Post by J.Hollick on Dec 4, 2013 12:54:20 GMT -9
“We should light a fire.”
“No.”
“We need to light a fire.”
“You know as well as I it’s just as likely to bring more to us as it is to scare them away.”
“He’s freezing.”
“It’s the fever.”
“We have to do something!”
“You’re right.”
Against the moonlight trickling down through the trees the hunting knife appeared, scraping quietly against the sheath. The air was still, almost as if even mother nature herself was holding her breath.
“No.” Cherry’s hand came out quickly, pushing the blade back down, hiding it from the wandering eyes of Tom as he groaned on the ground, a thick sheen of sweat coating his face. He rolled side to side slightly as his whole body was wracked with pain and discomfort.
“Then you do it,” Jane’s voice spat venom as her patience finally wore out, “We have to get moving. Get to safety. Elizabeth is waiting.”
“Maybe it’s not too late to amputate?” There was hope in her voice that had no right to be there and Jane was quick cut it out.
“It was too late for him an hour ago when you had me dragging him through the trees away from those bloody things. Give him a quick death, that’s what you wanted so do it.” She pulled the blade back out from its sheath, flipped it quickly so the blade was in her palm and thrust the handle to Cherry. Cherry took it with shakings hands.
This is what love does to you. Makes you hesitate, makes you weak.
Cherry knelt over Tom’s writhing form, great fat tears dropping down her cheeks. Jane could almost hear them sizzle as they hit his burning skin. Slowly Cherry brought the knife closer but her whole body was sobbing now, loud bursts escaping through her lips.
“Shh. Shut up.” Jane spun around, eyes searching the darkness as she loosened her second hunting knife. She strained her ears against the silence of the forest. She heard shuffling somewhere but couldn’t pin point it.
“I…I can’t.” Cherry managed to cry out between sobs as she fell to her knees. Jane snatched the knife away just as a black form came from between the trees.
Blood rushed out from its jaw where Jane plunged her knife. The decayed flesh parted easily, the familiar stench of rot filled the air as it fell to its knees and Jane jerked the knife back out.
Time to finish this.
Cherry was still crying over Tom’s body but Tom had gone still, dead.
“Fuuuuck.” Jane dragged the word out as her eyes rolled, halfway between boredom and anger. Tom’s eyes were opening again, glazed over and pupils wide. It happened quickly, Jane didn’t know if she would have been bothered to react had she had time. Tom’s hands clamped down around Cherry in a large bear hug, squeezing her close as his teeth found the flesh near the shoulder and bit deep. There was more shuffling coming in the distance as Cherry screamed. Jane jumped down, her blade sinking in up under the chin, Cherry was silenced immediately but at least spared the pain of transformation.
Useless.
Jerking the blade from beneath her jaw she stabbed Tom in the eye. The two lay still, one on top of the other. Figures moved in the darkness, coming closer. We got too close to the city. Fuck.
Jane grabbed the handful of arrows from Cherry’s quiver and added them to her own. There was no time to search them for anything useful, the dark was a dangerous place. She stole her blade back, wiping the other on her pant leg she sheathed her hunting knives and began a slow jog off into the darkness, following the northern star that she glimpsed occasionally through the canopy.
The clearing was dark, clouds were gliding softly over the moon, filtering the light and eventually shutting it out. It was cold out, Jane’s breath was seen in the air as she panted, climbing the last few feet up the steep hill. Keep moving. They can’t catch you if you keep moving.
Her eyes searched the darkness, she was close to the meeting place but it was hard to tell distinct features, to find land marks. She slowed, catching her breath as she searched the trees for danger and anything familiar. She unsheathed her dagger, ears straining, hearing sounds where there were none. She spun slowly, carefully setting her feet down, careful not to stumble or trip. She crossed the clearing, still attempting to catch her breath. Find the brook, find the brook and you’re safe.
A whistle sounded, low and long. Jane froze, eyes searching amongst the shadows. The clouds covering the moon were beginning to drift off, allowing a sliver of silver to peek through.
Elizabeth landed with a small thud from her resting place on the branch.
“Where’s Tom and Cherry.”
“I told you they were a waste of time.”
“What happened?” Elizabeth’s hand touched her daughter’s bloody face gently, pulling the dark, thick strands of hair from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear.
“Tom got bit. Attacked Cherry. She saw it coming and did nothing.” Jane was angry, angry at the stupidity, “We could have used them. So much to do.” Jane no longer got upset about the death of friends, only angry at the inconvenience.
“I know honey.”
“Ok. They followed me though. I’m no more than fifteen minutes ahead I would say.”
“It’s fine. We can deal with them in the morning. Let’s go.” Jane nodded and together they picked up into a jog and headed into the trees, following the familiar game trail that weaved through the trees. Jane didn’t let her guard down as they reached the brook that marked them close to home.
They splashed across and followed it upstream. Elizabeth waited at the bottom of the tree, breathing hard. Jane scrambled up onto the first two branches until she reached the board nailed in. The climb got easier then as she scrambled up the small two by fours nailed into the tree as a ladder. She lifted the trap door. Elizabeth was right behind her and Jane turned to grab her mom’s hand to help her up. They shut the trap door and slid a board into the brackets to lock it.
The tree fort was modest, a window on each wall with a shutter. Almost square but not quite. Nailed to trees on all four corners. An old battered and stained mattress was up a small set of stairs in a loft area. The main floor held a small round table and a couple chairs, the rest of the floor was storage space. Shelves covered the walls filled with an assortment of canned food and tools, spare blankets for winter, tarps.
“Are you hungry?” Elizabeth was on the far wall, peering through a hole in the closed shutter.
“No. I just want sleep.” Jane was looking through the opposite window, off into the distance from where they had come. Hopefully their trail would be lost and they would not wake up to a mob at the base of their fort.
Jane opened her backpack and dumped the contents onto the floor for sorting.
“A decent find.” Elizabeth gave up her watching and began to add the canned food to the shelves. Jane pulled out a few packets of potato seeds.
“Look.” She tossed a pack up. Elizabeth smiled, her white teeth a stark contrast to her dirt stained face.
“Brilliant. This is brilliant. We find a good spot to plant these and we’ll be set.” It was an overstatement but still one of the best finds of the summer. Jane began to peel her blood soaked shirt from her skin. Opening the shutter quietly she hung her shirt on the line. Unbuckling her belt she laid it carefully down onto the table. Her bow and quiver found their hooks on the wall. With her belt off her pants, too large for her small starved frame, had to be held up with one hand. She let them drop and tossed them into a corner. She climbed the stairs wearily up into the loft which was taken up entirely by the bed. She crawled underneath a couple blankets and closed her eyes as Elizabeth continued to slowly put things away.
“You let me sleep all night.” Jane came down the stairs still groggy. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and found her pants.
“We lucked out. Wherever they are, they didn’t follow us.”
“Just means they’re out there somewhere, wandering, searching.” Jane found another shirt out of a pile, not much better than the one she had worn before.
“We’ll prepare the field today. Plant the potatoes.”
Jane had her belt on the table, unsheathing a knife she dug another hole through the leather. She could feel her mother’s eyes on her, knew it pained her to watch her daughter wither away. But they were both withering away and there was no time for pity or regret. Jane cinched up her belt and threw open the shutters.
“Ready?”
Elizabeth nodded and gave a high shrill whistle. Sitting on opposite ends of the fort they waited. A second whistle brought them. Only two, they were lucky. Jane tried to recognize them from the throng that had chased them from Willam but after a while they all looked the same.
“Over here.” Jane was already drawing back. She pulled the string to her chin, exhaled and released her fingers. Her arrow sliced through the air with a swish, straight into the head of one. Elizabeth was already there, drawing back. The second one fell. A third whistle and the minutes ticked by but nothing appeared.
The board slid across the floor and Elizabeth lifted the trap door open. The two of them descended and waited on the last branch. A fourth whistle and wait before they jumped to the ground and headed for the fields, a shovel swung over Elizabeth’s shoulder. Jane pulled the arrows from the bodies before catching up with her mother.
The hike to the field was short, following the brook further upstream they broke through the tree line. The grass was green, the sun bright. They hiked a safe distance from the trees before Elizabeth put the shovel to the dirt. Jane nocked an arrow and stood on a slight rise, keeping her eyes moving, looking for any sign of movement.
The day was hot and the work was hard. Jane switched out her mother and began to dig. They were almost ready to begin planting when Jane saw her mother’s stance stiffen. Jane crouched among the dug beds and found her bow. Elizabeth was already backing slowly down the rise towards her daughter.
They slowly began to make their way towards the tree line near the brook when an arrow thudded into the ground near their feet.
“Put your weapons down.” The voice was commanding, low and gruff. Jane cast a sideways glance at her mother. What do we do?
Elizabeth shook her head, lowered her bow. Jane dropped her bow on the ground and started to turn.
“Stop. Don’t move. Just stay where ya are and we won’t have to put an arrow through you.”
Jane waited, trying to count the number of people behind her, to judge if they could put up a fight. Four, five, maybe more?
The day went dark as a burlap sack covered her head, her arms were grabbed and pinned to her side. She felt cold metal against her skin as manacles were locked around her wrists.
“Move.” A hand pushed hard into her back and Jane stumbled forward.
Together they were marched across the field, stumbling over every rock and dip. They entered the shade of the forest on the other side, the hand that was constantly pushing her when she slowed pushed her again. Jane stopped, pushed back and threw her head back into her captor. She felt contact, stars shot across the blackness of the burlap sack and Jane began to run. She stumbled forward two steps before something hard and metal slammed into the back of her head. The world disappeared in a burst of light as Jane sunk onto her knees and fell face first into the moss covered ground.
“No.”
“We need to light a fire.”
“You know as well as I it’s just as likely to bring more to us as it is to scare them away.”
“He’s freezing.”
“It’s the fever.”
“We have to do something!”
“You’re right.”
Against the moonlight trickling down through the trees the hunting knife appeared, scraping quietly against the sheath. The air was still, almost as if even mother nature herself was holding her breath.
“No.” Cherry’s hand came out quickly, pushing the blade back down, hiding it from the wandering eyes of Tom as he groaned on the ground, a thick sheen of sweat coating his face. He rolled side to side slightly as his whole body was wracked with pain and discomfort.
“Then you do it,” Jane’s voice spat venom as her patience finally wore out, “We have to get moving. Get to safety. Elizabeth is waiting.”
“Maybe it’s not too late to amputate?” There was hope in her voice that had no right to be there and Jane was quick cut it out.
“It was too late for him an hour ago when you had me dragging him through the trees away from those bloody things. Give him a quick death, that’s what you wanted so do it.” She pulled the blade back out from its sheath, flipped it quickly so the blade was in her palm and thrust the handle to Cherry. Cherry took it with shakings hands.
This is what love does to you. Makes you hesitate, makes you weak.
Cherry knelt over Tom’s writhing form, great fat tears dropping down her cheeks. Jane could almost hear them sizzle as they hit his burning skin. Slowly Cherry brought the knife closer but her whole body was sobbing now, loud bursts escaping through her lips.
“Shh. Shut up.” Jane spun around, eyes searching the darkness as she loosened her second hunting knife. She strained her ears against the silence of the forest. She heard shuffling somewhere but couldn’t pin point it.
“I…I can’t.” Cherry managed to cry out between sobs as she fell to her knees. Jane snatched the knife away just as a black form came from between the trees.
Blood rushed out from its jaw where Jane plunged her knife. The decayed flesh parted easily, the familiar stench of rot filled the air as it fell to its knees and Jane jerked the knife back out.
Time to finish this.
Cherry was still crying over Tom’s body but Tom had gone still, dead.
“Fuuuuck.” Jane dragged the word out as her eyes rolled, halfway between boredom and anger. Tom’s eyes were opening again, glazed over and pupils wide. It happened quickly, Jane didn’t know if she would have been bothered to react had she had time. Tom’s hands clamped down around Cherry in a large bear hug, squeezing her close as his teeth found the flesh near the shoulder and bit deep. There was more shuffling coming in the distance as Cherry screamed. Jane jumped down, her blade sinking in up under the chin, Cherry was silenced immediately but at least spared the pain of transformation.
Useless.
Jerking the blade from beneath her jaw she stabbed Tom in the eye. The two lay still, one on top of the other. Figures moved in the darkness, coming closer. We got too close to the city. Fuck.
Jane grabbed the handful of arrows from Cherry’s quiver and added them to her own. There was no time to search them for anything useful, the dark was a dangerous place. She stole her blade back, wiping the other on her pant leg she sheathed her hunting knives and began a slow jog off into the darkness, following the northern star that she glimpsed occasionally through the canopy.
The clearing was dark, clouds were gliding softly over the moon, filtering the light and eventually shutting it out. It was cold out, Jane’s breath was seen in the air as she panted, climbing the last few feet up the steep hill. Keep moving. They can’t catch you if you keep moving.
Her eyes searched the darkness, she was close to the meeting place but it was hard to tell distinct features, to find land marks. She slowed, catching her breath as she searched the trees for danger and anything familiar. She unsheathed her dagger, ears straining, hearing sounds where there were none. She spun slowly, carefully setting her feet down, careful not to stumble or trip. She crossed the clearing, still attempting to catch her breath. Find the brook, find the brook and you’re safe.
A whistle sounded, low and long. Jane froze, eyes searching amongst the shadows. The clouds covering the moon were beginning to drift off, allowing a sliver of silver to peek through.
Elizabeth landed with a small thud from her resting place on the branch.
“Where’s Tom and Cherry.”
“I told you they were a waste of time.”
“What happened?” Elizabeth’s hand touched her daughter’s bloody face gently, pulling the dark, thick strands of hair from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear.
“Tom got bit. Attacked Cherry. She saw it coming and did nothing.” Jane was angry, angry at the stupidity, “We could have used them. So much to do.” Jane no longer got upset about the death of friends, only angry at the inconvenience.
“I know honey.”
“Ok. They followed me though. I’m no more than fifteen minutes ahead I would say.”
“It’s fine. We can deal with them in the morning. Let’s go.” Jane nodded and together they picked up into a jog and headed into the trees, following the familiar game trail that weaved through the trees. Jane didn’t let her guard down as they reached the brook that marked them close to home.
They splashed across and followed it upstream. Elizabeth waited at the bottom of the tree, breathing hard. Jane scrambled up onto the first two branches until she reached the board nailed in. The climb got easier then as she scrambled up the small two by fours nailed into the tree as a ladder. She lifted the trap door. Elizabeth was right behind her and Jane turned to grab her mom’s hand to help her up. They shut the trap door and slid a board into the brackets to lock it.
The tree fort was modest, a window on each wall with a shutter. Almost square but not quite. Nailed to trees on all four corners. An old battered and stained mattress was up a small set of stairs in a loft area. The main floor held a small round table and a couple chairs, the rest of the floor was storage space. Shelves covered the walls filled with an assortment of canned food and tools, spare blankets for winter, tarps.
“Are you hungry?” Elizabeth was on the far wall, peering through a hole in the closed shutter.
“No. I just want sleep.” Jane was looking through the opposite window, off into the distance from where they had come. Hopefully their trail would be lost and they would not wake up to a mob at the base of their fort.
Jane opened her backpack and dumped the contents onto the floor for sorting.
“A decent find.” Elizabeth gave up her watching and began to add the canned food to the shelves. Jane pulled out a few packets of potato seeds.
“Look.” She tossed a pack up. Elizabeth smiled, her white teeth a stark contrast to her dirt stained face.
“Brilliant. This is brilliant. We find a good spot to plant these and we’ll be set.” It was an overstatement but still one of the best finds of the summer. Jane began to peel her blood soaked shirt from her skin. Opening the shutter quietly she hung her shirt on the line. Unbuckling her belt she laid it carefully down onto the table. Her bow and quiver found their hooks on the wall. With her belt off her pants, too large for her small starved frame, had to be held up with one hand. She let them drop and tossed them into a corner. She climbed the stairs wearily up into the loft which was taken up entirely by the bed. She crawled underneath a couple blankets and closed her eyes as Elizabeth continued to slowly put things away.
“You let me sleep all night.” Jane came down the stairs still groggy. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and found her pants.
“We lucked out. Wherever they are, they didn’t follow us.”
“Just means they’re out there somewhere, wandering, searching.” Jane found another shirt out of a pile, not much better than the one she had worn before.
“We’ll prepare the field today. Plant the potatoes.”
Jane had her belt on the table, unsheathing a knife she dug another hole through the leather. She could feel her mother’s eyes on her, knew it pained her to watch her daughter wither away. But they were both withering away and there was no time for pity or regret. Jane cinched up her belt and threw open the shutters.
“Ready?”
Elizabeth nodded and gave a high shrill whistle. Sitting on opposite ends of the fort they waited. A second whistle brought them. Only two, they were lucky. Jane tried to recognize them from the throng that had chased them from Willam but after a while they all looked the same.
“Over here.” Jane was already drawing back. She pulled the string to her chin, exhaled and released her fingers. Her arrow sliced through the air with a swish, straight into the head of one. Elizabeth was already there, drawing back. The second one fell. A third whistle and the minutes ticked by but nothing appeared.
The board slid across the floor and Elizabeth lifted the trap door open. The two of them descended and waited on the last branch. A fourth whistle and wait before they jumped to the ground and headed for the fields, a shovel swung over Elizabeth’s shoulder. Jane pulled the arrows from the bodies before catching up with her mother.
The hike to the field was short, following the brook further upstream they broke through the tree line. The grass was green, the sun bright. They hiked a safe distance from the trees before Elizabeth put the shovel to the dirt. Jane nocked an arrow and stood on a slight rise, keeping her eyes moving, looking for any sign of movement.
The day was hot and the work was hard. Jane switched out her mother and began to dig. They were almost ready to begin planting when Jane saw her mother’s stance stiffen. Jane crouched among the dug beds and found her bow. Elizabeth was already backing slowly down the rise towards her daughter.
They slowly began to make their way towards the tree line near the brook when an arrow thudded into the ground near their feet.
“Put your weapons down.” The voice was commanding, low and gruff. Jane cast a sideways glance at her mother. What do we do?
Elizabeth shook her head, lowered her bow. Jane dropped her bow on the ground and started to turn.
“Stop. Don’t move. Just stay where ya are and we won’t have to put an arrow through you.”
Jane waited, trying to count the number of people behind her, to judge if they could put up a fight. Four, five, maybe more?
The day went dark as a burlap sack covered her head, her arms were grabbed and pinned to her side. She felt cold metal against her skin as manacles were locked around her wrists.
“Move.” A hand pushed hard into her back and Jane stumbled forward.
Together they were marched across the field, stumbling over every rock and dip. They entered the shade of the forest on the other side, the hand that was constantly pushing her when she slowed pushed her again. Jane stopped, pushed back and threw her head back into her captor. She felt contact, stars shot across the blackness of the burlap sack and Jane began to run. She stumbled forward two steps before something hard and metal slammed into the back of her head. The world disappeared in a burst of light as Jane sunk onto her knees and fell face first into the moss covered ground.
