Survival in my heart. Part two.

"Did he hit him on the head? This gentle guy? How dare he do that?"

"Everybody saw him pick up a rock and hit his head with it."

"And then what happened?"

"What could have been? Bannard fell down, and I put the guy to sleep."

Felix, the judge who decides everything in this place, looked at Arlo, who was lying on the floor.

"And the reason why he did that was that girl?"

"Everybody says it was. He saw Bannard about ready to kill her and so he attacked him before he could see him."

"Judge, let me destroy him. Let's lock him in the lava chamber," said a young man with coiffed hair and a face whose expression resembled that of a fierce wolf. Tall, wearing a leather vest worn only by certain soldiers who were assigned the role of those who carry out the judge's orders, this guy leaned over Arlo and slapped him in the face.

"The lava chamber? You want him to fry in there?" Felix questioned, laughing and sitting down on his knees next to Arlo. "And he's really handsome. Bannard was right. He is prettier than any girl. Look at his lips, it makes you want to squeeze them and then bite them."

"Judge."

"What? I know. Yeah, I like women. But this guy is definitely special. No, I want to save him some more. It's pathetic to kill such a beauty. I had to say goodbye to my Matilda last year anyway. She was a good woman. And how many nights I spent with her. It was incredible. Every man should have a woman like that. But a guy like Arlo should be next to every man too."

Once on his feet, Felix stopped his gaze on Arlo's legs. After all, legs were exactly the place he had always paid attention to. Imagining how those long legs would bend and unbend with every thrust of his body, Felix chuckled quietly and looked at his assistant.

"Sylvan don't look at him like he's food. I shared the meat with you last week as it is."

"This guy is not fit for this place. Why waste our time on him?"

"Next time if he does anything else like that, I'll let you eat him. He's so slender, though, I doubt there's enough meat around here."

"In our world with nothing but nutritious roots, I'll eat anything, even those with no meat at all."

Laughing, Felix tapped Sylvan on the back and left the room. Arlo, on the other hand, continued to lie in that empty room without a door.

When Felix went away, the room was dark. And it was this darkness that was the only thing around him when he woke up.

When he saw the nutritious roots in front of him, which are ordinary roots that resemble eggplants in shape, Arlo also saw his grandfather chopping them into small pieces and throwing them into the pot.

Nutritious roots, the only thing that grows in this world. They have almost no flavor other than the elusive tang of saltiness. But when boiled long enough, their juice becomes salty enough to enjoy.

The nutritious roots are boiled, fried, or eaten raw. But even though there is a lack of flavor and variety in the food here, still these roots sustain the human body sufficiently.

After all, it's been a long time since all the vegetables and fruits and cows and sheep and chickens and fish disappeared from this world. And throughout all these years, those gray by color roots that grow almost everywhere have kept everyone alive.

Many once tried to use dogs as food, but their meat proved so hard and inedible that people left them alone.

And now, seeing a soup of small pieces of these roots in front of him, Arlo reached forward with his hand, but felt a wall of ice with his fingers.

Then he finally woke up and saw darkness all around him.

Quickly rising to his feet, he felt a panic that was too strong to allow him to understand and remember everything.

Panic possessed him completely. So much so that he lost his ability to think for a while.

Rushing out of the room, he rushed forward. He ran without a single thought in his head. Still seeing everything around him as blurred as if he were looking through dirty glass, he ran, hearing only his heart.

Scratching the stone and rough surface with his nails, he didn't even feel pain. Trying to hold on, not to fall, but to keep running, he suddenly found himself facing an abyss.

The usual stone floor ended and the darkness began next.

Trying to see something, Arlo took a step forward and then his foot hung over the abyss. There was nothing further. It was unclear which floor cliffed at this point, letting in the icy wind inside the long corridor.

As he felt dizzy, as he saw the darkness in front of him begin to take on strange shapes in the form of planets and stars, Arlo also realized that his right foot above the abyss was already flying down.

He was falling. It was only one second, but he felt as if his whole body was already flying down and was about to be shattered.

A second passed and when he woke up enough to come to his senses, he was already trying to survive. Trying to grab onto a rock ledge, he still couldn't. His hand was sticky with sweat and blood, and then, just as his whole body was already falling down, he felt someone's firm hand on his wrist.

Feeling someone pulling him up and then feeling a tight embrace that put him on his feet, he pushed the man away from him and ran away.

At that moment a candle lit in front of his face and he saw Bannard in front of him.

"First, you wanted to kill me. Now you're jumping into the abyss. Since you're so sick of everything, why are you here?" Bannard asked the question, staring intently at the frightened and surprised Arlo. "You are so surprised to see me. What, thinking I'm going to die from your blow? I'm sorry, but I'm the strongest one here. Did you see how I lifted you? I could have lifted five or more like you."

Not knowing what to say, Arlo was so confused that he just sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall.

Sitting down beside him, Bannard placed a candle nearby and a pleasant light filled that corner with a brown-orange color.

Noticing that Bannard's head was wrapped in a cloth, Arlo still regretted not hitting him harder.

"But I must confess, my head hurt a little after the blow and even bled. It's all right now, though," Bannard said, removing the bandage and Arlo saw a round spot of blood. Throwing the bandage into the darkness, Bannard sighed and said, "I know people like you. People like you are very kind people who demand justice and humanity everywhere. I don't know who raised you that way, but that man obviously didn't prepare you for this harsh world."

"Don't you dare talk about my grandfather with your filthy mouth."

Bannard only laughed, touching his head.

"I could see that it was bad for you to watch me kill those who proved weak. Although, you've heard the rules of this place, you're still going to rebel, right? And if you do, in a day or two, five days at most, you'll just die. This place isn't for sissies like you."

"Then why did you save me?" Arlo asked, turning to face him. And when he saw his profile, his perfectly shaped nose, the calm expression on his face and even the weariness in his gaze, he still wished he was strong enough to take another blow to his head. "Why did you save me? You broke the rule, didn't you? You might get killed now. I'm sure someone saw it. There are eyes everywhere in this place."

"When you hit me, you were shot. We shoot people like you with special bullets that don't kill you, just make you go to sleep. Why does this place need people like you, though? A weak man always hinders all progress, doesn't he? We have such a hard road ahead of us that being weak is just a sin. Do you think these rules were made up because we all hate you? No, these rules are meant to save the lives of as many people as possible. After all, these rules teach a person to be cruel, and therefore to be strong. This is exactly what will probably get you to the top of the mountain. In this place, none of us have time to cry."

Surprised by these words, which seemed to come from his very heart, Arlo even thought that perhaps Bannard was only part of this strange system, that perhaps he was just a frightened man following orders, but when Bannard looked at him, Arlo stopped thinking that way. There was nothing but coldness and lust in his gaze.

"Why did you save me?" he asked the question again.

As he approached him, Bannard stopped his gaze on his lips.

"I saved you so that you might live. You want to live, don't you. People like you always want to live more than others. After all, you are sure that you are different from others and that is why you want to live, to realize your uniqueness. For someone as unique as you to die is a waste of everything, it's a catastrophe, after all. But I didn't save you for you. I saved you for me."

As Bannard began to get even closer to him, Arlo punched him in the face and grabbed him by the collar so he could slam him against the wall.

"Being saved by you is the worst thing that could happen to me."

"Those aren't your words. You want to live, after all. You have to live, and you know it. Weak, gentle, naive, perhaps clever, you have always suffered because of others. Many have mocked you. And you have always dreamed of reaching heights that no one else has reached. And you still dream about it. Arlo, I know you very well. Believe me, you don't want to die. You're willing to do whatever it takes to survive and make your grandfather happy, aren't you?"

"You don't know anything," Arlo whispered, looking toward the abyss. The anger was subsiding inside him, for he knew he could not jump down. For he knew that Bannard was telling the truth.

"All those people, they don't want to survive as much as you do. They want to live, they want to be strong, but there's no purpose in it. They just exist to compete. But you love this life more than anyone else."

Feeling his hot breath inside his ear, Arlo remembered the man who had licked his ear and neck in the bushes. Remembering this, he pushed him away from him.

"I saved you. And you know, I can always save you. You're weak and your body has obviously never been ready for physical exercise. A weak man like you is a mistake in this place. You're here for worst kind of death. But you have me and I can help you. With me you can begin to live like a prince. With my help, you can find a home in this terrible place."

Realizing that this was not coming from the heart and certainly not from sympathy and understanding, Arlo stood up and walked closer to where there was no wall and the abyss began.

"And what is the price?" he still asked him that question, though he tried hard not to ask it. Arlo was stumped. Arlo hated himself. But he desperately wanted to live. And in that moment, that desire became so strong that he wanted to hear Bannard's answer quickly.

"You're going to be my boyfriend. Or rather, you're going to be my toy. I'll do whatever I want with you. And in return, you're guaranteed the comfort of this place, and if I don't get tired of you, when we start climbing the mountain, I'll protect you."

"Protect? That's against the rules, isn't it?"

"So, do you accept my offer?"