Chereads / An Engineer's Guide To Another World / Chapter 4 - Saving a damsel in distress... Or not

Chapter 4 - Saving a damsel in distress... Or not

Darkness, all I see and know is infinite darkness. It surrounds me on every side. Then, my head begins to clear. I remember now, I was going to the notary when I was hit by a truck. Of all things, a truck, couldn't it have been a meteorite or something cooler? Oh well, at least this way my body parts can be donated to science as dictated in my will. Maybe someday someone's life will be saved thanks to my body parts.

Hang on a second?! If I'm dead, I just proved there's life after death! Hah ha! I've discovered the answer to the ultimate question! Wait a minute! If I'm dead, shouldn't I be meeting with God right now? Or potentially the exact opposite… I shiver at the realization.

Wait… Why am I being so stupid! If I can think, am not meeting with anyone, and can feel my body shivering, I'm obviously not dead! In that case, I'm probably lying on a hospital bed with my eyes closed. Hmmmm… I probably came extremely close to dying, that truck was by no means small and no one's saying anything so it must be serious. I should come up with a way to relax this tense atmosphere! I know what I'll do!

"I'm alive!!!" (Adam)

I abruptly sit up, open my eyes and throw both arms in the air as I say that obvious line.

"Well, this is awkward, no one's here." (Adam)

I drop my arms back down and look around me.

"But, where is 'here' anyways?" (Adam)

I'm located at the edge of a grassy expanse which goes as far as the eye can see to my right, left and behind me. In front of me a squiggly line can be seen, clearly separating the grass lands from a wooded region.

Well, first order of business is to assess my injuries. I search my body with my hands, but nothing seems to be abnormal. Then, I reach toward my head and feel around for my injuries. Nothing hurts, but something definitely feels wrong.

"My glasses!" (Adam)

Where are my glasses? Those things are expensive and I can't see without them! I can't afford to lose them now of all times! Wait a second! I was just observing the tree line and the plains, I can see fine! Do I have my contacts in? No, it doesn't feel like it, they hurt when they're in so I can tell. What's going on here? This situation is extremely abnormal. I check the rest of my body again, but everything else is normal. Perhaps someone tested a new eye treatment on me?

Maybe I really am in a hospital, but am in a coma and am dreaming? But, even in my dreams I have glasses, and if it was a dream I should have some degree of control within it, right? Also, my clothes are the same one's I was wearing when I was hit by that truck, in a dream would my clothes be accurately reconstructed like this? I'll just assume I'm not dreaming for now, since I can't do anything about it if I am anyways.

There isn't enough conclusive evidence to determine my situation as things currently stand. For now, I'll make my goal be to find someone to question. Now, I guess a good place to start would be those woods. Where there are trees, there is water, and where there's water, there are people.

So, I proceed through the long scratchy grass to the woods. As a walk through the woods I search for any signs of civilization, be they as simple as a footprint or as grandiose as a tower, nothing will escape my gaze. I soon find a trail, most likely made by animals, and continue my search by sticking to it's winding path. I listen to the birds singing and enjoy the view with my newly well-functioning eyes as I proceed. It does a great deal to lighten my mood, and before long I feel invigorated.

Then, Suddenly, the woods go silent. The previously visible wild life disappear from view. That's strange, they didn't seem to be alarmed by me earlier, did they only just notice my presence? No, I shake my head, that's impossible. It must be some other creature. Should I also hide? Humans are at the top of the food chain, but it never hurts to be cautious. Right as I finish my pondering and decide to climb a tree, I hear a woman's scream.

"Ruuuunnnnnnnn!!!" (????)

Hm? A person, perfect timing! I need someone to question about where this is, and I was just getting nervous about whether I'd find anyone. What's she screaming about? Run?

I turn toward the direction of the voice and see a beautiful young lady with long flowing blond hair and what looks like old-timey hunters equipment. But, what really gets my attention is that she's being chased by three massive wolves, and is coming straight toward me. She nimbly jumps over boulders and large roots and ducks under low branches, all the while staying just out of reach of the snapping jaws of the wolves. Oh, so that's what she means by run, I see.

"What the hay, don't come toward me! Go that way!" (Adam)

She's close enough now that I can see her facial expressions. Upon hearing my words, she blinks for a moment as if not understanding my meaning, then her eyes light up and she nods. Good, you understand not to drag other people into your troubles. She speeds up and brushes past me before sliding into a bush in the direction I had pointed and stealthily speeding away. I spoke to soon, it seems she didn't understand.

"What the fudge! Crazy woman!" (Adam)

I run for my life. Tears threaten to escape my eyes, first it was the truck, now it's wolves. You save your life once and the next moment something's there again threatening to steal it away from you. I can understand being unlucky once in a while, but this is absurd. As I run I hear a 'twing' from a way's away, but I'm too busy to mind it. I hear another 'twing' and become distracted for a moment, misplacing my footing. The next moment I had brilliantly somersaulted to the ground and was getting a close up view of two rows of beautiful sharp white teeth.

**Twing**

The wolf collapses and only then do I realize that those were the sounds of arrows being fired, one of which is now sticking out of the throat of my former aggressor. I turn to the origin and see the young lady running toward me. It seems she wasn't just abandoning me after all, thank goodness.

"Are you alright?!" (????)

"Yeah, I'm fine, but that was a close call. I thought I was going to die." (Adam)

"That was brave of you, to volunteer to be a distraction despite being so un-agile. If you hadn't been here I would have been done for, thanks!" (????)

Is she messing with me?! Volunteer?! Did she misunderstand 'go that way!' as 'go that way, I'll distract them for you?' And hold on, who are you calling un-agile, I'll have you know I'm far more fit then my average classmate! Who is this girl and why is she so oblivious? There's obviously some sort of a cultural gap!