Free Alone: A collection of Short Stories by Tracy C Sallis

THE HUNTER

    The
attack was over in seconds. Aeva had barely lowered herself into a
squat in the undergrowth when she heard the shuffling nearby. She
held her trusty, sharp blade in her right hand, keeping her wrist
poised and ready to react the moment that it was needed. She shifted
position slightly, twisting to her left and leaning back into the
gnarled old tree trunk behind her.
    The sound grew closer,
stopping suddenly a few feet away. Aeva didn’t think, spotting
her chance and taking a single deep breath she twisted her body in a
single practised, smooth movement. Her arm extended, she slammed the
blade into the soil as her back scraped across the bark of the
trunk. The movement and power of her action was automatic, just as
it always was, and she knew instantly by the force she encountered
against her hand, that she had made her target.
    The creature hadn’t
had time to react or make a sound before its life ended. Aeva
lifted its lifeless body from the ground. A rat; she stared at the
dirty, rough fur in disgust, pulling her blade from the corpse and
wiping the blood on her leg. She wished there was more to hunt. Rat
meat was full of gristle, and tasted like old boot. One rat barely
fed two people, not like a nice deer.
    She knew that she was
wishing for the impossible. There had been hardly anything in the
forests or fields since the great storms. Game was hard to find.
Mostly she found rats, or the occasional rabbit. Anything
substantial had already been hunted to extinction.
    The storms had polluted
the rivers; destroying the fish population. Anything that was left
was inedible at best and in most cases poisonous. Only a few
creatures had survived the terrible rain and wind that had ravaged
the planet. Only a lucky few humans had managed to hide from the
years of ferocious lightning storms and the deeply cold winters.
That was years ago, but even now it was hard to survive without a
good harvest from anything that did manage to grow and the
occasional successful hunt.
    Aeva packed her catch
into her net bag with the other two skinny, ragged specimens that
she had managed to find. It had been a good day compared to her most
recent trips. For months she had barely managed a catch a day. Three
would feed at least a few children. She slipped her bag onto her
back and smiled. She may even be rewarded with some meat herself.

    ----------

    The
sun was going down, and she knew better than to be outside of the
safe confines of the village walls once it got dark. Aeva slipped
her knife into the leather strap on her leg, easily reachable if she
needed it, and turned to head back.
    The stories had been
drummed into her since she was a child herself. Of the rogues and
monsters that roamed outside in the night. Of creatures and people
who fed on any villager who dared to stray from the light, and of
the bodies of those who had tried to fight them. The stories said
that the rogues were inhuman and deadly. She had never seen any
herself, nor would she really want to. She much preferred the safety
of the firelight and her friends.
    Out of habit, Aeva
hadn’t travelled far to hunt. She knew the dangers of going
too far from the village and not being able to get back in time for
the gates to close. The villagers and guards would not allow the
gates to be open as the night began to reveal it's shadows. It would
be too easy for a rogue to slip in under their cover.
    Even with the short
distance, the walk was slow over the uneven ground. Her boots were
worn and softening on the soles, letting every stone and rock in the
soil make themselves known to her sore, blistered feet. Aeva ignored
the pain, used to it after hunting for the past two years. Besides,
she reminded herself, she was lucky to have boots at all.
    Leather was hard to get,
and took some serious trading to get enough for boots. She was
blessed with hardy clothing of wool pants and a warm jacket that
were tough and hard wearing. The material was a dull brown