Untitled - Chapter 3 - Above the Clouds - Seg.1

{segment 1 of chapter 3 - Garn}1

The enemy troop doesn’t waste any time once they realise Sasher is stalling them. They scatter in amongst us haphazardly, cutting down anyone in their path. What’s the point in killing us? Perhaps they want to eat us. I’ve heard of troops who’ve become that savage, but I never actually believed it. Avalia and I do nothing but stand and watch for a few seconds; for now we’ve been overlooked because we’re outside the main pack. But it’s not long before a rabid man, foaming at the mouth sees us and attacks Avi. I guess he didn’t like his chances better against me.2

I step in front of the girl and he thrusts his knife through the knot of chains between my wrists accidentally. Using his own momentum I pull him forwards and to my side, whacking him on the back. He makes a satisfying ‘oof’ sound as he hits the ground and I kick him in the head just to make sure he doesn’t get up for a while. I spin around and find that Avi already has another two attackers. I let her fight the woman; it wouldn’t feel right if I did. I loop my chains around the guy’s neck and kick him twice in the stomach before twisting the chains just enough to break his neck. He goes down.3

Avi’s shoulder has a shallow slit in it now but she manages to stab the crazed woman upward beneath the ribs. It’s a strange sight because Avi looks so delicate in comparison to the solid woman. Never underestimate Outsiders.4

The next thing I know, four people have decided to attack me at once. I flick the end of my chain at their eyes and attack them with my feet and elbows until they hit the ground. I take someone’s knife and throw it through their skull, which is awkward when my hands are tied. Kneeing the last one in the stomach, I break his neck on his way down. Spinning around, I find some old guy has a knife to Avi’s throat. He grins, showing only two crooked teeth. I hesitate for a moment, but I quickly take a knife from the woman trying to attack me from behind and throw it at the guy’s head. 5

Avalia seems to understand that I’m not into fighting chicks and wordlessly takes my attacker for me. Her coat is on the ground now and the cut on her shoulder has bled in little zigzags. Out of the corner of my eye I see a man throwing a long blade at her while she’s busy with the woman; I lunge to catch it in my chains. Instead of slicing through, it rebounds off and falls to the ground, so I pick it up. I hold what looks like a sabre with both hands for balance, and the man and I run at each other. I leap over a victim crawling in the dirt and land just as our blades meet with a thin ringing sound. It seems he had a set of two identical blades.6

We spar for a minute, but he has the upper hand due to experience with these sabres and due to the fact that he can strike wildly with just one arm, leaving the other free. He moves forward suddenly and slashes horizontally, missing me by centimetres. I take a hasty step back and trip over something, so I use the movement to flip myself backward so that I’m directly beside our campfire. He foolishly follows and lands on his own sabre blade. I spin, ready for more.7

“Stop right there.” I turn to face the thin man from the hill, who is smugly aiming a gun at me over the fire. 8

“You have a gun,” I say, surprised. I wish I had been allowed to bring one of my own. “Better be careful,” I say. “Bullets only last so long. You’d better not waste any.”9

“Exactly,” he replies, cocking the weapon. “Don’t make me waste this one.”10

I look around me and realise the area is silent. We lost so quickly I didn't even see it happen. The soft ground is churned and littered with bodies. There is only a dozen of my troop still alive, and the ones that are this fortunate are kneeling in the dirt in a line with their wrists bound with straggly rope. I look at the gun holder who seems to be the enemy leader. I can’t escape no matter what I do. He will kill me. Submitting, I kneel where I am between Avi and Sasher. The campfire is so close, the heat radiating off of it is burning my face. The thin man looks pleased and lowers his weapon.11

“So,” he begins, “you started off with 22 and now you’re down to 13. That’s a lucky number, you know.”12

Sasher spits blood on the ground in front of him. “Lucky for whom?”13

The man looks at him briefly and laughs. “You know, what bothers me,” he says, ignoring the question, “is that we started off with 58 and now we’re down to 28. Now, how can that be?”14

I glance at Sasher beside me and we exchange a look of immediate respect in the knowledge that we both killed about ten, and that the rest of the troop only killed ten collectively. 15

Good ole’ Sasher. After spending such a short time with them I’m already beginning to like this troop. If things get too ugly here I’ll have to fly. But what about Avalia? I sense her on my other side. I could take her with me, but what would she say if she knew what I am? And she would resent me from taking her away and not saving her family. Besides, she may not even be the person my farfetched suspicions say she is. Then what would I do? Abandon her?16

I can’t just leave her here with these cannibals. And they’re cannibals for certain, I realise, as the enemy leader explains to each of his prisoners why he’s not going to eat them. In the next minute or so I have to think of a plan. 17