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Second leaf
Yuu-chan 2025.02.14. 13:26
For some reason, he knew he was going to meet with it… he was about to find other living humans. Or rather, other living humans found him.
Before they arrived, he looked down again, frowning slightly. He felt that he shouldn’t be close to the bones anymore, but he didn’t want to leave them either. He didn’t have any place to put them. Then, a small, flickering light caught his eyes, and when he leaned closer, he saw a thin item inside the empty skull.
By the time the car reached him, he was farther from the bones, yet still sitting on the ground. He wasn’t able to stand and walk, he fell back. Balance and coordination were still hard.
The car turned out to be pretty frightening. The vibrations around him increased so much, he wanted to cover his ears. The behemoth stopped not far away from him. It was much larger than the one on its side on the battlefield.
“Hey, are you… are you injured? What happened here? Do you need help?”
The driver was a man with short hair and different clothes from his. He was talking through the lowered window, but before he got an answer, he opened the car’s door, and leapt out.
Two men followed him, coming from the other side of the car, and all three slowly approached him. In their hands… there were guns, ready to be used.
They stopped a few meters away from him. None of their faces or hair looked the same, and one had a darker skin colour. It turned out that humans can come in different colours too, like flowers.
“Can you speak?” The driver asked. He stood in the centre, his eyes sitting deeper in his head, dark and a bit sharp.
“Yes.”
This was the first word he had ever spoken. His tongue… worked very weirdly. He wasn’t sure if he did a good job talking, but it seemed like the humans understood him.
“Are you a soldier? What is your name, sir? Are you injured? Are you infected?”
Lots of questions at once, but the man lowered his gun, and took a half step closer to him.
Name, name, his name… it seemed that humans all had different names, but he only knew one.
“My name… is Lu Feng.” He said. “Soldier. Not injured. Not… infected.”
It was also the first time in his life he lied. He knew already, that humans did not welcome his species. Lu Feng made it clear to him. He should not admit that he was a rose, but it didn’t sit right with him. He hoped these humans couldn’t tell lies apart. He also started to get an idea of what to do. He couldn’t let these humans end his life yet. Lu Feng wanted to be eaten by him, he couldn’t just die right after.
“Then why are you on the ground?” This time, it was the yellow-haired man talking.
“I… Can’t walk.”
“So, you got injured.” The second man lifted his gun. “Captain, I don’t think, this dick is a person. Let’s shoot him, and just go.”
“Wait.” The different coloured person talked with ice in his voice. He also stepped closer, standing beside the driver. “Vance… he is still a soldier. Even if he is paralyzed, we might get a bonus taking him back.”
“My ass.” Snored the yellow-haired man. “Bonus? Are you that stupid? Would you let him travel with us without knowing what’s wrong with him, you nigga? Is your brain also dark?”
“We are not Judges.” The driver, called Vance, spoke again; his eyes were unfocused, as he was wandering around Lu Feng’s body with his gaze. “But we can see if he is infected. Let’s stay here for a while. Let’s see what was in their car. We also need to bring back the guns and resources. Lu Feng… is it? What is your rank, sir? I’m Vance,” he added, and his facial expressions somewhat softened. “I’m the captain of this mercenary team.”
‘Lu Feng’ knew about ranks, but no matter how strongly he tried to remember, he couldn’t tell what was Lu Feng’s.
“Captain…” He said, hoping Lu Feng was one.
“We will help you go back… please, excuse us for our carefulness. Can you tell me, what happened here?” Before Lu Feng began speaking, he also turned to his comrades. “You two, try to move that vehicle back to its heels. Look inside, and search for the black box.”
The coloured person had already started gathering stuff on the ground, so soon, only Vance was standing in front of Lu Feng, while the other two went to the battlefield, grunting and swearing while they tried to push the car.
“I don’t remember much.” Lu Feng said; Vance looked deeply into his eyes. “I… hit my head. And my legs. There was an explosion.”
“A grenade exploded beside you?” Vance murmured, and looked up as if he tried to see the explosion. “I see. It seems like you used many explosives here. Was it a swarm? Bees? Hornets?”
“… Wasps.”
Wasps were Lu Feng’s pollinators when he was a rose. He didn’t differentiate his pollinators. Bees, hornets, wasps, butterflies, and even some birds, everyone was doing their job, when it was spring and summer, and with their help, the rose could live for a long-long time, and have a large family. Realising, that not only his family but his pollinators were wiped out too, he felt something heavy inside his chest.
“Uhg. I hate wasps. Very aggressive type.” Vance said with a grimace, which Lu Feng didn’t quite understand, but the words struck him too. “Sir, would you mind, if I take a look at your body to see if there are really no injuries? If you were fighting with wasps, they could pierce you without you knowing. Wasp venom has the longest latent period. If I remember correctly, it can last a few days before you actually start showing signs of infection, even if you were attacked in the Abyss. I, ehm… I didn’t mean to lecture you, you probably know this.”
Lu Feng had a hard time focusing on so many words at once, but he got the gist of it. He was silent for a moment. He spent a long time dressing up just now… But he had no choice. He understood, that these humans were afraid, and they had to make sure, he was fine. He remembered human Lu Feng doing these procedures in the past.
Lu Feng removed his clothes, sitting. Vance had to help him. It was even harder to get them off his body. The touches of another human were quite different from the rain or the clothes. Vance didn’t touch him very much, only the tip of his fingers swiped his bare skin here and there.
It made him shiver, and something just occurred to him.
He remembered about touches.
Touches on his petals.
And touches on other’s petals. He had these sensations a while ago. He didn’t understand them in the past.
Someone touched him before, and even multiple times, and… someone touched his family, somewhere, somehow, far away from here, and he felt warmness and kindness from those touches. Fingertips stroked many petals and leaves, and there were welcoming vibrations around him – humans’ voice and another sound, which he would’ve never understood if he didn’t have Lu Feng’s memories.
Lu Feng often came to this place… he was one of the reasons, that he had no family here, but also the reason that… he had another family, somewhere else. He took seeds from his family before. He took them, and brought them somewhere.
Suddenly, his goal cleared. He planned to go with the humans to a place where he could find more flowers. But now, he wanted to go to a special place – to the place, where those seeds were planted, where someone touched his family so softly, and where life seemed to be much safer than here. To the woman whom Lu Feng called “mom”, and who raised flowers, like him, stroked them every day, played music for them, and sang to them – he saw them through Lu Feng’s memories, and he felt an invisible attraction, pulling him towards this scenery.
“Okay, you seem to be fine, sir.” Vance’s voice was like a loud screech, Lu Feng was abruptly pulled out from his wandering. “Sorry for this. Please, rest in our car. Maybe you had a concussion, and that is why you can’t stand… I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not very good at medical assistance, you have to wait until we return to the base. I’ll help you lying down.”
Vance, after he also helped him dress back, pulled him up, and held his waist, while they were going to the car. Lu Feng was still very unstable, but with this help, he didn’t fall, and started to feel the rhythm of walking. By the time they reached the vehicle, he was able to stand by himself, while Vance opened up the side door for him.
Thus, Lu Feng was left alone in a dark, cold and hard place. It wasn’t comfortable at all. Vance didn’t stay with him, he went to help his partners collect the items they wanted to bring. Lu Feng could hear their sounds, but not their words anymore.
He didn’t know time – he didn’t understand the concept of time, but the sky got way darker when he started hearing the humans better, as they approached the vehicle. Lu Feng wasn’t just lying in the meantime. He exercised moving his limbs, and he was satisfied with the outcome: he could stand, he could coordinate his fingers and arms, and he could walk a little. Lu Feng sat back before the team returned.
Vance and the other two appeared in the doorway. They got into the car one by one, walking past him.
“Are you still okay, sir?”
“I feel better.” Lu Feng told the truth this time. It seemed like Vance and the brown-skinned man felt relaxed over this, but the yellow-haired snored again, and said: “whatever”.
“Very good. We got the record from your car.” Vance stretched out his arm, and wanted him to take a small, black box. “You can give them to your superiors. We didn’t find any more survivors. I’m glad you were able to hold on.” After Lu Feng took it, the brown-skinned man said, he was going to drive, and went through the vehicle, slightly bending down, avoiding hitting his head into the short ceiling.
“He is Anthony… the other one is Hosen. They don’t know much respect…” Vance sighed, and sat beside him. “Well, that is not entirely true. Anthony is a good guy. He is my regular teammate. But… we are a bit anxious around soldiers. I hope you understand.”
Actually, Lu Feng didn’t understand the reason, but he just nodded without asking. He knew this was a sort of apology, and the rose had no reason to be angry with these humans.
“You don’t have to drive, just rest. We can reach the base in a couple of days. I’m going to sleep a bit too.”
Lu Feng didn’t know until now, what is sleeping, but then human Lu Feng’s memories flared up inside his head. The rose had also slept in winter, retreating into the soil, protected from the cold. It was a delirious state. It seemed like humans needed it often but for a much shorter time.
He didn’t know how to hibernate yet, so he just sat in the darkness. It was very hard to him for relax: in winter, nature was calm and quiet. Sleeping wasn’t hard at that time. But here, the car was shaking a lot, and the vibration of its sound was too overbearing. He felt like he was going to explode, like the rock Lu Feng used as a shelter.
In his hand, there was the bulletcase from Lu Feng’s skull; he was practising with his fingers to distract his mind. He twisted it multiple times, and stroked the very smooth and cool surface, which soon took some of his warmness, and didn’t emit that much cold anymore.
At some point, they stopped. Anthony was tired, so Vance took his place.
Anthony took Vance’s place as well. Lu Feng didn’t see him clearly, just vague lines of his figure. There was a window on the car, but outside, it was completely dark now. Judging by the lack of light, the rose suspected, this should be the evening, which he did feel as a flower too. He could sense the different temperatures and vibrations that only belonged to the night.
Lu Feng was startled, when he heard a louder noise from the side. He looked in that direction, and saw Anthony’s silhouette, kneeling on the ground just a meter away from him, as if he had fallen. And, despite the darkness… he saw the glare in his eyes which was aimed right into Lu Feng’s gaze. A sudden shiver ran through his spine.
“Anthony?” He asked tentatively.
Something changed. And this change was oddly familiar to him.
The human’s vibrations and heat didn’t seem the same as before. His stare delivered a message to him via these vibrations.
He seemed to be a pollinator right now.
Lu Feng knew them so well, that he could tell apart every species that had ever come and feasted on his pollen. He just knew right away. Lu Feng frowned. It was nonsensical to say, Anthony was a pollinator – he was definitely just a human not long ago.
Suddenly, there was a small but stronger and faster vibration: the brown-skinned man had wings, which he also didn’t see well until now. They were transparent, but they emitted some light too, as they were rustling and rubbing with each other.
Lu Feng had never rejected any pollinator in his rose-life. He couldn’t even do that in the first place. And he had no intentions to do it either. Why would he do that? Pollinators for him were like business partners for people.
Now, he had a strong resistance in his body: he wanted to refuse. He didn’t know, what exactly it was; it was against the natural order… but just then, he realised, currently he wasn’t a rose, so no need for this pollinator to come closer to him.
Anthony came closer. Lu Feng stiffened. What to do? He didn’t even have thorns. And he still didn’t want to kill. He took Lu Feng’s gun, but he had no intention to use it. How can he protect himself? Fighting? He hadn’t had a good coordination for that.
Anthony was staring at him from very close. Heat wasn’t coming from his body anymore, and there wasn’t any breathing that Lu Feng could feel on his face. Anthony’s black eyes had been turned into compound eyes, and Lu Feng saw a blurry image of himself in the tiny buds. The ex-human had a long proboscis, like a sucking pipe, flexible and extendable. It rolled out of his mouth as if his tongue turned into one.
The proboscis reached Lu Feng’s skin, and found a spot on his Adam’s apple to stick onto. Lu Feng stayed put, unable to decide about the next step, still feeling torn about if it was right for him to make any move.
The proboscis tried to bilge his skin. After it was stuck onto him, the pain started to grow on that spot. Lu Feng realised, that this pollinator, despite turning into an insect, wasn’t a usual pollinator, that had been visiting him in his flower form – this wasn’t a pollinator at all, this was a bloodsucking insect, that ate other creatures’ fluids, not flowers. It was not his “rose fragrance” that attracted Anthony, as he suspected at first, but the blood in Lu Feng’s body.
‘Other creatures must not win his DNA.’
Suddenly a very strong, very righteous feeling rose in his soul, too intense; he didn’t know a human body could reproduce such a violent emotion. It almost burned him from the inside.
Before he could think about it deeper, his body instinctively moved. He didn’t plan on doing anything to this insect. But the directive in Lu Feng’s DNA, which the human wanted to protect, urged his cells and muscles to do something. As if the body itself had its own memory, as if he was once again not a xenogenic flower, but a human soldier, a very good one.
No one would question Lu Feng’s gunmanship, it was impeccable.
The sound of the close explosion, the gun’s incredible recoiling power, the weapon’s weight, and the strong, electric currents awakening from its vibration, making his whole right hand tingle…
His ears rang, and his eyes were slightly blurry by the flash of light that snapped right in front of him.
His right arm was up in the air, but he immediately dropped his weapon. His numb fingers couldn’t hold it anymore.
There was a hole in Anthony’s insect-head, and light liquid oozed off it. The proboscis stopped sucking on him, and the wings froze in their place before the body collapsed.
This happened very fast, and the sound of the gun didn’t go unnoticed.
Right, when Anthony’s body fell, Lu Feng heard a snoring sound, and the next moment, a cursing voice roared:
“What the fuck are you doing, nigga? What are you shouting… wait…”
The yellow-haired man, Hosen, sat up in the car’s other compartment, far away from them. Because of the darkness, he also couldn’t see the scene well, but his tone of voice had gotten tense, and his movement fast, as he strode over them with thundering steps.
Hosen stood still in his place, when he finally saw the body lying on the ground, right in front of Lu Feng, who was sitting calmly on his patchy bed.
“What the fuck did you just do?” Hosen seemed not to understand the situation – he was looking at Lu Feng with eyes wide as a plate, and suddenly, the gun that he grabbed while he rushed over, was pointed at Lu Feng’s chest. “Wait a second… did you infect this bastard? Did you? Why did you… how did he turn into… you’re a fucking monster, aren’t you?!”
Lu Feng did not feel fear, but he didn’t want to die either. He frowned, and tried to explain his situation – if he was seeing this from a human’s perspective… no, even if he was seeing it from a flower’s perspective, this was self-defence.
But Hosen wasn’t the type who liked soldiers much. Vance had said it before, and Hosen’s behaviour wasn’t the slightest welcoming towards him.
“I knew we should’ve shot you when we found you. Get wasted, you dumbfuck monster.”
There was a second loud noise, much louder, than the previous one, and another flashing light blinded Lu Feng, making him unable to avoid the shot. He was also very close, just a few steps away from the man.
He got shot right in his chest.
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