《At the Top of the Food-Chain》Chapter 7- Human Stench
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Andy continues to cry, curled up on the floor. Daisy and Teach #1 walk over to where we are. #1 is scared.
Daisy looks down at the crying Andy, then toward me. “Are you ok, Rain? He kicked you really far.”
“It's ok. I can heal myself. Are you alright?”
She nods her head yes. “It only hurts a little now.”
I smile at Daisy and then look over to #1. “What's your name?” I can't keep calling him #1.
He looks frighted by my question and jumped when I asked it. He is sweating a lot. “My name is Collin Lee Blacker.” He stands up really strait when he says that. What a funny man.
“Ok, Collin Lee Blacker, why did he attack me?” I point down at the now silent Andy.
Collin Lee Blacker's face twists into a grimace. “He... he thinks you are a...I mean he noticed you were a... um. You aren't human so...” That's less than helpful. I already knew he thought I was a monster but...isn't that going too far? Why is everything breaking stuff and fighting?
“Why do humans attack people who aren't human? Will you try to attack me too, Collin Lee Blacker?” His name is too long. Maybe I should go back to calling him #1. It's no wonder Andy called him Teach.
“I would never attack you!” He frantically waves his hands back and forth. “Uh..um you don't have too use my full name...” I cock my head, what does he mean? “Hiiiih! Unless you want to, of course!”
Daisy giggles. “What's so funny Daisy?”
She puts her hand to her mouth an coughs. “You means you can just call him Collin or Mr. Blacker.” She smiles at me.
I look back at... Collin. “I will call you Collin because it's shorter.”
“Um thats fine...” He looks down at Andy, who is now lying flat on the floor with his eyes staring off into space. “What are you going to do with him?”
I am really confused and it shows on my face. “Why would I need to do anything with him? What do you mean?”
Collin is the one who looks confused now. “I mean. I thought... he attacked you so...”
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I'm still confused, so I look to Daisy for answers. I give her a questioning look.
She laughs and turns to Collin. “Mr. Collin, I think you have the wrong idea. Rain's not a villain. He's a Superhero!”
Collin looks down at me. He still looks unsure, but he also doesn't look as afraid as before. He opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, a voice calls from behind the barricade. “Mr. Blacker! Andy! What's going on out there?”
Collin says he will be right back and goes to talk to the people behind the barricade.
Daisy cautiously walks over to Andy. She crouches down and shines her flashlight at him. “What did ya do to him?”
“I didn't do anything. He did that to himself.”
Daisy looks up at me. “You didn't beat him up?” She asks that like she's disappointed.
I shake my head no.
Daisy starts poking Andy's cheek. He doesn't respond. “Heelloo~ Mr. Meany Head.”
“...”
Daisy sighs. “I think he's broken.”
I think back to my broken toy soldiers. “He doesn't look broken.”
Daisy puts her hand on her chin, thinking. She does that a lot. I wonder if it helps her think better. I copy her...
“Mom says that some people are broken on the inside. That seems to be what happened here.”
Putting my hand on my chin did nothing. “What do you do with broken people? Throw them away?”
Daisy looks shocked but unsure. “No. I think we should try to fix him... but I don't know how.”
I don't want to. “What if we fix him, and he tries to hurt us again?”
Daisy looks conflicted. “That's true but...” she doesn't finish her sentence.
We stay like that in silence.
Footstep approach. It's Collin. “Daisy, there are some people who know you're brother, but they don't want to come on this side of the barricade.” He seems a lot calmer now.
Daisy stands up excitedly. “Ok, come on Rain. Lets go.” She starts walking toward the the barricade, but stops and turns around. “Rain, we should bring him too.” She points to Andy.
“Ok.” I grab Andy by the leg and start pulling him toward the barricade. Both Daisy and Collin give me weird looks but don't say anything. Collin climbs over the barricade with ease, but I have to help Daisy over. I also drag Andy over. Daisy tells me to be more careful with him, so I decide to carry him down the other side instead of dropping him like I wanted to.
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When we get to the other side, Daisy immediately asks about her brother. They tell her that he left not long after the monsters appeared. He and some of his friends went off to find Daisy's family's safe house. I think this was a good idea, because all the other houses I'd seen didn't look too safe.
A lot of the people over here stink. That's ok though cause they are trying there best to stay away from me. From what I heard them saying, they are worried about me hurting them. They also seem to be worried about Andy. Some people his age took him into one of the rooms on the side of the hall. People are whispering about how they will all die if he doesn't get better.
Daisy want's to go to her safe house right away, but Collin says we should spend the night here. I don't want to because it stinks. Daisy decides we should stay til it gets light out, though. She doesn't think she will be able to find the safe house in the dark.
We sit by the wall and Daisy falls asleep. I don't need to sleep so I just sit there. After most of the people are asleep, Collin comes over to talk to me.
He sits down beside me. “So, you really aren't human, huh.”
“Why do you humans always act like it's bad that I'm not human?”
He shifts next to me. “Well I guess it's probably because, before all of this started, there were only humans and animals. Then everything we saw that came into our world tried to kill us. You are the first non-human I have heard of who hasn't tried to kill humans on contact. Well, not that we have much information on the outside world right now.” I did kill humans when I first met them, but I won't be anymore, probably. So I don't need to tell him that, probably.
I can hardly remember anything before I became Rain, so I won't tell him about that. “Is it not normal for everyone to hurt each other?”
“Of course not! I mean... well mostly. Only some people hurt others before all of this...” He barely mumbles the last part of his sentence. Daisy stirs from his outburst.
“...”
“...R..Rain. What will happen when you leave. Will the monsters come back?” He looks off into the distance while biting his lip.
“I don't know.” Why would I know that?
“Oh...” He goes silent for a while. When he speaks again, he sounds scared. “Wil..will you... I mean...If you don't mind could... could we...” This guy needs to learn how to speak properly. I don't understand what he is saying.
“What?” He flinches away when I ask him that.
“Oh um...” Suddenly he looks determined. “There used to be over 40 of us here. Now there's only 23. We have no food or water. If we stay here, we will die.” He looks at me seriously. I don't know why he's telling me all this. “Rain. Can we come with you when you leave tomorrow? Please!”
“Sure.”
He looks surprised by my answer. He starts talking weird again. “U..um ok... thank you...” He looks confuse for a moment and the relieved. Then he gets up and goes around telling the people who are awake to get everything ready, because they are leaving tomorrow.
I sit silently in boredom until the sun comes up and shines through the open doorways. People start waking up and moving around. Then Daisy wakes up and I tell her that everyone is coming with us. She thinks it's a good idea.
When it's time to leave. I ask Collin if it's alright if we take down the barricade. Everyone is taking to long to climb over it, and we will have to carry Andy because they can't seem to wake him up. Collin agrees, and I knock it down.
*CRASH* Part of the wall of desks falls and smashes into the stuff lining the hallway. I think I just made this more of a pain. There is no ware to walk now. After a couple hours cleaning the desks from the hall, we are on our way to the safe house. I am glad we can finally get back out into the fresh air.
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