by Ky Tyrand
Confident that she could draw it back out again if she were attacked by another white-eyed zombie dude, or flying dragon, or – or what? … a werewolf? … an army of Leprechauns?... Tonya Henderson and her stupid friends? Bring it on – Lexi slid the plasma back into the rod and looked up at the strange tree that was now standing in the middle of the creek.
Of all the weird things that she’d encountered in the past couple of days, this was by far the weirdest.
Even Daryl Dixon would crap his pants if he killed a zombie and it turned into a tree.
Lexi glanced around for any signs of movement – anything whatsoever – before taking a cautious step toward the tree. She swore it was a baby version of the tree she had slept in last night.
The girl felt exposed standing out in the open, and was anxious to get to cover. But she was so curious …
She checked the trail, wondering if there were any more white-eyed zombies following her. Didn’t appear to be. But they were sneaky.
Her eyes went to the sky, curious to know if the coward dragon would return now that the zombie was dead, or … whatever he was. Planted?
She even looked to the trees for monkeys, and the shallow creek for mermaids and two-headed sharks.
Wait …
She did see something in the water.
It looked dark, the size of a football, bobbing down the current.
Lexi couldn’t tell what it was. God, I wish I had my glasses!
She tried to look through her hand, but it was moving too fast to make heads or tails of.
Screw it! Lexi splashed through the water after it, drawing the blade of energy out of the Imperative Rod as she got close. It could be a fish.
Her stomach growled at the notion, and she had to refrain from pouncing.
The girl’s heart sank when she got close enough to see what it was, and put her foot on the object to stop it.
A boot. A big old leather boot.
Lexi stared at it for a moment, wishing it was a fish. “You don’t even like fish,” she reminded herself.
She stepped on the edge of the sole to tip it up. It was actually in good shape. Lexi frowned. If only it was ten sizes smaller, and not worn by a zombie. She poked it with the tip of the energy blade, watching it sizzle with a hiss of steam.
She immediately stopped, looking upstream at the tree.
The light of her rod blinked out, and she reached down to pick up the leather boot. Sodden with water, it was much heavier than it looked, but Lexi was too excited to care.
Her heart sped up as she neared the tree. She wasn’t sure if it was from anticipation, or fear.
It was so strange. There were no signs whatsoever that this tree was once a man; that the branches and roots were limbs only moments ago, except …
Yes!
Lexi saw what she was looking for.
The other boot was pushed up against the side of the tree, held in place by the current. This one was a little worse for wear, with the top split open and one of the buckles snapped. But it was still better than nothing.
And then she spotted the rest of his clothes, mostly torn and tangled within the branches.
His pants were ripped apart in a terrible way, despite how strong the fabric looked. Like canvas or denim, only brown.
The leather vest was higher up, with branches growing through the armholes, having split open at the stitches.
Lexi dropped the first boot beside the other, letting the water pin it into place. Grabbing hold of the fabric from the pants, she pulled on it, expecting it to tear free. It was stronger than she thought, though, and she had to chomp down on the Imperative Rod to gain the use of her other hand. Even with the extra leverage, Lexi wasn’t able to tear it free.
Still worn out, the girl didn’t have the strength to fight it.
What a perfect time to test the Imperative Rod.
Lexi pulled it out of her teeth and concentrated on drawing the energy to one end. The tip lit up.
She touched it to the fabric, not exactly sure what it would do.
As it turned out, the blue plasma didn’t seem to have much effect at all. There was a bit of steam from the moisture, but it didn’t cut the fabric like Lexi was expecting it to.
Hmmm.
It had plunged right into the zombies like they weren’t even there.
Does it only work on creepy bearded white-eyed zombie guys?
The strange thing was Lexi could feel a strong connection between herself and the energy. Pulling it in and out of the Imperative Rod seemed easy now that she knew how to do it. But there was more to it than just moving it around. It was as if she could feel each and every particle of energy, both independently, and as a whole. And the more she concentrated on them, the more she realized that she could speed the particles up …
Steam turned to smoke.
Lexi jumped when she realized she was burning through the fabric, right into the bark of the strange new tree.
Hah, she laughed, taking hold of the fabric and pulling large chunks away, searing the edges from areas that were stuck around branches and into the bark. Lexi experimented a little with her control over the speed of the particles, finding the balance between too much and too little heat. It was fascinating, but decided she best not get lost in her curiosity or another spooky something would surely sneak up on her. So she quickly pulled away the largest pieces of fabric she could find, before eyeing up the leather vest.
After her experience last night, Lexi was not at all excited about the idea of climbing a tree. Especially one that had been a vicious monster only a few moments ago. But, unlike the torn pieces of pant fabric, the leather vest was still mostly intact. She wanted it.
So, after releasing the plasma back into the Imperative Rod, Lexi bit down on it and began to climb. She had to be careful. The branches were wet and slippery, and so were her hands and feet. Thankfully, it was nowhere near as high as she had to scale yesterday. But it was just as frightening for some reason. After all, this tree had tried to eat her.
Not to mention, her muscles were still sore and weak. Yet, despite the lack of calories and rest, she actually found it easier to pull herself up today.
When she got herself into a good position, Lexi lit up the alien rod and sliced out the biggest piece of leather that she could salvage. She took care not to drop it – the last thing she wanted was to chase it down the down the creek – and flopped it over the branches as she carefully made her way down.
In no time at all, Lexi was back in the water, lugging the wet gear to the other side of the creek.
She half expected to find a trail here, like there had been on the other side. But that wasn’t the case. There was a grove of yellow bamboo that started right at the water’s edge, thick enough with green leaves that she couldn’t see how far back it went. The culms were various sizes, but mostly about the same diameter as her arms, and tightly spaced. It was the last place anybody would want to travel through.
Perfect, Lexi thought to herself, as she began weaving herself through the columns, with the boots and leather in tow.
Lexi Robinson was skinny. Too skinny. And after her pact with Parma, she had become downright unhealthy. A scrawny waif.
It left her feeling terribly weak most of the time, but allowed her to wiggle between columns of bamboo that dragons and zombies would be much too big to get through. In fact, if it weren’t for the alien device in her mouth – which kept forcing her to turn her head to the side – and the boots that she was trying to bring with her, Lexi probably could have charged right through the grove.
But she had no clothes, and no shoes, and was not about to leave this stuff behind. When she got far enough into the grove that she could no longer drag the boots between the stems, Lexi set them down and lit up the Imperative Rod.
The plasma end didn’t have any difficulty cutting through the hollow culms of bamboo. If she wanted, Lexi could have stampeded through the brush, swinging the rod from side to side like a machete
, and cleared a path in no time at all.
But this was surgery.
These shoots of bamboo were strong on their own. Impossible to hack through without a blade of some kind. And from what Lexi had seen, those bearded zombies didn’t seem bright enough to chop it down.
She wanted to get to the thickest part of the grove in a way that wouldn’t allow anyone – or anything – to follow. So she removed as few culms as possible, cutting them as high up as she could step over. For all she knew, the two-headed sharks kept company with three-headed crocodiles. The more barricades, the better. In fact, every time she cut one down, Lexi would sneak herself and her gear past, and then wedge the offcut diagonally through the columns behind her.
Anything bigger than an eighty-pound girl is NOT invited.
Finally satisfied that she was far enough in to be safe from anything but a ghost or a direct nuclear attack, Lexi began chopping out a clearing.
She figured that it was still early afternoon, and despite wanting to get to the ocean and reach civilization and immediate rescue, the girl had no confidence whatsoever in being able to find a better location than this to get some rest and dry out her plunder.
13
Lexi quickly discovered that she held the best survival tool ever created. In a matter of minutes, she had a good size clearing that would have been riddled with short bamboo stumps, were she not able to cut the bases down flush with the ground – thank you Imperative Rod that cuts through dirt and bamboo like b-u-t-t-e-r!
She could slice through the thickest culms in a single pass, allowing her to make good use of the lengths left over from her clearcutting.
But, first things first: Fire.
The ground under the bamboo forest was blanketed in a thick layer of dried leaves and what almost looked like corn husks. After clearing a patch away, right down to the dirt, Lexi brought the driest of it back and made a tinder pile that also included smaller bamboo pieces from the tops of her cuttings. She still felt sore from trying to get a fire started yesterday, but this time …
She drew the blue light out of the tip of the Imperative Rod, waiting until it was tucked into the middle of the tinder pile before speeding the energy particles. Almost instantly she saw smoke, and then flame.
Much easier!
Lexi lopped some larger pieces from her collection, and set them on the flame. The fire began to crackle. The bamboo was hollow, so she figured it would burn quickly. But the girl had a lot of it, and didn’t want the fire getting too big anyway.
Step 2 (or was it 3? Was step 1 finding a fortified spot? … or maybe making a clearing? No. Fire. Step 1 is fire. That’s the rule … Isn’t it?)
Step 2-ish: Dry the clothes.
Lexi didn’t have any clothes.
What she was wearing didn’t count. And it was so humid here that even after the creek water dried off, it was replaced by sweat.
Nevertheless, Lexi wanted the boots, and leather, and brown fabric to dry. So, she propped up an A-frame – no, more like a tri-pod – of bamboo that she could set over the fire. She stretched the fabric around it, utilizing branches that were on the bamboo stalks to help hold things in place.
She set the boots as close to the fire as she could without setting them ablaze.
Step 3-ish: Get some water.
Lexi didn’t feel thirsty, but with all the sweating she was doing, the girl knew she needed to drink something.
It hadn’t rained since yesterday, so getting enough off the leaves would be a challenge.
The creek seemed so clean and refreshing that she was tempted to drink it straight-up. But the thought of parasites and zombie pee was too much to ignore.
She needed to boil it first.
How am I supposed to do that?
The bamboo.
Lexi had always assumed that bamboo shoots were hollow all the way through. Turns out, the tubes were closed off in sections, forming separate chambers every few inches.
All she had to do was slice it in just the right places and … bammo, she had a cup.
The girl frowned at her creation. It would make a perfect drinking cup, but wouldn’t hold much water. She considered the difficulty of wiggling back to the stream, and decided she needed to find a way to carry, and boil, much more water in order to make it worthwhile.
The answer came to her while fiddling with the Imperative Rod. Lexi could make the energy blade extend out at least two feet beyond the end of the handle. So that was how long she would make her cup.
She sliced another length from her lumber pile.
It took her two tries to get her creation right. Lexi didn’t have the rod straight enough the first time, and ended up burning through the side near the bottom. The girl growled in frustration before dicing it down into smaller pieces for the fire.
Back to the wood pile.
This time, Lexi took more care lining the rod up with the bamboo before activating the plasma, and … pop, pop, pop, pop – the energy beam burned through all but one of the nodes, joining the cavities into a long pipe with a cap at the bottom.
Perfect.
Satisfied that it would work, Lexi was off to the creek.
The trip was much easier without having to drag the wet boots and leather with her. The only difficult part was pulling out all the diagonal cross pieces that she’d wedged above each stump. She wished she hadn’t made them so tight. Worth it, though, if it meant not getting bit by a zombie.
When she finally made it back to the water, Lexi was surprised that the lone tree growing in the middle of the creek was already beginning to look green. The girl pulled out her special magnifying device – A.K.A.: right hand – to get a better look.
Whoa. It was full of leaf buds. And the tree looked … bigger than it had when she’d climbed it.
This place is weird.
Something darted by her feet, making Lexi jump.
What was that? …Water moccasin? ...Zombie boot? …Baby mermaid?
Lexi hopped back onto the shore. She set down the tube of bamboo and lit up the Imperative Rod.
“You’re not eating me, today,” she warned it.
There it was again … Holy crap – it’s a fish!
Lexi definitely did not love the taste of fish, but was terribly hungry and knew that her father would not be impressed if she didn’t at least try to catch it. So, she splashed into the water after it, jabbing into the creek bed with the beam of blue plasma. The fish swam off, leaving the girl ravenous and thankful that she hadn’t electrocuted herself with the alien device. She had no idea what the energy within the rod consisted of, but knew that water and electricity didn’t mix. Luckily for her, whatever the blade was didn’t seem to be affected by it.
Who cares – that was a fish!
14
Step 3.5: Forget about water and catch a fish!
No fishing line. No hooks. No net. No idea how to fish.
Lexi had gone fishing with her dad before. Once.
She was eight. Maybe nine. She remembered it being fun for the first ten minutes, going out on the water in the little motor boat, wearing a great big puffy lifejacket. It was just her and her dad.
I wish you were here now, Daddy. I promise not to complain and keep asking how long until we’re done!
Lexi forced herself to not think about home.
There has to be a way to catch fish with this alien stick. Or maybe I can make a spear with the bamboo. Or … a trap … yes, a trap!
Maybe she could make something that a fish would swim into and get stuck. The one thing Lexi did remember her dad saying was that fish liked shady areas, around weeds and stuff. There was nowhere like that nearby, but she had all of this bamboo …
Without much of a plan to speak of, Lexi began lopping some of the smaller bushes down. She cut a piece, not much longer than a foot and a half, and shaved the end at an angle – the best point she could get out of a hollow tube – and then jammed it into the pebbly creek bed, right beside the shore. It went in far en
ough to stay securely upright, even with the current pushing against it.
But Daddy always said that fish were stronger than they looked.
With that thought in mind, Lexi pulled a decent sized rock from the water and used it to tap the bamboo spike down deeper. Now were talking.
She cut a bunch more, staking them side by side until they formed a large horseshoe shape. Lexi wasn’t sure if the gaps were too big or not. How big is a fish? She knew that they were wiggly, and hoped they couldn’t slip through. The girl got wondering if the uprights would spread if a strong fishy tried to push between them near the surface. So she took some of the thin branches from the bamboo stems and did a little zigzag basket weave around the top.
Satisfied that it was much sturdier, Lexi went to work on the door, which would be nothing more than two sides that angled into the horseshoe in kind of a V-shape, with only a small opening at the tip. The intention was that the fish would go in through the funnel, and then wouldn’t be able to figure out how to escape.
Are fish any smarter than zombies?
The girl had no bait, but wondered if the creek dwellers would enjoy the delicacy of … wait for it … bamboo leaves!
She jammed some leafy stems into the middle of the trap, hoping they looked more appealing to fish than they did to her. A few more branches on the top for a shady roof and – presto: A beautiful fish gazebo.
Surely the smart fish would spot the trap a mile away. But the dumb ones…?
Fingers crossed.
Okay, back to step 3.
Lexi picked up her water bottle and dunked it in the stream, watching it glug bubbles out the end. When it was full, she tipped it up and made her way back into the bamboo thicket. The water tube was just heavy enough to be awkward, especially while carrying the Imperative Rod.