Displaced

by Drake,Stephen

  “Kevin?”

  “Yes?”

  “Thanks for the dress. It was nice, and I really do appreciate it,” she said.

  “You are most welcome,” he said. They lay silently for a while.

  “Kevin?” she asked softly.

  “Yes?”

  “Did you mean what you said?”

  “About what?”

  “About me not being an ugly hag.”

  “Rose, I know I don’t talk much, but what I say, I mean.” Murdock kissed the top of her head and held her close. “Now, go to sleep, please.”

  Soon they both were asleep.

  Murdock woke up sometime during the night and thought Beron was there. He couldn’t see him or hear him; he just had a feeling.

  “Hello, Beron,” Murdock thought, trying to communicate with the creature.

  “She has much fear,” Beron flashed. “She has much pain!”

  “Can you communicate with her?” Murdock flashed.

  “She not receptive yet. Pain and fear blocking,” Beron responded.

  “I know she’s in pain.” Murdock lay quiet.

  “Care for her you do.” The statement came to Murdock’s thoughts.

  “I guess I do,” Murdock flashed back.

  “Caution! Too much fear and pain! Danger to all!” Beron cautioned.

  “She isn’t a danger to you or your kind. I don’t feel she is a danger to me,” Murdock responded. Rose snuggled a little closer to him as she slept. I think she could be to those who did this to her, though, Murdock thought to himself.

  “Danger to all! Aware you be! Cautious!” Beron repeated.

  Murdock neither heard nor saw Beron leave. He just knew the creature had gone and that he and Rose were alone.

  Murdock looked at Rose sleeping on his shoulder. Neither had moved since they had lain down. He thought about holding her closer, but decided it might cause her pain and wake her up. She slept peacefully, and he was quite content to have her sleep on his shoulder.

  He hadn’t had much luck with women in his past, but now he hoped that would change.

  I do care for her, he finally admitted to himself.

  Murdock woke up a few hours later. Day had not quite broken yet, but the sun would rise soon. He carefully untangled himself from Rose and stirred the fire. Then he heard Rose moving around behind him.

  “We need to do something about getting blankets of some sort,” she said as she moved closer to the fire. “It gets kind of cold this early in the morning.”

  “Not to me,” Murdock said while he added more wood.

  “Well, you have more clothes than I do,” she responded. She picked up the water skin and took a long drink. “And I sure could use some coffee.”

  “Want me to run to the store and buy some?” he asked jokingly.

  “I’d really like that!” she joked back. “And on your way back, stop off at the bakery and bring me some donuts. Not too many, I have to watch my girlish figure!”

  Murdock chuckled and glanced over at her. “You didn’t remove your dress last night! Now, it’s all wrinkled!”

  “I’ll just have to iron it, then.”

  They both laughed.

  “What’s on the agenda for today?” Rose asked.

  “I don’t know about you, but I need to go hunting. I need to try to take a deer,” Murdock told her. He looked over at her and saw her disappointment.

  “How long will you be gone?” she asked quietly.

  “I don’t really know. I need to scout an area first. Could take a day or it could take a week.”

  “How far away is the area you have in mind?”

  “Not far. I could get there in a few hours, probably. The problem lies in the fact that I need to scout the area to see when the deer come through, and it’s too far to check three or four times a day.”

  “Can’t I come with you?” she asked quietly while looking into the flames of the fire.

  Murdock didn’t answer her right away. He could tell by her tone that she really didn’t want to be left alone. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone either, but he saw little choice. Besides, he was hoping for information from Beron on the deer and their habits. He had no idea how he would explain Beron to her. In his eyes, Beron was a majestic creature, but Rose might see him as a threat and do something stupid. Beron’s warning during the night jumped to the forefront of his thoughts.

  “If you come with me, you’ll have to follow a few rules,” he said finally.

  “What rules?” she asked.

  “If I tell you to do something, do it immediately and without argument. If you want to discuss it later, we can, but not when I tell you. Can you do that?” he asked.

  “I think so,” she responded.

  “Even though you’re going with me, I need to do the scouting alone. We’ll find a campsite and you’ll stay there.”

  “That sounds fine to me. I just don’t want to be alone for days and days.” Rose’s spirits seemed to lift a little.

  “Besides, if I happen to get lucky, I’m going to need help hauling the deer back here. Maybe it would be a good idea for you to come along. It would be a good opportunity for your first training in survival.”

  “When did you want to leave?” Rose asked.

  “We’ll leave later in the day today. We need to get some things together before we leave, and I want to get to the area and have camp set just before dark.”

  “Good, that will give me an opportunity to finish my dress,” she stated.

  “I thought I did finish it?” Murdock asked.

  “You finished the bottom half. Don’t you think I need a top half to the dress?”

  Murdock just grinned.

  Rose saw the grin and smiled. “Never mind the comment! Take my word for it. I do need a top half.”

  Murdock tried to look innocent. “What? I didn’t say anything,” he said, trying not to laugh.

  “Maybe not, but you were thinking it awfully loud,” she accused. “And thanks for last night. I really needed to feel safe,” she said with gratitude.

  “Not a problem,” Murdock said softly with a shrug.

  Murdock spent much of the time that day working on the spear he had fashioned. He used his eighteen-inch machete to square off the pointed end and then made a notch to hold Collier’s twelve-inch machete. He then took a small piece of rope and wrapped the end of the spear to tightly hold the machete in place.

  Rose, on the other hand, spent the day fashioning a top piece to her grass skirt that slipped over her head and hung below the waist of the bottom part.

  “What do you think?” she asked Murdock when she had finished it and tried it on.

  “I think you look like a hay stack,” he said, looking up from his work on the spear. “Or is it just stacked? I can never remember which,” he said, smiling.

  Rose smiled at his attempt at humor.

  When they had everything that Murdock thought they might need, they set off down the path. Murdock stopped at the stream. They both drank from the water skin, and Murdock refilled it with fresh water.

  “If you see any wild veggies, don’t stop to collect them without letting me know,” he told her while they rested.

  “Okay. So, you’re saying I can stop you when I need to?”

  “We can stop whenever you need to. Just let me know, and I’ll stop. You’re the one determining the pace,” he explained. “I just don’t want to stop some time and turn around and you aren’t there. This has to be a team effort.”

  Rose nodded.

  Murdock had in mind to hunt the deer near the end of the bower, but he wanted to make camp closer to the foot of the mountain and as far from the dread feeling area, as he thought of it, as feasible. They reached the end of the bower just before sun-down. Then they backtracked until Murdock found a campsite that he was comfortable with and that provided the necessary cover.

  “We’re here,” Murdock announced finally and started removing some of the gear.

&
nbsp; “Good! I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to be satisfied with a campsite,” Rose said as she dropped the gear she was carrying and stretched her muscles.

  “How are you doing?” Murdock asked, making preparations for the camp fire.

  “I’m still pretty sore,” she explained, “but I’ll live. I’m not used to all the exercise. Anything I can do to help?”

  “You can gather some dry firewood, but don’t go too far. Just keep your wits about you, and you should be fine.” He watched her as she wandered around looking for wood. He thought she swayed gracefully, like tall grass in a breeze, when she walked.

  “Is this enough wood?” Rose asked as he came to help her with her load.

  “For now. We’ll both go again before it gets too dark,” he replied.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked, dropping the wood close to the fire.

  “Yeah, I am,” he said as he put some of his load of wood on the fire, laying the rest beside it.

  “Here you go.” She produced some of the left-over fish from the night before. She had hidden it under her skirt, tied with a piece of rope.

  “Thanks,” he exclaimed as he accepted it. “That was ingenious of you, but we need to conserve as much rope as we can. No place to buy more.”

  “I didn’t use any of the rope that we brought with us,” she said. “I made it from the excess grass for my top.”

  Murdock was shocked. “Can I see it?” he asked.

  Rose pulled out the rope that she had carried the fish on.

  “I am impressed,” he said as he inspected it closely. “I wondered what we were going to use for rope when what we have runs out.”

  “It was no big deal,” Rose said, smiling. “I did learn to braid as a kid, and this seemed the way to do it.”

  Murdock pulled on the small piece of rope. It appeared very strong.

  “Very good, Rose,” he said as he handed it back to her. “Looks like you’re going to be our little rope maker.”

  Rose giggled, “I like having a useful skill; one that others will need, even if they don’t realize it yet.”

  Murdock felt good about it, too. At least now she could feel as if she was contributing, which might help her to get over her attack.

  Later, when they both went out to gather wood together, Murdock used the chore as a training tool. He explained to her that he wanted her to walk as softly as she could, avoiding twigs or sticks, and not slipping on anything that would make noise and give away their position. Rose did the best she could. She seemed eager to please Murdock.

  “How did I do, Kevin?” she asked when they had gathered as much wood as they could carry and were heading back to the fire.

  “Not too bad, for someone who has never had to be quiet in the woods,” he answered. He glanced over at her and saw her beaming. “With practice, you could get quite good at it.” She puffed up a little more with pride. “Any walks we take should be an opportunity to practice, if speed isn’t an issue.”

  When they were back at the fire, they both dumped their loads. Rose stood by the fire, grinning. She seemed quite pleased with herself. “That good, huh?” she asked.

  “Who knows, you might replace me as the hunter!” he said, trying hard not to smile.

  “I might,” she exclaimed.

  “Then I can stay home, and you can do all the tramping around in the woods.”

  “Oh, you,” she said as she slapped his upper arm.

  Murdock started laughing, which in turn made her laugh. They both were laughing hard before long. That was when Murdock became aware of the sound of her laughter and found that he liked it; hers wasn’t the kind of laughter that grated on his nerves.

  When they had calmed down, Murdock loaded up the fire with wood and found a comfortable spot to sleep upwind and somewhat close to the fire. Rose got another drink of water and found her own spot. She reclined at an angle to Murdock, and if she stretched out her hand, she could touch his face. They both lay quiet for a while.

  “Kevin?” Rose inquired after lying still for a while, watching the flames.

  “Yes?” he responded without opening his eyes.

  “Did you stare at me when I couldn’t see?” she asked.

  “Every second of every day,” he responded, eyes still shut.

  “You did?” she asked, shocked. She had gotten up on her forearms and lay on her stomach, looking at him.

  “Yup, I spent all my time leering at you with terrible perverted thoughts running through my head!”

  “Oh, you did not,” she stated loudly.

  “Are you sure?” he asked with a smirk. He had opened his eyes just enough to see her expression.

  “Yeah, I’m positive,” she said emphatically. “You said you didn’t before, and you haven’t lied to me yet.”

  “No, I haven’t lied to you . . . , yet. So, you’re saying that I’m such a saintly gentleman that the sight of a naked, helpless, desirable woman had no effect on me?”

  Rose smirked. “Well, saying you’re saintly is a bit of a stretch,” she said as she looked sideways at him. “More like a doctor. I needed one, and you were the closest thing to a real doctor I’m likely to ever see again in my lifetime.”

  “Thanks for the compliment! I’m sure all the other women I used to leer at and lust after would be glad to hear that I’ve changed my evil ways.”

  “How many women?” she asked after a pause.

  “Well, if you lined them all up front to back, the line would go for miles and miles!”

  Rose was silent for a long time, and Murdock tried hard not to laugh.

  “Kevin, why is it I feel a distinctive tug on my leg?” was all she asked.

  They both drifted off to sleep with smiling faces.

  #

  When quite a number of days had passed and Murdock didn’t show, Whittier, Burns, and Metzger relaxed considerably. In the interim, Whittier had solidified his position by cracking down more on the rest of the group with a series of decrees. One of the first was the establishment of the Ruling Council, a body to determine the future projects and requirements for the colony. The body was mainly staffed by Whittier’s favorites and classified all clothing as “essential resources,” thereby confiscating all of them, and required everyone to keep all water skins filled. The Council also cut all rations in half to help preserve the food for winter. The Ruling Council was, of course, exempt from these decrees.

  Whittier was sitting in the only chair in the pod, absentmindedly twirling and spinning a knife in one hand while a naked Krysia Oblonski slowly massaged his shoulders; Burns and Metzger were talking to Whittier.

  “We’re going to run out of food soon,” Burns stated. “We’re all eating, and nothing else is coming in. I’m open to suggestions.”

  “I think they’re all too fat as it is,” Whittier proclaimed through closed eyes. “If they want to eat, let them find fish or eat grass or dirt or something.”

  “But what about us?” Metzger asked while leering at Krysia openly.

  “If they find some other food, confiscate it,” Whittier commanded. “If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else. Let them go to Murdock!”

  “I don’t think this is working,” Burns offered cautiously. “We need fishermen and hunters to get us more food. We need shelters built. What are we going to do about winter? None of us know anything about those things.”

  “I doubt anyone will live past the summer. They’re all too weak.” Whittier stated. “The weak have to make way for the strong. Metzger, I want you to organize a hunting party. Find a deer or something. If you don’t, you could be the one on the roasting spit!”

  “How are we going to do that?” Metzger asked. “I have no idea how to hunt or how to clean an animal!”

  “Don’t bother me with details, Metzger. Just do it. Burns, I want you to get a team together to design and build some sort of shelter.”

  “But —,” Burns started to object.

  “You going to give me
guff, too, Burns?” Whittier growled loudly, firmly gripping the knife. “It isn’t easy to rule this group. I can’t be expected to know everything. I do know that if people don’t start succeeding in the tasks given, I’ll eliminate them and find someone who can. I want all food that is prepared to be brought to me first. Then anyone who wants to eat has to ask me for the favor. Same goes for the water. Now!”

  Metzger and Burns hurried out.

  “I think we may have backed the wrong guy,” Burns stated after they were outside and out of earshot of the pod.

  “You think someone else would have been better?” Metzger asked as he gathered up all the water skins.

  “Murdock did get fish and that other animal that was hanging, all without any help from anyone else,” Burns said, helping to gather the water skins.

  “Don’t let Whittier hear you say that,” Metzger warned. “Ever since the Rose incident, I don’t think we have any choice in the matter.”

  “You and I have no choice, but the rest do,” Burns urged.

  “Give me those,” Metzger commanded. “You go ask around and see who has some skill with hunting or fishing.” He took the water skins into the pod.

  Metzger entered the pod, put the water skins where Whittier could reach them, and turned to leave.

  “One moment, Metzger,” Whittier said. “I noticed you leering at my little toy here.” With his free hand Whittier guided Krysia around in front of him. Then he started to carve a “W” into her upper left breast. Krysia whimpered a little as Whittier carved. “This is to let you know. Any woman with this mark in this spot,” Whittier pointed to Krysia’s breast and the carved letter, “belongs to me. That means you can’t have her unless I say so. Clear?”

  “Yes, it’s clear,” Metzger responded, anger and frustration tinging his remarks.

  “You can go now,” Whittier said dismissively.

  Even though Metzger was strangely excited watching Whittier carve on Krysia, he knew deep down that they were all in trouble and that Burns could be right about backing the wrong man. Too late for that now, he thought as he hit the bottom of the ramp.

  8

  When Murdock woke up, he estimated it to be an hour or so before dawn. He got to his feet, took a drink of water, grabbed his spear, and gathered the other gear he thought he might need. He hesitated when he came to the rope. I better take it, just in case, he thought as he began draping it across his body. Just as he was about to head out, Rose woke up.