Our Species

Chapter 6.

I had told Branch about Steven's sister Madeleine, he had said nothing and walked off to sit on the sofa with his head in his hands, like he always does when he's thinking very hard. He sat there all day, and drank nor ate nothing, and it gave me a chance to look at him properly; I hadn't in a while. I lay on my back with my head in the direction of the sofa, so I could see Branch's face while it was bowed in concentration. He didn't react to my odd position, and just stayed focused in his own world. He had straight, soft dark hair that was spiky and never lay flat, he was tall and had long limbs, perfect full lips, chocolate brown eyes and thick dark eyebrows. Most people would say too thick, but I didn't care, he was mine.

I wriggled out from my position and stood up to go and talk to Ryan in the kitchen, because Judith was yet again out hunting. When I entered the kitchen, I saw our chopping board hanging up on the wall with countless knife marks in it, but mostly in the same area, directly in the middle. Ryan was sitting on the bench on the opposite side of the kitchen, which was a few metres from the chopping board. It looked almost too easy for him.

'You may want to challenge yourself a bit more,' I said quietly, closing the kitchen door.

'I already have, I can hit targets accurately from a mile away, and I've never thought of a good reason or point to try from further,' he replied, throwing his knife again, and hitting the chopping board directly in the middle.

'Why do you sit and do this then?'

'It keeps me occupied, I get very easily bored and could end up killing someone.'

'...well...that wouldn't be good, would it?' I joked badly.

'Nope.'

I was terrible at making conversation, so I decided to be blunt.

'Can you tell me a bit more about yourself? I hate not knowing anything about people kinda staying in my own house.'

'Oh. Erm...my second name is Callum. I've always had an unhealthy obsession and unnatural talent with knives. My parents kicked me out when I was 15, and I've been wandering around ever since. Practicing. I hate my parents, and other Normalies, and they hate me. That's why I accepted the offer to get revenge immediately,' Ryan explained, in an extremely bored voice, throwing the knife the whole time.

'Delightful. I'm glad Branch found you,' I murmured blankly.

'So am I. Are you done interrogating me, then?' he said, without looking at me.

'Yes ... I'll leave you be ...' I left the kitchen, walked over to the sofa and collapsed down on it next to Branch, who was still in his own world. I leaned my head on his shoulder, he didn't shift me off, so I decided to doze.

When I woke up, the fire was blazing again and Branch was dozing on my shoulder too. I needed to get out into the fresh air, so I thought of the excuse to go search for Judith.

'Hey, Branch,' I whispered jerking his shoulder gently.

'Huh?' he groaned sleepily.

'I'm going to look for Judith, she's been gone a long time, and we need her.'

'Yeah yeah fine, just be warned I'm coming to look for YOU if you're not back after 3 hours.'

'I promise I will be, just go back to dozing, I'll be back.' That was Branch's only flaw, he was extremely overprotective, to the point where it became violent. Sometimes it was far too much for me. I left for the front door, summoning a coat with my mind as I went.

The sky had darkened, and light rain had started to dampen the soft grass. I pulled my hood up and listened intently to my surroundings. Nothing but the wind. I shut my eyes and concentrated on the tallest mountain I could see from my house, about a mile away. I felt nothingness and then opened my eyes again, seeing I had arrived on my destination. I now had a much better view of the wide area. I scanned the fields below with my abnormally keen eyesight. I had spotted two figures in the smallest field to the far right, one figure looked considerably smaller than the other, and the other was backing away. I transported to a field a bit closer, so I could hear them more clearly.

'Wai-WAIT! What ARE you?! Stop! STOP!!' It was a deep voice, a man's.

Judith said nothing, and edged closer to the man, who was pressed up against the wired fence. His fingers fumbled against the wires in panic. 'Help! HELP!!' he bellowed.

I wanted to help, so very badly, but letting her eat whoever she deemed fit was part of the agreement. With a start I recognised the man's voice, it was Farmer Bill who lived on the farm a few miles away from me and Branch. Shame, he was a very friendly man. Judith still edged closer, and I thought I saw a grin spread on her face.

'Don't worry, I'll make it as painless as possible,' she soothed. She leapt onto him very suddenly and Bill screamed with terror. I turned away quickly, and all I could hear were the screams until a loud snap cut them off. There was nothing but the wind again.