The Feeding Season

by Stoyan Stoyanov

Radator's yells followed them and it took a long while till they couldn't be heard anymore. Bars' suit was trekking farther away from the doomed boy, leaving dusty tracks in the cracked ground.

  “Why are you in such a hurry? You aren't even trying to find any slugs?” said Vestule unable to comprehend, while trying to catch up with Bars' Shell.

  “There's no sense in continuing to search here,” replied Bars. “It's only a waste of time.”

  “We're wasting our time?! Don't you realize that even if we get to the other side of those rocks, nothing’s going to change! There is just same as here, everywhere around us is a lifeless wasteland! Everyone is risking their lives for your crazy idea!”

  From the moment they left the group, Vestule's attitude had worsened with every kilometer that they drew nearer to the row of rocks. If it hadn't been Leegan's order, he would never have followed Bars this way, but now he had no choice – he was dragging his feet on purpose and taking every chance he got to berate his traveling companion.

  “We are the most screwed of all! Only two of us, without any defense, walking straight to our deaths! The Savage Shells will attack us once we get in between those rocks!” Vestule endlessly continued to complain.

  “Go back to the others, since you’re such a coward!” suggested Bars. “I'll continue on alone. I don't need you.”

  “Is that right?! So, the great Hunter has no need of my help!” said Vestule hopping angrily. “Only that it was I, who found all the food until now and not you! I should have been the one to choose the way and not you! That stupid Leegan doesn't know anything!”

  “Two or three slugs a day – that's way below the daily quota. Stop thinking so much of yourself!” replied Bars.

  “Better than nothing! You haven't even found that much yet!”

  “I'll find much more than you! We only need to get out of this damned place! Look, we are not very far from our goal!” said Bars pointing at the nearby rocks.

  The sharp pinnacles pierced the horizon, deformed by the wind that had been pouring out its wrath on these peaks for centuries. This frightening sight worried even more the scared boy.

  “In your desire to prove yourself to Leegan you're willing to risk the lives of the whole group! We're all going to die because of you!” said Vestule making one last comment before shutting up.

  “No one's going to die of starvation! I swear on my Shell!” said Bars, but that didn't achieve the desired effect.

  The Hunters continued on in silence. There was no sign of life under the burning rays of the sun except for the two tired Shells. Bars focused on a point he had chosen on the rocky horizon and headed straight for it, while his traveling companion followed him despondently. The hours passed and near the end of the day they were only a few kilometers from the first tall crags that stuck up out of the dry valley. Sunset was nearing and they stopped, to wait for the rest of the group out in the open, far from the peaks' dire shadows.

  “We're a safe distance from the rocks. We'll continue on with the main group tomorrow. Now let's get some rest.” Bars decided to nap until the rest of the boys arrived.

  “Bars? You're not going to sleep, are you?” Vestule on the other hand couldn't relax so easily. Fear wouldn't allow him to close his eyes even for a minute, since they were so close to those horrifying stones.

  “I'm trying to! I need a rest!” Bars replied grumpily.

  “You shouldn't! It's already getting dark and I can't see well! You need to take the watch until the others arrive.”

  “If you don't leave me alone for next few minutes, I'm going to pass out from fatigue and then you'll be all alone,” said Bars and closed his eyes.

  “OK!... But not for long!”

  The combination of a bad headache, fatiguing hunger and continuous dehydration created huge problems for Bars, and he felt the need for a real break. Meanwhile, questions kept popping into his mind that had no clear answers, and that added to his suffering. What awaited them there among the rocks? There was only one way to know.

  “Hey, Bars! Look over there!” Vestule wasn't able to stay quiet for long. “Something moved over there in the distance!”

  “Where?” Bars turned to look in the direction Vestule pointed out, but he didn't notice anything dangerous out there in the lifeless wastes. “I don't see anything.”

  “It was there! I'm sure that something was moving there among the shadows for a second!” continued Vestule.

  “You’re imagining things! Settle down, there's nothing to be scared of.”

  “I'm telling you, Bars, there's something there! Let's return to the group?” Vestule begged him continuing to be frightened.

  “No! It's better to stay here and wait for them. They'll catch up to us soon anyway,” Bars didn't want to waste any more energy on unnecessary walking just because his companion was paranoic. “Until then, we'll stay on guard. From here, we have a good view toward the rocks. We'll easily notice any danger, if there is any.”

  “What?! You think that I'm making it up?”

  “I know that you are a coward and that's enough for me. It was a good try to fool me with that thing in the shadows. I'm not going to give up and once the sun rises tomorrow, we'll continue on into the rocks.”

  Vestule's face, covered in a greasy sweat, turned into a mask of hate.

  “You self-confident fool!” he exploded.

  Soon doubts raised concerning unknown dangers passed. Then night fell, and the searchlights of the group, who had been wandering in the Hunters' tracks, showed over the near rise. Once they saw them, the Hunters turned on their lights to help the group get their bearings.

  Soon after that, Leegan and the rest of the group arrived. Bars noticed that the Shell of the Alpha Defender had been fully restored and only a few little scratches remained from the cruel blows that he had taken only a few hours ago. Now add to that his strengthened right arm, and Leegan looked more frightening than ever. Everyone else's Shells paled in comparison, but the most miserable looking one was Thirteen's, who arrived last.

  “We'll camp here!” declared the Alpha Defender.

  The tired boys took up their places for the night formation, silent and miserable. Thirteen tried to take a place among them, but Leegan took notice.

  “You stay outside the formation!”

  “Why? Didn't I show you that I could be a useful Mechanic?” replied Thirteen insulted.

  “You shouldn't be too close to Lem. He could cause you enough problems even with just one hand.”

  “Great!” even though he didn't want to spend another night isolated in the darkness, Thirteen had to admit that the leader was right.

  “Yazo, take the first watch!” yelled Leegan. “And don't make Gor's mistake, stay close by!”

  The night guard started quietly to walk the perimeter, while the heavy steps of his suit outlined a crooked circle around the group of tired boys. Gradually the noise of the grinding metal of his Shell sunk into the cloud of fog that covered the ground, which had come off the nearby rocky formations. Silence fell on and Bars could easily overhear what the boys were muttering before going to sleep.

  “...we're most vulnerable during the night! We shouldn't be camping here! The Savage Shells may be going soft in the head, but they wouldn't pass up an opportunity to attack us... ,” Vestule continued to murmur, instead of using his time for sleep.

  “Stop talking like that or I'll have nightmares!” complained Opatar, who had the bad luck of standing next to the frightened Hunter.

  “We need to have stronger security tonight. It's dark – no one can see anything, and then there's this thick fog! I'm telling you that it's the ideal conditions for an attack! Be ready...”

  “Stop it, Vestule!” Leegan, who also heard his chattering, reprimanded him. “I've taken care of it! No one's going to attack us tonight. Sleep calmly now!”

  “How have you taken care of it? Only Yazo is on watch, Lem isn't worth anything.
..,” that definitely caused one of the Shells to growl angrily, but Vestule continued, “and you'll sleep, instead of protecting us! There's no way that I'll be calm!”

  “Even if there are some Savage Shells around, they'll attack Radator, who we left behind, screaming curses as loud as he could. That will attract them straight to him, so shut your damn mouth! Shut up now and give us some peace!”

  Once Bars understood what might happen to Radator, he became sick.

  “You didn't finish him off before you left to follow us? Why did you leave him like that?” he asked disappointed.

  “I decided that it was for the best. In that way, he'll be useful for something in the end,” replied Leegan.

  “He was one of us! We shouldn't have left him in that way!”

  “Why didn't you fulfill his last wish, instead of turning your back on him?”

  “Because I couldn't!” Bars ground his teeth.

  “It doesn't matter whether you could or couldn't! Or whether you wanted to or not!” replied Leegan. “He chose you and you betrayed him. Do you know how long he was cursing your name? When we took off after you, we heard his screams for several kilometers!”

  The pain in Bars' head returned with a renewed and unexpected sharp pain. His brain blocked and he withdrew deep inside himself, unable to come to himself, so he just stood there stunned.

  “Now Radator is still somewhere there, abandoned alone in his crushed Shell. Begging for help that will never come! He called on you to save him from a slow death!” Leegan continued mercilessly and his every word made Bars' life more miserable and unhappy.

  Bars didn't want to listen to anymore. He pushed the Shells of the other boys out of way and without looking back headed out into the darkness.

  “Where do you think you're goin? Hey, come back here!” Thirteen yelled after him, but that didn't stop him.

  “Let him go!” Leegan stopped Yazo, who didn't know what to do. “He doesn't have anywhere to go, he'll be back sooner or later. He might even find a slug while he's gone...”

  Bars' mechanized survival suit was racing like never before and with every step he disappeared farther into the darkness. The sand beneath his heavy feet scattered in all directions, and the stones that happened to be in his path were mercilessly crushed. His raging tempo continued until he used up the last ounce of strength in his weakened body. When his strength failed, he stopped his crazy run. Bars ended up being far away from the doomed group. So far, that he couldn't hear Thirteen's screams, nor see the searchlights of their Shells. Now he just needed to gather just a little more strength to get to Radator and finish what no one else had been able to do.

  Chapter 12.