Wild Desperation

Chapter 5

Two more days passed. Two more days of me staying away from the camp. Two more days of constantly thinking about the new information that Marie had given me. If she told the truth then that would make us half-sisters and her mother would be my stepmother, seeing it made so much sense but I had to know for sure. I was working up the courage to find my father and ask him outright if he had an affair with the woman that birthed me, that was when I noticed the smoke.

 The sight of it billowing high in the air, the sheer amount of it told me that this was not from the usual campfire. I quickened my pace and when I came into view of the fire I saw my father there, waiting for me. "She died sometime last night, the fire will stop the virus from spreading." my father answered as I eyed the burned body amidst the flames. I wanted to believe that perhaps she had died in her sleep but the way my father was cleaning his own knife at the time I arrived made me doubtful, he was being far too thorough for anything other than virus related. I didn't dare ask the question that his actions brought to my tongue, knowing full well that I didn't want to hear his answer. 

I watched her body burn in the heavy silence, thinking of all the things she had said to me just days ago. "Did you have an affair with my mother?" the question slipped from my lips into the silence. I don't know what surprised my father more, the fact that I had been brave enough to ask, or the fact that I knew. "What are you talking about?" he voiced, I heard the slight tightness in his words. "Were Marie and I half-sisters? I deserve to know. I have a right to know if that woman I helped you bury was my real mother or not." My voice only grew stronger as my father seemed to shrink away at my words, I prodded once more before he sighed.

 "I loved your mother very much Sang, when she died during the birth I couldn't just leave you. Your stepmother raised you well enough, I figured it was better you not knowing." his confirmation only served to anger me more. "You figured I was better off with the woman that beat me! You think I was better off thinking that my own 'MOTHER" hated me enough to treat me like I was worthless! You should have told me!" I was howling mad, my father tried to calm me with his apologies but they only angered me even more.

 I left camp in a hurry, nearly blind with rage, no clue where I was headed, just knowing I couldn't stay. I knew that my father could hunt and feed himself, the only ones I really had to care for were dead now. The thought that I could just leave and never come back passed through my head, that I would be better off alone. I didn't go back for a month, I ended up heading back into town to collect a few new books to memorize. Thankfully I didn't meet anyone or anything on my trip and after paying a visit to the three 'sort of' grave sights I left back to my forest home. 

I had found a book on fighting and hand to hand combat, something I wanted to learn for a while now. The other book I had taken was partly from the last thing Marie had mentioned to me, about how to be a good liar and how to tell when one was lying to you. Once that month was up I decided that I would return back to the camp and see if my father was still alive or not, I had plenty of time to calm down although I still felt the anger towards him it no longer overpowered me. 

I remember finding the place where he had covered Marie's remains with dirt, finding that he had burned her tent and belongings. I started to track where he could have gone, then suddenly a growl from my right had me turning knife drawn for a fight. What I saw made me pause as fear pooled in my stomach, a young wolf stood snarling and snapping its jaws at me. It was all alone and far too close to get a shot at with my bow, the familiar time of that diseased dog I'd killed in town popped into my mind.