Escape

3

The next day we have to walk for hours before finding our way out of the woods and then along a road that seems to have no end before finally seeing the city. The road was all the longer as my ankle forces us to walk at a limited speed. When we woke up, it was almost impossible for me to get up, so Nate tinkered with pieces of wood from bushes that we found inside the cave and pushed them into my shoes where they are held somehow inside my jeans like a splint.

The night was horrible. Not only because of my ankle which actually didn't hurt that much since I didn't have to use it to walk, but the cave was so cold I couldn't stop shaking. I tried not moving too much so that Nate's jacket would stay on both of us and protect us as much as possible but somehow it kept falling of him and only covering me. As much as I hate him for what he has forced me to do to James, I still tried to cover him up several times during the night by putting the jack back on him and getting closer so it wouldn't fall off again. I need him alive and with my already hurt ankle we can't afford for him to be sick too.

The writings on the signs at the entrance of the city are unreadable to us. Not because they are fading but because we don't understand the language. This is how we know that we are no longer on the continent, but we are too concerned about the present moment to worry about it. We are cold, hungry, dirty and hurt.

"We have to find a store." Nathan tells me as we walk along a street full of houses.

They are all identical and aligned on both sides of the road. If some chimneys did not smoke on the roof, we would not be able to know if they were inhabited or not.

"Maybe we should ask for help, don't you think?" I propose.

He agrees to my idea and goes to the next house that seems inhabited. After knocking three times and waiting a few minutes, an old woman opens the door.

"Hello, excuse us for bothering you, do you happen to know where we can find the nearest store?"

The woman smiles at us and at her expression I understand that she did not get a word of what my companion just said. Even better, she starts speaking a language we don't understand a word either. Nate turns to me with a sigh and then turns again.

"English?" I ask.

"Internet? Phone?" The black haired with me speaks by mimicking a computer for the first and a phone for the second.

She really doesn't seem to understand us, but we still try several times until we hear someone speak inside the house.

A glimmer of hope passes through me and then dissipates straight away, leaving room for panic when a bearded man in a tank top, comes out armed with a rifle.

"Wow wow" Nathan exclaims his hands raised. He takes a small step forward and now I'm standing in the same position as him but looking at the human beef from behind him.

The man shouts what must be threats but that we cannot understand while waving his weapon in our direction. Nate takes a step back and I imitate him, both of us slowly backing away as harmlessly as possible.

—

We manage to escap the crazy guy and his riffle without him shooting at us and adventure ourselves further in the small town. He let us go away but kept his gun pointed at us until we couldn't see him and know if he was still standing at his door or not. How stupid would it have been to get killed right after you escape from getting kidnapped.

We eventually reach the city center were the stores are located and choose to go inside a minimarket. The staff in minimarkets are usually nice and cool people in the US, in exception of a few assholes who don't know how to be nice and polite to customers. They actually represent a large part of stores staffs if we are being honest but we have to hope for it not to be the case here right now.

"Hello?" I greet apprehensively, still walking in front of Neil when we approach the counter. The guy at the far end turns around, he is not very tall but not excessively shorter than me either. He is wearing a cap, a big blue shirt with a yellow brand and pants a weird mix between light brown and khaki. He looks like a Metro cashier or like a geek who works in a gaming or movie store in the 70's 80's. "Do you speak English?" I ask when he simply smile and wave at us.

"English?" he tilts his head and frowns. He also has a strong accent, from an east country. Russia or something.

I nod, "yes we are from America." I try my best to articulate so he can understand.

"AMERICA!" the cashier exclaims with a big smile his long dark blonde curly hair bouncing around his cap. I sigh, we don't have time for this.

"Do you have a phone we can use?" I mime the device.

"America! I love Americans, very rare here." he says smiling with all his teeth outside and rolling his Rs. I roll my eyes and Neil laughs behind me, I give her a bad look. The cashier leans toward me. "Pretty girls in America" he whispers secretively to me then nods toward Neil.

"A phone!! Do you have a phone please?" I almost punch the counter. I'm loosing patience. Has he never seen a girl before?

"Hey!" The girl of his interests hits my arm "be nice to him, we need him." I don't think she heard what he said.

"He's stupid." I say and she grabs my arm and struggle to force me to follow her and lead us a few meters away from the counter, "no he's not, he just speaks a different language than us."

"Yeah well, talking about girls is not the first thing that would come to my mind when I meet a foreigner, but I guess that's just me." I narrow my eyes. The cashier is still at the counter smiling like an idiot. When our eyes meet he points at Neil's back and joins the top of his fingers to give a chef's kiss.
Moron...
My attention goes back to Neil when she tells me to stop looking at him the way I am and let her do the talking now. She keeps limping all the way back to the counter and I follow a few steps behind.

The cashier's eyes shines when he sees her coming, she smiles awkwardly at him then starts miming a piece of paper and a pen "paper" she mimes a rectangle, "and pen?" she mimes writing. The curly haired idiot frowns and I sigh rubbing my forehead. Then both Neil and I notice the pen near the cash register a second later. She points excitedly at it and I turn around to adventure myself in the departments of the store. It's spacious enough that I can keep an eye on them in case the cashier tries something stupid.

I find a block of paper on the last shelf of the second department. When I'm back she's still struggling to make him understand that she just wants a fucking piece of paper. I drop the block on the counter and both their faces light up, one from relief and the other one from feeling dumb that she didn't think about that when we are in a mini market. Her mouth open but she doesn't speak.

Our attention return to the cashier who finally takes a piece of paper from underneath the counter and slides it toward Neil. She starts drawing and when she rises her pen again there is a whole very detailed phone with the touches and a screen with the battery level, internet grid and a few apps on it. I want to ask why would she put that much details when she could have just done something quick but it's so well done that I choose against it. Neil shows the phone to the cashier and he exclaims "телефон!" Like the way he said it didn't resemble the way I said Phone earlier.

"yes!! yes telephone" Neil claps her hands like she just got the right answer at Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Maybe phone and telephone means different things here. Maybe Phone is not a word to them.

He reaches in his back pocket and takes out his phone. She shows the internet logo, "Интернет?"

"Yes! Internet" she claps her hands again. I roll my eyes again, this is so annoying. But from the way this guy is talking I take it we might be in Russia. My father had brother speak Russian, I recognize the accent. I refused to learn too because I din't want to be useful for him in whatever it was illegal that he was pretending to be his job. Maybe I should have, just in case I find myself in this exact fucking situation. I sigh and rub my face leaning my elbows on the counter. Fucking Russia

"No... we're in Kir-Kirgistan?" Neil corrects. I guess I spoke out loud. She's on the map app on the guy's phone, her brows thrown concentrating on the map. Our localisation reads Kant - Kirghizstan.

"This is a fucking nightmare." I run my fingers through my hair.