Carter followed in the child's wake, through the golden stalks Carter could see him moving like a dog or spider. *shiver* 'I hate spiders man'.
Over a hill and out of the field was a large two-story house.
'that actually looks pretty normal, I wonder how many people live here'.
The boy scuttled up the steps and called out in the croaky voice "ma! a stranger wants to talk to you!.
Carter couldn't help but smile. 'Doesn't matter where you go, kids will always have no tact'. As carter stopped a ways off from the house, not wanting to scare the boy's mom, the door opened and a diminutive form came out in what looked like an old prairie dress from the 50's.
As the figure stepped out and off the long porch, Carter suffered another bout of shivers. 'There's something wrong with these people'. Just like her son the woman had greyish eyes with piercing yellow irises. What was different about her was that her skin was also grayish with a dark pattern of lines going from her hair line and down towards her collar bone, interestingly she had grey gloves on. her hair was an inky black that was put up into a large bun. Her figure was mostly covered but what he could see was that she was quite short, and standing closer he towered over her.
" How can I help you sir, you are quite far from any settlements, we do not have much but we can still give you something" she said shakily with bowed shoulders. Her voice was sibilant with a slight rasp but not croaky like her son's.
'Oh'
'She thinks I'm here to rob her?, no there's something else she's nervous about'
Carter quickly put on what he hoped was a convincing smile and introduced himself. "Good morning ma'am, my names Carter, I'm not looking for any trouble but I seem to be lost. I frankly have no clue how I ended up here". From the way her eyes widened and she tensed, Carter did not think his smile was convincing. 'Meh, as long as these people don't try to eat me or something they'll be fine'.
She quickly curtsied and said "I'm so sorry sir, my name is Retha, my son's is Kamari. We would be glad to help you, p-please come in my h-husband is outback fixing our fence so he should be coming back now and should be able to clear anything up for you."
'This woman just lied'. Carter had gotten good at reading people, 'you had to be when they dump you in the system overnight'. He had learned certain queues how people lied, micro expressions that people make are slightly different for everyone but there are some tells. The tenseness in her jaw, the way her eyebrows twitched, the eyes tensing and her looking away all came to one conclusion
'This lady thinks I'm gonna rape her doesn't she?, and she doesn't have a husband. Dead? or maybe he left, she does have a ring on though'. A simple band, with no embellishments on it's tarnished silver exterior.
It made sense when Carter thought about it. living alone in any era far away from civilization is dangerous. 'prolly doesn't help that I look like this'. Carter still had on his white jumpsuit, with numbers on the back. Carter was also not exactly prince charming. He had a scar going across his lips from a piece of sharpened broom handle and his nose had a downward and slight angle to it from being broken so many times, he couldn't breath out of it most times though interestingly he wasn't having that issue now.
"Thank you, I really mean no trouble I just have no idea where I am" he reassures and followed Retha into the house, Kamari was no where to be found. Carter almost stops walking when he reached the foyer, ' damn this is a nice house'. The outside wasn't anything crazy, unpainted wood on the base and stone for the second story but the inside looked like he had stepped into some old idea of glamping.
"You have a very beautiful home here" Carter casually says causing Retha to flinch and say a quiet "thank you". "Sit and I'll go get you some tea" she said before walking into another door and out of site. 'She's totally gonna poison me isn't she? oh well I don't even like tea'.
carter sits down on the surprisingly comfortable couch before releasing a big sigh. As he sits there he gets time to think about what had happened with his death 'I hope that kid got out safe, I'm honestly surprised Hammer was able to get up after what I did to him'.
"where are you from Azuria or lindover" says the weird child who Carter was sure was not sitting beside him a second ago
"jesus! kid you snuck up on me" 'This kid is way weirder than his mom'.
" Mommy says that I need to make noise for other people but I forget to sometimes" the boy says expressionlessly
"I wonder why" Carter grumbles before hearing Retha come back in the room.
"Kamari how about going to play outside while I talk to the nice man" she says before putting down a steaming mug of blue tea. "thank you" carter says as he put the blue tea to his lips and fake sips it. 'No way am I drinking anything from her until she realizes I'm not gonna hurt her'
"So what can I help you with?, like I said before we are quite far from any of the village's and the trails for that matter". Retha sits down on the opposite couch facing him and clasps her hands in from of her. Now that she is sitting Carter can see more of that strange pattern running down her neck. He could also see that what he thought were thin gloves are actually her hands.
"Okay I don't know how to be nice about it, but are human?. No offence intended but you don't look huma-"
"Please spare us sir! We are living so far out here to not cause trouble! We will leave right now!" Retha wails as she throws herself onto the ground and prostrates herself in front of Carter.
"Woah lady chill, I'm not going to hurt you I-" She grabs onto Carters knees and starts to shuffle herself in between them until he grabs the top of her head stopping her from getting any closer. "alright now you stop right there"
"please spare us! you ca-"
"Listen weird lady! I don't what the fuck you think I'm doing here but It's not that!". While Carter was tempted to let her continue he didn't want to make this situation more tenuous if she did actually have a husband. 'I've done that once and never again, man I can't believe she didn't say she had a husband'. As carter comes back to the sound of whimpers he realized that he had started squeezing her head and quickly released her. "Look lady I just woke up in your field after what I'm presuming to have been stabbed to death. I don't know where I am and there's this weird glowing panel that keeps fucking dinging in my head". he says as he gets up to start pacing.
"I need answers to where I am and what is going on" Carter grunts out. His heart had started to palpitate as the stress of the last 20 minutes started to overwhelm him again. His deep breaths once again turned erratic and fast as dots swam in his vision, his chest got tight and started to ache and his legs turned wobbly.
"what's happening to me" Carter wheezes out as he drops onto his knees gasping for breath ' Am I dying again? I just got here!'
"Oh my- Your an unbound!" Retha gasps as she scrambles back to her feet and starts to make a clicky chittering sound that is oddly soothing to Carter. She quickly pushes carter onto his back while he is too weak to struggle as she starts to feel along his chest and stomach "Do you feel pressure or burning anywhere " she worriedly asks.
Before Carter can reply no, molten fire runs through his veins and he screams "YES!". The searing heat travels to every part of him before his muscles start to tense up, he feels like he is bowstring about to snap.
"I know it hurts, but you must stay awake" Rhea says as she continues to feel along his body as if she were looking for something. "Your body is adapting to the new energy that is found on Alberon, It will finish soon but you must stay awake. You will die if you don't, so far I feel no blockages to worry about".
Carter would have screamed at the woman if he he could speak, 'Easy for you to say your not boiling!'. There is a *crack* before the inferno simmers down into a familiar thrum heat. "*sigh* Fuck that hurt" Carter pants out. he looks up to see Rhea whispering something while circling her hands over his face.
"[sleep] you will feel better when you wake up"
His last thoughts were of the strangeness that had been happening to him.
"This place is fucking weird"