It's getting too dark to continue searching, I need to head back to the grouping of trees where I left my bag and get some rest for the night. As I turned back, I look up locking my eyes straight at the glaring shadow of a person outlined by the dusks last light. Squinting to try to block the glare, I realize that it's a man. He stands there looking back at me with widened eyes and a firm stance. I stood frozen, for a second I felt the fight or flight response but as his face appeared clear to me after a moment, it was obvious by his expression that if I fought then I would lose. Time stopped as we stare at each other in silence both quickly moving into a position to fight and gripping our weapons to our sides. He didn't look like a Will'er, but I have been wrong before. Slowly I start stepping back as I lift my bow. When he breaks the silence:
“Are you a Will'er girl?” he yells.
“Do I look like a Will'er? Also, not a girl. Just stay away from me and continue to move on.” Bracing my body firmly and positioning my bow with aim as my hand twitches a bit.
“Well, aren't you sweet!” He says in a sarcastic tone.
“Don't worry, I am not going to hurt you. Are you an outsider?” He smirks at me, holding his gun at his side with confidence.
“It doesn't matter, I am just passing through. I don't have any camp sit up nearby so don't worry.”
“Okay, I get it outsider … you must be. It's dangerous to be out this late with just a bow and arrow for protection in these woods.” He says bending over to lay down his gun on the ground beside him.
“I can take care of myself thanks, and if it's so dangerous then why are you out here wondering around outside all alone in the dark?” I say in remark while lowering my bow.
“I had some herbs that I needed to gather for a patient that can't wait until the morning. I was just about to head back when I approached you, attempting to stalk me. Not doing a good job I have to add.” As he leans against the tree beside him.
“Ha! don't flatter yourself. I wasn't stalking you! I heard something and I thought it was an approaching animal that I could hunt since I am…wait, a patient you said, does that mean that you are a doctor?” Asking with anticipation.
If he is a doctor then his life is priceless, especially if he knows how to create herbal medicine from scratch. In the past most doctors practiced ‘healing’ by dishing out prescriptions, without knowing how to be resourceful without big pharmaceutical companies. In this new post age war world that we live in, the only useful doctors were old school healers, herbalists, and general surgeons. If he is being honest, then he should never be walking alone outside safe walls, because his knowledge is priceless to almost anyone. He would be invaluable to anyone that wanted to use him for an exchange of supplies of safety.
“Yes, I am a doctor in my village, the only doctor of course, but that isn't of any importance. If you're looking for food, I may be able to help you. My village is close by and I could get you some food if you come with me.” He begins to walk towards me.
“No thanks, I am an outsider for a good reason. I have no intention being stuck in a society built on a Stone Age mentality, or even worse, being forced into slavery. I'm not ignorant enough to fall for that.” I step back a few steps to keep my distance. As he quickly stops trying to approach me, lowering his eyebrows with aggravation.
“So at least you admit you're an outsider then…I can assure your freedom if you are voted in, we are an electoral village. Yes, there are slaves in our village, but time will diminish that as it did in the past. Which is an acceptable price to pay considering the chaos outside our village walls. It's much safer inside a village then trying to survive as an outsider. You may have made it this far, but eventually you will have to face a battle you can't win alone.”
I curl the corner of my mouth while I contemplate the very thought, some part of me knows that he may be right, while the other part of me fights the very idea of oppression in any form of the word.
“Look, I have made it this far! I am looking for a village that I was told has solar power, and has walls made of stone. I believe that my parents may have been sold into slavery, so I will continue going to every single village and tribe until I find them. I have searched a few villages and tribes near my home without any luck, and I won't rest until I find them. Of course, I accept the risk that comes with my freedom as an outsider.”
He starts moving towards me again, the wind slowly blowing his long brown hair that lay untied on his shoulders with a rough shadow of what is becoming a beard and the winkles of his forehead and eyes that say that he cares too much for others.
“That's my village, we have solar power, and stone walls. We are the largest village that I have ever heard of around here. If you're trying to avoid society and slavery, then you will never find a place to call home any time soon. Since I have been living in my village, I have never seen a couple being brought in as slaves as a couple together. We don't hunt for slaves either, we are sold or exchange slaves by passers, or our slaves are captured if they endanger the village by lingering to closely. We don't want people coming by the village and spreading word of what we have and where our village is located. Those people put our civilians at risk.” He sits down on the ground, pulling out a silver canister attached to his brown leather belt and drinks from it.
I lay down my bow and kneel where I am, as I watch him drink, fighting the urge to grab the canister from his hands and drink it all myself. I bite my lip as my thirst overcomes me. “I still have to check your village for my parents. I've come so far; I won't move on until I can see for myself. However, I have no plans on being seen or heard.”
He gets up off the ground and raises the canister towards me. “You look thirsty, do you want some water? It's clean, I gathered the water from a local spring myself today.”
I stand up quickly stumbling over as I'm trying to get up. He appears harmless, and if he wanted to hurt me then I think he would have done it already. I am so thirsty, my mind is made up, and I've decided that it's worth the risk. Approaching him slowly with my arm extended out, locking my eyes with his intense dark brown eyes and grabbing the canister, then quickly stepping back a few steps. Chugging the water down without hesitation. I don't think water has ever tasted this good. As water is dripping down my chin and landing on my shirt.
“You were thirsty, weren't you? I'm sorry, but I don't have any food on me. I would share any if I did. However, if you refuse to come back with me now, then I could still sneak you some food if you come to the village tomorrow morning. There is a tree on the corner north side wall that you can climb up. There is another adjoining tree on the inside wall that you can climb back down relatively safely. Come as the sun is coming up so that no one will see you. I will have bread waiting for you. You will be able to see most of the village from that tree, so you can look for your parents as well. I have to go now; I need to get these herbs back. You don't have to come, but I wish you would, so I won't have to worry about you starving out here all alone.”
I hand him the canister back. “I may come, I may not. Thanks for the water either way.” I grab my crossbow as I turn and walk back towards my bag sitting by the grouping of trees as I hear him walking off in the other direction, not even looking back at him as he leaves. Laying down using my bag as a pillow, stretching out as my feet find relief finally from walking all day. As I laid there watching the darkness sit, my stomach rumbling louder as I thought about the taste of bread. Freshly baked bread; I never could pass it up when offered. Especially when it was still warm and soft from the oven. It's just too tempting an offer to pass up on an empty stomach. I wonder how they even have enough grains to produce bread. It's funny the kind of things that you begin to miss when it feels like everything has been taken away. Simple things have become such a luxury, some of which people are ready to kill for, like water and food in the city. I took so many things in life for granted before, now I would give anything for any mattress, a real pillow, a warm shower, and a hot meal. I laid there, just
thinking of all the things I missed from my life before this total chaos that is my world that I must live in now. Laying here against the cold hard ground I struggled to get comfortable until I finally feel asleep with the thoughts of the warmth of the fire at dinner with my mother and father and the smell of the pine and oak burning.
CHAPTER 2
ALL OF THIS FOR SOME BREAD
I
t's hard to sleep outside at night. Being constantly awoken by the slightest sound over and over, in fear of danger. You never really feel well rested, but you're grateful to make it through each night without becoming anything's snack or awoken by wondering Will'ers who have lost their way, much like they have lost their mind. As the sun starts to rise and the birds start their endless chirping, I stretch out my stiff back and sit up with a loud sigh. Rubbing my eyes and combing my long stringy red hair out of my face. It's time, I grab my bag and crossbow to leave towards the village with one thing on my mind, food! After walking about ten minutes, I could finally see the stone walls. This village is huge, I have never seen one with such strong stone walls like this either. I'm thinking the walls were preexisting because they look rough and some are covered in moss and vines. Okay, time to find out if I can find this tree, the Dr. told me about, if it even really exists. I start cautiously walking around looking for this tree on the north side, and it's true, there is a tree. I can also see fields of what looks like grains and what looks like maybe sugar cane. Seems to me that a village like this with stone walls would have been intelligent enough to notice that this tree is an easy entrance into their village by anyone that could find it. It may be in a heavily wooded area but anyways, bad for them, good for me! I throw my belongings on the ground beside the tree and start climbing. When I reach the top, I can see everything that's going on inside this village from this viewpoint just like the doctor said. I sit down on a limb watching over as not many people are awake yet. It still is very calm and quiet, as I watch everyone waking and leaving their homes, looking desperately for my parents among these people. This tree couldn't give me better coverage with its foliage in abundance as the leaves have changed but haven't fallen yet, and I will use it to my advantage. Suddenly I hear a whistle coming from below as I jump just a little out of surprise. It's him, how did he do that, sneak up like that. He is standing there with bread in hand as he promised. I can't believe it, he wasn't lying. I swear, in this moment, my stomach is screaming to attack as I navigate quickly down the tree to get the bread from him.
“Hurry, before someone sees you. Here is the bread, like I said I would have waiting for you.” Holding the bread up towards me.
“Shush, I'm coming down as quickly as I can.” Gripping on to the branches trying not to slip and fall while I try to rush as I glare down at him with agitation.
I jump down to the ground from the last branch snatching the bread from his hand. Unable to wait, I immediately bite a huge chunk out of it. “It's so fresh, did you make this, how did anyone manage to make this? This is so good, no one else has had bread.”
Oh, no he is looking at me as if I am a beast, as I talk with a mouth full of bread. I try to close my mouth, chewing slower, as shame covers my face and my cheeks flush. I cover my mouth with one hand to attempt to hide that I had way too much food to chew.
“No, I didn't make the bread. My neighbor owns a slave who bakes bread for the entire village, and this is a product of his fine work. Look, you're clearly hungry, which tells me that you are not surviving as an outsider. Please, consider staying here in the village and let me vouch for you. If you are voted in, then you would not go without food, water, or shelter anymore.” He brushes warm his hand gently down my arm as I gaze at his hand.
Why is he touching me! I jerk away from his touch. “Never, this entire system is broken, and I will not be any part of it. I have no skills to offer a village so I know that will never be voted in. You say if I am voted in, but you and I both know what happens if I am not. My parents taught me to survive the elements on my own, and I will continue to search for them until I can bring them home. Also, just so you know, I don't need your pity; I can take care of myself. Now I should be going before someone spots me. Thanks for the bread and enjoy the rest of your life living in conformity.” I grip the bread in my mouth, turn and start scaling up the tree.
“Fine, be stubborn. I hope you're right, I hope you can survive out there.” He shouts while trying to look around to see if anyone heard him as he lowers his tone partially through.
I turn to watch him storm away. It's been so long since anyone has even had a conversation with me, and maybe I am being rude. I guess, but I can't trust him, or anyone. I can do this all on my own. No matter how social anyone once was, this is not a world in which being social is good thing anymore. In fact, being relatively antisocial my entire life is a positive thing now. The social people, they had to check in on their family and friends, attend social events, keep up the social show, and that was a serious mistake. They tried to care for Will'ers and most just ended up dead just for literally caring. Will'ers can't always care for themselves all the time, so their family and friends attempted to care for them, which in every case would eventually end in more sorrow.
Will'ers had some kind brain damage from the virus that was in the water and they would suddenly forget to eat for long periods of time or become unaware of danger and walk in front of cars or trains. Most families thought it was some type of temporary insanity before the information was eventually publicized about the contamination found in the major city's water supplies all over the nation. People treated them like they had dementia, but they didn't just forget things, they also went into psychotic states at random. Honestly, I think they are all going to kill themselves off eventually. They can forget to eat until they starve, or kill each other over trinkets they find, which is crazy weird. Time and evolution will take care of that problem; I just need to stay away from them until that happens. Eventually they will be nothing more than the product of a man-made mistake and an evolutionary down fall, something people will eventually recall as being a scary bedtime story. A boogie man if you will for kids that don't eat their veggies or listen to their parents and another part of history we try to avoid talking about.
Once I jump down off the tree, grab my bag and toss in the bread, take my cross bow and head back into the woods just far enough out to be out of sight, just in case someone comes out of the village gates. Eventually I find a place to sit down in the grass and get the rest of the bread out of my bag. Oh, how I've missed carbohydrates, out of all the villages I've been to, none has had bread. Just more old cans of food, and things like rabbit and bird stews. This is the best bread I think I have ever tasted, or at least it seems that way in this moment. I need to save some for later, but before I can stop myself, it's all gone. I can't believe I just did that; it was just so delicious. I take a deep breath with frustration and relax my posture. Maybe I should go back, no I can't give up and I don't want to live like that. I need to stay focused; I should at least get more water before I move on to another village. I remember him telling me that he filtered his water from a nearby spring, so I think I should start searching for this spring, because where there is water, they're also wildlife to hunt and I could use the protein.
Now I have a plan, time to get off my butt and put it into action. I head back towards the village in hopes that I can follow a commonly used walking path that will lead me to the spring he had spoken about; being cautious to not be seen or heard as I walk past the gates. There is a couple of paths that lead from the gates, I start walking down the one that looks the most traveled. After a while I start to hear what sounds like a spring, I can't believe I found it already, it was so close by. I take off running towards the sound, then I see it, with clean clear crystal blue water running over the rocks. I throw down my bag across the rocks and position my crossbow against a large rock I pass before I get to the water. I can't help by stare at the light reflecting off the ripples of water
as I dig for my canteen and unscrew the lid. I kneel on the ground beside the spring laying my canteen down on the ground beside me as I cup my hands together to scoop up the water and drink it from them. I do not have the ability to filter my water, and I can't boil it, but this spring should be safe. If the entire village uses this water supply, then not all of them have the knowledge to be able to filter it and I doubt they all go through the trouble of boiling it. It's no surprise to me that it does taste as pure and clean as it appears. I keep cupping up the water over and over with my hands and drinking it, as the water runs down my arms and mouth, soaking my black cotton t-shirt and dripping onto my old warn jeans. Enough, I stop and dip my canteen into the water until the bubbles stop coming up when it is full. I screw back on the lid and put it back into my bag and then stand up to look around the spring to see if I can spot or hear any animals, but no luck. All this water and no animals in sight, maybe I should wait, and I may have some luck. Of course, I could try to fish but I don't have anything to fish with and I really don't like the taste.
I sit down on a rock beside the spring, pull out a notebook and pen from my bag and start to write. My entire life I have been keeping journals, and when my parents went missing, I thought I should continue to write. Without anyone in my life to talk too, I thought if I attempted to write each day it would help me keep my mind grounded. Though sometimes I would just sketch instead of writing. Sounds silly I guess but talking to yourself is better than not communicating at all.
Revelation of Raelia: Book One Page 2
