by J Peregrine
I turned away from the car and concentrated on gaining the river bank. I didn’t want to bring any overt attention to myself and since eyes and teeth would be easy to spot if they used a searchlight, I forced myself to look away. Grandfather had made me read his notes on survival skills and now I realized that his paranoia was valid.
I could hear shouting. I wanted to turn and watch but I kept swimming. I assumed they were arguing over how to best get inside. Then it occurred to me that if they got inside, they would realize that I had escaped. So, I swam even harder trying to get to the river’s edge and hoping I could get up on land and make a run for it.
When I got to the side there was nothing, no trees or scrub, only wall. My hands searched for something to hold on to, but the river pulled me too fast to find anything. Then I realized I could hear the sound of a straining engine. I turned and realized they were towing the car now back up the river. They must be trying to tow it to the spot they launched from. This made me sick, but I had no time to think. The river had slowly gotten faster, and was rolling again, violently. Suddenly it sucked me under and when I came up again, I couldn't see anything but water. I didn’t hear or see Dog. I couldn't shout for him, so I hoped he was still with me somewhere in the darkness. I tried to turn to look beside me, but I couldn't, I was being pulled along by the rapids.
I tried to think what to do. So, I put my feet in front of me to make sure the river didn't slam my head into a rock. The water kept pulling me under and spitting me out again and again. Each time it spit me out I gasped for breath and tried to wipe my eyes so I could see, so I could make a plan. My only plan at the moment was to not get pulled under to drown, to not get knocked unconscious and drowned but beyond that I couldn't think. Each time I went under my only thought was for reaching the surface again.
Finally, it calmed into rolling waves again and I could see. The moon light peeking through the clouds revealed that we were coming to a wide low area of river where there was a flat bank beyond.
I swam as hard as I could for this spot. Pushing with my legs towards the edge I scrambled till I felt rock beneath me. My feet slipped on the wet rocks until I finally felt mud and sand under my feet as sharp as razors. By this point I could barely feel anything at all I was so cold but when I did it hurt like hell, but I collapsed on the beach not caring where I was landing as long as it was out of the water.
I was wet and frozen, but I was still alive.
Laying there on the ground, soaked and frozen, I tried to pull my thoughts together. I’d fled my home leaving behind my grandfather and the only person I knew in the world. As if that wasn’t bad enough his killers had pursued us down the river. Then I had to abandon my only means of transportation. Even though I had no interest in being with my father, he was the only other person on the planet that knew me if you could call knowing I existed knowing me. My body shook from the sheer magnitude of it all. I didn’t want to cry. I was trying my best not to cry but tears streamed down my face.
As I lay there in the quiet, I heard the sound of something coming towards me. Holding my breath, I picked up my head slightly and, in the moonlight, I could see Dog coming up over the rocks just beyond my feet. I was so relieved I laughed and sat up but as I did pain shot through my shoulder. “Ah!” I grabbed my arm and held it hard, wincing. Dog came to where I sat.
“The ricocheted bullet must have hit me,” I said to him. I gritted my teeth and tried to feel around my shoulder and upper arm. The bullet had hit the back of my upper arm. It didn't seem like it was bleeding too bad, but it hurt enough to not want to move it again. The ricocheted bullet must have been moving slowly. It had hit but not gone through. It would need to come out but that would have to wait. I had to find someone I trusted enough to dig it out and how I was going to do that anytime soon I did not know.
“Great.” I sighed and pulled my pack open searching for the antibiotic ointment grandfather had made and insisted we put in every bag we owned. At the very least I needed to apply some ointment and wrap it if I could. I really didn't want to move at all but that wasn't an option. At least if I kept moving, I would warm up. So, I found a pair of leggings in my clothes that would work as a bandage. I squirted some ointment onto the wound, then tied the leggings around my arm and shoulder tight enough to keep it in place and keep the wound clean. I put the ointment back in my pack and took out my wet jacket, putting it on over the bandage. I sat for a minute listening. The fact that I couldn't hear anything instantly worried me and a chill slid through me. What was I going to do?
Water dripped from my face and I looked out into the dark. “Do you know where he is?” but Dog just stared at me. “Come on," I whispered. "If they get into the car, they’ll know we’ve escaped.” There was a possibility they might give up at that point but somehow, I didn't think that was likely. I grabbed my bag and got up. I wanted to follow the river south, at least that would be in the general direction of where we need to go but I was afraid that’s what they would expect me to do. The sky was showing the dull glow of dawn now against the clouds. “Right?” I adjusted the pack. “We’ll head inland, then wind our way southeast and hope we find someone who will give us directions right?”
Dog didn't respond.
Chapter 6
We went south and east as fast as we could. My arm throbbed but I couldn't do anything about it, so I kept moving. When it was fully light, I stopped to rest for a moment and to try to get my bearings. I checked my arm. The bandage was stained, but it seemed the wound had stopped bleeding for the most part. I didn’t want to take off the bandage for fear of infection, so I tightened it. Then I scanned the landscape behind us and saw nothing but rocks and hills. It was barren, unlike the mountain top, and its barrenness concerned me. As I scanned, I didn't see anything that indicated I was being followed. I couldn’t imagine why they would want to, but I also couldn’t fathom why they had shown up in the first place.
I was trying to go as near to southeast as I could manage but we had to veer off course several times in order to go around areas that would take too much time to cross. There were deep gorges and areas filled with huge boulders that were impossible to run through. So, staying on a true southwest path was difficult and after a while it became hard to know how far off course we had gone.
I alternately jogged and walked all day until dusk started to settle on us and I decided I better look for a place to rest for the night. Even though I had Dog for protection I wanted a place that gave me options for escape and offered shelter. I had that in mind when I finally saw a small hill ahead of us. It was barren like the rest of the landscape, but I wondered whether the other side might at least offer protection if I could find a place to sit with my back against it. Dog could sit above me and watch in all directions for intruders. I had no appetite for the little food I had in my bag, but my stomach grumbled so I chewed a few of the seeds. I realized that if I was going to keep moving, I would have to eat something, and I would need to find more food. But not tonight, tonight I was too tired to care.
Grandfather had told me that the world outside the mountain was a barren wasteland, but I guess I had not believed him, not fully. We had plants. Inside the mountain we had our own greenhouse where we grew vegetables year-round, and outside there were trees, grasses and bramble, and a kind of rabbit. Grandfather said that plants and animals had all mutated to survive. The only animal I had ever seen had been the wild rabbits. Grandfather had said they were leaner, meaner looking than what had been called rabbits before, but they looked similar so that's what we called them. We didn't eat them. Grandfather was afraid they might carry mutations or poisons so we left them alone and they left us alone.
After a few hours of sleeping on and off, I woke to bright sunlight and my stomach grumbling again. Dog was sitting at attention, ears up so I wiped my eyes and looked all around us. In all directions there was endless red brown of earth and rocks, interrupted here and there by rocky hills and bluffs but no sign of people or danger tha
t I could see. So, I had water from my water skin and got up, shouldered my backpack, wincing from the pain in my arm which I ignored, and started down the hill and across the endless expanse of brown. I jogged and walked off and on all day, the landscape didn't change. As the sun started to set, I paused for a drink. I was exhausted, still hungry and worried. I had only been taking sips from my water skin, but it was almost empty. I sighed and looked ahead. "I keep thinking we will see signs of civilization," I said to Dog. But there were no signs, so I pushed forward, unwilling to stop until it was too dark to see.
Just as I was about to stop to rest for the night, I realized we were coming to the edge of a hill or cliff since I could no longer see much farther than I could throw. When I finally came to the edge, I saw in the semi-darkness that the land did indeed fall away down a steep grade. In the distance, the land seemed different, although in the dark it was impossible to tell what lay there. Maybe a river. It was too dark to go on, so I sat down where the bank dropped sharply away, my back against the rough dirt. I prayed that I would be able to find water the next day and fell into a troubled sleep.
When I woke, I was hot, my head was throbbing, and I felt nauseous, maybe from dehydration. I still couldn't tell what lay in the darker areas below us but, I needed water, so I started walking. Finally, I spied what looked like a stream ahead. I ran down the rest of the way and found only mud. It was probably a stream that filled when and if it rained but for now, I was out of luck. I decided my best bet was to follow the stream bed since it led in my general direction and I hoped I might find a pond or maybe another water way that might feed into this one. Early in the afternoon, we came to the base of one of the many hills and found blackberries that had grown so large they were almost a hill on their own. I was ravenous but cautious, so I ate only a few. They wouldn’t travel well but I knew I would be hungry later. So, I used a leaf from a plant with a leaf like an Elephant as a container to wrap a few berries in and store in my pack. When I stood up from packing these away, I saw the smoke. It was a thin trail that made its way up into the sky from somewhere farther down and out of sight. This made my stomach quake. It was possible lightning had caused a fire, but since it was only a thin line of smoke it was more likely to be from someone's homestead or camp site. If it was people, would they be friendly? “Only one way to find out,” I said to Dog as we adjusted our trajectory and headed towards the smoke.
The land was rough and interrupted by deep ravines, so we had to keep diverting sideways a good distance to get around them and then work our way back to follow the smoke. As I traveled, I thought about the possibilities. If it was a homestead making the smoke, what would they think of me? I had been traveling several days now without being able to wash and I was covered in sweat and grime. I looked at my hands. They were blue and brown with dirt and blackberry stains, so I tried to rub the grime away as I climbed. "Course, they might not be like me at all," I said to Dog but he ignored me.
The next morning, I waited for the trail of smoke to appear. Then I moved down off the hillock I had climbed for visibility and followed a line toward what I hoped would be the source of the smoke. My stomach had seized up at the possibility of meeting other people and was filling me with anxiety and dread. I kept telling myself that I would have to meet people sooner or later. In the end, I was dying of thirst and I needed help to get the bullet out of my arm, and I was hoping I could trust whoever I met to do that. We also needed directions. It was all a gamble. They might run me off, but what choice did I have?
By mid-morning, I spotted a roof beyond the rocks. The smoke was snaking its way lazily into the sky. The roof and whatever it was attached to was only a little way below us but there was rock and piles of garbage obscuring my view. My stomach did another flip-flop from the anxiety. I circled down, climbing through a crevice in the rocks to see. Finally, I could see what looked like giant stacks of metal. It occurred to me that this looked like an ancient junkyard. There were pieces of cars, trains, buildings, and many other things of the past that I had never seen before except in the old movies. It looked like someone had stacked them up to sort them perhaps but why I could not fathom. I slipped down a little farther and now that I could actually see the house, I decided I wasn’t sure if it even qualified to be called one. It looked to be a hodgepodge mix of separate parts of things all shoved together to make one unit. I assumed it at least kept the occupant dry because if not, what was the point.
I watched and waited but the only movement was the thin line of smoke leaving the chimney. Until finally the door of the house opened, and someone came out along with a dog, a real dog. The person was slight, with long hair, a long skirt, and a blanket over their shoulders. She, at least I felt it was a she, went to a pile of wood and gathered some small logs then went back inside. Her dog stayed outside as it stretched and then sat down to itch. There was only rock and bits of scraggly grass as far as I could see but she had gathered logs so there must be trees somewhere about.
I’d always thought about what I would do or say if, or when, I finally encountered other people, but now I was unsure. I had only ever met one other person, a friend of Grandfather’s years ago, and I barely remembered it so I didn‘t have much practice. I was excited and terrified, but at least it was a woman I thought. I was relieved. Her dog moved around the yard sniffing the ground but no one else emerged. The woman didn’t seem dangerous and there didn’t seem to be anyone else about. I felt like my whole life I had been hiding from the world and now I was within a stone’s throw of another person, and it was terrifying.
“What if she chases me away? What if she tries to kill me?” I surveyed the area. “It doesn’t look like the house of a murderer does it?” I whispered to Dog. He was watching the other dog as it meandered around the yard and then went back into the house. “Ugh,” I moaned and then I thought again for a long while. I had wanted this for as long as I could remember, to meet and get to know other people but now... “I don’t know.” I put my hand on Dog's back hoping for reassurance, I guess. Then I sat again. I watched and waited.
Chapter 7
Finally, I wore myself down, “All right, we're going in. I need water and I need someone to dig this damn bullet out, and even if I don't..." I sighed and looked at Dog then back at the house. “She doesn’t seem dangerous.” I shook my head at myself. I would never be totally sure. So, despite the riot in my stomach I got up and stepped forward. As I got closer, I paused again. I could now see that the front part of the house was an ancient post-modern train-car. They were the type I had seen in some of the newer movies Grandfather had found from before the fall. This one had broken out windows covered in fabric that ran its length and attached to its back was something that looked like a solid steel box. This was probably an old shipping car I thought, because of the lack of windows.
I squatted down one more time at the edge of what I defined as their space and watched again but nothing else happened until the woman came out the door again. She walked away from the house to what looked like it might be a stone enclosure, an animal pen beyond the house and threw something over the side. She leaned over and looked like she was talking to something, then she walked back to the house and went inside, leaving the door open.
I should have stood and waved to her, but my stomach told me to turn back, to run far away. I forced myself to stand up. I needed water and help and directions, and I was starving. So I stilled the warning pings going off inside my head and practiced my greeting under my breath, “Hello my name is El, good morning, beautiful day, isn't it?“ and with a lump in my throat and a burning in the pit of my stomach I moved forward.
The dog barked as soon as we moved forward from the shade and stepped onto the rock in our path. We both stopped. I had never dealt with a real dog. I assumed real dogs had personalities which meant they were not predictable. They weren’t like my dog with his mood and intention recognition software. Her dog sounded fierce. He was not at all happy with our appearance. Dog seemed
to understand the need to exercise diplomacy even with, or especially with, this real dog. He stood by my side, ears up but relaxed and tail wagging. “Good idea,” I said. Her dog did not stop barking, but it also did not advance. It merely took a stand and used all of its signals to let us know not to come any closer.
As soon as the woman appeared in the doorway, I froze. I had planned to wave but now that I could really see her, I was taken aback at how different she looked. She removed her blanket and I could see that her hair was a shocking shade of orange-red contrasted by pale almost white skin not clear like Andre's but with freckles. The woman paused as if she was deciding whether we were dangerous or not. What was I supposed to do? Getting hold of myself I cocked my head and waved slowly as I had seen Grandfather do when I’d climbed to the top of the lookout. She stared at me for a moment and then lifted her hand to wave but stopped.
She took a few steps forward along with her dog who stayed just ahead of her, still barking, hackles raised. “Who are you? What do you want?” the woman shouted above the barking.
I realized now that she was young, my age or close to it. “My name is Elzbeth,” I said, thinking my full name might sound friendlier. “I am traveling to the city.” When that got no response, I added, “I lost my grandfather recently so I’m on my way to Winter Haven to find my father.” I watched the girl’s eyes as she seemed to be trying hard to decide whether to sic her dog on me or something worse. I kept one eye on her right hand that was buried deep in her pocket.
“Winter Haven?” She cocked her head at me. “You mean the city? It ain’t called that. We call it Shadow Perch, but it’s days from here.” The girl squinted her eyes at me, looking me up and down. She didn’t seem to expect an answer from me, but it was obvious she was wary of an unexpected visitor. "You alone?" she said and looked around into the trees behind me.