This takes place four years after the Global Collapse - biological warfare targeted at the military that spreads to civilians, and a few nuclear strikes resulting in an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). Kendra is on the search for her sister who has been captured by the Supremacy - a group taking the uncontrolled power by forcing people into a slave army.
My foot comes up, ready start walking toward the outpost again, but it stops, hovering an inch over the snow. Something glimmers in the rising sun. Whatever it is hides beneath the cold, white blanket. At first, I wonder if it’s something valuable. Maybe nail clippers or a knife. I already have a pocket knife in my pack, but I could always use another.
As I bring my foot back and down, I squat closer to the metallic looking object with a piece only the size of my fingertip sticking out of the snow. Just before I reach out to uncover the item, something in the back of my head tells me to stop – or maybe shouts at me to stop. I listen, and recoil my hand. Nothing valuable is usually this easy to acquire in these times.
Standing up, I look around, searching for anything else out of the ordinary. Nothing else seems to be stranger than normal, so I go to the base of a tree and pick up a long branch that had fallen beside it. Even though it’s so cold, my hand sweats around the grip of my Colt .45. Maybe I shouldn’t do what I’m about to, but I have to know what’s sparkling. It could be something dangerous, but it could be something to aide me.
I stick the branch out toward the shining part of the object and I touch them together. Nothing happens. I slip the branch beneath the metallic piece and slowly lift it up. A chain. But what is it attached to? Now I think the meter is getting closer to dangerous than to helpful, but I still want to know. Yes, curiosity killed the cat. Good thing I’m not a cat.
I gently pull the stick away, letting the chain drop back into the snow, and then I push the stick into the snow beside the chain. Again, nothing. So, I press the branch into the snow again; a different place this time.
Metal teeth come up out of hiding faster than I could possibly react, and bite the branch in two. Surprisingly enough, I’ve already dropped the branch and have both hands wrapped tightly around my colt pointed at the metal mouth, thumb sliding against the safety, finger on the trigger. I stop, relaxing myself, and lower the gun. The metal teeth belong to the animal trap that would have snapped my ankle and trapped me here if I had let my foot touch the ground.
Staring at the trap in utter thankfulness that it took the branch instead of my leg, I cringe, wondering if the animal hunting trap is even meant for animals.
Then it occurs to me. Whoever this trap belongs to could be nearby. I need to move. And not just get a good distance away soon, but get out of here now. Even if I’m not near this area after some time passes, the trap has been triggered, so he or she will know someone was here. And my footprints aren’t going anywhere, so the hunter will be able to track me.
As I run forward, I pray there aren’t any more of those traps in my path. The outpost should only be a mile away now. It’s not my first choice to go, but between an outpost where there’s a chance I could be captured and this place where there could very well be some maniac nearby, I’ll take my chances at the outpost.
My feet pick up. I haven’t eaten very much recently, and this morning I even forgot to shove a pack of crackers in my mouth before beginning my trek, so I don’t have too much energy. But trust me when I tell you, thinking there could be a people hunter around makes you run whether you have the energy or not.
My eyes are at the ground, fearful of what the snow may be hiding, and then they shift to what’s in front of me, then to my left, then to my right, and forward again. Just more snow and more trees. A minute ago, I thought this sight was beautiful, but now I want to get out of here.
Stopping me from going any farther, something falls from above. I’m not sure what it is right away. Another trap? No. It raises from the ground, and I realize it didn’t fall – it jumped. And it isn’t another trap or an object. It is a man. He wears a long leather jacket that’s probably keeping him warmer than mine is keeping me. As he stands straight up in front of me, I can smell his rancid breath, and I wonder if mine smells that bad and maybe I’ve just gotten used to it.
I want to run, and it feels like my leg muscles are still moving, but I stay put. I’m fast, but this guy might be faster than me. He probably lives here. I won’t know the area as well as he does. He’ll be able to cut me off. So, I wait, while he pushes his unkempt hair out of his eyes.
He lifts his index finger as if asking me to hold on for a moment, while he turns around, quickly looking toward me over his shoulder probably to make sure I don’t shoot him with my .45, which I’m honestly thinking about. That sounds, awful, I know, but sometimes it’s smarter to shoot first and ask questions later. I just don’t want a question to be what if they were one of the good ones or how didn’t I see they were only trying to help.
The man, around maybe thirty, reaches into the snow just in front of us with his back to me. He pulls something up slowly, and I begin to raise my gun. Then I see it, and the Colt stops. He’s showing me there’s a trap five feet in front of me. As he drops the chain, I quickly glance upward into the branches above us, wondering exactly where he came from. There’s a second set of clothes hanging over one of the branches. Looking at the size of this guy, his clothes are baggier than my letterman. They’d probably make my jacket feel like it fits perfectly, which it doesn’t, but it isn’t unmanageable either. Wait. What am I doing? Wondering if this man’s clothes would fit me? They aren’t mine to take. I shake the selfish thought from my head. I don’t want to steal from people. Most of them are having just as hard a time as I am.
My eyes fall on the man again as he turns back around to face me. It used to be frowned upon to talk to strangers. Now it is even more dangerous in a basically lawless world. I keep saying world as if it’s all the same everywhere. Truthfully, I don’t know what’s it’s like around the rest of the world. Maybe China managed to turn their electricity back on or Ireland is functioning like normal, just without power and with some radioactive zones. The EMP must have affected everywhere. Otherwise, wouldn’t we be rescued or blown off the map by now? It’s dumb – thinking other places around the world could be okay. Chances are it’s like this everywhere. Sometimes I like to believe it’s better in other places because that way it can get better here, too.
I don’t speak and I stay still. His eyes bolt downward toward my gun, and I grip it even tighter as if that’s possible. He looks in my eyes. “I didn’t want you to break a leg,” he smirks like he’s made a funny joke, and maybe he thinks he has, but I can only focus on his yellowing teeth, hoping he’ll stop laughing so I don’t have to see them.
“How did you know it was there?” I ask, nervous to find out if he’s the maniac I was running from. “Is it yours?”
He nods. “It’s for hunting,” he tells me as if I don’t know what it’s used for. I don’t care if he’s hunting. I just want to know what he’s hunting, so I wait for him to tell me because it appears he isn’t done speaking. “Deers –” Deer, I think. “come through here sometimes. Foxes, too.”
“Is that all you hunt?” I wonder, wanting him to say yes.
“No,” he replies. “Squirrels, too. But I just shoot them out of the trees.”
My thumb slowly moves toward the safety. He must have a gun, and since he does, that makes him even more of a threat than he already is just by existing. Harsh again, I know, but I can’t trust anyone anymore. The only person I can trust now is the only person in this world that matters to me, and if this guy is standing in the way of me saving her, there’s no competition.
“Why’d you stop me from setting it off?” I say.
He lifts an eyebrow seemingly in confusion. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“But you don’t know me. What would it matter if it took my leg?” I think it’s so he wouldn’t have to nurse me back to health, but then I figure he’d just shoot me like one of the squirrels to save himself the trouble.
“Because if you got hurt by it, you’d scream. You’d lead thieves and killers here,” he tells me, and I wonder what they’d want to steal other than this gun he mentioned. He continues, “I didn’t survive this long to die now.”
“Neither did I, so thank you for saving me. I’ll be going now.” I step to the side, keeping my eyes on him as I keep my distance from the trap covered by snow. His eyes follow me as I walk backwards away from him. Once I’m a good twenty feet away, I turn away from him, feeling his eyes continue to follow me. If the hairs on my arms weren’t already standing up from the cold, they would be out of anxiousness. My ears listen for the sound of snow crunching beneath his feet. Was he going to let me walk away without any trouble? Was it going to be this easy?
“I’ll be having that gun of yours, though,” he says, and I hear a gun cock behind me. Nothing is that easy.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
Keep an eye out for more teasers on my site, Twitter, and Instagram. Full novel coming out 2021
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