P6. A Strange Situation

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Pain was never been this annoying before.

It usually came and forth without a trace, just like breathing. But now, it was totally pain in the head.

One good thing, pain meant I am alive. But at the same time, it means this lass in front of me, wasn't some kind of holographic imagery.

I took a breath but the pain throbbed at my chest.

"Looks like you've broken your ribs," The lass looked ... strange. Unpleasant. "Please rest assured. We mean no harm."

The presence of this very woman made my tracked everything that happened. The sudden hit of realization hit me hard, but the pain, once again, prevented me to do anything

A sudden touch made my gaze up. Her eyes met mine. And I realize we're not physically similar. She was a lot shorter, with slightly darker skin and dark brown eyes that could be mistaken for black if not for this light.

Strangely, I couldn't smell anything from her within this range.

Surprised, my eyes turned to the battle that still going on. We were at the perimeter and this damn thing was turned on for more than a minute, at least. With force, I grabbed her shirt.

"Relax, please." That lass pushed me to the ground again and pointed the badges on her arm: green crescent.

Idiot.

"Light...." I grunted. "Knock it ... out!"

"Light?" When a jet passed above the sky, clarity finally befall upon her. She turned off the flashlight. "Sorry, I-I didn't know."

I was thinking about something to say, but everything lost when darkness engulfed us all.

It was pitch black.

If only not for the burning flame behind me, everything would be swallowed by darkness.

I touched my own eyes and rubbed them. Nothing changed.

No, my eyes weren't like this before. I could see things in the dark. I put my hand in front of my face, but I couldn't see it at all. I could only feel it touched my face.

"Soon my friend...." The lass talked again, but I didn't understand what she was saying. "We will ... our camps...."

My hands went down. The injuries still bleeding. This woman talked about bring me to a camp. She was a lot shorter than me. Smaller.

She was an Earthling.

And she mistaken me for a human being because of these injuries.

I turned to my left shoulder to the badges of Alliance's soldier. I still wore Alliance's battle suit. Even so, the woman kept tending to my wounds. She didn't even fear me.

I took a breath, slowly this time.

No smell, no things to see, injured, and now being helped by unknown an volunteer. This is the worst.

"Oh, yes," Now, her voice began to annoy me. "I forgot to ask your name. What do I have to call you, Sir?"

Call, not a name. She got a point. This wasn't the first time she volunteered herself up in a war. That was she didn't seem afraid of me. She could be a Martian like Uriel that could speak in a way that annoy most of us, but that wasn't possible.

There was only Human's refugees around here.

***

"Kill him, Mikhail."

My eyes flinched open.

The cold yet dry wind swoop all over me. I turned and looked the opened entrance. My eyes quickly went down to find out how many things have been stolen from me.

I was left with blanket, but inside, I was half naked.

My eyes wander to search my battle suit.

I was in some-kind of tent with next to none equipment and tools. There were only one drawer with only one electric bulb: human's old tech. I haven't traveled far.

I tried to get up, but the throbbing pain on my chest stopped me. My head felt dizzy and my body ached from pain.

Slowly this time, I tried to reach for the drawer and checked on them one by one, while my memories returning piece by piece. Everything went black after the treatment done and now I was already in the mentioned camp. Not good. But at least, I didn't open my eyes with the presence of that woman around.

I found a white shirt on first drawer and Lohengrin on the second drawer. I snatched it away and got up from bed. When my feet landed on the ground, another throbbing pain hit me hard.

A strange gasp came. I snapped and pointed my gun to the opened entrance. A little girl dropped something from his hands. Without saying a word, she ran off, frightened.

I quickly took a step to look for her, but the pain didn't give in. I took a breath, it still hurt. I reached out and another pain hit me.

My regeneration was really not working.

I took a breath, but all I could smell was the stench of sedative all around me. I listened, but the only thing I could hear was the sound of whirling wind outside and my own heartbeat.

My eyes went down. I got new pair of brown trousers. It made of cotton and felt so light. I touched the leg. The wound was still there.

It all began with this wound.

That soldier used a weird colored knife and strange shaped bullet. I 'venever seen anything like that.

"...seriously?" Someone was talking outside. I tried to hear more, but the only thing I could hear next was: "Ajnabi."

That was how Humans in Middle East Union called us: Ajnabi or the barbarian.

Right, that lass said she brought me to her camp. She wore a green crescent moon badges. There were only one refugee camp near out perimeter: Al-Mast.

After wearing the shirt, I hide that gun behind the shirt. Slowly and cautiously, I slipped out of the tent.

It wasn't as dark as I've anticipated. The dim light came from tents around me. And that was bothering me the most.

Without these light, I would be helpless outside.

"That boy wasn't Ajnabi?"

I could hear someone was talking nearby. I hide, and peeped. Two men talked to each other. Their expression blurred in this dim lights, but I could hear anger in their voice.

"I don't believe it! He must be one of them!"

"How could she let someone so suspicious coming in? She's too kind!"

Somebody coughed and I quickly hidden in the shadows. A lad showed himself in front of those two.

"Good morning, Sahabi," He them with accent speak of Arabic.

"Ah, yes, Sayyidi." One of them greeted him with respect. "What's the matter?"

"Breakfast would be ready in ten minutes. Please let the others know."

So, it's morning already.

I looked at the sky, just realized the slight indigo on one side of the endless blue canvas. Right, it was almost winter. My gaze turned to the where that sky turned to, there were smokes at the west.

"See that, Reana?" He was coming closer. I moved to the back side of the tent, slowly. "I'm not the only one that think you're too—

"Bryan!"

My head snapped to the direction where that voice echoed. A black, thin, girl approached that man, Bryan.

It was her. The strange woman that helped me in the night.

Rae-ah-nah. I couldn't recognize the name.

"How is it? Any news from her?" Reana asked.

"No." Bryan said. "Latifah haven't sent anything."

My eyes flinched.

"God, I hope she's fine. All those news night and day, I...." Now, she covered her face. "I don't what—

"Hey, calm down, okay?" Bryan talked to her. "Everyone did their best to contact her. She wasn't the type to do anything harshly. You know her the best, better than any of us."

"I know, but ... you saw what happened in Hadriah."

Hadriah. Latifah. Two clues at one time. Probability have getting higher. They might were talking about that Latifah. The princess of Republic of Hadriah, the first country that have succumbed to our wish.

"She was like blocked from all sides, Bryan. I need to support her at least. How could I call myself her friend?"

She had connection with Latifah. This matter needed to be investigated further.

"You are a good friend, Reana," Bryan tried to reassure her again. "Now, please have a nice—

"Okay ... okay, then how about him?" Reana retorted. "The blood test? How's the result?"

Bryan sighed. "No signs of nano-agents. As you've predicted, that young man was purely a Human. Not a Maha."

Something in my chest tightened. They couldn't possibly talking about me. But I these bruises, bandages, injuries, and broken ribs, everything slapped me to face the reality.

The result they were talking about was me and the result said I was purely a Human.

My fists clenched. Something was happening to me and those strange knife and bullets were the answers. Some of them were still on my flesh that night. I could move now, so they must have removed it. I didn't know how many nights have been passed.

The probability they have disposed of it were low. I have to find those immediately.

"But, why he wore Alliance's battle suit?" Reana asked again. "Was he a spy?"

I wouldn't let this slip. I mustn't.

"Now, that was our next problem," Bryan said. "We shouldn't take him lightly. As you said, he could be—

"Miss! Miss Reana!"

That urgent voice took me back to reality.

"That soldier! He's gone!"

"What?!"

My eyes searched for any place to camouflage. Then I saw it. A queue that slowly building up.

Breakfast. That tent must be kitchen.

I turned around, but something stopped me.

Someone bumped into me. It squeaked like a chicken. I looked down and a young girl looked at me back with big hazel eyes. The girl that shrieked at me before.

"Do you hear that?" I heard someone approached us.

The girl before my eyes sat still. She froze by my presence.

If I let this girl, they would have figured it out. This girl might have reported me either, that would be the reason why someone went to my tent.

There is only one thing to prevent further problems.

***

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