So it has been a while (sorry) but this chapter is a bit bigger. I've started thinking more seriously about where i want this plot to go and i have already imagined up quite a few scenes i want to work into this! I can't wait. Please let me know your thoughts, I'd love to hear your opinion.
Enjoy!
Sheperd
Sheperd stretched out her stiff toes as life returned to them, the heat from the burner slowly but surely warming her. She had tried one or two of the rations, but found them all tasting shit. It felt like she had been waiting for hours, with no sign of her mystery savoir and the thought crossed her mind that perhaps they had left. If that was the case she had best move out and attempt to get to the human lines, but her limbs still felt numb from cold and pain so she decided to wait just a while longer. The chance to relax felt strange, and for a moment Sheperd forgot the current conflict beyond her concrete bubble and drifted off into a vacant reflection of the past few days. The basic instinct of needing to find Kaidan lingered in her mind as she absently chewed some kind of meat jerky. She didn't recognise the taste but it wasn't half bad. She made a few basic decisions to get out, find Kaidan and get of this rock. Sheperd felt satisfied that she had made some mental headway before looking at her physical impediments.
Her arms and legs were sore and throbbed with pain beneath her neatly wound bandages, but it was a slow and lingering pain that she was able to push to the back of her mind with enough distraction or determination. It was curious how it didn't hurt a great deal, as writhing in that barbed wire was agony. She figured she must have slept a long while for them to be healed so quickly, before realizing what that meant for her.
Just how far am I behind my squad? She thought. Being out cold for more than a day with nobody there when she woke up, it made sense that she had been left behind, forgotten. Was everyone killed in the attack? There was so much fire, all she could remember was blazing heat then shouting then pain and nothing. But Kaidan had screamed at her, screamed her name. Or was that a dream? Was he even alive?
Of course he is alive Sheperd. He might even be the one who rescued you. The thought brought a blink of a smile to her lips.
As of on queue Sheperd heard the sound of feet behind her. But it wasn't Kaidans form staring down at her. Her mind went blank.
The Alien twitched.
Like a deer in the headlights they did little but stare at each other for a split second that felt like eternity. She tensed, and it noticed. Before it took another step into the room Sheperd had sprung up, launching herself towards the small box of a window on the far wall. The alien was huge, and armed. She had no hope in hell of taking it down bare handed and in her state. It barked some noises behind her but she was too busy hurling the crates away from the gap. The last slithers of light shone into the room as she tore the boxes down, falling to the ground at the alien's feet in a loud clatter and spilling their contents. She yelped as she reached for the outside world, fingernails scraping against the hard concrete as she scrambled her way through. Amidst the panic she found it strikingly odd she hadn't been shot yet and despite bracing herself for the familiar pain, the crack of a rifle never came. In this moment of hesitation she felt powerful arms encircle her waist and drag her back.
She screamed and writhed, kicking and flailing in all attempts to break free from the aliens hold. She was pulled from the window but a well landed fist to the aliens exposed neck made it drop her to the ground, where she spun and aimed another blow to its cheek. It landed with a crack and stunned the Turian for a moment, Sheperd grabbing the barrel of the rifle over its shoulder. She pulled but was met with equal force when it crashed its elbow into her windpipe. Sheperd fell back gasping and choking for air and in one swift movement it trained the weapon on her face and the two stood there breathing hard.
The calamity came to a standstill as Sheperd stared up at the Alien. She was gasping for air by this point but tried her best to calm her lungs and buzzing nerves. The Turians nostrils flared as its nose plates twitched. Narrowing its eyes she noticed its grip tighten on the rifle grips. Neither moved until the barrel end of the gun slowly lowered to the ground and the Turian stood up straighter, only making him taller as he stared down at Sheperd.
She watched him carefully as he did the same but she couldn't focus her eyes as the adrenaline rush wore off. She blinked hard and furrowed her brow as the aching throb of her limbs returned, ebbing its way slowly into her body. A nauseous feeling rose in her stomach to her throat. The Turian tilted its head and moved a hand towards her thinking the human might fall as she swayed on the spot. Sheperd groaned and clutched at her abdomen, but the rising sickness was too strong, and the foul tasting rations from earlier made a return as she vomited onto the floor and an angry aliens feet.
Garrus
After the human had passed out Garrus returned her to the make-shift bed of coats with a grim expression. He hadn't expected her to be so strong despite being so injured, and the sudden outburst had caught him off guard when he found her awake. He slumped down by the fire and used an old oily rag he found to clean off the humans bile from his boots. The smell was revolting and he resorted to walking through the mud outside for a while in attempts to wash it off, or at least cover it up. Upon examining the empty ration packets littered about the fire, he realised that the human had eaten his rations. Most were half eaten but she had consumed enough to make her consequently sick.
With a sigh he shook his head and frowned, gathering up the rations and stuffing them into large pockets in his combats. Pulling out a somewhat clean cloth, he soaked it in water from his canteen and proceeded to wipe the mud and grime from his face. He occasionally glanced over at the sleeping human while he methodically cleaned, wiping the cloth under his eyes and across his mandibles to reveal blue markings. He wiped the length of his fringe too before rinsing the cloth and putting it back into the inside of his jacket. With a clean face he felt clearer minded and sighed gently before deciding upon which dry and tasteless ration to eat as he sat and stared at the blue flicker of the fuel burner.
A groan beside him made him look down at where the human shifted in her sleep and he scanned her body with his Omni-tool. He glanced over the results and they looked a lot better than he first found her, and felt satisfied that she would recover.
A thought crossed him that communication would be an issue, so he flicked through some of the settings on the glowing orange device until he found the basic universal human language translator issued to all Turian military personnel. He activated it, scrolled passed all of the legal legislation and accepted the terms and conditions. He knew it would be a rudimentary form of communication, but the human's lack of anything Omni meant it would have to do. That's if she woke up without punching him in the mandible again. It still hurt.
Despite his waning energy he fought the urge to sleep. If the human woke up before him, who knows what would happen. He rested his brow in his palm and drifted off into slow contemplative thoughts, mulling over what would become of him and his new baggage.
A disturbance pulled him from his thoughts as quiet groans and the rustling of fabric made him turn towards where the human lay. She sat up and run her strange hands through the tangled mess of read atop her head. He watched with fascination as the strands parted and pulled at her fingers. Her green eyes shot towards him and broke his reverie, meeting them with his own.
Clearing his throat with an awkward cough he opened his mouth to say something but found it difficult to decide what words he would choose, or even if she would be able to understand. He checked his omni-tool quickly to break the eye contact boring into him.
"Do you understand me?" Was the best thing he could think of. The human's brow twitched but slowly the omni-tool sputtered out a clipped rendition of the question in her tongue. With a slightly startled look at the glowing orange light wrapped around his wrist, she nodded. Garrus tilted his head at the curious head bob.
She noticed his confusion and sputtered out a word.
A second later his omni replied with a "Yes."
A gentle hum emitted from his chest. There was a slight delay in the translation, but it was better than staring at each other like idiots. He held out his canteen to her.
"Water." He explained. After a moment she took it and slowly unscrewed the cap. He watched her dextrous fingers grip the top and twist, noting how each digit applied just the right amount of delicate pressure. Her lips created a seal around the spout as she drank, her throat moving as she gulped down the liquid. Every action was foreign and curious. He noted it all, soaking in the differences this human held, before he suddenly realized he was staring when she handed back the canteen.
A few more moments of awkward silence passed, but Garrus figured it was better than fists flying. He glanced up again to see the human in a similar situation of fidgeting and glancing. He had no idea what human greetings entailed, so he settled on telling her his name.
"Garrus Vakarian."
Sheperd
The sounds the Turian made were deep and guttural, tilting between harsh and clicking to gentle purrs from the throat that were almost comforting. He spoke slowly to her, drawing out each growl of a syllable as the strange mandibles clicked and juddered. It was like he had two voices, a lower flanging one accompanying the audible one. She was thankful for the translation, the artificial voice beeping out the words the Turian had said to her. When she nodded, he looked mildly confused and she realised that perhaps these aliens don't nod so she vocalised her understanding. He seemed pleased.
His awkward demeanour was odd, but she didn't feel threatened by his actions. When he offered her water everything fell into place. This alien had saved her. It had tended her wounds and carefully bandaged her up, lying her on a make-shift bed. A sudden pang of shame hit her. She felt bad for attacking him but it was basic instinct, she was a soldier after all. It made sense why she wasn't shot and was thankful for the Turians patience.
When the Turian spoke again, she looked at the translator and waited but only a beep sounded. The Turian looked at It and a growl came from his chest. He looked at the device and sighed.
"My name," He eventually said. Sheperd made an 'oh' movement with her lips and nodded again. He watched her, waiting for a response.
"Sheperd." She replied, holding out her hand hesitantly.
The Turian stared at her outstretched hand and tilted its head again. She pulled it back, realising how her human actions were not understood. The Turian repeated her name back to her in his growl of a voice. It made her shiver.
The silence cut in again as the pair sat opposite each other. Sheperd fidgeted until she released a sigh and looked up at the Turian named Garrus.
"Thank you," She said quietly, "For helping me."
Garrus looked at her as his eyes softened and he tilted his head forward, mandibles flicking once. Another sound came from him this time. She took it as acknowledgement. His facial expressions were few, but the slight movements and inclinations of his head coupled with the vibrations in his chest conveyed a vague sense of feeling to her.
"It was the right thing to do," Garrus said, "This war has inflicted too much damage for me to let any life suffer. Human or Turian."
Sheperd smiled and looked down at her hands. She nodded to herself in agreement.
"Were there any others?" She asked. He was staring at her face and her question broke his gaze.
"No. I only found you. My squad was killed and I came across you on my retreat."
"The wire…" She said faintly and a sharp growl of affirmation came from Garrus.
He turned his head away and made another growl, this one fainter and lower.
"The food you ate," He turned back towards her "They were Turian rations. That's why you were sick."
She let out a gentle laugh at the realisation and pressed her brow into her palm. When she looked up the Turian was staring at her again, but his eyes seemed a little wider this time.
"Explains why they tasted like shit then." She muttered under her breath but by the way Garrus' eyes narrowed she knew he had heard it. Sheperd had heard Turians had good hearing, but she'd have to test that rumour.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out some silver foil packages. Placing them on the ground before her. He then brought out more and set them opposite him. She noticed a slight difference in the packets, the ones nearest him being bigger and slightly different colour.
"Mine," He pointed to the packets before him, "Yours." He pointed at hers.
Sheperd nodded.
"What is that?" Garrus asked.
"What is what?"
"The movement your head makes when I ask you a question."
"It's called nodding," She explained, "Humans do it when we agree or understand or instead of saying yes." It struck her that explaining something as simple as nodding was odd. She expected that's he would get used to this feeling if hanging around with her new friendly Turian.
"Nodding." He repeated, the word sounding strange coming from him.
"And that?" He said, pointing to her hair. He seemed full of questions.
"Hair." She said, and he repeated it again.
Another silence stretched between them until Sheperd decided to ask him something that had been nibbling at her mind.
"What are you going to do with me?"
Garrus looked at her, his face impassive as always.
"I will find my squad, and hopefully get off this shithole of a moon."
"Yes, that's great for you. What about me? I have heard of what happens when Turian command takes prisoners."
He took a moment to answer.
"I don't know."
