______________________________________________________
Chapter 1
Shadow
Shadow
As the blaring alarm clock sends a vibration through my ear, I slowly sit up in my bed. I look at my sister Echo, sound asleep, her thick layer of multiple blankets swaddling her as if she were a caterpillar and her sheets were the cocoon. Very quietly, I place my toes on they shaggy carpet, lowering my heel as softly as I dare. I repeat with my left foot. Tiptoeing, I made my way across the dark, foreboding room. When I reach her bed, my hands reach for her shoulders. I grasp her and shake her awake. Suddenly, I hear rustling and pounding, and the next thing I know a sparkling knife that had obviously just been sharpened is only a few centimeters away from piercing my throat.
“What are you doing Echo?” I scowl as I back away from her weapon.
“Well, I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was you, and you probably should know better not to sneak up on me like that,” she snarls.
I smirk.
“Well how am I supposed to know that you carry knifes with you everywhere? Honestly, who’s gonna sneak up on you in the middle of the night?”
Even though the room was black, I could feel Echo’s gleaming blue eyes giving me the evil stare.
“It’s not the middle of the night anymore, now is it Shadow,” she says in a very innocent and sarcastic tone.
“Let’s go to the woods, sis,” I whisper. “You can swim and do all your ocean-y stuff, and I’ll practice my aim.”
“Oh please!” Echo exclaims. “I could blindfold you, spin you around in a circle three times, and all you would need to do your super hearing and you could shoot a FROG right in the eye.”
I could feel my cheeks burning up. She was right, I had superior aim when it came to hunting. But nothing was standing in my way of visiting the luscious woods early in the morning.
“Come on Echo! Don’t you want to swim?” I plead.
By now, a softly glistening sun was peeking its head through the window, and the reflective light shone. Echo grins as she rips the heavy covers off her now shivering body.
“Okay...” she remarks. “Just this once.”
My face lights up in excitement. I clutch her bony wrist and pull her across the room to the window. I flip the hatch, and very carefully open the window.
“Go on,” I declare, waving Echo through.
She steps on the wooden board, I am at her heels. She gives a quick tug on the fraying rope, and the plank acted like an elevator, taking us down. Soon enough, I feel the grass on my bare feet, like hundreds of nails burying into my flesh. I took off in a sprint.
“Come on Echo!” I shout happily. I look behind me.
No one is there.
“Echo?” I yell. “You there?” My heart was throbbing in my chest, fearing that I may never see my sister again.
“Wwwhhhoooo hooooo!” echos a voice in the tree tops. I saw a glimpse of Echo’s bright clothes as she jumps from the highest tree into the murky lake below. I smile.
Seconds later I hear a splash. I dash toward the shore, looking down from the cliff at Echo, treading in the deep water.
“Come on in sis!” Echo yells. “The water’s great!”
I put my feet over the edge of the cliff, the cool wind blowing my hair and tingling my feet. The sun is rising over the horizon, the sky splattered with pinks, reds and oranges.
“Are you coming?” she calls up to me. My brain seemed to know what I wanted to do, as I felt my legs pushing off the grubble and the wind whooshing as I fall. Seconds later I feel an impact with the cool and refreshing water.
“You’re right,” I respond. “The water is nice.”
A high pitched noise interrupts us. I glance over at Echo, who is already clutching her knifes.
I soon hear a splash. I look back at the location of the noise, but only a lone victor remains.
“Oh no,” I mutter.
“What?” Echo asks me.
“It’s our wolves!” I exclaim.
Her eyes widen. I start splashing toward Chaka, my not-so-smart, but loyal companion. Echo’s wolf, Moonbeam, is still on the edge of the cliff many meters above, howling at the moon. I reach Chaka, but he is struggling to swim due to his thick fur.
“Chaka!” I cry. I try to help him. The next thing I know, I can’t see anything but dark waters enclosing my head.
* * * * * *
I must have blacked out for a minute, because I wake up, coughing out water and shaking.
“Are you alright?” Echo questions in despair.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I reply. Chaka is at my left, his drooling tongue hanging out of his mouth.
Echo waves her hand as a signal for me to follow. I hesitate at first, but I decided to go with her.
“I’m going to take you guys down to the underwater cave, okay?” she tells me. I nodd.
“Hold your breath!” she declares. I grabbed hold of her clammy hand. I cannot see anything, but I can tell Echo is trying to find something. I am suddenly lifted to the surface, where I inhale a huge gulp of air. Chaka is wheezing, as am I. Echo drags up to the island rock. I lay facing the roof of the cave, breathing. I soon stopped wheezing. Echo stands up and reaches for my hand. I take it, and she pulls me up off the rock. She begins walking through the black cave, Chaka trotting behind. I freeze for a minute, thoughts pouring through my mind.
“Come on Shadow,” she exclaims. I come out of a trance and leap gracefully over the rushing river. Echo grabs a thick stick and lights it with one of the many matches she leaves in her pocket.
“This way,” she says, ushering us through the cave. And I have no choice but to follow. ______________________________________________
Echo
My steps feel heavy as they echo across the rock. I see Shadow glancing at me, and I put on my confident face, because if she knew I was hesitant, she would spin right around and look for some other solution. Yet this is the only solution, and I wish it was different. I can feel my knives in the flats of my shoes, along with the two more hidden on my back. I hope that I won’t have to use them. I glance back at Shadow, happy to find that her bow and quiver are still with her. Turning away, I focus on the path ahead of me. A rustling sound starts to rise, causing Chaka and Shadow to stare at me with questioning eyes. I risk using my voice.
“It is just the waterfall.” I say, raising my voice to overpower the growing noise. I wish Moonbeam was here, with all of her wisdom and such. Chaka is a brave fighter, but she lacks control, her only fault. We take a left turn, and I look ahead to find that I can see the light from the chasm up ahead. This gives me hope. We are only a few yards away from safety, and no trouble has come up yet. I feel like leaping for joy, when I hear a low growl rumble from Chaka’s throat.
I spin around on my heels, knives flashing in my hands. I tense, ready to throw, yet I cannot see where our enemy is. Suddenly I hear Shadow cry out, as a massive paw reaches out and slams her towards the wall. I see her knees crumple, and hope that she is only unconscious, and not dead.
“Man down.” I think bitterly.
Both anger and fear have gripped me, as I stand frozen, watching the huge bear unfold itself. The bear is bigger than last time, and I can still see some of the scars that I gave it have not disappeared with age. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Chaka, tensed and ready to lunge, but I am transfixed on the massive attacker in front of me. I see the scars, one where the bear’s eye should be, and stumble backwards as I wince, an unknown pain flaring through me as I remember what happened after I struck the left eye. Suddenly I feel myself fading out.
“No, not now!” I scream at myself as I fight the darkness, yet lose.
It was the first and what I had hoped would be the last time I used the hidden cave. I was only ten, and I was cautiously scavenging the tunnel. Suddenly I saw a pair of eyes staring at me. I didn’t know who my enemy was, or what to do, so I just threw the dagger at one of the yellow eyes. I solely regretted it the moment the knife connected, before I even knew what had happened, the bear had jumped on my back, and was clawing maliciously. Twisting and turning, I struggled to throw the half grown bear off. The pain was almost too much to bear and I hated my weakness. I jabbed a knife into its furry hide, then another and another until the bear couldn’t stay on. I threw a final knife in the bear’s direction, and instantly I ran away to the safety of the water, to Moonbeam, and never came back. Until now.
In a whirl I am brought back to the present, and almost automatically reach up and touch the scars that are still hidden on my back. I never told Shadow about them, and they are probably the only thing I have ever kept from her. Very slowly I place the torch on the wall to keep it burning. My heart is beating loudly inside my chest, and I grip my knives even more tightly, as if I am afraid that they will disappear altogether. Chaka cannot stand the suspense any longer, and strikes, biting the bears foreleg. I am pulled out of my daze by this action, and as the bear reaches to swipe him away, I fling my knife right into his paw.
My aim has never failed me before, and the reaction is good as the bear roars in pain. Chaka scrambles out from underneath the bear while it recovers, yet I waste no time flinging another knife towards the other eye, my proposed target all along. The bear moves to the left at the last second, and my knife clatters uselessly against the tunnel wall. The bear suddenly growls and charges. I jump out of the way, barely making it, and the bear’s forepaw comes out and slashes me in the leg. My left thigh explodes in pain, and I am struggling to stand. My hand with the knife is shaking, and I look down to find three scratches, blood welling up, and seeping out. I grab my jacket, and tie it around my wound with fumbling fingers.
Looking up, I see the bear, growling, preparing to charge again, and I know that it is over. I don’t stand a chance. My whole body is trembling as I clench my knife in a final throw. I set my face with grim determination, because I am not leaving my sister undefended. If I go down, I will bring this bear with me. I grimace and lean up against the cold tunnel wall. The bear lowers it’s great head to charge, and I brace myself for the worst. I shut my eyes and listen to the bear pounding across the tunnel. Yet my ears hear something quite different, and I open my eyes to find Chaka, Shadow’s brave comrade, battling for both his and Shadows life. Realizing that I am not dead, I snap out of my fear and focus. Time is running out for Chaka. I carefully aim for the bear’s other eye, and take a deep breath.
All of my concentration goes towards this knife, and I step forward, putting all of my rage, fear, and weakness into this one throw. My hand lets go, and I watch as if in slow motion as the knife flips over and over until the dagger lands smack dab in the bears last eye.
The bear drops on all fours, causing Chaka to scramble away, yet not before the bear slices at Chaka’s foot. Shadow’s partner falls and struggles to move away. I am desperate as I watch the bear’s paw come up before it begins to fall down, and I scream, just to distract it. The bear, now relying on sound and smell alone, lumbers towards me, away from Chaka. I clutch my last knife now. The bear reaches me though, and I run, yet not fast enough. The claws stab right in my stomach, and I scream aloud in both fear and pain as I fall to the cold ,unforgiving stone.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Shadow, getting up. She rubs her eyes as if confused. I make a weak choking sound, hoping she gets that she and I are in danger. Her eyes widen in recognition as she finds me. Her entire face darkens with a rage that I have never seen from her. Angrily and yet smoothly she loads her bow within a second. I see the arrow, yet it has such a large spearhead I wonder if I am seeing things. I blink, and everything starts to go dim, yet right before it does, I see her let go of her arrow, and it stabs right into the bear’s icy, dark heart.
Chapter 2
Shadow
The bear roars in despair as he crumples to the ground, dead. The horrendous sight brings back many memories from the first time my sister conquered this vicious beast alone.
The night was young, and the moon shone brightly in the dark sky. I was at home, playing with Chaka in the backyard. I heard a loud roar, and a shriek coming from the woods. Minutes later, Echo came dashing through the trees, Moonbeam at her side. A look of grave worry was painted on her face.
“What is it sis?” I cried.
“Bear, big, almost died,” she panted between breaths.
On that day, she vowed never to return, and I vowed to never enter alone. We kept those vows. Never entering the tunnel. I don’t even think I looked at it. Until now.
I pick up a large rock and hurl it at his head, just to make sure. The boulder lands square in the middle of his forehead. I carefully head toward the fallen creature. His eyes were badly scratched from the knifes Echo had thrown. His brown fur was stained red. I pluck the bloody arrow out of his no longer beating heart, where a giant hole remained. I shudder, the disgusting image now forever implanted into my mind.
I walk a few meters to the river, to rinse off the arrow. The cave is dark, and icicle-like rocks dangle from the cave top. When I reach the flowing waters, I stick the sharp end in the flowing body of water, the blood slowly flaking off. When the arrow is completely clean, I pull it out of the water and place it in my pack.
When I get back to the battle arena, I see Echo, unconscious. On her leg is a giant claw mark, blood seeping out.
I take a large blanket out of my backpack and cover Echo completely. I lift up the blanket near her wound and wrap it with gauze.
I hear a whimper coming from the corner. I dash toward Chaka, his paw soaked in blood. I reach into my bag and pull out a rag. I picked up Chaka, and carried him toward the water. When we reached the river, I cautiously sat him down.
“Now this might hurt a little,” I tell him. I grab his paw and put it in the rushing stream.
Chaka howls, the loud noise bouncing off the walls.
“Shhh,” I asure him. “It’s gonna be okay.”
He seems to nod, then stops howling and allows me to cure his injury. After a couple of seconds, I lift in paw out of the river and place it on my lap.
I softly dab the rag on his wounded paw. When the blood was soaked into the cloth, I examined his paw, only to see a huge scratch along the sole of his paw.
“Oh Chaka!” I cry. He barks in pain.
“It’s okay boy,” I say rubbing his back., trying to sound calm I bandage his paw, very careful that I do not injure him any further. I hear a howl, and I freeze. Chaka growls at the unknown noise. He begins to run.
“Stop Chaka!” I scream.
A few seconds later, he comes trotting back, but he is with someone else.
“Moonbeam!” I exclaim. She barks, and sprints toward me. I am pushed to the ground, as drool drips all over my face.
When he is done saying hello, I stand up, now focusing my attention to Echo. She lays on the cold rocky ground, her face pale and bloody. I now notice that blood is also soaking through her shirt, probably from where the bear scratched her stomach. I rush over to her, and lift up her shirt for aid. But what I see is surprising.
Scars.
“What?” I say, even though I know no one can hear me. I never knew Echo had scars. It could have been from the first bear encounter, or some other adventure that I happened not to be there with her. I glare at Moonbeam.
“Did you know about this?” I ask demandingly.
Moonbeam and Chaka sit in silence.
“I believe I asked you a question,” I scold.
Moonbeam finally gives in and sags his head.
I was fuming. How could she keep something like this from me? We were sisters. In fact, we were more than sisters. We were best friends. We were always together. We supported each other. We never let each other down. And most importantly, we never kept secrets from each other.
I sit on the cold ground and hurl my pack. Thousands of thoughts filled my mind.
Echo keeping secrets, Chaka injured, Echo injured, and the fact that I don’t even know where we are was making my rage boiling up. I could no longer take it.
“Why!?” I scream, my voice echoing. I sigh. “Why.”
Once calm, I pick up my pack, and begin to walk away.
“Come on Chaka,” I say coldly. Soon, Chaka was at my side and we went on our own ways.
Moonbeam barked.
“It’s okay Moonbeam,” I assure him. “Stay here with Echo and everything will be okay.”
I continue walking with Chaka. We reach the cave entrance. I look at Chaka, and for a second I think we are doing the wrong thing by leaving.
But my emotional pain is reminding me that Echo was leaving me out on something very important to her life. What was important to her was just as important to me. Maybe even more.
I take a deep breath, staring at the dark waters that lay ahead.
“Let’s go Chaka,” I say. Then I step onto the platform to take me to the land above, off to begin my own journey.
_____________________________________________
Echo
Chapter 3
Shadow
Echo
Chapter 4
Shadow
Ring!! The school bell screams in rage. I quickly grab my books and head out the door to go to science. The hallways are filled with people, students filing out of every door.
“Okay!” she cheers. “Let’s talk about science!”
“I’m sorry Mrs. Carrole,” I answer. She glares at me, but continues to teach the lesson. I began fiddling with my pencil, Mrs. Carrole’s voice becoming ever so softer and more distant.
“Shadow, you have been goofing off and daydreaming too much!” she barked. “You are constantly disrupting your classmates while they are trying to LEARN! Go to the office now!”
“Shadow... SHADOW!” I start to scream her name in fear, not having a clue as to where she could’ve gone when my eye catches a piece of paper on the floor. I stoop and pick it up, my voice dieing in my throat. On the note there is only one word, but it says so much more to me.
Chapter 5
Shadow
I scream as the rusted truck drives away, clanking, with Moonbeam and Echo trapped in the back. Chaka barks, oblivious to the danger that surrounds us.
I decide it’s time to make a move. I creep through the trees, the crisp leaves crunching underneath my boots. Every step I take I can hear the conversation between Echo and the government even clearer.
“What business do you have in the woods?” asks a deep male voice.
“We were just hunting! We can’t afford any food!” explains Echo, her black hair flying across her face.
“Those woods are off limits. I believe you knew that,” a different voice declares.
“I know! I’m sorry! Please forgive me!” she exclaims.
We sprint through the forest, dodging trees and jumping over thick fallen branches. Echo looks back, her face filled with fright . I run with my head facing forward,
wanting to look bad so bad but at the same time I don’t in fear that they will be right there.
Chapter 6
Shadow
I wake up the next morning, the bright sun streaming through my window. I yawn, stretching my arms up over my head. I hear little barks coming from downstairs, and I smile.
I head downstairs, still half asleep. I am not paying attention to where I am going, and one bad thing leads to another
The next thing I know I am tumbling down the wooden stairs, and I land with a thud on the cold, hard ground.
I blink slowly and begin to sit up. The moment I am fully alert, I process many things, most of which are pleasing.
1.) I find that Shadow has abandoned me
2.) She has bandaged me up.
3.) Moonbeam is here.
4.) The bear is dead.
I should have been feeling pretty good, but instead I am outraged. How could she leave me unconscious? I am angry, and overwhelmed, yet I won’t go anywhere without my knives. I roll over on the cold wet surface of the tunnel, struggling to push myself into a standing position. Moonbeam pads over and presses against me,helping me to stand. Leaning against her, I find that I can walk/limp to where I need to go. I make my way across the tunnel over to the dead bear. I see his great head, and shining teeth, and his scar where his left eye should be. In the other eye is my knife, and I quickly yank the knife away. I am disgusted with the contents on the knife, and rinse it in the river before I look at it again. Walking back to the bear, I retrieve the dagger in his paw, and the one that missed him and clattered against the rocks. After a careful and thorough wash, I am about to put them back in my shoes when I see the bears teeth glinting, and I get an idea.
******
About an hour later, I am sitting back, satisfied with my work. I turn my new and improved daggers over, and over, examining the teeth that I have placed on the opposite edge of the blade. I have done this to the four knives that I brought with me, making the blades double edged, and classy. Smiling, I flip over. My leg has rested in the time it took me to add my fancy addition, and now feels a bit better. I glance at the opening in the chasm. Searching upward I find that the sky signifies a coming rain. I slump down to the ground, signaling my defeat.. I won’t be going anywhere in this weather. My stomach growls in anger at being neglected, and I feel tired and cold. Then I look at the bear, deciding that I can fix all of my problems.
In no time at all I have gathered some spare torches and wood, and fashioned them in a spit formation. I begin to skin the bear, but I am careful not to damage the layer of fur. When I am finished, I separate the meat from the entrails, feeding the entrails to Moonbeam, and setting small portion of the meat on the fire to roast. While the meat cooks, I begin tanning the hide of the bear, scraping off the disgusting contents of the bears insides. It is dirty work, yet it must be done. The hide will serve itself useful, and no matter how disgusting it is, I remind myself that I have earned this bear, and if Shadow chose to leave it with me, then it is her mistake. The meat is finished cooking now, but I am only about a half of the way done. I sigh, and sit back and enjoy the bear meat, which is actually quite tasty. My meager portion is only a very tiny fraction of the meat that remains.
I spend the rest of the afternoon tanning the hide, and while I wait for the hide to dry, I use my luxury of time to wrap the meat up in some of the plastic that I keep with me. The thunder booms loudly over my head while I work, but I pay it no mind. I sit back with a keen sense of accomplishment, and suddenly a wave of sleepiness hits me, and I almost fall over because of it. Moonbeam comes over and lays beside me. I struggle to keep my eyes open as I reach out for Moonbeam, finally grasping her fur and pulling her close. The thunder slowly dies down, and I let my eyelids fall, making no attempt to lift them open again.
*****
When I wake up again, I find that sunlight has filled the chasm, and that it must be dawn. I roll off of Moonbeam, and stand up, stretching and yawning. Moonbeam stands alert, yet calm, the moment I am get up, and goes over to the end of the chasm, nosing the platform. I know what she is telling me. I have to go find Shadow. Sighing, I grab my meat and bear hide, making way for the platform. Once there, I set my things down onto the wood, and pull on the rope, bringing us to the top of the chasm. I pull both me and Moonbeam into the nearly blinding light, then set my hide and meat onto the edge of the roof of the chasm. Carefully stepping off, I throw the hide over one shoulder, and cradle the meat with both arms. I sprint blindy to the first tree I find, and climb up and up, to as high as I can go.
Finding a hollow spot in the tree I stuff the hide and meat deep in, whisking my treasures away from the world. I make a mental note to come back later, and then scoot down the tree to where Moonbeam is waiting patiently. She takes off the moment I touch down, and I do not hesitate to follow her deep into the heart of the woods. Every few minutes or so, Moonbeam has to stop and sniff around before finding Shadow’s scent, yet she always finds it, and continues after a short pause.
After about a half and hour of this, Moonbeam stops, dead alert. Her ears prick towards a rustling sound in the brush just a few meters away. She pads over and sniffs, before glancing at me to signal to come over. I follow reluctantly and push silently through the brush. I search around and soon find Shadow, calm as ever with her bow and arrow in hand. The bow is loaded, and she waits, hungrily smacking her lips together at the prospect of prey. I wait, transfixed by her, until I see a rabbit shuffling in the bushes a little ways off. Suddenly I turn and fling the knife into it on instinct alone, however, Shadow also sees the kill. I jump out of the brush to go collect my prize when she hops in front of me, in between me and my kill.
“That’s mine!” she snarls, her hair flying as wild as her attitude. Yet I don’t back down.
“I killed it, it is mine.” I say fiercely , and then I push her aside to collect my prey. Yet Shadow doesn’t let me through. I only get a step past her when she tackles me from behind, implanting my face into the dirt. Twisting and thrashing I break free, and stare at the monster my sister has become in shock. I stand, yet stop still when I find that Shadow was backing down, preparing to battle me with words instead of fists.
“You never told me about your scars!” she hisses, circling me with anger and frustration.
“I thought that you never need to know about them!” I slice back, yet my words are weak with little defense, so I try another tactic.
“You left me in a cave unconscious! Is that any better?” I hurl the words towards her with emphasis, and sorrow. Something flickers in Shadows eyes. Is it doubt? But Shadow recovers too quickly for me to tell. She slumps to the ground, defeated, and probably tired. I pull a bit of spare bear meat from my pocket and hand it to her. It is gone within seconds, causing Shadow to share a hint of a smile with me.
“What was that?” she asks, licking her fingers hungrily.
“What do you think?” I respond back. It takes her a moment, yet suddenly she gasps.
“It’s not...” she stutters
“It is.” I say, and she frowns.
“Where is the rest of it?” she asks, because Shadow knows me well. I lead her through the forest with the wolves at our sides, our argument long forgotten.
Chapter 3
Shadow
I follow Echo to the cave where the rest of the bear meat is. Since I mostly know my way through the cave, I take the lead. Echo is slowly trailing behind and Chaka and Moonbeam trotting by our sides. I can hear them panting. They must be as hungry as I am. After a long walk in the woods, we finally reach the chasm. I rush to get on, not even waiting for my sister our companions. I slowly drop down into the darkness below, my stomach hungering for food. Darkness surrounds me, and soon enough I have reached the underwater cave. I run to the spot where we had camped out before I left Echo. But there is no meat.
“Huh.” I say to Moonbeam. “Maybe she moved it.”
Suddenly, I realize something that I didn’t even notice the slightest bit before. I can’t hear anything, not even other breathing besides my own.
I turn around. Moonbeam isn’t there, and neither is Chaka.
They probably just fell behind, I assure myself.
“Echo!” I exclaim, “where are the bear remains?” Instead of a reply, I get silence.
They’re probably just playing some sort of joke on me, I think. But I wanted to be sure.
“Echo?” I whisper. But she is nowhere to be found.
Panic erupts, like a shot of adrenaline throughout my entire body. It had been the second time in only a few hours that I had lost my sister.
I dash through the dark cave, only knowing the way back from the previous memory of the first time Echo lead me here. And to think: if she never would have dragged me to this dreadful cave I wouldn’t be in this mess right now.
“Echo!” I scream, desperately hoping that I will get a response. But again, I hear nothing except the occasional drip from the leaking water above.
I was worried about Echo. She always seems to wander away, and in some situations (like this one) that flaw will not do her any good.
I reach the chasm, and pull myself up to land as quickly as possible. Water flows around my head, and I can’t see anything, not even my fingers.
Now the chasm ride somehow happens to be much longer. In what seems like hours later, my head surfaces, and I take a huge breath. I sprint through the woods, my heart beating like a drum. “Echo!” I call again. This time, however, I get a response.
“Shadow!” I hear Echo’s voice from above. “Up here!” I look into the thick layers of leaves and see her waving from a tree the wolves by her side.
I begin to climb the tree, grasping onto sturdy branches and pulling myself up.
When I get to the top, piles and piles of meat are roasting above the fire in the pit of the tree, and the wolves are up here also, although how they got up is a mystery to me.
“Taste it.” Echo declares, extending her arm, a huge slab of meat in her hand.
Even though bear meat was kind of revolting in my opinion, the freshly cut slice looked perfect, the middle of the cut pink and perfectly roasted.
“Don’t mind if I do,” I laugh. The meat seems to melt, a flavor explosion in my mouth. I didn’t want to act like a pig, but the meat is so delicious it is practically calling my name.
“Wow!” I announce. “How did you get the meat to taste this good?” I take another bite. “It’s not even the slightest bit over done!”
Echo smiles. “It’s the magic of the fire.” I laugh, and continue to scarf down my delicious meat.
I look at Echo and smile. I’m so glad she forgave me. I don’t know what I would do without her.
It looks like she has prepared some side dishes as well, some salad with a berry vinaigrette.
“Ohhh, salad!” I exclaim. I take a thick stick and scoop up a handful of salad.
Chaka waddles carefully along the branch up to the salad and stuffs his nose into the dressing.
“Chaka!” I scold, but there is laughter in my tone. I can tell Echo is trying her hardest to hold her giggling in. She suddenly bursts, laughing as hard as she could. I laugh too as Chaka pulls his face out of the food, dressing smothered all over his face.
“Hey do you know what time it is?” Echo mumbles. I can barely hear her, due to the excessive amount of food in her mouth.
“Um, let me check.” I look down at my wrist, my watch strapped on. “It’s about eleven forty five,” I reply.
“Well we should go home in a couple of hours,” Echo answers.
I nod in return. If we didn’t leave soon, we would be late for our school. I continue to chew my salad and meat. It is the first meal I’ve had in hours, and I am starving.
Woof. Chaka and Moonbeam are looking down from the top of the tree, growling.
“What is it boy?” I ask. Moonbeam and Chaka continue to bark. I look at Echo. She shrugs. I exhale a huge puff of air and crawl on the branches to the edge where Moonbeam and Chaka are.
“What’s there?” I question Moonbeam. She just barks.
This was strange. Chaka and Moonbeam were very gentle dogs despite the vicious name. It was never like them to bark and something.
Since the dogs wouldn’t give me a thorough answer, I decide to look for myself.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” I begin to say. Though, when I look down at the ground below, something surprises me.
My jaw drops to the ground. “Oh my gosh,” I mumble in shock. I rub my eyes to make sure what I am seeing is real.
“What is it?” Echo questions, crawling across the bark toward me.
I am trying to talk, but I can’t seem to get any words out. Echo looks over the edge of the tree branch.
“Holy cow...” she starts to speak, but her voice trails off. Now she is also lost for words.
Chaka barks again, but I quickly cover his mouth.
“Shh!” I scold him in a whisper. He whimpers, and Moonbeam backs away, like she is afraid I will scold her as well.
I look at Echo, only to see that she is still staring down at the wonder below in awe, her eyes widened.
The fresh bear meat we just ate was delicious, no doubt about that. But what stood before us was ten times richer in flavor and a lot more rare.
A giant moose pack.
____________________________________________Echo
Holy Moose. I have never, in my entire life, seen a herd of moose this massive. I feel dizzy staring down at them in amazement, as they calmy graze in the greens below. Moose, the most rarest of all animals, yet the best tasting are right in front of me. They have the richest, most delicate meat ever, that can be frozen, and thawed without rotting, making it useful for winter. Speaking of winter, Shadow and I must start stocking up on food for the winter, when prey is scarce.
I feel the knives flashing, yet resist the urge to throw, because moose can be dangerous, especially in a stampede. Shadow and I are safe up here in the tree, yet the wolves will jump down and want to hunt, it is in their nature. Even though they are some of the best fighters I have ever seen, they would lose this battle, hands down. I scan the herd, and find the leader, with red eyes, and a hampering leg. He is my target. I whisper this to Shadow, who nods, then points to a calf who ambles along slowly. Her bow is already loaded, aiming swiftly towards her prey, yet I put a hand up to stop her. My mind is racing a million miles an hour. We have to make sure that the wolves are safe, yet we want to attack quickly before the herd moves on. I get an idea, and I am confident it will work.
I swing through the branches silently, careful not to disturb even a single leaf. Barely making a noise as I reach the broad branch, I pull Moonbeam and Chaka close, whispering so softly I wonder if they can hear me.
“Listen, I need you guys to stay here until Shadow and I have injured some moose, and the rest have left. Ok?” They nod slowly. When we have injured them, you and Chaka can finish them off and have a leg of a moose each to yourselves. Understand?” I question. The details are very important, and they must follow my instructions carefully, if we are to succeed. They both nod again, and I can tell that Moonbeam has taken my instructions to heart. If she will follow my instructions, then so will Chaka. I sigh lightly to show my relief, and then climb right back up to the center of the tree to Shadow. I look up to find that Moonbeam has listened well, guiding Chaka a thick clump of leaves.
I give Shadow the signal, and she fires an arrow at the calf. The arrow silently glides, hitting the calf in the neck. The calf moo’s in pain yet only his mother listens to his call. The leader starts to move on, and I know it is time to fire my knife. I take my aim, and let the dagger fly out of my hand, right into the leader’s broad chest. He roars in anger and begins to stampede angrily about, galloping to and fro, but without success. No one is there to stampede. I let another knife go, and watch with satisfaction as the knife hits the leader in the front foreleg. He falls over, and though he tries to stand, he fails, falling over again and again. Shadow’s calf has suffered greatly, I find, and so has the mother, who though is still standing, has at least three arrows spiking from her skin. I know that the leader will not go anywhere soon, yet the herd is, so I aim for a large male moose, hitting him in the back of his left leg with my dagger. He trips and stumbles, and just before he can get up I fling another knife in his other leg, so that he cannot get up. Chaka and Moonbeam see their chance and hop down, finishing of both my and Shadows kills. My eyes light up as I see a final moose limping away slowly. I drop down from the tree and tear after him, Shadow following. Even with his injury though, he is fast, and we chase him all the way to the center of the woods until we finally bring him down. Shadow and I collapse, panting and wheezing, on the spot. We slowly catch our breath, and suddenly my eyes catch a glimpse of something yellow with age that is half hidden in the dirt. I half crawl, half scrabble over to it, and begin digging at the unknown object. Dirt flies everywhere, and Shadow looks at me like I am crazy, yet I am so close to uncovering it, it’s scary.
I pull on the object, and with a loud poof it comes flying out, hitting me in the face, sending me tumbling backwards. I hit my back and groan in pain, but I get up almost instantly. I feel my mouth and find it is bleeding, and not too lightly either. I press my shirt against my wound, and at the same time I examine the object. Brushing the dirt off with my free hand, I find it is an old book, worn and yellow, the pages wrinkled with age. I scoop it up and place it in my pack before Shadow can see, yet then I remember our previous argument, and decide to show it to her instead. Her eyes widen, but just as quickly lose interest.
“We can look at it at home.” she says absentmindedly, and I agree. We have to be in school in an hour, and I think that I have had plenty of action for one day. Pulling each other to our feet, we grab the moose by the legs and drag it back to the wolves.They have already collected their reward, yet I don’t mind. They have helped us take down the moose, and have been loyal the entire time.
The wolves begin dragging the prey back, quickly and efficiently, and we make it back home within a half hour. Shadow and I prepare for school, which is a fifteen minute hike away, however first I lock up the moose meat in the basement in a safe, and then I lock the house, because I would hate to lose the haul we just made. We head out within 10 minutes, hiking through the woods until we reach a steep incline of rock. I scale the wall within seconds, Shadow takes a little longer, carefully placing each foot and hand. I pull her up to the top, and begin racing to the schoolhouse.
Finally we come to the school, a drab gray building with dusty windows and old creaky planks. I pass through the door as the bell rings, and begin sprinting to my first class immediately. I burst through into the classroom, as the bell sounds its last note which hangs in the air, vibrating. I take my seat and pull out my textbooks like a good student, yet my mind drifts away, as it always does on Mondays. I search upward towards the dusty rafters in the ceiling and wonder if I could get up there somehow. My mind is a million miles away when I hear my name called, distant and fuzzy. In a whirl I am brought back to the grey room, and I look expectantly up at Mr. Anderson. With a sigh he shakes his head, yet repeats the question.
“Please recite how our island came to be.” he says. I stand up importantly and begin the Rites.
“Our humble island came to be from the World War 3. This war was the biggest of them all, in which all of the Great Continents were at war. Nuclear weapons were exploding everywhere, and Continent NA3 suffered the most from it. Then a man named Mr. Willson came along. He was from Continent NA3, and saw how greatly his people had suffered. So he quietly sought revenge in his laboratory, dedicating all of his time to create the most powerful weapon of all. And he did it! Yet before he could use it, Continent E5 stole the weapon and used it against us all, destroying not only Continent NA3, but all of the Great Continents. Only a few fragments of islands remained, and the only survivor was a man and a few others, who named the islands, and allowed our home to be the way it is now.” I finished out of breath and sat down quickly, with pride for remembering, losing my attention again. Yet little did I know what those words actually meant, or how they would affect me.
Chapter 4
Shadow
Ring!! The school bell screams in rage. I quickly grab my books and head out the door to go to science. The hallways are filled with people, students filing out of every door.
I dodge the crowd, and finally I manage to make it through the cramped hallways. I somehow slither through the pack huddled around the science room, and I slip into the room, just as the second bell starts to ring.
There is no teacher in the room, so the kids start going berserk. Spitballs are flying, and people are throwing markers across the room.
One of the boys in my class stands guard by the classroom door.
“She’s coming!” he warns.
We scramble to our seats, and pick up all the supplies we had thrown
Mrs. Carrole walks into the room just as I throw away the last wrinkled sheet of paper, her high heels clicking with every step.
She glares at me, and a nervous smile appears on my face.
“Just throwing this away,” I tell her, holding up the paper.
“Take a seat,” she orders. I hurry toward my desk, my head down, trying to hide my laughter.
“Hello class,” she pipes, placing her paper piles on her cluttered desk. “Okay!” she cheers. “Let’s talk about science!”
The entire class groans. Ignoring us, Mrs. Carrole starts teaching us about chemicals and the period table.
I drift off, my mind was boggling with the great discoveries we had found in the woods. I know I should be listening, but that you are is hard to accomplish when what when the teacher is talking about such a boring topic.
“Miss Shadow, I asked you a question,” Mrs. Carrole exclaims with annoyance in her voice.“I’m sorry Mrs. Carrole,” I answer. She glares at me, but continues to teach the lesson. I began fiddling with my pencil, Mrs. Carrole’s voice becoming ever so softer and more distant.
I am soon in daydream mode, all my happy moments and exciting combining into one vision. My daydream is getting happier, but the loud buzzing of the intercom broke my trance.
Turns out, the noise wasn’t the intercom, but Mrs. Carrole screaming in the front of the room. “Shadow, you have been goofing off and daydreaming too much!” she barked. “You are constantly disrupting your classmates while they are trying to LEARN! Go to the office now!”
I roll my eyes, and she scowls. “Shadow, NOW!”
I stand up, purposely knocking my desk to the ground, my textbooks toppling everywhere. I dragged my feet slowly to the door. I grip the door knob, and pull the door open as loudly as possible. As I walk out the room, I can hear the faint mumble of Mrs. Carrole.
“Why can’t she be like her sister?” she cries. “I need help with this child!”
I don’t think she knows I heard her, but to make one last point I slam the door with extreme anger and force. I walk down narrow hallway, and I can still hear Mrs. Carrole’s desperate sobs even through the thick door.
* * * * * *
I pound on the door to the principal's office.
“Come in!” snarls the secretary, Ms. Richardson. I open the door to see a monstrous face staring at me.
“ What do you want Shadow?” she hisses.
“Well, Mrs. Carrole...”
“Don’t care!” she snaps, then waves her hand toward the office. Strange, she already knows where I’m going, I think. That must be because I have the tendency to get sent to the office a lot. In fact, the office is like a second home to me, and me and the Vice Principal have gotten to know each other well.
But the principal... his deep, snarly voice and tassels of hair everywhere makes going to the office even a bigger nightmare than it should be. His office is full of dull grey and things kids should not be playing with.
I slowly walk up to the door that seems to tower over me. “Mr. Orville” is written of the window glass in thick black letters. I gulp, then softly tap tap the wooden door.
“Who is it!” screams a voice that could even chill the spine of Bigfoot.
“Umm, it’s Shadow?” I stutter.
“Come in,” he booms. “I’ve been expecting you.”
My hand shakes as it reaches for the golden door knob. I place my hand on the knob, and my hand shutters. The cold metal rushes through my flesh, turning my hand to a ghostly blue. I want to scream, but my voice has disappeared. I slowly open the door, my eyes shut as tight as I can make them.
It takes me awhile to decide if I should open the door quickly, or slowly. I decide quickly, so I can get the pain over with. I turn the doorknob, open my eyes, and push the door open so fast, I can only see a flash of drab brown before my eyes.
But what I see is a great surprise. There is nothing violent, and Mr. Orville looks like a normal man. His hair is cleanly combed and his large glasses frame his oval face.
“Please sit down Shadow,” he tells me. I quickly sit.
There is an awkward silence, so I decide to break it by cracking a joke
“You remodeled,” I say.
“No, I didn’t,” he replied. “Unless you mean the new trophy I got.” He begins to blabber on and on about the glory of his trophy and the whole story on how he earned it. I begin to zone out, but I snap back to reality when I realize Mr. Orville is now talking to me.
“Shadow, SHADOW!” he yells, clapping his hands in front of my face.
“Sorry,” I mumble. I’m in big trouble this time.
“I have gotten many complaints from teachers that you have been misbehaving in class, even more than usual,” he declares. It takes all my willpower and strength, but I manage to focus on what he is saying.
“Shadow, this is the fourth time I’ve seen you in my office this month, and today is the seventh of october. Not acceptable,” he fumes.
“I know, but it’s so hard to focus when what the teachers are saying because it’s not even important!” I clamp my hand over my mouth. As soon as the words flew out of my mouth I regretted it. I was in for it now.
Mr. Orville’s pale face grew redder and redder and I thought his head would explode.
“Shadow Thompson, you are EXPELLED!”
I was shocked. My whole body had gone into freeze mode, like a computer. I know I had frequently been think the misbehaving and disrupting the class, but I didn’t think the matters were this serious
“But..” I start to say, but Mr. Orville carelessly interrupts me.
“If you say one more word, I will expel your sister too!” he cackles.
He wouldn’t... I think. My mouth wants to argue, but I know in my heart I can’t. My sister is an exceptional student, and I would never do something to get her in trouble, let alone expelled.
“I’m sorry sir,” I mumble. I slouch in my chair, then get up. I walk to the door, and mournfully look back at Mr. Orvill. But he doesn’t even seem to care. School never seemed very important to me, but now it feels that my life in incomplete. I choke back tears, and twist the brass doorknob. I sadly stroll through the empty hallways that would soon be filled with chatting and laughter.
I can’t contain myself. I bust out in tears, my cheeks stained with water. I reach the main doors, and push them open for the very last time. _________________________________________________
Echo
I never have been this upset in my life. Ever. What could Shadow have done this time? She will have to be homeschooled, and who will teach her? Me. Which means that I now have to quit school also. I will never receive a proper education now, and neither will my sister. I don’t understand why, yet Shadow just hangs her head sadly as I yell and scream at her at home. Standing in the kitchen it seems as though the chance of getting an actual job is hopeless, and that I will always be a hunter. Not that I don’t like it, but, I guess I would’ve liked to be normal for a change.
I head to school tomorrow afternoon, yet without my schoolbooks this time. I will have to leave immediately upon my arrival, once I have let Mr. Orville know that I am leaving due to my sister. I pass through the door, well before the bell rings and pass through to the office. Ms. Richardson waves me through with a pleasant smile, although from what Shadow has told me, I am the only one that sees it. I knock on the large wood door, and after a moment’s pause I hear Mr. Orville’s voice, gruff and low.
“Come in.” He booms, and I open the door smoothly. With a loud creak it swings wide, and I shut the door behind me just as fast. I walk briskly up to his desk. I don’t beat around the bush when I am talking to someone , and if anything, I don’t think I could beat around the bush with Mr. Orville.
“I am here to inform you that I will no longer be attending this school.” I say quickly, and as I do, I study Mr. Orville's face, which has gone from plush to pale within seconds.
“But, why?” he asks. I don’t like his tone at all.
I lean forward and hiss into his face.
“You know the best of everyone why I am quitting, and I am not very happy about it at all. Were you so angry you didn’t even think about what my sister might have had to say?” I question him angrily, all signs of formality gone from my face. He gulps, and begins.
“Your sister has been trouble ever since day one, and I won’t take it anymore. How am I supposed to run this school with her around?” he shoots back, a look of defiance crossing his face.
“I do not appreciate how you have decided not to give her even a warning. There was no suspensions ever, so how was she supposed to know she took it too far?” I am gaining confidence now, and Mr. Orville knows it too.
“But...” He whines sounding like a toddler.
“No!” I interrupt before he can finish. “Either both of us or none of us... and I know how badly you need me if you wish to make a good impression on all the Islands, and not to mention our own Governor. That is my proposal. Take it or leave it, your choice.” I finish strongly, and feel like I have hit a nerve with the mention of the Governor, who reigns above everyone on this Island. Mr. Orville seems to know he cannot win, and with an angry glare, he mutters.
“Fine. But I had better not hear a negative word out of any of the teachers, you hear! If I hear so much as her name mentioned...” He leaves it at that, and I know that next time I will not be able to bargain Shadow out. I wasn’t even supposed to bargain her out this time, quite frankly, and she is lucky indeed that I am here to make up for her misbehavior all the time. I race home right after, with a new light in my eyes. I burst through the kitchen door, but Shadow isn’t there. I begin to panic. “Shadow... SHADOW!” I start to scream her name in fear, not having a clue as to where she could’ve gone when my eye catches a piece of paper on the floor. I stoop and pick it up, my voice dieing in my throat. On the note there is only one word, but it says so much more to me.
Gone.
I pick up my knives, bringing my entire pack with me this time. I race outside and find that not only is Shadow gone, but the wolves are as well. I do not know anyone who could take on the wolves and Shadow alone, which gives me my second clue about their whereabouts. It must be the woods. I search over the treetops with a hawk's eye, when I find the tiniest trail of smoke, making me set off at a sprint until I reach I clearing in the woods, right by a tall oak.
I scale the tree with silence while I take in the awfulness of the situation. Both Shadow and the wolves are bound to separate poles. I see Shadow, blood streaked across her face, yet she is still conscious, spitting into her attackers eyes. The wolves are also still conscious, but they seem especially weared out, though still vicious, snapping at anyone stupid enough to come close.
Yet my comrades are hopelessly outnumbered. There are at least twelve of them, and they are all dressed head to toe in black, making it impossible to tell who they are. Gangs I can take, but a secret agency? Not so much. Then my eye spies a black van at the edge of the woods, and I figure that I am wrong on both accounts. They obviously have a lot of money, loads more than any secret agency that this Island could ever have. Which might be another clue for me.
I don’t even plan on attacking, but when I see a man slap Shadow across the face, I feel the anger inside of me roar and crash, like a wave I cannot control. I am unaware of my actions, but suddenly my tree branch has hit the man on the head, and he falls, his eyes rolling back into his head. Shadow frowns and looks concerned, but uses the opportunity well. Twisting out of the other man’s grasp, she flips over and breaks the pole, grabbing the two pieces that are left, smacking people left and right. I feel like she will be okay.
Glancing around I see the wolves snap angrily at the intruders, and I fling a dagger in the direction, watching with satisfaction as a man falls to the ground, unconscious. I know this because I don’t aim to kill other humans. Another throw slices through Chaka’s bindings, and once he is free, he a whirling torpedo of death. He slices Moonbeams bindings also, but afterwards it is all people. But Moonbeam doesn’t get up and join him, but she just lays there whimpering as a man shoves her inside a burlap bag. I don’t know what I plan on doing, but I fly down from the tree, landing squarely on the man’s head.
He doesn’t even cry out, but crumples to the ground unconscious while I set Moonbeam free. Suddenly she whimpers, pointing her nose to behind me, and wham, I am hit fiercely on the head with a pole. I look around and find myself being shoved, with Moonbeam, right into a dark metal cage, with a blanket thrown over the top. I scream in anger, but then realize it is useless, so instead I scream for Shadow, to place a tag on the van, and to find me later, because I know it is pointless to try now. I hear a thud on the bottom of the van, and I know that the tag has been placed.
Looking around the cage, I find it has metal bars that are as thick as my arm, with very little space in between poles. I hear Moonbeam whining in the corner, and I crawl over to her, examining her closely for any injuries. But besides a few scratches, I find nothing of significance.Yet that is when I remember that Moonbeam is a girl.
So I feel around her stomach, for what is probably the only other reason why she won’t fight. She doesn’t want to hurt her puppies. I eventually feel two wriggling points in her stomach, and gasp aloud in delight. Moonbeam is going to be a mother! And very soon by the feel of it. But almost as quickly I feel depressed. What will we do with these puppies? Suddenly I hear Moonbeam wail again, and get to work.
I won’t go into details, but I helped Moonbeam deliver her puppies, and we have them hidden in my pack, which now has many air holes for the puppies, which the men forgot to take. I feel them squirming, and I hope that they won’t be too loud. Suddenly there is a loud thud, and light floods into the cage as the blanket is lifted. Here we go.
Chapter 5
Shadow
I scream as the rusted truck drives away, clanking, with Moonbeam and Echo trapped in the back. Chaka barks, oblivious to the danger that surrounds us.
There is no time to waste. I grab my pack and start up in a sprint, Chaka still howling in agony.
“Come on boy!” I exclaim. He doesn't move a muscle. I jog back toward him. He whimpers, and buries his head into my stomach. I slowly stroke his thick fur, his breathing growing heavy. I pull his face away from my flesh and stare into his big eyes. I didn’t know dogs could cry, but it seems as if Chaka is. The whites in his eyes are now red.
“It’s okay boy,” I assure him, although I am not fully sure that it is.
He does some sort of shaking motion with his head that I assume is a nod. I pet him again, then continue home at full speed.
* * * * * * *
As soon as I am in our front room I set my plan into action. I run to my bedroom, and power up the computer. I sit down on the swivel chair, and spin around multiple times. When the spinning dies down, I find myself staring at Echo’s empty bed, which makes my heart ache. I have to save my sister.
My computer beeps, signaling to me that it is on. I pull up the icon for the tracking device that I had placed on the truck that hauled Echo and Moonbeam away. I scan the screen, and I see it right away. A large red dot flashing in the middle of the page signifies where Echo and Moonbeam are. I download the software to program on my watch, and now my watch is beeping as well, synchronized with the computer.
I have no time to waste. I sprint out of the room, this time Chaka comes along. I dash through the kitchen, and something catches my eye. A yellow sheet of notepad paper is sitting on the counter.
Shadow,
I talked to Mr. Orville, and he’s decided to give you a second chance at school. He’s letting you back because I persuaded him to let you have another chance.. Please don’t mess it up this time. If you do, then you really are done, and so am I.
ECHO
I’m filled with relief. I’m glad that I can get back to school. I didn’t want to ruin my sister’s education just because I was misbehaving. But there is a more important matter at hand.
I run out the front door, careful to lock it before I leave. I continue up the steep hill, following the map on my watch, not missing a single second. Little by little, the beeping blue dot - me - makes it’s way toward the red one
Suddenly, a wave of terror rushes through me. The truck is the only thing that I am tracking. They could have easily get out of the truck and brought Echo and Moonbeam with them. I am now angry at myself for putting the tracking device on the truck instead of Echo or even Moonbeam. But then I am reminded that there was nothing I could have changed to make the situation better, considering the fact that Moonbeam and Echo were already locked in the back of the vehicle.
I decide to focus only on the task at hand. So I keep a steady pace and follow the dot. Time is moving very slowly, and I am growing tired. I stop and sit on the soft grass, Chaka at my side.
That’s when panic strikes me again. Echo and Moonbeam could be dead.
* * * * * * *
I bolt through the trees, standing tall and majestic. I am so close to the spot where they took my sister I can almost feel their presence.
I keep running, but then Chaka stops, his face filled with alarm.
I’m about to ask him what is wrong, but then he begins to sniff the ground. Now I know he is looking for Echo.
He sniffs and sniffs, and every so often he would perk his head up and stop.
But then something catches my ear. I hear talking. Emotions flood through me. I stand there for a minute, in a trance. Chaka barks, and I snap back to reality.
I glare at Chaka, and he backs away, frightened.
I hold up my index finger, signaling him to be quiet. I listen, and now I can make out some voices.
“NO!” I hear someone scream very faintly.
The voice jolts through my body like an electric shock.
The person screaming is Echo.
* * * * * * *
I look over at Chaka, and I can sense worry in him. He opens his mouth as if to bark, but I cover his mouth and luckily the only sound I hear is a squeak. I dare to breathe, fearing that the government will hear me and arrest me too. I decide it’s time to make a move. I creep through the trees, the crisp leaves crunching underneath my boots. Every step I take I can hear the conversation between Echo and the government even clearer.
“What business do you have in the woods?” asks a deep male voice.
“We were just hunting! We can’t afford any food!” explains Echo, her black hair flying across her face.
“Those woods are off limits. I believe you knew that,” a different voice declares.
“I know! I’m sorry! Please forgive me!” she exclaims.
“I will forgive you, but then you must show me to your sister.”
Echo glares. “NO!” She is defiant now.
I inch closer to the truck, but a twig snaps underneath my foot.
I quickly dash behind a tree trunk, hoping the men don’t see me.
“Over here!” a voice calls out. The have found me.
Chaka is laying on the ground, his dark fur blending in with the crispy leaves.
I freeze, for I can hear the heavy breathing of the men.
I pray that they won’t find me. But they do.
“Hands in the air!” one of the men orders.
I ignore them, and spring into action, dashing toward the now abandoned truck. I whip open the trunk to find Echo and Moonbeam staring back at me. I manage to pick the lock on the cages, and set them free.
“Run!” I scream. They follow my demands. Echo grabs her pack and and handles it with great care. I want to question her, but escaping the government's wrath is more important.We sprint through the forest, dodging trees and jumping over thick fallen branches. Echo looks back, her face filled with fright . I run with my head facing forward,
wanting to look bad so bad but at the same time I don’t in fear that they will be right there.
“Echo! Watch out!” I shout. She looks forward in the nick of time, avoiding a tree
trunk. She swerves to the right, and continues to run.
I’m afraid to look back, not knowing where the men are and when they could catch up to us.
“You won’t get away with this! Come back here this instant!” yell the men. But we are already too far away to stop. ___________________________________________________
Echo
Oh geez. Total chaos . What are we going to do? It’s panic time. These thoughts race through my head as we all sprint through the woods, Moonbeam included, and I carry the pack delicately, so that it won’t bounce around. But something is picking away at my mind as I fly through the woods. Before Shadow showed up, I had heard the man whispering about some sort of Army.
And now I am tempted to go back. I don’t know what is going on, but these men clearly have it out for Shadow and I, for more than just entering the woods. I get the feeling that these men have been seriously underestimated, as well. I don’t know why, but something is off, and I, for the second time in my life, don’t know what to do.
The first time I didn’t know what to do was when my sister and I were at the orphanage. The lady was screaming at Shadow angrily for some reason, and Shadow had looked so frail and on the verge of tears, like she didn’t know what she had done wrong. I was scared and frightened, I didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t let this lady bully my sister around. So I stood up, and walked over to that lady, and told her exactly what was on my mind. She looked so startled at being yelled at by a little kid, and when I was done, I grabbed Shadow by the hand and walked right out of the orphanage. From there we went to the old abandoned house, and have lived there ever since.
Now Shadow and the others have stopped, but in the distance I hear the engine of the car and know that we are not safe.
“Climb that tree!” I say, and everyone follows, and are up the tree in seconds. Good thing too, because about ten seconds later the van comes cruising in.
“Where are the little devils?” One man asks, his voice booming out.
I clutch the branch and hope that he won’t find us.
“I don’t know, get back inside the car, they are getting farther away the more time we waste here,” says another, slapping the side of the car with his hand. I hold my breath, when suddenly one of Moonbeams puppies wail out, breaking the fragile silence. I sigh, and jump down. Shadow glares at me angrily, and makes as if to come down, but I hold up a hand to stop her.
“Truce!” I call out, before the man can move. At the sound of my voice the man stops and spins around on his heels, glaring at me.
“Yeah right!” he yells back, and starts to walk towards me. But he stops abruptly when I fling a knife at his feet, the dagger landing handle up, a centimeter away from his foot.
“Truce, or do I have to spare another knife on your helpless case?” I scowl as I bring another knife into my hands. The man sighs, knowing he cannot win.
“Alright, fine, but only if you put the weapons down.” He calls. I am not fooled.
“I am not dumb, believe it or not, and no I won’t put the weapons down.You make another wrong move like that, and next time, I will not miss your foot. Understand?” I slice back. His face darkens, but eventually, he agrees.
“Who do you work for?” is my first question, and without hesitation he answers
“The President.” Wow. I knew that this was a powerful agency, but I never thought it was that powerful. Onto the next question.
“Why do you want Shadow and I so badly?”
“We are forming an Army,” he begins, “but now it is my turn for a question.” he says.
“Why does Shadow stay home, when she should be at school?” he asks, raising an eyebrow towards Shadow, who is giving him the evil eye from the tree.
“She was... “ I share a look with Shadow, “suspended for a while,” I finish,
“Why are you forming an Army, and what does this have to do with Shadow and I?” I ask with no emotion in my voice whatsoever.
“You and Shadow are fighters, which is why the President needs you in the Army,” he begins smoothly, yet as he finishes, he hesitates. “The Army is to take over the last Continent on earth. You know your history?” he asks. I nod, yet am bewildered. There are no Continents left according to our history... but I let him continue.
“Your history is a lie. Our president has found that there actually is one Continent left surviving, with over millions of people on it.” He pauses to let that sink in. Wow. There’s a shocker. I feel sick to my stomach at the thought of our Government lying to us. My day was pretty rotten from then on.
First off, our Government, is lying to us. It disgusts me, and here is where the best part comes in They ask if we will help them and become their personal army? You can guess what my answer is. No! Why on Earth would I want to help dirty rotten good for nothing evil scientists who want to take over something that doesn’t even exist? I am out of the picture on this one, and I can tell that Shadow is too. However, I will have to play it cool at first.
“So, let me get this straight. You want us, to go to some Continent, take over it, and what do we get in return, exactly?” I ask, my voice as sweet as silk.
“You will find out once you have completed the task. That is all the information we were given.” That was when I exploded
“What do you think my answer will be?” I question, my voice now a hiss of menace.
“Yes.”
“You are a dirty piece of crap.” I say it slowly, pronouncing each syllable, and when I am done, I have knives in my hands. I stalk over, and the man has the good sense to run for the car. The car skids away as fast as it can, and Shadow leaps down from the tree as soon as they are gone. She pats me on the shoulder, and whispers into my ear.
“Way to go, sis.”
“Thanks.” I say and we march home, where I bring out the puppies. Shadow gasps in delight, while Moonbeam gently caresses them, licking them carefully in turn.
“We still have to name them.” I whisper, not wanting to disturb the moment. The girl, looks exactly like Moonbeam, with a silver coat that shines. The male has a dark, brown colored coat, almost black, just like Chaka’s.
“What about Starlight, for the girl?” I ask.
“Sounds perfect.” Shadow replies. Then I get to thinking, Shadow must want one of the puppies, when they are grown. So I offer her the male.
“Yes!” she eagerly responds, clasping her hands together, her eyes shining.
“Let’s call the male Midnight, in honor of his dark colored coat,” she says, and I couldn’t agree more. I smile with my sister, as we watch the puppies wriggle and squirm. I touch Shadow’s arm gently.
“We should go skin the moose now,” I say quietly, and Shadow nods in agreement. We head out to the garage and spend the rest of the afternoon skinning and gutting the moose. I spare a good deal of entrails for Moonbeam, as she will need lots of energy for the puppies.
“We should go skin the moose now,” I say quietly, and Shadow nods in agreement. We head out to the garage and spend the rest of the afternoon skinning and gutting the moose. I spare a good deal of entrails for Moonbeam, as she will need lots of energy for the puppies.
By the end of the afternoon, I have made two moose hides and separated the meat from the two moose, while Shadow has done the same with hers. Yet instead of making the moose hide, she decided to cook the rest of her meat instead. I steal a small portion of the meat off the cauldron in the fireplace, and feed it to Moonbeam, who licks her chops gratefully. I smile, and as the stars come out, I lock up the house and garage, running to bed where Shadow is already laying down. I tuck my knives under my pillow, and lay down, thankful for the security the knife brings, and fall asleep.
The doorbell rings, waking me from my sleep. Yawning, I don’t even bother to check the time, but I open the door to a gun, pointed straight at my face. I sigh, and look at the man holding it. It just so happens to be the man from the truck.
I give no warning of attack, but in seconds I have twisted the gun out of the man’s grasp, and have a knife at his throat. I let him go, watching tiredly as he gets in the van and drives away at full speed. Back upstairs Shadow mumbles, and I tell her it was nothing, and to go back to sleep. And then, we do exactly that.
Chapter 6
Shadow
I wake up the next morning, the bright sun streaming through my window. I yawn, stretching my arms up over my head. I hear little barks coming from downstairs, and I smile.
I head downstairs, still half asleep. I am not paying attention to where I am going, and one bad thing leads to another
The next thing I know I am tumbling down the wooden stairs, and I land with a thud on the cold, hard ground.
I open my eyes, everything in twos. And that’s when I see it: a yellow piece of paper lying next to my head. Or is it two pieces of paper?
I rub my eyes, and everything goes back to normal. I pick up the piece of paper, and read it thoroughly.
Dear Sergeant Franklin
We regret to inform you that you have a very important task on the line. You must track down Shadow and Echo Thompson and convince them to join our army to take over the last thriving Continent on Earth. If you fail to complete this task by tomorrow morning, you will suffer serious consequences. We hope you can find some time to complete this task. We will also send General Bennet with you on the mission.
Thank you,
President Mortlock
I gasp. This must be the sergeant who captured Echo and stuffed her into his truck!
Suddenly everything makes sense. Since Echo declined the offer to be in the army, something terrible was about to happen to this innocent man!
I waste no time as I run up to my room to get Echo.
“Echo!” I yell as I skip up the stairs. I sprint over to her bed and shake her until she awakes.
“What!” she whines. I hand her the note and she silences.
“Wow,” she gasps. I nod.
“I almost feel bad now,” she replies.
I nod again. “Me too.”
She hands me back the note. “What should we do?” she asks.
I think for a minute. Then I get an idea. A bizarre idea, that I know for a FACT Echo will completely disagree with.
I shrug, and blurt out my crazy idea. “Why don’t we just join the army?”
Echo’s jaw drops, and she gives me a look like I am insane.
“What are you thinking Shadow? We aren’t just going to sacrifice our lives for someone else’s!” she rebukes, her voice raised.
“I would do it for you,” I answer.
She scowls. “Yeah, but that’s different. You're my sister. I’d do it for you too. But this guy is a total stranger! What if they just wrote this note as a fake to get us into the army?”
I pause to think it over. She does have a point. It could be a scam. But I didn’t want this guy to be harmed, even if he was a jerk to us.
“Come on Echo!” I plead. “Just give him a chance.” I throw her a begging face. She puts her hand over her face and looks away.
“Nope, not falling for that old trick,” she stated. But after a few seconds, she burst out in laughter. I giggle a little bit too.
“I’ve gotta go feed the puppies,” I say, pointing my finger over my shoulder to the stairs.
“Okay, go ahead,” she answers. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”
I head down the staircase, and toward the puppy’s kennel. I grab the dog food and the dog bowls.
Starlight stares up at me, and Midnight runs around, chasing his bushy tail.
I smile, and pour a handful of food in each of their bowls. I cautiously slide them into the cage, making sure none of the food pellets spill out.
“Here you go, boy,” I say. Midnight stuffs his furry face into the food and sucks the pellets into his mouth.
I smile, then do the same thing with Starlight’s bowl. She eats the food, but doesn’t scarf it down as enthusiastically as Midnight does.
I hear loud footsteps coming from the front of the house, and I can infer that it is Echo coming downstairs.
I leave them to their eating business, and I head over to my room. Echo is not anywhere in sight, so now I know that it was her going downstairs and not just my imagination.
I walk over to my bed, and on my way over, I feel something come in contact with my elbow.
“Ouch,” I mumble, reaching for my redend elbow. I turn to see that It was my computer monitor I had bumped.
When the computer’s screen brightens, I still see the program for the tracking device. There is a little red dot beeping in the middle of the page. It takes me a second to process that the tracking device I had plunged into the truck was still there. And it takes me even longer to figure out that the dot is right behind our house.
“Echo!” I call. “You gotta see this!” She comes thundering up the stairs and yanks open the bedroom door.
“What?” she heaves. I wave my hand, signaling her over to the desk. She has a puzzled look on her face, so I decide to just tell her instead.
“Come here and look at this computer screen,” I say. She walks over, and gasps just as I did when she sees the screen.
“Is that...” she questions, her index finger extended toward the dot.
“Yep. That’s the Government,” I tell her.
“And that’s our house,” she adds.
I turn my head, as does Echo. We stare into each other’s eyes.
We stumble to the window, and stare out into the backyard.
“Oh my gosh...” Echo exclaims.
I hide behind the curtains. “They’re here!” I whisper.
Echo holds a finger up to her mouth. “Shhh!”
I stop talking, and peek out the window. Three men step out of the truck. I figure that two of them are General Bennet and Sergeant Franklin from the note, but who is the third man?
They stop for a moment, searching around to make sure they have hit the correct house. Once they know for sure, they began heading toward our house.
“Their coming inside!!” I declare. Sweat begins to form on my palms.
Echo is frantic. “Quick! Call the wolves!”
I whistle, and soon enough, Chaka, Moonbeam, Midnight, and Starlight are trotting up the stairs. I lead them to their hiding spot into the closet.
“Don’t make a peep,” I instruct Chaka. He barks.
Echo and I hide in the other closet, and we climb to the top shelf and cover ourselves with clothing
I hear the door open, and the footsteps echo through the halls.
They’re here.
______________________________________________
Echo
Chapter 7
Shadow
“Hey Shadow,” whispers a voice. I sit up in my bed and look at Echo, who is laying face up on her bed, staring at the painted stars on the ceiling. I always thought it was strange that she did that, but I have discovered that it makes her feel more comfortable, like she was in the woods.
A glistening knife shines in my hand. I am cautious when handling it, because I know how much searing pain the knife will cause with even the slightest connection with its tip and if I dropped the knife, Echo would wake up and discover what I did.
“Echo?” I whisper in fright.
I hear another scream, and before I know it, I am being dragged across the metal floor.
“Moonbeam! Chaka!” I scream, and without warning, a large, sweaty hand clamps over my mouth.
I shout for Echo, but all that comes out of my mouth is a bunch of mumbling.
“Shut up little girl,” demands a voice.
They men don’t give up though. They grab my limbs, and hurl me - what seems like fifty feet but really isn’t - into a truck.
I try to yell for Echo, but the men are already closing the door to the trunk.
A light slowly flickers on, and now I can finally see my surroundings. I am in the back of a truck, alone. There are cardboard boxes everywhere, filled with weapons and ammo.
I look down to see that I am tied up with ropes. I sigh, knowing that there is not possible. That’s when I remember: The knife.
Echo
Chapter 8
Shadow
My trainer says that for now he is just doing an evaluation and told us to go hunt. I sprint through the woods, having no recognition of where are I am. I can sense that Echo is irate at me since I stole her knife. But, if I hadn’t, the outcome could have been different. I am on the lookout, knowing that Echo’s specialty is sneak attacking.
I see a deer, and instantly I take cover behind a tree. The deer moves an inch every minute. I load my bow, the sharp tip of the arrow pointed straight for the deer's flesh. My fingers grip the thin wire and press my fingers against my cold cheek. When my arrow is lined up with the deer, I release, the arrow soaring through the air, and pierces right into the deer’s skin.
“Echo! Let me go!” I sob. I hear her pull something out of her bag, and I strain my neck trying to see what it is.
Echo
Chapter 9
Shadow
I stand in the exact spot that the coyote had taken it’s last breath, patiently waiting for Echo and the President to come. I look around, admiring the peaceful scenery of the autumn woods.
“She’s alright,” the President answers. “She just lost a little of her lunch,” he says with a grin. I stand there in silence, awkwardly watching the President laugh his hearty laugh.
“Anyway,” he begins, leading us into a new conversation. “I just watched Echo take her test and she did wonderful. I would like to observe you both now, doing your best work together. I have already watch you Shadow, only for a bit, but I can tell you will be an excellent addition to our army. So, for this test you will both go into the woods, exactly the opposite of each other. Your mission is to find each other without the other knowing it, and then track them, making a map of where they go until they realize that you are there. Once you find that the other is tracking you, you must both start back in your original positions, which my soldiers will escort you to shortly. Now, do you have any questions?” he finishes, and I realize that his voice reminds me of a snake. But before I can process any more, Echo raises her hand, like she would in school.
“Do you by chance have any paper and pencils with you? I left mine at home,” she says, and I get the feeling she is trying to tell me something, yet I can’t tell what it is.
The President snaps his fingers, and within a second one of his soldiers is by his side, a stack of loose leaf paper and a pack of number two pencils in his hands. Another man is carrying a box filled with compasses and other useful tools we might need.
Echo
Shadow clearly didn’t get my subtle hint, so it seemed hopeless that she would remember that these people are are our enemies and not our friends. Honestly, could she at least show a little distaste? I frown as I am dragged off by a man in a dark suit, tripping and bumping onto the rough dirty ground as we (or should I say he) walk through the woods, finally stopping at a small dark spot in the ground.
I am not too pleased with the Sergeant , and glare at him fiercely as I stand up, half heartedly dusting myself off and checking for bruises as I wait for the signal to go. After about 5 minutes of agony, I finally hear the President’s voice, and I take off, climbing up the nearest tree within seconds. I have already decided my strategy, I will stick to the trees entirely. If I find Shadow, I will track her from the tree, because I do not want to risk the chance of her finding me at all.
She has stopped just a few feet away, resting by a quiet creek that trickle gently downhill. I stop, gratefully and take the time to map out where we have been. I stare at the faint red line with pride. Suddenly, I hear a choking sound and glance down to see what is wrong. Shadow coughs on the ground, and I resist the urge to jump down and save her, I am pretty sure it is a trick. But I have already figured it out. She probably thinks that I am following her, and wishes to draw me in to help her. I tell myself to count to fifteen, and if it hasn’t stopped by then, I should actually help her.
But after about ten seconds of this, she falls to the ground dramatically, and I know that if I am patient, she will get up and walk on in another fifteen seconds. Accurate I am, and I see that after a long pause she gets up, clearly frustrated that I haven’t shown up. Staring down at her, I watch her stand, brushing a layer of dirt from her black leather hunting jacket, creating a cloud of grime around her. I hold my notebook tight, preparing to take flight at only a moments hesitation, when she pulls out her own notebook, marking a thin blue streak across the page, taking out her compass.
My heart thuds loudly inside my chest, and I feel the pressure slowly start to build up, until I begin to panic in the dark. A fresh wave erupts as I hear footsteps pounding across our hallway. That’s when realization hits me. We can’t escape. These people will hunt us down if we don’t, and will hurt others to find us. I hear them by the closet where the wolves are hidden, and anger surges through me. What am I doing? I should be saving the wolves, not hiding in a closet like some kind of coward! Then, without a word to Shadow, I burst out of the closet in a rage unlike any other.
The men are so carefully searching, they don’t even notice me until I am at their necks with a knife, shoving them out the door. The men look terrified, because by the time I am done my hair is in a wild mess and my eyes are strained and red. As I shove them out the door, I remember what Shadow promised, and decide to use it against them.
“We will join your Army, but don’t you dare ever come back again in hopes of threatening us again.” I hiss. Then I shove them out, and slam the door in a final insult. That’s when I break down on the floor, tired with the entire situation. But then I pull myself together, because now isn’t a time for weakness, especially with Shadow looking up to me. Forcing a smile, I stand, then go into the kitchen and make a sandwich out of homemade bread and moose meat, like nothing has happened at all. If only.
Shadow slowly comes around the corner, acting almost scared. I hold out a sandwich as a peaceful gesture, and cautiously she takes it, like she isn’t sure she can trust me. I understand completely why she is uncertain, because even I’m little bit nervous myself about my emotional breakdown. But I don’t say anything, out of the fear that I may make things worse.
Shadow slowly comes around the corner, acting almost scared. I hold out a sandwich as a peaceful gesture, and cautiously she takes it, like she isn’t sure she can trust me. I understand completely why she is uncertain, because even I’m little bit nervous myself about my emotional breakdown. But I don’t say anything, out of the fear that I may make things worse.
Quietly I pull out a chipped plate from the cabinet, placing the sandwich on top. I stare at it like it has eyes, but eventually appetite wins out, and I take one enormous bite after another, until the sandwich is reduced to a pile of crumbs. Walking over to the sink, I rinse the plate off, my movements slow and stiff. I begin to sort the moose meat into two piles, the winter pile, and the fridge pile. I sit there for about an hour sorting, and storing away foods until I realize we are low on bread. I call Shadow over, and though she still looks nervous, she seems to realize I am not going to bite her. Pulling flour and other ingredients out, she mixes enough for about three loaves in a giant bowl made of hardened clay. I smile as she loads loaf after loaf into the oven.
The first loaf is a crisp golden brown and looks perfect. I wrap it up in plastic and begin to dress for the black market, where I will sell two of the loaves. The second loaf is just as perfect, and I leave, Shadow nodding as I head out the door, the loaves tucked into my coat.
Climbing up a steep ridge, I step up and take in the familiar surroundings. Taking a deep breath of the fresh and cold air, I continue forward and through the woods on the same path I always take, until I reach the main road. I see and hear the business of the market, and sprint over to the right and down the road, until finally I enter. To the left I see the baker and some jewelry maker stands, on the right the butcher and some material shops. I head straight to the baker, and begin to bargain.
“How much do you want for these?” I ask, setting the bar. The baker grins, and sets aside a loaf of uncooked bread.
“Seven dollars.” He barks, starting low. So naturally, I start unreasonably high.
“Twenty.” I say, feeling more at home.
“Nine dollars.”
“Fifteen.”
“Ten.”
“Ten,” I agree, and hand him the loaves. He fishes out some money, handing it to me, and I inspect carefully to make sure it is real, and full payment. Then I race over to the produce section at the end of the road and inspect the foods they have to offer. I look and see that pumpkins are in season, along with apples. The pumpkins are reasonably priced, and I grab a few, paying fairly. I glance up, and see that the sky signals a coming rain. I sprint home, eventually dodging the raindrops that fall.
They depress me, and as I race, I feel them weighing me down, tangling themselves with my actual emotions. But soon I ignore them, and am back home, shaking the wet droplets from my black hair. I dry the pumpkins and myself with a towel in the door, and then take off my dripping coat, hanging it on a hook behind the door. I shut the door quietly and tiptoe into the kitchen where I see Shadow who is opening the oven, so that it may act as a heater.
Searching around I see that she also has the fireplace lit, and going strong, and I head to the kitchen, wordlessly pulling the pumpkins from my coat and placing them onto the counter. Shadow glances at them, and slowly nods her approval. I offer her a knife, and get to work hollowing out the pumpkin. Though Shadow’s favorite weapon is a bow, she is pretty skilled with a knife as well, slicing a hole in the top, and popping it off with just the flick of her wrist.
Once the top is off of mine, I set to work, scooping out the insides into a bowl, and separating the seeds out as well. The seeds, once dried and salted are a great snack food, and easy to carry around in a small pouch. I have to laugh as Shadow makes a face, pulling out a handful of gross orangeness.
“Eeww!” she says as it falls into the bowl with a loud plop. Which makes me wonder something.
“Shadow, do you think that we could make a pie out of that?” I say, pointing towards the bowl.
“Maybe. Although, even if we could, I wouldn’t eat it,” she says, making a face. I sigh. Sometimes Shadow can be so stubborn. Yet she also said maybe, which makes me wonder. . . I run down the hall to our room, and pull out a thick and heavy book. After a fit of coughing from all of the dust, I begin to flip through the pages carefully and cautiously. Finally I spot the orange blob on a page, with cursive handwriting covering it. The writing looks complicated, but I am able to make out a few sentences.
-Good for pies, and even pastries. Can whip insides to a cream, if thorough. Seeds can be cooked, dried and salted, and are best if both cooked and salted.
I smiled and called Shadow over. She stood over my shoulder, her eyes widening with recognition as she read the page.
“Nuh uh, there is no possible way for you to get me to eat that... stuff.” She says, pretending to shudder at the memory.
“Come on Shadow, is it going to kill you?” I ask.
“Maybe,” she says, narrowing her eyes playfully. I frown, because now I am not joking.
“Shadow Thompson, I will not let this perfectly good pumpkin go to waste, " I say sternly, because she needs to understand that I paid money for this, and I will not let the money go down the drain.
“Alright, but if something terrible happens because of it, all of the blame is on you!” she says, poking me in the stomach to make me laugh. I cannot help but laugh along with her.
“And if you end up liking it, I get to say, ‘I told you so!’” Then Shadow looks at her watch and frowns.
“It is way past my bedtime,” she says, yawning loudly. I cannot help but giggle.
“You don’t even have a bedtime!” I reply, but then stop, because I am also dead tired.
“You know what? I actually agree!” I say, and then together we march to bed. And though I am pretty sure we are safe from the President’s men, I tuck a knife under my pillow, just in case . . .
Chapter 7
Shadow
“Hey Shadow,” whispers a voice. I sit up in my bed and look at Echo, who is laying face up on her bed, staring at the painted stars on the ceiling. I always thought it was strange that she did that, but I have discovered that it makes her feel more comfortable, like she was in the woods.
“What?” I whisper in return. She turns her head and looks at me, her bright blue eyes almost glowing.
“Do you think we are safe from the president’s men?” she asks, her voice shaking with fear.
I am puzzled by that one. I don’t really know how to answer that. I am almost one hundred percent sure they won’t come back, since we have already agreed to be in the army. But, you can never be sure with them.
“Just go to sleep, Echo. You’ll be fine,” I assure her. She doesn’t seem to believe me, but she decides that sleep is more important right now.
“Well, good night Shadow,” she says.
“Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” I joke. She doesn’t respond.
I pull the covers over my upper body and try to sleep. But then I get an idea.
I wait until I am positive Echo is in a deep sleep A muffled snore comes from underneath the covers and I know she’s out like a light. I creep over to her bed, and slowly slither my hand underneath her pillow, careful not to make anything on her bed reposition.
I move my hand around, and I feel something sharp. I grin, grasp onto the knife, and pull my hand back out from her pillow. A glistening knife shines in my hand. I am cautious when handling it, because I know how much searing pain the knife will cause with even the slightest connection with its tip and if I dropped the knife, Echo would wake up and discover what I did.
Once I have made it back to my bed, I carefully slide the knife into my bag, and i string my bag over my shoulder. I hop into bed, my eyes aching to close. And within seconds, I am sound asleep.
* * * * * *
A scream erupts in the dark, and I jolt up from my sleep. I can’t see anything, not even my own hands.“Echo?” I whisper in fright.
I hear another scream, and before I know it, I am being dragged across the metal floor.
“Moonbeam! Chaka!” I scream, and without warning, a large, sweaty hand clamps over my mouth.
I shout for Echo, but all that comes out of my mouth is a bunch of mumbling.
“Shut up little girl,” demands a voice.
And with that, one word comes to mind: President.
I am furious. We already told the president we would join his army. What more does he need from us? I struggle to break free, my arms and legs flailing and kicking. They men don’t give up though. They grab my limbs, and hurl me - what seems like fifty feet but really isn’t - into a truck.
I try to yell for Echo, but the men are already closing the door to the trunk.
A light slowly flickers on, and now I can finally see my surroundings. I am in the back of a truck, alone. There are cardboard boxes everywhere, filled with weapons and ammo.
I look down to see that I am tied up with ropes. I sigh, knowing that there is not possible. That’s when I remember: The knife.
I check to make sure my bag is still on my shoulder, and a wave of relief rushes through me when I feel the rough fabric. I dig through the bag, and soon feel the sharp point of the knife digging into my flesh. It’s a bad pain, and I’m about to shriek when I stop myself. If they came in, they would know about the knife, take it away, and then I’d be left with nothing.
Very quietly, I take the knife and begin to saw through the ropes. It takes a long time to get just a decent cut. I grimace. This is going to take a while.
I keep cutting the rope, determined to get out of this trap no matter what it takes.
I hear a pounding noise against the metal, and in a flash I stuff the knife into my bag and sling it back over my shoulder.
The door to the truck opens, and the same two men that captured us in the woods and broke into our house are standing in front of me.
I want to lunge. I want to attack. I want to make them pay. But all I can do is sit there, fraying ropes knotted around me. And even if I wasn’t tied up, I still wouldn’t do anything in fear of my consequences.
“Get off your butt, you filthy rebel,” the tall man spits. I do as he says, and he unties the rope.
I stand still, and the men are getting aggravated.
“Come with us this instant,” the short man demands. I spin around on my heels and face the men. They grab my arms, and lift me out of the truck. I received a few (but not very painful) injuries on the way out. They set me down in the grass. I feel so happy, the cool grass brushing my ankles, the fresh scent of Autumn fills the air.
I shake my head, the wonderful thoughts that filled my head slowly pouring out. I walk with the two men by my side, wondering where they are about to escort me.
I scan my surroundings. There are large leafy trees spaced about ten feet apart and a long, narrow jagged path of gravel and wood chips weaved through the trees.
About fifteen feet down the path, the trees become more bare and now I can finally see where they are taking me. A giant chrome colored building stands tall and towers over us, the exterior gleaming in the moonlight.
“Where are we?” I demand. They don’t answer.
My face is beginning to boil, and a mixture of both fear and anger is building up.
“Just tell me where you’re taking me!!” I scream.
“Fine,” they both reply.
Throwing me on the ground, they begin to speak. “As you may or may not know, your sister agreed for you and her to be a part of our army. We wanted to start our next operation as quickly as we could. So we brought you here.”
“While we were sleeping?” I ask.
“Don’t question our movements,” the tall man snaps back.
The short man starts to talk, but I barge into his conversation.
“Can you at least tell me your names? I say.
“Sergeant Franklin,” answers the tall man.
“General Bennet,” replies the shorter man.
We sit there, quiet, until I am aching to speak and my words break the silence.
“So what now?” I question.
Sergeant Franklin does something I’d never expect him to do. He smiles, and extends his hand toward mine, and I get the feeling that he wants me to shake it. I reach for his hand, put mine into his, and we shake hands. It’s only for a couple of seconds, but it seems much longer. General Bennet grins as well. “Welcome to the army, kid.” And now it’s my turn to smile.
_________________________________________Echo
I will kill Shadow if we ever get out of this alive. It was because she stole my knife in the first place that got us this deep into the mess that we could have been out of within seconds, had she just left my stuff alone. If I had had the knife when the men attacked us, I would have shoved them out the door within seconds. But no, Shadow had to be sneaky, and take my only weapon for her own selfish reasons. If she doesn’t get killed in all of this, she will be from me.
Despite my anger though, I can’t help but worry sick about her, and I spend only a few minutes in anger, the rest in panic. My stomach lurches, not from the ride, but in fear as I wonder what the men may or may not do to my sister, my only true companion. I also am worried about myself, because right now I am tied up with virtually no idea as to where I am.
Thankfully though, I have my pack, which I grabbed on the way out of the house with my toes. I had just enough time to hide it in the trunk before the men came and tied me up.
Now I am lying in the trunk as it bounces along roughly, throwing me to the side occasionally when we hit an especially bumpy patch. I am flung to the right side as we make a sharp turn, and with a jolt I realize that I am right by my concealed pack. I reach out as far as I can with my fingers and grasp onto the handle, just as I am flung back to the center of the trunk.
Eagerly I rip open my pack, and find one of my knives with the bear teeth on them. I use the bear teeth to cut myself free, and am out of my bindings within seconds, when suddenly the car stops and I grip my knives in anger. I know what I have to do.
The door opens filling the dark musty trunk with light, and within seconds I have knocked both men down, and have a knife at each of their necks. One man makes a strange gurgling sound, and I back away carefully. One man glares at me as he dusts himself off, and for the first time I get a good look at my captors.
One man is dressed in a neat suit and tuxedo, with a pale skin complexion, grey hair and a pointed nose with dark spectacles resting on the top. His eyes are a stormy grey, and he looks to be in his forties.
My captor’s companion is almost the exact opposite, looking to be in his twenties, with brilliant blue eyes, just like mine. Blond hair falls neatly on his forehead, and he is wearing an army outfit, a gun holster swung across his chest. This one seems nicer than the other, but I get the sense that my business-like captor is in charge. I decide to name him Sir. Serious, and the other Mr. Army.
“Please put the knives away, Echo. You won’t be needing them yet.” Mr. Serious suggests sharply, and I feel like I have heard his voice before. I scowl at him and then tuck my knives away, taking another step back as an extra precaution. You can never be too careful when being kidnapped.
“That’s better.” He says, nodding for his sidekick to throw his gun down. This gesture relaxes me, and I think Mr. Serious can tell by the way I sigh and loosen up.
“Your names?” I demand at first, because something is off with Mr. Serious, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is.
“Echo, I am President Mortlock, and this,” he says gesturing to Mr. Army “Is General Stirling,” he replies, his voice like a snake’s, slithering around, cold and creepy. I decide that I can’t trust him, and slowly I back up, examining and waiting for my chance to run for it as soon as possible. As if the President has read my mind he warns me.
“Echo, I know you hate this, but try to bear with us here. You can’t escape, and even if you do, we will just keep coming back.” Something about his emotionless voice sets me off, and I feel the need to defend my choices.
“I have already agreed to join your Army, what more do you want?” I snarl, all forms of civilized manners gone.
“Ahhh, you did agree, you are right about that. The thing is, though, we have decided to attack a little sooner than imagined.” he says hesitantly, however his voice is still firm and professional. Ok, that I get, but why on earth then would he drag me out into the middle of the woods when we could be discussing this over a pot of coffee at home? The President suddenly clears his throat, dragging me from my thoughts.
“Echo, you are here to begin your. . . training.” he says, and at this my eye’s widen in a thrill. I love challenges, and this seems as good a challenge as any. I pick up my knives and prepare myself when I hear pounding of feet, I can tell the people are running from another section in the woods. Instinct tells me to throw knives, yet I resist. Maybe they have Shadow.
Suddenly a dust cloud forms from the three figures emerge, I am thrilled to find that one of them is Shadow. The other two seem to be Army Generals although I can’t assume anything at this point. When Shadow see’s me she smiles and waves, and I want to return them, but some part of me holds back. She stole one of my knives, and I am not too eager to forgive her either. President Mortlock nods to the other two men, and they take off, leading us deep into the woods.
“Ladies, your training begins. . . now!” President Mortlock calls, and a gunshot rings out, signifying the beginning. All uncertainty fades away as I am locked into a world of what I do better than Shadow, or anyone else who dares to challenge me. Fighting.
Chapter 8
Shadow
My trainer says that for now he is just doing an evaluation and told us to go hunt. I sprint through the woods, having no recognition of where are I am. I can sense that Echo is irate at me since I stole her knife. But, if I hadn’t, the outcome could have been different. I am on the lookout, knowing that Echo’s specialty is sneak attacking.
I see a deer, and instantly I take cover behind a tree. The deer moves an inch every minute. I load my bow, the sharp tip of the arrow pointed straight for the deer's flesh. My fingers grip the thin wire and press my fingers against my cold cheek. When my arrow is lined up with the deer, I release, the arrow soaring through the air, and pierces right into the deer’s skin.
Yes, I think to myself. I hear clapping coming from behind. I quickly turn around, only to see President Mortlock.
“Very well done, Echo,” he says in a deep voice.
“Um, it’s Shadow,” I tell him. He doesn’t seem to care.
“You could really be a great part of this army,” he tells me, his face serious.
I am confused, I already know I will be a good part of this army. That was the main reason I joined. That, and the fact that they held us hostage.
“Are you trying to distract me or something?” I snap, and as soon as I said it I felt slightly guilty.
He didn’t seem offended at all. “I’ll let you be,” he says, and he backs away. I scowl, and luckily he doesn’t look back. I go collect my arrow and my deer. I pull off the rich meat, and leave the grizzle on the bones, hoping some other starving animal comes and eats it. I stuff it in a plastic bag the men had given me before we started and search for some wood I can use to get a fire going.
I walk, searching for wood. I spot a tall oak tree and decide it will work. I clutch onto a thick branch about five inches above my head and try to pull myself up. I’m not very strong, so it takes a lot of effort to pull myself onto the branch, but I do it. I grab the knife I stole from Echo and use it to cut of a few branches off that are within reach. The knife cuts through the wood almost immediately. Strange. How come the knife cut through the branch so easily but it only made a little fray in the rope?
I cut a few more branches, those cutting easily as well. The wood falls onto the ground below, drowning in the leaves. I hop down from the tree, collect my wood chunks and put them in the plastic bag along with the deer remains. I go on another hunt for large stones and this doesn’t take me long at all. I gather about ten rocks and stuff them in my bag. I clear out a little section, pushing the crisp leaves out of the way. I place the wood fragments in the cleared space, grab a match from my bag, and light the branches. I set up a contraption to cook my meat as the fire burned to my right.
I take an extra branch and cut it in half the long way twice, then some twine from my bag and tie the branches together to make a stand. I thread the meat through the twigs and place the stick on the stand.
I lay on the ground, since deer meat is very tender and takes a long time to cook. I stare up into the sky, the bright yellow orb hiding behind a blanket of grey clouds, trying to break free.
I hear a rustle, and I am up in an instant, my bow loaded and ready to shoot. All of my senses are on red alert.
A figure emerges from the trees, and as it gets closer I can tell it’s Echo.
“Echo!” I call, running toward her. I want to hug her, it feels like we have been separated for so long.
She runs at me too, but she doesn’t seem so happy. I stop, puzzled. It takes me awhile to figure it out. Then it hits me: she’s mad because I stole her knife.
She jumps, and lands on top of me, taking me down with her. She pins me to the ground, my right arm bent behind my back nearly touching my head.
“Echo?” I shout. “What are you doing?”
“You stole my knife,” she fumes. With each word, her voice is getting angrier and angrier and her breathing is getting heavier and heavier.
“I’m sorry, okay?” I declare.
“You will pay for this!” she screams. I wince as she pushed down harder on my arm. I hear a crack, and I cry out in pain.“Echo! Let me go!” I sob. I hear her pull something out of her bag, and I strain my neck trying to see what it is.
She removes her grip, and reaches into her bag for something. She pulls out her knife, and looks into the distance.
“Echo, what’s over there?” I ponder. Echo is frozen.
“Echo?” I whisper, but she holds her index finger up to her mouth.
I can tell that she is staring at something, but what? I follow her gaze, and I now see what she is looking at.
“Is that...” I ask.
“A coyote?” she responds.
We slowly turn our heads to face each other, and we look into each other's eyes. There is a look of sorrow on her face, and a look of terror on mine.
“I’m sorry!” she weeps, throwing her body into my arms.
“It’s okay,” I assure her, even though I’m really angry that she broke my arm. She grabs my arm, and I let out a shriek.
“Oh I’m sorry! Did I hurt your arm?” she inquires.
“Just a little,” I say.
She laughs, but I shush her. “There’s a coyote over there!”
She nods her head, and I know what to do. I grab my bow, already loaded from my precious encounter with Echo. Echo grabs to of her knives. She looks at me, and mouths something.
“One, two...”
On three, she fires her knife toward the coyote, and I let the arrow go. The arrow misses the coyote by an inch, but the knife scrapes off a little flesh from the coyote’s stomach.
The coyote springs full speed toward us, and Echo goes into panic.
“Again!” I demand, but it takes Echo a couple seconds to calm down. Echo flings her knife, this time missing the coyote completely. The coyote is getting closer and closer to us.
“Shadow!” Echo yells. “Throw the knife you took from me!”
I scramble to my bag, yanking out the knife. I take a deep breath, pull my arm back, throw it forward, and let go. The knife soars through the air, and I hear a roar. The knife plunges right into the coyote’s chest.
______________________________________________Echo
The moment the coyote is dead, I drop to the ground and pull out my pack, digging through.
“What are you looking for Echo?” Shadow inquires, and soon I pull out my wrap and a plank. Shadow’s eyes widen in alarm and she backs away. I feel a little strange. Shadow should know by now that she can trust me, yet I understand completely. However, I don’t think that I hurt her arm that badly, if I had, Shadow would not have been able to load her bow and arrow, or throw the knife.
“Don’t you dare.” she says, spitting out the words with spite. I rear back instinctively, this isn’t the Shadow I know. But I guess that I’m not the Echo she knew, and she must feel frightened. However, Shadow must get this over with. If she doesn’t, she will be this way for all of her life. So I walk over calmly, and though she doesn’t run away, she looks like she will bolt any second.
“Hold out your arm.” I instruct her, and she does, grumbling angrily the entire time, yet I am carefully inspecting her arm as she does. I find that I am right, and that her arm has only a small sprain, and I tell her so, but she doesn’t believe a word I say.
Sighing, I hold the board steady with one hand, and wrap the fabric around with the other. Once done, I stand, and Shadow takes off, sprinting deep into the engulfing trees that surround both of us, and I know that I have to follow her. There is nowhere for her to go, and she must come back for the President and his men so that we ensure that we won’t cause any more trouble.
“Do you break arms often?” I hear the President behind me, and spin around on my heels, gritting my teeth and trying not to scream every foul word I know towards him. As if he could have chosen a worse time to show up.
“No!” I glare at him, yet then I remember that he could snap his fingers in an instant and have me killed, so I force a half-hearted grin upon my face and lips, but not my eyes, which remain as cold as ever, matching the President’s gaze.
“Hmm, that’s disappointing. Well, I must say your aim could use a little work, Echo, do you agree?” he asks with a sneer. I bit my lip to prevent from screaming.
“Come along.” he says, and leads me east, to a clearing in the forest.
It takes me a few minutes to calm down, and then I respond.
“I was. . . confused.” I say slowly, pronouncing each syllable carefully so that I don’t lose it again.
“Well, that isn’t something we can have in this war now, can we?” he asks, challenging me.
“No,” I stare at the dirty ground, with the dust just barely rising up to cover the tips of my muddy boots.
“Well!” he says, clapping his hands together, “That was quite exciting, but for some real training, I will have you go up against General Bennett with only one knife. He has body armor on, so you can’t hurt him if you aim correctly, and once you have thrown your knife, you will go head to head wrestling against him. You win, and you go on to tracking. If not, you repeat the session until you have, and then you will move on to tracking. Understand?” he asks, and my mind is racing a million miles an hour as I stare down my opponent, who just formed out of the forest gloom. I nod to the President, and then pull out a long dagger with a black blade.
I step and mimic a throwing motion with my arm, flexing it naturally, breathing with the movement, all my focus on the knife. Then I throw it in a solid clean motion, the dagger not even flipping as it slices through the air towards the opposing force. I stand in satisfaction as the tip touches lightly into the man’s chest, right where his heart would be.
The knife bounces off, and I am confused, yet relieved until I remember that the man has body armor on. I sprint for a nearby tree as the man starts to charge, grabbing onto branch after branch, climbing high above the danger. I stay there panting until the man reaches the base of the tree. He stands and looks confused, and I know that this is my chance to strike. I swing to a branch right above him silently, and let myself fall, landing squarely on his head and shoulders. He crumples beneath me, and I roll off as he falls, the dirt flying everywhere.
The General tries to stand, but I swipe a foot out from underneath him as he does. I turn to walk away when I hear a pounding of feet behind me. Another man from the Army has come, but I barely have time to register this when he slams into me, sending both of us tumbling to the ground. Instincts kick in automatically, and I bite the man’s arm which has pinned me down. He rears back in pain, and I kick him in the face, standing up immediately afterwards, sprinting towards my knife that I see in the clearing, the one I threw at my original opponent. I dive for it, my hands grasping onto the metal handle, and as the man comes, I throw myself towards him, twisting his arm behind his back, knocking him to the ground, my knife at his neck.
I see a man out of the corner of my eye sneak up behind me, reaching out to tackle me, but instead coming out with a foot to the face. He hobbles away in pain and I search wildly around for the President, my savior now.
General Bennett, my original opponent, comes towards me, but I pull another knife out, hissing at him.
“Don’t even think about it,” I snarl, and he backs off slowly, like he doesn’t want to. Suddenly I hear a loud clap, and turn my head towards the sound, craning my neck to see none other than the President, stepping out of the forest and into the clearing, smiling, but without any joy.
“You have passed this session Echo,” he begins. “And now if you would please get off of that man, it would be gratefully appreciated.” His voice sounds gurgly and unclear, like I am underwater, and slowly I pull my knife away and stand up, dusting myself as I do.
“Please head over to where the center where you and Shadow destroyed the coyote. Shadow will be waiting for you there.” he speaks in a monotone voice, like he is a boring history class where he is the teacher, and no one understands what he is trying to say to them.
Fear grips my stomach and refuses to let go as I walk back to where Shadow and I were. I try to swallow my nervousness, my pain, and everything else, though I know deep down that soon I will have to let it out, about the entire hopelessness of the situation.
As I trudge along, my feelings explode, and I lose it, my lunch coming up. I sit down, shaking as more comes up, and when it is all done, I slowly pull myself to my feet, imagining how my face must be green by now. Finally I pull myself back, and continue on like nothing has happened at all.
Chapter 9
Shadow
I stand in the exact spot that the coyote had taken it’s last breath, patiently waiting for Echo and the President to come. I look around, admiring the peaceful scenery of the autumn woods.
Suddenly I hear the crunch of a branch, and glance up to see Echo, her face green and the President pushing her along.
“Echo?” I ask. She looks horrible. “She’s alright,” the President answers. “She just lost a little of her lunch,” he says with a grin. I stand there in silence, awkwardly watching the President laugh his hearty laugh.
“Anyway,” he begins, leading us into a new conversation. “I just watched Echo take her test and she did wonderful. I would like to observe you both now, doing your best work together. I have already watch you Shadow, only for a bit, but I can tell you will be an excellent addition to our army. So, for this test you will both go into the woods, exactly the opposite of each other. Your mission is to find each other without the other knowing it, and then track them, making a map of where they go until they realize that you are there. Once you find that the other is tracking you, you must both start back in your original positions, which my soldiers will escort you to shortly. Now, do you have any questions?” he finishes, and I realize that his voice reminds me of a snake. But before I can process any more, Echo raises her hand, like she would in school.
“Do you by chance have any paper and pencils with you? I left mine at home,” she says, and I get the feeling she is trying to tell me something, yet I can’t tell what it is.
The President snaps his fingers, and within a second one of his soldiers is by his side, a stack of loose leaf paper and a pack of number two pencils in his hands. Another man is carrying a box filled with compasses and other useful tools we might need.
“Here are some supplies for you,” he says as he pushes all of our necessities into our bags. I look over at Echo, who is staring at the objects being poured into her pack.
Once the President and his men are finished distributing all of our items, he rubs his hands together, and I can tell he is about to begin another one of his speeches.
“Echo,” he says, pointing at me, “You go with General Bennett, and Shadow can go with Sergeant Franklin.”
“Um, I’m Echo, she’s Shadow,” Echo tries to tell him, but he shoots back.
“We can’t waste any valuable time that we could be spending on our training,” he countered. “General, Sergeant, please lead them to their starting positions.”
Sergeant Franklin grabs hold of Echo’s arm and pulls her through the woods. She tries to stand, but the Sergeant is going too fast.
“Why is he doing that?” I ask General Bennett.
“Sergeant Franklin is new to our army, and he doesn’t want to make the President disappointed.” he answers.
“But why?” I ponder, still wanting to know the truth.
General Bennett sighs, and decides to spill the truth. “A few weeks ago, President Mortlock caught Sergeant Franklin breaking one of our most important rules. Naturally, the President became furious with him. So he sent Sergeant Franklin and me on a quest to track you two down and persuade you to join our army.
“I knew it,” I mumble under my breath.
“Excuse me?” the General questions.
I decide that I might as well just tell him. He deserves to know.
“The morning that you came into our house to get us, I had found a note on the floor. It was to Sergeant Franklin and from President Mortlock. In fact, I have it with me now.”
I dig into my bag, until I feel the rough paper rubbing against my fingers.
“Here,” I say, holding the paper out toward him. He grabs it, looks at me with mysterious eyes, and unfolds the letter, his eyes still staring at mine.
He looks down once it’s unfolded, and quickly reads the letter to himself.
“Hmmmm,” he grumbles, and now I am finally starting to understand what is happening. If Sergeant Franklin makes one more mistake, he and the army will be no more.
We stand there in silence, General Bennet still staring at the note. Finally he refolds the note. “Did you want this?” he asks holding it out to me.
“No you can have it,” I reply. He stuffs it in his pocket, and takes off, causing me to come sprinting after him.
I soon catch up, walking by his side, the silence overwhelming and awkward, and I am aching to break it.
“So what made you decide to be in the army?” I inquire, but as soon as I say it I have a feeling he’s not going to want to talk about this. “I’m really sorry,” I begin, “The silence was bugging me, and I wanted to start a conversation, and that was the first thing that came to mind. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s okay,” he says, but I can tell there is sadness in his voice.
He takes a deep breath, and begins to tell his story. I try to listen, but my natural instinct tells me not to. I begin to drift off.
I ponder about Echo, turning green and I can’t help but wonder what happened. Memory hits me with a subtle push as I remember that this is a hostile force. Maybe I should be more cautious with what I tell the General.
“They just came into my house one day,” the General continues, and I am broken out of my trance. I decide to listen, however, his story just might help me get through this myself.
“And he took them. Everyone of them. My wife, three kids, and wouldn’t give them back until I finally agreed to join the army.” He looks like he is about to cry.
“That’s all I need to know!” I quickly blurt out. I don’t want to make his horrid memories come back.
The silence came back, and luckily I didn’t have to put up with it much longer.
“We’re here anyway,” I say, trying to lighten up the mood and break the silence.
“Well,” he says, “good luck.”
“Thanks,” I say, nodding gratitude. I walk up the grey platform, taking in a deep breath. I’m good at this sort of stuff, but Echo will outsmart me, no doubt. I lean over and take my starting position.
“You ready?” General Bennett asks.
I gulp. “Yeah.”
President Morlock's deep voice booms over a loudspeaker that I cannot see.
“On your marks, get set, GO!” And with that, I’m off into the woods, searching for Echo, oblivious to what is about to happen.
______________________________________________Echo
Shadow clearly didn’t get my subtle hint, so it seemed hopeless that she would remember that these people are are our enemies and not our friends. Honestly, could she at least show a little distaste? I frown as I am dragged off by a man in a dark suit, tripping and bumping onto the rough dirty ground as we (or should I say he) walk through the woods, finally stopping at a small dark spot in the ground.
I am not too pleased with the Sergeant , and glare at him fiercely as I stand up, half heartedly dusting myself off and checking for bruises as I wait for the signal to go. After about 5 minutes of agony, I finally hear the President’s voice, and I take off, climbing up the nearest tree within seconds. I have already decided my strategy, I will stick to the trees entirely. If I find Shadow, I will track her from the tree, because I do not want to risk the chance of her finding me at all.
The only thing I hear is my own breathing as I swing from tree to tree, making my way carefully through, although after about a half an hour of this I start to get bored. I know Shadow isn’t following me, she is too scared to climb a tree just to track me, and I haven’t seen her on the ground at all. I yawn as I swing tiredly now, and another half an hour goes by without any luck, boring me to death.
Finally I stop, and I pull out my compass once more to check to see where I am going, finding that I am traveling slightly northeast, at a decent pace. I pull out my pencil and paper, resting on a thick branch, tracking my progress in blue, and if I find Shadow’s I will track her part of the trail in red. I draw the line quickly, and pull out a piece of bear meat to contain my stomach from growling its disapproval at being neglected.
The meat has never tasted better, and I scarf it down gratefully and silently as a cool draft comes in, causing me to pull out my rolled up bear hide. I am about to unroll the furry warmth, when suddenly I hear the crunch of leaves below me. Eagerly I throw the hide in my pack once more, gathering my compass and paper, and I take off in excitement as I move towards the sound. I peer down to see Shadow, walking briskly, carefully, her footsteps not even making the slightest noise. I figure that she must have disturbed an animal out of it’s burrow to cause the rustling sound, because there is no way that she possibly could have made a peep.
She slowly creeps along and with a smile I pull out my red pen, shoving everything soundlessly into my pack except my notebook, compass, and pen.
I slowly begin to stalk her from the tree when suddenly I see her turn left, running right across a clearing, causing me to grit my teeth as I contemplate how on earth I will jump silently across to the other branch. Suddenly my mind turns on, and I pull the bear hide out of my pack, tying the paws to my ankles and wrists within seconds, I take a running start, and sprint lightly across the branch, extending my arms and legs as I do. I glide silently across the way, landing gently on another branch across the clearing as I spot Shadow about fifty feet away. I run to the other side of the tree ducking under leaves and jump again, repeating the method over and over until finally I catch up with her.She has stopped just a few feet away, resting by a quiet creek that trickle gently downhill. I stop, gratefully and take the time to map out where we have been. I stare at the faint red line with pride. Suddenly, I hear a choking sound and glance down to see what is wrong. Shadow coughs on the ground, and I resist the urge to jump down and save her, I am pretty sure it is a trick. But I have already figured it out. She probably thinks that I am following her, and wishes to draw me in to help her. I tell myself to count to fifteen, and if it hasn’t stopped by then, I should actually help her.
But after about ten seconds of this, she falls to the ground dramatically, and I know that if I am patient, she will get up and walk on in another fifteen seconds. Accurate I am, and I see that after a long pause she gets up, clearly frustrated that I haven’t shown up. Staring down at her, I watch her stand, brushing a layer of dirt from her black leather hunting jacket, creating a cloud of grime around her. I hold my notebook tight, preparing to take flight at only a moments hesitation, when she pulls out her own notebook, marking a thin blue streak across the page, taking out her compass.
After studying it carefully, she starts off in a sprint, running south at a very fast pace. I am startled by her sudden urgency, but I am able to take off. It is very boring tracking Shadow, but suddenly the air horn blows loudly in anger, and I smile, heading back. I have done well.
I carefully climb down the tree, placing the hide back into my pack as I lightly touch the ground. Making a big scene, I then emerge from one of the nearby bushes, I don’t want Shadow to know about my technique of following her. Stepping out, I see Shadow shake her head and smile, pointing to herself, mouthing her bad.
The President then emerges from the depths of the woods, a cold smile plastered onto his face, his giant white hands clasped together firmly.
“I do not need to see your notebook, Echo, to know that you have successfully tracked Shadow,” he says, his pointy beady black eyes glaring at me through slits.
“But now I have to go, I have a very important meeting. I will expect detailed progress reports from the soldiers,” he adds with a pointed glare at the men, who nod dutifully in response.
“Now you two will have an aiming test: Echo, your trainer will be Sergeant Franklin, and Shadow, your trainer will be General Bennett,” he finishes, and suddenly a helicopter comes flying in, a single ladder dropping from the sky. The President turns and grips the ladder tightly as he is carried up and up, disappearing as a speck in the sky.
I spend the rest of the afternoon with the Sergeant who takes me to a target practice having me fire knives left and right into the targets, leaving me tired afterwards, and ready for a nap. I know I have done poorly, yet I don’t care.
“Sergeant, I am taking a nap!” I exclaim proudly, and without another word, I collapse to the ground.
******
I awake to a loud boom. Scrambling to my feet, I pull my knives, turning in a complete circle. I am on a hard, and warm rock, with a ledge that juts out from the wall. I turned around, but nothing prepared me for what I saw when I looked down.
Lava. I scream in terror, and I stumble away from the edge, falling. My legs are twisting under me. I yelp in pain, stopping, taking a moment to catch my breath. Fear and pain build up inside of me a threaten to overpower me as I wonder who put me here. How I got here. But it only takes me one guess to know that I am deep inside a volcano, with lava spurting up, and chunks of rock crumbling down into the magma below. And I now know that I am in danger. More danger than ever before.
Chapter 10
Shadow
“What?” I’m in shock.
“She was disrespecting the law. We had to,” Sergeant Franklin responds.
“Not quite. We’ve still got a few miles to travel, but this is a secret entrance that will get us there faster.”
I hope that no one expected me to stay put, because the moment I have wrapped up my ankle in a splint is the moment I began searching for an exit. A quick search revealed nothing, so I decided to scout out the options that were available. My only real option was up, if I didn’t want to die burning up from the magma, so I began to scale the wall, just like I would on a tree at home. Except here my life is at stake.
I make my way up, carefully placing my hands and feet into place, with much more precision than I do when I climb for fun. My hands are sweaty and I struggle to get a good grip while my knees are knocking together in fright. Steeling my nerves, I move upward, sparing a moment to wipe some sweat from my brow. Suddenly my foot loses its hold, and I am hanging by one arm. My stomach lurches painfully. The other arm swings out and I grit my teeth as I catch hold and slowly begin to pull myself up. Finally I am able to heave my leg onto the ledge, along with the rest of me, but I lay there, panting for a few minutes until some of my strength returns.
I pull myself together and stand nervously, and once more climb up. It takes me nearly an hour at a time to go up about a fourth of the way up, so within a few hours I am in good shape and almost at the top. Glancing down to survey my progress, I squint against the glare of the magma. Suddenly a large shoot spouts up, hitting the rockwall only about fifteen feet down. A deep rumbling sounds from the heart of the volcano, and I frantically scramble upwards to safety. Adrenaline shoots through me like an arrow. I climb like I never have before, recklessly jumping from cliff to cliff, away from the heat and towards the softer light.
Just before I slip, I have time to say a quick prayer for Shadow, and I hope that at least she is alright, and not about to die like I am, falling first onto rock, but then into the boiling lava. I close my eyes and release my hand to feel a falling sensation. But for a moment nothing happens, and I peek open my eye to find that I am not falling, and that, in fact, I am being gripped by strong hands that are pulling me up. I kick out my feet in momentum, but the action almost sends my captor and I both over the edge. Struggling yet again I slowly am pulled to safety, just as magma spurts up, to where my feet were moments ago. Relief floods through me at first, and then panic.
Chapter 10
Shadow
“What?” I’m in shock.
“She was disrespecting the law. We had to,” Sergeant Franklin responds.
“What is wrong with you?” I blurt out, the anger reaching a point where I could no longer hold it in.
“What do you mean?” asks the Sergeant. He acts like he doesn’t know, but the look on his face says different.
“Oh, I think you know very well what I mean,” I scowl.
He looks puzzled, so even though I know he has full understanding to what I am talking about, I decide to tell him.
“You and the rest of the army are a disgrace. My sister Echo was simply just tired. She can get crabby. I know, I deal with it too.”
He tries to interrupt me, but I am not going to tolerate it.
“But that doesn’t mean you can go ahead and kidnap her!” I continue. “You could have just reasoned with her. Allowed her to taken her nap in peace. We agreed to join your army. And this is how you treat us?”
I let out a huge puff of air, and a wave a relief rushes through me.
The sergeant is raging. “That’s it!” he screams. “Just wait until I report you to the President telling him what you’ve done. You’ll be kicked out of our army for sure.”
“Go ahead and tell the President,” I spit, mimicking his tone. “Tell him all you want about us. And he won’t need to kick us out of the army because we quit!” I dramatically turn around and begin to walk in the other direction.
Sergeant Franklin is in shock. He starts to say something, probably a rude remark. But it’s not.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. His face has gone pale. “Please don’t leave.”
I swivel back around - to face him - on my left heel. “Why not?”
“I know I have been mean to you two. But truth is, I’m scared. If I wouldn’t have captured you, something terrible would have happened to me and I don’t know what. I’m extremely sorry I put you and Echo through this. Please stay with us.”
I fold my arms. “And what makes you think I’ll do that?”
“How about we make a deal,” he declares, motioning for me to lean in, so no one else hears what Sergeant Franklin has to say.
“The General and I will bust you out of here. “
“Tonight?” I ask, the excitement already boiling up.
“No, not for a while. First I need to get General Bennet’s approval, and then we will have to plan the escape.”
I nod. The plan seems fair to me, until I notice a loophole. “But what about you? If we manage to escape successfully won’t you still suffer your consequences?”
He shakes his head. “I’m not sure Shadow, but if you and Echo make it home safely, it will all be worth it. And besides, our planet is falling apart, with only two continents remaining. There’s not much left to live for anyway.”
I take the time to process what he said. “I have to get Echo's approval, though. So that means we have to find her first.”
The Sergeant smiles. “Is it a deal?”
I smile back, and reach for his hand to shake. “Deal.”
* * * * * *
I creep along the volcano edge. My foot nudges into a small rock, and it falls down the cliff, finally landing with a soft plop.
I’m breathing heavily. “Are we almost there?” I frantically ask.
“Almost,” Sergeant Franklin responds. He doesn’t seem the least bit scared. And if he is, he sure is doing a great job of holding the fright in.
Don’t look down, don’t look down . . . I think to myself.
“Here we are,” Sergeant Franklin announces.
“We’re here already?” We were moving at a decent pace, but I figured it would take longer to get into the heart of the volcano.“Not quite. We’ve still got a few miles to travel, but this is a secret entrance that will get us there faster.”
“Okay,” I nod, following him through the narrow crack that must be used as an entrance. I can’t see anything, except for the very ground I am walking. The first thing I notice is the smell that overpowers me as I duck through. I few pebbles hit me on the head on the way in, yet I am too busy trying not to gag to notice. My nose coughs and sputters like a dying engine, the entire place smelling like molten lava.
“How can you see where we are going?” I inquire, and in an instant a light flickers in front of me.
The light scans the ground, an occasional beetle scurrying through the stream of light. The only sounds I can hear are our boots clicking on the ground and the water droplets dripping from the roof of the passage.
As the Sergeant moves the flashlight up the walls I can begin to see more of my surroundings. The walls are a mucky brown color, and it almost looks like wet clay. Long, slender rocks hang from the roof like icicles and old, rusty torches line the walls.
“Do you have any matches?” I ask the Sergeant. “We could light one of the torches and use that torch to light the rest?”
“I don’t have any on me,” he exclaims. “I guess we’ll just have to work with what we have.”
I decide it would be best for both of us if I would be silent, so that’s exactly what I do. I think of what Echo must be going through right now: the fact that I have to walk through a frigid dark cave no way compares to the sweltering heat and the horrendous smell that the lava must be giving off.
We walk for a few more minutes, the cave getting warmer and warmer, which means we are close to where Echo is being held captive.
“I think this is it,” declares the Sergeant. He shines the light onto a large wooden door with black slabs of metal hammered on. Thick chains wrap around it like paper on a present, keeping away any outsiders.
I open my bag to see if I have anything that could cut off the chains, but by the time I reach in Sergeant Franklin has already managed to knock down the door.
“After you,” he asserts, holding open the door. I walk through the opening. Stepping onto the cliff, I take a deep breath. I take one more giant step forward, but before I know it I’m stumbling off the cliff.
I scream, my eyes closed, falling helplessly into the lava. But when I open my eyes, I find I am not covered in ashes but the Sergeant is grabbing the back of my charred shirt.
“You have to be more careful Shadow,” he scolds, and I nod. And with that, we get as close to the dirty walls as we can, inching through the volcano, searching for Echo. _____________________________________________________________________
EchoI hope that no one expected me to stay put, because the moment I have wrapped up my ankle in a splint is the moment I began searching for an exit. A quick search revealed nothing, so I decided to scout out the options that were available. My only real option was up, if I didn’t want to die burning up from the magma, so I began to scale the wall, just like I would on a tree at home. Except here my life is at stake.
I make my way up, carefully placing my hands and feet into place, with much more precision than I do when I climb for fun. My hands are sweaty and I struggle to get a good grip while my knees are knocking together in fright. Steeling my nerves, I move upward, sparing a moment to wipe some sweat from my brow. Suddenly my foot loses its hold, and I am hanging by one arm. My stomach lurches painfully. The other arm swings out and I grit my teeth as I catch hold and slowly begin to pull myself up. Finally I am able to heave my leg onto the ledge, along with the rest of me, but I lay there, panting for a few minutes until some of my strength returns.
I pull myself together and stand nervously, and once more climb up. It takes me nearly an hour at a time to go up about a fourth of the way up, so within a few hours I am in good shape and almost at the top. Glancing down to survey my progress, I squint against the glare of the magma. Suddenly a large shoot spouts up, hitting the rockwall only about fifteen feet down. A deep rumbling sounds from the heart of the volcano, and I frantically scramble upwards to safety. Adrenaline shoots through me like an arrow. I climb like I never have before, recklessly jumping from cliff to cliff, away from the heat and towards the softer light.
The lava begins to spout higher and higher, reaching up the the sky, eventually higher than me. A spark shoots out without my knowing, and it lands in my black hair burning it the moment it touches. I swat it away distractedly and continue on, stumbling on more than one occasion. Suddenly I reach a steep, smooth cliff, and I frown as I wonder how on earth I will get up.
I squat down, and push up with all of my strength, leaping with outstretched fingers towards the ledge. My arm swings out just as I begin to lose altitude, and the tips of my fingers manage to latch onto the edge. I cry out as my arm is nearly wrenched from its socket, yet I hang on for dear life, clinging to the only thing that prevents me from falling onto the hot stone below. I strain, sweat pouring down the side of my face, my hands are damp with sweat. Frantically I begin to scream for help as I slowly slip, but I know it is useless. Just before I slip, I have time to say a quick prayer for Shadow, and I hope that at least she is alright, and not about to die like I am, falling first onto rock, but then into the boiling lava. I close my eyes and release my hand to feel a falling sensation. But for a moment nothing happens, and I peek open my eye to find that I am not falling, and that, in fact, I am being gripped by strong hands that are pulling me up. I kick out my feet in momentum, but the action almost sends my captor and I both over the edge. Struggling yet again I slowly am pulled to safety, just as magma spurts up, to where my feet were moments ago. Relief floods through me at first, and then panic.
Quickly I roll over and stand, dusting some ashes from my hair as I do, and I take a moment to survey who rescued me. Anger surges through as I recognize the Sergeant in uniform. Lunging for him, I twist his arm behind his back and lift him, preparing to toss him over when I hear Shadows voice, ringing through the rumbling and chaos.
“Put the Sergeant down!” she screams, and I whip my head from side to side, trying to pinpoint her location. Suddenly I see her emerge from the shadows of a large stone, and she races towards me, prying the man from my grasp.
“What are you doing?” I question Shadow exasperatedly. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t throw him off the cliff!” The Sergeant stands and dusts himself off, glaring, and I can barely hear Shadow over the rumbling of the volcano.
“Because he just saved your life.” For once I am at a loss for words. Not another word passes between us as we climb up the side. I hope that I am going insane, because Shadow has never been angry at me before. I frown at her as we climb, and silently tell myself not to speak to her for the rest of the week.
A loud rumble erupts as we reach the edge of the volcano, and I look back just in time to see a huge wave of lava erupt and hit the side of the wall, only a few feet away. It will only be a few minutes before the volcano explodes, and as I glance at the mountain side, and know it is hopeless. But somehow we press on, and within a minute we are a fourth of the way down. Shadow slips and stumbles suddenly, and I catch her arm and pull her up silently. She thanks me, but I turn my head away.
Suddenly the Sergeant points up at the sky, and I see a dark figure floating towards us. Could it be the President coming to rescue us? Shadow begins to shout and wave, but I know better. In the split I make the right decision and shove the Sergeant and Shadow aside under a tree just as arrows began to pelt at our feet.
“Run!” I scream, and I race down the mountainside, dodging arrows left and right. I spare a glance upward and see the helicopter up close, men descending from a ladder. They begin to run, and I suddenly see Shadow, her ankle twisted helplessly in a tree root ten yards away. The men slowly spread out, but my main focus is on Shadow. In seconds I am there next to her, and I use a knife to cut her free.
She moans in pain when she sees her limp ankle, and I know she can’t stand. Throwing her across my shoulders I continue down the mountainside with her on my back. I cannot find the Sergeant, but I hoped that he is safe, when suddenly a huge hand grabs my shoulder. I struggle and kick, but the man’s grip is like iron and I cannot break it. I pull out my knife, yet he flicks out his hand, and the knife is sent clattering down the mountainside.
Slowly I stop struggling and I turn and face the enemy. He is tall and thinly built, and he has stormy grey eyes. Something is familiar about them, but I can’t place a name.
“Let me go!” I shout in defiance, hoping that he will respond to give me a clue as to who he is. The man breaks into a cold grin and I try not to scream as I recognize who it is.
“Well, Echo, I am afraid this is one test you will have to fail.” says the cold slithering voice that I recognize all too well. I gulp, fear running through my veins. Everything makes sense now, the eyes, the grip, everything. I slowly turn and find myself staring defiantly into the snake-like face of President Mortlock.
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