Divided (3 page)

4

Arys

    ‘I reckon this will do for tonight,’ Papa says, turning around to stop the Tribe continuing onwards.

     We have been travelling deep in the middle of a dimly lit forest almost all day, the sun only just getting through the trees. We’ve stopped in a small clearing, barely big enough to hold all the seven tents, but it’s the best we’ve come across so far, and it could get dangerous to continue onwards. As everyone breaks through the trees, blinking in the afternoon sunlight, Papa turns and walks the perimeter of the clearing, peering through the trees and muttering to himself.

     ‘Seems good enough,’ someone comments.

     People begin their temporary unpacking routine. The people with knives and scythes, including Kai, begin cutting down the overgrown grass and plants, not only making it easier for us to camp here, but providing a more comfortable night’s sleep. I help with the setting up of the tents. Robert, Elaine, and Peter help me on the first one. Robert supports the canvas as Peter and Elaine help me feed the first wooden pole through the top. Robert and Elaine’s young son, Colin watches with glee as the tent is slowly put together.

     ‘Pass the string?’ Peter asks.

     I throw the several strings, attached securely to pegs to Peter, who catches them all easily. I watch as he ties the poles together with practiced hands, forming the entrance to the tent. I support the poles with Elaine as he finishes up the last few. I stand back to admire the tent with Peter while Robert and Elaine check how sturdy it is.

     ‘Colin!’ Elaine scolds, rushing to pick up her son.

     His hands are filled with mud, and after getting bored of watching the tent being set up, he seemingly entertained himself by digging a small hole in the ground in front of him. Once he is sat with Elaine in front of the newly created fire pit, Robert asks for the tools back and stores them inside the tent.

     After an hours work, all seven tents are squeezed into the clearing, a small fire is slowly growing, and the evening routine is set to begin.

     ‘Night watch rota is as follows,’ Papa calls to the gathered group.

     He calls out names and the hours in which they are protecting the camp throughout the night. Neither me, nor Kai are on, freeing us for the evening off any duties! Once he is done, he organises who is part of the hunting and foraging teams. Kai is with the hunting party, but I am in neither. As Kai prepares his knife and puts on his blood stained hoodie, I rush to Papa.

     ‘Please let me go with the hunting party?’ I plead. ‘I’m not needed anywhere else tonight!’

     Papa gives me a searching look, before smiling at me. ‘As long as you stick with Kai.’

     Kai comes over, his knife withdrawn and held loosely in his hand.

     ‘Keep her safe, Kai,’ Papa says, with a slight warning in his tone.

     ‘I will,’ Kai promises.

     Papa hugs me, before calling together the rest of the hunting party. Malc steps forward; he’s the leader of the party again. He is the only one in the Tribe who carries a sword, as they’re rare for us to obtain. He is probably the most equipped for a Hunter attack, both in experience and literally. The others in the party are Sophia, one of the tribe members more experienced in setting traps for her kill, Reggie, an experienced crossbowman, and Richard, who is in his sixties, but he moves silently, and has years of practice hunting wild animals.

     ‘Is this everyone?’ Malc asks, looking at each of us in turn, sizing us up and planning in his mind what the best plan is.

     ‘Arys, you stick with Kai,’ he commands. ‘Richard and Sophia, I want you both scouting ahead. Reggie, you’re with me. Everything alright?’

     ‘Sounds good,’ Reggie says, smiling.

     We head out away from the fire and into the forest again. After we’ve been travelling silently for at least ten minutes, Malc whispers to Sophia and Richard that they’re to separate from the small group now. Turning to Kai, he instructs us to circle him and Reggie at a distance. We continue like this for half an hour, with no luck. All we find are a couple of rabbits, which Kai kills with his knife and puts in his backpack. Just as Malc is beginning to grow restless and is ready to give up and head back, Sophia returns quietly and Malc motions us closer.

     ‘A small herd, at least five or so,’ I hear Sophia say as we approach them quietly.

     ‘They’ve found a small herd of deer,’ Malc explains to us as we reach him. ‘Richard’s watching them now, and Sophia has set a small trap in case they bolt.’

     ‘What’s the plan now?’ Kai whispers.

     ‘Reggie might be able to take one down by surprise, but that’s not enough for all of us. We’re probably going to need two at the least. With any hope, Sophia’s trap will work and we’ll be okay.’

     We follow Sophia to where she found the deer, and in the distance, almost two hundred feet away, I count seven deer stood around. It takes Sophia pointing him out for me to see Richard, camouflaged perfectly in the bushes.

     ‘Reggie?’ Malc whispers, barely audibly, kneeling down besides Richard. ‘Take aim.’

     I watch several of the deer look up suddenly, their ears rotating and their heads turned in our direction. Seconds pass, and a couple of the deer return to their grazing. I wait anxiously, barely daring to breathe. Suddenly, the crossbow sounds, and all the deer sprint away. One deer attempts to, before collapsing onto the floor.

     ‘I’ll finish her,’ Malc says, at normal volume. ‘Where did you place the trap?’

     ‘Over there,’ Sophia says, pointing to the ground somewhere to the left of where the herd ran. ‘They missed it.’

     ‘Damn,’ Malc mutters, striding quickly towards the fallen doe. ‘Richard and Sophia, I want you to track the herd quietly. If you can’t find them in an hour, return back to the camp. Kai and Arys, both of you head towards the lake we passed, there’s a chance they’ll head towards there. Again, no luck in an hour, head back to the camp.’

     Sophia and Richard leave us as Malc reaches the doe and looks down at it, feeling for a pulse with his fingers. It has already died.

     ‘Reggie,’ he continues. ‘You’re helping me carry her back now.’

     ‘Here,’ Reggie says to Kai, handing him his crossbow and several bolts. ‘Good luck.’

     Kai leads me through the forest in silence, back in the direction of the lake that we passed.

     ‘At least Zeke will be happier,’ Kai says brightly, holding the crossbow carefully. ‘He wasn’t fond of last night’s meal and you know how he is when travelling on an empty stomach.’

     ‘That’s all that matters, is it?’ I say coolly.

     ‘No, I was just saying!’

     We reach the lake and we sit together in the darkening sky. There are no signs of the deer, and so we wait for over half an hour, comfortable in each other’s silence as we sit together.

     ‘I’m going to take a short nap,’ I say, the tiredness after the day spent walking slowly taking over.

     ‘I’ll keep watch,’ Kai promises as I lie down on the soft earth.

     ‘Wake me quietly if you see any deer,’ I say, my eyelids dropping.

     ‘I will.’

5

Kai

I watch her sleeping next to me, her long blonde hair covering her face. Carefully, I reach across to sweep her hair away softly with my fingertips, making effort not to wake her. I notice not for the first time how beautiful she is. She’s strong, stronger than I care to admit at times, but I feel I should protect her. As if it’s my job. I hate it when I catch her staring at me for long periods, like I’m staring at her now. As if I’ll disappear and get killed if she looks away, even for a second. I don’t ever want her to think like that. I want her to be safe.

     I sit like this for a long time, feeling the evening breeze while watching her breathing, studying her face, memorising every detail in case anything happens to her. I’ve begun doing this with several people, but Arys is the most important person to me. She’s closer than a sister to me.

     She suddenly shifts, waking up. I look away, across the lake quickly. I don’t want her to know that I’ve been watching her. I hear her get up and come closer to me. I risk a glance and see her lying close to my side. Close enough, I realise, that I can feel her warmth. She must have been cold. She’s always cold. Papa told me that as a child, she always had as many blankets as we could spare while she slept, and always slept as close to him as possible. We don’t have any blankets here, and even my hoodie has been ruined because of the bear. I wait a good few minutes before lightly wrapping my arms around her. When there’s no response, I hold her tighter, knowing she’s now asleep. I start to think of her and everything we’ve already been through together. Soon enough, due to my own exhaustion, my thoughts turn into dreams as I fall asleep.

     ‘Kai! Help!’

     I recognise Arys’s voice instantly. I run to her tent, but she’s surrounded by so many Hunters. I feel for my knife at my side and throw it at the closest Hunter to me. He falls, but before hitting the ground, I pull the knife free, and stab another Hunter to my left. He puts up a greater fight, and pulls me to the ground with him, holding my neck in a solid grip. Gasping for air, I aim a kick at him and he releases me without hesitation. I grasp my fallen knife from the floor and swing it sharply upwards. Blood splatters my front as he falls. The fight goes on until the last Hunter lies dead at my feet. Another eight dead at my hand. I enter Arys’s tent to find her frantically looking for something or someone.

     ‘What is it?’ I ask her, putting my hand softly on her shoulder, scared more Hunters will arrive if we don’t leave soon.

     ‘Kayra!’ she screams, ‘Where’s Kayra?!’

     I start to pull her towards the entrance to the tent.

     ‘Arys, please. There’s no one called Kayra here. We have to get out of here!’

     Arys pulls her arm from my grasp sharply and backs up against the wall of the tent.

     ‘Not without Kayra!’ she demands. ‘They took her!’

     I leave her in the tent and run outside. Fire is everywhere. Fire like it was when the earthquake started. The Tribe dead. Everyone dead. Arys comes out, still searching for the person she’s never mentioned before. My heart stops as I hear a baby crying and I watch Arys running desperately in the direction the sound’s coming from.

     ‘Arys! No! Get out of here!’ I shout at her, but she keeps running.

     I run after her, feeling my rapid heartbeat get faster. I finally catch up to her to find her holding a young baby, barely a few months old. I now look in horror at her surroundings. Lying dead at her feet are several Hunters. Has she killed them? She’s never killed any before! She looks at me, the delirious girl who was with me before, now gone, her expression light.

     ‘She’s safe. Kayra is safe,’ she says quietly.

     The calm tone of her voice unsettles me as I look again at the bodies on the ground and the smoke that’s getting thicker around us.

     ‘Who is Kayra?’ I ask her desperately.

     She looks hurt as she approaches me, showing me the crying baby in her arms.

     ‘Kayra is ours, Kai. The Hunters want her, don’t you remember?’

6

Kai

I wake up screaming. I don’t know why I scream, I know it was only a dream. Arys wakes up with a start; her reflexes making her grab her knife. After realising that we aren’t in danger, she sits back down and hugs me quickly.

     ‘What’s wrong?’ she asks me, concern showing on her face.

     What could I tell her? That I had a nightmare that the entire Tribe died in a fire caused by Hunters, and that the Hunters want to take
our
non-existent baby? I decide against it.

     ‘Nothing,’ I say, smiling at her. ‘It was just a dream. We’re okay.’

     Arys sighs deeply and rests her head on my chest. She told me once of her earliest memory of the Old World. She remembers being so young and resting her head on her father’s chest, feeling his heartbeat. She admitted to finding comfort in doing the same with Papa and often with me.

     ‘It’s fast,’ she says softly. ‘Your heartbeat, I mean. What’s wrong?’

     It’s times like these when I know she won’t let it rest until she knows what the dream was about.

    ‘Okay,’ I say, as we both sit up against a fallen tree. ‘I had a nightmare. In the dream, we were back at the temporary camp,’ I pause.

     I don’t know how to tell her the dream in a way that won’t terrify her. Noticing the pause, she nudges me playfully.

     ‘Kai, just please tell me.’

     I tell her of the dream, explaining countless times that it was just a dream and nothing is meant by it. She listens intently, gasping slightly when I tell her the name of the baby she was searching for. I chose to leave out the part where she tells me the baby is ours. When I finish telling her of the dream, she begins to cry, so I allow her to lean into my shoulder like she does regularly.

     ‘Her name was Kayra? Are you sure of that?’ Arys asks me, sounding upset.

     ‘Yes, I’m certain. Why?’

     ‘Because I had a twin sister named Kayra,’ she says, hiding her face behind her hands and not looking at me. ‘My parents either ran away with her, leaving me behind, or she died with them. I’ve never told anyone about Kayra, so how did she get into your dream?’

     My face must have shown the shock I was feeling as Arys looks up at me, her eyes swollen. I try to think of how I know of Kayra.

     ‘Maybe you were sleep talking and mentioned her?’ I ask her.

     She looks at me as if I’m being crazy to suggest that.

     ‘No, I didn’t talk in my sleep,’ she says defensively.

     ‘Why not?’ I ask her. ‘You’ve done it before. It’s possible that you were talking about her and I heard it in my sleep and my mind made up who she was!’

     ‘I wasn’t dreaming about her!’

     ‘You,’ I say mockingly, trying to make light of the situation. ‘Are one confusing girl.’

     ‘More than you know,’ she jokes.

     I try to imagine what she means by this, but she just winks at me and begins to rise. I make my mind up quickly, and hold her wrist.

     ‘Arys, there was something else in the dream,’ I tell her hurriedly, before I change my mind. She lowers herself slowly and looks at me, the smile fading from her face.

     ‘About Kayra, you mean?’ she asks.

     She’s calmer than she was earlier.

     ‘In the dream, before I woke up, you brought Kayra up towards me. You told me that the baby was ours,’ I say hesitantly, hoping that she would make sense of this.

     She blushes and bites her lip. I’ve never understood girls at the best of times, and Arys isn’t a normal girl, making reading her a lot harder.

     ‘When I was younger,’ she says finally, breaking the silence. ‘I had regular dreams of my sister. I have one real memory of her, but all my other memories of her are in dreams. I don’t know her fate, but from a young age, I decided that if I ever have children, my first girl will be named after my sister. Perhaps this is a vision? I mean, Papa is always talking about visions.’

     I try to imagine this world where Arys and I have a baby. But that also means that the Tribe is slaughtered by Hunters, and I try not to think of the possibility of either situations.

     ‘I don’t know, maybe it was just a dream,’ I say to her sadly and stand up. She joins me as we begin to pack up our few supplies. We’ve definitely been out longer than an hour, and by the position of the moon, I figure that it’s definitely past midnight. The Tribe would have already eaten the deer that Malc and Reggie took back, and if we stay out much longer, Papa might send search parties out to us, or worse, Hunters might find us first.

7

Arys

This is like a dream in and of itself, Kai talking about our baby. Maybe it really is a vision and he will one day love me as I love him. I think back to earlier, when he cuddled me, and there was a brief moment when he brushed his hand against my face.

     The little food we have left is carried in our pockets.

     ‘We had better get back to camp before they send out a search party,’ Kai says, shrugging his stained hoodie on.

     I really want to stay with him here at the lake, but I agree to leave as soon as possible.

     The hike back is worse than the hike here. We decide to take a different route back, in fear of an ambush due to the sound of the deer potentially drawing Hunters towards us. The muddier route, due to a waterfall, alongside the guilt of getting back into camp empty handed makes the return trip exhausting. Kai offers me his hand and we cross the muddy paths hand in hand. I think of this action as one of affection, rather than the truth of it being that he’s only doing this for protection still. Our Tribe has a rule in which when we reach eighteen, we’re all to marry someone chosen by Papa. We get no choice in this. Papa has already chosen someone for me who I am to marry when I’m eighteen, as does Kai. Iris is Kai’s future wife. She’s tall and slender, and a healthy weight. Unlike me, who is too thin. She is pretty, no doubt. With clean, pale skin and long dark brown, wavy hair, almost black. Her eyes are bright blue. I’m to be with Zeke, Kai’s older brother. Zeke is similar to Kai in appearance, but the similarities stop there. He’s heavier built, and attracts the attention of most of the girls in camp, including Iris. Papa doesn’t believe in Old World love anymore; only the type of love in this world.

     We make it through the slippery section of our chosen path and Kai instantly releases my hand.

     ‘Kai?’ I ask when we start walking steadily again.

     ‘Yeah?’ he responds, slowing down and looking at me.

     ‘We know Papa has chosen us to be married to other people within two years, and for you, possibly even less. Do you think that by then, we’d still be hunting together?’

     He looks at me and suddenly he pulls me to himself and we’re kissing. My arms go up around his neck as he grasps my waist and pulls me closer. We stay kissing for several long moments, the waterfall rushing behind us, and I know that the moment will have to end soon.

As we continue our hike back to the camp, we hold hands again and I have given up needing an excuse to. I know what we did is forbidden and Papa would hate it if he knew, but for the first time, perhaps Kai really loves me the way love was in the Old World.

     ‘Wait,’ I say, stopping once more and letting go of his hand. ‘You’ve been acting like my older brother for almost the entire time I’ve known you, then you have a dream and you want to be with me? I don’t understand!’

     He looks at me and to my surprise, laughs!

     ‘Arys, the first time I saw you, I fell in love with you! You’re the reason I stayed in this tribe, and I-’

     I begin to ask questions but he stops me and carries on talking. 

     ‘No, not the kind of love that means sacrificing yourself’, he says. ‘But the kind of where you’re all I think about and I want to be with you all the time; to laugh with you and to be there when you cry.  Maybe to you I just look like your protector, or brother even, but Arys, I am in love with you and I’m not letting anyone get in the way of that. Not Zeke, or Iris, or even Papa. Only you can, and it’s taken me this long to realise that!’

     I try to say something, but no words come. So I kiss him once more.

     ‘I love you,’ I tell him, my arms around him again.

     ‘I love you, too,’ he responds.

     Finally those three words mean the thing I’ve wanted to say, to hear, for years. Nobody has to know about our motive behind them words at camp. No one has to know until I turn eighteen. Men only marry when their predefined woman turns eighteen. Lucky for me, Iris is only three months older than me and perhaps Kai can avoid that.

    We get back into camp just as the sun is about to rise, and there is a light mist in the air. We stopped holding hands twenty minutes ago, in case anyone on the night watch was patrolling. As we reveal ourselves, we’re greeted by everyone on the night watch, including Papa. He hurries us both into his tent to get the details of what happened. It takes roughly ten minutes to give him all the made-up details, leaving out the journey back and Kai’s dream. Kai did most of the talking, but let me describe the deer hunt. He says that we came across Hunters upon reaching the lake and had to find another way back to the temporary camp, which is why we’re back so late. When Kai finishes explaining what supposedly happened, Papa hugs me tightly. He’s wise; he’s lived many years and matched so many people. He will know love when he sees it, so I try not to look at Kai too often. He believes that Old World love is bad; a weakness because in this world, Old World love often results in death. The pain was so great for him that no one dares love like they did in the Old World anymore. We separate and after seeing Papa again, I know that there’s  little chance Kai and I can be together anymore. The joy that was there less than half an hour ago has faded, making my heart feel torn. I know Papa loves me and wants the best for me, the best being Zeke who I can never love in the Old World meaning. This protects me from being hurt like Papa. He once said to me
‘Emotional pain is far worse than any pain a blade can inflict’.

     After assuring Papa for the final time that I’m alright, I make my way to my tent and collapse, exhausted, onto the blankets, ignoring the feeling of my empty stomach twisting uncomfortably.

I get a few hours of sleep before being woken by everyone leaving the tent. We’re to have a quick breakfast of dried fruit and cold meat, before packing down everything and hopefully today, finding a new semi-permanent camp for the next month. Rubbing my eyes, I open the flap of the tent to see the majority of the Tribe already up, some even beginning to pack up everything. The hopeful mood that I had last night has now shattered, and I feel even worse knowing that my love with Kai is even more painful now I know that despite him returning the affections, we can’t even be together. To make matters worse, Zeke sits across the fire pit winking at me. Ignoring him, I take a seat next to Kai.

     ‘Morning,’ he grunts, not in an unfriendly tone.

     ‘Someone looks like they made an enormous failure at their hunt last night,’ Zeke jokes.

     ‘He’s been at it all night,’ Kai groans.

     ‘What was it you returned with? Two rabbits?’ Zeke laughs.

     Iris and several of the other teenagers join in laughing at us.

     ‘Ignore him,’ Malc says, offering us both some dried apple. ‘You couldn’t have caught anything. Sophia and Richard managed to capture a buck. He went straight into their trap over a mile from you. The herd was far from the lake.’

     Eventually Zeke shuts up and everyone packs everything down to continue travelling. Papa extinguishes the fire and passes around the leftover venison. After eating it quickly, I shoulder my backpack and we travel north.

     After walking until midday, the people who ran ahead return to us all beaming. They’ve found the perfect place for a camp. It takes a lot to restrain my adventurous side and to not beg to go with the small team to start preparing the new campsite for living. Kai is sent with various other people to begin cutting down the overgrown plants, and to scout the area around it for water supplies.

     It takes another hour of walking before we all finally reach the new campsite, and everyone is instantly impressed. We walk into a massive clearing, the grass and plants now squashed into the ground, making it almost flat. Several bushes remain. It’s almost a perfect circle, lined by trees. Several trees are scattered throughout the clearing, but a lot of them will most likely be cut down and used for carving.