Ch 5: Warm Welcome

Michael watched the man leave and turned back around to see that a few of the other lifetakers had approached him. One of them, a short blonde kid with a flat nose, stepped closest.

“Ni hao,” he said with a nod.

Michael shook his head. “I don’t speak any Chinese,” he said in English. The words felt very strange in his mouth, and were difficult to form. He hadn’t tried to speak a word in English since he’d arrived.

“Do you speak…local?” he asked, realizing he didn’t have a name for the language he’d been learning.

The other taker threw up a hand and the others began to close in on him. One of them suddenly tried to grab his bundle, but he yanked back, pushing him away. The others started to grab at it, one of them striking out at Michaels face, so Michael made an awkward fist and hit him right back even as he clutched the package tightly against himself with the other arm.

His small fist struck true. The others backed a way a bit, but then started to get closer, forming small fists of their own.

A different one approached, this one with brown hair and eyes.

“Oi oi oi! Lay the fuck off him,” the boy pushed several of the others away and they stumbled back. While he had the initiative, he grabbed Michael’s arm and started pulling him away.

“It’s good that you fought back. Makes them think twice about doing that kind of thing again.” he kept pulling him away and Michael didn’t resist. “Did I hear you speaking English?” he asked, in English.

“Yes, you did.”

He gave Michael a firm pat on the shoulder. “Nice!” He turned around to look at a small group talking around one of the bunks.

“Hey boys, we’ve got another one,” he turned back to look at him. “Don’t worry about those fellas over there, most of the takers are Chinese or Indian and they’ve been awful cliquey since we got here. All they’d have stolen from you was a blanket, but they’re paper thin anyway. Where you from? Tell me you’re Australian? Hell, I’d take a Canadian at this point.”

“American, I’m afraid.”

“Oh well, nevermind then you can fuck right off,” he shook his head, but quickly broke and laughed. “I’m just playing around. Beggars can’t be choosers after all. Come on, meet the boys.” He gestured for Michael to follow and he did, coming to the other three penitents that were gathered around a bunk.

Once they were there, the brown haired boy pointed at himself. “I’m Ollie.” He pointed to a darker skinned boy with long dark hair moving a silver coin between his fingers, “That’s Marcus.” He pointed to a boy with wide blue eyes and black hair, “That’s Pyotr.” He pointed at the remaining man, a ginger with a broad jaw for a child, “And that’s “Davi.”

He nodded at each of them in turn as they were introduced. “Hey, I’m Michael.”

Pyotr looked him up and down. “American?”

“Unfortunately for us all,” said Ollie sadly.

“There is nothing wrong with Americans, my friend.” He paused and leaned forward a bit. “Except for their smell.”

That provoked a chuckle from everyone, even Michael.

“I take it I’m the only American.”

The redhead, Davi, shrugged. “I’m South American, but it is not the same.”

“Where in South America?” asked Michael.

“Brazil.”

“Close enough for me,” he responded. “And you?” he asked, looking at Marcus.

Marcus slid the silver coin through his fingers again. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Oh yeah, mister mystery over here. Considering he talks as clear in English as you and me, I’d guess he’s English, Canadian, American, or Australian.” said Ollie.

“Or I just learned it better than these two. Our accents have all been diminished, for all you know I’m Japanese.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Michael gestured at everyone else aside from them. “So, none of the rest of them are willing to speak local to get along, and we’re stuck together because at least we all speak English?”

Pyotr shrugged. “We are in an unfamiliar place. It makes some sense to seek out the familiar here.”

“No. They’re stupid. It would make more sense to all talk about our situation and seek advantage,” said Davi.

“What advantage?” asked Marcus chuckling. “We’re adults in the bodies of children that have been drafted. Unless one of them popped out of his mother’s pussy with an AK, I don’t think we’re going to have much luck.”

“I think the recoil of an AK would be a bit much for us at the moment, no?” asked Pyotr.

Davi shook his head. “The more we know about this world, the easier it will be to survive. Awareness is one of the only advantages we can build as we are.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” said Marcus, flipping his coin. “We already all tried multiple times. Some were violent, most just ignored us. I don’t even think they were taught Hume properly. Maybe they had less time to practice it than we did.”

Hume was the local language, he remembered that from an early lesson. He also noted that if they were all from countries that existed on his Earth, that meant that all the takers were probably from the same place. Unless they were all from marginally different Earths with slight differences and that didn’t seem worth the energy to figure out right that second.

“How long have you been here?”

“Three months in this world. Less than a week here.”