I could hear the crowd of people a while away. Fred and I passed through some dim corridors for a while. He made sure to check the exit every time. Guessed he was scared of the metal flitters too. We made little conversation but at least he wasn't flinching away from me anymore.
We arrived at an alcove, closed in on two sides by some of the biggest green structures we've seen. They twisted into the misty wall and could almost be seen emerging from the other side. Everything we've seen so far looked abstract and as many as I've seen, I found no consistencies. The structures sure don't look factory-made. Their surface was pleasant to the touch but difficult to appreciate because of its dryness. I first thought it was live plant matter but as soon as I pulled out a few strips, they turned to white particles and smoke and wafted towards the wall.
I had so many questions, so much disbelief. I was half convinced the entire scenario was some sort of fever-induced hallucination and I was actually dying of infection in the wilderness.
A few of the baldies turned their heads when Fred and I approached. Young and old, all sizes and colours, men and women and maybe some that were in between (I didn't really investigate the issue) were all naked and hairless. They
studied me but not in a way that indicated I could be a threat. They looked at me as if they could skin me with a look, reach my centre and grasp the very valuable core that could solve a serious problem.
"American," Fred said and a sigh went through the gathering. He seems to have ruined some sort of game that these people made up for the newcomers.
Fred had fallen back as we approached and now he turned away. He was about to take off when a few other kids called out for him to wait.
"Thanks, Fred. I'd have been really lost without you." The kid turned around as his friends caught up and pointed towards one of the groups in the alcove.
"They know English. You can talk to them." Then he turned around and dashed away with the other kids.
"Thanks again!" I shouted after him but he just waved.
When I turned around, the English-speaking group signalled me over. I sat with them on the green spongy floor. There could not have been more than 14 in our group. Most talked over each other but even in this cavernous space, their words did not echo. No one was scared or on alert even as I told them about my erstwhile alien visitor. A number of them nodded as if they'd actually seen him too.
"Those things are around. They don't come close unless we go to "them" Maya told me. She thinks she's been here for the last two weeks and her last memories were of going to sleep after coming home from work.
"I think I died in my sleep or something. It's nice here. Could be heaven" she said.
"That would really suck. If no one finds me, I'll probably be food for the scavengers." That distracted me " I'm not as disturbed as I should be by the thought of being eaten by wolves or getting my eyes pecked out" I said.
"Wow, vivid!" Maya exclaimed.
"We're not dead, lady! Don't you pay attention? We're still flesh and blood and you've seen some of the others hurting themselves. That means we can be hurt! And killed!" That was one of the burlier guys. He looked weird frowning without his eyebrows. That made me wonder how I looked.
"It makes sense. Not dead. Still open to pain and suffering and death and all that fun stuff." I interjected before he got angrier.
"All true Ross but you know, live people eat, none of us has since we got here. And there are other things..." The young man looked away. I think he blushed but I snapped my head back at the frowning Ross.
"You people never eat?" I thought that had to be the craziest thing out of everything I've been through in this place. Food is my one true love. We've had painful breakups, affairs, healthy bouts of relationships and before the crash, we were on our merry way towards matricide. I'd have been blissfully happy to flatline full of Chef Tony Maws' secret burgers, or as I'd like to call them, sacred burgers; and as much burnt caramel ice cream as my brain could take before it leaked out my ears. Yeah, food and I don't mess around.
"Man, you haven't been here long enough. You'll never get hungry, and anyway, there's nothing to eat here. I mean maybe we could eat each other but I don't think it'll come to that. We're not dead but I think the critters did something to us." Maybe he was seeing the desperation on my face and was using whatever kindness he had to gently bring me into the fold.
The possibly dead heart I had in my chest painfully constricted at his words. No amount of kindness can soften the blow of the dealer taking your fix away, taking your bottle away, crushing your last smoke under his boot. I've been starving myself a little after the crash. I mean I found supplies and somehow managed to hunt a few squirrels and got lucky with a fox one time. I still had hopes of being rescued and being able to go back to my life of processed sugar, fast food joints and weekend outings. But now to be told that there will
be no food at all? Ever? My mind was limping along after getting to this place. I even thought I was coping up to this point but this boulder of a point floored me.
