-Kora-
"don't you dare come any closer!" I snapped at the man before me, holding the arrow in my hand up as a weapon.
He reacted just as quickly and drew his pistol, pointing it at me. I froze thinking he would shoot me but he just held his ground. "woah now…thats, quite a dangerous blade your holdin there girly…Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you, put the poison arrow down lass."
Poison? I glanced at the arrowhead seeing it had an unnatural glossy black shimmer. If he's worried about the poison that means I wouldn't even need a fatal stab with this in order to kill him. The arrow was the only weapon I needed. But I'm still at a major disadvantage considering he could shoot me before I get close enough. Trying to draw my gun now will just get me killed, he'll shoot me before I even grab it.
I stood my ground and eyed his moments, ready to rush him if needed. He took note of this and glanced between me and his gun. "Hey now I don't know what you're thinking but fighting will only end badly for both of us…a gunshot will draw every savage native in the area. I'm not gonna shoot you, so I'd appreciate it if you drop your arrow."
"that's not happening… I'm not stupid, I know I shouldn't trust you, only convicts who commit horrible crimes are sent down here… that means you could've been a murderer up on krosa and you could still be a murderer now."
"hmm true, but that also means you could be a murderer and i'm not so sure i'm willing to take that chance with that arrow in your hands. A simple graze from that could kill a man in just a few hours…but im also not keen on the idea of shooting you and drawing the savages this way."
We both stood there in a standstill and I struggled to come up with any ways out of this. "What do you want?" He seemed a little surprised by my question as he lowered his hands.
"I'm just looking for my partner, that's it… We were both sent out here but got separated by some natives, I've been a bit lost since… you see he was the only one with a map of this area."
"sent out here?" I looked at him skeptical and he smiled.
"Yes, by our camp leader. You must be that new fallen from a week or so ago… im impressed you've made it this long on your own, we thought you might've kicked the bucket already!"
Camp? We? How many convicts are there living down here!? He smiled even more at my shocked expression. "You're wondering what I meant by we, aren't ya. Well the truth is most of us fallen have banded together to form a camp, we've got food, shelter, protection from the natives and wild animals out here, everything. We all work together to survive this hellhole… "
My mind was reeling with even more questions than before. They have an entire camp…i lowered my arrow but kept a close eye on the man before me as he also lowered his gun.
"what's your name girly…"
"Kora…"
"ah Well kora, I'll tell you what, if we could find my partner all three of us could go back to camp and you could join our group! You ain't gotta worry about no filthy savages or starving out here in the forest! Seth –our leader– will take real good care of you! How does that sound?"
I stared at the man skeptical and relaxed a bit. "sure…"
"great! We just gotta find Benny boy then head back to camp… You wouldn't happen to have seen him around her, have ya?"
"Sorry to say but I think your partner is dead. Saw him get chased down by a couple of natives a few days ago… He didn't make it. There was nothing I could do…"
The man's mood soured as he cursed to himself. "Well that there's gonna be a problem, without bennys map we are gonna be stuck out here…not to mention it'll be night in a few hours and I'm not looking forward to sleeping out here again."
He's looking for a map?… Digging through my bag I pulled out the notebook. "Is this perhaps the map you need?"
The guy's eyes lit up at the sight of it as he stepped closer. "It is In fact!" He took the book from my hand and flipped it open to the map. "perfect! Now we can get back to camp, And out of this fucking forest. But not tonight we will have to do so in the morning, it's too dangerous to travel in the dark. We stick out too much compared to those savages they blend in with the dark making it harder to see. You wouldn't happen to know where any shelter might be, would you?"
I nodded and started leading him back to my cave, as we walked he noticed the markings I made in the trees to find my way around, and complimented me on that idea.
"surprised you've managed to survive out here this long, most folk don't last long or learn fast enough to survive."
"I lived in the slums of the red zone so I'm used to living off scraps…"
"ah but the forest is a bit different from the concrete and glass buildings isn't it? Forest has rules that everyone must abide by…"
I looked over at the man as we walked, curious. "What do you mean by rules?"
"Well one rule is avoid the natives, they aren't fond of humans and often hunt us down if they get the chance… Those savages are worse than any of the psychopaths that are around here. Especially at night, their dark skin makes them nearly invisible in the shadows of the forest, and that's when they are most dangerous, we tend to stay inside while it's dark out because most of us hand lighter skin and are easy targets not just for those savages but for any bloodthirsty creature prowling in the dark!"
I stayed silent and listened closely to what he was saying. I already knew how dangerous it was at night but I didn't think my skin color stuck out that much…maybe I should make a cloak or something out of some furs in case I ever get caught outside at night again?
"As for the other rules it's mostly just keep away from the north river, stay out of any savage territories! Make sure not to make a bunch of noise, don't eat or fuck with any fruits or plants that are brightly colored, stuff like that!"
As he went on, a thought came to mind. "If the savages are so bad, why and how does your partner know so much of their language? He has a few pages filled with translations in the notebook."
He merely scoffed and shrugged nonchalantly. "that buffoon had managed to come across a couple of savages who weren't as hostile as the others, they ended up trying to communicate and that idiot traded them some rope in exchange for dumb pots and shit. Benny was a fool; he thought it was possible to get along with them. I'm not even surprised he got his ass hunted down and gutted by the savages in the end."
My opinion of this guy soured just hearing the way he was talking about his partner, it was clear he didn't care about the poor dude and didn't seem all that bothered by the fact he died. Is his entire camp like this? Are they all living on the idea of fending for yourself?
Maybe going back with him isn't such a great idea… But staying out here alone isn't ideal either. I have no food source yet, no proper weapons or tools, I still don't know much about the forest… My chances out here are slim. But in a group I'll at least have some sense of safety…right?
Soon enough we arrived back at my cave and I revealed the entrance to let the convict in. "ah so this is where you've been, not bad, making use out of one of those savages hunting caves. They usually only use these during the winter."
"a hunting cave?" I glanced around at everything before setting my bag down and sitting next to the fire. That makes more sense as to why this place seemed abandoned. It's merely a temporary shelter. There must be more of them all over the forest.
The man inspected the tools and pots before quickly growing bored. He didn't seem to find anything I had interesting.
"So why are you carrying around a single arrow anyway?"
"I thought I could make myself a bow so hunt with… I haven't really been able to get any proper food out here."
He was silent as he walked around before sitting across the fire from me and getting comfortable on my furrs. "Well tomorrow morning you can say bye to this bloody forest and won't have to worry about food ever again…"
He smiled before leaning back and laying on the furs. I eyed him suspiciously before adding some sticks to bring the fire back to life. Silence filled the small cave as I warmed my hands by the flames and the smoke funneled up to a makeshift very in the ceiling.
"So why we're you guys sent out here? Don't exactly seem prepared to stay long nor do you even know the area, what could possibly have you wandering around blindly out here?"
"well…that's a bit complicated you see. We have some, uh what do you call em… Sponsors so to speak, up on krosa they give us supplies in return for our services down here!"
I should've known that krosa handsome kind of contact with people down here. Knowledge about xanadis is sparse among the populace and I had my doubts that they were sharing everything with commoners. But even some of the things they did share seemed odd. It didn't make sense that they'd learn all that stuff just from the transmitter pens given to us. Because I doubt many convicts use them…
"What kind of services do you provide? I'm guessing That's how you obtained the gun and the rest of your gear?"
"y-yes…they send us pods full of supplies if we give them what they want… Such as scouting out territory or uh… Spying on the natives!"
"I see…"
"Well it's getting late, we should probably rest! We have a distance to travel in the morning…i'm gonna take a piss first..."
"right…" I laid out my blanket and set my bag down to use as a pillow, making sure that the pistol inside was loaded while he wasn't looking. "in the morning i'll see if I can find some water for us before we head out…"
"sounds good to me!" he exclaimed before getting up to go relieve himself by the entrance.
I laid down, turning away from the man, not wanting to watch him as he did his business and I tried to get some sleep, closing my eyes.
After a few moments I could hear him walking back over and something felt off as I sensed him standing behind me and my eyes shot open.
"I forgot to mention something…there's another rule that all creatures have to abide by in this forest…" he said darkly.
There was a sound of a single click before he spoke once more.
"you really shouldn't trust anyone…"
Then a gunshot rang out through the quiet of the forest.