10
A mouth close to my ear, breathing rhythmically, in and out. A smell I don’t recognize. Then the voice: “I’m going to get my hand off your mouth. Don’t scream. Do you understand?”
I nod as a sign of compliance. Screaming out would only alert the village guards anyway. So I do as the voice says and once my mouth is free, I slowly turn to glance at the face it belongs to.
The impression I get is that of unprecedented shock. I’m staring at a powerful-looking man with a strong jawline, his long hair framing the tanned, golden skin of his face. His dark eyes are so intense, I feel the need to look away.
It takes a split of a second to know he’s not from this village or any other alien-formed community. He’s not from Exodus either. Which leads to all kinds of questions and concerns.
We both remain silent as we take in each other’s appearance. He’s as stunned as I am, that much is certain. He wears a long coat and boots covered with fur which is one more unexplainable thing. He smells of soap and mint. That’s the unidentified scent that entered my nostrils when he took me by surprise.
“What are you doing?” I ask when he reaches inside his pocket.
He doesn’t even look at me. I prepare my hands in case I have to use my energy against him. The man takes a piece of rope out of his pocket.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” I say. If he thinks he can tie me up, he definitely has another thing coming.
I watch as he makes a loop with the rope and then throws it up on a tree and around a branch. As he pulls the rope back down, something falls from the branch. He picks it up and shows it to me. It looks like a sensor, one that the aliens used outside dorms in the plantation until they were replaced by the rotating cameras. I had no idea they were used at the villages as well.
“It’s not working,” he says. “But you can’t be too careful.”
“What exactly are you?” I say, unable to take my eyes off him.
He has the same thought as me. “You’re not from the village,” he says.
I shake my head. “Neither are you.”
“You’re coming with me,” he says, returning the rope to his pocket.
His refusal to respond to any of my questions irritates me. If only he knew that I could obliterate him with a wave of my hand. Not to mention that Kroll could return at any moment. As a matter of fact, it’s a surprise he hasn’t jumped this strange wanderer yet. According to Kroll himself, he can sense when something’s off with me. I’m pretty sure this would qualify.
There’s no need for reinforcements, though. I could take on ten men like him no matter how strong or clever and blast them away without even blinking. Especially if they have no idea of my capabilities.
He grabs my left arm and pulls me toward the trees to the north. I get my hands as close together as possible and get ready to create an energy field when I realize I want to see where he plans to take me. I want to know who he is and how he came to roam about these forests free, right outside the alien villages with the Sliman guards and their surveillance systems, no matter how antiquated or broken down.
I follow my captor willingly, looking around for signs of Kroll and wondering when he will decide to make his presence known. Because I have a gut feeling he’s watching us and a hope that he’s sensing my decision to find out where this strange human has come from.
I’m a little more than curious, intrigued maybe, and hopeful that there are more free people out there. People who have managed to survive all this time on their own. What a discovery that would be for our cause.
It’s getting late. To my left, the sky is turning a darker blue. Soon crimson will spill out with the emerging sunset. I hear soft rustling behind me and as I turn to look, I catch a glimpse of Kroll among the trees. I put my free hand in my pocket and activate my touchpad, then type the word follow. I hope I’ve sent it to Kroll, but I can’t be certain without checking the screen. It would be a damn shame if I managed to send it straight to the village’s receivers.
There won’t be light for much longer now. It’s wholly possible that I’ve made a terrible decision when I chose to follow this man to wherever it is he wants to take me. The only reason I’m here is to monitor the activity of the village. That’s the reason I’d give if asked anyway. But now I’m pulled away from my purpose, moving deeper into an unknown forest.
We walk up a slight incline which means we’re moving towards the mountains to the north. I get tired of having my arm pulled, so I come to a halt.
He puts more strength into his grip but I resist. He realizes I’m going to present a problem and finally turns to look at me. “What?” he says.
“I’m not taking another step unless you let go of my arm.”
He narrows his eyes but doesn’t let go. I get the impression he’s not exactly used to people talking back to him.
“Why are you dressed like that?” I blurt out. “Can you even breathe in this heat underneath all that fur?”
He removes his hand and reaches inside his pocket again. My first thought is he’s going for that rope, only this time he’ll really want to use it on me.
He takes out a bunch of dry leaves which he puts in his mouth and then starts chewing on them.
“Where are you taking me?” I say. “And how come you’re free?”
He keeps chewing on his leaves as if the world’s fate depended on it. Then he spits out what’s left, which is no more than a disgusted brown and green pulp, and cleans his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
“How come you’re free?” he says.
“You’re not big on answering, are you?”
A few seconds go by as we stare at each other. The sound of flapping wings sends my eyes upward. When I look back at my opponent, I notice a slight grin on his face. I realize he thought of this as a staring game and now he thinks he is the obvious winner as I looked away first.
“It’s not safe here,” he says. “Follow. Then you will tell me your story.”
“And you will tell me yours?” I ask, hopeful for the first sign of mutual civility between two free humans.
“Don’t try to escape,” he says. “It will be pointless and I will catch you instantly.”
Oh, the arrogance of the man. I’m tempted down to my toes to provide a little exhibition of my powers for him. But that would make Kroll cringe. And it would qualify me as an even bigger idiot.
“Sure,” I say. “I’ll just follow. But you’ll have to share some information sooner or later.”
We take to the road again, moving through vegetation and fleeing animals. There’s more life in these hills than I ever imagined. Not that I was ever allowed to go this far as a girl, but children have wild imaginations that can be triggered by the smallest things.
The strange man comes to a halt. When he turns my way with his index finger on his lips, I notice he’s holding a knife in his left hand. He looks around, sniffing the air, searching through the shadows of the evening. Then, without a word, he puts the knife back in a pocket and takes off his coat.
That coat must be chockfull of endless tools. No wonder he keeps it on.
He spreads it out on the ground now between two red trees and invites me with his hand to sit on it.
“No, thanks,” I say. “I’ll be perfectly fine on the leaves.”
“Suit yourself,” he says and then vanishes.
He’s left me with the coat. That bizarre thought is the first thing that pops into my head as I watch him disappear into the night.
I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into. Perhaps the wise thing to do would be to find Kroll and get the hell out of here. Our plans have been completely derailed and we’re running out of time.
Speaking of Kroll, where is he? Did he get my message? Is he following my lead or has he gone on to some adventure of his own? That would not be desirable right now.
There’s only one thing left to do. I take out my touchpad and send a message to Kroll. A few seconds go by before the touch
pad beeps his response. Can I take that savage out?
What? No! I type and almost immediately receive a message.
Thought I’d ask.
I want to know what he is, I type. I thought it would be obvious.
Don’t trust him, Kroll responds.
Just stay nearby and ready to act.
I stare at the coat. A minute goes by and another. Where is the owner? I strain to look through the trees but all I manage to do is creep myself out as I catch sight of a huge monkey-sized bat.
I move closer to the coat and touch a sleeve to examine it. The fabric is old and rough but clean, maybe even ironed. I’d like to use some light to better investigate the garment but I don’t want to risk the strange man coming back and figuring out I’m in possession of some serious advanced technology.
I’m about to go through the pockets when I hear footsteps. I know I should move away but instead I jump on the coat and position myself squarely in the middle.
He throws a glance at me but that’s about all the attention I get before he lets a bundle of twigs and small branches roll onto the ground. He then reaches behind his back and drops some kind of small prey next to the twigs.
“What’s that?” I say.
“Squirrel.”
“Right.” I don’t eat rodents. I resisted the urge while living in the wild and I intend to keep that streak alive.
“Any chance you’ll prepare this for roasting while I start the fire?”
“Not a chance in hell.”
He considers me with an unpleasant expression on his face. “You have a very odd way of talking.”
I could tell him that he’s odd, period. I watch him clear away leaves and moss to create a small fire pit. What interests me the most is to see how he’s going to light the fire. That will certainly give me some insight into the manner in which he and his kind live.
My curiosity is satisfied soon enough as he reaches inside one of the coat pockets to bring out a box of matches. There are some similar boxes on Exodus. They’re more like museum pieces. This guy appears to depend on them for his survival.
The idea is staggering: this could be a man who was born and raised outside the plantation network. A survivor of the invasion born to survivors who in their turn were born free. So many questions go through my head. Do they know of our existence? Do the people on Exodus know about them? What about the alien invaders? Do they have any idea some humans managed to survive on their own?
I doubt my new friend will offer any answers voluntarily. In the end, Kroll and I might have to drag the truth out of him, but not before I find out where he lives and how many more there are like him.
I open my backpack as he prepares his meal over the fire and take out an apple and some crackers I have brought along. I’ve barely put the first cracker in my mouth when he steps over the fire and plops heavily down next to me.
“Do you want some?” I say offering him a cracker.
He reaches over and snatches the backpack out of my lap.
“That’s mine,” I protest. “Give it back.”
He pulls the zipper open and it takes all that I am to control myself. It’s a lucky thing I keep the touchpad in my pocket or I would have never allowed him to rummage through my things like that.
He takes everything out one by one and displays them on his stupid coat. A flashlight, a can of beans, a bar of chocolate, a water bottle, a tee shirt, a toothbrush, two bandages, antiseptic patches, a comb, lip balm, sunscreen and some rope. The latter gets his attention. He weighs it in his hands, trying to determine its durability and usefulness.
“You can have it,” I say.
“I don’t want it,” he says abruptly before he returns to the fire pit.
I can’t help but wonder again, What on earth am I doing here with this primitive human?
Why not just have Kroll capture him and make him take us to his lair or nest or whatever it is he calls home?
I know why, of course. Because I’m not in the business of kidnapping people. Once you start using your superior power to make people do what you want them to do, you cross a line that takes away your humanity.
So I sit back and wait patiently for him to finish cooking his dinner, glancing through the shadows in case Kroll decides to get my attention.
The man stands up and for a moment I think he will take off again. False alarm. After looking around and poking through some shrubs, he settles down with his meal a few feet from me.
Shadows grow and hiss around the fire in blue and orange colors. A soft wind picks up speed making the treetops move back and forth.
“What’s your name?” I say after a while.
He spits out of the side of his mouth. “Why do you care?”
I shrug. “I don’t really care. It’s called small talk.”
“To you, my name is Stranger. That’s what you should call me.”
“Stranger?” I say in disbelief.
“Yes, and you are right. Your talk is very small.”
I roll my eyes. “What about Jerk? It sounds more appropriate to me.”
“I am Stranger and you are Strange Talker.”
There’s something more to him than he lets on. “I’m beginning to think this is an act,” I say.
He’s gone back to chewing big chunks of his roast, keeping his eyes off me, as if I’ve suddenly turned invisible.
“Nice try but I’m on to you,” I say.
He growls so loud, I think he’ll attract that bear Kroll fought.
“Am I hitting a nerve? Because I detect a more sophisticated spirit somewhere in there.”
“Believe what you will,” he says lying back on the cold ground.
“You can sleep on your coat,” I offer. “I have my jacket.”
“I won’t sleep.”
There’s no point in arguing. “Are you even going to ask my name?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“Get some rest,” he says. “Tomorrow we’ll climb to one of the highest mountain plateaus.”
This journey will take longer than originally planned. I resist exploring all the possibilities of what the man called Stranger intends. Closing my eyes I wonder where Kroll will sleep tonight.
The truth is, I don’t feel as tough as I’m acting. As much as this fierce, rude and strangely graceful man of the wild impresses me, I’m rather worried what tomorrow might bring.
11
Stranger tugs at my arm to get me to move. I pull back feeling scared and staring at the steep incline in front of me with my mouth half-open. I’m in awe. Maybe – and that’s still just a maybe – Finn could convince me to follow him up that rocky, slippery climb because I trust Finn and he’d make it his priority to keep me safe. This Stranger guy is just that, a stranger.
“Surely, there must be a way around this,” I say.
“This is the safest way,” he says as he starts pulling me by the arm again.
The safest way? I look up to where the mountaintop blends with the blue hues of the sky. All I can see is jagged, steep, massive rocks with a few patches of green here and there.
“How long will it take?”
“Five hours.” He looks at me as if considering his own words. “With you, probably seven.”
“Splendid.”
I can’t help but wonder how Kroll will handle the climb without being noticed. There’s nothing here that could camouflage his colossal presence. There’s a good possibility he will lose us. Not that I couldn’t handle this stranger guy by myself.
We start the ascent slowly to reserve energy. I have to watch where I put my feet and grab on to whatever is available to support myself. I soon figure out that climbing this mountain isn’t as hard as I first thought. It does not require any technical skills or the use of ropes or any of that stuff as long as you’re careful and concentrating.
I make my first serious mistake halfway through the ascent when I decide to look down. Immediately, I become nauseous and begin to
lose focus. I don’t understand why this is happening. I’ve never been afraid of heights before.
“It’s the altitude combined with fatigue,” the man says when he notices my distress. “You’ll get used to the thin air. Think of something nice.”
Something nice. I catch myself repeating his words often, but he’s right. I turn my attention to an image in my head, a sunflower growing outside my mother’s window. The simple beauty of the bright yellow petals glowing in the sun manages to get me through the next stretch of mountain.
Somehow my mind transitions to Damian’s powerful arms and then to Tobi’s pure smile that he unleashes every time he sees his father’s face. My private world of precious things parades through my oxygen starved mind.
Perhaps the reason I followed this man up the mountain is because I’m too afraid to investigate what’s happened to my mother. It’s typical of me to chicken out at the last moment on personal matters. I showed the same inability to act when Damian decided to take Daphne to Exodus and I didn’t want him to go. I said nothing.
By the time we reach the top, I’m ready to pass out. I draw a few deep breaths in but it’s hard to control the rhythm of my own breathing. In my stupor, all I can muster is a look around at the plateau we’ve reached. Something wet and light touches my face. I reach out to catch the little white flakes that dance in the air. They melt as soon as I lay my hand on them.
“It’s snow,” I let out. “Snow is falling!”
Briefly, I see a smile escape Stranger’s lips. “You’ve never seen snow?”
I shake my head. How I wish I had Tobi and Pip with me on the mountaintop right now. They’d be so excited they’d never stop dancing and laughing.
“You’ll need warmer clothes,” he says. “Be watchful. Snow makes the rock slippery.”
I don’t care. Nothing could bother me now. All the stories I’ve heard of white winters with snow and ice, I finally get to experience.
“I didn’t know there was snow in the world still.”
“Snow can’t be defeated as easily as humans,” he says. “In these parts, you have to climb high enough to find it. Other places still have real winter.”
[scifan] plantation 05 - rise of the saviors Page 8
