by C. R. Turner
“I didn’t know anyone was living here,” I say.
There’s an awkward silence until the girl says, “Ay. Is that Canine Maximus tame?” Her voice is softly spoken with a northern accent.
“Yeah. He’s mine. I mean … we’re together.”
There’s a few seconds where neither of us say anything.
The girl looks like she’s about to start crying.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
She stammers, “I’m sorry. It’s just been a really long time since I’ve seen anyone.”
She forces a smile and wipes a tear away. “Hi. My name’s Samantha.”
“Hi. I’m Joel. This is Max.”
Samantha smiles, then quickly walks past me and around the corner into the kitchen. She’s wearing blue jeans and a floral shirt with her sleeves rolled up, and her hair in a ponytail. She’s really pretty, and not having spoken to another teenager in years, I don’t know what to say or do. I look up at Max, then back towards the kitchen.
“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Samantha calls out.
Shocked by her invitation I just stand there and don’t say anything for a second before I walk around the corner towards the kitchen and reply, “Can we?”
“Yup. I’d enjoy the company.”
As Samantha starts preparing dinner, she turns to me and looks me up and down with a half-frown, half-smile. I see myself through her eyes, covered in dust with my hair all matted.
“Do you want to take a hot shower? I have solar panels on the roof for power — pumping water and heating.”
I smile with deep admiration of her ingenuity. “Yeah … that would be great.”
While I take a shower, Samantha continues cooking. When I come back into the kitchen, Samantha says, “You’ve got Max trained well.”
I look over at him lying on the floor with meat scraps sitting in front of him. “Won’t he eat it?”
“No. I told him to eat up, but he just looked away,” replies Samantha.
I tell him to eat his food, and he immediately starts scoffing down the scraps. We both laugh.
“I’ve never seen him do that before. That must be from his MOSAR training.”
Samantha smiles and continues cooking dinner.
As she’s about to serve dinner, she looks at my supplies on the floor and says, “If you like, you can give Max one of your hindquarters for dinner. I have heaps of frozen meat in the freezer. You can take some if you like.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yup. There’s heaps of deer around here.”
Amazed by her independence and kindness to a complete stranger, I smile. “Okay. Thank you.”
I carry the old hindquarter over to the tiled area in front of the elevator doors and drop it on the floor. Max trots over and starts devouring it.
I sit at the table. “That’s the most he’s had to eat for a while. We’ve been getting by with just small portions each day.”
Samantha brings two plates filled with meat and vegetables, and my eyes light up at the prospect of having a home-cooked meal.
“Are they fresh vegetables?” I ask curiously.
“Yup. I have a vegie patch on the roof.”
“Wow. And bread!”
“It’s a special occasion.” She smiles then looks down at her plate.
As we eat, I ask, “How did you get the electricity going?”
“I read a lot. I have a couple of good books on solar panels and electronics. I learned what I could from them and worked out the gaps myself by trial and error. There are factories a day’s walk from here where contractors still build vehicles for the Union. I sneak in from time to time to steel wiring and batteries.”
After we finish eating, we sit at the table and talk. Max is still chomping away at what’s left of his hindquarter bone when I ask, “How long have you lived here?”
“About five years.”
“How have you not been drafted? It’s pretty close to Paelagus,” I wonder aloud.
“They never look for draftees north of the military line.”
“Have you lived here by yourself for all that time?”
“Yup.”
I pause. “Why don’t you leave?”
Samantha looks away then back at me. “This is my father’s business. He said he would meet me here when he gets back from the war.”
“How long ago was that?”
“About five years ago.”
“Is your mother still alive?”
Samantha answers, “No. She … died in child birth. Do you have any family?”
“No. Both my parents are dead and I’m an only child.”
Unsure what to say next, I change the subject. “Do you mind if we stay the night?”
Samantha smiles. “Of course not.”
“I should warn you, we’ve had a striker scout tracking us for the past few days.”
Samantha nods acknowledgment. “You should be safe in here. There’s only one entrance to the upper floors. I’ve cut the elevator shaft cables, and I barricade the door to the stairwell so no one can get up here when I’m here.”
I help Samantha clean up the dishes, and once we’re done, Samantha makes up a bed for me. I get my binoculars and look out the windows to see if there’s any sign of the striker scout. Samantha joins me and we take turns looking until I can’t keep my eyes open.
It’s the first time in a long time I’ve slept in a proper bed with sheets. As I lie, I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s so fiercely independent, which I find both beautiful and a little intimidating. Max didn’t even growl at her when we first met. I think we could be good friends. I can’t wait till tomorrow.
Chapter 8
Hati has risen. I head to the kitchen dazed, having overslept. Samantha’s nowhere to be seen. I open the door to the stairwell and tell Max to stay as I head down to the foyer. The ground floor door is still barricaded from the inside, so I head up to the rooftop and find Samantha working in her garden. As I walk amongst dozens of solar panels and raised vegie patches, all overflowing with a huge variety of grains and vegetables, I run my hand through wheat heads that rustle in the cool morning breeze.
Samantha’s on her hands and knees pulling out weeds.
I call out, “Good morning.”
She turns and shields her eyes from Hati’s glare. “Ay.”
Even though Hati is starting to warm the air, I’m not used to the cold nights or mornings and cross my arms over my chest to stay warm. “Did you build all this by yourself?”
“Yup.”
I sit on the edge of a garden bed. “How old were you when your father left?”
She doesn’t look up. “Thirteen.”
“Do you think he’ll return?” I ask softly.
She stops gardening, stands up and takes her gloves off. “He said he would. I have to believe that he’ll come home one day.”
She sits next to me. We’re so close that our shoulders are touching, and I blurt out, “I can’t remember what my parents looked like anymore.”
There’s an awkward silence, and I can feel Samantha looking at me, but I’m too afraid to look at her. She reaches out and holds my hand. “I have a really old photo of my mother. The image is burnt into my brain from spending so much time looking at it. But for the life of me, I struggle to remember what my father looks like. I try to imagine but wonder how far my imagination takes me from the truth.”
We sit in silence for a minute or two, and when I glance at her, she’s looking off into the distance. She lets go of my hand and stands.
I jump up, not sure what to say or do. “I was just going to take Max for a walk, do you want to come?”
“I need to finish up here, but come, I’ll show you something.”
“Okay.”
We go back down to the office level. Samantha walks over to the windows and picks up my binoculars, looks through them and hands them to me. “Look over at the public toilet. On the top left hand side there’s a black electronic dev
ice sitting on the roof. I saw the striker scout put it there this morning before I came up here.”
I see it. “Yeah. It’s some sort of motion-activated camera.”
“There’s another one over here too.” Samantha points.
I look through my binoculars. “Thanks. I’ll take Max in the opposite direction.”
I place my binoculars on the table and head towards the stairwell with Max.
Samantha calls out, “Be careful.”
“We will.”
Outside, I catch myself smiling at Max’s rare comical behaviour as he bounces along in the sunlight. My smile fades as I think about how long it’s been since I last smiled. With the misery of this place seeping into every nook and cranny of life, I tear up at the joy Max brings me.
When we return, Samantha is washing vegetables in the sink, and I sit at the table. When she finishes she asks, “Do you want a drink?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
She joins me at the table. “Here you go.”
I take a sip. “Would you mind if Max and I stayed for a while?”
Samantha’s smile answers my question. “I’d like that very much.”
I smile, admiring her long blond hair and perfect complexion. Her face glows with excitement or happiness, I’m not sure which.
Samantha and I get along really well and become close as the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months. It’s the longest I’ve stayed in any one place since leaving Bessomi. Samantha teaches me how to grow grain and vegetables, and as she’s already a seasoned hunter, I teach her paramedic and survival training skills.
Early one morning, as Samantha packs her bow and arrows and some food and water for a deer hunting trip, I’m both excited and a little intimidated as I put Max’s saddle and reins on. I’ve only hunted rabbits before. Outside, I jump up on Max’s back and hold my hand out for Samantha. She grabs my hand and struggles to get on Max’s back, but once there, she wraps her hands around my waist and laughs. “Well, that was graceful.”
I smile and give Max a gentle squeeze in the ribs. An hour or so later, we’ve arrived at a park I’ve never seen before. It’s completely overgrown and has spread out into the adjacent buildings, making it hard to tell where the industrial area ends and the park begins. It’s several hundred acres in size, and as we continue on, Samantha says quietly, “This is my favourite place to hunt. I’ve been coming here for years.”
I steer Max through the long grass and around low-lying tree branches as Samantha sits behind me, readying her bow and arrow. After a while, we finally see a herd of deer ahead, and Max walks carefully, soundlessly, as if instinctually knowing we’re on a hunt. As we get closer, one of the deer raises its head and looks directly at us. Samantha draws the bow string back, and just as she releases it, the deer takes off, startling the herd. The arrow misses, and the sudden motion of all the deer makes Max give chase. Samantha nearly falls off Max’s back, and I turn and grab her, pulling her back up. At this point I’m barely in control as Max chases down the deer. Samantha loads another arrow, draws the bow string back and releases. The arrow hits a deer at the back of the herd, directly in the rib cage, and it immediately crashes to the ground.
I pull on Max’s reins, and we head over to the fallen deer. It’s still breathing short rapid breaths. Samantha jumps off Max and kneels in front it. She pulls the arrow out, blood pooling around the entry wound, and strokes the deer’s face until its rapid breathing slows and eventually stops altogether.
Samantha and I are sitting in the shade of a big old willow tree, the deer we’ve just shot hanging up and bleeding out. Max is ten feet away, fast asleep on the grass. The wind is blowing through the willow’s limbs, making a ghostly howling sound. I look at Samantha leaning up against the tree trunk and feel a real sense of happiness. It’s a struggle to remember how long it’s been since I’ve felt like this. She’s such an amazing person. A pure soul in an impure world. I wonder if she’s my soul mate. She looks over, and I quickly look away before she catches me staring.
“What was your father like?” she asks.
I pause to think before replying. “He was a quiet guy. Really smart and philosophical … even when I was young, we’d have discussions about philosophy, he never dumbed it down for me. Even when I didn’t understand what he meant, he would take the time to explain it to me. I remember him telling me about his first trip to Arcadia, which was just before I was born. He told me it was a spiritual awakening. That he felt like he was part of Arcadia, and Arcadia was part of him. He spoke about it with such emotion he almost made me cry. To see someone talk about something so passionately is beautiful. I always admired him for that.”
Samantha smiles and I smile back. Max’s legs twitch and he makes a combination of growling and whimpering sounds in his sleep. He pulls his lips back, exposing his huge canine teeth and his eyelids flicker as he dreams. Samantha laughs as Max becomes more and more animated. I join in laughing, and when Max suddenly jolts awake and sits up, Samantha’s laughing so hard she snorts, which cracks me up. We laugh until we both have tears in our eyes.
After, when we’ve both composed ourselves, Samantha turns to look at the deer hanging up and says, “It’s stopped bleeding. Do you want to get going?” She’s still smiling.
“Yeah, okay,” I say, returning her smile.
She jumps up, and as soon as she does, an energy blast from an Ashra flies across the top of the long grass and hits her. Her body goes limp as she blacks out and plummets to the ground with a thud. There’s silence, except for the rustle of the willow leaves and long grass. I crawl over to her in shock and grab her, pulling her in close. Max knows something’s wrong and crawls over to our position. A second blast fires across the field and hits Max in the shoulder. He drops to the ground and gasps, startled, but the signal blast is not enough to knock him out. It’s got to be the striker scout.
With a rough idea of the direction the blasts came from, I kneel to try and locate him. Peering over the top of the long grass, I lock on to his position. His head bobs up and down as he runs towards us, then stops. If it weren’t for Max, I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate. Nonetheless, we have to get out of here fast. I grab what I can and hastily drag Samantha through the long grass, trying hard to stay low. I manage to drag her over to the edge of the park where there’s more cover from small trees. Max crawls behind us, his belly dragging on the ground to stay as low as he can. I crawl over to a side door in one of the buildings and wiggle the door knob. It doesn’t budge. I get up on my knees and look out over the top of the long grass again but can’t see anything, so I barge the door with my shoulder. It swings open and I drag Samantha’s limp body inside, then close the door and barricade it with furniture. Max sits protectively close to us. A few minutes pass and Samantha regains consciousness.
She looks up at me, then around the room. “What happened, where are we?”
“You were shot by an Ashra.”
“Was it the striker scout?”
Furious with myself for getting her into this, I look away. “I’m sorry.”
Samantha sits up still dazed. “What for?”
“It’s my fault you got shot and we’re in this position.”
She shakes her head. “The Union goes hard for all draftees. They figure if you don’t join the Union, then they’ll join the TPRA.”
“You’ve survived all this time by yourself, and now we’re both about to be drafted, thanks to me.”
Samantha puts her hand on mine. “It’s not your fault, and besides we’re not caught yet.”
She sluggishly climbs to her feet and walks to the window. I follow her and we peer out the blinds but can’t see any sign of our stalker.
Samantha lets go of the blind and grabs my hand. “Come on. We need to get to higher ground.”
She leads the way up the staircase, and Max jumps up and follows. On the roof top, we cautiously approach the edge and look out over the park. We sit patiently for hours as Hati crosses
the sky and lowers on the horizon.
Samantha points. “Look. Skoll and Hati are closing in one another.”
I look over, then back at Samantha and smile.
“You know what that means don’t you?” she asks.
I shake my head.
“It’ll be the Hati–Skoll equinox soon.”
While she gazes at Skoll, I stare at her, infatuated by her beautiful face and her intelligence. I wish we could spend the rest of our lives together.
As Hati starts to disappear below the horizon, Samantha spots the striker scout walking on the far edge of the park. She seems pleased, but I’m still annoyed at myself for getting her into this. She stands and holds out her hand to help me to my feet, then hugs me. Quite surprised by her show of affection, I smile and hug her back. The smell of her hair is intoxicating. It warms my heart, which I thought had been turned to stone from a lifetime of hardship and survival.
Do I dare love her?
As she lets go, she places her hand on the side of my face and rubs my cheek with her thumb. Her palm is warm. I wonder if she’s thinking about kissing me, but before I know it, she just smiles and heads for the door. I don’t know whether her trusting nature is an admirable quality or a flaw. I think if she’d seen the things I’ve seen, she wouldn’t be as trusting. I can’t help but be drawn to her. She’s beautiful and smart. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. But as much as I want to be with her, I can’t stay here. I couldn’t live with myself if any harm came to her because of me. I’m at war with myself. Stay or leave?
I know what I must do.
I’ve just taken a shower, and as I approach the kitchen, Samantha’s sitting at the table. She jumps up, grinning, and hands me a big present wrapped in brown paper.
“What’s this?”
“It’s for you … I made it.”
I smile as I unwrap it. Inside is a jacket made from deer skin. I hold it up, amazed. “It’s awesome.”
“I made it from the deer we got the other day.”
I try it on, doing up the buttons on the front.