Chapter 7: Chapter VII: Old Threads & Spit

A wooden oval necklace with hand carved wings lay on his chest. Kai took it between his fingers, examining the artwork. It was too good for someone who lived to fight like his father.

“Thank you, Father.”

A calloused hand touched his shoulder.

“You’re a man now. Both of you. Do you know what that means?”

Kade nodded, grinning wide in excitement besides him.

Father sighed, some sadness weighing down his voice.

“We do our duty. But don’t take pleasure in it.” He turned to Kade. “Do you hear me?”

Father had an intimidating presence, just like Orion in his prime.

His brother swallowed and nodded in agreement.

“Good.”

The tent’s flap swooshed open from outside.

It was a warrior of red skin like himself, still young and with only a few scars.

“Orion,” his father said, turning.

“There’s trouble. We need to go.”

“Humans?”

Orion shook his head.

“Worse.”

Kai and Kade looked at each other in silence, as if reading each other’s thoughts, and they thought the same thing.

What could be worse than humans?

“Understood,” his father said. “Let us go, then.”

He glanced back at the boys one last time, before running out of the tent with Orion, spear in hand.

Good. That’s the last word he heard from his father.

It was the simplest of words.

So, why did it feel so hard?

“Are you ready, Kai?” Kade asked.

“For what?”

“To serve under the greatest warrior who’ll defeat mankind once and for all, of course.”

He was pointing at himself.

Kai smiled sheepishly at him.

“Didn’t you hear father?”

“Aye. I’m just keeping my spirits up. Is there anything more important than a warrior’s courage?”

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“I suppose not...”

They turned at noise when the tent swooshed open again.

A young girl from their clan stepped inside.

“Hello, Mira,” Kai said.

“Hello, Kai... I just wanted to congratulate you on your coming-of-age.” She blushed, avoiding his eyes. “They say you’re a man now.”

He stood in silence for a while, watching her fidget, unsure of what to say.

“Thank you.”

Kade broke the silence, his voice loud and forced.

“This is none of your business, Mira. You’re just a stupid girl!”

Her blush vanished. Mira glared at him.

“And you were a child, but now you’re a man-child! Congrats, Kade!”

He gave her the tongue.

She gasped and gave him her own, then stormed out of the tent.

The flap was still open, dazingly bright sunlight glowing through the frame. She forgot to close it.

Kai walked towards it, when Kade spoke.

“Are you going already, Kai?”

“Mira needs me.”

“We’ll all meet again soon or later, don’t you think?”

Kai stopped under the bright light, not leaving the tent completely, but already too far to hear his brother.

“What do you mean?”

The hide walls around him blew away as if sucked in by the universe.

Kai opened his heavy eyelids.

Olivia sat on her ankles a couple meters from him, bloody rags and needle threads scattered by her feet, holding the knife with both hands.

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He was looking at her, but not with those menacing eyes she was used to. They were softer, as if he had a glimpse of something warm while they were closed. Yet, the man himself looked like he just walked through a hurricane.

He tried to stand up first thing, stubborn as a mule.

“You’ll die,” she said. “You’re glued together by old threads and spit.”

Not everything here was alien. Most of those bushes turned out to be familiar ones, and among them Olivia found Nimbera leaves, which had strong anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties. First, she stitched the unconscious warrior’s wounds as best she could with the tiny first aid kit all scouts carried.

What am I even doing?

The question haunted all along while Olivia ran the paste of ground leaves and saliva along his burning wounds, now closed at least.

He stopped, looking up at her through half-open eyes.

“Why did you help me?”

“I’d just die on my own in this alien land.”

That felt like a lie.

The temperature was starting to drop.

“I see.”

Kai tried to stand up again but to no avail. He collapsed on his side with a pained grunt.

Olivia shook her head.

“If we are doing this, then we’re doing this my way,” she said.

“I need to get to them...” he muttered.

She ignored him.

“And I’m not going to die stranded in this hellscape because of your stubbornness; we have no water, no shelter, and it’s getting dark.”

Kai didn’t answer this time, as the sun sunk on the horizon behind him, an orange sky above.

Olivia frowned at the ground, confused, as it began to glow increasingly purple around her.

“It’s not as noxious as it looks,” he said.

She snapped back to herself, standing up.

“Stay here. I’m going to grab more herbs, and twigs for a fire.”

“As you wish.”

Her eyebrows arched slightly in surprise.

“Alright...”

She moved towards the cluster of bushes in the distance. They formed a dark spot in the purple now.

“This is... hm... no.” She stopped her hand before touching the plant. “Poisonous.”

Olivia cracked the driest branches she could find with the knife, pulling them under her arm.

There were a handful of succulents too. It wasn’t water, but it was better than nothing. She sliced off a few thick leaves, viscous liquid dripping from their ends, when a worrisome thought came to her mind.

What would the people back home think of what I’m doing now?

Paris would’ve lost it.

Her superiors would have most likely thrown her in jail.

Marcus would...

Olivia sighed.

“Probably call me a hypocrite.”

“Hypo... crite.”

She froze.

“Hy...grrr-te.”

The deep, sluggish voices came from behind her, repeating the last word she said like small children. Branches cracked all around as large silhouettes approached, surrounding her from every side.

She glanced over her shoulder.

In the distance, figures approached Kai as well. He was still on the ground, still unable to move.

A shiver shot through her spine when thick fingers touched her back.

She spun around, eyes widening.

A deformed, ogre-like face looked down at her. He was a mountain of muscles, with unnatural skin color like the mutants, but there was something different about these ones...

Snot ran down his chin, splashing against the necklace of skulls, humans and mutants alike, beneath.

“Hypocrite.”