After a while, the beeping sound had stopped as something flew by overhead. Hermes remained pinned down by the stranger, barely staying quiet as the drone passed. When the drone passed, the stranger pulled him back to his feet.
"Who are you and what the hell are you doing out here? Don't you know this place is crawling with patrol drones?" the stranger said. The voice sounded strangely warm and endearing to Hermes.
"I... uh...I think I'm lost, and my belongings have been stolen. Can you please help me?" Hermes said.
"How do I know I can trust you? You could be a raider," the stranger.
"A raider? What's that?" Hermes said.
"Are you playing dumb with me?" the stranger said with scorn.
"No, I would never, I'm actually not from around here," Hermes said.
"What are you talking about?" the stranger said.
"I'm actually from the middle ring, I was......" Before Hermes could finish his sentence, a blow landed on his abdomen, causing him to retch. Before he could react, another blow to the head knocked him out.
When he woke up, both his hands were tied behind his back to the pole of a tent. Two people stood in front of him: a man and a woman. The man stood at about six feet tall, his bloodshot eyes locked on Hermes as he approached him with his menacing frame. His strong hands grabbed Hermes' neck, nearly choking him to death before letting go.
"So, who the hell are you? What are you doing in our territory? Are you an officer of CHAR or a spy for the government? Here I was thinking, they would never be brave enough to step foot in this place." The man yelled.
Hermes took a big, deep breath and looked at the woman who just stood and watched. "Were you the one who brought me here?" he said.
"Don't you dare talk to her, you're dealing with me," the man said, kicking him in the groin.
"You sure are strong, BUT IF YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN, I WILL FREAKING KILL YOU," Hermes said.
"OH, REALLY? You will KILL ME?" the man said and began launching blows at Hermes' head.
Blood began to run down Hermes' head as his pupils dilated before he slumped his head. "Oof, I wouldn't have had to do that if you hadn't run your mouth off to me," the man said, a little close to his head. Hermes felt a sudden rush, kicked the man's scrotum, and when the man got a little lower, sank his teeth into the neck as hard and as deep as he could. The man screamed out and punched Hermes in the gut, but his grip only grew tighter as the man bled from his neck.
"Stop that!" the woman said, pulling a laser gun on Hermes.
Hermes let go, and the man held his neck to try and stop the bleeding as he bled profusely "I will kill you," he said weakly as he fell to the ground and passed out. The woman rushed to his side to tend to his wounds. She uses a scarf to wrap up the wound to reduce the bleeding, and then she leaves the tent. When she came back with some medical supplies, tears were streaming down Hermes' bloody face as he watched her. His whole body was trembling as he began to sob louder, "WHY?....WHY?.....TEDRA........WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?......WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME? ........I'M SORRY.......I'M SORRY.....I'm so sorry," he said as he went quiet and closed his eyes.
The woman walked up to Hermes' unconscious body and, upon close examination, she noticed the surgical scar behind Hermes' left ear. Then, she untied him and laid him down on a mat to tend to his wounds. After a while, Hermes opens his eyes to see her by his side. He sat up, shifting backwards and looking at her cautiously.
"I'm so sorry about how things got earlier. My brother can be needlessly violent sometimes. I'm Allie, my brother is Swad, so who are you?" Allie said in a gentle voice.
"Me? I'm a nobody, I'm nothing." Hermes said.
"That's not possible, you yourself said that you were from the middle ring. What happened to you? Why are you here? How does someone from the middle ring end up lost in the wasteland?" Allie said.
"Quite frankly, I do not wish to answer any of your questions. I'm not sure why, but it feels like I can't trust you." Hermes said as he looked across to Swad, who was still unconscious with the wound on his neck covered up.
"I can see why you're sceptical, but you're in no condition to travel by yourself. Why don't you stay with us for a few days at least until you're able to walk on your own again?" Allie said.
"Stay with you? Who knocked me out and took me prisoner, and your brother, who's trying to kill me? No, thank you." Hermes said and tried to get up, but couldn't get off the ground.
"Just relax, you're not a prisoner, you're our guest. And I can handle my brother; he won't trouble you." Allie said.
"I really don't have much of a choice anyway," Hermes said and lay back down, turning his back to her and falling asleep.
Shortly after, Swad wakes up and sees Allie watching Hermes sleep. He pulled out a knife and approached them. As he got close, Allie spotted him and stopped him in his tracks, holding his hands.
"What do you think you're trying to do? Drop that now." Allie said.
"What are YOU doing? You saw what he did to me; he's dangerous, and I'm not taking the risk." Swad said, gesturing to his neck wound.
"That was your fault. He's our guest now, not a prisoner, so you touch as little as the hair on his head. You know what happens." Allie said.
"Guest? Why are you protecting him so much?" Swad grumbled.
"Just trust me, you do, don't you?" Allie said.
"I do, but he could be a spy; I'm just looking out for us," Swad said.
"I know, but he's not a threat," Allie said.
"My neck tells a different story. He's dangerous. Why do you fail to see that?" Swad said.
"Listen to me, have I ever misled you? No, right? It's always been the two of us, and we've made it so far. If he tries anything, he won't escape. We'll kill him if we have to." Allie said.
Swad dropped the blade and went back to sit watching Hermes as he slept "I guess you're right," he said.
As the sun faded away, the siblings folded up the tent and got a fire started. Hermes finally arose from his slumber as they prepared the dinner. The tension in the air was palpable as they sat around the fire. Swad kept a killer gaze on Hermes as he ate.
"I really am sorry about your neck, but you did try to kill me," Hermes said.
"It's nothing, just a flesh wound, so my sister says you're still refusing to tell us who you really are. Isn't that a little suspicious?" Swad said.
"Well, you guys haven't told me who you are either," Hermes said.
"If we told you, we'd have to kill you," Swad said.
"Okay, no, no, there is no need to kill anyone. We're scouts." Allie said.
"Why would you tell him that?" Swad said, furious.
"Scouts? What are scouts?" Hermes said.
"No, no, now that you know who we are, tell us who you are, then maybe we will enlighten you." Swad.
Hermes went silent and slowly managed to get up and hobbled off a few feet away from them. Allie went after him to hold him up.
"What are you doing? You still can't stand upright." Allie said.
"I....uh.... I don't know." Hermes said.
"Don't know what?" Allie said.
"I don't know who I am, I don't know what I am. I don't even know where I was going; it feels like there's a cloud in my brain." Hermes said.
"Who's Tedra? You mentioned his name before you passed out." Allie said.
Hermes did not reply but hobbled back off to his seat. After a while, they killed the fire and packed up their supplies as they continued their journey across the wasteland.