Page 48 of Orange Town
I felt someone brush beside me and looked up. I saw blue skin on his face. They way his hair is cut reminds me of -
“Ist,” I gasped and felt goosebumps all over my body. Is it him?
The man stopped and slightly looked at me over his shoulder. His face was blank.
But for a second, Ist’s face overlapped with the man. I’m more affected by Ist’s death than I want to be.
I noticed the man has very harsh features. He is also broader than Ist.
Not Ist.
I was about to say sorry when the man continued to exit the shop.
I felt Zirc at my back.
“Was he bothering you?”
I looked up and saw Zirc’s chin. He’s grinding his teeth as he looks at the man.
I shook my head. I saw the blue guy slip into another store.
Zirc stirred me towards the deeper part of the store. Away from the windows. He grunted letting me know he doesn’t want me far away from him.
I ended up with two daggers. On my right hip is Roqs’ gift. Zirc’s gifted dagger is on my left thigh with a strap. He bought me a strap that can store the dagger and I can keep some of the beef jerky on it which earned a stare from Roqs. I couldn’t tell if I breached moral etiquette by storing food in the strap? I am afraid of going hungry, thus my weight. I’m the type of person who lives to eat. Not eat to live.
We went back to the inn and I told them I don’t want to use the daggers so I kept them inside my small bag. I need more training before I start using these. They surprisingly did not argue. I left the straps which acted as a belt for my loose pants. Huh, loose pants. I can’t say that when I’m back on Earth.
After eating soup, I felt sleepy again. I don’t want to sleep but I felt the pull. I feel like I will have a nightmare being reminded of Ist. And the man’s face who I thought was Ist.
His eyes looked so much like Ist. But so unlike Ist’s gentle and cunning eyes.
The man’s eyes. The man’s eyes are full of hate.
Chapter Fourteen
Brynn
The taste is starting to get to me. It’s like a concentrated juice drink. It felt like medicine when I started to drink it. But it grows on you. I could not believe it was a mead. A beer. There is nothing alcoholic about this drink. I find it strange, since they seem to be catlike in behavior, that they like too much salt in their food and water. And now their alcohol is supposed to be a concentrated version of Kool-Aid, apple cider vinegar mixed with a healthy dose of seawater. How can their senses withstand this? Or maybe they are immune to it.
I shudder to think of how they would react to a real alcohol like beer or vodka. Oh, let’s not forget about the coffee.
“What are you thinking?”
It was Roqs. Though he and Zirc have the same coloring, they are vastly different especially under the slight influence of this mead.
Zirc is much taller and beefier. He has great muscle structure. Muscles that if he was on Earth can only be gained through sheer hard work and luck. Genes are a lucky thing. It seems like he’s blessed that way.
Roqs on the other hand, is leaner though I am not fooled by his physique. He’s actually stronger. I still remember the way he pulled me up and dragged me to this vehicle of some sort. It does not have any wheels. It actually floats a few inches above the ground but the metal frame reminds me of Mad Max. Everything is metal. Some are fabric. You can’t find any plastic material in it.
Roqs raised his right eyebrow at me. “What? Thinking of dissecting me?”
Yes, from the course of our travels from that abandoned house to this saloon-like establishment, I noticed that Roqs is much more talkative and intelligent than Zirc. Of course, I’m embarrassed to think of the things I made with Zirc. Even now, I can still remember the stirring inside me from whatever drugs those bastard aliens gave me. I blamed it on the things I did with Zirc.
“I was thinking why everything here tastes salty. And this mead. It tastes too - salty.”
I’m amazed these words get translated in their language.
Roqs opened his mouth but froze. His whole body just froze. I looked at Zirc and he too is stiffer than usual. In fact, the whole room’s temperature dropped. Yet, I do not see anything amiss. Except that everyone is frozen in this room. What the? Did the mead finally get into my head?
