by Janean Worth
Chapter Three
Kara ran through the darkness until she felt as if her lungs might burst. Her breath sawed in and out at a frantic pace, and her legs burned with the extended forced exertion. Her only pair of badly worn shoes was no match for the uneven rock-strewn land, and her feet ached with the pounding they were taking, but she could not stop. She knew as soon as the first light of morning topped the horizon the Gate would reopen and the Enforcers would begin to look for her.
She wasn’t sure how long they’d look for a Stray in the wilderness. She’d never heard of anyone willingly leaving the safety of GateWide before. Possibly the Enforcers would not search at all, but her instincts warned her that the Sovereign would be angry when her heard of her disappearance, and he would send the Enforcers after her just to ensure that she was found so that he could make an example of her punishment. From the stories her mother had told her, she knew that the Sovereign’s anger usually resulted in death for whoever had caused it. This knowledge made her sure that she’d better find a good place to hide before morning came.
But where? Everything looked the same in the darkness. It all looked menacing and dangerous to her. She’d entered the outer rim of the forest several moments ago, and the towering trees looked just as menacing in the darkness as did the tangle of undergrowth that grew where the trees parted and allowed sunlight to nourish the plants below in the daylight hours.
After several moments, she was forced to slow her stride as the towering trees and stunted bushes thickened enough that she could not easily pass through. She’d taken the four candles that remained of their meager stash, and the small oil lamp that they’d kept beside the fireplace, but she was reluctant to make use of either one because, unless she learned to make candles and lamp oil herself, the supply that she had now would have to last her forever. According to the lessons that she’d received from her tutor, the tutor that she’d been permitted to go to before her father had died, there were no other settlements other than GateWide. The Fall had decimated the entire world, and the only descendents of the first survivors lived now in GateWide, behind the massive Gate and the protection of the wall, so there would be no one in the wilderness to help her learn how to do anything. And that meant that there would be no more candles or lamp oil unless she could make them herself. And that was a skill she did not know.
After several more moments of stumbling around it the darkness, Kara realized that she might never need the lamp oil more than she did right at that moment. She had no idea where she was heading, or what lay in front of her, or the dangers that she might be stumbling into in the darkness. She stopped, listening intently to her surroundings for sounds of pursuit as she leaned against he massive trunk of a tree and carefully removed the oil lamp from her bag. She’d wrapped it in her mother’s shawl, and the material still smelled of her mother, the scent wafting up to sting Kara’s eyes with emotion as she unwounded it from the lamp. Carefully tucking the shawl back inside the bag, Kara removed a flint and the valuable metal knife that her mother had treasured. She felt around blindly in the darkness at her feet, gathering a few dried leaves and bits of forest debris and several longer twigs. Using the knife, she struck sparks from the flint, expertly flicking them onto the pile of gathered tinder. In minutes, she had tiny flames bursting to life at her feet. The sight gave her a pang in her heart, for, after her father had died, the duty of lighting the nightly fire had fallen to Kara, because her mother had had no aptitude for it. She’d always said that Kara had a knack for bringing life to the flames.
Kara felt tears burn the backs of her eyes again at the memory, but she pushed them back and concentrated instead on starting the end of a small twig burning. She used the twig to light the oil lamp, then crouched near the tiny fire she’d made. She was tempted to stay in the spot for a while. The fire offered comfort and a lulling sense of false security, the brilliant flames giving off heat that chased away the deep chill that Kara had not even realized she was feeling until that very moment.
Kara sighed then slid the bag back onto her shoulders. She could not stay. She had not made it nearly far enough into the forest to remain hidden from the Enforcers when they came looking for her. She remained crouched over the fire, leaning against the massive bulk of the tree next to her, until the flames dwindled and died.
Then, turning up the flame on the lamp, she stood, holding the lamp high as she looked off in the three directions that the forest spread out into, and wondered which would be the best course to take.
It was then that she first noticed the faint glimmer of a pair of red eyes that blinked at her from the darkness.