by J Peregrine
I surveyed the stars a few minutes before we started off. I tried to remember how they had looked on the nights when I had asked Grandfather to tell me where father was, and I hoped I was heading in the right direction. As I traveled it became light, and I stopped to dig a few of the cattail shoots from my bag to munch on and have another drink of water. Cresting the small hill I had climbed, I saw a line of trees off in the distance. I hoped that meant water again in the hope that we could follow it. The grasses in this area were golden brown already and produced a rustling noise as we walked. Dog, ahead of me, stopped suddenly his eyes and ears fixed on something ahead of us down the hill. I squatted down beside him and looked.
He was watching an animal circling what might be a hole. As I watched, I realized it was a wild cat of some kind, the same size as Dog. Then the cat stopped and stretched a foot forward as if it was trying to reach something. “Come on, Dog.” We walked forward slowly, watching the cat. When we got closer, I decided that this seemed like a man-made trap, someone was trying to catch something. I guessed they had laid some kind of meat out on top of the sticks to trap something such as this cat. My mouth watered. It was possible that I might change my mind once I found out what it was but I figured that if someone had left meat out to trap something it had probably been fresh, and laying in the sun like this it was, it was now probably nicely dried.
I looked for stones as I walked and found a few nice ones and then I started lofting them at the cat. The cat turned in a defensive crouch and watched us then, I guess, deciding we were not that much of a threat he turned back around and continued trying to snag the meat. So, I searched the ground and found a few more rocks in case I needed them, then I sent in Dog. “Go get her, Dog.” Dog launched himself in her direction. Being stubbornly dedicated to her mission he was almost to her before she gave up on the meat and took off through the grass.
I hurried to the side of the trap. The sticks were covering a deep hole that looked like it might be part of an underground cave. Someone was obviously trying to catch the cat or something like it, cause it was deep enough that the cat would have been stuck if it had fallen. I got down on my knees and surveyed the situation. The bait was strips of meat. They were laid out across thin twigs. The twigs were balanced across sturdier limbs but not sturdy enough to hold a cat, even a small one. I gently tried pulling one of the twigs towards me, but it quickly snapped. So, I looked around and found a discarded stick that I thought I might use to lift the meat off the twigs. I realized while I worked at this that the meat was actually fish, not red meat, and possibly salmon. Just the thought of this made my mouth water.
I finally caught a piece of the salmon on the end of the stick and slowly lifted it towards me. As I drew my arm back, the angle must have changed, and the salmon started to slip. I held my breath and reached forward with my other hand to catch my prize but as I did, I heard something in the grass behind me.
“Hey!” the voice shouted at me making me flinch and tip headfirst into the hole.
Chapter 15
The world was fuzzy when I came to. There was a voice echoing in my ears making them ring. Rainbows of light flashed across my eyes so bright I closed them again.
“Can you hear me?” someone said, a long way off. “Hey, can you hear me?”
I scrunched my forehead and tried to open my eyes. My head hurt, but nothing felt broken.
“Hey...”
“Quit shouting at me, I’m not deaf,” I complained as I touched the sore spot on my head.
“Who knew?” he said.
“A smart aleck, just what I needed,” I said to myself, and then tried to look up to see who was above me.
“You were the one stealing food,” he said.
“How do I know it's yours?” I said. As I did, I realized he’d gotten up and moved away from the hole, and I realized as I looked around me that if he left, I might just be screwed. “Hello,” I shouted even though my head pounded in complaint. My shout was met by silence. “Hello?” I forced myself to yell again and watched the edge of the hole even though it hurt to look up.
He appeared again above me and I realized he seemed to be a boy maybe around the same age as myself. I had never met a boy before. He squatted above me and looked down but seemed in no hurry to help me out.
“What are you doing out here?” he said, as he chewed on a bit of the dried salmon while he looked down at me, a bit of a smug look on his face.
Pushing back my hair, I sat up. I wasn't sure I liked his tone, it made me wish I didn't need his help. “That’s none of your business,” I said. I had already decided it wasn't a good idea to share all my secrets with every person I met and his tone made me even less interested. “If you help me out of your trap, I will be on my way.”
“Or, I could use you as bait,” he said, taking another bite of salmon.
I’d never met a boy my own age before, and at the moment I was not impressed. I gave him a look that I hoped would let him know that I did not think he was a bit funny. “I haven’t seen anything out here big enough to be interested in eating me for supper,” I said.
“Then you haven’t been out here long, have you?” he said, and stood up again looking around.
"Wait," I said, desperate to not be left to die at the bottom of this hole. He was looking into the distance like he had seen something and then moved away from the trap. Maybe it was Dog. When he didn’t come back, I started to worry and regret my snarky behavior.
Then he was above me again. “Shield your eyes,” he said, in a hoarse whisper.
“What? Why?” I complained, but he didn’t listen, and he didn’t explain. Instead, he sat down, threw his legs over the edge, and jumped down into the hole with me.
I scrambled backwards away from him and looked around for a weapon. Grabbing up a stone the right size to cause at least a little damage but he didn’t move toward me. Instead he glanced around the cave. Then he moved back and stood against the wall and surveyed the top.
“Are you crazy?” I said. “How do you expect us to get out now?”
He looked at me as if he'd forgotten I was there. He lunged forward caught me by the arm and pulled me back to the wall with him. I struggled to get away from him as he swung me around and pushed my back up against the wall then clamped a hand over my mouth and from between gritted teeth he growled at me, “Unless you want us to be cannibalized for lunch I suggest you shut up and don’t move! They are the ones you should be worried about,” he said, throwing his chin toward the world above us.
I had no idea what he was talking about but the look in his eyes was enough to make me stop fighting him and listen. After all, he wasn't hurting me, he was just acting like a mad man.
His body pushed up against mine as he flattened himself to the wall. I could have pushed him away. After all, I had no proof there was anything dangerous coming our way. But he seemed desperate enough that I decided it was best to go along with him for the moment. The only sound I could hear was my own heart pounding and our shallow breathing. We were squashed up against a recessed indent in the cave wall that seemed like it might be invisible to anyone at the upper edge.
Hearing nothing, I wondered whether he really was that good of an actor to make me believe terror that was not real. Also, if we weren’t in danger then this was not acceptable behavior from someone you had just met. So, I attempted to move away from him, but he hissed at me and pushed himself against me even harder, virtually plastering us together against the wall. For a moment my body flooded with heat from the inside out as I felt him push against me. I had been looking at his face but embarrassed at my body’s reaction I looked down which didn't help because the smell of him heightened my senses even more. Then I heard what he must have heard already. There were people moving through the grasses above us talking.
At first, I could only hear scattered murmurings, pieces of words and laughter. Then as they got close to the edge, I could hear them more clearly. “Hey," one of them said. "Looks l
ike someone was trying to trap something...”
“Good idea, maybe we should trap them,” said a voice and then laughter from three distinct voices.
“You think it’s the boy?”
“Probably.”
“Should we wait for him?”
“Too much work. Come on, it's getting hot. I want water and I want to sit down...”
One of them kicked at the ground making dirt and rocks fly off the edge and onto the ground in front of us. I flinched soundlessly since I was trapped between him and the wall. I didn’t know if I needed to be afraid of the men above us, but it was clear the boy was. I believed his fear and that bound us together at least for the moment.
Chapter 16
As they moved away, I closed my eyes and relaxed. I could feel him now again, breathing against me. A tingle shot up my spine and made me flush. Part of me wanted to stay here pinned against this stranger, a feeling I thought I should repel considering he had trapped us here . I didn’t know this person so I definitely shouldn’t trust this person but... he looked worried as he watched and listened to the men moving away from the edge above us. His dark, curly hair moved as he moved, as he watched the sky. He had thin eyebrows but no other hair on his face. His chin was chiseled like out of stone and his face was kind and good but sad, making me wonder why. As I surveyed his face, he glanced down at me for a moment and then returned his concentration again to the world above us.
We stayed there glued to each other and the wall as we waited. I should have been suspicious of this man-boy, but as I stood there pressed up against him all I could think about was how good it felt. Then I thought about how stupid I was being and that if I was smart, I would be worried about staying alive. So, I closed my eyes and tried to think of a way to get out of this hole. I could hear the wind blowing through the grasses above us and I could feel him even more with my eyes closed. He smelled like summer and the smell made my insides go all foggy again. I gritted my teeth and held onto his jacket even harder as I tried to get a grip on my brain. Then he relaxed and turned to lean back against the wall next to me. I was still holding onto his jacket, so he pulled my hands away as he moved. Raking his hand back through his hair he looked tired, then he looked back up at the edge.
My heart skipped. “Will they be back?”
Without looking at me, he said, “I don’t know but they might check again later to see if any animals fell in, it would be free food for them.”
"Can we get out of here then?" I mumbled. “Not really a vacation spot if you know what I mean.”
He squinted at me and crinkled his brow. “Did you hit your head?”
“No.” I rubbed my head. He started gathering rocks and throwing them into a pile near the boulder at one side of the cave. "Isn't that a little pointless?" I asked but he ignored me. “You know, first you trap me in this hole and then you hold me hostage. Who were those guys, and don’t say cannibals because I don’t believe that." He turned and looked at me and then had the audacity to shake his head as he smiled, and turned his back on me again, tossing more rocks into his pile. This was going great. I slid my back down the wall till I was squatting and rested my elbows on my knees then held my head between my hands and tried to think what to do.
“If you want to get out of this hole, it'd be nice if you would help,” he said without looking at me. He was trying to unearth a boulder near the middle of the hole. I assumed he was planning on moving it to get it closer to the wall of the cave with no success.
I looked at him, amazed at his stupidity. “You created this problem. You could have thrown me a rope or something and pulled me out instead of jumping down here with me.”
He gave me a look that made me feel about two inches tall. “Whether you want to believe it or not, those were cannibals and there wasn’t time to pull you out and hide from them. Did you want to be someone's lunch?”
I paused. I could not believe my luck. I’d traveled into the wilderness, was almost kidnapped by slave traders and now, basically the second person I’d met turned out to be paranoid, delusional, had trapped me in a sink hole, and thought he was hiding from cannibals. But since we needed to get out of this hole, I decided I would try to humor him as much as I needed to, to get out of here.
The cave was narrow at one end and there were a few small boulders. So, I decided to copy him and went to work trying to move them closer to the wall and his pile of rocks. I dug the dirt out from around the base of one. When it was loose enough to move, I stood up.
He had finally pushed his boulder over, and it now stood nearer the wall. He stood in the sunlight looking all... I don’t know, like he should have been a star in some movie I had seen over the years; young, athletic, handsome and full of himself.
He saw me looking at him and gave me a quirky smile.
“What?” I said, embarrassed that he had caught me looking his way.
He didn't respond, he just smiled at me.
“Are you making fun of me?” This was not going the way I planned, not that I had planned. “I just want out of this hole.” Standing with my hands on my hips, I gave him a stern look. I am a strong, capable woman and I would not be taken advantage of by some young paranoid, schizophrenic, wiseacre.
Then he gave me a look of such absolute disdain. I didn't know how to respond. I had never gotten that look before. Well, two could play this game. I turned back to my boulder and tried rolling it, but it didn’t really have the mind to roll. So, I dug out around it more on one side so I could try pushing it over again. This time I squatted down and pushed. It didn't move and then I remembered my wounds which were healing fast but I didn’t want to press my luck, so I sighed and leaned back sweaty and exhausted. When I looked his direction, he was sitting on top of his boulder strapping something to his boots.
He looked up at me watching him. “Climbing cleats,” he said, as if I had asked what they were. “I lost my rope the other day and I've never really used these, but we’ll see.”
I watched him as he stood up and surveyed the wall.
He reached upward feeling the cave wall with his fingers. There were small rocks sticking out here and there so he stabbed one foot and then the other at the wall and started up, straining as he dug in with his spikes, first one then the other into the wall and gripped onto the barest indication of a handhold.
“Watch out,” he growled, and I watched him lose his handhold and fall onto his back just missing the boulder.
Chapter 17
He landed with a grunt and then lay there.
“Are you all right?” I bent over him.
He reached up and wiped the sweat from his face and smiled as he squinted at me. "Ah, you do care."
I could have killed him; he was such a...boy. Just then we heard a rustling in the grass above us. We both scrambled backwards and flattened ourselves against the cave wall. Then I thought I heard something familiar. I leaned forward to see the rim of the hole and as I did, I saw Dog standing at the edge sniffing the air.
“Dog,” I said, relieved. “I thought the cat had gotten the better of you.” Dog wagged his tail and looked down at me but as the boy stepped forward his hackles went up and he growl barked.
“Hey,” he shouted at Dog. “Can you stop him? We don’t want everyone to know we’re down here.”
“Dog, it’s all right,” I said, so he stopped barking and sniffed the air again, not convinced but obedient. Then I had an idea. “Dog, go get us a stick, a really big stick.”
Dog looked at me, processing my request, and then took off at a run.
He started piling rocks again, bent at the waist and throwing them into the pile he was creating between his boulder and the wall.
I watched him for a moment. "Why are you bothering with that?"
He stopped and looked at me upside down. “You don't think he’ll actually bring us anything useful, do you?”
I gave him a withering look and continued to wait. Wishing we could start over. I wished I could think of
something witty or interesting or nice to say so we could have a conversation and so I could get to know him, I sighed. “I’m trying to get to the city,” I said.
He looked at me for a moment and then turned back to his task.
“My name is El,” I said. I waited, but when he didn’t respond I said. “Do you have a name?”
“Jake.” He said this without even pausing to look up.
“I'm going to the city to find my father,” I said.
I thought he grimaced, but he still didn't stop.
“Maybe you can give me directions?” I said.
He finally stood up and wiped the sweat from his face. “Why?"
"What do you mean why?" I said.
"I mean, where’s the rest of your family?”
“They're dead except for my father.”
He considered this for a moment. “Where were you before this? And why not stay there?”
“As I said, I’m trying to find my father and I think he's in the city.”
His amber eyes had a sudden intensity as if he might break me in half if he could, but then he turned and went right back to tossing stones into the pile. I was about to defend my reasons, but he interrupted me.
“Have you ever been there, to the city?" he said, stepping towards me. "I mean I assume you haven’t because if you had you would know that it is nowhere you want to go. It is a pile of ruins fought over by the rebels on one side and the Agency thugs on the other, who claim to 'Serve and Protect.' They befoul an ancient saying that used to imply that they protected the people but now means they only serve and protect the elite, not the people, and they protect only the interests of the Albino and his cronies.”