Aki had taken the cure. Of course unlike the millions of other people, he left to hide in the Taiga biomes in northern Canada. It was a cold and lonely existence. The food shortage in the winter was the worst. But Aki enjoyed the challenge. He had befriended the wolves. They had taught him much over the years. At first he could hardly keep up with them, but now he outran the best of them. Sometimes they even brought him news. Aki lost track of time. He had become an efficient survivor.
Sometimes he stumbled upon civilization. The people at first were normal everyday people, some running from some thing others or trying to build life. But doing that here was not easy. Sometimes they lived, other times they perished. But he knew one thing for sure. The cure had been banned .
The city had been built at the edge of the forest. It was new and shiny, the city had been built in a number of days, erecting giant skyscrapers quickly and efficiently. He knew then that he had been gone from civilization for perhaps hundreds of years.
They came from him. They probably thought of him as some escaped convict. The annoying thing was that they seem to know exactly what area he was in. He was on the branch of a tree over looking the clearing. They were gathered below him. They wore strange clothes, it was black and tight fitting. The helmets they wore were shaped like American football helmets. The each a floating ball next to their heads.
They seemed to be setting up camp, he had made them chase him fro several days. Everything he did they reacted to faster than he thought. It shouldn’t be possible. There was no way they could find him, but they were getting close. They would catch him eventually if he didn’t do something.
The group chasing him split up. Each one going in a different direction, there was twenty seven of them. He chose at random.
He let out a howl. The wolves called back to him. He asked them for help. He followed his target for a couple of hours. He kept to the trees. The target seemed to be going in circles. Never getting far from one of its comrades. After a while Aki felt he needed to move before they continued this farce. The leader of the pack, Eaton was a giant of a wolves, his grey fur covered with scars. He told Eaton and the pack to circle the target. Aki stepped out in front of the target.
The target lifted his weapon and aimed at Aki, but he was a fractional too slow. Aki had thrown the axe it firmly embedded in the arm of the target. Aki sprang forward took the weapon and smashed it in the helmet of the target. It fell quickly.
Aki picked up the target and ran alongside the pack. He took the now unconscious person and took them to one of his underground hideouts. The place was comfortable. Or at least as comfortable as he could make it. He put the person down on the floor and removed the persons helmet. It was a woman. She was bald but it was woman. He continued to strip her. he couldn’t trust her clothes so he burned them. He needed information. He wrapped her in deer skin and chained her to the bed.
Aki went out to the wolves. He told them what he planned to do. Talking to wolves was harder than it seemed, he didn’t know how long it had taken him to learn their language. But the wolves came to him when injured or sick. It was a sort of alliance. They respected him and brought him food and news, in exchange he provided warmth and protection for their young. Because of him the wolves prospered.
Their language was all about how you moved your body, the direction in which you faced, the way you talked.
They left him to himself. He went to hunting. When he returned the woman was awake. She had a good face, smooth white skin. But her eyes, they were strange. They were a mix of electric blue and midnight black. She stared at him. Not opening her mouth. He ignored her and started to cook the meat Once he was finished, he gave her a piece in the makeshift bowl and began eating.
She looked at the bowl, disgust was evident on her face. He smiled at that. She then flipped the bowl over spilling the contents all over the floor. He stopped smiling and quickly threw one of his knifes at her. It cutting her check in a line horizontally. She yelped and put her hand to her cheek. Touching the blood pouring out of there. She looked at him shock on her evident on her face.
“ Do that again, and I wont miss next time” he told her. Picking up the bowl and the food on the floor. “ now” he said sitting in front of her.
Vernal Jackson was sat in his tent. He tapped his foot repeatedly. He was not a man use to hearing bad news. His commander had told him it would be a simple missions. Finding the immortal had been easy, capturing him had not been. Every day he lost more and more men. They had told him that the man had been a hermit. This man was no mere hermit. All immortals were was trouble.
Jackson sighed and tapped the button his collapsible desk. “ Miles tell me you have good news”
Miles stepped into the tent, his big frame taking up a ot of space. For a man so large and flat faced Miles voice was comically high.
“Sorry sir, the last place we spotted him was near the mountains.” Miles was not a sloppy worker and he had asked several times to go fin the immortal personally. Jackson massaged his head. This was turning into the mission from hell. The wolves were terrorising the camps at night, anyone they found wondering out alone would be found several days later. His request for back up was constantly ignored. He feared the worst. Things couldn't get any worse.
“Sir, they sent us finders” Miles said, he waited a moment, and Jackson couldn’t believe it.
“No, please tell me they didn't” Jackson moaned. He hated showing emotion in front of his officers.
“She is already here sir.” Miles said coldly, Jackson could hear the barely contained anger in his voice.
Jackson stood, straightening his combat suit. Jackson followed Miles through the temporary encampment. The camp tents were made of a black material, smooth and silky but strong as steel.
The men were gathered around outside each tent. Some polishing their weapons and others were sparing with one another. A few kept watch in a rotation. The Taiga biomes had gotten over grown, no one needed to use trees any more. The forest now spread almost all over Canada. There were few places the forest didn’t reach.
They got to the clearing. A smooth black helicopter had landed, it had made almost zero noise. It was a new model. It had two circle's for wings. Which allowed them to move silently and quickly over large distances.
Next to the Helicopter stood a woman, tall and slim. She was dressed in the deep navy blue suit. Her features sharp and hawkish. Her assistant was a greying man. A slight limp was noticeable as he walked towards them. The woman trailing gracefully behind him.
They meet near the tracking station. Jackson upturned one hand and place the other on his forward. The customary greeting for superiors. The man returned the greeting, the woman simply nodded upwards.
“Salaam Captain ignis mon.” the old man said
“ Salaam Captain junior” Jackson replied emotionless. He needed to get ride of these bureaucrats.
“ You have been failing the conclave” Junior said his Steele blue eyes piercing. An old soldier
retired and now sold his knowledge. Jackson hated such men.
“ I would not be here if I had” Jackson said “ Captain”
The woman had wondered around the camp. She looked around the camp, her face showed no expression. Jackson could almost feel the disappointment in her.
“ How hard is it to catch one immortal captain ignis, so far you have lost four of your men” Junior sneered with disgust “ its like your an ”
“ Calm junior, there is no need for disrespect.” The woman said She focused her attention on Jackson now
“ Tell me, why are the finders here” Jackson said
“ Truthfully Captain, it is in my interest you complete this mission”
Jackson sighed, Finders were the elite class. They were tasked with finding genetically altered humans. They were the only Human allowed to alter their genetics. All others were their prey. But they came with their own sets of problems. Insubordination and the inability of normal soldiers to keep up with them made them hard to control. Giving orders to someone who could snap you in half was not healthy.
Jackson accepted her help. Not that he had a choice. He was a practical man. With the help of the finders, this would end quickly. He hoped.
Aki sat across the woman. She had refused to speak. Five Helmets lay between them. He scratched his overgrown beard. His dreadlocks had started to bother him lately. He found that immortality suited him. Most would have gone mad with boredom. But Aki always found enjoyment in the little things. Like the woman’s stubbornness. He smiled a wolves smile.
“ You do know I don’t age” Aki said, his voice had been out of use for a long time. “ So technically I could keep you here to you become an old woman.” She flinched at each word. He knew that she understood English.
“ Your friends out there would never find you” He told her, he started to juggle his knives. “ They could become my prey, how many do you think it will take before they leave you here forever.”
She had kept her face straight and hard as stone this time. Good on her. Aki enjoyed baiting her. She had started to eat and drink at least. That was the most he could get out of her for now. He left the underground lair. Aki moved through the familiar trees until he got to the lake. As he drank from the clean water of the lake, a Wolfe trotted next to him. It was a young one. Mud Aki called him, Wolf’s didn't give themselves names. The wolf told him something was cutting down trees and killing the forest. Aki could feel the fear in the wolf's behaviour. This was bad. When a wolf was afraid Aki knew things were bad. The black clouds rose in the direction of the Camp.
Aki told him to gather the pack. Aki ran in the direction that the humans had made camp in. He had though of this as a game before, they evidently did not agree. If these people decided to burn down the forest he couldn’t stop them. What he could do however was contain the destruction. And make them pay.