by Al K. Line
Woof. Woof, woof.
Leel dashed ahead and turned left at a junction where a motorcycle lay abandoned. How she wished they could hop on and ride away. But such means of transport were impossible. Fuel went bad after a few years unless it was stored carefully, and nothing would start however much you wished it would.
Ah. Hmm. Arcene scanned the street Leel had picked, and looked for a likely home. Many of these were still standing. Buildings that were old when construction finished, built with love and care, attention to details. Not made of flimsy materials and done to maximize profit. Most had an attached garage and she ran up and down drives until she found one unlocked, not wanting to waste time trying to force one or check inside if there was a way in.
No luck at the first open one, just boxes of junk. But the second one... Yes! "This is a bicycle, Leel, you sit on it and ride. Haha, no, not you, silly daft lump. People." Arcene held onto the handlebars and steadied the bike as Leel tried to clamber on then gave up and investigated the garage. It was a nice looking bike, intact and not even rusty, safe behind the steel shutter of the garage. The tires were flat, but as long as there was no puncture this would work. "A pump, look for a pump." She rummaged around the work bench, then realized it was clipped to the frame of the bike. "Here goes nothing." She attached the small, black pump and inflated the tires as fast as possible, putting her ear to the wheels to see if she could hear air escaping. Silence. But that guaranteed nothing.
No matter, she could try. There was nothing to lose.
"Come on, Leel, we're going for a bike ride."
Woof.
Arcene pushed off and freewheeled down the drive onto the open street. She pedaled.
Naar, naar, naar. Woof!
"Leel, stop attacking the wheels. If you puncture it I will be very cross."
Naar, naar, naar.
"Leel! No. Bad girl." Leel gave one more bite at the wheel, almost getting her tongue stuck in the spokes, then decided to be a good girl. She ran alongside, as Arcene pedaled down the street in an empty, broken city where people were hunting them.
As her hair blew, and her bum got sore from the narrow saddle, still aching from the fall through the trees a few days earlier, Arcene could almost see the comical side of how she would look, if not for the fact people really were out to kill her for fun.
"Damn!" Arcene pulled the brake lever, but nothing happened so she let the momentum die down then stopped the bike by dragging her feet through the patchy grass. Her hair had come loose, the ribbons falling off. She ran back and grabbed them, then took a few minutes to plait her hair as best she could, knowing it would look terrible.
Back on the bike it felt better without the drag of her hair. She pedaled faster, picking up good speed on the deserted road.
Arcene cycled through the wasteland of suburbia and kept on going.
I'm not running away, I'm just trying to give us some space to unnerve Vorce. He isn't expecting this. He won't know what to do, and we'll win.
Ignoring the pain in her bum — why did they make saddles so narrow? — Arcene sped through the emptiness. Leel loped along easily by her side.
Sore Bottom (Again)
"Get it, Leel, go on, we can eat!"
The deer darted across the road then turned in a panic at Leel's enthusiastic bark. When would she learn to keep quiet? Stealth was not her strength. It dashed toward a roundabout at the end of the road and ended up running around the raised center where an old piece of public art had long since fallen. Leel slowed and her head moved left to right, anticipating the next move.
The deer made a dash to the right. Leel pounced, muscles bunched then power unleashed in a flash of blue as she charged after the young animal. It was over in a second, the kill delivered swiftly and efficiently. No suffering.
Arcene skidded to a halt beside Leel and the fallen animal and checked for a pulse — Leel had done well, no pain for the creature. "Good girl. You're the best, Leel."
Woof?
"No, we need to get out of the open if we are to eat, and I want mine cooked anyway." Arcene wondered if they could spare the time to cook the much needed meat, but after hours on the move she didn't think they had much choice. She was starving and Leel would be even hungrier, burning through her fuel reserves at a rate even more rapid than her own. Both of them had highly charged metabolisms — where the calories went she had no idea.
"Come on, this way." Arcene picked up the bike and pushed it toward what looked like a likely spot to rest and eat. Leel, her bulky frame dwarfing the deer, grabbed it by the neck and dragged it after Arcene.
Arcene needed to relax a little, rest and get her energy back. They entered one of the standing houses that still had a roof and even a few panes of glass intact.
Fire seemed to be a common theme of late and here she was about to build yet another one. She checked through the house quickly, gathered as much dry wood as possible, having her choice of chairs, shelves, books and more, and she dragged them all out to the back of the house and into the garden. Leel sat there, waiting for her to get on with it. Arcene was amazed she didn't just rip into the flesh and take what she wanted.
Once satisfied with her haul, Arcene went back inside and took the small grate from the open fireplace and heaved it outside. It would be silly to make the fire inside, outside gave them more escape routes.
Economy of time was needed, and Arcene was in no mood for spending unnecessary minutes with a fire she wanted to burn hot, and not need to be messed with, so she opted for an upside-down fire, a weird miracle of fire making that was the opposite of how everyone she had ever met said you had to build one. Normally, you put the small tinder at the base and built up a tent around it all, wood getting fatter as you went. This was different.
She settled the grate into the patchy earth and put fat chunks of wood on the base, pushed up tight so there were no gaps. Next were pieces of the shelves, thinner than the wood below, then splinters of wood from chair legs, then pages from the books, scrunched up then flattened roughly and laid out in two rows. Everything was placed at right angles to the layer below. Now she scrunched up paper into balls and added the thinnest possible shavings she could make with her sword, whittling down a length of wood with practiced strokes. She built a little house around the balled paper and tinder, adding a delicate roof with openings on two sides. She lit the inside.
Arcene squatted and watched for a minute. The little house burned and embers were created. As the embers grew they dropped down onto the next layer and the heat increased. It would go on that way for a few hours without her having to touch the fire again. As the bigger wood beneath caught so the heat would increase, making it the perfect way to barbecue meat when rest was needed. It would cook through with the lower temperature, and as time passed and the flames built it would be crispy and delicious.
Arcene sliced off thick slabs of still warm flesh and gave Leel the absolute best bits while she diced chunks and skewered them onto a spear of wood she ran water over so it wouldn't burn. She rested it across two dusty plant pots she dragged into place.
It took less than ten minutes to get things ready. Arcene sat back and rested, smiling as the smokeless fire did its work unaided. Nobody would see this. The wood was so dry it burned bright and clear, and the upside-down fire grew hotter as the thicker wood caught with the increasing embers that burned above.
Arcene sat and stared, not even having the energy to get annoyed with the meat she wished was already cooked.
Leel chomped happily beside her, but repeatedly glanced at the fire — she liked barbecue too.
"Eh? Wassat?" Arcene jerked awake. Pain shot up her neck as she whipped her head up — why did it always do that? She reached for her sword in her lap and Leel jumped back, woken and alert in an instant, more concerned with a sleepy Arcene wielding her blade than any attack.
"Ugh, it's burning." Arcene was boiling hot. She'd fallen asleep sat cross-legged and the upside-down fire was blasting out the heat l
ike a furnace. The sizzle of fat dripping into the flames had startled her from an uneasy slumber where she dreamed of being on a huge TV screen set up in the center of the city, people stood gaping as she battled for her life. "Stupid TV."
She checked they were alone. It felt safe, not that it was a guarantee, but the meat was going crispy and she wouldn't waste it. She grabbed the end of the stick and carefully removed the large chunks of meat, sliding them off onto the grass. She wasn't worried about a few blades of grass on her lunch, the main thing was she could eat.
Leel watched like her life depended on it, but judging by the state of the deer, Leel had been busy enough stuffing her face while she slept. "Look at your belly, it's as big as the hot air balloon. How can you run like that? You'll waddle like a duck." Leel stared at her belly but seemed undaunted, and turned her attention to the roast meat. "Fine, but you'll have to wait until it cools."
Thirty seconds later, both were trying to devour the food while simultaneously blowing on it.
While Arcene worked her way through the large pile of protein and fat, and moved away from the rather too successful fire, she began to feel a lot better about the situation. She was in her element, getting closer to nature, even if it was in what was someone's rear garden.
Soon they would leave it all behind, get out into the wilds proper. Then she would be in charge when they came for her, and she knew it was only a matter of time. She guessed they would be closing in already, probably found signs of them by now. Maybe because of the fire. They were safe, for now, but it wouldn't last. She could feel it in her bones, that gut instinct that never failed to warn her when her life, or her loved ones', was in danger.
With the meat eaten and energy somewhat restored, Arcene expertly butchered the remains of the deer and wrapped it best she could in a blanket. She jammed it into the backpack and strapped it onto Leel. She hated to waste meat, but it was too much even for Leel to be expected to carry the whole carcass, and besides, she already had a fair amount in her belly.
Arcene scooped a hole with a rusty shard of metal and then used it to push the burning wood in. She filled it back in and stomped down on the dry earth. The carcass remained where it was. It wouldn't matter if it was found as they would be long gone, and she didn't have the energy to waste by digging a hole large enough.
"Come on, Leel, time to go."
Once more, Arcene stepped out into the street and hopped on the bicycle. "My bum is really sore."
Woof.
"No, it's still better than walking or running."
Playing Catch-Up
Talia began to doubt anything Vorce or the Elders said. She suspected that the whole thing with the numbers, the 111 she was so preoccupied with, was nothing but a coincidence, and Vorce had used it as an excuse to draw her in deeper, make it a forgone conclusion she would find a reason to Judge Arcene and find her guilty.
It was a hard conclusion to come to, and she was unsure it was true, but ever since they stepped foot on the mainland he had been like a different man. The Elders too. She knew it wasn't just the change in surroundings that made her feel different — Vorce was not the man she had thought he was.
Where was the harsh but fair leader? The man that always had time for you and would do anything he could to help? Where was the man that had founded their small civilization and did his all to ensure the people's safety? The man that allowed them to air there grievances and the guilty to pay, but always in a fair way, evidence weighed?
The Hunt had been part of Island life for so long it was taken for granted it was the best way to deal with the few bad seeds to stop the rot from spreading, and she had thought nothing of the entertainment value — it wasn't even against the rules to root for Prey, although few ever did.
What nobody on The Island knew, or even imagined, was that The Hunt was fixed. That what they saw was manipulated. They were never shown the fence, the cameras, had no idea the hunting ground was little but a few enclosed streets where every move was monitored. She smiled secretly to herself about the audacity and bravery of Arcene and her dog, keeping a cool head like this kind of thing happened to her all the time, and so easily unnerving Vorce.
She had never seen him so angry, so, what was the word? incensed, that someone dared to go against him and ruin customs that went back centuries. His traditions were broken, and above all else Vorce insisted on things staying as they were. It was what made their society stable — until now.
As they stared down at the ripped open body of Elder Boehn all the empathy for Arcene vanished. The man's throat and half his face was bitten off and discarded like tainted meat.
The dog hadn't even thought it worthy of filling her belly with. They stood over the corpse, each taking in the reality of the death. Vorce's face was set like stone, unreadable and hard. To think that such a life was gone, hundreds of years old, vast experience and knowledge wiped out. Never to utter another word or experience another thing. This was real. This wasn't watching via a remote feed, this was up close, blood and guts and terrible. Talia had to hold back the rising bile or she knew she'd double over and vomit.
How different it was in reality to seeing death on a screen. Hunts were often gruesome but the reality never sunk in. This was how it truly was — your insides revealed, the human body so delicate. Death never far away. The smell, the evacuations of fluids as your body relaxed, the strange blotches of color and the sheer immediacy of it all. Was this what it was always like? Yes, or worse. And it was her fault. She'd caused this. Talia had pronounced Arcene guilty because of her certainty she was a bad person. Didn't this prove it? Talia didn't know what to think, all she knew was it wasn't supposed to happen like this. They weren't supposed to be the ones being hunted, or killed. Or were they?
"This changes nothing," said Vorce through gritted teeth.
"Really? I'd have thought it changed everything," said Elder Janean.
Vorce turned and stared at her. "Well, it doesn't. The only thing this means is that from now on we stick together. No hunting alone. She's out." Vorce nodded to the smoldering remains of the building and the fallen fence panels.
"So we go get her?" Elder Janean looked worried, as if without the security of the fence she realized for the first time she wasn't somewhere familiar, relatively safe, that the game had changed, and dramatically.
"Of course! What is wrong with you?" Vorce stormed off toward the opening.
So much for sticking together, we didn't even last thirty seconds.
While Elder Janean stared at her fallen comrade, Talia, Cashae, and Erato exchanged glances again. It was becoming a habit, but they found comfort in knowing their friends were as worried and confused as them. This was not what they had expected. All excitement was gone, only edginess and unease remained, the feeling everything would get worse and worse.
There had been no avoiding discussing the fence when they got to it. Vorce had stopped talk of it earlier but once there he instructed them to follow it, and they did. He obviously expected Arcene to be searching for a way over, and as they moved at a fast pace, keeping as a group, he instructed Boehn to go ahead while they made a check on the buildings. No sooner had they got inside the first one than they were back out — there was smoke up ahead, unmissable even inside as the smell permeated the air.
They ran together, heading for the fire, and there was the Elder. Dead, gone for good. A life returned to The Void.
Now Vorce was out ahead, followed by Elder Janean. Talia and her confused friends dashed to catch up.
They stood by the wreck of a building, access to the rest of the city open. The heat was intense, the concern even more fierce.
What now? She could be anywhere.
"Why is the fence here, Vorce?" asked Talia, unable to contain herself any longer. She was a grown woman, old, why should she act like a child? She deserved to know what she faced.
"I did not build the fence, Talia," said Vorce quietly. "You must understand that when The Lethargy came people
did many silly things. Did you know that there used to be a thing called Black Friday? No, of course you don't. Well, it was a special shopping day and lots of items were on sale, meaning you could buy them cheaply. People would fight in the stores, shout and scream at each other over gadgets and dolls, and this was when everything was normal. Imagine what people acted like when they realized food was scarce, that money meant nothing, that water was contaminated and there was no fuel for their cars so they could try to escape."
"That's why you left, to get away from it all?" asked Cashae.
Vorce nodded. "This," he indicated the fence, "was a common occurrence. Usually it was small towns and villages where they could block the main streets, but in cities where there was lots of equipment, machinery and supplies, sections were fortified. People wanted to keep what they had, and formed small groups, erected fences, had lookouts and would kill anyone that came close. Sections of the world escaped The Lethargy for a while, and they thought themselves somehow blessed, that they would stay Whole. This is what happened here. They did a good job of it too. But it didn't stop them dying, nothing could. It made the perfect arena for The Hunt. I could control it, set up the cameras. We could track Prey and give Islanders what they needed. Entertainment, an event, a reason to go on and a reminder of the harsh reality of what life is like here."
"It's not like on the screen," said Erato, "it's..."
"Real. Scary and foul. Overwhelming. It feels unsafe, like you're exposed, right?" Vorce looked at the three of them in turn, each nodded. "I know, and that is why we chose this place, so that Hunters were limited to the exposure and they felt in control. Now that has gone, and we shall have to deal with it I'm afraid. Are you up to the task you have accepted? Did you think it would be easy?"