Bodyguards

I don't know where they are now, but they were here just earlier.

"Rill" and "Narl".

They're... strange. I can see why Amos seemed so hesitant to call them bodyguards. Considering how they left not long after they arrived, I question how they're going to protect me. I think they must be watching from a distance, but I don't know why.

Though, I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself, I should explain how they arrived.

I was at the supermarket, trying to pick up some additional food before I go... wherever the fuck it is I'm supposed to be going. I still don't understand all of this.

Anyway, I was wandering past the meats aisle, heading towards canned goods, when I saw her. She stood out in the store: nearly bald and wearing ragged clothes. People looked at her uncomfortably, probably assuming the girl was homeless. She stood by a shelf full of preserved beefs, staring at me. The moment we made eye contact she turned and walked down a different aisle; I looked after her as I passed, but the aisle was empty.

Shaking it off, I finished picking up several packs of canned soup and ravioli, shoveling what I needed into my cart before heading to the checkouts. Turning a corner, I thought I saw someone peeking out at me from across the store, but I blinked and they was gone. I made my way over to the nearest checkout and started unloading the numerous cans for purchase. The guy behind the counter raised an eyebrow at me as he counted up the sixth and seventh cans of chicken soup, but he didn't say anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone approach.

They rushed up alongside me and I felt a bony hand slide into mine. Instinctively, I tried to pull away; but the fingers tightened. I felt my knuckles pop as I looked up at the person.

Two heavily bloodshot eyes peered out of a pale, angular face. She had hardly any hair, just enough to make the eyebrows noticeable and provide a tiny covering of fuzz across the top of her pallid head. Before I could do or say anything, she smiled; mouth stretching far too wide as it almost reached her ears, revealing a set of long, yellowish teeth.

There was something distinctly inhuman in the expression; like it was something much more primitive than a display of amusement. Much more like a baring teeth, like a show of power. She tightened her grip and my knuckles began to compact together painfully.

I turned back to the man behind the counter, who looked downright confounded now, and handed him my money. He handed me my bags and began to make the transaction, but the girl was already pulling me away; out the front entrance and into a side alley. I could feel the thrum of her pulse in my hand, the impossible strength in her muscles; disproportionately skeletal fingers wrapped vise-like around my hand.

"Who are you?" I asked, icy claws clutching at my stomach.

She flicked her eyes at me, and I could see them reflect bright green in the dim light, but she said nothing.

We turned a corner, then another, then another, then another; I quickly became lost in the labyrinth of of bricks and concrete slabs. I began to faintly wonder if we had doubled back on ourselves, when someone stepped out in front of us. The girl led me forward and we stopped several feet from him.

Even in the darkness I could see his eyes dart between me and the girl. She released my hand and stepped back; they began to circle, staying at opposite sides and equal distance from me, checking me over. I could feel my own heartbeat now, pounding in my ears; I stood stock still, as though to move would provoke them. In what little light there was, I could see the flash of teeth and the glow of eyes. Neither was large or heavily muscled, but there was something far more threatening in them; I could see it, even with their torn clothing. A smoothness in the way they moved, lithe bodies rippling with bare muscle.

They stopped, and stood at either side of me, the man spoke first, a growl from my right.

"Him?"

"Him," the girl replied from my right, "the dweller has spoken."

The man shifted his gaze from the girl and back to me. I could see him slightly better now that he was still. His skin was more tanned than hers, and there were a number of white scars across his face; but the eyes were the same: bloodshot and aggressive. He shifted his shoulders forward, leaning close to me.

"What were you named?"

"Andrew Ji."

He growled, and I could feel the thrum in my chest.

"Too many, then not enough. That is of decay; a name that is not yours."

"The carvings in bones tell not the flesh they wore," the girl interjected,"only the past that followed; and the hands that made the marks."

He nodded, and I had the impression that she had somehow convinced him of something.

"An-Dru-Gee," the man sounded out, "I am Narl of the second."

"I am Rill," the girl followed, "of the alabaster bed."

They moved again; shifting their positions to stand side by side in front of me.

"Hello Andrew," Rill continued, "we are your teeth."

She stopped, and Narl spoke.

"The prowler has called us, to bring you to the halls of your answer. We will drag you dead and rotting there, if we have to; but as you are to ask the question, we will aid your life."

"Bring us to your den," Rill picked up again, "you will rest, and tomorrow you will not. The bright ones will not touch you so long as we live. Now we go."

Narl strode past me, taking the lead out of the alleyway, while Rill brushed beside me, clasping onto my hand once more. She must have felt me go tense, because she turned and said:

"Don't worry Andrew, I was people too."

And then she smiled again, and it wasn't just baring teeth like before; but it wasn't comforting either. Rill smiled at me like a person who only half remembered how.

And somehow, that made it much worse.

~Ji