Feral Heart by Duron Crejaro (distant reading .TXT) 📕

It has been a week since my encounter with the strange Wylder boy in the Old World. Only on occasion do thoughts of it haunt my waking mind. Also, mention of the girl taken, Gloria, have become all but a thing of the past. She was simply gone, and in the week that followed, several more students had been taken. Either during classes themselves, or during our lunch reprieve, but all taken nonetheless. Just yesterday a young man, unfamiliar to me, but sporting a jagged scar along his chin was taken. He put up quite the struggle in front of everyone, single handedly knocking three enforcers unconscious before he was finally subdued. The entire situation was a bit terrifying, the wondering who was next, could it, would it be me?

Training had ramped up considerably in our classes. The fundamentals were being pressed upon with due diligence for all of the various professions laid out in the reconstruction plan for Nashboro. I sighed as I sat through my medical classes, all this generalized learning, just to take a test that would determine the rest of my life. It hardly seemed fair. What if I didn’t like my chosen career? What if I was bad at it? So many what ifs and no answers to be had.

During lunch, conversation was terse at best. The repressive atmosphere seemed to be killing everyone’s desire to talk. We ate in a hushed silence, waiting for that moment when the enforcers would burst in. I groaned and finished off the goop that passed for spaghetti. “I don’t see the point in taking this physical education class.” I murmured in a low tone to my friends, “We all know I’ll never get stuck in any enforcer profession.” Cami was more sullen than usual today, and sat silently, poking at her food without bothering to look up.

Dhamon on the other hand was fully opinionated. “Are you kidding? You’d make an amazing enforcer.” His tone bleeding with over exuberance, “besides, that’s prolly the best class I’ve got. It’s so easy.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Cami perked up. Glancing over at the movement, I could see the rage plainly percolating just under the surface of her blank face as she set down her milk. Wait. Where did she get milk? They never served that. I had no time to ponder the strangeness of it, as she began to berate Dhamon in a most uncouth fashion, ignoring the stares her loud voice produced. “Yeah, being an enforcer would be so great huh Dhamon?” she began. “So you can haul off people you’ve known all your life? Just like Gloria? Remember her? To god fucking knows where? So people can experiment on them or whatever it is that happen to them when they taze them unconscious and drag them unwillingly from their friends and family and everything they’ve ever known?” She was practically spitting the words at him venomously.

It was a side of Cami that was very rarely seen, reserved only for the most grievous situations as far as she was concerned. With a resounding huff, she picked up the small carton of milk and chucked the remains at Dhamon, clipping him in the head before stalking off in her fit. As she stormed off, I could hear a muffled retort of what Dhamon I’m sure assumed to be a witty comeback. I however paid him no attention; I was to busy watching Cami. Rather I was watching around her. I rubbed my eyes, thinking maybe I was seeing things, but no, it was still there. Around Cami, there was something flitting around, a shimmering to the air, a fluctuation. I wasn’t quite sure how to describe it, but it most certainly was moving, and fast. It seemed to dart around her, and invisible apparition. I was confused, unsure if what I was seeing was real. So caught off guard by the apparition, I found myself standing to follow and make sure she was all right. The school had other ideas, for just then the lunch bell rang, forcing me to return my tray and prepare for my next class.

Unfortunately for me, the next class happened to be physical education. Which as I may have mentioned, I hate. I preferred to call it combatives, because aside from the strenuous exercise at the beginning, the class was really nothing more than a trumped up foray into the world of injuring another person. I think the main thing I hated about this class, was that it followed my lunch. Doing all this crap on a full stomach didn’t sit well with me, more than once I felt myself on the verge of tossing my cookies. Still in as much of a half-assed manner as I could manage, I went through the motions. I gave myself a reminder to ask Cami what was going on with her and her strange outburst in the cafeteria. Maybe something was bugging her I thought as I punched a heavy bag.

Another long dreary week had passed. Cami was still being tight lipped about whatever was bothering her, so I had let it hit the back burner for a while. Dhamon was oblivious, allowing himself to be caught up more and more with his studies. For my part, I found myself becoming more and more disinterested with learning. It seemed repetitive as the days went on. I felt much like the withering leaves as they fell from the tree leaving it bare. Like my mind was emptying, though I continued to be an unwitting, unwilling participant.

Feeling as I did, I relished in my free time. I continued to visit the Old World. Today, I was exploring a building unlike any I had ever seen before. The sign was mostly broken, large chunks had fallen away except for a few letters and a great cartoonish epitaph of a mouse’s head. Inside was strange. Despite the dust, mildew and overall signs of decay, I could tell right away that this had once upon a time been a place of joy and mirth. Strange contraptions littered the entire place; some were like my bicycle, meant to be ridden, in the image of cars, motorbikes and the like. Strange artificial looking guns, in outlandish colors adorned others. A worn rubber mallet stood affixed by a rope to a table covered in small holes. In the corner were several rows of wooden planked lanes, leading up to a small rise of a hill behind which numerous numbered holes had been placed.

Then across the way tucked into the corner, was a collection of tube-like things in the form of a maze, the winding turning paths of which culminated in a mesh enclosed put of hollow colored balls representing the entirety of the rainbow. Partitioned off to the side of the game filled arena were several long rows of benches and a stage. Barely clinging to life was a heavy purple curtain, drawn open. Skeletal robotic remains of the mouse adorning the sign outdoors stood robust on the stage holding an electric guitar. What I could only assume was his ragtag band of friends joined him on the stage.

I could see it all in my mind; the flashing lights, the whir of machines and the steady hum of music along with the delighted laughter of young children. It made me think of what the world was like back then, when humans could take time out to appreciate fun and enjoy life. Nowadays we were locked behind our walls, fearful of what was left in the world, hiding from that which was new or left behind. I shook my head in regret; we were doing little more than surviving.

I forced myself to turn away from the scene. As I made my way back outside, I knew right away that I had loitered to long within my thoughts. Dusk was already upon me, reaching out with its wraithlike fingers to take hold of the carcass of the Old World in its grasp. A sigh escaped me, I would arrive home late I knew, and questions would be asked. I always hated to lie to my parents, but they would have a conniption fit if they knew the truth.

As I walked at a quickened pace, my mind was racing, trying to come up with a story that would be believable enough that my parents wouldn’t question it much. I think this is the reason I got lost, I was distracted. At least this is what I told myself when I looked around and didn’t have a clue where I was. I could also blame it on the encroaching darkness. Everything always looks so different at night, it’s almost as if you’ve entered another world. With a mild groan I stopped, looking around. I was trying to get my bearings, and decide where I was when it happened. A baleful howl reverberated around me, echoing off the decaying walls of the buildings around me. Fear coursed through me instantly, rolling through my body; a thick wave, soul crushing in its certainty. The sound filled my stomach with a tepid pool of nausea, paralyzing my mind and body.

I spotted it almost right away, easily twice the size of the largest dog I had ever seen; not that I’ve seen many, only old pictures. Though there was only the one, I knew others were sure to be with it, a pack animal they called it. My skin crawled, hairs rising at the nape of my neck; I knew the ones I couldn’t see were watching me. Trying to ignore the fear, I forced my legs to propel me forward, despite their feeling like jelly. Based almost completely faded sunlight, I headed off towards the fence which I knew lay somewhere to the south of me. Soon however I was just trying to keep moving, without thought to the direction I was headed, a low guttural growl whispered though the darkness, a tremble rode it up my spine. Keep moving I thought, as I turned down an alley. Only halfway down it, did I look up and become mortified. I had cornered myself.

Ahead of me lay a rusted yet intact chain link fence, blocking the alleyway between the two buildings. I almost laughed at myself as I turned around. Almost. I backed up towards the rusted remains; the razor wire atop the fence seemed to be mocking me with a bloodied