“Do something!” I screamed to Deshi, who was standing there, mouth open wide in shock. He didn’t move. I ran to Deshi and almost threw Hessa at him in my haste, scanning the area for some kind of weapon. There was nothing, just grass and rubble.
I decided I would just have to try to pull or kick it off. As I approached, Joseph yelled at me, “Get back!”
I wasn’t going to watch him get mauled to death. I kept coming. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I clenched my fists, ready to jump, when something flew past me and landed on the beast. It squealed, but kept snapping despite the stick protruding from its abdomen. I could see blood, but I couldn’t tell whether it was Joseph’s or the creatures, a mess of black spots and yellow fur, solid and really strong, with only a stump of a tail. I looked at the long, carved spear waggling around as Joseph wrestled with it. Where had it come from?
My question was answered as a tall girl with reddish blonde hair walked towards the cat-like beast, pulled the spear out, and stabbed it again, using the crude weapon as a lever to throw it off Joseph’s body. I ran to him. He was alive but badly scratched and cut up. We both watched as she punctured the agonized creature again and again, blood oozing out of several wounds. It twitched and writhed one last time, a strangled yeow escaping its jaws as it died. Its tongue grotesquely hung out of its feral mouth.
She turned to face us and I recognized her immediately. I recalled her crazed face as she stabbed that poor White Coat through the eye. She didn’t look hysterical or feral anymore but there was a wildness to her I didn’t trust.
I noticed she was no longer pregnant. Her stomach was flat, as mine used to be. She was wearing tight, shiny pants and a low-cut top that barely contained her breasts. I suddenly felt conscious of my own appearance. Looking down at my round form sticking out of my grey cotton uniform I felt stumpy and ugly.
“Thank you,” I managed to stammer. I envied her lithe body as she took quick steps towards us and introduced herself.
“I’m Careen.” She shook her strawberry hair, the bloody spear still gripped tightly in one hand. We cringed away from her as she approached. “Sorry,” she muttered as she dropped the spear with a clank.
“You’re from the facility, right? I remember your face from the clearing. How’d you get here?” I said, trying to sound unthreatening.
Careen regarded me with a slow face, her mouth twisting into a broad smile. But I could tell she didn’t recognize me. She bent down and pulled a knife from her hip. She talked as she worked, slowly carving the animal into small pieces, teasing the rough fur hide away from the muscle, and skillfully managing to keep it in one piece.
The knife scraped against bone, a sound that itched my teeth. “How was that purple smoke?” she said with her head down, “Weird, right?” I nodded. She tucked her hair behind her ear and paused, “Pretty colors though.”
Joseph chuckled, “Yeah, we paid particular attention to making it look pretty.”
I gave him a scornful look for mocking her and he put his arms up. “No really, that was all Desh.”
Deshi grinned proudly. “Well, why create something that sophisticated and not make it aesthetically pleasing?”
Careen looked up from the carcass, narrowed her eyes for a second, and then blinked it away. “Anyway, I didn’t know what was going on but, I guess, I must have known in my…” She pointed to the back of her head.
“Subconscious?” I volunteered.
She arched one perfect eyebrow at me. “If you say so.”
“I saw you run into the forest…I…” I started to say but she cut me off.
“Yeah I ran. I ran forever, for miles and miles. The white coats were searching during the day so I climbed trees to avoid them and at night, I just kept running.” She separated parts of the carcass into piles, her hands covered in dark blood. “I was like you,” she pointed to my belly and shrugged, “but I didn’t know.” Her voice was light as air and she didn’t seem upset when she said, “I buried it next to a nice tree. It was only this big,” she indicated by pointing from her outstretched thumb to her finger how small it was.
I felt my stomach roll and my heart strain in sympathy at the thought of her delivering a baby on her own.
She leaned back on her heels and smiled. “So do you hunt? I hunt. I can help you,” she said eagerly.
“You’ve already helped, Careen. You saved my life,” Joseph said gratefully.
She stood and kicked her hip out, running her hand down his arm, she said, “Anytime, handsome.”
Joseph regarded his arm with newfound fascination and then looked to me with his eyebrows raised.
I clenched my fists trying to get a handle on this odd girl. It was getting dark. I interrupted their little moment. “We’d better find the others; it’s about time to meet.”
Careen collected the meat and piled the dark flesh into the skinned hide. All that was left behind was a disgusting pile of guts and bones. I felt sick but I kept it down.
Hessa fell asleep despite his scratches. The cradle I built acted as a protective cage around his delicate body.
I helped Joseph to his feet and we made our way back to the statue, Careen walking next to Joseph, swinging the skin and meat by her side like she was carrying a shopping bag.
When we arrived, Apella and Alexei had already built a fire. Apella had her face buried in her hands. She was crying silently.
“I don’t understand. They should be here,” she said, unaware we were standing right there, listening.
“We are here,” Joseph bellowed. He looked scary, crusted blood streaks across his face, blond hair matted. His shirt was torn to shreds and his arms were scratched.
Apella jumped. I got the feeling she wasn’t talking about us. “Goodness! What happened to you two?” she exclaimed, quickly following it up with, “Where’s Hessa? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine,” I said. Apella got out her pack and searched around for a suture kit.
“Wow! You’ve got your own doctor! Lucky,” Careen said excitedly. She was weird. She said it like, ‘Wow! You got the last piece of cake! Lucky.’ She seemed to get excited about the wrong things.
I introduced Careen to Apella and Alexei, explaining how she had saved us from the creature. Careen then dumped the remnants of the ugly cat by the fire. Apella left my face half-stitched up and turned to Careen, clasping both hands around the surprised girl’s own dirty ones saying, “Are you one of them?” Apella’s eyes were desperately hopeful. Careen looked at her, not confused exactly; her eyes were wide and mirroring Apella’s excitement like she couldn’t form her own reaction.
Joseph spoke before I could, “What are you on about, Apella? She’s one of us; she came from the facility.” Apella’s mouth snapped shut but it was too late for her to cover herself with more lies. I’ve never seen Joseph so angry before, he held his face close to hers, his eyes intense as she leaned backwards in fear. We’d all had enough of them lying. Alexei went to assist, but Deshi held him back.
“I, I…” she stuttered, “I’m sorry. There were rumors that there were people here. Survivors from before the Woodlands were built. I was hoping we would find them and get some help.”
Joseph released her from his gaze. “I didn’t think you were that naive, Apella. There’s no one here. There hasn’t been anyone here for hundreds of years.” He waved her off dismissively. She returned to stitching me up shakily and then Joseph reluctantly let her see to his wounds.
“What have you got there?” Alexei inquired, pointing at the pile of meat and fur. He used a stick to lift the hide, its hollowed-out face looking even scarier now than when it was alive. Its over-sized, pointed ears, no longer sitting upright, curled down over its forehead, looking like the top of them had been lightly dipped in black ink. Inspecting the pattern of the fur, he typed things into his reader. “A lynx, strong, cat-like animal, jumps down on its prey from above. Hunts alone.” I didn’t need a reader to tell me that.