A.I.: Orphans of Terra (HTTYD)

2

Chapter 2

Hiccup had gone back to the back of the caravan where he could rest for a bit. It was mostly out of the eyeshot of the people that didn't like him. He settled with laying against one of the bus's wheels and wondered if Gobber would even be successful.

Gobber, not too long after, did catch Stoick taking a break. He approached his longtime friend who was sitting at a small plastic fold up table and said "We need to talk. It's about Hiccup."

"What has he done now?" Stoick asked with a groan.

"Nothing. It's what you haven't done." Gobber muttered as he said down next to the other man.

"Me?" Stoick's eyebrows shot up. "What did I do?"

"Nothing and that's the point!" Gobber grumbled. "Stoick you gotta train the boy some time."

"I'm being serious here Gobber."

"So am I," Gobber retorted. "Hiccup's already 16. He's gotta know how to survive in this world even if he's the last of his generation." Stoick let out a groan.

"Hiccup, he's been different all his life. He has the attention span of a sparrow. He just doesn't listen."

"Guess where he gets it from," Gobber muttered dryly under his breath as Stoick went on.

"Training won't help Gobber. Hiccup is hopeless!" Stoick muttered. "Sometimes..... Sometimes..... I just wish he wasn't so.... Hiccup." he sounded defeated.

"Are you actually telling me that you wanted Hiccup to be some brainless macho guy?!"

"That's what it takes to survive out here Gobber. You and I both know it."

"So you just gonna leave him hanging?!" Gobber's brows shot up. "He's your son Stoick! Does he remind you that much of Valka that you have to ignore him!"

"Gobber my word is final," Stoick's fist thumped the plastic table. "Hiccup just isn't cut out for this world." Stoick stood up with that said and Gobber watched him go. "Poor lad," The man mumbled.

The evening progressed relatively unpleasant for Hiccup. He only got about forty minutes of rest after lugging supplies on his back through the harsh desert sun. Snotlout was determined to bug him today it seemed. The twins had been nowhere to be found and he thought that they might have volunteered to go with the other scavenging parties. He had seen Fishlegs near the cooking area helping out though. The husky blond gave him a small nod as he had passed.

Snotlout must have gone tattling to his father after Hiccup's sassy response because Spitelout assigned him to ATV maintenance duty not long after. So here Hiccup was, covered in grease and dust, in the night's cold air, trying to get sand out of a motor. Normally Hiccup loved working on engines, it was a job he at least enjoyed but not right now. He looked at the motor he had to take out of one of the ATVs and wondered how in blazes a stone got stuck inside. He'd have to put the entire thing back together again tonight cause they were heading out tomorrow. Which meant almost no sleep.

The dinner bell rang and Hiccup's stomach let out a growl. Only now did he notice how hungry he was and how long he had been working on the ATVs. He made his way to the growing dinner line. Hiccup managed to stand somewhere in the middle of the line and he really should have expected something to happen. He was just wiping the sweat off his forehead when someone shoved him out of the line. "Back of the line Hiccup!" He managed to regain his footing as he saw that the twins had taken his spot.

"Hey, I was here first!" Hiccup retorted as he looked at the others waiting in line. As per usual no one said anything. He was sure they would be jumping to the other teens' defense if he tried to pull a stunt like that.

"Too bad," Ruffnut shrugged not really looking at Hiccup.

"Back of the line Useless," Tuffnut chuckled.

Hiccup groaned as he looked at the other Berkians acting like this was normal, which admittingly it was. Scrawny Hiccup was their little punching bag. The one to blame if things went bad. Hiccup sighed, knowing that he would receive no backup here, trudged to the back of the line. There was also no way he was going to run to his father about this. The man would just tell him to suck it up.

The line moved along at a steady pace and when Hiccup finally reached the pot his bowl was mostly filled with bottom scrapings. He heard that the scavenger parties had found some wild rabbits in the dilapidated buildings and hunted them but there wasn't even any meat left over. With a sigh, he went to find a rock not far from the fire to sit and eat. Hiccup was mostly ignored as the Berkians laughed at some of the old jokes and stories. Finding old city ruins always got the group reminiscing. Hiccup sighed as he thought back to a month ago. Everything was fine in the settlement they had erected until the Outcasts attacked one night. There was fire and chaos everywhere but the Outcasts had been held at bay. The settlement had been in ruins and the crops that they had so painstakingly worked on cultivating on the mostly barren soil had been either trampled or plundered along with some of their supplies. The decision was made to abandon the settlement and try to find better grounds to settle down. Hiccup's ears pricked when he caught some of the conversation happening near him.

"Think the Chief will wanna settle here?" One of the burly men asked.

"There's been talk yeah, seems we're close to a river too." Another answered. "We found animal tracks so there is food for now." Hiccup continued to eat in silence as he listened in on other conversations. It was remarkable at what he learned when people treat you as invisible. The caravan was small, about seventy people give or take. Hiccup and the teens along with some of the younger children were likely to be the last humans left since no new babies had been born in the last decade. Once Hiccup finished he dried off his bowl and placed it with his other meager belongings.

The others were still sitting around the fire but Hiccup decided to go finish his work on the ATV motor. Maybe he could catch a quick nap afterwards. The voices got quieter as Hiccup reached the parking area for the scouting vehicles. The ATVs and many of the caravan vehicles were old, early or maybe mid-twenty-third century by the look of them. They were rust covered and the Berkians had stumbled upon them by accident when they were building the settlement. Petrol had become a scarce commodity during the last century with the depletion of the hydrocarbon resources worldwide. Gobber and himself had managed to get them up and running again, well mostly up and running again. Converting the vehicles to solar power had been no easy task since many of the scavenged solar panels had been broken. The vehicles just didn't go as fast as they would have in the past.

Hiccup looked at the motor he had left out and went to work. Slowly the voices quieted down as the time passed. When Hiccup was finally finished he looked around and noticed that many were already asleep. Three guards stood around the convoy, keeping an eye out. Normally it would be more but the scouting and scavenging parties had not reported any hostiles in the area. Hiccup walked to one of the busses, stealthily avoiding waking up the women who were sleeping in there, and grabbed a blanket. When he stepped back out to find a sleeping spot that would not have a burly man rolling on him every few minutes he spotted a number of small lights in the distance. Normally he would attribute those to fireflies, because of course the insects would have survived, but the lights were getting bigger, the lights were getting bigger fast.