Free Afterland by Masha Leyfer Page B

the woods where a ragged old board several centimeters thick leans against a tree approximately seventy meters away. In the center, a target is drawn in red paint. Emily pulls one of the bolts out of the bundle.
                  “First, you have to cock it. This one has a draw weight of fifty kilograms. That’s pretty heavy to cock manually, but most of ours have a lever. Watch.” She takes the lever at the back and pulls it toward herself. “As simple as that. You shoot like this.” She kneels, putting the elbow supporting the crossbow on her knee, props the back of the crossbow against her shoulder, breathes in, and releases the bolt on her breath out. It whistles through the air and lands smack in the center of the target.
    “Now you try. Cock it first.”
    I take the crossbow and pull the lever back.
    “Like this?”
    “Yep. take the bolt and put it here. Yeah, just like that. Now take a deep breath and press the trigger.”
    I prop the crossbow against my shoulder, trying to mimic Emily’s position, breath in and release. In the blink of an eye, the bolt crosses the distance and skims the right of the board. I am surprised at the power behind the shot. Even though Emily told me that it has a draw weight of fifty kilograms, I didn’t expect to feel all of them.              
    “It takes a lot of practice,” Emily says. “Try again. Keep your elbows at right angles.”
    I draw out another bolt, breathe in, and shoot again. My mind fills with dreams of hitting the board smack in the center and impressing everyone, but this time, it just barely lands on the right side of the board.
    “Not bad for the first time,” Emily reassures me. “We’ll work on it tomorrow. Keep this. I think it’ll be good for you. Remember to take the bolts out of the board.”
                  “Uhuh. Thank you,” I say.
                  “Thank you, Emily,” Rebekah says and then addresses me again. “We’re taking the snowshoes. You brought your own, I remember, yes? Get them now. And take the bolts out on the way into the woods. Go. Schnell , we do not have all day.”
    I go to get my snowshoes from my tent while Rebekah ducks into her own.
                  “This is your survival bag,” Rebekah says once we regroup. She shakes the small bag meaningfully. “You will need this. Be careful with it. Now get ready for the most important walk in your entire life.”
    I pull my snowshoes off of my backpack and Rebekah hands me the pouch.
    “Look inside. It has a fire-maker, three meters of rope, dry bark, a bottle and water-cleaner, a fishing hook and string, some basic medicine things, and a flare, for signaling.  Do not lose it and do not use anything that you can not reuse unless you have to. Keep it on you at all times. You never know when you will need it.” She leads me to the edge of the woods. “Follow me.”
                  We walk up to the board first. I pick up the bolt that missed the board and pull out the two that hit. They are surprisingly hard to pull out. I can see that they went almost all the way through.
                  “Impressive, yeah?” Rebekah says. “You can keep them in your backpack. Let us go.”
    Rebekah walks as if the snowshoes are an extension of her own legs. I trod awkwardly along behind her. I never considered myself too ungraceful nor did I realize how awkward I am in snowshoes, but I guess I just never saw elegance like Rebekah’s.
    The pine trees look even more massive from down here, standing in between them and looking up. They block out large patches of the sky, casting dark shadows across the snow covered ground. The snow absorbs most of the sound and everything is muffled. The wind sends hundreds of whispers through the pine needles. My breath forms little clouds in front of me. After we walk several minutes, Rebekah turns around and begins talking.
                  “If you ever