The World We Knew Is Silent

It took a bit - but the panic slowly died. It didn't fade entirely, but it did turn into something far less overwhelming, enough to let Andie relax and enough to let a bit of curiosity take over. This was a strange situation. An unknown one. Andie didn't really like surprises, especially big ones like this, but it was good behavior to make the most of something bad, right?

First, she looked around the pod. It was simple. Streamlined. There weren't any buttons or screens inside, nothing that might be able to put her back where she was supposed to be. There was, however, a small wooden box at the bottom. Unlatching it and opening the lid, she found a small, worn leather book, a ring of plastic cards, and a metal trowel. Immediately, she grabbed the book, clutching it close to her chest and running her hand up and down the wrinkled spine. She felt better.

This was okay. She was going to be okay.

Picking up the cards, she slipped the lanyard around her neck, then she picked up the trowel and put it handle-down in the pocket of her skorts. The blade stuck out from the side, and it was a little uncomfortable, but she needed her hands for other things right now. Stepping out of the pod, she looked around at the surrounding foliage. Mainly tropical. Some palm, ferns, quite a bit of bamboo. Bamboo was invasive and could grow anywhere, but it definitely pointed to a tropical area. Which meant - she was near the equator? Or at least somewhere more humid, possibly coastal.

Something howled in the distance, and Andie tensed, moving into the brush and crouching low.

Andie shifted deeper into the brush as footsteps approached, hurrying closer as a second howl echoed from somewhere in the woods. The stranger broke into the clearing. Andie didn't like strangers - her dad had told her to never trust them, and she always felt uncomfortable around them, like she didn't know what to do - or how to act. But - that wasn't a stranger, was it?

The face was familiar. Different, but familiar. She couldn't - he looked at her, and she froze, and then he spoke her name. The voice was familiar too. It was someone she was supposed to know.

...Calvin?

Breaking out of the brush, Andie ran to him, wrapping her arms around him tightly with a painful amount of force. Shivering, she pulled away, fingers fumbling at the cards around her neck, thumbing through them awkwardly until she found the one she wanted. She pushed it into Calvin's face so close that he'd have to move back a bit to read it.

A little face was printed on it, eyes wide, mouth drawn in a squiggly line.

SCARED.

She flinched a little as he rubbed her head, taking a quick step back, but she didn't object to his hand, taking it in hers tightly and quickly looking around again.

Not safe after dark? What was out here after dark? Wolves? Bears?

Monsters?

"Mn."

A mental image flashed in her mind, big, black furred things with mouths full of bright white fangs. She shook her head quickly. And what did he mean by they? Who were they, and why did they give her her cards? Was dad one of they? He was the only person who'd know where she kept them, when she was asleep.

The strange box Calvin had drew her attention to the band on her wrist, previously unnoticed, but now holding her full attention. It was tight. She didn't like bracelets to begin with, but she especially didn't like tight ones. Letting go of Cal's hand for a moment, she started to tug on it, trying to pull it off.

Andie paused, fingernails curled beneath the band hard enough to leave indents in her skin. She'd already scratched herself a bit trying to pull it off. Calvin had one too, but that didn't exactly make things better. Just because he had one didn't mean she had to, too. She didn't want it. It was rubbing against her skin every time she moved, and the more she thought about it, the more she focused on how uncomfortable it felt. But -

He said he could find her with it, if she got lost. That was important. Getting lost out here would be terrifying, and not having a way for him to find her even moreso.

Disgruntled, but understanding, she nodded. She took the box as he held it out, twisting it around between her fingers, running the tips against the smooth edges. Glancing to Calvin, she held the box in one hand, bunching the fingers of her other and pressing it against the side.

More?

She pointed at the box, then pointed back towards the direction of the pods.

"Hm?"

Others. So there were others.

She thought back to the closed pods, lights still flashing. Were there people in them already? Would they be okay? She trusted Cal to make the right choice, here, but that still made her a little uneasy. Hurrying up next to him, she continued to play with the box, moving close enough to Cal to brush against him just to make sure he was there.

They stepped through a bit of the bamboo, him holding it to the side, and found themselves on a path leading back the way he'd come. She didn't notice his nervousness - if anything, she found his presence steadying, however worried he himself might feel or seem. After about a minute in silence picking at the edges at the box, she moved it to one hand, tugging on his arm with the other.

When she had his attention, she touched her pinched fingers and thumb to her mouth.

Andie grinned.

The fear was fading, a little, the strange howls and odd circumstances forgotten in momentary excitement. This was something new, and someone she knew was with her, so - at least for now - everything was fine. Everything was safe. They'd broken out onto the beach, a crude hut in the distance. Andie pointed at it, then pointed at Cal, cocking her head.