Silence Falls

The very next morning, everyone woke up in the greatest physical condition their bodies hadn’t felt since they advanced into the swamps and departed the subterranean facility. Even their minds felt rejuvenatively sharper for the first time since all that medication was delivered to them on a daily basis by the facility staff and muddled their thinking process which presumably stopped their dreary moods from ever being improved. Bam stretched his limbs out on one of the mattresses within the mattress store assembled in the forsaken mall, and let out a giant befitting yawn before scratching his disheveled head. Oh god, I feel more alive and wonderful than I've ever felt in my whole life, hell I feel like skipping for a change, Bam chuckled to himself, issuing a heartfelt smile before looking to his right and identifying an unconscious Bert and Otep. Bam got up at the same time as the girls, leaving the sleeping duo to fulfill their sleep. The awakened youths trudged down the stairs to the first floor, perusing their new home with enthrallment on their faces despite fancying a decent washing.

Catching a whiff of something, Alexis halted in her tracks, and tilted her face upwards a bit to sniff the air. Her eyes enlarged in disbelief as she let out a laugh of anticipation, her hand coming up to erase a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth that she hadn’t felt form. “Oh my god, you guys...do you smell that? Jesus Christ, it's making my mouth water like crazy!”

Connor smelled the air too, and heard his stomach let out a howl before he could open his mouth. With a moan himself, he pressed a hand into his stomach to smother it’s cry. “Fucking hell, I smell it too!”

“Screw you guys, I'm going wherever the fuck that food is cooking at.” Bam cheered as he selfishly took off in a spurt in that foreign direction, following his nose to the succulent food that awaited them in a small comfy restaurant that’s interior was themed as a deluxe country buffet. Inside were three tables spurred together and shrouded with the alluring bounty of a full five course breakfast. Everyone eyed the feast in hushed admiration and incredulity. They had to swallow repeatedly to restrict the drool from cascading out and saturating the front of their shirts, while at the same time appeasing their stomachs from bursting themselves out of their bodies and gobbling on this banquet from the Gods themselves. Separate emaciated eyes flitted from the variation of flavored pancakes, assorted styles of cooked eggs, steaming coffee pots, juicy ham, crispy bacon, golden hash browns, steaming sausages, heavenly french toast, freshly squeezed orange juice, creamy milk, and the brand of sugary cereal boxes that got you eager to get up the next morning to scarf the whole thing down by yourself.

“It is edible, my friends. Please come and eat, do not be wary. It is for every one of you.” A voice welcomed from the double doors of the kitchen, startling the ravenous kids. With a great smile, Hermanni stood with an apron around his waist and a chef hat he dusted off tottered on his head. Bam and the others didn't need to be instructed twice to eat, all of them stampeded at once for the table and began to ingest like a flock of barbaric cavemen. They were too hungry to investigate all the things that were amiss with this picture. Hermanni made sure to be gone before they finished and hoisted the apron onto the coat rack in the kitchen.

When Bert's eyes lazily opened that morning, Hermanni made sure his face would be the first one he identified. In fact, his ravishing features literally took his breath away. “Good morning, my friend! I hope you slept well. Breakfast is ready downstairs for you, and do not fret about the other’s present absence, they are there getting their plenty as we speak. If I were you, I would hurry before they eat it all and leave nothing left.”

Gradually but certainly, Hermanni’s words sunk into Bert’s depleted brain, and culminated in him gaping in shock at the boy standing beside his bed, and it wasn’t because Hermanni was even more attractive than he foresaw him to be when he was all spruced up, but because of something else his ears swiftly picked up on. Hermanni was communicating in superb English? Since when!? Bert hastily sat up and narrowed his eyes questioningly at Hermanni underneath his chef hat. Needing answers, Bert demanded them with an agitated expression on his face that formed Hermanni receptive that he better answer his question with complete honesty, or he won’t quit until he divulges the truth. “Wait a fucking minute here! Since when did you start speaking complete sentences in the English language!? Have you been faking that shit this whole time!?”

Hermanni smiled brilliantly and shook his head. “No, I learned.”

Bert crossed his arms over his chest, exploring those vivid green and blue eyes that he now concluded had to have been induced by the medication they gave Hermanni. He unearthed nothing but sincerity, but that made no sense. How does one master the entire English language overnight? “Let’s say I believe you. How exactly did you learn it overnight?”

“By your magic telecommunication boxes with the moving pictures, I believe you term it a Television. Also your covers with the pages binded in them of recording information, or Books as they are most generally known to be.” Hermanni answered with brutal frankness, not seeing a justification as to why he should mislead Bert.

“So, you learned the English language overnight by watching TV and reading a book? Where? Here in this mall?” Bert moved to where he was now sitting before Hermanni, giving him his undivided attention. Hermanni's story still didn’t sit right with him.

“Yes, and here in our new home. There are many Televisions and books. Would you like to see them?” Hermanni asked him, thrilled to show him and maybe even instruct him on these new magical creations...oh wait, he probably already knows how they work, of course. He is a human, after all.

“No, not right now. Thank you for the invite though, Hermanni.” Bert waved his offer away to get back to the subject matter. “So let me get this straight, what you're telling me is that you couldn't speak proper English before we got here, am I right?”

“Yes, I knew only a few words, but not enough to accurately interact. I understood very little of your exchanges along the way so I expended most of the time trying to calculate what was going on.” Hermanni admitted with a shrug.

“Yeah, I remember all that, but the thing is we just got here last night, Hermanni. You picked up the English language, how to devise complete sentences, how to control a TV and how to translate books all in one night?!” Bert detailed out with discernible disbelief. Ascending from the bed, he placed his hands on his hips and faced him.

“Y-Yes, Bert, I did. Why do you ask all these questions? Did it not...take you a night to master your language and..the terms of the things around you?” Hermanni inquired guardedly, now unsettled that his learning momentum was also not humanly possible.

“No, dude! No one can learn the English language in just one night, babies or adults alike! We can't do that! It’s not humanly possible!” Bert uttered, trying to stress his point that his fable didn’t make a lick of sense. It had to be a bold-faced lie, and yet something in his gut was telling him it wasn’t. Something was telling him that Hermanni spoke the truth, that he somehow had grasped the English language overnight by enveloping himself with books and cable Television!