The Foragers

by Katherine Nader

  “We’re the Ainu tribe.” Goro spread his hands up in the air. “This country was our home.”

  “Until they took it from us,” Shinriki added.

  “Who? Was it the Kan?” I pulled out a clipping from my bag. “Was it them?” I pointed to a picture of a woman with short brown curls and her team of scientists. They stood in front of a building with a blue and red logo. It looked like the yin and yang except the two sides were divided.

  “We don’t talk about the Kan,” Goro warned. A few repeated after Goro. Then they all broke into laughter.

  “Do you know a man named Shima?” I asked.

  Goro took a sip of his drink and spat. A few joined in.

  “Okay, I take it you’re not a fan of the guy.”

  “We don’t talk about him either,” Goro slammed his drink into the ground. “One more round, all on me,” he announced to the crowd. They all raised their drinks in the air and chanted a song together.

  I pressed a finger to my temple. “I guess there are a lot of things you don’t like to talk about.”

  “Shima abandoned our Commune a few years ago,” Tami said, rising from Keitaro’s bedside. She planted a kiss on her husband’s cheek and held his hands. “Be careful,” she said to him as he headed back into the forest. “He works for the owners now, just like Shima, except Shima always wanted more than everyone’s share. He got greedy and lost his way. We don’t live like that here in the Commune. We like to share everything.”

  “Spend the night here,” Goro said. “Fire is what keeps us alive. It keeps what’s out there, out there. Look what happened to Keitaro.” Goro handed Keitaro a drink.

  “I…”

  “Take a look around you, there’s nothing to see. You’re not going to find anything or anyone out here in the dark.”

  Tami tossed a blanket on me. “Welcome to the Commune,” she said.

  When the singing died down, I fell into a deep sleep. I didn’t wake up until cold hands wrapped around my face.

  “Nick.”

  I shuffled under the blanket, opened my eyes to meet Tami’s and jerked up. “What…what’s wrong?” I looked around.

  “Shh…” She pressed a finger to her lips. I couldn’t help but overhear from the receiver.” She handed it to me. “You’re looking for Shima, right? They said they were meeting with someone named the forager? They’re going to be at Aoike Lake, just over the fence near the first base.”

  “When?” I pulled off my shirt and grabbed a clean one from my bag.

  “A few minutes ago.” Tami averted her eyes. “I found this in one of the kits.” She handed me a flashlight.

  “Are you sure?” I took it. “Don’t you need it?”

  “We’ll be fine. There’s eleven of us now. We’ve got more than enough.”

  I looked at Keitaro passed out near me. I couldn’t tell if it was the berries that stained his skin, or if they were bruises.

  “He’ll be fine.” Tami grabbed my hand. “Take care of yourself, brother. And think about it.”

  “About what?”

  “Coming back to the Commune. We’re all family here. We can protect you.”

  “Thanks.” I waved. “Don’t wait on me.” As soon as I was out of sight, I cracked open the camera lens and removed the filter. I cut out pieces of duct tape from my kit and taped the filter to the flashlight. The light dimmed and it was no longer visible. I shoved a paper under my shirt and aimed the torch at it. I pressed record on the camera, and played back the video. It showed the infrared light coming from the torch, exposing the writing on the paper through my shirt. I had built myself an infrared x-ray camera. Using it to see in the dark, I followed a path back to the base. Some contestants had already gathered there, waiting. I slipped from tree to tree and reached the fence. It ran through a lake down a hill. I made my way down and heard a few voices. I shut off the receiver at my side and crept up to the fence. I focused the camera in the dark and saw white figures on the screen.

  I checked the camera to make sure it was picking up their voices. A white figure held up a bag and tossed it to a long-haired man. The long-haired men drew an envelope out of his pocket and tossed it to Shima. Shima opened the envelope and counted the bills inside. Shima and his men retreated, laughing and huddling together. I hid behind the vines hanging over the fence until they left. I climbed over and followed the forager in the dark. A red light flashed on the camera and it died. I was surrounded by darkness again.

  “No,” I hissed, slapping the camera. I pulled out a battery from the flap. It was lithium. There was nothing around here to charge something like that. I ran after the man, helplessly looking for him and I stepped into the blackness of a lake. The water reflected the light sky and my eyes traced the end of it. I walked into the lake, its water rising up to my thigh. The air was pungent with the smell of dead fish. My foot got caught in the mud. I looked down and kicked until a sharp pain pierced down my leg as I freed myself. The water swirled around me and I ran to the other side of the lake as faint rays of morning light seeped in and lit up an open green space in front of me.

  I ripped the sleeve of my shirt and wrapped it around the gash on my leg. I looked back at the water but it was still again with steam rising from its center. I limped past the neglected bonsai trees that lined the unshaved lawn, fish swam in a pond under a torn down wooden bridge that crossed the middle, and a riot of flower beds of many colors grew among the weeds. I followed a stone path interrupted by weeds, some overshadowed by fallen down branches that flowed down onto the dank, squishy and mossy ground, its yellowing greens marking the coming season.

  A pillared gate stood ahead and I heaved myself onto a wooden veranda under a curved roof. The smell of incense hit me. I slid open a paper-thin door and walked into a hall divided by movable paper walls. Ornaments decorated an altar in a corner. A statue of Buddha sat in its center. I crouched down and picked up a book with a spider logo on its front cover, and pulled on a bookmark that opened to a page filled with drawings of samurai battling against an army. I followed the Japanese characters, even though I couldn’t read them. I picked up a box of matches from the altar and slipped into a much smaller hall furnished with a tea table, bags of garbage, a fire place, and some cushions. A light flicked on and a man, with curly black and white hair held back with a bandanna, walked in. I lit a match.

  “Who are you?”

  “I came to see the one they call the forager.” I dropped a bundle of American bills onto the table. The forager peered under the light and saw the money held together with an elastic band.

  “Now where’s badge number nine?” I asked, taking note of the forager’s military clothes.

  “How did you find me?” the forager in army clothes asked.

  “I saw you meet up with Shima. Four-eyes gave him badge number nine and he gave it you.”

  The forager looked at me with a blank stare.

  “Do you need me to translate that for you?”

  “I understand what you said,” the forager interrupted. “But what makes you think I still have badge number nine?”

  I reached for the dollar bills, but the forager beat me to it. He held them under his nose and smelled it. “You’d be smart enough not to come here unarmed. Too bad this money is mine now.”

  “Not so fast.” I lit another match. “Most houses in Japan burn quite easily.” I rested my palm on the wall paper. “So you better hand over the badge before I light this house on fire.”

  “This is a Zen temple! It’s sacred grounds.” The forager tossed the money back at me. “Take it and go. I don’t have your badge. I threw it into the lake.”

  Something about the man’s voice made me think he was lying. Sweat trickled down my forehead and I dropped down to one knee. I hissed in pain.

  “What, what’s wrong?” The forager’s voice rang in my ears. He peeled off the wet fabric from my leg to reveal a bloody gash that ran down the side of my calf. I struggled to keep my eyes open as I felt heat cloud up m
y face. My back fell against the cool flat surface of the bamboo mats and my head tilted to the ceiling.

  The match went out.

  Chapter Six

  Celio

  A high chain-link fence separated part of the forest ahead. A Kuma Hunter, resting his hand on his rifle, stood in front of it,

  “You think we can climb over that?” Eli asked.

  I checked my bag. “I still have enough arrows. So even if we come across bears on the other side, assuming that’s what the fence is for, then we’ll be fine.”

  “Even after you get past the hunter over there?” Eli pointed at the Kuma Hunter with a quivering hand.

  I smiled. “I don’t need my arrows for that.”

  We headed down the hill and up to the Kuma Hunter guarding the door.

  “You can’t be here,” he said.

  I noticed a wedding band on the hunter’s finger. “Married, huh?”

  The Kuma Hunter hid his hand and looked around. “You better leave while you still can.”

  “You see, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” I said. “We want to get over there.”

  “You can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I said so.” The hunter clenched his teeth and pulled his rifle up to his chest.

  “Look, if you wanted to shoot us, you would’ve done so by now.” I put my hands up. “But I’m sure if you had kids of your own one day, you’d let them through.”

  The hunter didn’t budge.

  I walked around him and pulled onto the fence.

  “I did have a daughter,” the Kuma Hunter said. “She was just like you.”

  “That’s great, if you let us make it out of here alive, we’ll get to meet her.”

  “She too made it into the next round.”

  “Oh.”

  “Where I come from, we live in a Commune.”

  I sighed and let go of the fence. This was going to be a long story.

  “We Ainu have always kept to ourselves, living in the villages, protecting our tribe from the bears. We didn’t always live in the North. After the Second World War, the Japanese pushed us out of our homes and drove us up here. We have no choice but to survive. Either fight against our own people, or the bears. I guess you can tell what we chose to do instead. Bears are easier to deal with than people.”

  “So then, why come here?” I gestured for Eli behind my back to sneak up to the fence. She tip-toed behind the hunter.

  “Aomori has been our home since the war until ten years ago.”

  “When the contests started?”

  “Yes, they used the fences to divide us, and now our homes are being taken away from us again.”

  “What happened to your daughter after the second round?”

  “You see that?” he said, pointing to the eaves of a tower. “She died in there. No one ever makes it out of the pagoda, just as you won’t make it out of the first round.”

  My eyes widened and Eli froze.

  “The only way out is through the front door,” the Kuma Hunter turned to Eli. “I have access to it, if you want to leave.”

  A black bird soared in the sky.

  “Duck,” the hunter urged. He grabbed us by the hands and pulled us under the shade of a tree. “There are eyes everywhere. If you want to leave, we’ll have to do it tonight. It’s the only way.”

  “We don’t want to leave,” I said. “We want to win.”

  “Celio,” Eli interrupted. “His daughter died, and I-I don’t want that to happen to us…”

  “Don’t talk like that,” I cut in. I grabbed Eli by the shoulders and ushered her away from the hunter. “We came a long way. We’re so close to getting the answers we need to figure out what happened to our family, to avenge them.”

  “But I don’t want to lose you,” Eli whimpered.

  “You’re not going to lose me. We’re going to find help soon. Just trust me, okay?”

  “Why can’t we just forget the past, it’s not like this will bring back Mom or Dad.”

  “I know, but I can’t live not knowing the truth.” I looked back at the hunter as he rubbed his ring finger. “He seems like a good man. If you want to go with him, y-you can.”

  “No, I won’t leave you.” Eli grabbed my hand. “If you’re going to do this, we’ll do it together and if we’re going to die, w-we’ll die together too.”

  “I’ll be here if you change your mind,” the hunter said, going back to his post. “Remember, the forest has eyes. Don’t trust anyone.”

  Eli and I walked along the fence. Every now and then I took out my map to add the distance. I wanted to know how big the first base was. We reached orange and black walls that folded in on each other, like a canyon. We walked through one of the ridges that led to a mountain.

  “Halt,” a voice echoed.

  I grasped my arrow just as a wire wrapped around the bow in my other hand and flung it away.

  “Hey!” I yelled. “Show yourself.”

  A man jumped from the ridge and landed in front of us. He had a bandage around his arm and a tattoo under it.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” The man circled us.

  “Enura, cut it out,” a figure landed behind us. Eli and I turned to see a ponytailed girl.

  “You!”

  “Catch,” she said, tossing me a glimmering blade. I caught it with both hands. It was the kunai I left behind. “H-how did you—”

  “You know these kids?” Enura asked the ponytailed girl.

  “You could say that,” she grinned. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you,” I stuttered.

  “You got a place to stay tonight?”

  “Uhh…no.”

  “Good. Follow me.” She walked down the ridge as Enura eyed us. I picked up my bow, tightened my hold on Eli’s hand and kept her at my side.

  The ridge stretched on for miles. Enura and the ponytailed girl talked in Japanese the whole time. They glanced back at us every few minutes. Enura had a fork attached to a rope at his side. He tossed it up to the ridge and pulled.

  “Come on,” he said, extending a hand.

  I pushed Eli toward him to take it. He pulled her up first and bent down to help me.

  “I got it, thanks.” I wrapped the rope around my hand and scrambled up to the ridge. My foot slipped off the edge and Enura caught my hand. He tugged on the rope and hauled me over. “I said I got it.”

  Enura let go of the rope and I landed on my bottom. “Sure,” he said.

  “Be nice,” Eli whispered.

  I rolled my eyes. “Why’d you bring us here?”

  “You can spend the night here.” The girl showed us into the cave. “No one knows about this place, except for us.”

  “Who’s us?”

  Enura whispered into the girl’s ear before she could answer.

  “Stop bickering around and tell us the truth.”

  The girl squeezed Enura’s hand and came closer to me. I backed up into the wall.

  “I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” she said. “Promise.”

  “I’ll let you catch up,” Enura said. “I can be your lookout, you know, in case the rest decide to come here.”

  “Thanks, Enura,” the girl smiled at him. Enura turned away and sat down on the edge.

  “I hate that guy,” I said.

  The girl laughed. “Oh, you haven’t changed.”

  “How do you know me?”

  “I know you too, Eli.” The girl patted Eli’s head. “You guys hungry?” She opened a lunch box and the smell of meat filled the air. “Here.” She placed the box on my lap and put chopsticks in my hand.

  “How’d you know?”

  “I know everything about you.”

  The chopsticks wiggled in my hand.

  “Oh yes, I forgot.” The girl took the chopsticks from my hand, plucked a chunk of meat off the box, and brought it close to my mouth. An old memory of the girl
dawned on me. She had pressed a hand on my chin and fed me porridge many years ago.

  “Say ah,” she had said.

  “The kids seem to like you a lot.” Mom had walked into the kitchen. “They never eat from my hands like they do with you. What’s your secret?”

  “I just bring my face close like this.” The girl stared into my eyes.

  “Oh, stop, you’re going to give them a scare.” Mom laughed.

  I pushed away at the thought of the girl ever being part of my childhood. “You were there the whole time…” I mumbled. “How come I don’t remember you?”

  The girl pinched her eyes and held her contacts in her hand. “I’m different now.” A weak smile spread across her face. “It’s been a long time since. You were just ten when I left.”

  “But you came back, you saved us.”

  “I failed.” The girl lowered her eyes. “I made your mom a promise, to protect you. It all started seven years ago, when the Kan were appointed with running the Mori Group branch in America.”

  ***

  “We should have been the ones to go there,” Amelia said to her husband, Lorenzo, one night.

  “I was just passing by,” the girl explained to us, “when I overheard them say…”

  “They’re going to use it against us. Makoto shouldn’t have trusted them. Just because they act under one company doesn’t mean they’re really on the same side. I can’t believe she picked them over us. I won’t let her get away with it that easy.”

  “Dear, we can’t pull out now. It’s too dangerous, our children are too young,” Lorenzo said, gripping Amelia’s shoulders. They looked at the files on a table in front of them. “We can’t use this.” He picked them up and tossed them into the burning fire in the living room. “We need to burn all traces of us working against them. They’ll come after us, take away our inheritance, our company, our shares. We can’t let them do that. We have no choice but to comply.”

  “I can help,” the girl said, coming out of her hiding. “Take me there. I’ll live with them, and take them down from the inside. I can be your eyes, like that bird.”