The Feral Sentence - Part One (8 page)

“
What is that?” I asked, eying the oversized bowl of cooked
eggs and pieces of meat.

I
received several glares, but no one responded. My stomach growled.
Several women were hunched over their own bowls, scooping gooey
pieces of egg into their mouths with their hands. I analyzed the
area. There were no bowls or plates for me to use: no
utensils…nothing. How was I supposed to eat?

“
Brone!” I heard.

It was
Sunny. Although I’d hoped I wouldn’t run into her again, I was
happy to see her.

“
Sunny,” I said.

“
Guys, this is Brone. She’s cool shit.”

Several
dark eyes glanced my way. There were a few nods, some hand
gestures, but overall, there was still hostility and
mistrust.

“
You gotta bowl?” she asked.

“
Sorry?”

“
Girl, if you wanna eat, you gotta have your own bowl. You can
buy one in the Tools tent. You can use mine for now, though.” She
handed me what appeared to be a broken piece of skull.

It was
of average size with a slight curve all around to form a bowl. It
had egg and meat residue inside, and although disgusted by the
thought of using someone else’s dirty dish, I was too hungry to
refuse. I grabbed it with both hands.

I could
feel the hatred around me as Sunny scooped an oversized spoonful of
cold eggs and meat bits.

“
S’all you get,” I heard.

There
was a young Asian girl sitting on the ground with her legs crossed
in front of her. She raised an eyebrow when I glanced at her, so I
quickly looked away. The other women around her laughed.

“
Brone, meet Sumi. Sumi, meet Brone,” Sunny said
nonchalantly.

“
Pleasure,” Sumi said, although she sounded more disgusted than
anything.

“
Sumi’s the cook,” Sunny said. “And the portion size she tells
us is the portion size we eat.”

“
I thought Battle Women—” I tried.

“
Trim’s rules,” Sumi said. “You gonna snitch on me?”

I looked at Sumi once more, and she smirked up at me. I could
tell that integration into the Village wouldn’t come
easily.

I ate my food, forgetting entirely that I was shoveling
bacteria from Sunny’s mouth into mine.

“
Thank you,” I said, handing the piece of skull back to Sunny.
I turned my attention to Sumi, and although I disliked her already,
I thanked her for the food. She simply scoffed, and the others
followed suit.

I couldn’t believe I’d be spending the next three years of my
life with ignorant women like this. I made my way to the tents
Ellie had told me about, fuming.

“
Brone!”

My name had been followed by rapid footsteps behind
me.

“
Sorry ‘bout that,” Sunny said.

“
It’s okay.”

“
Here,” she said, placing three pearls into the palm of my
hand. I was already holding onto four of them which had been given
to me by Ellie.

“
Start by getting yourself a pouch—you know, for your pearls.”
She tapped the side of her belt, from which hung a leather pouch
filled to the point of hardness. “And a belt,” she quickly added,
eying my waist.

I stared at the fist-sized pouch dangling at her side. “Aren’t
you scared of theft?”

She
shrugged.

“
It’s always a possibility. That’s why you don’t carry it all
with you. I bury mine.” She grinned and showed me her fingernails,
which were filthy brown in every crevice. I couldn’t believe we’d
shared a dish.

I nodded
slowly.

She pinched one of the pearls in my hand and stared down at me
from behind her bright yellow eyes.

“
Pouch.”

She then pinched the other pearl she’d given me and said,
“Bowl.”

She
finally grabbed the last pearl, but this time, she
smiled.

“
Anything you’d like.”

I smiled back, feeling completely awkward and wanting nothing
more than for her to remove her germ-encrusted hand from
mine.

I thanked her again and continued my path inside the Tools
tent. It wasn’t like any store you’d find in the real
world—everything was dim, and there was no welcome bell, no “Hello,
how are you?” from a tired cashier, no bright florescent lights
shining down from above; I was still in the wild.

I received a glance from a butchy woman with thick arms and a
protruding belly who sat at the back of the tent atop a wooden box.
She was carving something—a knife, maybe. She didn’t speak; she
just watched me. A table at the center of the store displayed
various handmade items: carved tools, bones, bowls, arrowheads,
rope, blocks of wood, elastic-like bands, and boxes constructed of
solid wood.

I noticed several small leather pouches in a pile with strings
long enough to tie them closed and around one’s waist or belt. I
picked one up and rubbed my thumbs against the grainy
leather.

“
Lookin’ for something?” the woman asked.

“
Um, yeah,” I said. “Just a pouch. Oh—and maybe a belt.” I
raised the leather to eye level. “How much?”

“
How much you got?” she asked.

I
hesitated. Did the price really depend on how many pearls I was
carrying? What kind of a store was this?

“
Well?”

I opened
my palm.

“
Seven.”

“
That pouch is six pearls,” she said nonchalantly before
turning to her chiseling.

I couldn’t help but feel as though I was being conned, but who
was I to argue? I needed the pouch.

I held on to the item and approached the merchant. I’d been
about to hand over my pearls when I heard someone walk
in.

“
Hey, sup, Hammer?” Ellie asked.

The
woman grunted.

“
You buying something, Brone?”

I
nodded.

“
Whatcha got there?” she asked me.

I
extended the leather pouch, and she pulled it out of my
hand.

“
Nice,” she said. “How much you charging this time,
Ham?”

“
Four,” the woman growled.

“
You said six,” I said.

Ellie laughed, although I knew she hadn’t found this
funny.

“
Six pearls? For a flimsy little sack of leather?” she wiggled
the pouch in front of Hammer’s face who immediately lost her
nonchalant attitude.

“
I said four,” she said.

“
But you originally asked for six. Is this how you treat
newcomers? By ripping them off?”

Hammer didn’t speak, and I suddenly felt very uneasy. I didn’t
want to be hated by someone else.

“
It’s okay,” I said, “I’ll pay the four.”

“
No, you won’t,” Ellie said. “Hammer knows better.”

I could see the fury building behind Hammer’s eyes, but it was
evident that Ellie had some kind of leverage over her.

“
You need anything else?” Ellie asked me.

I shook my head, even though I’d hoped to get myself a belt. I
couldn’t risk being completely despised.

“
In that case, you get one pearl,” Ellie said, “and even that’s
generous.”

She pulled a pearl out of my palm, dropped it onto Hammer’s
lap, then poured my remaining pearls into my new pouch before
leading me out of the tent. I hoped I wouldn’t have to return to
the Tools tent anytime soon, but that was wishful
thinking.

“
That was close,” Ellie said, as we walked out into the
open.

I wasn’t sure whether to thank her or scold her. I could have
handled myself.

“
Oh don’t look at me like that,” she said. “You almost got
gypped.”

“
And now Hammer hates me,” I said.

“
What do you care? You’ll always have enemies here on the
island, Brone. But if you let them push you around, you’ll become a
victim.”

I parted my lips to thank her, suddenly realizing that she was
right, but the sound of rapid footsteps caught my attention. They
were walking right toward me—Trim and her usual crew. There were
about six other women behind them, and the only face I recognized
was Sunny’s.

“
There’s a drop coming,” Trim said.

She threw a bow into my hands, and I nearly dropped it. Was
this a joke? I hadn’t received proper training. I didn’t know how
to hit a target. What good would I be with a bow?

And what
was a drop, anyways?

CHAPTER
7

If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have assumed we were running
from a wild panther. I’d fallen to the back of the line, with Trim
and her crew at the front and Sunny and the other women following
closely behind.

They hopped and lunged forward over fallen trees, masses of
muddy water, and even animal carcasses. It was already hard enough
keeping pace; it was even harder with an oversized wooden bow in
one hand and a loose pouch filled with pearls. Trim had tied a
quiver around my shoulders, and I could feel the arrows bouncing up
and down as I ran forward. I feared they might go flying out, but
they did no such thing.

I glanced back several times as we ran, praying no one, or
nothing, was following us. I could see an opening up ahead, and I
realized we’d reached the end of the jungle. Trim stood still,
hiding behind several overlapping branches and rotting
greenery.

She signaled us to remain quiet, which was hard to do being
that I was entirely out of breath. What were we looking for,
anyways? I stretched my neck in an attempt to peer over the many
shoulders in front of me, but it was useless. The only thing I saw
was the ocean: sand, water, and sky.

Trim raised a finger, signaling us once more to remain as
still as possible. That’s when I heard it—the blades of a
helicopter. But they weren’t getting louder. Rather, the sound was
becoming fainter, until finally, I could no longer hear
it.

“
They’re gone,” Fisher said.

“
Where’s the drop, then?” Biggie asked, towering above all of
us.

Trim muttered something in anger, but I couldn’t make it out.
Were they receiving supplies?

“
She must have found her own way,” Flander said.

“
Yeah, right,” Rocket said. “Northers probably got to her
before us.”

It all made sense to me now. A new felon had been dropped onto
Kormace Island, and their hope was to recruit her, as they’d done
with me. I couldn’t believe anyone would have found their own way
through a wild jungle after such a long swim. I remembered dragging
myself onto shore and how utterly exhausted I’d become, almost to
the point of absolute incapacity.

“
Why don’t we just track her footsteps?” asked one of the other
women. She stepped forward, but Trim threw her arm against her
chest.

“
I give orders, and you obey,” she growled. “This could be a
trap.”

The
woman stepped back indignantly.

“
Let’s go,” Trim ordered.

She walked past us and moved into position to lead. Fisher was
by her side as always, with Rocket, Biggie, and Flander close
behind. I couldn’t help but wonder how Eagle was doing. No one had
spoken her name since she’d been injured. I couldn’t imagine anyone
surviving grave injuries on this island. There was no proper
medical care.

“
Well, that was pointless,” Sunny said.

She smirked at me, clearly attempting to force a smile on my
face. But I was too exhausted to feign interest in her comedic
ways. How was anyone built for this type of physical exertion? We’d
spent the last hour running east to the shoreline of Kormace
Island, and now we were expected to simply return to the
Village?

I suddenly remembered gym class in ninth grade. Our teacher,
who’d also been nicknamed
Little
John
for his unusually
large size and his borderline obsessive fascination with Robin
Hood, had always been keen on making us do
beep
tests—a test consisting of
continuous running from one point to another, quickening in pace by
the sound of a
beep
being emitted from an old cassette player. I’d hated him for
this. I’d never reached past the fourth beep, being the only person
left sitting out of the race, alongside Gail, the fattest kid in
class.

Trim was basically my gym teacher, only much harsher and more
barbaric. If I’d disobeyed Little John, he’d have sent me to the
principal’s office. Trim, however, might have my head, or worse,
ban me from ever returning to the Village. The latter of the two
possibilities was bound to lead to a painful, tortuous death caused
by starvation, or more likely, an attack.

I’d simply have to obey.

I hopped over sharp-edged rocks being cleaned by a narrow
stream of water. My sneakers had turned a shade of brown, but I was
grateful to have them nonetheless. The last thing I wanted to run
in were shoes constructed of wood and leather, which appeared to be
what everyone else was wearing. Rocket had advised me to remove
any
real
-
world
pieces of clothing and accessories, explaining to me that the
newer I looked, the harder time I’d have integrating within the
Village’s society. I’d tossed everything but my sneakers, my bra,
and my hair elastic, even though I knew their lifespan was
limited.