"Psst!"
At first Vera thought
she was hearing things. Even in her uncomfortable state she had finally
managed to fall asleep for real. But she only realized it when this
strange sound woke her up. Half asleep she rolled around as far as
possible. The sound had not come from the camp where Whitmore spent his
guard duty sitting at the campfire with his head on his chest and
snoring, but it had come from the darkness behind her. The little light
that came from the fire didn't let her see any more than the tree and
the few bushes around it.
"Psssssst!"
The sound repeated itself and seemed to be somewhat more demanding. Slowly Vera woke up again, also due to her shoulders being totally tense and hurting. On the other hand this noise did make her nervous. Johnson and company were bad enough - what else was creeping around in the dark? When she had managed to turn around and faced the bushes she squinted her eyes to try and see more.
"Hey!" A voice seemed to actually come out of the bushes. "Are you real?"
Vera frowned confused. In that situation it had to be the silliest question she could have imagined. It was so daft that she couldn't come up with an answer for the moment. "Eh... what?" she asked, quietly enough to not alarm the three criminals. Still, she wouldn't have to worry about Whitmore hearing her.
"Who are you?" the voice from the bushes asked. It was a high pitched voice, like a child's. Vera couldn't tell whether it belonged to a boy or a girl, but still she was puzzled. After she had spent the entire time hiking through the wilderness all on her own there were actually a lot of people around here at night. And now a child was, too?
"You go first!" she responded in a vigorous whisper. "I'm just lying here."
Some rustling came from the bushes she had heard the voice from. The child seemed to to think very carefully. "I'm looking for some food" it eventually explained quietly. "You know where to find some?"
She was able to surpress the loud laughter that was about to roll over her tongue, but she couldn't help but grin over her entire face. Good thing that no one was able to make it out in the dark. "As a matter of fact, I do" she answered. "Would you mind helping me if I helped you?"
"I don't know" the child relucantly replied. "What kind of help do you offer?"
That's some kind of joke, isn't it? Vera sighed impatiently. Captured and tied up by criminals, and now she had to negotiate her release with some brushwood? She had had fever dreams that had made more sense than that. "Just get me out of here!" she hissingly demanded. "I promise I'll make up for it."
Again the bushes rustled before the answer came from the hidden child. "Fine. But you have to come over here."
It started to annoy Vera immensely. "You've got to be fu...
"Hush!" the child panicked. "Be quiet, for God's sake!" They both held their breath and listened if something was happening in the camp, but apart from Whitmore's silent snoring there was nothing they could hear. "Roll over to me! If they catch me, we're done for."
This could not be happening! But Vera didn't have much of a choice. With careful movement she crawled more or less out of her blanket and headed towards the bushes. She tried her best to keep the noise at bay, but she had little control over it, being only able to move in a mixture of rolling, twisting and crawling. With large effort she finally made it to the bushes and turned her back on them. "I have a knife in my jacket" she whipsered.
"I've got my own" the voice in the bushes declared, followed by a silent click. A few heartbeats later the ropes were off, and Vera's hands were free again. She was so relieved she could have cried. When she started to rub her wrists to restart blood circulation in them her fingers gained their feeling back, and the pain in her shoulders got significantly better.
"Your feet!" the child urged. "Hurry!"
Vera turned around, raising her feet towards the bushes. Shortly she could see a small blade appearing, a survival knife similar to her own. It cut through the rope tied around her ankles with ease. "Let's get the food, then, and get out of here!" the child in the bushes whispered with nervousity in its voice as if it was constantly peeking over its shoulder. Vera would normally had seen this behavior as very strange, a distinct paranoia she had only seen on adults. But since it was just releasing her from captivity it was more than appropriate. Inconspicuously she pulled her backpack over to her and put it on.
"Done!" she declared. "Let's go!"
"Really?" The child didn't seem to know whether to lough or be mistrustful of it. But the rustling sound afterwards made it clear that it didn't waste any more thought on this. It took a short moment before a bright short head of hair was working itself out of the bushes, followed by the rest of the body belonging to an approximately ten year old boy. That was as far as Vera could make him out in the dark. The backpack on her shoulders and with some little shaky steps she started to follow the boy who quickly left the camp. She didn't turn around to see if Whitmore took notice. She was just glad to get away from this place.
When they had come far enough to not being heard by anyone in the camp the boy started to run. He wasn't fleeing, but it was obvious that he wanted to put as much distance between him and the criminals as possible. Vera had a hard time following him at first, but as soon as she had warmed up she managed to keep up with him. They left the mountain behind them and ran towards the woods. Vera had no clue to where they ran, but the boy seemed to know the way. Without hesitation he quickly followed a barely visible way through thick leaves.
Soon she came to understand that he didn't only run from the criminals, but was also headed for a distinct target. When they had run for quite some time and Vera started to feel exhausted, they boy slowed down until he finally stopped. Curiously he looked back at his companion. "Are you all right?" he asked with slight sneer in his voice. Vera glanced at him grimly. You can talk, she thought. Who's the one carrying tons of food?
"What's up?" she then asked and took a look around. They were inside one of the forests, amidst the trees. Besides the boy and herself there was no one around - and nothing to hear. Still she had this bad feeling that something was lurking in the darkness...
The boy examined her from head to toe. "I hope you do keep what you promised" he then said, being very serious at this moment. "Otherwise we're both in trouble."
Vera let out a sigh. So that's how it is. The boy wouldn't be satisfied without proof. Slowly she took her backpack off. "I can show you if you like..."
Suddenly something broke out of the bushes and charged Vera. It was small, fast and uttered a loud howl of war while attacking with hands and feet. "Wait!" the boy that had rescued Vera yelled out in shock, but it was far too late for that. It didn't even take one heartbeat until that something was close enough to land the first hit on Vera...
Vera wasn't surprised at all. The bad feeling she was having had made her put her guard up. It didn't matter what exactly came to attack her - she knew perfectly well how to react.
"Umph!"
That came from the something that had charged Vera. It had received a blow from her fist right into its belly. As it charged past her Vera tripped it up and made it fall to the ground. There it stayed down, breathing heavily. It sounded human to Vera.
"Stop it!" That was the boy who had freed her. "She's with me."
A twig snapped loudly behind Vera. She turned around quickly, being charged by another figure. She yanked her arms up in defense. Two small hands tried to grab her and throw her to the ground. She dodged it and struck back with her elbow. As she hit something solid, a shriek of pain was hearable. The second figure stumbled past her, in direction of her first attacker that was trying to get on his feet.
I won't have that again, she thought grimly. There seemed to be no other attackers, and the two people were helping each other up. Vera got ready for the next attack. But if they tried this time, they would deeply regret it...
"Taylor, run!" The anxious cry came from the first attacker. Vera paused as she noticed how young the voice sounded - not as high-pitched as the boy's voice, but still youthfully, like a guy her age.
"No!" That was Taylor - the boy who had freed her. "This has gone far enough."
All of a sudden a bright light illuminated the spot and all the faces around it. Everybody saw each other for the first time - and was stunned. Especially Vera. She looked into the faces of her attackers - and saw the faces of children. A boy and a girl, both about her age. The boy groaned and clutched his hand onto his belly where Vera's fist had hit him, and he stared at her in astonishment. The girl blinked repeatedly as she couldn't believe what she saw.
"You're... hardly older than we are!" she uttered in amazement.
Taylor joined them and put his hands akimbo. "That's what I've been trying to tell you" he declared annoyed. "She's not one of them. I saved her."
Even Vera had to admit how implausible that sounded, although it was the truth. At least the boy laughed in disbelief. "You? Dream on!"
"It is true" Taylor insisted and turned to Vera. "You tell them!"
Vera blinked in the bright light and then saw that it came from a light sphere that must have been thrown into the centre of the fight by Taylor. It was a simple but very effective tool, a light source that one could attach or throw anywhere without breaking it. She nodded and rolled up the sleeves of her jacket a little. The two youths could easily see the red marks on her wrists. "It is true" she confirmed Taylor's words. Not that it had been necessary. Those marks on her wrists were enough to convince her attackers.
"Wow!" the girl uttered. "Eh... sorry for jumping you like that."
The boy on the other hand, Vera's first attacker, didn't seem to be as open-minded. "That's great" he then said to Taylor after finally getting up from the ground. "You wanted to get some food, and instead you bring someone who needs to eat as well."
Taylor rolled his eyes in annoyment. "Oh brother!" he uttered - speaking out loud what Vera was already thinking. She instantly flared at the guy: "Say, is bitching and moaning all you can, or do you have a name?"
"I have a name, all right" the guy replied, still rubbing the spot on his belly where he received Vera's blow. "But I won't tell you unless you tell me first."
Even the girl by his side gave him a push for that. "Don't be such a dick!" she reprimanded him. Then she offered a hand to Vera. "This is Theodore, but he prefers to be called Thor. And I'm Vanna. Vannissyra, that's my real name, but hell knows what my parents were thinking." She pointed towards the fair haired boy. "And you have met Taylor."
Reluctantly Vera shook Vanna's hand. But there was no reason to be worried. Despite of the less heartily reception she had gotten she knew that they were all on the same side - those children surely had nothing to do with the criminals she had just escaped from. "I am Vera" she finally introduced herself. "So, you're in urgent need of food, did I get that correct?"
"That's right" Vanna confirmed. "We still have some left, but we're trying to portion it so it will get us through two days. It's not pretty."
She didn't have to say any more. Vera had gathered her backpack that she had dropped during the attack and already put a ration pack into the other girl's hand. While doing that she noticed something odd - it was more of a feeling than something actually visible. Vanna had about the same age and was similar in height and build, albeit a little more plump. Her hair had a slightly brighter color and was a bit shorter than Vera's. But when Vera looked into her eyes she felt like her soul was looking into a mirror. Without knowing anything of her she felt that Vanna and herself were cut from the same cloth.
The same didn't go for the boy Thor. Vera would have rather called him Theodore for being so hostile towards her. But having knocked him down with one punch gave her enough satisfaction for now. His face beneath the short dark hair might have been to her liking if it hadn't been so dirty. He must have spent some time in the wild already. Vera took a look around. The other children must have, too, since none of them were really clean. Neither was she herself as she remembered. With a sigh she reached into her backpack and also handed Thor and Taylor something to eat. Thankfully Taylor was all over his ration pack. Thor on the other hand kept staring at it as Vera gave it to him.
"Where did you get that?" he asked distrustful. "I told Taylor not to steal from anyone."
"From my mother" Vera answered vigorously. "Now eat!" This guy really started to get on her nerves.
Vanna had also wolfed her ration down. "Thank you, Vera!" she said when she had finished it. And she did mean it.
"We need to bring Jenny some of it" Taylor exclaimed all of a sudden. Vera calmed him down with one hand gesture.
"I have enough of it on me, that will do for a while" she explained. "My mum always packs my travel provisions very thoroughly."
At once all the children looked at her in silence. "You were serious?" Thor asked. "About this food being from your mother?"
"Sure" Vera replied. What was the matter with them now? The silence didn't please her. Vanna next to her looked at the ground in embarassment.
"You know..." she reluctantly started to tell. "The story about us... We haven't been at home for a long time now, nor have we seen our parents."
Impatiently Thor stepped on the spot. "We shouldn't be discussing this right here" he then decided. "Let's go back!" He turned to Vera and added: "If you behave yourself, you can join us."
Vera glanced at him dismissively. "Do you actually want to be punched again?"
"She's with us" Vanna insisted and already took her hand. "She helped us, so we can't just leave her out here." Even before she had finished she already went for it, pulling Vera with her. Vera was confused, but she let it happen this time. Taylor picked up his light sphere and switched it off. As darkness fell over the forest again the children were already on their way - wherever they were headed. Vera followed them curiously. What other surprises were waiting for her?
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