Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  They keep walking and when it’s clear to Sidney that the bot’s not much of a talker, she takes out her little book, still struggling to read past the point where Nayne had left off before she’d died.

  She doesn’t need to look up and see where they’re walking. She can feel the bot’s presence by her side just fine. Then she gets stuck on another word and sounds it out, like Nayne showed her. Her lips form the word, but it still doesn’t sound like anything.

  “What is this?” Petra asks, stopping as she stares at the book Sidney’s holding.

  “Just a bit of light reading,” Sidney jokes, “while we walk. You know.”

  The bot watches her, bemused. “Can you read? You haven’t had access to formal school work. Who has taught you to read?”

  Sidney feels like she should get mad at the thing for such personal questions, but then, she’s grown up on the streets of a near-empty Blue Dome in Allenda. Still, she says, “My nayne tried to teach me—before she—died.”

  She’s never talked to anyone else about Nayne’s death—the memory of that last day slams into her chest and for a moment, she thinks she won’t be able to speak again. Like the rest of the last year, she breathes through it like Nayne had trained her to do for weeks before her death. “You have to keep breathing,” Nayne had said. “The moment you stop, you’ll start to lose. And I’ll be mad.”

  So she keeps breathing.

  The bot watches her as if waiting for her to continue the conversation.

  Instead, Sidney says, “What’s this word here?” She points to a part of the book, one of the bigger words she’s skipped over many times, only to end up getting lost later on in the story.

  “This word is ‘astonishing’,” Petra says.

  “Which means what?”

  The bot’s eyes stare ahead and Sidney wonders what she’s doing, then realizes she’s probably scanning something internally, reading aloud as she does.

  “Astonishing is an adjective, the origin of which is the verb ‘astonish’ meaning ‘to fill with sudden surprise or wonder.’ Other words for astonishing are listed as: astounding, breathtaking, marvelous—”

  “Okay,” Sidney says, cutting Petra off with her hands in the air. Still, she thinks this should be handy, having a walking dictionary with her will help her finish this book sooner than later. She keeps walking, a smile on her face. What great luck, she thinks. She can’t remember the last time she’d had such good fortune.

  When Petra stills, Sidney walks two more steps before finally stopping to look back at her. "Why have you stopped?" she asks. "Surely we're not there already."

  The bot shakes her head no, then points down to a mound of dirt ten feet ahead.

  What's the big deal? There are mounds of dirt everywhere in Allenda, far as Sidney knows. The street cleaners do their job, but not as often, this far from the city center.

  Unless Petra means to have Sidney look under this pile. She could find some lizards or bugs hiding in there. She's not inclined to, not with the promise of real food at some point.

  Still, she walks up to the mound, meaning to push it over just to see. Habit.

  Petra's hand on her shoulder stops her in her tracks as the bot whispers, "It's moving. I suggest we run."

  Before she finishes her sentence, she's already sprinting to another outer building they’d passed not a minute ago. They both stop as Sidney catches her breath and they peer around the corner to watch the mound of dirt move into a crouch, then stare back from a dirty bearded face.

  "A raider," Petra whispers to Sidney and the girl wets her pants.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Petra

  The child shakes beside Petra as a slightly tangy scent reaches the bot's nose. She looks down to see a trickle of urine fall on the ground beneath Sidney.

  "Child," she says, "you have soiled yourself."

  "It's—" Sidney stutters. "It eats people. That's what Nayne told me. It will try to eat me."

  The bot looks back up to watch the crouched raider as he struggles back down into a lying position. She's only come across raiders once, and they were eating birds and eggs just like Sidney has been this entire time. They were certainly not eating each other.

  On the other hand, Petra knows that hardly makes raiders a harmless entity. She knows what they are capable of and knows the child has every reason to be afraid.

  "He's injured," she surmises. "He will not be able to harm you. Not with me beside you. I suggest we walk around him, take a longer way."

  "What if it's a trap?" Sidney whispers back. "They're never alone. Are they?"

  "I will protect you," Petra says. "I can protect you from them."

  Sidney stands to eye-level with Petra. "Do you promise," she asks, her voice gravelly. She brings up her right hand, holds it up to Petra's face with her smallest finger outstretched. Another programming from another time kicks in as Petra recognizes the gesture.

  "Certainly," Petra says, though she's not sure why she needs to do such a thing. Her word has always been enough. Still, she brings her right hand up with the same gesture, and wraps her pinky finger slightly around Sidney's.

  "Okay," the child says. "Let's walk around him—but don't take your eyes off our surroundings. I'll keep my eyes on him while you watch out for any others."

  They take a long way around the man on the ground, hardly making a sound. Petra's eyes scan the vicinity, but she's certain he is the only one around for days.

  Then Sidney hisses, "he's moving." She pushes on Petra, as if to make her run.

  Petra turns her head around, sees the man reach out a dirty arm as he mutters, "Help."

  Her training kicks in to help an injured Allendian, and she's by his side before she notices that Sidney's trying to pull her away.

  "What are you doing?" the child yells. "You promised you'd protect ME."

  Petra scans for injuries and finds a long gash on the man's right side, blood pooling under him. He's tried to stem the flow with a makeshift bandage, which is soaked through with blood and dirt and his life is close to ending.

  "I have to help all Allendians," Petra replies. "There is life yet in him. I must help him heal." And she goes about doing so. She pulls the bandage gently off him, and attends to his injuries.

  The child beside her starts crying. "You promised..."

  "And that is what I will do," Petra says, as she continues to fix the broken figure.

  "And if he's healed and he tries to—eat—me?"

  "I will protect you," is the curt response.

  Sidney moves back from her and walks back to the building they'd left. Petra still senses she's close as she continues to fix the man.

  He grunts and groans and she senses that he's close to death. Still, she must keep working until there isn't a breath left in him, until three minutes after his heart stops beating. This is her training.

  She reaches for a compartment in her left leg and pulls out a square container with anti-bacterial medicine. Data shows that she now has 80 mg of the liquid. It should be enough to last their journey until they find the vault where more food and more medicine awaits.

  She applies the liquid to his side, then places a pill in his mouth. "You must swallow this," she instructs. "It will help with the swelling, it will help with the pain."

  He groans again and chews on the pill. Then Petra unwraps a clean white bandage and pulls him in gently to wrap it under his bleeding gash.

  She senses that he does not have a fever and steps back. Then turns to find Sidney waiting in the small building enclave.

  "He will be fine," Petra states, "but we need to bring him with us until we find more medicine. Otherwise he will die from blood poisoning. We need to bring him along for when we find medicine. The vault will—"

  "What's the matter with you?" Sidney says. "Why would you help a—a raider!"

  "I must help all people of Allenda," Petra says matter-of-factly. "Unless they have the flu. I can not tell if he does. We must bring him."r />
  "But—but—" Sidney says. "Raiders are bad, Petra. They eat people. They hurt other Allendians."

  "This one has not," Petra replies. "If he tries to hurt you, I will protect you. He is injured, dying. I must help him and try to heal him. This is my programming."

  Sidney shakes her head angrily as tears stream down her face. "Well I don't want him with us. I can't. I don't want to get eaten. Just tell me where this place is with the food, I'll find it by myself."

  "I can hardly protect you," Petra says, “if you go without me. I can't bring you to the southern dome if you're not with me. That is not an option."

  Sidney sniffles and throws her hands up in the air. "Well when he tries to eat me, remember that then!"

  She turns her back to Petra who can't comprehend the girl’s reaction. Her job is clear: to protect Allendians who are not ill. Keep them safe until the re-emergence. Why does the child not understand that?

  Still, she stays by Sidney's side as she keeps her eyes on the raider. He will be hungry soon. She knows the child will not likely want to hunt a bird or critters for him, so she scans the vicinity for appropriate sustenance and hears the heartbeat of a large animal. It would do.

  "Stay here," she says to Sidney as she rises to her haunches and eyes the west where she heard the animal's heart. "I will return in approximately thirty two minutes."

  "But—" Sidney says, her eyes large as she takes in the raider's form. "You can't leave me here with him. You can't.” Her voice breaks on the last word.

  "You will be fine," Petra assures her. "I will listen in on your location in any case, but you will be fine. I have seen how you've learnt to survive out here on your own, child. You will be able to escape from an injured raider if you need to. Of this I am certain."

  Then Petra runs west before Sidney has a chance to respond.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sidney

  She stares after Petra’s retreating figure and still can't believe she'd just up and leave her here, like that. What is she thinking? Maybe there's something more wrong with that bot than just her scanner not working.

  Then a sigh reaches her and her eyes rest on the raider again. He shifts and rolls until his dirty face stares into the sky. She breathes in and wills her everything to still. If this is a trap, Petra would have known, she tells herself. She would have heard any others around, she would have known he's not really injured. Sidney hopes.

  He rolls onto his side and doesn't stop until he's facing her hiding spot. She crawls further into the black, hoping he doesn't see her.

  She's in a dark enclave, wearing dark gear. Still, he stares right at her spot as if he can see her just fine, thank you very much. They spend the next half hour staring at each other. She waits with shallow breaths, her haunches set to run if it comes to that. But he doesn't move.

  By the time her legs cramp and throb in this bizarre position, Petra's back from—wherever. She has what looks like a dog hanging from her right hand, and she approaches the raider with it.

  Sidney can't hear the convo but knows that Petra means to feed him that... and she wonders if there would be any left for her. She's never had meat larger than a big pigeon since Nayne died. It would be nice to chew on something different than bird for a change. Her jaws ache and she wipes a sliver of drool from her lip.

  She watches as Petra deftly splits portions of the meat and places them on the ground to her left. Then she removes a long silver rod from her leg and creates a fire with it. Huh. It would be handy to have a lighter, Sidney thinks, as she eyes the bot placing it back into a hidden slot in her left leg. She wonders what other goodies this bot could carry. She wonders if she could manage to take them from her. They'd sure be handy to an orphan like her.

  Then, after Petra skewers some of the meat and places it over the fire, she turns to Sidney and waves her forward with a hand as if to invite her to join them.

  Is she nuts? I will not break bread with a raider. Sidney stays put, keeping her eyes on them as Petra hands him the skewered meat and he chomps into it as if the thing isn't still hot.

  She swipes another sliver of drool from her chin and tries to ignore the angry growls from her stomach, but it doesn't relent.

  When Petra waves her forward again, a whiff of the charred meat reaches her and she can't fight the urge to get up. Finally she decides, fine, just for the food. She’s determined to not look at the raider, and she will eat in silence.

  Petra hands her a stick of food and she drops to her haunches, chewing on the meat before she changes her mind. She scoots closer to Petra's form, further away from the raider, and she doesn't look up though she feels his eyes on her and shivers.

  The meat's actually good—a crispy slightly burnt outside, yet so tender and juicy on the inside, her stomach growls out loud again, appreciating the change of pace.

  She chews and swallows so fast, some of the meat sticks in her throat. She reaches for her knapsack to chug some water when the raider speaks. "Is that water?"

  She freezes, still not wanting to look up to him, still not sure what to make of all this—why Petra is helping him when he's evil, he's bad. He's a raider!

  She places the container of water down on the floor and the stick beside her.

  Finally, her eyes reach his and she narrows hers.

  From far, he looked like a mound of dirt. Up close, it's not much better. He's covered in dirt and muck from head to foot. His hair's a dark brown with streaks of gold every now and then, all in clumps and dry bits, she wonders if he's ever seen a shower. The beard is the worst part—she can hardly tell where his hair stops and the beard begins, but it's a large mass of strangled strands, and moves in one big greasy pile as he chews, the meat's juices falling into the nasty beard.

  "Mmmm," he says to Petra. "You are a guru-maaay cook. This is the best meal I've had in—well, a long time."

  "It is canine," she states. "Hardly appropriate but it will have all the necessary proteins your body requires."

  "Well I've had much worse," he answers. "Trust me, this is the best meat I've had in too long to count. Where did you find it?"

  "I hunted it north west of here, near one of the parks. It will do until we reach the vault."

  Sidney glares at Petra, urging her with her eyes to stop talking. Of course it doesn't translate, so she keeps going, telling him all their plans.

  His chin pops. "What 'vault' are you talking about?"

  "The vault in the south—filled with food. That will help us on our journey to the outer rim of the dome."

  "South, you say." He places his stick on the ground. "I would strongly recommend you do not travel in that direction." His eyes land on Sidney and she fidgets, not wanting his attention on her at all. "It is not a safe place for anyone, least of all young—women—like yourselves."

  There is so much more he's not saying and she wonders why he'd feel the need to hold back. It's not like a raider to not speak his mind, right? From what she knows about them, anyway. They have zero manners. “Uncivilized,” was the word Nayne used. Why would he care what she thinks about what's out there?

  "We're going that way," she blurts. "We're not taking your word for anything."

  His eyes peer at her through his forest of hair, a dark greenish brown, crows' feet at the edges mixing in with the lines on his face. She can't tell if he's young or old with all the lines—it's a tan and dirt-streaked face. Not one she can look at for much longer.

  In fact, as she watches the meat's oils slide and drip on his beard, she loses her appetite. Still, she picks up the water and takes a long swig from it. She doesn't answer his question though he eyes her expectantly.

  Finally, Petra says, "He is thirsty, Sidney. Kindly offer him a sip of your water."

  Is she kidding?

  Sidney’s sneer turns to Petra and she stands, grabbing her knapsack and water as she walks back towards the building. She is NOT sharing her water with a raider. Who knows what sort of cannibal cooties he's got? Yecch. />
  By the time she's sat down in the doorway of the small building, Petra's already by her side. "You are being selfish," she says. "He is thirsty."

  Sidney feels a sudden pang of anger. It’s unfair, she thinks. Why is this bot treating him the same way? Are we actually the same to her?

  "Well you can go and hunt him down some water if you want to help him so bad," she says. "I'm not giving any of mine."

  "And why not?"

  "Because he is a raider, Petra," she spits. "He wouldn't help me if I was in his place. He'd kill me and eat me. I’m not going to help you make him get better so that will happen. No way, not going to happen."

  Petra's head tilts to the right, then she says, "My primary task is to help all Allendians who are not ill. Yet it's strange. You Allendians hardly ever want to help each other. This is not consistent with the Allendian way."

  Sidney doesn’t know what that means. She hasn’t come across many Allendians out here—she’s only known her nayne’s stories about raiders. And though her nayne’s taught her a lot about the old Allendian ways, she’d definitely never treat a raider as such. That’s ridiculous!

  Petra turns as if she’s about to go back to the raider, then she points down at Sidney’s book, which she’d placed on top of her knapsack.

  She’d waited for evening before she could bring out what was left of her flashlight’s batts to read it in the dark—to try to read it, because she still hasn’t moved past the point her nayne had read to her. A stubborn part of her wants to finish the book, but it would be handy to be able to read the thing.

  “Would you like me to help you?” Petra says, “Read you the rest of the story?”

  Sidney wants to tell her to just go away, go take care of the raider since she cares so much about him, go read to him. She knows it would be rude, and a part of her really wants to know what happens to the characters.

  But with what she has planned for tomorrow, she knows she can’t afford to be around Petra much more—she can’t let this bot read with her, make her need her, that’s not right.