Frenemies (Bellamy Blake)

Pilot

I raised my bow, an arrow notched. My movements were slow, breathing quiet though I was hungry enough to eat the deer raw. It raised its head, and I froze as it looked in my direction, sensing a threat. I lined my aim with his eye, the string taut, licking my lips. He would likely feed Lincoln and myself for the night, and have plenty of food for the unit with Anya.

A loud noise made not only the deer run away, but made me let go of the string and miss my target completely. I turned around, standing up straight as I saw the thing flying from the sky.

Lincoln has told me of a man who fell from the sky once, but I imagined the Sky People would need smaller means of transportation in order to arrive on my home. "Amazing," I whispered, wincing as I saw it coming towards my general area. "Shit."

I took off, trying to find a safe distance.
However, I had never seen one land myself, and I had little to no idea how much damage it might cause the forest. The thought irked me a little as I knew my home would be inevitably hurt. I opened the door of a car, hiding inside as it continued to come down. I wiped the window of dust, watching through it as the ship fell closer to the world I knew so well. I didn't know how I knew, and I didn't know why, but I was aware of one fact.

"This is going to change everything."
I climbed into the trees well after night fell. I was fed, my stomach full considering I had failed to find food. Anya was not cruel, but she was very tough on me.

I figured it was probably because I was always off doing something, enjoying my freedom while it lasted because I knew after Anya was gone, I would have to step and take over. Survival was important, and I rarely learned my lesson from just a scolding.
Such as now, when Anya warned me not to go near the camp of the Sky People.

They had a fire in the middle of the camp, a little less than a hundred people around it.
They seemed blissfully unaware of the threat outside their camp, or even the one above them, watching with fascination. They were taking off bracelets of some sort, and their clothing resembled the Mountain Men.

"We're liberating ourselves. What does it look like?" one of them said, a male with dark hair.
"It looks like you're trying to get us all killed," another male said, dark skinned and still wearing the bracelet everyone else in the camp was ridding themselves of. I looked down, trying to get a better look at them.

The branch creaked, and I immediately withdrew, crawling to the shadows in case anyone heard. They had not, caught up in the fight among the two. "The communication system is down. If you take these off, the Ark won't come down!"

I scowled. I was intrigued by the group here now, but they were mere cubs to what we could be dealing with. Only young ones, some as old as me, and some younger than my brother and sister. "That's the point, Chancellor." I narrowed my eyes at the dark skinned male.
Was he the leader, or was the boy with dark hair mocking him? "We can take care of ourselves. Can't we?!"

The crowd roared, and I relaxed again. It was mocking, and I thought it was quite the insult. I would never say such a thing around Anya, nonetheless the rest of the clan. Anya would make sure I regretted it almost immediately, forget later when she could make me do anything and everything for her in terms of chores. Many of the people agreed with him, and it looked like the Chancellor Boy fell out of favor with the people being led by the dark haired boy. This "chancellor" must be quite unnonular.

"You think this is just a game? Those are our friends and our parents up there. They're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers." Chancellor Boy named off a few jobs his people had in the sky. I recognized them as my gatherers, healing men, but we had no engineers. "I don't care what he tells you.
We won't survive on our own. And besides, if it really is safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?"

I thought he made a good point. We have been searching for ages for a place safe of the Mountain Men, but no one has found one yet.
If I ever do, I would have to come back for my family. "My people are already down here," the dark haired boy replied, pointing a finger to the sky where he was from. "Those people locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that."

My eyes widened at his proclamation. I was the oldest of three, and I could not imagine a life without my siblings, or if my people had killed my mother for having another child. Now I knew I could not trust these Sky People it they murdered for something so natural, so normal among my people. So normal among any people.

"My father didn't write the laws."
"No. He enforced them. But not anymore. Not here." I watched closely again, taking in the reactions of this new group. "Here, there are no laws. Here, we do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want. Now, you don't have to like it, Wells. You can even try to stop it, change it, kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want."

A chant started among the people, and I had to visibly fight off the laughter in myself, the branch creaking again under my weight. These people claimed anything but discipline.

Without such a vital idea, they would not survive the first attack my people would eventually make. It was more than just funny to me, it was downright stupid. These Sky People were not real men, they were children with dreams, and dreams were shot down all too easily.

A rumble came over my head, and rain fell to the ground suddenly. I sat up, taking a deep breath before making my way down from the tree as the Sky People began celebrating the rain. There was likely nothing left for me to hear or see. No doubt Anya would be looking for me in Lincoln's cave soon, and if I was not there, I would likely have to hunt for my own food for the next three days.

I landed looking at my reflection in a puddle.
My red hair stood out against most of my people, a color of the Mountain Men, and my green eyes blended in well with leaves.
Nineteen years of hard life had toned me, giving her a slim fit. I knew little of these people, but I had a simple belief.

"These people will die."