Rayne(3)

 

 

 

I sit perched in a tree, six days after the bedtime story, bow and arrow in hand. My job for The Colony was to be a hunter. I am technically still a student because I am still living in the student wing. But I have been helping The Colony with hunting for forever.

I used to go out with my dad before the accident so I knew way around The Farm. I try to stay clear of The Farm House whenever I can. Sometimes, though I do have to go by it to track down some game.

I’m the youngest hunter in the colony and the only female hunter. I take great pride in that. Especially since The Colony hunts with somewhat primitive weapons. The people before the invasion used things like guns and poison. Whereas The Colony uses bow and arrows, knives, spears, and traps.

Thinking about this reminds me of the traps I had set up near The Farm House. I really hate going there but that’s where the rabbits are. I sigh and jump down from the tree, landing gracefully on the balls of my feet and tucking into a summersault. As soon as I stand, though, I hear rustling in the trees above me.

I thought I was the only one hunting today…

I shake my head deciding that its just a bird or monkey. Yes, we do have monkeys on The Farm. The Screechers did something to the animals to make them all able to live in pretty much any habitat. Although it’s a bit weird to have penguins and monkeys in the same place because of what we learned in hunting history. It is nice to have such a variety in meat though.

They tell us that penguins used to live in barren, freezing cold places. And that monkeys used to live in dense forests with tigers and snakes. Tigers are such an old species, we haven’t seen them in almost 25 years. But the liger is pretty common in the woods. They say 30 years ago there were animals called lions but too many of the Males were killed so the females mated with tigers and created ligers.

Now, one of the two funniest things they have told us is that penguins didn’t use to fly. Thanks to the Screechers they adapted very quickly to life here and turned their flippers into wings. The other would be that monkeys used to have legs and arms! They still had a tail then too but they didn’t use it much. Instead of those, they now have long tails, two of them which are very strong and have some sort of padding on the ends to get a good grip on the trees.

They don’t usually come out of the trees but if they do, their tales curl to form some sort of springs. On the springs they can move pretty fast. This is when they are hardest to catch. Some of them are starting to figure this out. The ones that do though I can still catch because I am a pretty good shooter if I may so myself.

I’m running now, easily weaving my way through the familiar trees. Oh, another thing that we have that people didn’t used to have before the invasion is heightened senses and some of us even have special abilities. I am actually one of those lucky few. I can track two things at once with my eyes. They move independently. Also, I’m one of the fastest of the people in The Colony.

Even though I am the only female hunter, I am one of the best. Also, my body heals slightly faster than the others. They all heal pretty fast but my body seems to reject anything foreign. I’ve been stabbed with a knife, pricked with thorns, and even shot with a gun by a Wild. My body’s muscles push the objects out quicky and then heal over.

I stop at my first trap with a catch. A nice plump rabbit. From the smell, only dead a day. The other hunters don’t come near The Farm House, too scared. I understand why of course but still I come to it.

I hear something in the trees again. This time I’m not so sure its just a monkey. The noise stops in the tree behind me. I turn, aiming my arrow into the trees as my right eye picks up on a movement inside the blown out window of The Farm House.

Naturally, my subconscious has me turn towards The Farm House. I hear the thing in the trees move to a tree on my left now. But my bow and arrow stay trained on The Farm House window, awaiting another movement.

“Run!” I hear someone whisper-ye;; from the tree next to me.

Startled, I turn to the tree, trying my hardest to not release the arrow before I had a clear shot.

Then, I hear something on my right. It sounds like some sort of hiss. I turn just in tome to see some boy flying from a tree in a Wild, lodging a knife into its pale almost blue chest.

Stunned, I stand there, wide-eyed as the boy digs the knife deeper in to the Wild until goes limp. The boy stands, puts his foot on the Wild’s body, and uses that as leverage to pull the knife out of the body.

This would only be the second time I’ve seen a Wild up close. They are ravenous cannibals They had been effected by the Screechers‘ chemicals also. They did not benefit from it though. The chemicals turned them into blood-thirsty animals. They prefer to dwell in dark places like the old farm house.

They live short lives though. My father was a hunter and a researcher. He watched the Wilds and documented their behaviors. The Wilds bred like crazy only having a pregnant duration of one week as opposed to our 3 months.

History books tell us that our pregnancy duration used to be 9 months but with our heightened senses and enhanced bodies, it shrank.

But the Wilds age rapidly, only living two months at most. They breed children very fast and then the children are full grown within a week of birth. My father recorded that many times, the children ate their mothers as the first meal, having a full set of razor-sharp teeth already. Wilds are cannibals and have no kind of emotional ties. They each other as meat to eat.

The only time you will ever see a Wild up close and live to tell is when you stumble upon it eating in the woods or if you kill it before it can kill you.

Now, the boy is starting to take down one of the dead rabbits. One of my rabbits.

“Hey! What do you think you are doing? Those rabbits are mine! And who are you anyway> I do not recognize you from The Colony,” I say, walking up to him.

He turns toward me, folding his arms across his chest. “A simple ‘thank you for saving my life’ would do just fine,” He tells me, his eyes boring into mine. “And what are you doing out here? Magnen has a rule about girls leaving The Colony. He also has a rule against girls using weapons. You could hurt yourself with that. How old are you anyways? You look like you are only sixteen.”

“I could have taken the Wild if you hadn’t distracted me!” I yell at him only first hearing what he had said about saving my life. The rest of it finally sinks in a few seconds later. “Wait. What? First of all who the heck is Magnen? And there has never been a rule against girls leaving, especially hunters!” I tell him, yelling again.

He laughs, a very sultry chuckle. My eyes drift to the way his shirt is tight across his chest from his muscles. But his words bring me right back to my anger.

“Ha! There have never been any female hunters! You must be one of the mess ups,” he tells me. “and I don’t know how you don’t know Magnen. He’s the leader of The Colony. How old did you say you were?” He asks, looking at me curiously.

“I didn’t,” I say through clenched teeth. How dare he say those things about female hunters! “How old are you?”

“I am twenty as of three days ago. And really you shouldn’t be using those. Lets get you back to The Colony. You do need to tell me your age though. And your name.”

I stare at him bitterly glaring. There is no way I am going to tell this sexist lunatic who I am.

“Now going to tell me, eh? I think its only fair. I’ve told you my age. Want my name? Landon. Now it’s your turn,” He tells me.

I huff out a breathe. “I am Rayne. Nineteen years of tomorrow.”

He takes a small step back, showing that he is shocked.

“What?!” I bark at him.

“Nothing,” he says. “I’ve just never heard such a strange name. and your voice…” he trails off.

I look at him with what feels like new eyes. What does he mean my voice?

“Never mind,” he says quickly trying to get me to drop the subject. I let it drop, though, for some reason. “You really don’t know who Magnen is?” He asks when our eyes lock.

It feels like all of the harsh tones between us had never happened. He seems so…different. I’m certain I had never seen him in the hunting class.

“No,” I tell him, still looking into his eyes. Everything around me seems calm when I know that it is not.

“You’re not from the same colony as me, are you>“ He asks.

“I look at him, his eyes, curiously. “The same colony? What do you mean? There is more than one?”

“…yea,” he says, his brow furrowed as if contemplating whether or not to tell me. “Well I guess there are. Magnen always said he had met someone from another colony around here. Probably yours. We didn’t have any proof so no one was 100% sure. So tell me… Rayne?” he says, trying out my name. The sound of my name coming out of his mouth in his silky smooth voice sends shivers up my spine. “How many people are in your colony? What is it like? What do you eat? Are all of your hunters, err, female??” He asks, a little embarrassed.

I smile a tiny bit at him before answering. “There are about one hundred and forty people in The Colony, uh, my colony. We try to maintain it at that population and we have people, matchmakers, who choose who are to mate in order to ensure the strongest children with the best chance of abilities. We eat a lot of vegetables, soup, and bread. The meat either goes into the soup or sometimes into the bread. It is rarely eaten by itself in my colony. And no. I am the only female hunter in my colony and the best.”

“Oh really?” he says, eyeing me up and down which makes my stomach drop. I do not know what I’m feeling. I’ve never felt this before or even heard of it in The Colony.

“Yes really,” I snap because I really don’t like it when people think that females can not do the “rock jobs.” the jobs that are supposed to be too tough for “frail, weak women” to do. Instantly, though, I regret snapping at him. I just wish I could apologize, but he speaks before I can.

“Wow. That’s… really cool,” he says, his eyes shining with admiration for my skills. For me. I feel like someone has just turned on some sort of light inside of me. In my soul. If I couldn’t see the dirt caked onto my skin right now, I would think that I was literally glowing from the inside out. I feel like my heart was swollen inside of my chest. I feel like something I didn’t realize was missing had just found me.

What in the world is this?

I ask myself. It is absolutely the best feeling the world. Is this just how you feel when you meet someone new? When you learn that there are other people out there?

“So.. Landon. Does your colony use matchmakers also?” I ask, wondering if he’s already been matched with someone.

“Yes,” He tells me.

“Oh,” I say, feeling sadness overcome me.

“If we do not find a mate by the time we are of 21 years, then the matchmakers will choose someone for us,” He continues quickly, most likely sensing that I’m sad.

“Oh really? That is not how it is at my colony. We do not get a chance to pick our own mates,” I tell him, while his words warm my suddenly cold and clammy hands.

“What age does your colony’s matchmakers choose mates?” He asks, looking deep into my eyes again.

“When we are 19 years of age,” I tell him automatically. I realize it now that the time of matchmaking for me is tomorrow. “So… tomorrow for me, I guess. Gee, I hadn’t really thought about that all this time when I was counting down the days until the day that I was of 19 years,” I ramble on.

“Oh, wow. That’s um… cool,” He tells me.

Really? He thinks that’s cool? Oh.“Yea. Well females are matched up when they are 19 while males at matched up when the matchmakers think a female is suitable for them. So there is no way of knowing who my match is going to be,” I say, sighing.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” He says, sounding genuinely sincere. “Is there anyone in your colony that you wish you would be matched with? Anyone that you love?”

“Love?” I ask, tilting my head, confused. “What is that?”

He blinks his shock. “You do not know what love is?” I shake my head. “Wow… well its hard to explain really. It’s when the person, um, makes you feel great. When you would do anything for them. When… when you would miss then unbearably when they are away from you. The person is the most important thing your life…” He trails off as his cheeks turn a brilliant pinkish color, from a rush of blood. I think it is called blushing. But people are supposed to blush when they are embarrassed about something. Why would he blush about explaining love to me?

He continues though, interrupting my thoughts. “My father, Falcon, told me that he fell in love with my mother. When they first met, they felt like there was an awakening inside of them. That they saw everything differently. More clearly. That was the best he could ever explain it,” He says, looking down.

He raises his eyes a little bit and looks into mine and I can see the tears in the corner of his eyes. I somehow feel a great connection to him in this moment. I can tell he has lost both his parents, as have I.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to him. “I know what your pain feels like.”

He nods as if he could tell the same thing from looking deep into my eyes. That I had lost both of my parents. I look into his again, seeing a questioning look in them and then, a voice in my head asks ‘Their names?‘ It is his voice. For some reason this does not surprise. My subconscious must have known that the connection I had felt with him would mean that I would be able to hear him in this way.

Forest was my father and Willow was my mother, I answer in the way he had asked me the question. I did not want interrupt the meaningful silence that was between us.

He nods. My mother’s name was Lightning. I see a memory of her from his mind. She is beautiful, with the brightest hair I have ever laid my eyes upon, shining brightly and fiercely when hit with direct light.

Suddenly there is a chill in the air and I look up into the sky, seeing that it is almost sun down. I look back to Landon. “I have to go,” I say, dreading it.

He nods, with a somewhat pained expression that I am sure I am mirroring. I see that he has no catch for today. I walk over to my traps and take down all of the rabbits, 6 of them. I walk back to Landon who is watching me with admiration in his eyes again. I take three of the rabbits and hold them out for him to take. He looks at me, confused. I shake them back and forth.

“Take them,” I tell him. He makes no attempt to take my catches so I continue. “Please. I do not want you to be going back to your colony with no catch. If you do, it will be my fault so please take it,” I insist.

Finally, he complies, taking the rabbits and smiling a thank you. We run together back to the tree where we had first heard each other. I take a small breathe and ask the question that I wanted to desperately to ask.

Is this… is this what it was like with your parents? When they were in… love?

He hesitates before answering. Yes.

This makes me incredibly happy and sad at the same time. I wish so much to not say goodbye to him. To be with him forever. But I have to go back to my colony. I have to move my stuff out of the Student Wing and into the Single Wing. I have to somewhat say goodbye to Bynx.

Tomorrow, I have to be matched.

We say our goodbyes and silently pledge to meet again tomorrow, but hunt while we see each other as to not come back to our colonies again without much game.

Walking into the butcher’s part of the kitchen and handing her the game I can still feel my connection with Landon. I can feel his presence in my soul.

I can’t wait for tomorrow, I tell him.

Me neither, He says back and I get a glimpse of his smile as he passes by something reflective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[daftinklings]

You have a great plot going here. Only, I don't know if you want to shorten it or not. If you feel like it's okay for it to be longer, I think it would be a better idea for Rayne not to reveal everything about herself all at once. It makes a person lose curiosity, and, it's always better to show rather than to tell.

You could show it in dialogue, or little hints here or there.