Of Mice And Men AU w/ OC Insert [W.I.P]

part 5

Each step got louder. It sounded pretty heavy, full of weight like a bear. Martín body started to shake, not even trying to get up. He was left frozen in place. His eyes widened and glued to the noise that was heading towards his direction.

A tall figure started to appear behind the trees, which became more clear, brushing past the long, low-hanging leaves. Immediately, it went silent. It seems the figure has caught the notice of Martín too. Neither of them moved. From the angle Martín was in, he only spotted his brown shoes peaking through the bushes. Then, it started walking again but very slowly peaking out of the brush.

Walking out finally revealing himself, Martín sees a white man, who's extraordinarily tall, towering over him. He was wearing blue overalls with a lighter blue buttoned shirt under a denim coat and a cap. The man stared at him blankly with a slightly open mouth, and in one of his big hands, he carried small willow sticks.

Martín gets anxious, his body still frozen, but he contemplated maybe getting up and running away, but of course, he couldn't do that. From the sight of him, he seemed very intimidating and strong from how big he was. It made him nervous. The stranger's face was plain, showing not much emotion either.

"Who ar' you?" The man finally said, breaking the silence, observing him curiously, leaning side to side, inspecting him. His voice was very unexpected and sounded wafting, and reedy.

Martín would slowly lift himself properly, not breaking eye contact with him like a predator, keeping the prey in their sight, except in this situation- he felt more like a defenseless prey. He was cautious with his movements. He steadily sat up with his legs flat out and his arms to support him planted down at the side.

Martín was hesitant to speak, but the strange man seemed to be waiting for an answer from him. He seemed like someone not to mess with or make angry.

"Martín...My name is Martín- uh, Sir." He answered timidly in a low voice but made sure to give proper manners to come off respectful.

"Martin?" The man questioned with his off pronunciation.

"Martín, Mar·teen" he corrected.

The man stepped closer to him. He looked at Martín's clothes which were awfully filthy and smeared with dirt. His eyes then landed on his face, and his cheek had two small fresh scars.

"I heard'a thud when pickin' sticks, was that you?"

Martín nods silently, his eyes shifting away from him, then down at himself.

The man would lower himself down, stalling to sit near Martín. Once he was sat, he put the willow sticks to the side as he embraced his knees with his fingers sliding in each other. The man was still pretty huge even when sat down.

It grew awkward, and neither encouraged a conversation, but Martín held a lot of questions. He side-eye the huge man who was fidgeting with their fingers now. Martín was slightly confused by the man's manner. He couldn't predict what kind of person he was.

"How'd ya get here?" The man spoke again, curiously.

Martín sat silent for a few moments thinking back on the events that happened to him. He lowered his head and let out an exhausted soft sigh.

"I was just walking...- Sir." He said in a monotone voice. "Then I tripped and ended up here," Martín added.

The man looked up at the steep hill above, the thick tree root sticking out and grass hanging by the sides of the edge.

"Looks like'a deep fall."

"mhm."

The man studied Martíns leg, and from the sight, it was obvious it took most of the damage from the fall.

"Did ya break yer leg?"

Martín faces the man again. "Uh, no. I don't think so..."

"Oh, okay."

Martín sort of felt more secure and at ease. He could tell the man by now wasn't some crazy mean stranger like he assumed he was, but instead, he noticed his behavior was slightly different from any other adult.

"Do...you live here somewhere, Sir?" Martín asked, his voice slowly getting more comfortable the more he spoke.

The man shakes his head. "No."

"Do you know any...any...-" Martin searches for the word in the back of his head. "Direction- To this place?"

"Nuh-uh." The man's face grew blank thinking back on something, for a moment he was silent.

"Oh! A ranch!" He blurts out.

"A ranch? Where?" Martín inquiry.

"Uhm...I dunno. But I know it's somewhere up!"

"I need to go there!" Martín immediately tries and forces himself up, his leg sting of irritation and slight pulsing pain, but he tries and ignores it, standing up, wobbling.

The man watches Martín stand up, but he doesn't react much seeing him struggle. Martín grits his teeth and weakly starts to turn and walk very slowly like a baby trying to take its first steps. His body was still tired, and he didn't have enough energy. He reached out for the thin tree close in front of him for support, but he couldn't do it. He defeatedly flops back down.

Martín glances back at the man who continues to stare at him. He looks back down at himself, sighing. The man then stood up and walked over to Martín to only sit back down next to him.

"Y'know, I'm goin' to tha ranch too."

"Then, why are you still here?" Martín asked confused.

"Jus'...wanna relax."

Martín paused, he took in the man's words for consideration, and it really struck him. It's been a long day, so many things happened to him, and he hasn't relaxed in quite a long time now. Martín turned back to face him.

"I think I wanna relax too," Martín said in a soft voice.

The man smiles with his open mouth, making Martín grow a semi-smile on his face too.

"Como-" He stops to correct himself "What's your name?"

"Oh, My name 's-"

"Lennie!" A shout came from the distance, the man instinctively turned his head back and quickly got up.

"Lennie! What's takin' you so damn long to find sticks?" The strange voice calls out again.

Martín tenses up, he watches the man walk in the voice's direction.

"I'm here George! I was jus' talkin' to Martin!" Lennie respond.

Martín started to feel troubled, he could already tell the other stranger would be much different than Lennie and wasn't about to find out in what way. Martín gets a rush of adrenaline and quickly gets up while Lennie isn't looking despite his leg still hurting. He grabbed onto the thin tree in front of him and used it to launch himself more forward making him run limping on his foot going behind trees so he wasn't noticeably seen.

"Who's Martin? The hell you talkin' to huh?" George walks closer to Lennie.

Lennie turned back to where Martín was nowhere to be found. They instead hear faint rustling in the brush, to which George listens and follows the rustling as he walks in front of Lennie heading to the noise.