by Allan Joyal
"How would you know?" the woman hissed at me.
I sighed. "Elizabeth, I never claimed to be some great leader. Back at the start, I merely had an idea that getting out of the clearing might be wise, and my friends followed me, asking others. I didn't even ask you directly, you merely joined when you saw what was going on. Now I'm leading because I continue to try to come up with ideas that help. Honestly, I'm surprised we are all still together. Eddie and William both believe they could do better, but you'll notice they haven't actually tried to suggest anything. You are the same way. I haven't heard you offer anything that can help, so why should you be in charge?"
Elizabeth stared at me for a moment. "I led clubs all through college. I've even been campaign manager for people running for city council positions in New York City. William might scorn me, but he's right that my fees are in the top bracket for all lawyers in New York. That should count for quite a bit."
"Who said it doesn't?" Heather asked as she carelessly swung her axe to chop a vine blocking the path. "I'm sure when we find a town your skills will be valuable and we'll need to listen to you. But for right now, you haven't exactly been helping."
Elizabeth dropped back in the column without replying. Behind us, we could hear some quiet conversations. Most were about the lack of any insects or birds. Eddie could be heard muttering that he was missing coffee and the he needed to rest.
The next two hours or so passed quietly. Once we were across the stream, the path led upwards only a short way before we found a track that followed the curve of the mountain. It was sloped so that we were traveling down the side of the mountain. To our left was the mountain itself. The track followed what might have once been a river valley. The slope up the mountain was relatively mild only for a short distance before sheer cliffs rose up several hundred feet.
"I wonder if the road comes down this valley," William pondered when the cliff first came into view.
Steve took several moments to jog to the left, searching the ground. He returned moments later, shaking his head. "No road. The forest goes up to the base of the cliffs."
William cursed. "So now we are turning away from the road. We're going to starve to death in this wilderness. It's all your fault!"
I continued to walk without saying anything. The trail had widened. At one point, a stream came up to the side of the trail and followed it for at least a city block or more in distance. I had been concentrating on the road ahead and was as surprised as the rest when there was a loud splash followed by a terrified scream from Natalie.
I whirled to see some large tawny furred creature leap out of the stream and slash a claw at Natalie. Her scream became louder and anguished as she collapsed to the ground. Without thought, I pointed the spear at the creature and charged.
The spear point penetrated the creature near the front right shoulder. My terror increased my strength and I was able to push the creature off of Natalie, driving it backwards until the tip of the spear passed through the monster and struck a stone in the streambed. Now it was the monster's turn to howl in agony. His back leg lashed out and I had to quickly walk my hands to the butt of the spear to avoid the seeking claws.
"What is that?" one of the coeds screamed. The creature was now lashing out with all four claws. It was not large, but the thrashing motion kept threatening to tear the spear from my hands and I finally had to put the butt against my chest and lean on it to keep the monster pinned.
"Who cares?" I cried. "Lydia, get that crossbow loaded and shoot it!"
"Shoot it?"
"Yes, before it gets free and attacks someone. I can't pull the spear back without it clawing someone, most likely me. And don't try to get it with the axe unless you can get it in the spine. You'll be under its claws when you swing!" I shouted.
I heard a thud as Lydia put the crossbow on the ground. Grunts could be heard as she and Steve struggled to string it. It seemed an eternity before Lydia shouted, "It's strung. Steve is winding it up."
"Hurry," I roared as a particularly violent twist from the monster threw me to the ground. The spear broke free of the stone and it was my turn to scramble backwards as the monster took advantage of my lack of leverage to try to attack me. His charge was stopped when the butt of the spear ran into a tree, but now it was pushing forward on the shaft, its claws seeking me and drawing closer with every moment.
I struggled to keep the spear butt against the tree while avoiding the creature. The claws were now coming close enough for me to feel the air stir with their passing. Just as I was about to abandon the spear, the crossbow thrummed.
For a moment I thought the shot missed, but then the creature slumped to the ground. I could see no injury until a small trickle of blood from the middle of its back revealed the location of the shot.
"A heart shot again," Steve said quietly. "That makes you two for two Lydia. You are definitely good with it."
"I wasn't aiming for the heart. I didn't even know where the heart was. I thought about shooting it in the head, but when I pulled the trigger the thing jumped forward in my hands again. I keep thinking it's going to recoil and it doesn't," Lydia complained. She marched up to the creature and kicked it, heedless of any danger.
"It might still be alive," I observed as I pushed the body back enough to allow me to remove the spear. It got caught several times. The creature's thrashing had torn skin and fur. The blade kept getting caught as I pulled it back through the body. Once it was free, I wiped it down on the creature's hindquarters where the fur was not covered in blood.
Then I remembered the creature's initial attack. "How's Natalie?"
It was a moment later before I heard Esme's accented voice. "She alive, but that one slash cut her right leg deep. I've managed to put pressure on the artery so she won't die, but we need bandages and if we have it, something to suture these cuts closed."
"Bandages," I replied. "Jennifer, check the pack you are wearing. It has a soft package I didn't look closely at. I put it in last to check it later. I might be some kind of medical kit."
My words galvanized Jennifer and Martha. Martha helped her get the pack off and the duo quickly found the package. Jennifer brought it over by where Natalie lay and opened it. She immediately showed the contents to Esme.
"Praise whatever god rules here. Those are definitely bandages. Nat, I'm going to have to lift your leg. Albert, can you hold her foot? Dusty, come here, I'll need you to take over for me in applying pressure while I do the bandaging and suturing," Esme said.
"Why should you do it?" Eddie asked scornfully.
I was looking around trying to figure out who Dusty was when Lisa Rhodes dashed up to Esme and knelt on the ground. Esme immediately started a whispered discussion with her. Then she pulled her hand away from Natalie's leg and Lisa put her own on Natalie's thigh, leaning forward to put pressure on Natalie's leg. Esme had already started pulling the bandages from the package.
"I was going to graduate with my degree in nursing in two months. I've already passed the LPN test and could take the RN this summer. Somehow I doubt you've had any medical training," she snapped as she pulled the last bandage from the package and discovered a small pouch.
She opened the pouch and poured it out onto the packaging. It contained two small vials of purple liquid, a sealed jar, and needle and thread. She looked over the vials and finally handed one to Jennifer.
"Make Natalie drink this," she snapped. She then worked to thread the needle while examining Natalie's leg more closely.
"Five lines, well, it's not like any Earth based cat I know of, they usually leave only three or four. And that thing was small compared to the lions and tigers I've seen," Esme muttered.
"One might be too much, and what's in the vial?" Steve said quietly.
"Who knows," Esme said as she started to stitch the largest of the slashes together. "But it's in a package of medical supplies so if we're lucky it does Natalie some good. This slash is life-threatening."
"You can save her,"
Lydia said quietly.
"If you don't distract me I can, but Natalie won't be able to walk. We need a litter or other way to move her. Something that will keep her from being bumped around."
After the outburst from Esme, there was silence along the stream, broken occasionally by a moan of pain from Natalie. Everyone seemed to be standing around confused when Heather walked up to me.
"I guess we could stretch a cloak between two branches for a makeshift litter. It won't be much, but it offers something," she said.
"Hey!" Eddie called out. "And we only need one more branch. That spear would be an excellent pole for the litter."
The sound of a hand striking flesh rang out. "Idiot! That spear is the only reason Natalie is alive and perhaps the rest of us too. We don't want it in a litter where it can't be used," Victoria spat out.
I offered Heather a nod and she walked over to Jennifer. The two then walked a short distance away to look at some saplings growing along the streambed. I watched them walk away and then returned my gaze to Natalie.
The young lady was lying with her eyes closed. Albert was still holding her leg up as Esme stitched the torn flesh. The process was slow. Before each pass of the thread, Esme was pulling the flesh together tightly. I could see one wound closed, but the others were still open and oozing blood.
Lisa Rhodes looked worried. "Should we keep the pressure on her leg for this long? I thought it was dangerous to cut off the circulation."
Esme did not look up. "If we used a tourniquet, we would have to worry. What you are doing doesn't completely stop the blood flow. I was about to tell you to relax your hand for a moment. I need to see if these stitches are going to hold."
Albert looked green. "But the other slashes, she might... ."
"And that cat might have a friend. Let's not borrow trouble," Esme snapped. "Oh, can someone bring water for Natalie. She's going to need lots of it to help replenish the fluids her body is losing."
"Who cares," William scoffed. "She's lost a lot of blood and won't be able to walk. I say we abandon her here. She'll only slow the rest of us down."
Once again there was a sound of a hand striking a face. William howled in surprise and pain. "Jerk!" Lisa Little cried out. "She's one of us and we shouldn't abandon her until there truly is no hope. And Esme isn't giving up... Esme, how is she?"
Lisa Rhodes had removed her hand from Natalie's thigh and Esme was watching the cuts closely. I was surprised to see only a small trickle of blood come from the three still-open slashes.
"Better than I expected," Esme mused. "That vial must have contained something to help speed healing. The bleeding is mostly stopped for the moment. We'll still need the litter. This flesh is badly torn and it will be several days before it will be able to tolerate the weight and motion of walking."
Heather walked up and dropped a pair of cut saplings on the ground next to Natalie. "A litter won't take too much more time. We just need to attach a cloak to these poles."
Martha came over to provide one of the larger cloaks. Stretching it out between the two poles took little time. Once that was complete, Heather paused, looking around for a moment.
"Problem?" I asked.
"How can we attach the cloak?" Heather replied with a nod. "We don't exactly have the kind of stuff I'd expect to use."
"Good grief," Elizabeth spat. "I know we have a couple knives, can someone give me one?"
Behind me there was the sound of metal slapping into a hand. Elizabeth strode up to the unassembled litter and then called to Jennifer. "Girl, toss me the leather strap that held the medical package together."
Jennifer complied. Elizabeth then measured out the strap and cut it into four about equal lengths. She set three aside and then tied a knot onto one end of the fourth piece. With that complete, she lifted one end of the litter assembly and pulled the cloak tightly around the pole.
She spent a couple moments making sure it was tight, even asking Heather to hold the ends exactly. Once Heather was holding the ends, Elizabeth used the knife to cut six small holes through the joined sections of the cloak. Before anyone could react, she had threaded her leather strap into the first hole and was weaving it along the pattern she had just made.
"Wow," Heather said awestruck. "I can't believe you knew how to do this."
"More misspent youth," Elizabeth replied as she pulled the thread through the last hole and tied it off. The knot was not tight against the cloak and the whole weave loosened almost immediately, but it looked strong enough for what we needed. "My mother loves weaving and quilting. I never participated, but you learn things from watching. Now let me get the other three corners so we can load Natalie and start moving. I don't want to meet the mate of that monster anytime soon."
There was a chorus of assent from the rest of the group. Martha came over and added her hands to Heather's in pulling the cloak tight as Elizabeth sewed the other corners. She struggled a bit with the neck area of the cloak as it did not have enough fabric to wrap around the pole, but two fewer holes allowed Elizabeth to wrap the strapping around the pole, securing the fabric.
By the time this was done, I turned back to where Natalie lay to find Esme opening the jar and sniffing at the contents. Whatever was in there must not have seemed threatening because she dipped a finger and then smeared the substance along the now sewn slashes.
"Esme?" I cried.
"The vial seemed to help, and I'm hoping this is some kind of wound cream. We don't exactly have a sterile environment here and an infection would probably be deadly."
"But you don't know if it will work."
"No, but it was in the medical pack." By this time, Esme had smeared all five cuts and was resealing the jar. She then began wrapping the leg in the bandaging, making sure it was secure, but not too tight as she wound it over the wounds.
The process was finished at the same time that Heather and Jennifer laid the now finished litter on the ground next to Natalie. "It works," Heather said. "We even carried Elizabeth in it to make sure it wasn't going to fall apart. But it's not exactly light."
I nodded. "We'll have to rotate who is carrying it fairly often. That will slow us down. Steve, do you want to take it first?"
Albert spoke up. "I can do it with him to start. We should really move far from here before we rest. I'm sure the smell of blood will be attracting predators soon."
The two men carefully gathered up Natalie and lifted her into the litter. Then with Steve at the front and Albert at the rear, they lifted the litter into the air. Both men grunted with the initial effort, but then smiled.
"She ain't heavy," Steve said.
"But she ain't no brother of mine," Albert said, causing the other coeds to giggle.
With Natalie's litter lifted, I resumed leading the group along the trail. It meandered along the stream as we continued to make progress through the unknown land.
The others did not spread out as much as before. Lydia and Esme had changed partners and were now walking together just to the left of the litter. Esme checked Natalie often while Lydia scanned all around, the unstrung crossbow in her arms. Eddie and William now were the last in the group, but they stayed close to the litter.
Heather had started to drift back occasionally. She would allow the entire group to pass her and then would circle around to catch back up to me.
The others clustered in the gap between the litter and me. Usually they hung near the lead litter bearer, offering support and encouragement. This left me alone to scan the forest for movement. Progress slowed, but everyone's spirits seemed to pick up once the site of the attack vanished behind us.
I had noticed a possible split in the path ahead and jogged forward several yards to look down each one. I had decided to turn left so we remained close to the cliffs. I waved back to the others and pointed down the path just before I resumed walking. As I was turning to walk, I noticed Lisa Rhodes trotting up to me.
She fell into step next to me. "Dusty?" I asked.
The
coed blushed slightly, her pale skin darkening as she ducked her head. "The others decided that. With two girls named Lisa it was going to be confusing. I admitted that in high school my mother allowed me to dye my hair blond and that some of my friends gave me the nickname 'Ditzy' after that. Of course it didn't take long for several of the boys to change that to "Dusty".
I nodded. "Dusty Rhodes. I've heard of parents who torture their kids with names like that."
She giggled. "Well, it wasn't much of a torture for me. And no one ever called me that in front of my parents. They'd use it to talk about me though. If they wanted to talk about something my mother wouldn't have approved of."
I just nodded silently. The path we were now following had entered what seemed like a tunnel created by trees and vines. About ten yards away to the left and right was a wall of tree trunks and vines which stretched upwards a bit higher than the ceiling in most homes. From that, branches and leaves covered the path, leaving a shadowy world underneath. It was dim and spooky, but I saw no movement ahead.
"I was going to ask," Dusty spoke. "Was that monster that attacked Natalie what we ate last night? I think I remember someone saying something about a deer, but then Jennifer and Natalie were setting up a fire pit so I never looked at it."
"No, back on Earth I hear that the meat of most carnivores isn't all that tasty. Something about a high protein diet giving the meat a gamy flavor. Last night Lydia was experimenting with the crossbow and hit some grazer that came down to the stream. It looked a bit like a deer. I couldn't say it was one though," I replied. Behind me, I could hear the quiet whispers of other conversations, but otherwise the area under the canopy was silent.
"We really ate Bambi?" Dusty asked. I looked over to see that she had covered her mouth with her left hand.
"It was meat, and Lydia's shot had killed it. After that, it just played its role in the circle of life to keep us alive."
Dusty thought about that in silence. Ahead, sunlight was striking the ground. It appeared the forested tunnel was about to come to an end. I could see several large flat stones. I raised my spear to point while looking back at the group. "I see a good spot to rest just ahead. Once we get there, we can see what foods we have in the packs."
