Where Winter Meets Summer (Rusame Countryhumans)

Diamond Eyes: THREE

"HEY WHO ARE YOU?! Where did you come from?!"
Three brutes came sauntering down the path with tattoos covering them from head to toe. They looked agitated and I knew that I had just stepped into turbulent waters.

"Well, punk? Who's side are you on?"

"I- I'm on no one's side," I stated as I watched their scowls deepen. They clearly didn't like that answer.

"Well it's either you're on our side or not," the biggest one declared as he folded his massive, beefy arms, "You have a lot of nerve coming onto our turf, uninvited."

At this point, I had backed up all the way to the wall behind me. There was nowhere left to go. A stinging pain ran up my arm, and sure enough, scrawling tattoos crawled up my skin. I grit my teeth in pain as I tried my best to not let it show. Now I understood what was happening to me. Gang activity had ravaged the streets to the point where it could affect my physical form.

"Hey stop daydreaming," one of them spat as they grabbed me by the collar, "Do you know what happens to people who trespass?"

Nothing good, that's for sure. My eyes narrowed as I weighed my options and decided on my next move. I didn't have to worry about being harmed but would it be wise to retaliate? I wasn't exactly looking to get entangled in this gang nonsense but I wasn't about to be humiliated by my own people.

"This is stupid," I muttered to myself as I was about to command them to fuck off.* But before I could do that, one of them noticed the tattoos that had appeared on my skin and stopped the others. They glanced at it and huffed, annoyed.

"Bro, quit playing with us! Next time, just say you're with us," they complained as they wacked me almost playfully on the shoulder, "Watch your ass out there or the cops'll get ya!"

I stood there, watching the three of them waddle out of view, unsure of what the heck just happened. I glanced at the tattoos and frowned to myself, making a mental note to get rid of them once I was out of this area. It seemed to be a feature associated with them. And the fact that they were warning me about the police... I guess there was some effort to control them at least.

*(countryhumans have absolute command over everyone who is regarded as one of their people. Humans must follow everything formal command they give)

That was my first day of summer vacation and for the next few months, I would have many more, less fortunate run-ins with the violent bunch. Slowly I began to adapt to my role on Earth. Though I technically was the greatest authority in the area, I stuck to my cover as a nobody but doing so, I was able to get the full picture of the effects.

People only went where others went, fearing the downtown areas where crimson rivers ran through the streets. The sounds of gunshots only grew more frequent as the summer stretched from July to August. The situation did not get any better so I applied for an extension to the end of the summer. It was granted.

Fear was nothing but abundant, creating a stifling atmosphere of dread from morning to night. The police came in full force one evening and it looked like they were going to war. That night and almost every night after that, the sounds of gunfire never seemed to cease. A sweeping cascade of destruction was centered around those hellish streets and corpses on both sides piled high. It was truly a living nightmare, especially since my body was physically affected by the events.

Splitting headaches, wracked my brain as the tattoos clawed up my face like thorn branches. My mood swings became so drastic that one moment I would be conversing and laughing with the locals and the next, I would be smashing windows and flipping tables in fury. The struggle between the two sides had basically split me in two.