That night we were eating dinner when someone knocked at the door. The boys, not taking their eyes off their food suggested I be the one to answer it. Thinking this was another one of their tests, I unclipped my knife and cautiously approached the door.
“Who is it?” I yelled. No reply.
I slowly opened the door. The light from the cabin spilled out onto the porch illuminating the lower half of a male body.
“Can I help you?”
With those words, the man stepped forward and for a moment I thought I was dreaming. Standing on the porch with big luggage bags was Kial. I dropped my knife and ran to him, knocking him off his feet with kisses. Atticus and Jophie gave each other a glance and continued on with their meal.
“Get in or out but shut the door.” Atticus yelled at us.
“Yeah, it’s freezing.” Jophie added.
***
The next morning Kial was the first one up. He couldn’t wait to get started on a project he’d given himself. He wouldn’t tell me what it was exactly, but he seemed excited.
That morning I went out with Jophie and Atticus but we didn’t go to the obstacle course. They took me deep into the forest on the other side of the cabin.
“Here, we’re going to practice stealth.” Jophie said.
“Once you complete this task, we will be done.” Atticus added. “Then we can start our search for Eden.”
I felt my heart race. It didn’t matter what the exercise was, I would stop at nothing to complete it.
“Go out into the forest, catch a deer using no traps, and bring it back here alive.”
You had to be shitting me.
“That’s impossible! You two couldn’t even do it if you tried.”
“That’s true,” Jophie agreed, “but we aren’t the one’s trying to fill in for Essa.”
Atticus handed me a small knapsack.
“Here’s enough rations for five days. If you haven’t completed it by then, you never will.”
I grabbed the knapsack and flung it over my shoulder. Both boys gave me a hug, and then I disappeared into the trees.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Battle Angel Alita
My first day had a rough start. In the afternoon the snow wouldn’t stop falling which made searching for deer tracks close to impossible. I’d have to get lucky. The snow crunched under my foot with every step and the quieter the air, the louder my steps became. I pushed through bushes and branches, snapping twigs off along the way, making trails where there weren’t any and if there were deer close by, I surely wasn’t helping myself.
That night I made a fire. When I opened my knapsack, I found most of my food missing. I dug deep inside the pouch and discovered a hole on the bottom where a sharp branch had cut through. Only a few apples and slice of bread remained. I threw the bag to the ground and went to sleep on an empty stomach.
That morning I woke before the sun. My fire had gone out so I walked around to gather leaves and branches. I rounded the crest of a hill and peered down eye to eye with a deer. We stood there frozen in a staring contest. I slowly set down my branches, crouched low and circled my way around. My feet moved slowly with anticipation. I just wanted to get this over with.
Twenty feet away, the deer raised its nose to the air and then sprinted off into the darkness. I stood up, gathered my sticks and walked back to camp.
I spent the later half of the day searching for food. Having to ration my knapsack food, my stomach was anything but grateful.
At the end of the day I had caught a few fish from the river. On a full stomach and with extra kindle tossed in the fire, I went to sleep. This time as I awoke in the morning, I opened my eyes and saw a deer in the bushes a few yards away eating berries. It’s right cheek had a healed scar. I slowly pulled my blanket off and crawled on all fours like dog. The wind blew against my face. This time I knew I was down wind. I could feel my body wanting to leap out at the deer but my mind kept my legs frozen. I didn’t know what to do next so I darted over at the deer and chased it through the forest. The deer took up like a rocket and soon left me out of breath and alone. I threw my arms up in the air and yelled, “Oh, come on!”
The next night I hadn’t caught anything for dinner, so I dug into the bread and one of the few apples left in my knapsack. That morning I woke to a noise near my head. I tilted my eyes back and saw the deer with the scar digging around my knapsack. I reached for the knapsack and the deer took a few startled steps back but didn’t run.
I opened the knapsack and emptied out my only remaining apple.
“This what you want?” I asked as the deer grunted and snorted.
I took out my knife and cut the apple into small piece. I extended out my hand and the deer sniffed, walked a few feet closer and ate the apple out of my hand.
***
Atticus and Jophie were chopping firewood out in the front yard when they saw me appear from the woods with the deer following close behind like a dog. Jophie spotted me first and let out a laugh as he and Atticus walked up and gave me a hug. Kial came out to see what all the commotion was about and after he got his fill of petting the deer, he told me he had a present for me waiting inside. The four of us said goodbye to the deer and Atticus tossed an apple far into the woods. The deer chased after it.
Inside the cabin was a mannequin wearing a black corset, Victorian style skirt, gothic knee high boots and a gas mask.
“Ta da.” Kial said.
“Oh wow!” I screamed. “Is this my new outfit?”
Kial nodded. “Newly upgraded, I might add.”
He walked over and pointed to the corset.
“This particular corset and skirt are woven with bullet proof cloth. Capable of withstanding knifes and most types of gunfire while the cloth stays flexible and light. They even have holsters woven in the back and sides for holding multiple gas canisters. Down here we have military grade knee high boots. Weather and waterproof up to one hundred feet and my favorite, a new gas mask; version 2.0. This new-age beauty has your goggles integrated into the eyes with translucent glass so you view maps without your vision being impaired, has all Essa’s old accessories in a new upgraded way and the outer shell is also bullet proof.”
They didn’t have to ask me twice. Within minutes I had the suit on outside and was testing it against Atticus and Jophie. The suit by itself would’ve been more than enough, but added with the training that the boys gave me and I felt like a whole new girl.
We had a celebration dinner that night and in the morning after breakfast we packed our stuff. Standing outside on the front lawn looking back at the cabin was like looking at my childhood home, but I felt more love from these people than anything my parents ever tried to give me.
That’s when I felt vulnerable like a old friend was watching me. I turned around and looked out into the forest. Standing behind a tree there was the deer with the scar on its face staring back at me. He stood there a moment waiting and then took off into the forest. I smiled and walked with the boys down the hill towards Garden Grave.
What I didn’t see was Essa standing further into the forest watching from the trees. Her shirt was torn and underneath showed her bandaged stomach. A hand crept onto her shoulder and Eden’s voice said, “Come, we’ll need to prepare for their arrive.”
###
About The Author:
Will Novy is a Southern Californian native living in Los Angeles. Currently working in the film industry, Will works as a freelance cinematographer and gaffer.
On top of working for companies such as Disney, ABC, Nike, MTV, Discovery Channel, Sony, Warner Bros, AMC, etc, Will also is the founder of Skyride Studios, a production studio aimed at bring innovative projects to life.
Connect with him at:
www.skyridestudios.com or www.willnovy.com
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