Aftermaths

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

First gong.

Fann laid sprawled out on her bed. Twitching.

Second gong.

SHUT UP!

Third gong.

She threw her pillow out the window, hoping to hit someone. Oh wait! She thought. She finally realised this gong was the one that signified her freedom. Now she wanted her pillow back. She squealed in delight and scrambled out of bed, still wanting her soft delight.

These gongs defiantly didn't sound like someone risking their life to signal an attack. She was going to follow the scouts out of the forest, Fann wanted out of the clan, and this was her chance, she was not going to mess this up. She missed the old man, the old Elder but he was long gone. Nothing else here to stay for.

She looked out the window, and true to the gong every scout was getting ready and packing their bags for the crusade out of the forest. Some were frantic, quickly running and stuffing their bags in a hurry. Some were calm, just like a normal day and packed neatly. Others were tired and lazy and so, lazily threw everything they needed together, uncaring if the clothes got wrinkled.

I washed them for you and that's how you treat them?! Fann thought venomously.

Fann put on her clothes. Longer than average shorts, a purple shirt, a dark green overcoat with a hood, thigh high red opaque socks and black ankle high shoes she had to lace up. She also grabbed her satchel and filled it up with contents she would need. They included, a flask of water and some rations, after that she flung the satchel over her shoulder, diagonally so she didn't have to worry about it slipping off, and proceeded to climb down the tree from her window.

"Get ready scouts! You have five minutes until we leave!" Aldor, or chun as she liked to call him, shouted across half of HQ. Most people thought he needed to turn it down a few notches but this Elder liked him so, he was in business. He was also a normal human, but that did little to the side of his good points.

"YES SIR!" Almost all the scouts answered apart from one. I wonder what his deal is Fann wondered, but she had some respect for him just because Aldor was a douche and needed someone to deflate that huge ego of his. He may not be an eater but, Aldor was still annoying as hell.

Soon everyone had packed and Fann quietly stalked them while Aldor was making everyone sing praises about him. She stalked them quietly, making sure no one noticed her. She was bent on getting out of the forest now that Elder had taken over, and killed the previous one. She shuddered at the thought of him, but alas continued to watch the group like a hawk. Nothing interesting happened, unless you call watching Aldor going around saying how great he, apparently, was.

After what seemed a few hours for Fann, when really, it was just 25 minutes, everyone started moving. At the beginning everyone was terribly slow but picked up speed as they adjusted to the weight of their cargo and stopped being so tense around everyone.

Fern decorated the forest floor and the tree roots were thicker than the diameter of a person; they were everywhere, people tripped all over. The owners of these roots, the trees, stood tall and proud with their leaves a lush dark green. If you could see the sky it would be a brilliant blue, and the breeze would complimented it nicely.

But soon Fann tired of walking on foot. The tree roots were everywhere, and Fann tripped on a couple no less than seven times. So what to do, what to do? The answer that she found for this, was following by tree. Sure it took her a while to actually climb upwards, but after that though she had no problems walking branch to branch, almost like a squirrel. It took almost no effort to walk on the branches, however if the looming possibility of falling wasn't present I'd be a bit better.

As night fell and everyone started groaning about how tired they were, Aldor finally decided to set up camp. Be that as it may there was something amiss, and Fann couldn't figure it out. That irked her to no end, meaning, she barely got any sleep. The insomnia she got that night also made her yearn for her pillow. That gentleness that often put her to sleep was gone and she mentally scolded herself for throwing it out the damn window.

~~~

A week had almost passed, the crusade was going well. Maybe a little bit too well. Fann still couldn't figure out what it was, but it was on the tip of her tongue. Damn thought, it was just there so bloody close yet so goddamn far.

She continued to follow the group by tree, observing the humans and figuring out what made them tick. The guy on the left was a private person and probably a tracker. He analysed every bit of the ground; like anything would could jump on him and was always the first to draw his daggers when an animal would come running. Another guy was outgoing, but he had a hidden past. Fann noticed the way he tensed up when certain stimuli were present. She could make a few links between the stimuli, but nothing concrete.

Today was nothing special. The sun set so everyone started to make camp. It was getting real boring for her here, she wanted to go down and talk to people. Unfortunately there were observant characters here, characters who would know she didn't belong the instant they saw her.

A growl escaped the bush.

Probably some animal.

No animal. Not animals. A hand extended. Followed by a bulging stomach. An eater.
Just one wouldn't be a problem. They come down from the trees and jumped out the bushes, ravaged by hunger. This was a huge problem. The crusade was only about 25 people strong while they had at least 40 and counting. For lone wolf type clans this was a huge surprise. They didn't usually have over 20 eaters.

So far a few people lay on the ground, though she wasn't sure which side they were from. A full fledged battle tore out. Eaters lost their sense of fear and just wanted human flesh. They didn't care if they died as long as they sunk their sharp teeth to taste blood. On the other hand the people on her side were afraid of death. They fought and fought, blood gushing out from both sides. Disgusting as it sounded some eaters stopped and licked the blood from the ground were puddles had formed; they had a face full of delight as they consumed the blood. Hideous.

Fann couldn't believe she hadn't noticed them! How stupid of her! They were the lone wolf type of clan too!

As she was caught up in her thoughts a man, no more than 30 jumped from a branch and dragged her down with her. It was crazy but then again they were eaters. Lone wolves were the craziest. No wonder, but she was still going to crash into the ground!

Well what am I going to do now?! I ain't no super human! Goddamn you eater be sure that I'll kill you in a few seconds!

While her thoughts were racing the fern and roots were just a few seconds away from her.