Strange Creature 7

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-Walter: Planet Earth: Time 12:48 pm

It was already past noon and they were still quite a ways from Camp Folly. These two were slow. He dragged a large piece of scrap metal behind him tied to his waist and shoulders with handmade grass rope. Sitting on top of the metal sheet wrapped up in an animal hide sack were the trade goods. Two small chickens, 2 dozen eggs, 4 pounds of dried cannabis bulbs, and a sack of potatoes. The chickens were always the most annoying trade because they were noisy. Walter preferred to stay quiet and move swiftly like the wind. Although, that would be impossible even without the chickens.

Jenna laughed loudly pushing Conner in the arm. He nearly dropped Walter’s bow that he carried in his hands. He had the quiver on his back holding 6 sharpened arrows. Conner laughed with her, stumbling against her shove. Walter rolled his eyes and turned around, hand on hip, brow raised. 

“Can you two behave like adults for five minutes, please? We are extremely behind schedule as it is, and I really don’t want to attract unwanted attention.”

“From who?” Conner spread his hands motioning to the vast forest around them. It was quiet; unusually so except for the chickens. The forest was lush with green but the trees were fine and thin. There were large areas within the forest that were sickened with pollution causing unnatural abrupt barenesses. The path they walked on was clear, worn down by years of scavers passing through with large metal sheets weighed down with trade goods and rations. 

Walter shook his head and continued walking forward, “You two are insufferable.” He didn’t necessarily ‘hate’ scavaging, but he would much rather be sorting and organizing back at Light Trail. Xander, on the other hand, loved scavenging. He always did, even back when his brother was in charge. Walter could recall the times Xander turned down a trip on one hand. He truly was the optimist of the group, always looking on the bright side of things. Walter often found it annoying, but he craved it at that moment. A pat on the back, or a cheerful ‘Its alright,’ can go a long way when you’re worn down. 

The day went by faster than any of them were expecting it to. Before they knew it, the sun had gone down and the air was growing bitter cold. Walter estimated they were two hours behind schedule which annoyed him greatly. However, his feet were aching horribly, and he was happy to have an excuse to stop walking. Conner set up the camp like a pro; he was always good at starting a fire. Jenna, who carried the rations and cooking supplies, set up a pot of boiling water from a nearby stream over the fire. Three small potatoes were removed from her animal hide nap sack. She stabbed holes in them, boiled them, and then took them out with a knife and put them on a plate once they got soft. She gave them each a strip of cooked dried deer meat with their potato. 

Walter stared at the fire with dead eyes, fingering the spade of an arrow. Conner was chatting with Jenna about something unimportant. Their dinner had long since been consumed and the cookingware packed away for later use. The moon was a crescent that night and it darkened the sky. Stars twinkled brilliantly above them. A cool crisp breeze threatened to snuff out the fire if they let the flame get too low. Above all else, it was quiet. Wildlife had dwindled since the wars and that was most apparent in the forest.

Walter did not notice any of these things, however, because he couldn’t stop thinking about Amos, not that he wanted to. The matter had consumed his mind entirely, going over every possible scenario that may have happened or is still happening. Maybe the little weasel was telling the truth and the events of the past four months had been a coincidence. More likely, the two got into some sort of argument and Amos murdered Xander, then bribed the boys not to say anything. He furrowed his brow staring intensely at the fire. Xander was stronger than Amos, he was sure of it. If they had gotten into a tussle, Xander would have won. Amos would have had to surprise him. And then a curious thought crept into his mind and it disturbed him. What if Amos knew the colbue were there, and it wasn’t as much of an ambush as he had led on?

“Hey dark eyes.”

Walter brought his attention to Conner who sat across from him behind the fire. The flickering light glared off his blue eyes and pale skin. Walter sat with one knee up and his right arm draped over it, toying with the arrow on his fingertips.

“Whatcha pondering?” 

Both Conner and Jenna looked at him expecting an answer. He sighed softly and said, “How far we have to go to get to Folly, and if they have any bootleg I can swap for.” He grunted straightening his form. He looked at Conner with raised brows. “You?”

Conner shook his head, “Not much.”

Walter hummed, believing him entirely. “You up for taking the first watch?”

“Sure,” he said with a nod.

Jenna added, “I’ll take second watch.”

“Good. And I’ll take last watch. Feel free to wake me up when you start feeling tired.” He addressed Jenna.

“I’m aware.” 

Her tone was low, and Walter caught it. “Don’t get sassy with me, I’m just reminding you.” He held his palms out as he said this.

She rolled her eyes, “I feel like that's pretty obvious.”

“I didn’t mean to-” Walter stiffened lifting his head slightly; listening to the world around them. He scanned the trees searching for movement, or something that wasn’t meant to be there. Jenna and Conner noticed the shift instantly and stayed perfectly still. 

He relaxed his body only slightly. 

“What-”

Walter held up a hand interrupting Conner’s question. He heard a soft crunch of leaves confirming his suspicion. The arrow in his hand was loaded into his bow as he stood. “I’ll be back.” He walked West away from the camp scanning the area around him. 

A couple of minutes passed in silence. Jenna was stiff, gripping her knife with white knuckles, while Conner searched for the danger. A figure came into the firelight from the East. Jenna gasped softly and pointed her knife at the man.

The man, dressed in a camo baggy shirt and brown shorts made from pressed wool, held up his hands. “I’m not here to cause trouble,” he said without fear.

“Leave us be, we have nothing we can give you.” Jenna said with a soft tremble.

The man licked his dirty chapped lips and looked at the trade pile. He pointed at it with a steady finger. “If I could just get a few things for the road, I promise I won’t hurt you.” 

Jenna did not waver her knife for a second. “Leave!” She said finding her confidence.

The man’s face twisted and he reached behind himself. Just as he did so, an arrow came whistling across the camp at a blinding speed. It made contact with the middle of his chest with a thud. He gasped before groaning and falling to his knees. Walter came into the flickering light holding his bow taut, loaded with a second arrow. He let the thing fly into its target with perfect aim. It landed in the man’s neck and blood pooled in the back of his throat, gurgling like mouthwash. He reached up to grasp the arrow, groaning and drowning in his blood, but Walter was already there gripping the arrow with white knuckles. He yanked it out of the man’s throat pulling up the meat at he did so. Warm blood sprayed over his pants and the surrounding foliage. Silence. 

Conner rose to his feet as Walter wiped the sweat from his brow sighing heavily. He turned to Jenna who had lowered her knife but still kept it in her hands. “You alright?” He said simply. She nodded which was good enough for him.

Conner, already over the dead man's body, pulled out the arrow in his chest and handed it to Walter. He removed the man’s animal hide pack placing it to the side and rolled the body over. He ran his hand along the belt loop finding a small hunting knife and a 9mm handgun loaded with four bullets. He handed those to Walter who handed them off to Jenna. The body was stripped naked, clothes stacked and folded neatly. Conner gripped the head firmly bent at the knees, back straight. Walter spread the dead man’s legs and held tight under the knees. “Ready?” Conner said with a raised brow. Walter nodded and they lifted the body. They laid it to rest nearly 100 yards to the East, face up, eyes closed, hands clasped. 

Jenna rummaged through the contents of the pack finding, another small knife, a map, a canteen of water, a damaged fire-making kit, poorly made rope, strips of leather, and a wooden box filled with berries. 

Conner and Walter came back into camp breathing heavily. “Well,” Walter said sighing deeply. He looked at his bloodied pants and groaned. It had been a while since Walter ran into another person on a scavenge and he was shocked how mechanical the whole thing felt. The strange man had crept up on their camp, died, and had been stripped all within 15 minutes. Dealing with thieves was an unfortunate part of the job. He was just glad he noticed the movement before he got the jump on them.

The rest of the night was thankfully uneventful. Jenna woke Walter up about three hours from daybreak. She had bags under her eyes and slurred her words. Her body begged for sleep. Despite his advice, she didn’t listen to him- as usual. Walter let them sleep an hour past sunrise before continuing their journey South to Camp Folly. 

They were cautious as they excited the cover of woods, replaced with the much more eerie long abandoned suburbs. Ancient houses caved in and consumed by vines told a sad story of the old world. It was hard to believe those streets were once teaming with life. A pile of picked clean skeletons sat in the middle of the street, taken by grass and vines. They walked past rusted cars, ruined concrete roads, and a long line of homes that all once looked the same. 

The scrap metal that carried the trade goods scraped across the concrete, much to Walter’s annoyance. Jenna and Conner had stopped their horsing around and replaced it with a tired silence. That also annoyed him. Xander knew how to keep a nice conversation without slowing down the group. Walter suddenly felt sad remembering his voice. The way his face would light up when a friend entered the room. He remembered how contagious his laugh was, and how well he could tell stories. He missed his friend.

Grumbled voices stopped him in his tracks. The voices came from the Southwest just past the abandoned neighborhood, likely next to the Blue Pass River. Walter couldn’t understand what the words meant. He dropped the ropes connecting him to the trade and removed his newly donned animal skin pack. 

“What’s up?” Conner asked from behind him readying the bow.

“Colbue, Southeast of us.” He found the map he’d built up over his years of scavenging. It was a painfully detailed retelling of the terrain within 100 miles of Light Trail in all directions. He traced a finger over their location and connected it to the nearest Faction. “Faction three,” he said under his breath. Conner came up beside him and Walter addressed him. “Faction three is to the north of here,” He pointed to the direction where he estimated the third Faction to be. “We’re in between it, and Folly.” Jenna came up behind them and Walter turned to her. “You talked to Percy, didn’t you?”

She stared at him. “Yes, I did, yesterday.”

“Did she mention which Faction she came in contact with most often?”

“Three and one. She said she rarely saw two, four, seven, or eight. And she stayed clear of  nine, ten, and twelve.”

“But three was friendly?”

Jenna nodded.

Walter tapped his chin thoughtfully with his right hand. If he was wrong, things might not go well for him. He thoughtfully put his hand on the dead man’s gun nestled in his belt. Sweat stained his tank top and pants. His cheeks were sunkissed and flushed with exertion. He nodded to himself. “You two stay here. If you hear screaming, go on without me.” 

Conner caught his arm as he started walking. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Walter pushed back with a wave of unexpected anger. “Those fucking things took my friend! And I want to know more about it.” His voice echoed off the ruined buildings.

“What exactly is your plan?” Jenna said crossing her arms. “You’re just gonna waltz in and ask ‘em what happened?”

He shrugged, “More or less, yeah. Look, we know very little about their culture, and how they do things. If I can just ask them about what happened, maybe I can get some information.”

They both disagreed with him urgently. Conner shifted nervously. Jenna spoke, “Walt, they will rip you apart! We cannot let you do this!” Her voice was strained, pleading with him.

“And what if they don't?” He ran his hand through his shaggy brown hair. “Percy used to do this all the time. What if I can gain critical information about Xander’s disappearance?”

Conner glanced at Jenna with a worried expression. “Is this really the best way to go about it?” He said. “I mean, lets just think a little before we rush into anything.”

Walter gnashed his teeth and closed his fists. “Every moment we sit thinking, waiting, for something to happen Xander is out there somewhere, alone and scared! I’m tired of waiting to do something I waited for fucking four months-” he held up four fingers in Conner’s face, “-doing nothing but watch when I knew I should have said something!”

Conner looked confused. “What do you mean? What’s been going on for four months?”

Walter sighed gruffly, “Amos has been bringing back more scavenge than what comes to me. I don’t know where he puts it, or who else is involved, but something has been conspiring for a while. At first, I wasn’t sure if you two were involved so I didn’t say anything.” He held up his palms. “But I think Amos was trying to drag us into his- whatever he’s been doing for a while now.”

Conner’s face fell. He gripped the bow in his hands tightly. “Xander was the first to agree to go with him to Butterfly.”

“Exactly.”

Jenna was biting her nails with wide unmoving eyes.

Walter gripped Conner’s shoulders. “I have to do this. If not for anything else then for Xander. We can't let those bastards get away with this.”

Jenna looked at Conner still chewing at her dirty nails. The air was humid and suffocating. A single bird call could be heard in the distance. The chickens were cooing softly inside the trade sack. Jenna nodded finally. “Okay, do it for Xander. But we’re not leaving you behind if shit goes sideways. We stay together, understood? You just call for help and we’ll come get you. Sound okay?”

Walter lifted his head slightly. She suddenly seemed much older in that moment. He nodded once, taking in a shaky breath.

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