Chapter 8: A New Era
Rick's mouth opened wide as if he was trying to blurt out something. But the only thing that came out of his mouth was blood, and within just a few moments, he dropped dead.
"Ugh, what an ugly heart," The man remarked with a winced expression as he threw away the bloody heart in his hand.
Dina stumbled back in terror while Brad felt his hair standing on its roots. He even forgot about the bullet wound on his leg and the pain that accompanied it.
The two just saw the man tearing out Rick's heart so quick and easily that they felt as if he just tore through paper.
The man saw Rick's revolver and picked it up out of curiosity. He seemed to examine it from all sides as if closely studying it.
"Humans indeed are creative with many things, especially weapons. I wonder how this weapon is used," The man mumbled as he twirled the revolver around his hand, and seeing the muzzle of the gun, he pointed it towards him to see if he could see anything inside the hole.
His finger also slowly slipped down towards the trigger and was about to squeeze it when Dina abruptly shouted, "No! Don't!"
The man froze his fingers when he heard her shout and wondered what this woman meant.
Dina took a deep breath and shook her head as she waved her hand while pointing towards the gun in the man's hand.
The man nodded with an understanding look, "Oh, you don't want me to play with it? Fine, I don't need this small toy anyway."
He threw away the revolver and finally took a good look at the couple before him. Both seemed to try their best to hold back their fear in hopes of not ticking off the frightening man standing before them.
They were holding their breath, not knowing what the man was going to do next.
All they could do was to hold up their hands in surrender, hoping that he would let them go.
The man noticed their pitiful gestures and already realized that he scared the living daylights out of both.
But it wasn't actually his fault since in his perspective he woke up only when Rick was about to force himself on Dina. Before that he felt as if his consciousness was floating in nothingness. However, the part where he tore out Rick's heart was totally him and was nothing new to him.
He saw that Brad's leg was wounded and decided to help them out since he needed their help to get accustomed to the new age.
He crouched down with a smile, making the other two startle, thinking that he was about to bite them or something.
The man chuckled, seeing their reactions, and waved his hands as if telling them to relax.
Dina and Brad got quite confused seeing such gestures from the man. But they were able to relax slightly, seeing the smile on the man's face and how he didn't seem to be aggressive or show any hostility like before.
The man pointed towards Brad's leg and gestured to Dina whether she needed his help to carry him out.
Seeing the man using sign language astonished the couple, and Brad looked at Dina as if indirectly asking her if she understood him.
Seeing the man pointing at him made him feel uneasy. He wondered if the man was asking Dina if he could eat him since he was injured. But then he shook his head inwardly, thinking that it didn't make sense since why would someone as powerful as the man care to ask for permission.
He knew Dina had learned sign language since her mother was mute. So at this moment, he desperately prayed that his wife was able to negotiate in his place.
Dina didn't notice Brad's gaze since she was busy replaying the gestures the man showed in her mind.
She indeed knew sign language, and thus she was vaguely able to understand what the man meant even though his sign language seemed quite different.
'Come on, woman. Is it so hard to understand? I guess sign language is still unpopular, eh,' The man mused.
After analyzing his gestures, Dina was astonished, wondering why this man would care to help them. She at first thought that she misunderstood his gestures, but no matter how many times she replayed them in her mind, she only came to the same conclusion.
She decided to take a gamble and nodded with her own sign language, gesturing that the man can go ahead and help them out. She also added a 'thank you' gesture just to be safe and show that they very much appreciate his help.
The man smiled as he also got a gist of what she meant through her gestures. He then looked at Brad, who gulped, feeling anxious.
But Dina touched his hand and said, "Don't worry. He offered to help us out."
The man came over towards Brad and picked him up effortlessly, and carried him in his arms like a princess carry.
"H-Hey…" Brad couldn't help but panic, but the reassuring look from his wife calmed him down.
He was just as shocked as Dina, learning that this mysterious man offered to help them, that too by carrying him.
Why would a superhuman like him bother helping them? This completely perplexed the couple. Still, they took deep breaths and decided to play along since there was nothing else they could do, and so far, the man indeed seemed sincere in helping them out.
There was no reason for him to try any tricks or schemes considering his strength, and nor did they have anything of value to give to him.
Still, Brad was feeling awkward being carried like this. He shrunk his shoulders and didn't dare to move a muscle lest he risked provoking this man with monstrous strength.
Dina became more relieved by this time since she felt that this man wasn't going to harm them.
She was also reassured since she didn't have to worry about bringing Brad while getting out of this place. Otherwise, she undoubtedly would have struggled to get out of these ruins with him.
The three finally exited the ruins but not before taking some stones and broken pieces of relics after asking permission from the man.
Even if these things really did not seem very extraordinary, the couple was sure that they would be able to sell them for a sky-high price due to how ancient they were.
The man only cared about getting out and checking out the new era. He seemed least bothered about the things they took.
The three made their way towards the surface.. No one had any idea that the events that happened today would forever change the world in the future, especially because the immortal man had finally woken up from his long slumber.