The Messengers of Sanctuary

42 - Benjamin

Ben felt dread sink into his bones as he examined Jeremy's arm. Not only had he been infected earlier during their run, but Min had seen it fit to bite him, probably giving him whatever she had too.

I am far too tired for this...for the first time in weeks, the Canid had appeared at their reaping, it had sufficiently distracted everyone, resulting in Jeremy getting bitten by a zombie that no one had noticed.

And now he had to figure out if Min was going to attack anyone else. Really, he should have been clued in when she attacked him at their first meeting. Ben remembered the bite mark from Min that was still healing on his arm. Was he infected now? Was he going to die this time?

No use thinking about it for now, Chrissy had fussed over the wound already but she didn't seem to be worried, it was relatively shallow and didn't impeede his movement any.

Amid the shouting in the aftermath of Min's random attack, Ben cpuld safely say that he was pissed. He grabbed the kid and roughly escorted her to his tent. It was fairly dark inside once he arrived, seeing as the sun was currently setting. Min took one look at the interior and began to fight back.

At that point Ben was done with her crap. There was still a language barrier, but it really felt like he'd been had.

He gripped her arm tighter and tried shoving her inside, but Min was resolute. She was also stronger than she should be. She kept shaking her head, pushing against his attempts to make her go inside.

After a bit she started yelling something in her native tongue, beginning to look panicked as Ben gained the upper hand, finally making her go inside the tent. It was just a tent, why was she so stubborn about this?

Min's skin began to grow hot the moment Ben succeeded in making her go inside, her eyes turned gold and began to glow, and Ben noticed a slight luminescence to her skin as well.

Well crap.

It was only a heartbeat later when she erupted into a literal fireball centered on herself. Somehow, it didn't seem to be harming anything on her, but Ben's hands were not exempt from being burned like an unfortunate bug in the blaze. He skipped backward by reflex, trying to figure out what was happening. As he evaded the fire he ended up outside of the tent, and Min was out of the darkness before he could even blink.

She sat down immediately outside the tent, falling down roughly and hugging her knees to her chest, "Wo bu xihuan zhege. Wo bu keyi shuohua renhe ren...Wo bu keyi jieshi." She shook her head as Ben finally fell out of the defensive.

Ben sighed, "Can you understand me at all?"

Min held a hand up and touched her thumb and pointer finger as if holding something very small, "Yi diandian."

"That would be...a little bit?"

Min shrugged as if saying 'your guess is as good as mine.'

"What are you?" Ben asked. That was the most important question he could really ask right now.

Min clenched her teeth, looking away, she shook her head. Either she wasn't ready to answer or she didn't have the words yet. Alright, "Are you dangerous?"

Min squinted, the gears in her head turning, but she didn't respond in any understandable way, "dangerous?" She repeated.

Ben nodded, "it means a danger, something that could be a problem or something that could hurt us."

Min blinked, suddenly seeming uneasy. She nodded in confirmation.

Ben cringed, "Will you hurt us?"

Min paused at that one, cringing, perhaps remembering something she'd rather forget, "Wo bu..." She stopped, and sighed, "I don't know."

That had been the first time she'd spoken any English. She was clearly a fast learner if anything. But the answer itself was concerning. "You don't know? Can you not control yourself?"

Min opened her mouth and closed it, "control?"

"Control is to...to be in charge up here?" he tapped his head, "being in charge is like me and this camp. I'm in charge. Are you not in control of yourself?"

Min paused for a second, clearly having trouble understanding the concept, but after a moment her eyes widened, "Yes. Ah...yi diandian- uh little bit?"

Ben frowned at that. "How likely are you to attack someone unprovoked?"

"...unprovoked?"

"Without a reason."

Min winced, "a little bit. Little little. I...wo keyi fangzhi."

"And that is?"

Min looked up at the sky. It was still darkening, "I don't know."

Great, so Ben had no idea why Min thought this was unlikely to happen. Especially considering it already happened twice. "And why did you attack Jeremy?"

Min blinked, "Fangzhi. I...Jeremy. Zombies."

"Is he going to be alright?"

Min nodded, "Yes. Wo you fangzhi."

Ben was definitely wishing he knew what fangzhi meant... "So he's not going to turn into a zombie."

Min hesitated, "no?"

"Is he going to turn into something else?"

Min nodded, pointing to herself. "Yes."

"So what are you? Are you some type of zombie?"

Min looked at the sky again, "a little bit."

Ben thought for a moment, at this point having figured that this conversation was basically just slightly less limited yes and no answers. "Do you-"

Min looked again up at the sky and stood up, shaking her head, "No. No time." She quickly and efficiently retreated back toward the mess hall, picking up her lantern with anxious fingers and turning on the light. She seemed to relax visibly once it was on.

She then easily found her way to the quarantine tent where Jeremy was being kept, despite not having seen him enter there.

Ben watched as Min sat outside the tent, clutched her lantern, she then regarded him once more. Ben nodded slowly at her, somehow trusting that she wasn't about to kill anyone. Min nodded sharply back, settling down as if she was just simply going to sleep there. "Chrissy will kill you if you sleep out here."

Min shook her head, "No. I don't."

"You don't?"

"I don't."

"You don't, what?"

"Sleep." 

------

Vote to give Ben access to google translate