The Cinders of Dezu

6th: Keeping Dark (1)

Cairo sat up again with a start. He slapped his face and groaned in frustration. He hated feeling mentally foggy. He didn't like the sensation of being out of control of himself. He looked around. He was in a bed again, this one was a bit smaller. It was big enough for just him and he was all alone in the room. It looked like he was in a cabin. The burlap bag that Harper had given them was in the corner. The door swung open.

"Good! You're awake!"

It was Julian, holding a book open in his hand.

"Dude, this thing is full of crazy. I don't even know where to begin."

He started flipping through the pages.

"It actually tells you how to take care of an outhouse! How to shovel it and how to fix it. There's bags of stuff under the sink for it. It's got pictures and everything."

Julian brought the book to Cairo's face to show him an illustration of a simple outhouse with a break down of its parts and a diagram of the hole underneath and it's measurements. Julian pulled it back and started going through the pages again.

"And apparently, its incredibly important to keep lights on outside at night. There's a section on different fruits and berries to pick and jobs you can apply for in town."

Cairo grabbed at the book in his hands.

"No, man, " Julian said pulling away, "You have your own, look."

He went over to the bag in the corner and opened it. He pulled out the book Harper had shown them before they had been put back to sleep. It was clearly hand bound, wrapped with a front and back cover of leather. It wasn't terribly large, nor was it very heavy when Julian placed it in his friend's hands.

"'The Dezuin Survival Guide'?" Cairo read aloud.

The title was printed on the books cover in dark letters.

"Good job reading right after coming off that sleep dart stuff, " said Julian.

"How long... You woke up, " Cairo said, pointing at him.

"Ha! There it is. I don't know, maybe half an hour or something. My room is next door. I looked around a bit and started reading this."

Cairo threw the blankets off of himself and put his feet on the floor. Julian warned him about standing up too fast because of the seemee seemee in his system. He tried to stand up anyway and Julian had to catch him. It wasn't long before Cairo had enough stability to exit his room and look at the rest of the cabin. It wasn't big and it was rather simple. Just outside his bedroom door was a living area with a cedar wood dining table with four chairs around it. To the right was a simple sink. Toward the other end of the room was an upholstered couch sitting in front of a fireplace.

Cairo went straight for the front door which was located on the left next to the dining table. He burst into the open air, nearly tripping down the few steps at the entrance. Before him was a dirt clearing with low grass a few meters ahead. They were surrounded by very tall and very thick trees. The branches were bursting with green as the sun tried to shine down through them. It was a sight to behold. The trees and plant life looked very well nourished and hydrated, putting their contentment on display.

"Raina!!!" Cairo called out, "Rai-"

A hand covered his mouth. It was Julian from behind him. He began pulling him back into the house.

"Are you nuts?! How about you read some of the book before you start telling the world where we are."

Julian drug him to the dining room table and sat him down. He placed the book in front of him.

"Alright. Read the beginning, let your brain come back, and after that, we'll figure out the Raina thing."