I ran to the shelter and gently laid her down on the bed. Hurriedly, I began to prepare a meal for her with the rabbit that I caught three days before and started a fire on the makeshift furnace. I skinned it, sliced it in half, and cut it into small, easily digestible pieces, putting it into the boiling water from the only gallon that was left. I sliced some potatoes and carrots, unfortunately, I didn’t have salt or any butter to enhance the taste but hoped the taste will still be to her liking.
“What was she running from, the situation must have been pretty bad on the civilization, she looks like is starving, and to run until here like that she must be really determined to live.“ Daniel thought to himself, “Not even a bag, specks of dirt everywhere. Ragged clothes, sights of attempts of surviving. Her sneakers were now worn and frayed, once a good piece of clothing. Her shirt, once white, now dirty. As well as her dark brown cargo pants. On her face, a beauty mark, between the top lip and the nose, perfectly positioned to add a touch of allure.”.
“But the most fascinating feature, that tattoo, the snake on her neck… it’s on the lower part of the left side if I remember. It's a small to medium-sized snake with its mouth closed but its eyes wide open, and it's colored with muted green shades, not vibrant ones. The tip of the tail is slightly coiled around the body, but mostly, the snake appears to be standing upright, with its head facing up…“
My thoughts were cut off by the sound of her moving. I stop stirring the soup and rushed to see if she is feeling better. Getting close to the tent made of wood I tried to move slowly avoiding making her feel frightened. As I see that she raised her torso, despite the shadow created by the trees, I spoke softly “Hi, my name is Daniel, I won’t harm you, are you alright?“. My voice carried a mixture of concern and reassurance, hoping to ease any fear she might have.
She doesn’t say a word and stayed put, looking everywhere, after checking the hours on her wristwatch, looking confused. “I saw you by the river, you collapsed and injured your head so I brought you here. I’m making soup to eat if you are feeling better.” I say, sitting on the ground, 3 meters afar from the tent, with my hands on my lap to show I posed no threat. I don’t know anything about her, this is freaking me out a little bit, I am anxious about what she is thinking, so I breathe out trying to calm myself.
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She finally replied with a low and subdued tone “I’m alright..“ Her words seemed to have more syllables than letters. I slowly got up and said, “The soup is done so please eat it, you look hungry”. I fill two bowls and slowly put one of them in front of her. As I walk back I say before starting eating “It's not poisoned, don't worry, just a little warm.“. She seems confused, distrustful, and terrified. "Maybe the outside world still is as I remember" I thought, but tried it nonetheless.
"L, that's my name." she said between spoons.
No more words were changed until the end of the bowls. I was curious about why was she there, but she seemed very reserved. Told me her name probably because I told mine, and was just the nickname." I thought, letting escape an audible sigh.
She quickly caught it and said while getting up with a little effort "I would recommend you to let this place behind, it's not safe."
Exalted I replied "What?! I have lived here for almost a decade and I only saw a few of those afflicted creatures. I.. I cannot leave this place."
She took the ripped cloth from her head, used to cover the injury, turns it, and curl it around her neck, getting the hair of the way I could see, the tattoo seemed different, I couldn't tell exactly why, its eyes maybe now were close…
Searching for the sun to guide her to her destination she says, maybe to not feel in debt. "Look, your kind is important although naive... It's impressive how you survived on this forest for so long, without knowing anything."
The knowledge caught my attention, "I'll accompany you until the end of the trees, so can you tell me what's happening?". I couldn't hold my curiosity anymore, will going in and back from the river I had a weird feeling, there were no more animals, every one of them just flew and suddenly a human showed up, this was not natural.