by E S Richards
E S Richards
Zahyra
A Novella in The Generation Series
Copyright © E S Richards, 2018
All rights reserved
1st edition
Ebook design by Papeair
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the copyright owner.
Table of contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 1
Zahyra stretched her right arm up above her head as high as she could. The fabric of her sweater caught against some of the rougher tree branches but she tugged it off and wrapped her hand around one of the firmer ones. Pulling herself up into the tree she felt for more branches with her feet, wriggling around inch by inch until she could stand up straight.
From her position about ten metres up Zahyra could make out the furthest walls of her camp in the distance. People were milling around, washing clothes, cooking food or just making conversation. Squinting her eyes she tried to make out some faces, but was too far into the nearby forest to recognise anyone exactly.
“Zahyra, I can’t get up!”
Her little brother’s whine brought Zahyra’s attention back to where she was. Looking down through the branches she spotted Asher scrambling around at the base of the tree she had climbed. The two of them had been playing in the trees for most of the morning; hiding from one another and seeing who could climb the highest.
Zahyra always won that contest. Being six years older than her younger brother she was able to scale to the top of trees he couldn’t even reach the bottom branches of – much like the one she found herself in now.
“Hold on Ash, I’m coming down!”
Manoeuvring herself downwards Zahyra cast one last glance at the incredible view she had over her camp. She loved climbing trees, both for the freedom and the rush of adrenaline but mostly to see the view from the top of them. She had always wondered about the outside world beyond the two walls of her camp. She knew the world eventually turned to desert on the other side, but a part of her also knew there had to be something else out there.
Of course, there were other camps and settlements, some of which Zahyra had probably lived in before. When her father had still been around – and before Asher was born – Zahyra vaguely remembered moving camps several times. She had been less than five years old though, even younger than her brother was now and so the memories were small and misshapen to her.
Instead what Zahyra believed she remembered from that time she realised now was probably something her mind had made up. All she could know for sure was that the camps would have been similar to where she currently lived. Peaceful settlements where groups of lower ranked mutants like herself could gather together without the danger and the threat that the advanced mutants posed.
She had heard countless stories about how dangerous the advanced mutants could be – especially those ranked as Generation 4 or 5 – but having never come close to one before she often found it difficult to imagine what their lives might be like.
“Hurry up Zar!”
Her little brother’s voice floated up through the branches to Zahyra again and she realised she had stopped climbing while her mind was wandering. It was quite a common thing for Zahyra, to simply zone out and become lost in her thoughts. Shaking her head she rolled her eyes at herself and scurried down the rest of the tree to the forest floor.
“Hey little man,” Zahyra smiled and she straightened up in front of her brother. “Shall we find a different tree to climb? One where you can see the view from the top?”
Asher nodded eagerly and gripped Zahyra’s hand, leading her towards a tree he had obviously already selected. For an eight-year-old, Asher was still fairly small compared to the other children his age. However what he lacked in size he more than made up for in brains.
Whenever he wasn’t with Zahyra or their mother, he could always be found trailing after one of the camp elders, asking questions about The Before Time. Zahyra, like everyone, was interested in what the world had been like before the nuclear disaster that destroyed the planet and started causing the mutations, but Asher seemed to have a special interest in it.
He was always asking questions about how the different generations of mutations had developed, it now being extremely rare that anyone was born without some sort of mutation. With his Turning Age Ceremony – the day he would discover his generation ranking – now less than two years away, his questions had become more and more frequent.
Zahyra herself preferred not to think about The Before Time so much. She knew that over one hundred years had passed since the nuclear destruction of the world and she knew from the stories she had heard that the world she lived in was nothing like what it had once been.
She understood how the generation rankings worked as well: those born shortly after the nuclear disaster exhibited small mutations like night vision, or an advanced sense of smell or taste. With each generation after the mutations became more severe due to selective breeding in the early days. Zahyra now heard that the most powerful Gen 4 and 5 mutations possessed extremely aggressive and volatile mutations; like the ability to create fire or somehow control others around them.
Almost everyone now developed a mutation and their generation ranking was revealed at their Turning Age Ceremony – on the day of their tenth birthday. Their ranking number was then burnt into their upper right arm; forever to be known to anyone and everyone they met. Due to Asher’s interest in The Before Time Zahyra could understand why he was excited for his Turning Age Ceremony to come around, but thinking back to her own was not something that she liked to do often.
“Zahyra!” Asher whined again now from the base of a different tree ahead of her. “Help me get up please.”
Shaking her head at her daydreams again Zahyra strode forward, picking up her little brother with a laugh and hoisting him onto the lowest branch of the tree. “I’ll race you,” she said with a smile as Asher grabbed firmly onto the trunk of the tree and gazed upwards.
Her brother paused for a moment, his eyes working frantically over the branches above him, scanning for a route towards the top. “Okay,” he spoke without looking back down, “but you’ll have to catch me first.”
Zahyra laughed as Asher started scrambling upwards through the tree, trying to put some distance between the two of them. She waited a few more seconds to give him a bit more of a head start and then pulled herself upwards, following in her younger brother’s path.
As the wind rushed through her hair and the scent of bark filled her nostrils Zahyra couldn’t help but smile. She quickly closed down the gap between her and Asher as she climbed, her taller and stronger frame allowing her more reach amongst the branches.
“I’m coming for you!” She called after her brother who squealed in response and tried to climb faster, casting a precautionary glance over his shoulder to check on Zahyra’s progress. She came within reaching distance of Asher but stopped herself from climbing any quicker, seeing the joy on her younger brother’s face as he pulled away from her.
“Alright!” She laughed as Asher finally stopped about a meter above her and sat down steadily on a branch. “You’ve beaten me, you win.”
Asher smiled down from above and swung his legs back and forth as they dangled above the forest floor. Both of them were panting for breath from the climb but Zahyra’s tiredness was quickly overcome as she looked out into the distance at the view before her. Facing the opposite way to before she was no longer looking over her camp, instead the expanse of the forest stretched out in front of her, eventually ending agai
nst a sheer mountain face.
“Do you think there are advanced mutants out there?”
Asher’s question caught Zahyra off guard and she paused for a moment. “Probably,” she nodded. “But we’re safe here Ash, you don’t have to worry about advanced mutants.”
“What if I’m an advanced mutant?” Asher continued curiously. “What if I’m a Gen 4 or 5 on my Turning Age Ceremony?”
“You won’t be Ash,” Zahyra turned to look at her little brother. She knew he was just asking questions in order to learn more, but she didn’t like to hear him worry about what his ranking would be.
“When did you find out what your mutation was?”
Zahyra winced. She hated talking about the story of her mutation, but knew it was necessary to reassure Asher. “Not until a few weeks before my Turning Age Ceremony.”
“And how many colours can you see?”
Zahyra paused. The truth was she didn’t carry any kind of mutation. She was one of the rare few left in the world who could actually still be described as ‘people’. However, to be without a mutation – to be a Zero – in the new world was very dangerous. Zero’s were hunted and killed by the more advanced mutants. Even living in a camp of lesser developed mutants Zahyra didn’t know of any other Zero’s. Her mother helped her keep the truth hidden, aiding her with a fake Gen 1 branding on her tenth birthday. Even Asher didn’t know Zahyra’s secret and so she told him she could see a wider spectrum of colours than everyone else, making up stories to keep him entertained when his own mind started to ask the more worrying questions.
“Thousands.” Zahyra eventually replied. “It’s impossible to describe them to you Asher, but it’s beautiful.”
“I wish I could see more colours,” Asher sighed, gazing out over the forest.
“Maybe on your tenth birthday you will,” Zahyra shrugged. “There’s no way of knowing what mutation you’ll end up with.”
“I know,” Asher nodded his head. “I hope I get it soon though.”
Zahyra bit her lip. She hoped for nothing more than Asher displaying some level of mutation soon. The last thing she wanted was for him to end up a Zero like her. Living in fear was something she could deal with if it was only for her own life, but if Asher was a Zero too she didn’t know how she could protect the both of them.
“I’m sure you will bud,” Zahyra spoke confidently as she shuffled around on her branch and began to climb out of the tree again. “Coming down?”
As they climbed down the tree quietly Zahyra couldn’t help but worry about her brother. It was a side effect of his intelligence that he was constantly asking questions, but his curiosity could be dangerous if he started asking the wrong ones – or the ones she didn’t have answers to. The camp that they lived in was sheltered and Zahyra knew that sooner or later Asher would want to explore more of the outside world. A big part of Zahyra wanted to do that too, but her secret Zero status reminded her that she needed to stay hidden. For a girl like her meeting an advanced mutant could only result in bad things, even with the small protection her fake Gen 1 branding offered her.
“Zahyra! Stop!”
Asher’s voice startled Zahyra as she blinked and looked up at her brother. She had been daydreaming again as she climbed down and hadn’t been focusing on her surroundings, the act of climbing trees second nature to her by now. However she quickly registered the terror in her brother’s voice and heard a faint growl coming from beneath her. Twisting her head she looked down to the forest floor which was now no more than a few metres below her. Poised and waiting patiently at the bottom she saw a large wild dog, the angry growl seething from it.
In an instant Zahyra scrambled back up the tree slightly, pulling herself onto the branch where Asher was sitting.
“What do we do?” Asher whispered in her ear, neither of them taking their eyes off the large dog, which was now pacing back and forth at the base of the tree.
“I don’t know,” Zahyra muttered, her brain racing to think of an idea. She had seen wild dogs before, but only ever in the distance and mostly running in packs. In those times it had been easy enough to simply back away before she was noticed but this time that certainly wasn’t an option.
“I think there’s only one of them,” Asher whispered again beside her and Zahyra looked away from the dog for a second to see her brother gazing into the nearby trees.
“They normally hunt in packs, Ash,” Zahyra also spoke quietly. “The others are probably hidden somewhere amongst the trees.”
“I don’t think so,” Asher shook his head confidently. “I think this one’s alone. We should try and scare it off.”
“Asher we can’t –”
Before Zahyra could finish her sentence Asher had started shouting beside her, screaming at the wild dog and throwing twigs down from the tree. Zahyra tried to calm her brother down as the wild dog stood up on its hind legs and started clawing at the tree trunk with its front. The growl in its throat deepening and growing in volume.
“Asher, you’re just making it angry!”
“No! We have to scare it away!”
Asher started reaching around for more branches he could snap off and throw down at the dog, still shouting loudly and waving his arms around.
“Come on Zar,” he paused for a second and looked at his sister. “We can’t stay up here forever.”
Zahyra gritted her teeth and looked from her brother down to the wild dog then back to Asher again, who had already started shouting once more. Sighing she realised she knew he was right. Asher was a very clever boy and while she didn’t have any other ideas herself she knew it was probably best to go along with him. Besides; her joining in with the shouting couldn’t possibly make the situation worse.
“It’s working,” Asher grinned after a couple of minutes of the two of them shouting. “Look it’s not clawing at the tree anymore!”
“Well then let’s keep going!”
The noise of their combined shouts soon filled the forest, drowning out the growling that came from the wild dog. Zahyra snapped smaller branches and bits of bark from the tree they were stuck in and threw them down at the animal, watching it slowly begin to withdraw from the area.
“We should climb down and make a run for it,” Zahyra urged to Asher as the wild dog finally turned away from them and began walking into the darker trees. “It could be going back to get its pack and it’s going to get dark soon.”
“Okay,” Asher nodded and allowed Zahyra to start climbing down first, both of them still shouting occasionally and looking in the direction the wild dog was moving.
As soon as Zahyra’s boots touched the ground she spun around and looked into the surrounding forest, her eyes searching for any sign of movement. It was times like this when she really wished she did have advanced vision, even just to see the different colours of the dogs’ fur. A minute later Asher landed with a thump on the ground next to her, having fallen the last few metres from the tree.
“Are you alright?” Zahyra bent down and picked him up, one eye still trained for the dog to return.
“I’m fine,” Asher brushed himself off. “Let’s get back to camp.”
“Agreed.” Zahyra began pushing her brother forward. “Let’s run.”
Chapter 2
As Zahyra and Asher finally slowed to a walk upon nearing the boundary of their camp, Zahyra couldn’t help but notice the massive grin on her younger brother’s face. Thinking about what they had just done she realised it was pretty incredible.
Their camp had often suffered fatalities from wild dogs wandering in and picking off those who found themselves unprotected by the treeline. The adrenaline coursing through Zahyra’s veins felt good after they had managed to stand their ground. She was also proud. She knew that had she been alone, she would have probably cowered in the treetops for hours. Asher meanwhile was quick to think of a solution and it was ultimately because of him that they had both managed to escape.
“You did good out there bud,” sh
e smiled down at her brother. “Who knew you were so brave.”
Asher shrugged. “It just made sense to scare it off, it wasn’t brave.”
“Well I think it was,” Zahyra reached over and ruffled his hair. “I’m proud of you.”
Asher shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged again at the compliment, not looking up at Zahyra as they walked through the centre of camp towards their hut. Zahyra could see their mother preparing a stew of some sort just outside and her stomach rumbled in anticipation. Suddenly all she wanted to do was sit down and have a hearty meal.
“Look Zar!” Asher tugged on her sleeve as they neared their home. “Everyone’s playing with the old bubble man – can I go?”
Zahyra laughed. “Yeah go on. Just don’t get too wet before supper okay?”
“I won’t!” Asher called back over his shoulder as he ran over to where a group of children his age were playing with the old bubble man. Zahyra watched him go with a smile on her face. All the children in the camp had spent many hours playing with the old bubble man – herself included.
His mutation was a funny one. Whenever he had a drink of water, he could then blow out large bubbles of water afterwards, which would float around in the air for a while before they popped. The best part of the game was trying to chase after a bubble to make it pop over someone else’s head, therefore drenching them with water. It was great fun on a hot afternoon and Zahyra was always quick and agile enough to avoid getting soaked. Asher wasn’t so lucky however, his small frame quickly becoming splashed with water as he joined the game.
“You alright darling?” Zahyra looked up at the sound of her mother’s voice and smiled, closing the gap between them quickly and sitting down on the ground beside her.
“Oh my God, look at you! What have you been doing?”
Only then did Zahyra look down at her appearance and realise that the afternoon in the trees had taken its effect. Her sweater was torn from the left shoulder almost all the way to her waist, her boots were covered in dirt and several small twigs had managed to lodge themselves in her hair.
