From Zero To Hero Part Two: There And Back Again [COMPLETED]

Chapter 2: Not Again!

"Ben?" An excited Arlie looked up.

"Sorry, boy. There's no Ben here," A man with hair of gray streaks greets Arlie, lending him a hand.

"Thanks, mister," Arlie is pulled up.

"No problem. Sandstorm?" The man asked.

"Yeah. How did you kn-," Arlie is shocked to see lots of debris on the formerly barren land.

"Wow. The land...it's...it's not barren anymore," Arlie stutters.

"Happens often. Sandstorms can sometimes clear the path or enclose it the debris it brings," The man explains.

"The name's Leiar," The man introduces himself.

"Leiar? Just Leiar?" Arlie smiles.

"Yeah. Just Leiar," Leiar starts his car.

"Hop on, kid," Leiar opens the door for Arlie.

"Oh, I'm trying to find my brother. His name's Ben," Arlie says.

"We'll help you find him. Get in," Leiar offers help.

Arlie gets in, finally finding the help he needs.

Somewhere in the post-apocalyptic California...

Ben opens his eyes, wiping the sand off of his face. Ben sees a sight that frightens him.

"Agh!" Ben exclaims as he moves his leg.

Ben sees his bone sticking out of his leg. Unable to stand up, Ben decides to crawl in order to move around. Pain travels around Ben's body with every move he makes, luckily he sees a truck stopping by before his eyes and collapses.

"Glad you're awake, mister," A teenage boy stands before Ben as he wakes up.

"What?" Ben only hears muffled sounds.

"You're going to be okay, mister," The teenage boy smiled.

"What...what happened?" Ben asks. 

"We saw you crawling on the Wastelands and we saved you," The teenage boy explains.

"Autumn! Get in here!" The teenage boy exclaims.

"What happened to my leg?" Ben tries to look at his leg.

"It's fine. Nothing really deadly," The teenage boy touches Ben's head.

"Oh, great. My drug worked on him," Autumn appears in a dirty lab coat.

"Who...who are you? Who's she?" Ben looks around, confused.

"Sorry for not introducing ourselves. I'm Fif and she's Autumn. We're twins but not identical," Rufus introduces himself and his twin sister to Ben.

"You must be surprised on how short my name is while my sister's name has six letters," Fif awkwardly jokes.

"Fif. He's not even laughing," Autumn says.

"How did you fix my leg?" Ben asked.

"We gave you a set of sleeping pills before we fixed your leg," Autumn explains.

"But how? Technology doesn't exist here," Ben said.

"FYI: I'm tech-savy. While my sister here is like the nurse," Fif winks.

"Don't worry, Mr. Ben. You're safe with us," Autumn gives Ben a cup of water.

"How did you know my name?" Ben asks.

"It's written on your watch," Fif hands Ben his watch.

"Hey, Fif. Do you think you can fix this?" Ben looks at his watch.

"Of course. It's just a regular watch," Fif chuckles.

"It's not just a regular watch, kid," Ben tells him.

"Alright. I'll take a look at this thing in my lab," Fif goes to his lab with Ben's watch.

 Ben stood up from his bed.

"Where are you going?" Autumn turned around to face Ben.

"I need to find my brother, Arlie. We got separated during the sandstorm," Ben recalls.

"You know that the Wastelands is a dangerous place, right?" Autumn said.

"Yup," Ben nods.

"And you're going outside with a not-fully-healed leg," Autumn stated.

"What? I thought I was fine already," Ben exclaims.

"I fixed your bones but healing process could take days...or maybe weeks," Autumn explains.

"I don't care as long as I find Arlie," Ben ignores her warnings.

"We're coming with you," Autumn volunteers to help.

"We can be your guide through the Wastelands," Autumn says.

"We're going somewhere?" An excited Fif asked.

"Yep. We have to help this poor old man," Autumn looks at Ben.

"Poor old man?" Ben furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's pretty accurate during this situation," Fif tells Ben.

Before heading out, Autumn puts a brace around Ben's leg, suppressing the pain. Ben and his newfound allies set out a journey to find Arlie, who at this time was also safe with his newfound ally, the eccentric Leiar.