Two Worlds (closed for DeathsKnight)

I looked at her as she studied the dispenser, the warm water and hand dryer, I grew up with this stuff and to me it was ordinary, so her fascination with everything seemed quite...funny. I came to a decision right then,

"I'll make you a deal. If you promise to not try and stab, shoot or strangle me and will not try to run away, we can have tea and coffee in the common room. That is the room with the guns and knives in it. I'll be willing to answer questions you will most probably have and you can answer questions I have."

I stuck out my hand,

"Do we have an accord?"

I looked at his hand, put mine in it and shook his hand forcefully.

"Deal, promise and accord.

If you throw some honey in. In my tea. If you have honey. And if you have, if you have enough to spare some. Now this hands dryer, how does it know to start and stop, is there a sensor underneath? Are the hot water faucets connected with a kettle? All of them? Are there more than these (I quickly counted ) ten? How much water is the kettle able to heat, how long does it take and how big is it? And ..." I took a deep breath and started to walk to the door, away from him. For some reason I didn't want to look at his face for the next question. Carefully I kept my voice as light as I could, trying to get the same intonation in it as when I asked about the dryer and the hot water.

"Are the others out hunting? When do you expect them back? Would they be okay with me walking around and sitting in the commons having tea?" A bit anxious I quickly glanced back at him.

The barrage of questions which followed our deal was so fast, that I barely had the time to register them all. I kind of figured that the change in her voice when she asked about the others meant that it must or should've been a touchy subject for me. "They will be fine with you being here, they're all dead."

I moved passed her, motioning for her to follow, I spoke as I walked, "the hand dryer has a sensor that picks up objects, any object that breaks the line of sight of the sensor activates the blower inside." I found it comforting to notice that my voice stayed quite the same, even when telling her that my family had passed away. "There's a total of fifty five hot water faucets in the facility which is coupled to one geyser. There's three geysers, they have a water capacity of ten kiloliters and one takes a total of six hours during the day to reach it's temperature."

I motioned for her to enter the common room and directed her towards the kitchen door, "I believe there should be honey, but I have sugar and condensed milk as well, sometimes when I want a change I use condensed milk for a while." I took a cup from one of the cupboards, found the mint tea and took the boiling water from the plate. Switching the plate off, I poured the water into her cup and mine. Placing the three containers close to her cup along with spoon, I indicated for her to help herself.

I released the valve of the pressure cooker, allowing steam to escape, as that happened, I stirred my coffee and placed the teaspoon in the washing sink. Removing the lid carefully, I stepped to the vegetables I had prepared and cut, added them all to the meat, added salt, viniger, nutmeg and curry, then placed the lid back on and secured it. I motioned her to the common room and took a seat out of reach of any of the weapons, "I know you have more questions, but first two of my own. What is a soap plant and what is this blossom thing you mentioned for tea?"

I had just glanced at his face, and was very pleased he didn't see the relieved expression on my face when he told me all his comrades and maybe family were dead. I had only to deal with him. There wouldn't be a bunch of men who might want to have sex with me. Not that I didn't like sex, but I didn't want to be in a position where I felt forced to have sex. Neither did I want to be in a position where I could be forced to work my ass off. I didn't mind to work my ass off. Not at all, but again, I liked to do it out off my own free will.

Then it hit me: He was alone, had no friends or family (at least not here). He lived here in this enormous bunker alone. I was also pleased he couldn't see on my face how sorry I felt for him. I had no idea what I would do if all my family and friends died. Go mad? Lose myself? I shook my head to chase away these thoughts.

He had been talking while these thoughts passed my mind. I hadn't heard a word. Just something a bout geysers. As far as I knew, geysers only happened in regions with a lot of volcanos. I sighed. Again as far as I knew, there weren't any volcanos around here. No hot springs, nothing.

Suddenly I realized we were standing in an enormous kitchen. Four or five cooks wouldn't be in each others way if they cooked here. My eyes opened wide when I saw him take a sachet out off a box and put it in a mug. It did smell like mint though. But why someone would put mint leaves in a sachet went beyond my comprehension.


But so many things here did.

Like the honey. And the sugar. Sugar! And condensed milk, what ever kind of milk that was. I felt tempted to put a bit of all three in my cup, but I carefully measured out two spoonfuls and watched the honey drip into the tea while he added vegetables and spices to meat in a pot which had blown off steam when he opened the lid, like, well just like I always imagined a geyser would do.

I really had to stop shaking my head, or I wouldn't be able to anymore.

Smiling I followed him to a table free, and out off reach of any weapons. Of course he couldn't know how serious we took promises in my family. I sat down. It felt strange. Just like one of our chairs, but completely different also. I wiggled my butt to decide in which way it felt different.

"I know you have more questions, but first two of my own. What is a soap plant and what is this blossom thing you mentioned for tea?"


"What a soap plant is?" I was so pleased with myself I suppressed the 'you don't know' which had been at the tip of my tongue, I didn't mind my awkward question.

"A soap plant is a plant like Soaproot, with beautiful big flowers or Soapwort, with little pink flowers. They contain saponins. In the roots, or in the stem. You dry them and pulverize them, if you take some of the powder in your hand and add some water, it gets very foamy if you rub your hands together.

They are also great to fish with, make a strong foamy solution, pour it into a stream and for twenty meters or so, fishes will put their bellies up. You just have to scoop them out up and clean them." I smelled at my tea. It smelled wonderful. I didn't know what to do with the sachet, so I let it be and drank a sip. It tasted good, but kind of bland. I tok an other sip and looked at him. He really did seem interested in what I told him. Maybe he needed supplies? But why had he offered me honey, sugar and thingy milk then? We were hospitable too, but in times of scarceness we wouldn't feel obliged to offer any and everything we still had stocked.

"Linden blossem. From the linden tree. It is also called lime tree I think. Big tree, small yellow flowers in the spring which smell very sweet? These you pick and dry. Wonderful to add to tea, to mix in with soap, to put in a sachet between clothes or bedlinen in a cupboard just like lavender. Very soothing for the stomach as a tea."

I took a few more sips. Looked at him.

"Are you low on supplies? Take the needle out off my arm, the bag is empty?"

Chris Edwards

I listened as she told me more about the soap plant and the Lime tea, it was easy to see that she knew how to survive in the wild, how to make a living without the help of advanced technology. And just as she ran out of explanations, her questions started up again. Indeed she was right, the IV was empty, the fact that she was up and about, drinking tea just proved that she had a constitution to reckon with. Much hardier than the women I had known. "Yes, I should remove the needle."

I leaned forward, removing the strips of adhesive which kept the needle mostly in place and slipped the needle out. A droplet of blood appeared, but a strip of the adhesive stopped it cold, I slid the needle into it's protective cover, bundling up the adhesive and placed it next to my mug of coffee,

"As for supplies, no I don't need anything, only fresh meat, but that should be sorted tomorrow when I bring in the deer I shot before finding you", I took a sip of coffee, looking at her as her eyes kept taking in her surroundings. "From the wound, blood and weapons I found with you, I take it that you were hunting as well. Now, what plant did you bind around the wound? I would have left it on, but you had missed the part where the tooth or tusk had caught under the skin. I'm sorry that I had to open the wound to get to the infected flesh. But it was either that or amputate the leg. I'm sure a scar isn't all that bad then?"

Pleased he would get the needle out off me I moved my arm forward on the table a bit.

I had to hiss and bite my lip. He pulled hairs out of my arm when he pulled the sticky stuff of my arm! Amazed I looked at the angry red blotches on my skin. I nearly didn't feel anything when he fumbled with the needle because of the stinging in the red blotches. And then he put some of the sticky tape on my arm to cover the drop of blood.

He had shot a deer! Nice. I could do with some fresh meat. I could do with any kind of food, actually, my stomach had started to make the most annoying noises.

"I would have licked it off," I pointed to the tape on my arm. "That stuff stings when you pull it away. It ripped the hairs out with the roots! If you have enough supplies, could you spare me some dried fruits? I could make a light porridge with the wheat I collected and some of your good water. I would help you to butcher the deer, smoke some of it, make sausages and such in return. I think that also would show my gratitude for the medical help you gave me, even if some of it wasn't necessary. But if you didn't recognize the plant I used, it is explained already." I pressed the last drops of tea out off the little sachet and waited patiently until they had run from my mug into my mouth.

I nodded.

"Yes, I was hunting. As were my brothers and sister. We separated on this side of the hills. Your side is much steeper than ours. I shot a wild pig and it didn't like it. It grazed my leg when I wanted to gut it. I think it ate something bad, I got an very upset tummy after I ate some of its liver. I had roasted it though. Thoroughly." I defended myself, the only other time I had food poisoning I hadn't roasted the liver thoroughly enough as Frank and Lindy pointed out to me. "And then the wound got infected even when I had cleaned it with some fresh soap root." I bend down to rub my leg. I didn't look at him, but a certain change in his breathing told me he didn't like what I was doing. I just patted the wound through the fabric and rightened myself again.

"It wasn't necessary to cut the wound open that far, I had opened the crust when I put the red-striper on." I had only mumbled the name, so I thought the look on his face said he hadn't understood the name.

"I know it has another name, but I couldn't pronounce it when I was little and called it "red-striper", my family started to do so too, and so I forgot how its true name is." The look on his face hadn't changed. I sighed.

"It was important for us kids to know that plant, it is seldom around here and we need it. Anyway, the healing hadn't really started, there was no itching yet. I dread the itching but you have to leave the mush on until it stops itching again. If you do that, the wound, any wound, any part of a wound, will be absolutely clean and healing already. Normally it takes around six hours before the itching really starts, and around eight for it to stop.

It helps against the itching if you drink some tea made out off the rest of the plant. I thought maybe it also would help against the itching if I bound the rest of the leave over the mush I made out off the red stripes. Had I found water, I could have scraped a bit from the outside of the leave and soak it in water. I had to chew the red parts to make a mush and after three my mouth went numb. It was very strange to have a numb tongue in my mouth. I do know the others say that is the most annoying thing about that tea, but I don't know, I never got the tea. I always had to bear through the itching. I don't know why. Some people, like my father, react a bit strange to the tea, get a bit aggressive." I shrugged my shoulders and yawned.

"His people bind him to a bed when he has to drink it. He doesn't like that, but he really hates the itching and more than once he has torn bandages away to scratch at a wound. Oh!" Suddenly I had remembered something important.

"As long as you have to drink the tea, other medicines won't work. I don't know why. The plant suppresses them somehow. If you do take other medicines, they will work later. So it is no use to give a little child," I grinned, "or my father something like poppy juice to put them to sleep." I yawned again and leaned back on my chair.

"You had blood poisoning, I doubt that you had a few hours left to wait for the homus medicus to kick in." It was strange that I had not figured out what the plant was when I removed it from her leg, "more commonly known as Red tipped hubucus, we dry and mill them into powder, some of it was in the anti-septic and the IV, so I practically used your plant to help you. Of course I also injected a load of anti-biotics into you."

I frowned, "I don't have dried fruit, not the kind that you mean. I have flash frozen fruits though, I think that might work for you porridge as well. Speaking of water, in the kitchen you can use the cold water and if you see a tap with a green cross on it, you can drink that water. It's filtrated water and taste as close to a mountain stream as we could get it." I stretched out slightly in my seated position, "Food should be ready, you hungry?"

I got to my feet and picked up my two empty cups, ready to go into the kitchen and switch off the stove, for some reason her mentioning the deer made me weary, but then again I also had a long assed day and had to look after her as she drifted through her fever dreams. It was not past my normal bed time, but cutting it close.

Now didn't he look smug when he told me how sick he thought I had been and when the two other names of the red-striper flowed out off his mouth?

Frozen fruit? Like when we got snow from high up in the late autumn and packed it deep in the small cave, with meat and the last fresh berries we picked and cooked vegetables all wrapped in oiled leather in between? Nice!

Before I could react to anything he got to his feet and went to the kitchen.

"Hungry yes," I said quickly while stumbling over my feet to get to the kitchen too. Strangely I was more dizzy than before. With my hand on the back of my seat I stabilized myself. I looked at the IV-stander beside me. Should I use it to keep my equilibrium? It had helped before ...

I decided against it. Slowly I walked over to the kitchen, carefully putting one foot in front of the other.

"You know the red-striper has no red tips, or spots anywhere? That is why the names you called it by are illogical and wrong. The name I came up with as a three year old is much more adequate. It already stopped the blood poisoning as soon as I put it on the wound from spreading, and would had start healing it soon. I had many, many hours in me. The fact that I was almost completely dehydrated was a much bigger problem. I was so dehydrated I had visions. You found me, but I could swear it was Treebeard who carried me here. Do you have books? I love to read. I have ten my father gave to me in my home, five I got from other people, and three I found when I stumbled over a half burned-out car out on the prairie." My monologue hadn't distracted him from doing things in the kitchen. He hadn't looked at me once. I frowned.

Quickly I took a few steps away, turned around, opened the buttons, slipped my arm in and closed the coveralls again, telling him about skeletons in the car and how I had buried them beside it. I didn't tell him about the other things I had found in the suitcase in the trunk. It had been well worth logging it back home on the travois with the best bits of the old cow I had shot. A lot had been best bits, since it was the first hunt I went on on my own.

"Where did you put the wheat I collected, and my weapons? I have to loosen the bowstring. I don't think I did that, and it'll loose its elasticity otherwise."

Chris Edwards

With a sigh I went about allowing the steam to escape after switching off the plate, then I went to the walk-in freezer, opened it and after a quick search I came out with a dried version of the "red-striper", I held it up for her to see,

"Red tipped hubucus. Rich in natural anti-biotics and no matter how highly you think of it, you would have been dead. I've seen enough blood poisoning and food poisoning to know at least how long you had left."

I tossed the plant on one of the working benches and closed the freezer door, I collected plates and utensils, filling my cup with more coffee and pouring water for her from the filtered tap, as luck would have it, the fact that the water was stored under ground and that the pipes ran through the walls, it made the water cool. I placed the glass down for her on the table, "Well at least I know the food is edible." I dished up a rather nice portion of food for myself and picked up my cup, taking a sip as I headed back to the table.

I heard a soft sighing sound and a big door opening. A wave of very cold air made me turn around. Open mouthed I watched Chris walk into a big, ice cold room.

Parker's had one functioning freezer left -a cupboard like thing, attached to their solar power storage unit- but this was something completely else. You could store all the meat and most of the vegetables we would need for a whole winter in here!

After a few minutes of rummaging around in it, he came out with quite a big plastic package. It contained red-striper. A lot of it. Whole leaves, stems, roots. Again he told me he knew better than I how sick I had been. They dried the plant and milled it, he had said before. I wondered if they dried and milled it as a whole.

He tossed the package on the counter and got plates and cutlery out, poured more of the awfully strong smelling coffee in his mug and water in a glass, ladled a fair amount of food on a plate and brought it all to the table we had been sitting at before. He hadn't told me where my wheat was. I started to walk to the table when my eye fell on the red-striper.

"I agree to disagree!" I yelled at him, just after he made a comment on the food he had cooked and left the kitchen. I picked up the package, it felt less heavy than I had expected. Had he, or they, frozen it dried? I looked at the back of the room, at the door of the freezer. The plant would thaw if it stayed here. Quickly I turned and opened the heavy door. The cold made me hold my breath. Without putting a foot inside, I put the package on a shelf close to the door. Now the stew. At the stove I peeked in the pot. Big chunks of liver, heart, stomach and vegetables floated around in a sea of broth. Broth was good. Vegetables too. I wondered if he had meant me to get out the pot what I wanted, since there was still an empty plate sitting on the counter.

Carefully I put two pieces of carrots on it, and some broth. A bit more broth I ladled in my empty tea mug.

I looked in the drawer where he took the cutlery out off, and found a spoon. After successfully succeeding in balancing it back to the table, I sat down opposite him.

"It smells very nice" I told him, after inhaling the steam rising from my plate deeply. With the side of my spoon I cut the carrots in smaller pieces. They were very well cooked. It didn't matter, it was exactly what my stomach needed.

It tasted nice too.

"Listen," I said after I munched down three spoonfuls, "I don't mind if you don't want to tell me where my weapons are. I promised I wouldn't use them against you, but you don't know how seriously I, my family, take promises. I would be grateful if you checked if I loosened the string completely. I don't want the bow to set. It took me quite a while to build it. It isn't that easy to find the perfect pieces of wood to build a longbow, and neither is it that easy to cut and align them in the right way. The wood which is better at taking the tension on the back, and the wood better at compression on the inside." He looked at me, somewhat interested in what I told, I thought. I took a few more spoonfuls and felt them settle in my stomach.

"Better for my stomach to pass on the meat for today," I said with a sigh. "Would you please look after my bow as soon as possible? Do you mill the red-striper as is is, leaves and stems? The antibiotics are concentrated in the nerve just below the red stripes. That is why we cut them out and use them separate from the rest. The rest of the plant, especially the really green parts of the leaves are better against itches and beestings and such. Where did you put my clothes? I need to wash them, and I do need my breast band."

Chris Edwards

I had said my prayer in silence and started to eat when she sat down, I didn't expect her to actually have a full-on meal so the broth was to be expected. First she asked about her bow AGAIN! and then she started to explain how she had made it, now that was of course much more interesting. I listened to her and then she explained about the string again. "You have loosened the string and wound it around the one end. Your wheat is in an air-tight container in the fridge, I had no idea what it was for so I kept it in there, you had a few things scattered around you which I had placed in a storage room."

I took a sip of my coffee, "Your clothing...well I kinda had to decontaminate it, I'm sure it'll still fit, it's dry, but I have applied some leather wax to keep the leather pliable. I'll get it for you tomorrow morning before I go out to fetch the deer. If you feel up to it, you can come along and we can follow your trail, see if you dropped anything in your delirium."

I ate a few more bites, "We usually separate the plant, the leaves, stem and roots, some of the scientists had done tests on the plant and that is how they said we must process it, we add some other herbs, I don't know their names, just what they look like, mix and cook or steam them and then use the extracts. The medical supplies kinda ran out a few years back, so they had to find alternatives. There's still some of the old stuff left, but that is mostly ointments..."

I snapped my fingers, "Of course! That is why the sedative didn't work on you! The...uhm...red striper was it? It worked against it. I should write that down."

With wide open eyes I looked at Chris.

I had wound the string around one end of the bow? What had I been doing, used it as a walking stick? I quickly filled my mouth with carrots. Chewing seemed a much better idea than splutter out what was on my mind. I thought it was the shock about what I might have done to my bow which made me almost miss my mouth with the spoon.

Things I had with me and the wheat were stored away. Nice. I nodded gratefully.

His next comment though, made me put my hand against my mouth. He had 'decontaminated' my clothes? What had he done, boiled them? I cringed when I thought of the wool-linen mix of my shirt. I just nodded when he told me he had rubbed leather-wax into my leggings and vest. He talked on, about red-striper and other plants. I only nodded and shook my head to indicate I was listening and sipped broth from my mug. At least something I could hide part of my face behind and when I missed my mouth I could pretend I was just resting my chin against the rim.

With a thud I put it down on the table. Some broth spilled over, and I wiped it up with my finger. I knew why I touched my nose before I could lick it clean.

"You what? You gave me a sedative? Was that when you put those cuffs around my wrists? I wondered why I had no memory of you doing that, and I couldn't understand why I am feeling dizzier and more tired than when you showed me the toilets. In fact I am feeling dizzier by the minute. Can I lie down here?" I pointed to the floor. It seemed very inviting to me, and it seemed to invite me down by rising up to me as I looked at it.

"On the floor?" As I looked at her, she started to keel over, luckily I managed to grab the hand nearest to me, keeping her partly upright. "Alright then, time to get you to bed."

The travel back to her room was a bit longer since she seemed to sag more against me that what she tried to walk on her own, but I did manage to get her on to the bed and went back to finish my meal. After cleaning up, I took a shower and went to my own room, stretching out in a sleeping bag, I looked up at the dark ceiling, wondering if I did secure her, I most probably did, with that thought, I turned on to my side and fell asleep.

It was pitch-dark. Really, really pitch dark. Not a star, not a gleam of moonlight, nothing. Pitch-dark and I wondered where I was. I never didn't know where I was. I couldn't move.

My brain was kind of thick. It wasn't working properly.

It still was pitch-dark when I woke up again, but my brain was in a much better working order. I knew where I was and why I was here.

I wasn't too pleased to find my wrists cuffed to the bed again, and lying on my side, both hands on the same side of the bed. I could roll on my stomach somewhat, but not on my back. I could understand why Chris had done it, both reasons were perfectly clear to me: he didn't want me to wander around and he didn't want me to choke on my vomit, should I have to vomit because of the sedative and my recovering tummy, but still, I didn't like it at all.

Since there wasn't even a glimmer of light, I had no idea what time it was. My stomach grumbled. I was really hungry. I also was thirsty. I had no idea where in the complex Chris was and if he could hear me through the closed door anyway. I called out for him anyhow. I hoped he would show up soon. I couldn't hear anything else as the echo of my own voice and a very soft hissing sound. I sighed.

I think it was Frank who first told me when I was a little child -and awake before everyone else thought the day had to start- to count slowly from one to sixty, and to do it sixty times, and that after that an hour had passed and I could call again.

On the twentieth sixty I decided enough time had passed and called Chris again. Just his name this time, no hey or oi or anything else. I just yelled his name twice.

Three minutes later there still wasn't a sound telling me he heard me. I decided ten minutes intervals would be acceptable and started to count again. A bit quicker this time and aloud though. Only after the second time I yelled his name -thrice this time- I heard very soft footsteps.

Chris Edwards

I woke with a start, something had woken me...but what? I listened, nothing. A glance at my watch proved to me that I have been asleep for seven hours, that was more than sufficient. I got up and took a quick shower, shaving and brushing my teeth, I heard my name being called. I slipped into new clothing and running a hand through my damp hair, I headed out of my quarters. It was then that I heard my name being called again, headed to where Eydis was secured to her bed.

The door opened easily and after flicking on the light I found her wide awake and staring at me. "Well seems like you enjoyed the rest on the bed rather than the floor." I moved over and undid the straps which held her secured to the bed, I didn't say anything about it, if she wanted to bring it up I could also tell her that I only had her word to go on. Of course she only had my word to go on that I meant her no harm, but to my defense, I had not taken advantage of her when she was in a vulnerable state at all.

Eydis

A wave of absolute cleanliness hit me when he finally opened the door. I was glad I got this warning, and very glad I closed my eyes, the sudden glare when he switched the light on was even blinding me through my eyelids.

"Well, seems like you enjoyed the rest on the bed rather than the floor."

The floor? With embarrassment my last words and actions of last night came to my mind. I blushed.

"My stomach is absolutely fine now," I commented when Chris undid the restraints. Gratefully I noted he smelled a tiny bit like himself when he bend down beside me. I hoped he appreciated I hadn't opened the restraints myself, which I could have done much easier in this position. I rubbed my wrists. The skin there itched a bit as air reached the slightly sweaty spots.

"I even forgot to put some wheat in a bit of broth to soften last night. That sedative hit me like lightning. It is awfully dark in here when the lights are out!"

Slowly I swung my feet to the floor and sat up. I was a bit dizzy again, and to mask it, I lifted my wounded leg on the other one and pulled the fabric up to check the wound. It looked absolutely fine. A bit red around the stitches, but that was just normal.

"Looks good," I told him and got to my feet. "What is for breakfast? What can I help you with, where is my stuff, I need to brush my teeth. Or would you have a piece of an olive or walnut twig for me? How much time do we have before you want to get out to get the deer you shot yesterday?

Chris Edwards

"Olive or Walnut twig?" It seemed that the more she talked, the stranger her questions got, "I can give you a toothbrush and toothpaste, that should work. I want to get going before sunrise, the deer is hanging from a tree and thornbushes keep carrion hunters only away for so long. Come, let's get your teeth sorted and then get that wheat in a broth. We can have breakfast when we get back with the deer."

I walked from the room and entered one of the storage areas, everything toiletry-wise was stacked in it, all placed in neat rows, making it easy to find what you needed. I took soap, a washcloth, a toothbrush and toothpaste, I turned and pushed it into her arms, "You know where the bathroom is." I closed the door behind me and watched as she left, then I headed into the opposite direction, a few moments later I returned with her clothing, they still had a slight pine smell from the cleaning agents, but it wasn't too strong.

I walked to the bathroom, knocked lightly on the open door and entered to place the clothes in the open basin next to her, "There you are, it might smell a bit different though." I had made certain that there wasn't any kind of weapon concealed in the clothing and knew that it was as safe as I could guess it to be.

"I'll be in the living room." With that I left, searching for a belt with holstered .45 Colt, I strapped it on, selecting a P-90 SMG and several magazines, I strapped the magazines on to the belt and slung the SMG over my shoulder. Next I fetched an old sled with iron sleighs, it worked rather well to move the larger carcasses back to the bunker.

Eydis

A tooth brush and toothpaste? Oh! It was still before sunrise! I had no idea what time it was. I was very surprised it would still be quite a while until the morning sun would rise.

My eyes opened wide when I saw all the supplies in the room he opened to get me a toothbrush, 'toothpaste' and 'soap'. Chris even handed me a little piece of cloth. Only because he called it a 'washcloth' I recognized it. It was so different from the small pieces of linen we used to wash ourselves with! Those had all kinds of shapes, we used put a neat seam around any piece of linen we couldn't, or wouldn't want to, use for clothing.

I knew where the bathroom was? I knew where the toilets and the small basins were, so I headed in that direction. First to the common room, which he now called "living room" -it wasn't at all what our living room (and especial mine!) looked like though- and then into the corridor to the left.

In the bathroom I put all the things he had pushed into my arms in a basin, and one by one, I put them on the shelf in front of the mirror. Every basin had its own, very big, rectangular mirror! And each had a shiny metal shelf beneath. I looked at myself, while I held the things up to study them. The toothbrush was a wonderful little brush. A plastic handle, and at the top plastic hairs formed a brush. It was packed in a rectangular piece of clear plastic. It took me quite a while to open it. All the while I gleamed with joy about the colors my toothbrush had: A big yellow oval in the handle of the otherwise snow-white brush and in the middle of the almost brushes -they were just a bit less colored, almost windowpane clear- there was a double row of blue hairs.

The soap was wrapped in a sheet of clear plastic. I wasn't able to open it in a way which saved the very thin sheet. The toothpaste: a plastic tube, with a top on it which I could drew off and on again to close it. I pressed at the end, but no paste or anything came out. It took we a while to discover a small piece of shiny, flexible metallic plastic covered the opening. Carefully I put it on top of the sheet I had wrapped the soap out off.

The washcloth was so soft and thick! Lush. I caressed my cheek with it. Then it came to my mind Chris was waiting, and hurried into the toilet-stall, opening my coverall on the way. Inside the stall I stepped out off it. I did what I had to do and hurried back and got the washcloth, wetted it and rubbed the soap on it. My face I did first, and then I went back into the toilet and rubbed the cloth all over my body. The soap had a strong smell. I grinned. I would smell just like Chris. Which wasn't good at all though, all animals would smell us.

The skin on my face started to itch from the soap. Now what? I had to rinse myself, but to walk back into the open room to first rinse the cloth there, and then back into here, to rinse myself? I looked down at the puddle of clear, clean water in the toilet bowl, and washed my cloth there, rinsed myself. I used toilet paper to dry myself.

I still couldn't believe it was perfectly okay, even expected to use paper for that purpose. I just had slipped back into the coveralls and was fiddling with the toothbrush and toothpaste when Chris knocked on the door. With big eyes I watched it open further. I hadn't closed it!

It seemed as if a pine tree entered the room. I had to blink my eyes. Only slowly I realized the smell emerged from my own clothes, which he placed in the basin beside the one I was using.

"There you are, it might smell a bit different though."

They certainly smelled different. They smelled like a very strange pine tree, much more pine-like than any pine I had ever smelled.

The strong smell made my eyes water.

"Thank you," I mumbled. Chris told me he would be in the living room and left. I decided to brush my teeth before I would dress in my own clothes.

When I put the toothbrush with toothpaste on it in my mouth, the flavor filling my mouth and nose made me gag. It was so awfully strong! I just couldn't do it. Feeling very sorry for the supplies I wasted, I scraped most of it off the brush, and tried again. Much better.

I arranged everything neatly on the shelf, and took the coveralls off. It felt strange to dress myself in own clothes which smelled almost like the coveralls. Quickly I wrapped the breast band around my breasts and knotted the bands between my breasts. The linen band nearly wasn't long enough anymore to wind it around twice. My shirt. With pain in my heart I saw it was much shorter than it had been before he decontaminated them. The seam only just reached my buttocks, and the sleeves ended not far below my elbows. With a sad sigh I knotted only two of the three cords over my cleavage. The shirt felt much tighter too.

I was very grateful though, that he hadn't cut the fabric. Had he done that, my shirt would have looked like a vest, with just two cords closing high up the chest.

Loincloth was loincloth, even when it wouldn't hang over my leggings as much as I liked. The bands at the side were almost too short to knot them though.

My leggings fitted well enough, and the vest too. It all smelled awfully strange, and most uncomfortably stiff. That would change soon enough. It was warm in here, and I decided to open my vest somewhat. Easy to do, if you didn't use those strange buttons the coveralls closed with, which could only be closed one way, but leather bands sewed onto each side. Those you could knot as tight or loose as you wanted. My shoes were the last things I put on. They were kind of hard, but the rubber soles had kept their form and the rest would soon follow.

I draped the coveralls over my arm and went to the living. In the opening of the corridor I gasped and halted my steps.

Chris was wearing guns. I scraped my throat.

"I hope I haven't used too much time figuring everything out since I would very much like to drink some water before we go." A second I paused. "I see you are wearing weapons. Since you took care of me when I was ill, I suppose you are not planning to get me killed outside, but I really would like to have my own weapons, at least my bow and arrows. I already promised you I wouldn't use weapons against you. I would keep myself in front of you, if you would prefer me too?"

Chris Edwards

I turned to face Eydis when she walked down the corridor, for the first time I actually took ion her figure, the clothing she wore helped with that, "I placed your other equipment in a room for you, I don't think you need to remain in the sick bay." I didn't know her, oh I knew that she was headstrong, bull headed and tough, she had showed considerable smarts though, there was more to learn I was sure, but she would most likely want to get back to her people.

"Come along", I led her to a room, her weapons along with the various bags she had on her person lay on the bed. I watched as she entered and checked averything, of course even with her reassurance and her markedly attempt to call me instead of loosening her restraints earlier should have made me be able to trust her a little bit, but I couldn't get myself to get rid of old habits.

When she finished and selected the gear that she wanted to take along, I took the lead and walked to the outer door, the decontamination room's doors stood open as there was no need for it anymore. I placed my hand on the scanner and after scanning my hand the door clicked softly as the bolts retracted, then the hydaulics kicked in and the door swung open to the inside. I took hold of the sleigh's rope and pulled it out of the door, I waited for Eydis to follow and pushed the button to close the door.

"While we have time, let's follow that trail of yours before going to the deer." As she did not know the way, I led the way to the spot where I found her, the sleigh scraping softly over rock every now and then.

I had felt Chris' eyes on me when I entered the commons. In a different way than yesterday and earlier this morning. Maybe I might be able (and would like) to use this interest later on, to get some supplies home. I didn't need to hurry, it wasn't urgent. At the moment they were doing fine, had a mouth less to feed as long as I was here, and surely Xander, Lea or Dorian had been more successful than I had been, and had brought meat home already.

I had been in the sickbay until now? There were more rooms? For how many people was this bunker planned? Chris had an awful lot of supplies on his hands!

Eagerly I followed him to an other corridor, to the left of the one I had came out just now. The room he showed me made me gasp. Only after some time I noticed my pouches, bedroll and weapons on the bed. I looked around once more.

There was another door in the room. I wondered were it led too. A big wardrobe, metal, a table with two chairs (all metal too) a small table (wood) in a corner, an easy chair (also wooden, with a bright green, big cushion in it), four big wooden shelfs in that corner too (two on each wall, nothing on them except a thin folder), and a made bed. The bedlinen was of the same bright green as the cushion in the chair. Beside the bed was a bed table with a clock on it, against the wall beside the door was a rectangular electronic digital clock. The numbers told me it had stopped at 05.15.

A loud "Huh?" escaped my mouth when I saw he last five change into a six. "That clock still works!"

Baffled I opened the bedroll, and spread the two leather sheets and the homespun woolen filt blanket over the bed to air them, attached the sheathed knife and the pouches to my belt, and warped it around my waist. Quickly I run my fingers over the bow, unwind the string from the one end and looped it loosely over the other end. "I did not damage it!" There were only six of the even arrows which should have been in my quiver in it, but nevertheless I hung it from right to left over my shoulder and then hung the bow from left to right over my other shoulder. I had practiced a it a million times. Left hand gets the bow over the right arm while right hand takes an arrow out off the quiver.

I looked at the clock beside the door again when we walked out. 05.19 it said now. I never had seen a clock this accurate! Our clock was an old mechanical one, made out off wood with a metal clockwork inside, and we had to wind it every morning! I marveled at all the wonders I had seen here so far and wondered what else would surprise me.

Over my musings I hadn't noticed we had reached the end of yet an other corridor -this one sloping upwards though- and stood inside a chamber with a heavy, open door behind us, and a closed door of the same sturdiness in front of us. I expected Chris to turn the big wheel on the door, but he put his hand on a gleaming square beside the door and with a loud click it opened!

Fresh, marvelously normal smelling air entered as Chris pulled a sleigh outside. It was just dawn, light enough to walk quickly, but no bright sunlight yet. Beaming I followed him outside.

"While we have time, let's follow that trail of yours before going to the deer."

I nodded. I had no time to talk, I was busy taking in my surroundings. We had come out off a small hill, standing between two almost similar shaped ones. Twenty minutes we walked fairly quickly over flat ground, at first almost prairie like, with lots of rocks on which the sleigh made an awful screeching sound which warned rabbits and other animals for miles around to hide, and then through the wheat field, until Chris halted. The ruins on an other small hill in our back, the green, red blooming tree giving them an eery appearance, the hill we had come out off almost invisible in the distance to our left, the forest far away in front of us. So far away, I couldn't see trees, just a greenish wall. A small patch with broken down stalks at our feet.

"That far I have walked!" I said in my sotto-voce, outside tone, my eyes fixated on the rand of the forrest. "I almost can't believe I walked that far, weak as I was, in half day. This wheat field is immense! How much of it are you able to harvest?"

David

"When I was young we harvested the whole field, now I just manage about a third before it goes off."

Leaving the sleigh behind and taking a hold of the SMG's grip, I looked down at the signs of her passage, I was not the most observant of people (like I didn't actually seem to realize just what a body she has and I bathed her for Pete's sake), but tracking, that I could do. I had learned at the hands of a master, it was a professional hunter, he came upon the bunker while tracking animals. We became friends and he taught me all I knew. It also became clear that it's not about what you know, but about how you use it. He also fell prey to one of the wild cats.

Glimmer. I reached down and picked up a stone, I held it to Eydis, "That will be yours. Flint of some kind." Feel her fingers brush over mine as she takes it, forward, rabbit passed over her trail...cat not far behind it. Will have to be careful. Slowly, but steadily we followed her trail back to the edge of the woods.

Chris picked up a piece of flint and handed it to me. It wasn't mine, the quality was low, it was brittle. Someone might have dropped it for that reason a long time ago.

Nevertheless I thanked him and put it in my pouch. "Before it goes off"? How could grain get off? It might get too wet, and I wouldn't recommend to harvest wet grain, or grains which have been too wet for too long a time, but this here was fine. It might have caught some rain in the autumn, and snow in the winter, but now, just in the break between snow and rain, in the dry part of spring, it would be a great time to get more of it inside.

Walking behind him I got my bow ready and kept it in my hand, as soon as I saw the rabbit and the cat. Those small cats weren't a problem, they might scratch and bite you, but where the small ones were, a saber might not be far away, the only difference between them was that cats didn't hunt people to feed upon. Chris made a lot of noise walking through the stalks. I looked at his feet. His shoes looked nothing like mine, they were very sturdy, more like boots and it seemed the soles were made out off wood or something similar in-pliable. In the bunker his footsteps had sounded loud and distinct, mine more like soft taps, out here mine were inaudible only when I stepped upon a stalk (or a twig in the forest, if I would be that careless or in too much of a hurry to be really careful) I made a rustling sound.

My trail was easy to follow. I had stumbled a few times, hadn't always walked in the straight line I thought I followed at the time and I had harvested quite some wheat on what had been my right side. Soon we found the red-striper and the spot where I had sat down to take care of my leg. With a sigh I looked down, the tear in my leggings needed mending. I would do it tonight, I could cut a patch from one of my leather sheets.

At the edge of the woods the spot where I had slept and warmed myself looked like the nest of a saber. Wheat stalks flattened, some ripped out and put in a heap. The only difference were the ashes where I had build the fire.

My bottle was nowhere to be seen. I looked at the edge of the woods, the shrubbery showed signs of something big breaking through it. I shook my head and pointed at it with my bow.

"If I have been that careless my trail inside the forest might be the same. I really would like to find the spring where I drunk a lot of water, I might have forgotten my bottle there. It is one of the few with a perfect fitting cap we have, so I really would like to find it. I think it might take us around two hours to get there though. Maybe tomorrow. Now we need to get your deer, it will take us most of today to butcher it, cut it up and get the meat in your smoke-house, or string it on cords to dry in the wind. Weather is perfect for that and by nightfall the weight would be reduced by half already."

I turned back to look at the ruins. A rustle in the wheat caught my eye. Not smooth enough for a cat or a rabbit, a scavenging dog would have showed its back in the stalks, a saber would have been clear visible and leaping towards us. It might be a pheasant or a even an turkey. Taking an arrow, nocking it and aiming was just one move, and I followed the rustle with the tip of the arrow. The sun twinkled on the arrowhead. That was the only disadvantage of using metal for arrowheads.

Chris had lifted his gun and was aiming at the same spot I was. With a grin I let go off my arrow and with an even bigger one I noted the soft thud with which it embedded itself in the prey. The moving stopped, only the fletched end of my arrow quivered just above the wheat.

It didn't take me long to cover the fifty meters between me and the now still arrow. Carefully I wiped the grin off my face when I pulled the arrowhead out off the ground and held the turkey at his feet in the air. I had no use for the beak now, so I just cut its head off and led it bleed out a minute before I bound the the feet to one of the straps hanging off of my belt at my back. I carefully choose a long one, I didn't want the bird bumping against my bum when I walked in front of Chris.

"The positive side of getting up early," I smiled as I had reached Chris again.

"Usually the upside for me is to have a few miles to jog on the treadmill. Let's go."

I didn't wait for her, I walked off into the direction of the sleigh, taking a direct route through the wheat,

"Why I said that the wheat go off, is that at the end of their natural cycle they throw off their seeds. Usually after winter. Then they are worthless. Sure they do hold for a long time, but it is quite a large bit of earth for one man to cover."

We got to the sleigh, I took hold and started off in the direction of the deer, I was not sure how she was able to walk, usually recovery time from an infected wound and food poisoning took much longer than a few hours. I wonder if they had the same DNA structure than me, perhaps the constant exposure to the new conditions had done something to them? Would have been interesting to know, but I didn't really have a mind for the tests and that sort of stuff, the laboratory was still there though, perhaps... Movement...only the wind, with a slight grimace I continued on my way to the deer.

Jog in a treadmill? Why would he do that? At the farm they did it to set the millstones in motion, but why would Chris have to jog in a treadmill?

He was walking away from me, tramping a new route in the wheat. Now why should he do that? The track I had made, and which we just made broader, was perfectly okay, and not so twisty we would lose much time. Not more time than it took to walk through the stalks. At least on the track we knew we wouldn't stumble in a rabbit-hole or something nastier.

Nevertheless I followed him closely. In a way I was glad he was walking ahead of me, now he didn't see me wiping sweat beads of my brow. All in all we had walked an hour, I had shot the pheasant and I was feeling like I had run to my father's settlement without a break.

Chris made a lot of noise, and he talked. Quite loudly. I kept a sharp eye out for sabers and other unwelcome predators, glanced back every so often, once in a while a drop of blood fell from the pheasant's neck, and I wanted to be sure no cat, small or big, was following us.

With the sleigh he carved a new track in the wheat. I sighed. The wheat was still in the stalks, but for how long? At least he moved slower, now that he pulled the sleigh, and I collected what wheat I could. I scolded myself, I had known we would spend some time in the field, and I hadn't taken a bag with me. When the pouch my water bottle should have been in, was filled, I put the rest in my quiver.

After a long while we reached the prairie like grassland again, and followed a well used path. Someone had made it nice and smooth, the sleigh never caught on a stone, and we moved almost inaudible. I was very glad. Walking suddenly got much easier. Finally we reached the top of a small hill, and stood under the blooming tree which had been my beacon yesterday.

The deer dangled from a big branch, and thorny shrubbery under it had kept cats from
reaching it. The mix of sweet flowers and fresh meat was dizzying from up close.

I had to swallow my pride.

"Did you bring water with you? Could you spare me a sip?"

Chris

I looked at her, only then did I see the signs of fatigue, so she was human after all, "Sit down." I motioned to the sleigh, of course she didn't take well to orders, "Sit down, you look like hell warmed over." I drew the water bottle from my belt and waited for her to sit down, then I handed her the bottle, "Rest a bit, you can drink as much as you need." With that I started to clean away the branches, drawing my knife, I started to cut off the limbs, the ribs and backbone could stay intact, there was enough space on the sleigh.

I placed the meat on the sleigh as I cut it from the carcass, lastly taking the remainder down and placed it on the sleigh as well, drawing another bottle from my belt, I cleaned the blade and my hands. I sat down next to her and took a sip of water, it was still cool and to me it tasted fabulous, "Well that's that, you feeling good enough for the trek back?"