Prologue

A new world, that’s what he told them. In a bright room the six men watched this aging man, his once bright blue eyes faded from many years of hard work, his wrinkled face sagged just a bit. They knew that he had knowledge, they listened intently. 

"If we can save the people of the light the world will be a safer place. The world is filling with darkness, we need to diminish people’s rigid thoughts of war, their inability to see right from wrong. We need to rid of all weapons of war. I have spent my life assembling the many places around the world for the relocation,"

He pulls out a small round item and presses a small button on the surface of it. A map hovers in the air above the object.

" Here... here...here...and here," he says slowly as he points to small red dots on the map. " At this moment the walls are hidden from sight in heavily forested areas. So boys, what do you say we get the ships loaded up and off to their new homes. We'll need to fire up the memory replacement system. You boys have a good one" The man smiles and winks, then he starts out of the dome shaped room.

In the next four days, destruction strikes. Families are torn apart, they are placed with more "suited" matches, and all their memories are replaced with more harmonized ones. Their memories all tell a story of happiness. They tell them that they have lived within these walls their entire lives. They believe there is no other way to live, no weapons or even sharp edges on walls, buildings, anything. In this new place there are no dark color, the light colors Influence happiness and peace. With their new memories they are not even aware there are dark colors.

The ships carry millions of blonde and white haired people with blue eyes to the peaceful utopia hidden safely in the folds of a great curving wall.

 

As for every one else, the world fell apart. It went into destruction; civilization was not an option anymore.

Chapter 1

 I jumped down from my tree around sunrise. The main gangs have just finished marching around my part of the wall. I need to go catch my breakfast. First I pop my finger into my mouth and then put it to the wind, my dark hair falls into my face as the wind whips past me toward the east. If someone tries to sneak up on me from the northwest region, I will quickly catch their scent carried on the wind.

If that happens I'll climb up the nearest tree and blend. I've gotten quite good at climbing. I can climb virtually any tree in this forest. Thanks to my small body structure I can put my full weight on the smallest of branches, that is, if I stay close to the trunk of the tree. I have adapted well to the environment, which is all green or brown, and completely forested. There are small streams dotting the entire area, and they all join into a small slow moving river.

 Nature just seems to be a part of me. I am used to this area now it is very beautiful. There is only one thing out of place; The Wall. It's a tall, rusted, metal wall, just outside of the tree line. Nothing grows, or goes near it. There is about five feet between the tree line and the wall. The only people who go near are the big gangs that crave violence. They stalk the metal wall until they find an unsuspecting animal to prey on. But they don't only kill, they torture.

When you get caught up with them you will never escape. I have seen how they torture animals and people. I know first hand because I used to be one of them. It was a long time ago, I had actually grown up as one of them. They used to be different, nowhere near as violent as they are now, but they knew how to take care of themselves.

When I turned thirteen, I noticed how much everything had changed. When they caught, snibels, a small rabbit like animal with a tough outer shell, they no longer killed it and pulled it out of the shell, now they tortured it and ripped out of the shell so it shrieks as loud as a banshee. They say the meat is tenderer this way, but I had a dark feeling when things changed. So finally when they made a human being scream like this, I was pushed over the edge. I ran away.

Now I stare at the metal wall, there is something different about the spot I am looking at, but I can't put my finger on it. Suddenly, a hollow pain in my stomach tears my eyes away from the wall. I look into the forest in the direction of the river, time to catch me some breakfast, I grin and take off into the woods. 

I'm racing with the wind; my hair whips around my face.  I dodge out of the way of trees, jump into the air and hug my knees to my chest over a stump, duck under a branch, and finally I jerk to a stop. The slow moving river sits in front of me. I purposely came to the shallow part of the river, here you can reach your under the over hang of the bank and rub your hand on the belly of the fish. It calms and stuns the fish, then you can jerk your hand up and catch it.

I have to do this a lot to catch my food, now a days, fish are the easiest prey. I lean over on my stomach, the wet reeds start to soak through my shirt and cool my stomach, which is by now growling like a feral beast. I reach my hand down into the cool water, and under the over hang. My fingers search for the hard bumpy surface of the fish.

Animals have adapted now, there is a hard surface on them, or animals have the ability to change their color to blend with the environment. There are hybrids of the strangest animals. A deer porcupine, with its spines scratching the trees as it rubs up against them, a bird turtle that lives mostly in the water, there are too many to count.

Animals are not the only ones who have had to adapt, human's senses are immensely heightened. I am different than most, most people only have one heightened sense but I have four. I can tell exactly what an animal has eaten recently by tasting its tender meat. When I skim my fingers over a tree trunk I can feel if it’s hollow and what animals live inside of it. I can sniff out a Snibel from seven miles away. I can see in the dark, which also affects my sight in the light of day, but the worst quality I have, that I was just born with, is by far my curiosity. It gets the best of me every time, I just can't help myself.

I return from my daydream when I feel something in the water, something with curved, but sharp edges; it is definitely not a fish, I lean over and look into the water, I look at the place my hand rests, it looks like the regular sandy bottom of the river, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. I move my hand along it until I touch the muddy sand. Then I dig my hand into the sand and underneath the object to pull it out. I rip it from the water, as soon as it leaves the water it turns from the sandy river bottom color to the exact color of the soaking reeds. I need to get a look at it though, so I walk over to a pure black rock. I set it down and it frantically changes color, finally it settles for a navy blue color. It is a mussel, a huge one. I could have some for breakfast and then dry the rest of it for traveling. 

Suddenly, I can feel some ones presence; I raise my head and sniff the wind, nothing. They are standing down wind, I can't tell who it is but I'd say they are about a mile away. I have to check it out. I stick the mussel into A pouch at my side, and run. I look left and right until I turn around a tree, and WHAM!

Chapter 2

 

 

 I land with a thud on the ground. I look up to see what hit me; lying on the ground in front of me is a boy. He looks about my age; he has light brown hair and a fully sharpened knife at his side. I sit up and lean over his face. A small scar has settled just above his eyebrow. His features are etched so carefully, and then I look down. His arm is covered with white scars. It looks like it has been torn to shreds at one point in time.

Suddenly he starts to stir, I back away and leap behind a tree. The boy sits up and looks around frantically as I watch from my vantage point. All of a sudden our eyes meet, the boy leaps up and I press tightly against the tree. Slowly he creeps around, knife in hand, when finally he reaches where he can look into my eyes. I stand frozen in fear he glares at me and mutters through clenched teeth,

"Who are you and what gang are you from?"

I raise my eyebrows, somehow I recognize this boy, I have seen him, and I have met him before. A memory flashes into my mind, a bloodcurdling scream rattling my bones. My legs go limp and I fall to my knees. My eyes drift to the sky and I fall on my back. The boy leans over me, and then everything goes dark. 

I am engulfed in memory; Images flood close to me but slip away before I can comprehend them. Memories of the old gang I was in, of screams, I see myself running as fast as I can, and the boys face. Why do I see his face? Something was different about him though. Just above his eyebrow where the scar had been now rests a ruby cut and warm blood trickles down his face. His hair is still the same length, just above his eyebrows, and his face, his face is not as defined. It is rounder, and he looks younger.

Where are these images coming from? 

Finally the daylight creeps back in to my eyes. I don't know where I am or how long I have been here, but the first thing I notice is that there are tightly woven straw walls surrounding me. I could easily escape by simply punching through the straw. Above my head are thick brown roots, light seeps through small cracks between them. I sit up; I am lying on a rug in a small room. The boy is facing a way from me at my feet. He is lying on his side and I can't tell if he is asleep or not. I start to my feet, but immediately he bolts up and grips his knife. 

I step back and ease back onto the ground.

"It's okay I am not going to do anything," I say in a calming tone. He relaxes and sits back down also.

"Why did you take me here?" I ask.

"Because I didn't know what else to do, it's not like I am some savage," He replies.

"But aren't you a savage?" I ask "most everyone is by now." 

"Well unlike those vicious blood suckers, I don't torture and kill human beings," He glares at me for my comment.

"What do YOU know about those gangs!?" I snap back at him. This mere imbecile couldn’t possibly know what the gangs where like. He wouldn't know their full potential. The only people who really know are the other gang members and their victims, but the victims don't live to tell the tale.

He lifts his arm so I can see it, "This is what I know about them." 

My eyes widen, a sudden realization hits me like a bolt of lightning. It all makes sense now, the screams, the running, this boy, the gang. I ran away when they tortured this boy. I thought this boy had certainly been killed. 

"It's you! You’re the boy that my gang tortured! You got away? How?"  He rises to his feet and takes the knife out of the shaft again.

"I knew it, you are part of that gang! Your gang tortured me! They ruined me! They ruined my life!" 

"No, no you have the wrong idea," He slowly approaches me. Why did I have to say anything! I feel so stupid! "You are the reason I actually left, I ran away because of you!" I stumble over my words and hit against the wall, parts of it break and fall down the back my shirt, making me shiver. “I-I should be thanking you! Please...Please just listen!" I plead and my eyes grow blurry. I have to make a move now if I want to get out of here. I devise a plan in my mind, I will punch a hole in the wall and rip my way through as fast as I can, Then I will run. I will run faster than I have ever run before.

"Did you just thank me?" He looks at me, puzzled. He falls into sitting position and puts his head in his hands. “You don't know what they did to me do you? You don't know what they did to my sister."

I slowly sit back down, a second ago he tried to kill me, Why would he now be sitting here like a helpless animal? I ponder this question and finally get the nerve to look into his eyes and ask, "How- how did you get away?"

He looks up and I suddenly am aware his piercing green eyes, I haven't the slightest idea why, but I blush. Thankfully he looks away to adjust into a more comfortable position. 

"Should I start where I got away, or where it all began?" He looks at me with a hint of a smile.

"I guess where it all started." I reply timidly and mildly confused due to the sudden shift in mood.

"Me and my little sister, Anna, belonged to a gang, ever since we were little they took us in, fed us, clothed us, what ever we needed for survival. The gang had no heightened senses whatsoever, and to be in the gang, well, the only requirement is that you are not better than anybody else. They believed in equality, which is understandable. But then we discovered that Anna had abilities. She could scout out prey from a mile away, and her hearing-she couldn't sleep at night because the night sounds were blasting in her ears. When she did sleep her hearing sense heightened so she would wake up screaming from noises of torture miles away. That kind of thing is noticed in small gangs like that, so they found out about her senses. The gang decided they would kill us both in our sleep. Fortunately Anna over heard their plan and we escaped. We ran as far as we could, then we reached the wall. It scared us at first, but soon it became familiar. We built this place and it became our new home. She finally could sleep soundly because we built the walls two feet thick, they can block any and all noises. She refused to sleep anywhere but on that rug," he gestures to what I'm sitting on and I look down then back up at him.

"Would you like me to move? Cause I can" I try to say while not showing my hopes of breaking through the straw walls diminishing.

"Nah, it's nice to see it being used" He shoots a smile at me, this boy seems so different from the boy I met a couple of minutes ago.

"Then it all started to go wrong," he continues his story," one day we were hunting, but we weren't the only ones. The gang found us right by the wall and they dragged us back to their camp where there where more of them. Anna tried to run away several times but a man held her by the hair and he tore her back, stealing clumps of blonde hair every time. She screamed and screamed, but I couldn't get to her. I couldn't help her. I tried several times, but every time I was beaten by their strength. At one moment the man holding me loosened his grip, I took the chance and bolted up. My head nocked his chin and he fell over. I ran to Anna, knocking away as many people as I could, but there were too many men. They got angry and punished me. That’s how I got this." He holds up his arm for me to see then continues the story, “When they were finished with their artwork, they grabbed Anna, they did something unthinkable, there was a rope hanging down from over the wall. They tied her hands to the rope and flung her now frail body over the wall." The boy looks down at his hands and I watch a single tear roll down his cheek and fall into his palm.

"Did you try to find her? I ask in a hushed tone.

"Of course I tried. I still am trying. All of the trees are too far from the wall, and the wall is too high for me to get a rope over it. I have no idea how they got that other magical rope over there. I tried to go back to that rope but it was gone, it had disappeared. Presto!

I lye awake watching the stars in between some cracks in the roots above me, I wonder what happened to his sister? How did they get the rope over the wall? Why would they throw a small girl over the wall like that?

What is beyond the wall? 

The last question echoes over and over in my head. I have a sudden feeling that I have to figure this entire mystery out. Why haven't I heard about anybody being insecure and unsure about the wall? How had it even gotten there? Why would someone want to put a wall there? Was it to keep somebody out, or is someone keeping something in? 

I look up at Caleb, he had finally told me his name right before I retired to Anna's rug. He looks to be asleep, I guess I better turn in, too.

chapter 3

Caleb and I race through the forest, I dodge around the trees easily, but he stays in the clearing, along the stream. I duck underneath a pine branch that’s reaching towards the ground and drag my hand along the nearly black dirt for half a second. Its been a month since I met Caleb an we haven't been apart since. We are like two peas in a pod, the perfect team. My quiver of arrows bounces on my back and I hold my bow in my hand. Caleb carries two swords, ready to fight.

We probably look quite threatening, running through the forest like this, but its necessary, we have to be ready to strike. We have had good hunting all week, I can smell a hint of sharp winter on the autumn breeze, porcupine squirrels are gathering nuts and seeds like mad. If we are swift and quiet we can catch them in action.

A squirel scampers through the leaves in front of me. I freeze and caleb stops too. The squirrel stops right in my path and picks up a nut off the ground. It glances around and sees me. I swiftly raise my bow but its too late, it has all ready started up the tree. I follow the squirrel and let the string of my bow snap. The arrow spins in the air and strikes the squirrel's small body. 

"Well, that worked," Caleb smirks and walks past me towards the tree, I laugh and follow.

I eye my arrow at the very top of the tree, sticking out of the side of a porcupine squirrel. Caleb treads over to the base of the evergreen and squints up at it,

"Allright, go get it," he says in a playful tone. I smirk at him and start towards the tree. Its a huge sprawled out evergreen and it has a limited number of branches that are any where but near me. I quickly walk around the tree and find a branch closer to the ground. I stand on my tippy toes and my finger tips barely brush it. I crouch down low and then jump up to the first branch. I turn so that I have a hand on each sides of the branch, then I wrap my legs around it and twist myself so I’m right side up. finally I stand up and balance on the branch, "Well that was easy" I say to myself. I look at the next branch, It is to my left, much too far and high to grab and the only way to reach it will be to jump. I take a deep breath and leap from the branch with my arms out stretched and ready to grab the next branch. My hands hit the branch hard and I use my momentum to swing all the way around the branch and straddle it. I smile down at Caleb, while he chuckles and crosses his arms over his chest.

            I look back up at the squirrel, then quickly grab pull myself up the next branch. I look back down at Caleb who has sat down against the tree with his legs spread out. A smile itches at the corner of my moth and I quickly reach my arrow and throw it down at him. It lands in the leaves with a crunch and he jumps a little then looks up at me with a smile, I can help but grin in return and quickly get to the ground. He holds up the arrow for me to see and puts his arm aaround my shoulder and I lean into him.

“ we’re eat’n good tonight”

“ your welcome,” I sarcastically boast.

We talk as positively as we can but really this little squirrel is hardly a morsel. Food has been pretty scarce this autumn. Its been hard to fare for two of us, but at the same time its been nice finally not feeling lonely. His company is better than anything I could’ve imagined. Just not having to walk by myself back home is amazing. I get to walk right next to his, feel his warmth, I wrap my arms across his chest and feel his lungs going up and down. I close my eyes for a moment and just list, I listen to the crunch of leaves beaneath our feet, I listen to the soft breeze carrying the sharp clean air of winter, I listen to Caleb at my side to his steady breathing.

 suddenly feel him lean down and kiss the top of my head. A sudden heat bursts from the top of my head to my toes. It takes my breath away, once the heat is gone I just want it back, I look up at his face staring off into the distance. I stare up at him, my gaze settles in his eyes and I feel like I’m getting lost in them. His eyes are so mesmerizing,  they make me think of a mountain in the summer time, that perfect shade of forest green with flecks of brown where the trees would be, I scan his face looking at his sandy brown hair, then his lips. I remember the warmth that I had felt just moments ago. I feel a strange longing for them to meet mine. I know it would be wrong though. He thinks of me as a sister, I filled a hole in his heart where his sister one was, as much as I long for something more, that’s the only way he could think of me.

 

 

 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 01.05.2013

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