Posted on by Brenna Marie

A History of the Udian War~ Part 2

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When I was small, I found a dilapidated tannery (still working) that had a crumbing side in the alley that one could climb up if you were motivated enough to get off the street. The roof is flat, and over the years I had managed to build an almost snug shelter up there. As I found more Muffins, I had added onto the structure, and now it is a beggar’s version of a rabbit warren. The tannery keeps it warm (and smelly, but I could live with that), it is easily defendable from other rooftoppers, and it is hidden from below. Basically, it was perfect. Unless you had to get up there with a big-ass adult. Who was unconscious. And you had a bad leg. Yup.

Almost to the wall, I find a strip of fabric almost two feet long. The stranger is already half tied on, so I used the cloth to tie his legs so I can let go of him. Experimentally, I swing from side to side and almost fall over when my left knee buckles under the weight. I catch myself on the wall and decided there is nothing for it but to start climbing.

I would never admit this to Tiph, but just between you and me, I almost don’t make it. The climb is long enough that I need all four limbs to get myself up, but with the added weight of the stranger, I get halfway and think I am going to fall. I grit my teeth and keep climbing, focusing on just one more handhold, one more step with my gimp leg, one more handhold… and then the stranger shifts. “Motherffff-“ I am shaking from the strain and I glance up to see how close I am. Three more feet and I will be at the roof. I summon any strength I have left and drag us to the top by shear will power. As I make it over the edge, I feel something in my knee pop and the pain is instant and excruciating. I flop down (that’s all I can do) and struggle to untie the stranger. He is moaning and moving when I finally get him untied and let him plop gently onto the floor next to me. I sit there, trying to breathe and not throw up as I wait for the pain in my knee to subside. It doesn’t. Shit. I give myself five minutes, then I make myself move over to check on the stranger. He has stopped moving and moaning, which is probably bad, but it gives me another minute. The cut on his head isn’t deep, but it looks like he has been hit pretty hard, and it looks infected.

I glance around and was considering my options when I see Bunny, the newest and youngest Muffin, watching me wide-eyed. She is maybe three? I don’t know yet. She’s only been with us for two months and hasn’t said anything yet, just stared at us all while clutching a stuffed rabbit (hence ‘Bunny’ until she can pick her name).

“Hey Bunny,” I say, doing a great job at sounding like this is not an emergency. (I’m serious, I sounded very chill!) “Do you know where my robot leg is?” My robot leg is an outdated and poorly sized metal brace that I am supposed to wear around my left leg to help bear my weight. She nods. “Can you bring it to me?” She turns back to the shelter without saying anything, which I choose to interpret as a yes. A few minutes later, she comes back, dragging it behind her.

I wince as I move my leg to put it on. It’s a barbaric device: it is a metal scaffold that encases most of my leg. It has a bar that goes under my foot and two straps that need to be tightened painfully around my thigh, but with it, I can walk without putting any weight on my knee, which is what I need right now.

After I’ve got myself strapped in, I stand up and grab the stranger under the armpits. I lift him as much as I can and drag him the rest of the way into the shelter. I glance around as I go, looking for Bunny, but she has vanished. In fact, the shelter, which is usually full of Muffins, is deserted, silent, and none of the lights are lit. I should be worried about it, but with the stranger and with my knee, I don’t give it more than a passing thought. I maneuver the stranger over to the sleeping corner, the warmest and most cushioned spot we have. I lay the stranger down and turn to get the lights on.

I light the structure and see Bunny clutching the ratty bag I keep our med supplies in. “Thank you, Bunny,” I say as she hands it to me. “Do you mind helping?” she nods and carefully puts her doll down and crouches with me over the stranger’s head. He is young, a year or two older than me, but in really good health for the lower districts. His skin is dark, and his hair is red, he is tall and muscled: he doesn’t look like he is even from the upper districts. I begin to think he is not from the City at all.

There are people outside the walls. Everyone knows it, but the City is sealed off and no one speaks of what is outside. We know there are people out there, because that is where the Spoiled are sent, presumably, but I think everyone assumes the people out there are a sort of mindless, living dead group, incapable of trying to get back into the City. I know a little bit more, though.

I know that the people outside are healthier than us, but I also know you need to be strong to survive out there. I know your chances of surviving outside the walls as a spoiled are slim to none. I know that sometimes, for reasons I cannot fathom, the people on the outside want to come in.  I am fairly sure the stranger is one of the Outsiders.

I examine the stranger’s wound while Bunny careful cleans it. It’s illegal for anyone except a MedKinght to treat the injured or sick, but down here in the lower districts, it’s a matter of survival to learn. He must’ve been hurt only a few days ago, but there is a bad smell and puss coming from it. I look in the med bag for inspiration, but there is nothing to save him from dying in a few days. I could try to steal something from the Upper District, but I am not even sure if what I need exists. It’s okay, though, I have another trick I can use.

For as long as I remember, if I concentrate, I can feel the life energy in the people around me. I can feel everything that is wrong with them, like dark spots in their energy. If I focus, and if I know how they are supposed to go back together, I can pull out the dark spots and pull their energy back into what it is supposed to be. I can’t do it for everything: when I tried to remove the Spoiling from a Muffin, I passed out for eight days and had a raging headache for over a month. It was so bad I couldn’t see straight. That was the last time I tried to cure something that big. I have never met anyone else who can heal people, although I can’t exactly go around asking “Hey, can you illegally heal people? No? Just me then.”

Right. As Bunny finished washing the stranger’s head, I close my eyes and concentrate. Threads of pulsing blue light weave and tangle together to create the stranger, and there, at his head, is a dark know to be untied. I frown, double checking, but I was right about the stranger being from outside the walls: he doesn’t have any Spoiling at all. Mentally, I reach out and untangle the knot, tugging loose the rotting thread that is the infection. I can feel the wound sealing up, and I hear Bunny gasp a little. I smile, but I keep my eyes closed.

I have dark brown eyes, but when I pull my little trick, they turn the bluest blue and stay like that for a little bit afterwards. When I think my eyes have returned to normal, I look at Bunny. She is excited and gesturing for me to look and the stranger’s perfectly healed head. He doesn’t even have a scar. “Pretty cool, isn’t it, Bunny? You have to keep it a secret though, okay? You can only tell the Muffins.” She nods seriously.

I look back at the stranger, now sleeping. He’ll wake up soon, and I need to tie him up in case he is less than appreciative. I gather some ropes, then hear a small voice behind me. “Um, Derick?” I whip around, and it’s Bunny. “I’m Betty,” she says.

I grin. “Good to meet you, Betty.”

A/n: My writing style will inevitably shift and change as the story goes, since I am still writing it. Please be patient: Once the story is complete, I will edit it to be more cohesive. What do you think so far?

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Posted on by Brenna Marie

The Woman and The Cat and The Moon

The woman sits on her porch, slightly hidden behind the plants growing all around her, and watches Janice collect Milly from the bus. She sips her tea and waits for the bus to pull away so she can see mother and daughter. Janice is asking Milly how school was, and Milly is lying, saying it was good, that she learned a lot. Milly is being bullied, the woman knows, but Milly doesn’t want Janice to worry, just as Janice lies and does not want Milly to worry about the man.

A black cat curls her tail around the woman’s ankle as she slips past to flop in a sliver of sun. The man will come tonight, the cat says. The woman knows it is true, but she can not do very much about it, so she sips, and waits, and watches Janice and Milly go inside their house together.

Hours creep by, and the sun sets. The cup of tea has been refilled four times but is once again empty. The woman does not leave her seat, though, just sits in the growing darkness behind her plants, watching, waiting. The cat perches on her haunches, staring with the woman through Janice’s open windows as she tucks Milly into bed, locks all the doors, checks all the windows. Janice pauses at the front window, frightened face checking the street up and down. Janice allows her worry to get to show when Milly isn’t around. She knows something is coming, even if she can’t name it. She glances up and sees the full roundness of the moon. Janice slips away from the window, and a moment later, she is standing in her front yard, gazing up, hands clasped. The woman knows she is begging the moon for help, wordlessly, and the woman smiles a cold, sharp grin. After a minute or two, Janice heads in and carefully bolts the door behind her.

The woman and the cat wait, both appearing more predatory as the minutes tick by. The cat seems to grow larger, less like a house cat and more panther-like. The woman seems wilder, her hair loose and big like a cape around her shoulders. Both lean forward, their eyes watching for the red pickup they know is coming. Slowly, it rolls into sight, the headlights flicking off long before it comes near the house. The man cuts the engine before reaching Janice and Milly’s house and allows the vehicle to roll to a stop silently. He climbs out, drunk as always, meaner than usual, and hefts a baseball bat over his shoulder. He steps onto their lawn, heading for Janice’s door.

The woman and the cat move as one. They rise and stride into the light of the moon and she smiles down at them. The woman raises her arms over her head, then drops quickly, pressing her hands to the earth. A rumble streaks from her to the man she watches, and vines shoot up around his feet, twining and thickening until he is held in place. “The fuck?” he shouts, startled, and tries to pull his feet out. The cat streaks around the woman, lending her the power to fuel her next movements. Insects crawl through Janice’s lawn, scurrying from all over the neighborhood. Beetles, spiders, mosquitos, fleas: they all heed the woman and the cat and race toward the man. He struggles when he sees them and begins screaming when the critters reach him and begin climbing. Lights come on in Janice’s bedroom, and the woman and the cat move faster. The bugs nibble, each of them taking quick bites and scurrying away to make room for more. The man screams again, long and agonized. Finally, he stops.

More lights turn on as Janice rushes to Milly’s room to check on her. The woman and the cat still quickly, suddenly, not even breathing. The insects scurry back to their separate homes, the vines retreat into the earth, pulling the white bones of the man’s fresh skeleton with them, and the cat and woman relax. They are radiant, their eyes gleaming, the cat purring loudly and the woman’s face flushed. They spiral in the moonlight, reveling in the power they have wielded, and slowly retreat to the porch. She and the cat go back to their seats, both shrinking, seeming smaller and more civilized. In the morning, Janice will call the police when she sees the man’s truck out front and his bat in her yard. They will search for the man, call his phone, interview everyone they can, but they will never find him. The woman and the cat will sit and watch, the woman with her tea, the cat in the sun, and the moon will thank them watching over her supplicant.