The Woodlands

Hessa’s snuffling was the only sound to punctuate the silence. Gurgle, snuffle, breathe, stop breathing, breathe again. I kept timing my steps to his breath, walking in a sporadic, staccato motion, like I was stealing through the shadows on a secret mission.

“What’s wrong with you?” Joseph looked down at me with a smirk. “Do you need to use the bathroom or something?” I must have looked fu

I rolled my eyes. “Nah, I’m just defective.” They both looked at me like I was crazy. I swiped my arm at them. “I’ll tell you later.”

We seemed to be entering what was once a commercial area. There were remnants of signs with numbers on them, written in a language I didn’t recognize, all loops and long lines, but some of the writing was numbers, prices. I stopped to investigate a light shining from within one of the openings. Joseph and Deshi were laughing at something up ahead, pointing through a broken window. Through what was left of a shop front, something sparkling caught my eye and I went to examine it more closely. Piles of gold and silver chains were tangled on the ground. Jewelry. There amongst them was a shiny white ball surrounded by sparkly crystals. I reached down to pick it up, mesmerized by its perfection, when weight hit me from above, followed by an unearthly shriek.

I screamed and saw Joseph and Deshi turn towards me in the corner of my panic, before something tore at my face. Then all I could see was blood. Hessa.

It was clawing at my back and I did the only thing I could think of. Stumbling backwards against a wall I tried to knock the thing off. It didn’t work. It was caught in my hair, screeching and hissing, tearing chunks of it from my head. I reached my hands back, trying to punch it, finding fur and claws and teeth. Hessa was screaming. I fell to my knees disoriented. I couldn’t see. The panic spread like a shock as I scrambled to protect my baby.

Somewhere in the chaos, I felt the weight lift and I was able to pull Hessa from my back and bring him to face me. I wiped my eyes, thankfully, it was only a cut above my eye that had blurred my vision. Hessa was mostly unscathed, with a few small scratches on his arms and face. The cradle had prevented the creature from getting to him with its teeth.

Joseph had pulled it from my back and now it was attacking him. It’s muscled body frantically scratching and hissing as it tried to find a soft piece of flesh to bite into. Joseph had his hands around its hideous face, pulling back its open jaws.

“Do something!” I screamed to Deshi, who was standing there, mouth open wide in shock. He didn’t move. I ran to Deshi and almost threw Hessa at him in my haste, sca

I decided I would just have to try to pull or kick it off. As I approached, Joseph yelled at me, “Get back!”

I wasn’t going to watch him get mauled to death. I kept coming. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I clenched my fists, ready to jump, when something flew past me and landed on the beast. It squealed, but kept snapping despite the stick protruding from its abdomen. I could see blood, but I couldn’t tell whether it was Joseph’s or the creatures, a mess of black spots and yellow fur, solid and really strong, with only a stump of a tail. I looked at the long, carved spear waggling around as Joseph wrestled with it. Where had it come from?

My question was answered as a tall girl with reddish blonde hair walked towards the cat-like beast, pulled the spear out, and stabbed it again, using the crude weapon as a lever to throw it off Joseph’s body. I ran to him. He was alive but badly scratched and cut up. We both watched as she punctured the agonized creature again and again, blood oozing out of several wounds. It twitched and writhed one last time, a strangled yeow escaping its jaws as it died. Its tongue grotesquely hung out of its feral mouth.

She turned to face us and I recognized her immediately. I recalled her crazed face as she stabbed that poor White Coat through the eye. She didn’t look hysterical or feral anymore but there was a wildness to her I didn’t trust.

I noticed she was no longer pregnant. Her stomach was flat, as mine used to be. She was wearing tight, shiny pants and a low-cut top that barely contained her breasts. I suddenly felt conscious of my own appearance. Looking down at my round form sticking out of my grey cotton uniform I felt stumpy and ugly.

“Thank you,” I managed to stammer. I envied her lithe body as she took quick steps towards us and introduced herself.

“I’m Careen.” She shook her strawberry hair, the bloody spear still gripped tightly in one hand. We cringed away from her as she approached. “Sorry,” she muttered as she dropped the spear with a clank.

“You’re from the facility, right? I remember your face from the clearing. How’d you get here?” I said, trying to sound unthreatening.

Careen regarded me with a slow face, her mouth twisting into a broad smile. But I could tell she didn’t recognize me. She bent down and pulled a knife from her hip. She talked as she worked, slowly carving the animal into small pieces, teasing the rough fur hide away from the muscle, and skillfully managing to keep it in one piece.

The knife scraped against bone, a sound that itched my teeth. “How was that purple smoke?” she said with her head down, “Weird, right?” I nodded. She tucked her hair behind her ear and paused, “Pretty colors though.”

Joseph chuckled, “Yeah, we paid particular attention to making it look pretty.”

I gave him a scornful look for mocking her and he put his arms up. “No really, that was all Desh.”

Deshi gri

Careen looked up from the carcass, narrowed her eyes for a second, and then blinked it away. “Anyway, I didn’t know what was going on but, I guess, I must have known in my…” She pointed to the back of her head.

“Subconscious?” I volunteered.

She arched one perfect eyebrow at me. “If you say so.”

“I saw you run into the forest…I…” I started to say but she cut me off.

“Yeah I ran. I ran forever, for miles and miles. The white coats were searching during the day so I climbed trees to avoid them and at night, I just kept ru

I felt my stomach roll and my heart strain in sympathy at the thought of her delivering a baby on her own.

She leaned back on her heels and smiled. “So do you hunt? I hunt. I can help you,” she said eagerly.

“You’ve already helped, Careen. You saved my life,” Joseph said gratefully.

She stood and kicked her hip out, ru

Joseph regarded his arm with newfound fascination and then looked to me with his eyebrows raised.

I clenched my fists trying to get a handle on this odd girl. It was getting dark. I interrupted their little moment. “We’d better find the others; it’s about time to meet.”

Careen collected the meat and piled the dark flesh into the ski

Hessa fell asleep despite his scratches. The cradle I built acted as a protective cage around his delicate body.

I helped Joseph to his feet and we made our way back to the statue, Careen walking next to Joseph, swinging the skin and meat by her side like she was carrying a shopping bag.