Unbecoming Humans

Chapter 7

CW: Strong language

It wasn't Orlo who woke Nima the next day, it was Rotar Nyan. Nima started at the silhouette of a man standing over her bed and worried that she had missed the morning wake up, but she looked around to see everyone else in the tent still asleep in their bunks.

"You will gather your belongings and report to the main compound before breakfast." The Rotar turned to walk away, but Nima stopped him.

"Wait. Why?"

"It will be explained to you when you arrive. Report immediately." He marched out of the tent without another word.

"Wus hap'nin," Orlo groaned as he and the others began to stir.

"She was selected," the unofficial matron of the tent spoke from where she was still laying in her bunk. The stirring in the tent stilled.

"What does that mean?" Nima tensed and stopped stuffing her clothes into her rucksack. She felt all eyes turn on her.

"To become a Vybran," the woman rasped, still curled on her side facing the tent wall.

Orlo sat up so fast that he hit his head on the bunk above his own. "No."

"What?" Nima's voice cracked.

"Nima, we have to get you out of here," Orlo jumped up and grabbed her by the shoulders. "they will kill you."

"Out of Eden? I will definitely die out there. At least here I have a chance of surviving."

"No, Nima, you don't understand. Adults don't survive to become Vybran. No one over the age of 19 has gone in there and come back out." Orlo's eyes were desperate, pleading.

"Maybe you just haven't seen them. Just because they don't come out doesn't mean they're dead. Even if they are, maybe I'll be the first. I'm not going back out there, Orlo." Nima tried to push away the images of her home drowned in the ocean like it was so much nothing, as if her whole life outside of Eden's walls weren't gone.

"Nima, please, we'll figure something out. Just don't go in there." Orlo ran his hand down her arm and wrapped his hand around hers.

Nima stared at their hands for a moment and then wrenched hers from his grasp. "I can take care of myself."

Nima hastily stuffed the rest of her meager belongings into her rucksack and stormed out of the tent. Her tent-mates called after her but she marched through the camp without looking back. Several people in the camp turned their curious gazes on her, but she didn't bother acknowledging them or slowing down until she had passed from the village into the woods between there and the main compound.

She slowed, stopped to run the spiky needles of the closest pine tree through her fingers. She was in no hurry to get to the main compound. Bravado had hastened her from the camp, but the old woman's and Orlo's words echoed through her mind. Was she burning bridges out of spite? After all, weren't they only trying to keep her safe, too? For a moment she considered turning back, looking for a way out of this mess. Snap! The sound of a twig braking made her jump and she instinctively hid behind a tree.

"You don't have to do that. I already saw you."

The voice sounded familiar. Nima hesitated, then peeked out just enough to see who was hunting her.