Migration (16 page)

After three days of continual rain, in the morning the sun rose into a perfectly clear sky and low flying swifts darted about excitedly, feeding on the insects that fluttered about in the warm dry air. The trees hung heavy with water and dripped fat droplets from their golden leaves; whilst on the ground, the grass and wild flowers smoked up delicate wisps of vapour as the sunshine slowly swept across the ground.

From her doorway, Eve watched the world silently and took occasional sips from a cooling cup of tea. She had endured three days of walking to and from the lake in the torrential rain, perching under a small canvas to keep dry whilst she watched the Chute, so it would make a pleasant change to travel a little lighter in pack and step today. She took one more sip of tea and placed her cup gently on the tilted windowsill just by the door. She would take it back in and wash it when she returned. It was too nice a morning to spend any more time indoors. Her pack was by her feet, already stocked for this morning’s vigil and leaning slightly to one side with the weight of the water. Eve slung it onto her back and gently pulled the door closed behind her, setting off automatically towards the path that would lead her back to the lake.

The ground was slippery under her feet and the forest smelt intensely of old honeysuckle and tree bark. Still wet mud, crushed blades of grass that had turned slimy with decay overnight and a thin covering of fallen leaves meant in places she had to grasp hold of nearby branches to keep her balance, sending a brief shower of water onto her face and neck each time she did. Here and there she would feel the crunch of an unfortunate snail under her foot, and despite feeling slightly foolish, felt obliged to apologise. After so many years alone in the forest, Eve spoke to pretty much every animal she came across. Even certain trees and rocks had become regular conversation partners, and as she came clear of the forest and began to climb around the skirt of the hill, the large granite rock which stuck out from the hillside like a giant arrowhead received a pat and a “good morning” just like it always did.

The Chute had been unusually silent for the last week or so and as Eve rounded the crest of the hill she could see that nothing had changed since yesterday. The lack of new Dupes had created sweeping tidemarks that contoured the now significant gap from the end of the Chute to the great mass of flesh, as the old corpses shifted under their own weight down the slope and into the lake. Eve stood for a while wondering why everything had stopped, lifting her face to meet the sun’s rays that now bathed down on her. She made the most of the sensation, knowing that with the coming winter she might have to wait several months before feeling that warmth again.

When she dropped her head and opened her eyes again, her line of sight landed perfectly on a girl sat on the opposite side of the lake, and the unexpected appearance of someone else made Eve jump visibly. After staring back for a few seconds the girl stood up slowly and Eve took her pack off her back, swinging it gently to her side so it was there if she needed it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” the girl shouted across. Her voice sounded young and gentle.

“What are you doing here?” Eve called back.

“I came down that,” she pointed to the Chute.

Eve thought about it for a moment. “Why?”

After a pause, the girl began to walk slowly around the lake, slipping slightly on the incline as she made her way towards her. Eve unzipped her pack and discreetly took the knife from amongst the bits of food and extra clothing, opened it up and slid it blade first into her jacket pocket. It took several minutes for her to walk around, and as she came nearer Eve could see that the girl was young, perhaps only fourteen or fifteen, and covered in blood and scratches. There were rips in the arms of her utility suit, perhaps from her fall down the Chute, and she was limping slightly on her left leg.

“What is this place?” she asked as she finally reached Eve, a little out of breath.

“It’s where they send the Dupes,” she answered.

“What no cremation, no burial, just here?”

“As I understand it, yes.”

“I never knew.”

Zoe thought about Sarah and looked back towards the lake, scanning the bodies that stacked up towards the waterline, before thinking better of it and turning away.

“What are you doing here?” Zoe absentmindedly looked the old lady up and down, feeling embarrassed as soon as she did it.

“I’m waiting for a friend,” she replied.

Eve noticed the small black object in Zoe’s hand, which she was holding close to her chest.

“What's that?”

“I was given it. I don’t really know yet, but I know it’s important. I have to get it back to the forest.”

“You're a Lifer? I’m not sure how you'll get there from here,” Eve said, not wanting to give away too much information until she knew who this girl really was. She clearly wasn’t a hunter, or a Drone, but she wasn’t used to finding strangers sat alone on her hillside.

On the other side of the lake, the klaxon sounded three times, its low and sombre call reverberating across the lake and around the hillsides, sending pigeons clattering out from the treetops into the empty sky. The Chute jumped into life, sending a spray of rainwater, mud and debris showering down onto the lakeside dirt and corpses that lay further away. It made its familiar, slow sweep from left to right and juddered excitedly before a gush of transit grease flooded down its smooth body and began to drip in thick, dangling ropes over the tapered end and onto the scuffed and scarred ground. They watched side by side in silence.

When the bodies came they came fast, faster than Eve had ever seen it before and she put her hand over her mouth as the grim and chaotic line of death rattled uncontrollably over the metal and down onto the earth. They came in twos and threes, great knots of men and women, all stripped of clothes but not marked with the single head wound that Eve had always seen before. These bodies were mutilated and torn, with limbs missing and cavernous holes in their bodies. Some were charred black from fire, whilst others were just twists of white and red, turned almost inside out by whatever trauma had ended them. In amongst them, unidentifiable pieces scattered and tumbled, some bouncing high in the air and into the dirt before reaching the end. The Chute was thick with blood.

After over a hundred bodies had fallen, there was a pause allowing the last few to come to a broken and twisted rest, sticking together at the top of the descent into the water. For a moment the sound of skylarks interrupted on the breeze, before one last corpse came tumbling down with a shudder from the Chute, his long grey hair stretching out like vapour behind him. They both gasped with recognition as Matthew fell, watching his beaten body crash and then slide towards the lake, before he came to rest on his back, separate from the other arrivals. The red kite tattoo on his chest looked forlornly up to the sky, its proud wings clipped to his decaying skin that now hung slackly around him, rippled and scored by the passing of time.

They both watched. They both watched in silence until there was nothing more to see.

“I’m so tired,” the girl said eventually, and let her legs fold underneath her to sit on the damp grass.

“I need to sleep so badly.”

Eve stood staring towards the Chute, her eyes barely focused now, as the girl’s words crept slowly into the moment and arranged themselves laboriously into the sentence she had spoken. She looked down at Zoe, sat at her feet.

“Not here you can’t, not here, you’ll freeze once the sun goes in. Besides, it’s not safe. This isn’t a place for you, for anyone.”

“What’s your name?” Eve held out her hand towards her.

“It’s Zoe.”

“Come on Zoe, I don't live far from here. You can stay with me until you’re rested.”

“I thought you were waiting for someone?” Zoe asked, reaching up to take it.

“Yes, I was.”

Eve felt Zoe’s soft hand slip into hers and she seemed even more like a child than when she had first walked towards her. She got to her feet with a gentle smile and, after brushing the damp from her legs and sweeping the hair from her eyes, they began to walk slowly back around the brow of the hill.

Just before it fell out of sight, Eve glanced back over her shoulder towards the Chute. She thought about the day her husband left her, full of excitement about AarBee and his future, his immortal life. She remembered the feeling of betrayal that had consumed her, that he had left her to grow old on her own and that he had not come back to her one day, somehow, like she always believed he would. She thought how strange it was that she was alive whilst he lay in the dirt by the lake with all the other corpses.

Eve felt a gentle squeeze on her hand and looked down to see Zoe staring at her. She’d forgotten that they were holding hands, and although she couldn’t hide her sorrow she did smile back. As they walked through the grass and wildflowers she told her how nice it would be to have a visitor, she didn’t get many visitors. How whilst Zoe was resting and cleaning herself up she would bake some bread and make tea, to share in front of the fire once the sun went down.

About the Author

Daniel David is a writer living and working in and around the UK.

He enjoys dancing into the small hours, walking over hills, and is frequently found with his VR googles on these days.

Daniel is on Twitter @sortofVR and on Facebook at danieldavidwriter.

If you enjoyed this book please tell your friends, review it on Amazon and buy more copies than you could ever possibly need.

Copyright 2016 Daniel David

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.