Harker was awakened by a series of hard slaps on the face.
He wiped the drool off his mouth and sat up. "S-Sorry, Roland…. What time is it?"
But instead of a reply, he was pushed back down and made to bite on some leaves. Then…..
Someone pushed his broken rib bone sticking out from his chest, forcing it in.
"Grrhh!!!" He groaned in agonizing pain.
"Stupid fucking white man."
Only then did his vision clear and he realized that it wasn't his best friend that was beside him, and he wasn't lying in his bed. He was lying on the fluffy snow that was now probably 10 inches thick or more. The one before him was a slightly familiar face of a native man.
Harker spat out the leaves. "You….. You're the guy that warned us….."
The native man actually looked younger than him, possibly 18 or 19, just at the cusp of adulthood.
"Indeed I am. And you didn't listen. Ah, stupid white people." He grumbled, and licked the leaves.
He then pasted it over the open wound, took some cloth, and wrapped it around securely.
Harker wheezed, as it seemed he had worse damage than his body could regenerate. "T-Thanks…. Also, I'm half-black….."
The man's eyes widened, and his expression seemed to soften towards him. He helped Harker up.
"I see. Stupid fucking half and halfer then."
Harker staggered as he stood up, but he eventually got the hang of it. The snowstorm showed no indication of ending anytime soon. He tried to get his wits together and remember what happened before he was laying in the snow with his ribs out and getting doctored by some stranger.
"Wait a minute….. Where's Joan?" He asked.
"White woman? Ahanu took care of her, feeding her soup now. She's really cold, almost like a corpse. Should have been a corpse too." He said, supporting Harker by the arm. "So should you…"
Harker looked away, clearing his throat to change the topic as they trudged the white forest one step at a time. "What's your name, by the way? And who's this Ahanu?"
"My name is Ahchuchhwahauhhatohapit."
"Achuchuck…. I'm sorry. Can you repeat that again?"
"You can call me Blank." The man blew a raspberry. "It's not even that hard, but whatever."
"Blank?"
"Short for Blanket. My name means 'One who has stars for a blanket'. Some called me Starblanket before, but a friend said it made me sound like some fucking showgirl. So I went for Blanket, but then the jokes of 'Where's the Blanket?' came up every single night. So I am just Blank now."
"Oh." Harker pitied this guy a bit for his name problems. "Well…. I'm Harker."
Blank chuckled. "For a man named like that, you ought to have listened. Hark is to 'listen', is it not? Like 'Hark the Herald Angel Sing' that you people sing for Christmas."
Harker did find this a little funny somehow, but scoffed. "Alright, alright, Blank. I'll listen to you this time. Anyway, how is Joan, my….. The woman who's with me?"
It felt wrong to call her his professor since he graduated already. But what should he call her? A friend? A nuisance? Not to mention that so many things had happened between them already, so many confusing things like….
That Edmund Walton thing.
"Your lady friend was sleeping soundly last time I left the tent. Ahanu is my little brother, he cooked soup for us while I was looking for you. We found her first, and she was yelling and crying for you." Blank told him. "That woman cares about Harker a lot."
"I guess she does…."
This caused Harker to feel even more lightheaded. It made him wish that they would keep walking under this icy weather, but they soon reached a small teepee hot with smoke coming off from a fire pit.
Harker was expecting to see another native young man. But….
"Nistes!!! Astam, ah! Astam!"
He didn't expect Ahanu to be THIS young.
The boy that greeted them was wearing a thick coat of fur and some very fluffy headwear that made him look like a little sheep. He had red markings on his soft, chubby cheeks. The moment he saw them, he wore a toothy smile that seemed to reach to the skies itself.
"Um…. Just how old is your brother?" Harker asked.
"Ahanu turned 4 just last winter solstice." Blank told him. "He's telling us to come quickly, the stew might get cold."
"4 years old…. Damn." Harker mumbled.
The little boy stood on his tippy toes to throw the ingredients into the pot. He stirred while humming to himself. Inside the tent…..
Professor Joan Seward laid wrapped up in thick blankets and furskin, her eyes listless and empty.
But as soon as she saw Harker, life's fire was rekindled behind them. "Jones! Jones, is that really…. Oh, god…. I thought you were…."
"A goner? Yeah, well, you should have more faith in me, Prof." Harker found himself smiling as well. "How long was I out there?"
"Blank told me it has been 2 months since he had last seen me from the wendigo attack."
Harker coughed out the blood. "T-Two whole months???"
"And it took him 1 week to find you." Professor Seward said. "So 9 weeks more or less."
"Fuck….." Harker rubbed his temple. "What about the others? They must be looking for us and…. How the hell could they survive out there with THAT thing…."
Professor Seward's face also becamepaler just from the mention of that thing. The giant that caused them to be separated from their group into this winter wasteland.
"Save your worries after the meal." Blank said, giving them some bowls for the soup. "For now you are safe, so you must thank the god you believe in or perhaps your ancestors watching over you."
"Miciso! Miciso!" The little kid said as he poured some of the stew he had been making and offered it to them with a light giggle.
Harker accepted it, and felt the hunger hit him once he smelled the good soup. He had been hungry for 9 weeks. That means he already lost the effects of the Succubus and Snake demon abilities, and his samples were with bodyguards.
So of course, he couldn't set his worries aside after the meal. And there was one question that had been bothering him for so long.
"Where are the others? Why are there only the two of you right now?"
Ahanu could not understand what he was saying and only perked up his ears as he sipped the soup. But Blank's face looked grim.
"I suppose to explain that…. I would have to tell you my whole life's story."
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