Where There's Smoke...

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TO:   Office of the Secretary, Presidio Intelligence Agency

FROM:       Presidio Exile Management Department

RE:        Consignee Group 2832-X-0314 Casualty Report

CC:        Criminal Records Department

April 11, 2832 CE

Consignee Group 2832-X-0314A was deposited on Wrath 4 APRIL, 2832 CE per Executive Order C2832-0314.  62 criminals deposited.

Casualties have been heavy.  Local flora and fauna have destroyed over 60% (37 dead or dying). Remaining exiles have dispersed, with the exception of ten consignees traveling toward the Barrier Mountains in a group.  This group includes:

Dierdra Austin            Female   16

Kryss Davies              Male     15

Michael McDowell          Male     14

Darryn Meyer              Male     16

Bran Owens                Male     15

Jacen Polczek             Male     13

Matthew Price             Male     15

Moira Shale               Female  14

Justinian Thoreau Jr.     Male     14

Kale Williams             Male     24    (Group 2832-X-0105)

It should be noted the PEMD believes Justinian Thoreau has organized the group and is acting as leader.  This is significant in light of the training he received while in the Rangers makes him a perfect candidate to form an organized resistance. 

Bran Owens, the other Ranger trainee in the group, does not have the leadership characteristics necessary to lead a rebellion of any kind.  He is totally submissive to Thoreau Jr.

Kale Williams is also not leadership material, and irrelevant.

Two other potential leaders for the group, Darryn Meyer, and Michael McDowell, are not likely to oust Thoreau through popularity, but other methods would yield the same result; both have shown no restraint in the past.

Recommendation:

Elimination of Justinian Thoreau, Jr. by any means necessary.  He can not be allowed to reach Refuge alive.

Lieutenant Jacob R. Graham

Division Officer, Consignee Surveillance Division  

END OF FILE

“I hope that stays on the other side of the mountains,” Bran said quietly.

“Me too,” I answered just as quietly.  “If it doesn’t, we’re going to have a hard time.  How far to the mountains?”

“Too damn far. At least a hundred-and-twenty klicks.”

“It’s too dangerous to travel during the night, especially with leapers around.  Who knows what else is out there.  And then there’s those plants, too.”

“All we can do is go on as we have been.  If it does hop the mountains, we probably won’t be able to outrun it.”  I nodded.  Fire was our worst enemy, now that we were surrounded by jungle.  If the trees caught fire, it would sweep across the jungle plain quickly, giving us no chance of survival without a miracle.

“Let’s get everyone up.  I want to get moving while we can see the fire.” 

Bran nodded and told Kryss to get everyone moving.  “Do we tell them what’s going on?”

“No.  There’s no reason to panic them just yet.”

“What about you, Jus?”

“Me?”  I smiled half-heartedly.  “I’m in a quiet panic, as usual.” 

Bran grinned, then left me to assist Kryss while I continued to watch the horizon.  Already I could catch the scent of smoke on the warm early morning air.  It was different than the smell of our campfire.  Soon, ash would be falling form the sky like snow.  It could get very difficult to breathe soon. With a sense of dread, I turned to the task of leading these people to safety. 

I never wanted to be in charge; it had been the furthest thing from my mind, but somehow I ended up in a position of leadership.  All I wanted to do was get Bran and myself out of this fucking jungle so we could be happy together, but I couldn’t just let everyone die.  Could I?  Shit.

There was much grumbling as people rolled out of their makeshift beds.  When everyone had regained their feet, I called them over.

“Listen up!  We have a problem.”

“Yeah, you,” I heard Darryn mumble.  I ignored him and Dierdra’s giggle that came after.  Now wasn’t the time for a fight when we had more to worry about beside just the monsters wanting us for a meal.  It would not be forgotten, though.  His day of reckoning would come soon enough.

“There is a fire burning on the other side of the mountains.  I don’t know if it’ll come over to our side, but it’s a real possibility.   If it does, and the jungle starts to burn, we’ll be stuck in the middle with nowhere to go.”  I let that sink in for a moment, judging their reactions.  Matt, Moira, and Jacen seemed genuinely concerned, while the rest wore blank expressions.  “We need to move as quickly as we can.  We have about five days until we make it to the mountains.  Hopefully, we’ll make it there with no problems.”

“And if we don’t?” asked Dierdra with a sneer.

“Then we do the best we can.”  Bran’s tone left no doubt what he thought of her question.  She had the grace to blush, but her face betrayed her hostility.  She moved closer to Darryn and took his hand, but Darryn moved away from her to stand with Moira, and wrapped a protective arm around her.  Dierdra wasn’t pleased, and neither was Moira, judging by her expression.  “Okay.  Let’s get moving.”

I stood back as Bran and Kale coordinated the controlled chaos that preceded our departure.  The horizon was just starting to show traces of light, making the orange-red glow more difficult to see.  We had to go north to the mountains.  This jungle would eat us alive if we didn’t.  I began to worry that we would be leaving one deathtrap and walking into another when we got there, but we didn’t have a choice.  I didn’t have a choice..

Our line of march was ragged as ever.  Signs of exhaustion made themselves more apparent as the hours moved on.  The weaker kids fell behind, slowing us down.  The Jungle conspired to slow us down even more, blocking our way with pools of brackish water and walls of underbrush and vines. 

We took a break at midday to get something in our stomachs.  Each of us carried a pouchful of coconut we’d cracked the night before, and a shell full of water.  I let them rest a little longer than I really wanted to, then we moved out again.

A short while later, as we passed yet another bog, a chameleon was sitting on a fallen log along our path, hunting for prey.  We passed fairly close to the reptiloid, easily within two and a half meters.  It just sat there and watched us with unblinking eyes.  We really weren’t too worried about it, because it wasn’t big enough or fast enough to eat us.  This turned out to be a mistake.

Jacen happened to be in the rear guard with Bran and Kale.  Unfortunately, he approached the chameleon too closely, and the thing jumped at him.  With a yell, Jacen fell to the ground and rolled clear of the big lizard, scrambling to his feet as the thing made a slow advance on him.  The chameleon’s tongue shot out of it’s mouth, striking Jacen with enough force to throw him backward into a deep bog.  He landed with a splash just as Bran and Kale attacked with their spears, stabbing it in the ribcage from each side, effectively pinning it between them. 

While Bran and Kale dealt with the reptiloid, Kryss and Matt scurried to the edge of the pool, looking for some sign of Jacen.  He surfaced a moment later, coughing and spluttering, barely keeping his head above water.  His cry for help galvanized everyone into action.

“Keep back from the edge!” I shouted, “Use your spears to pull him in!”  The lizard tried to claw it’s way to Matt, but Bran shifted his spear to force the creature back, moving it away from us.  Kale got the idea and did likewise.  With every movement the thrashing beast made, the spears were driven in, until at last, they penetrated into the vital organs, killing it.

Kryss extended a spear outward into Jacen’s flailing hand.  Jacen grabbed at it frantically, ripping it out of Kryss’s hand, and nearly pulling him in after it.  Jacen went under again, and came back up, gasping for breath, spitting up swamp water.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was preempted.  “Jacen!  Calm down!  We’ll get you out, okay?  Just calm down.”  Kryss’s words seem to have the desired effect, so Matt extended his spear to Jacen, who grasped it tightly.  “Okay!  We’re going to pull you in now, Jacen.  Just hold on.”

Kryss and Matt retracted the spear slowly, dragging Jacen through the murky pool.  Once he was near the edge, his rescuers shifted the spear from straight to crossways, prompted Jacen to hold onto the middle, then pulled him out of the bog together.  He collapsed as soon as he was on dry land, still coughing and wheezing, occasionally spitting up some more water.

I was at his side quickly.  “Jacen, did you swallow any of that water?”  He nodded weakly.  “You have to throw it up.  You might get really sick if you don’t.”  He stared at me, not comprehending what I was saying.  “There are things in that water that will make you sick if you don’t get them out!  You have to make yourself throw up!”  He shook his head slightly. 

Resignedly, I knelt above him and turned him on his side.  He didn’t resist until I opened his mouth and shoved my fingers down his throat, gagging him.  He bit down and tried to pull my hand out, but he was too week.  I held it there until he began to convulse, then withdrew my hand from his mouth just as his first heave ejected a huge amount of the swamp water.  Another heave brought even more.  And again.  After five or six hard heaves, he rolled onto his back, gasping for breath and trying to regain some of his strength.

 I sat by him as he recovered from his ordeal, reassuring him in a low voice he was okay, that he was safe now (well, as safe as any of us were, at any rate), and apologizing for what I’d done.  Bran crouched over me five minutes later, and whispered, “We need to move.  All the noise and the smell of blood will bring more company.” 

“Throw it into the bog.  That should keep whatever shows up busy for a little bit, trying to find it.”

“Good idea. We’ll get on it.”

I nodded, and he spoke to Kryss and Kale and Darryn.  They helped him toss the carcass into the black water.  Darryn again comforted Moira as soon as he was free from his labor, while Kryss, Kale, and Bran spoke quietly,  glancing my way occasionally, as I sat there stroking Jacen’s soaked hair.

“Jacen, we need to get moving.  There will be other animals coming this way.  Are you able?”  He stared into my eyes for a long moment, and nodded.  I stood and helped the boy to his still unsteady feet, putting my arm under his, supporting him the best I could.  Kryss took Jacen’s place in the rear guard, and Matthew joined him as Bran moved up the point position.

We moved on, much more cautious as we made our way through the ever-more-hostile jungle.  No one said a word; the only sound besides our footfalls was Jacen’s occasional hacking cough.  I fervently hoped he hadn’t got any of that water in his lungs.  If he had, a fever could set in, and pneumonia could, or rather would, take his life.

Behind us, we heard a sharp barking coming from many directions.  We moved as quickly and as quietly as possible, Jacen stifling his coughs as best he could with his hand and arm.  The animal calls seemed to be converging behind us, at the scene of our latest battle for life.  A leaper roared a challenge.  I breathed a sigh of relief, that the animal wasn’t on our trail, but motioned Bran to pick up the pace a notch or two.  I had no desire to fight whatever else was back there, much less a leaper.  The strange barking and the leaper’s roars receded in the distance as we move on, much to everyone’s relief.

Bran led us unerringly to the base of the hill about the same time as the Rho touched the horizon.  Wearily, we all trudged up to the top, and entered the fort without comment.  A cursory inspection was done, and a fire built.  No one complained when I gave out the guard assignments.

We were all exhausted.  Jacen’s face still had that haunted look.  He knew how close his brush with death had been.  Finding a place near the fire pit, he collapsed into a heap and didn’t move.

A quick inspection of my own revealed that the wall would serve for the night.  Kale and Matt were putting the finishing touches on the gate as I passed.  Matt’s gaze met mine as I passed.  He smiled at me, and I returned it as I walked on. 

By the time everything was done, it was fully dark.  An ominous orange glow backlit the mountains to the Northeast.  I couldn’t judge if the fire had advanced or not from our vantage point.  I fervently hoped it hadn’t. 

A cool breeze came up, putting the tops of the trees in motion.  It blew toward the distant fire; a good thing, because it would keep the smoke and ash away from us.

I found Bran sitting on one of the big rocks in the center of camp, staring out at the mountains.  I approached him silently, but he somehow sensed my presence, smiling listlessly as I approached.

“Hi.”

“Hi.  Rough day.”

“Mmm hmm.”  Bran was not himself, seeming depressed.

“Are you okay, Bran?”

“Just thinking.”

I sat next to him, close enough for our legs to touch.  “’Bout what?”

“Tomorrow.  The next day.  All the days to come.”  I sat quietly, and rested my hand on his leg, squeezing.  “I’m scared, Jus.  At any moment, I could lose you.”

“I’m scared too, Bran.  I don’t know what else to do, though.”

“There’s nothing else we can do.  That’s what’s bothering me.  There’s nothing we can do to get out of this situation.  Every time we went out on patrol, we knew there would be some way to get back.  Someone would come looking for us.  Out here, we’re really alone.  On our own.”

“We’re not alone, Bran.  We have others with us...”

“Nearly half of which want to see you dead.”

“...and we’re heading to the mountains, where it should be safer.  And no one is going to kill me.”

His angry eyes flashed as he loudly said, “You don’t know that for sure!”  This was really uncharacteristic of Bran.  He always had the level head, keeping things on an even keel when I wanted to lash out or do something rash.  To hear him voice his fears was almost frightening.  I got my strength from him.  But now, he needed to get his strength from me.

After just an instants pause, I pulled him to me and hugged him tightly.  He immediately started to cry, muffled by my shoulder.  I squeezed him tightly, letting him know I was there with him; that he wasn’t alone.

“We’re okay, Bran.  We have each other, and I’m not leaving you.  I love you, Bran.  With all my heart.”  Bran stopped crying a short while later, but I continued to hold him, taking comfort in the contact as much as he was.

What seemed like just a few minutes later, Matt cleared his throat behind us.  Bran pulled himself away from me and sat up, rubbing at his eyes.

“G-g-guys?  It’s almost m-midnight.”

“Thank you, Matt.”  Midnight?  It just seemed like a few minutes.  Already I wanted Bran to be in my arms again, but we couldn’t chance it.  Who knows what rumors would start after I had held him for a couple hours?  Nothing we could do about it now.

We got up and settled in near the fire, Bran slightly apart from me.  I didn’t get to sleep easily. 

I awoke with a start.  The fire had died down to a pile of embers, providing little in the way of warmth.  Bran had rolled over and thrown his arm across my stomach.  Jacen, who was watching us from a few meters away, had insisted on pulling his guard duty.  I reluctantly agreed, wanting to give him more time to recover, but he wouldn’t hear of it.  Darryn sat a good distance away, a spear across his knees.

Gently, I lifted Bran’s arm from me and sat up.  He shifted, looking for me in his sleep, but settled down in a few seconds.  His face was unlined by worry.  How much I wished to give him the peace he deserved.

Sighing, I stood and picked up one of the makeshift canteens.  It was about half full, and I drained it in three huge gulps. 

“Good morning, Just,”  Jacen whispered.

“Morning, Jacen.  How’re ya doin’?”

“Better.”  He dropped his gaze to the ground.  “I was so scared.”

“I know, Jace, I was too.”  He looked at me, incredulity covering his face.  “What?  I’m not allowed to be afraid?”

“But, you’re a Ranger!”

“Shhh.  Yeah, I am.  So?”

“You’re not supposed to afraid.”

“Says who?”

“I don’t know... that’s what all the books and programs say.”

I smiled.  “Well, that’s not right.  We get plenty scared.  But we do what we have to, even in spite of our fear.”  I heard a snort from Darryn’s general direction.  I ignored him.  “It’s okay to be afraid.”  Jacen cocked his head to one side, looking like a canine listening to his master.

 “Let me put it another way.  You remember when that leaper jumped into camp?”  I shuddered as he nodded.  The memories were intense.  “Do you blame me for being scared?”

“Of course not.”

“Would Kale have been scared?”

“Probably...”

“And he’s an adult.  If an adult can be scared, why can’t a kid?”  He nodded slowly, absorbing my words.  I hoped to convince him, and in the process convince myself.  I hated being afraid.  I felt it was a weakness that I had to overcome.  Bran would be the first to say that was patently ridiculous, though.

“Thanks, Just.”

Not sure what I’d really done for him, I simply said, “You’re welcome.”

I checked the Northeastern horizon.  Did the glow appear brighter?  Was it nearer?  Or was I forcing myself into a panic?

I shook my head and picked up another canteen.  I drank slowly, lost in thought as I stood there.  Suddenly, I felt dizzy, like someone had suddenly pulled the ground out from under me.  A low rumble grew louder and louder.  Looking out over the jungle illuminated by the two moons, I could see waves coming toward us.  Like wind through a wheat field, the tops of the trees rose and fell over and over again as each peak passed.

I realized what I was seeing just as the first wave came upon us.  “Earthquake!”  I was thrown from my feet to the ground, landing near the pile of the red-hot remains of our fire.  I tried to roll away, but I couldn’t as the ground shuddered beneath me.  The quake was throwing hot coals all around like popcorn popping.  I did my best to keep them off, but in spite of my best efforts, I was burned anyway.  Holes melted in my jumpsuit as the coals seared my skin.

I heard a portion of the wall collapse and a muted yelp.  Try as I might, I couldn’t see what was happening.  I hoped no one had been hurt.

Dazed, I watched with fascination as another part of the fence fell outward and down the hill.  Bran fell near me and tried to pull me to safety, away from the fire, but we made little progress.

With a final heave, the shaking subsided, stopping about thirty seconds after it began.  I could still feel vibration under my feet, but the motion had stopped.  Scrambling to my feet, I took a quick look to see if anyone was missing.  Everyone but Dierdra was getting to their feet slowly, in case the waves came back.

“Where’s Dierdra?”

“She’s under the wall,”  Moira said in a shaking voice, pointing with a trembling hand.  I scrambled over to the collapsed logs and branches that our wall had consisted of.  There was a three meter breach in the two-meter-high wall.  I couldn’t hear anything from beneath the jumble of wood before me.

“We need to get her out of there!  Help me clear this pile!”  Everyone who could started removing branches and logs.  Some were so heavy it took three of us to lift them.  As the heap of wood dwindled with our efforts, I could make out locks of blond hair through the remaining branches.  “Slow down!  We don’t want to hurt her more by causing the pile to collapse.”

Cautiously we continued, removing wood from the top down.  When the final branches covering her were removed, I saw it didn’t matter.

A three inch  thick piece of wood had been driven into her chest, crushing her heart and lungs.  Blood soaked the ground beneath her, so it must have gone completely through her.  Her eyes stared blankly at the slowly brightening sky, her face frozen in a mask of surprise and pain.

Moira and Jacen turned away and vomited.  Nothing else was heard except a muttered curse from Kale.  I cleared my throat several times, trying to find my voice.

“All right,” I said as my voice cracked.  “We need to bury her.”

“Why?  Leave her for the animals.”  I turned to stare at Michael.

“We’re going to bury her.  She deserves it.”

“Why?  She’s a heathen, just like the rest of you.”  I felt my eyes harden.

“I don’t give a shit what you or your God think.  If you don’t want to help, then stay the fuck out of the way.”

“Easy, Jus.”

“Fuck easy.  She died, and this bastard doesn’t think...”  I trailed off as Bran glared at me disapprovingly.  Struggling to regain my calm, I said, “Lets just do it quick and get moving again.”

A huge “whomp”  startled us all, causing everyone to jump.  In the center of the camp, near the fire pit, a smoking rock sat in a small crater.  We all stared at it, uncomprehending.

Kryss shouted, “Look at that!”  We followed his pointing hand to the Northeastern horizon.  Chain lightening was running rampant through a huge cloud of ash.  Debris was falling out of the sky all around us.

“Holy shit!  A volcano!  Everyone get around the rocks.  Quick!”   Nine people raced to the dubious protection of the large rocks.  There wasn’t enough room for everyone to get complete cover, so we crowded in as best we could.

Lava bombs continued to fall.  After about an hour, we rearranged ourselves into a more compact arrangement, affording us more protection.  Rho climbed high into the sky, and still rocks continued to bombard the ground around us.  We began to get hungry and thirsty, but no one wanted to venture out into the lethal rain of flaming rock. Aftershocks came and went through the day, leaving us all jumpy and irritable.

As Rho reached the peak of its travel, the deluge of rock ended, and night fell.  Ash had completely blocked Rho’s life-giving light and was starting to fall, coating everything with a powder-fine dust.  We tore up Dierdra’s jumpsuit to make masks of a sort, but they were minimally effective at best.  Dierdra was buried in a shallow grave at the edge of the tree line, and we did our best to cover it with rocks and logs so she wouldn’t be dug up in the night.  We soaked the fragments of cloth, but they soon became so ridden with ash, they were unusable.  Eventually, we grouped around the water source at the bottom of the butte, washing out our makeshift breathing filters every fifteen minutes or so, while carrying as much water up to the camp as possible.

About two hours before sunset, I called everyone together in the center of camp. Craters riddled the ground, and the lava bombs still held some residual heat.  The ash fall had subsided by a great degree, but we still used our makeshift masks to keep the grit out of our lungs.

“Obviously we’re going to stay here tonight.  We have to rebuild the wall before Rho goes down.  All the canteens are full, but our food has been ruined by the ash.  Darryn, Michael, Kale, Kryss, Matt, Bran, you guys get to work on the wall. Jacen, do what you can to get a fire started.  Moira, gather up some coconuts.  I’m going to look for some food too.  Any questions?”

“Yeah,” sneered Darryn.  “Why don’t you work on the fence.  I’ll go with Moira to get food.”  Moira visibly shrank at his suggestion.  She wasn’t dealing with this turn of events well at all.  I turned back to Darryn.

“Bran is going to work with you on the wall.”  I picked up a couple spears.  “I’m going to see if I can get us some meat.  If you want to go hunting on your own,” I held out the spears, “then be my guest.  But you better come back with some food.”  He glared bloody murder, but finally turned his head.  It was a good thing, because my arms had started to shake with the strain of holding the spears straight out.  “Okay then.  Get to work.  Daylight’s wasting.”

With a little grumbling, everyone moved off to their assigned tasks.  Bran called to me.  “Jus, wait a minute.”  He came to stand before me and spoke in a low voice.  “Take someone with you.  I don’t want you going into the trees alone.”

“I’ll be fine, Bran.”

“Just humor me, okay?” he asked with a pleading expression.  “I don’t want to lose you.”  I looked deeply into his blue eyes, and saw the fear in his heart.  How could I refuse him?

“Okay, Bran.”

“Kryss!  You’re going hunting.”  With a curious mix of relief and dread, Kryss picked up his weapons.  Bran placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed painfully, trying to express through that simple gesture everything he was feeling at that moment.     Turning his back to everyone, he whispered, “I love you, Jus.  Stay alive, okay?”  I smiled slightly and nodded.

“Love you too, Bran.”  Kryss slowed his approach as he saw us speaking quietly.  Bran squeezed my shoulder again, his eyes saying it all, then turned to his work without a backward glance.

Kryss stood beside me as I watched Bran walk away.  My heart started to ache.  This whole time, I’d been hardening my heart to do what I had to do, keeping my emotions in check as best I could, but as he’d always been able to do, Bran found a way past my defenses.  I felt tears forming in my eyes, and quickly turned away before I started crying outright.  “C’mon, Kryss.  Let’s get this over with.”

He followed without comment until we were halfway to the tree line, then he spoke.  “How long have you and Bran been together?”  My heart stopped.  Did Kryss know about us?  Did he see something we tried so hard to hide?

I answered him as best I could, trying not to let on how anxious I was. “We’ve been friends since we were three.”  I hope he doesn’t hear my voice shaking, I thought.  I stopped walking, and he did likewise, facing me.

“Same crèche?”

“Yeah.  Same school and everything.”

“You joined the rangers together?”

“Yeah.  I really didn’t deserve to get in though.  My...  father-”  I spat the word with distaste, “-pulled some strings and they accepted me.  Lucky they did.”

“Were the Rangers as tough as they say they are?”

“It was difficult, yeah.  The training was brutal.  People die.”

“Wow.  I didn’t know that.  So, you and Bran were... more than friends?”

“We’re like brothers.  We all were.  Everyone in our troop.  The goal of the training was to teach us how to work together and survive in any situation.”

“Some people were closer than brothers?”

“Yeah, there were some really tight friendships where one guy could tell what the other was thinking and going to do.  Bran and I are that way.”  That was as close as I wanted to come to telling him about us.

Kryss was obviously becoming annoyed with my misinterpretation of his questions.  Air blasted from his nose in a noiseless grunt.  “Look, I just have to ask.  I’ve tried, but you aren’t getting what I’m asking.  Are you guys together?”

“I already answered that question.”

“No.  Are you guys queer?”  There it was.

I was terrified, but I forced my expression into one of outrage.  I pitched my voice loud enough that it would not reach the top of the hill, but plenty loud between us. “Where in the fuck do you get off asking a question like that?  Are you queer?  You looking for a boyfriend or something?”

Curiously, he didn’t get angry at my accusation.  “No, Just.  I’m not gay.  I won’t tell anyone what I’ve seen, but just so you know, I’m not bothered by it.  I never did believe that bullshit about homosexuality being an abomination anyway.  Science has proven different; that it’s genetic.  You know that.  So, you two don’t have to worry about me.”

He turned down the slope and continued toward the trees.  I stared after him dumbly for a few seconds and then caught up to him.  We entered the trees together.

It was wonderfully clean under the trees compared to the open ground we just left.  The canopy had blocked most of the ash, leaving the jungle floor clear.  We could hear an occasional branch break under the strain of all that pulverized rock.  It made it difficult to concentrate on the area surrounding us.

Kryss was about ten meters to my right, following a westerly path paralleling mine.  After five minutes of seeing nothing, we turned and moved south, keeping our parallel path.  It seemed like all the animal life had disappeared from the planet!  Nothing was moving at all except for the trees swaying under the weight of the volcano-spewed ash high above.  An aftershock dumped ash from the trees above, casting the jungle in a foggy aspect.

We changed direction again, moving back east.  As we neared the point we would turn north to return to the camp, we spied a shaggy, brown furred creature, about the size of a large canine, dining on leaves from a purplish shrub.  We quietly moved around it, trying not to alert it to our presence. As we closed in, I noticed it’s face was pretty flat, with a pug nose and long tongue.  It was then I saw that the thing was eating an occasional leaf, but it’s main repast consisted of dark purple and red insectoids, swarming over the bush and the creature itself.  It used it’s long fore claws to dig up the soft ground at the base of the shrub causing even more insectoids to emerge and join the frenzy.

I could see Kryss no more than eight meters from the thing, watching it in fascination.  We had a dilemma.  The insects could be poisonous to us, so if we killed the thing, we might not be able to get it out, away from the bugs’ hive.  But if they weren’t poisonous, we could be passing up a great source of protein.  I made the decision.  We’d take the thing down, and deal with the insects after.

Using hand signals, I gave Kryss the sign to advance.  Amazingly, the thing either didn’t notice or didn’t care we were standing less than five meters from it.  Once more, I signaled Kryss, and we both readied a spear to cast into the animal’s side.  We drew back, and threw in the same instant.  We both looked on in utter amazement as the creature dropped dead without a sound, our spears sticking straight out from it’s ribs.  Talk about luck!

I quickly moved in, as did Kryss.  Using the spears embedded in it’s innards, we pulled the thing away from the hive as far as we could in the direction of the hill.  Looking more closely, I could see the remaining insects swarming to the wounds we had created, obviously attracted to the smell of blood.

“We need to get moving, Just.  I’m sure those bugs aren’t the only thing that can smell blood.”

“You’re right.  I don’t know if we can trust the bugs yet.  They could be poisonous, and if we’re allergic, it wouldn’t be a good thing to get bitten.”

“Let’s just drag the thing with the spears as far as we can.  We’ll get rid of some of the swarmers, be relatively safe from the bugs, and we’ll be closer to camp.”

“Okay.  Just keep an eye on your spear.  Don’t let one get on you.”

“You too.”

“Let’s go.”  It took us three times as long to drag that animal out of there than it should have.  Still, we arrived back at the hill with time to spare before Rho set for the night.

Everyone was curious about the creature we’d brought home, and even more amazed than Kryss and I had been that it had just dropped dead.  We also told them about the insectoids and what I suspected about them.

Kale spoke up.  “I ran into those bugs when I first got here.  They crawled all over me and bit me everywhere.  Other than being painful and swelling into little bumps, it didn’t hurt me.”  One less thing to worry about.  Kale then directed Matt and Jacen to dig a hole halfway down the slope so we could gut the thing away from camp.  I gladly turned that little task over to Bran and Darryn.  I liked hunting, but I hated cleaning the kill.

They finished gutting and bleeding the thing just as Rho dropped behind the western horizon.  I made my rounds and checked the fence.  It wasn’t as sturdy as I’d like, but it would have to do.  Soon after, roasting meat permeated the air with a pleasant aroma, making my mouth water and stomach growl.  I sat down near the big rocks that had sheltered us through the day’s rain of red hot rock, courtesy of the volcano far to our northeast.

Copyright Notice - Copyright ©2004 by Dewey.

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