back, but the counter strike I anticipated didn't come, and instead a stream of blood burst from its hide, and the creature slumped to the ground, its body twitching as it bled out.

I stood in spot, a feeling of exhilaration rushing through me, and as I looked back at Cameron, I remember the feeling she'd described after threatening Casey this earlier in the day.

Was this what she meant?

I wasn't sure.

But fuck, if it didn't feel good.

As the creature went still, the green boy rushed past me, examining it, a stream of exclamations coming forth, as he stared between the creature's corpse and my blade.

"Holy shit, you killed it," Cameron breathed.

She placed a hand on me as she looked over my shoulder, studying the scene.

"You actually killed it."

As I stared at the creature, I held the knife up, glancing over at Cameron.

Sure, I may have killed it, but that was ninety percent the weapon, and ten percent me.

"What're you doing?" Cameron asked, as I approached the dead creature, knife drawn.

"We're supposed to collect energy cores from these things, aren't we?"

I tried to turn the creature over, but it was heavier than I imagined, and Cameron rolled her eyes as I shot her a 'wanna help?' look.

After some effort, we got it lying face up, and I examined the body with interest.

Where would the energy core be?

My first instinct was at the heart, so I sliced the blade along the chest, but after making several incisions, all I found was flesh, bone, and organ.

The little green boy was studying us with interest, and as I glanced at him, he gestured to his left wrist.

I studied the spot, where the implant in my hand undoubtedly lay, but the boy gestured to the same spot on the creature, and I suddenly understood.

Quickly, I made an incision along the length of the creature's forearm, and Cameron gasped as we caught sight of the glowing, blue thing.

"Are you serious?" she breathed, as I dug the thing out, then held it up.

The external shell was hard, but smooth like glass, and inside, a series of rings of varying sizes seemed to be in perpetual orbit around the objects core, as little pulses emanated from it.

I passed the object to Cameron, and she studied it with serious interest.

"How much do you think it's worth?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"We'll find out when we get back, I guess."

She offered it to me, and I shook my head, pointing to her own pack, and she stowed the item as I sheathed the knife, and the boy led us along, excitedly now.

The tunnel wound along for quite some time until, finally, we saw a bit of sunlight, far off in the distance at the end of a long stretch of tunnel.

We continued along, and as we exited the tunnel, we found ourselves in the midst of what appeared to be a forest.

"Holy shit," Cameron said, in marvel, as her eyes looked upwards to the forest canopy, and as I followed her gaze, I let out a gasp of my own.

The forest canopy seemed to form a dome over the area, only allowing sunlight, in little beams, to sneak through the little spaces in the dense canopy of branches and leaves.

But the impressive part wasn't the way it covered the sky, but the height at which it did, ascending for what seemed like stories upon stories, far above us.

"How tall do you think it is?" I asked, and Cameron looked around, unable to control her amazement at the scene.

"Fuck. Three, maybe four hundred feet?"

As we took in the scene, the boy now studied us; a prideful, though somewhat bemused, expression on his face.

He gave us time to take it all in, and when it looked as if we were ready, he led us along again, though this time, finally, he seemed much more at ease than before, so I took the opportunity to start some conversation.

As we spoke, Cameron looked at me, expectantly.

"Gunter?" I said, as I caught her gaze. "His name is Gunter, I think."

"Nathan," I said, pointing to myself, before introducing Cameron.

The boy nodded excitedly, repeating our names several times, to make sure that he was getting it right.

"Have you figured out where we're going?" Cameron asked, and I nodded.

"It seems they have a village, or something like that."

"Something like that?"

"Yeah," I rubbed the back of my head. "I can't really remember the German words for town, village, or any of the stuff like that."

Cameron smirked a little at this.

"So, are you gonna tell me why you know German?" she asked, and as I glanced over at her I could tell that she wasn't going to drop it.

"I'm worked for investment bankers," I began, and she nodded. "The group I worked for have ties all over Europe. They got the opportunity to expand into Germany, but they needed to send someone over to help set up a base of operations. It sounded like a promising opportunity, so I went for it."

"Really. Why?" she asked.

"I dunno. I was young. It was a chance to live in a different place. Besides, my employers were supposedly English speaking, and I'd been told I could get by reasonably well without needing to learn the language."

"So, what changed?"

"My... boss." I sighed, as I recalled the memory. "He, uh, seemed to not speak English at all. All of my clients did, and so did most of the people around where I stayed and everything else. But my boss didn't, and even if he did understand me, he refused to do anything unless I tried to speak in German, and he always gave all of his orders and instructions in German. So, I basically I had no choice but to learn. By the end of the year, I could hold a fairly decent conversation in German."

"I see."

"Get this though; on my last night, they decide to throw me a little going away party, and my boss decides to give a speech. So, he gets up, and says something like, 'A thank you, Nathan, for your service and contribution. I hope you've learned a thing or two in your time here, and I wish you a long, and fortuitous future in investment banking.' His English was flawless. Perfect pronunciation, perfect accent, everything."

"Oh, that's brilliant!" Cameron burst out laughing, and I let out a deep breath, as the green boy stopped, studying her with curiosity.

She laughed for a bit, and we continued on.

"So, have you figured out what they want with us?" she asked, wiping tears from her eyes as she simmered down from laughing at my expense.

"He's tried to explain, but what I think he's saying either doesn't make sense, or I don't get it."

"Huh. Example?" she asked, and I thought about it for a bit.

"He's saying something that translates to like, make a god? Make us gods?"

"As long as they don't throw us into a volcano, that should be fine, right?" Cameron asked, and I bit my lip.

"I dunno. From what he's saying, they basically consider us to be gods already."

"Then why the need to even make us gods?" Cameron asked, and I shrugged.

"That's why I don't get it. Maybe he means, make us into their god? I dunno."

As we walked on for a bit, I saw no sign that we were nearing this village of theirs, so indicated to him that I wanted to stop for a bit.

The boy seemed perplexed, but consented nonetheless.

"What is it?" Cameron asked, and I rubbed my chin, thoughtfully.

"We're walking too far," I replied, and she arched an eyebrow, questioningly.

"This doesn't seem that far."

"I don't mean in terms of distance. If this happens to go south, I'm not sure we can find our way back on our own."

"Seriously? This seems like a fairly easy path to follow," she replied, indicating to the trail on which we'd been trekking, but I shook my head.

"From here, I think we can get back on our own, but if we keep walking, I'm not sure we'll be able to pin-point the exact spot that we accessed that tunnel from. This path has branched a few times already, and I've spotted a few more openings like that tunnel along the way. If we're not careful, we could get lost."

Sure, it was a straight shot back from that tunnel, but if we couldn't find that tunnel, then without knowing where, or how large this forest was, we could easily get lost in here perpetually, and without a compass or any means with which to navigate, that was a real possibility.

"So, what are you thinking?" she asked.

"We could keep going. Or, we could cut our losses now and head back. Inside of here, our group's survivability with weapons and tools from the catalog would be pretty high. The biggest risk is not knowing what the forest's inhabitants are like."

Cameron bit her lip.

"I don't like that idea. If there are things lurking in here like that... creature, we could be overwhelmed in one night."

I nodded, conceding that that was indeed a risk, given that there may be even more dangerous things in here than that bear-thing.

"What do you think we should do?" Cameron asked.

"Head back," I replied, and she considered it again.

"I dunno, Nate. If they've got a village, then that would offer us some real comfort and security. And if they think of us as gods, letting us stay is a real possibility."

I sighed.

"The gods part actually bothers me. What if they test us to see if we are gods? We could probably fight a monster, but bring a dead child back to life? Make a volcano erupt? There are a lot of misunderstandings that can arise."

Cameron shook her head.