Sin: Path of Poison

Chapter 8 (Sin's Past)

All of us were herded up a hill together, towards a deserted village. Only a few of the kids under the age of four survived the trip, my mind was too deprived of nutrients to think beyond that. One of the boys tripped as we walked up a small hill, several other kids stepped on him as they followed the procession forward. He was a few finger widths taller than me, but I was able to easily help him up. We looked down at our hands, which were locked together, and let go simultaneously. Without a single word we both returned to the line, following into the unknown.

Over the next few weeks we only saw two adults. They stayed in a building in the middle of a forested area. We didn't know what was inside as we weren't invited in and nobody dared risk their life to find out.

Once a day at a random time one of the adults would come out of the house carrying two pails of porridge. They'd walk to three specific places within the woods, dumping a portion of the contents into hollowed pieces of wood that were too heavy to move. We'd fight each other to scoop the porridge into our mouths, desperate for any bit of nutrition it had to offer. Besides the meager servings of porridge, we scavenged the terrain for bugs and anything else that could possibly be edible. At night we huddled together for warmth, momentarily calling truce until the next day when the porridge arrived.

This went on for a long time, too long to recall. Some of us got wiser. I found a piece of bark that resembled a shovel and ran in to collect a small scoop of the porridge before running off to eat on my own. At some point I realized the adults were throwing out old coals that were leftover from cooking the porridge, the coals were left in a pit outside to die. Every few days I'd get lucky and catch a few baby fish, barely longer than my tiny fingers. I placed them on top of the old coals, then using a stick, I'd move a few of the coals on top of the precious fish. The taste wasn't good, but since the coals had cooled to this point it was the only way to guarantee cooking it through. It took me several tries of eating raw fish before figuring out this small trick.

Occasionally I'd notice a child was missing when night time came. I wasn't sure if they got sick or injured. Perhaps it was neither, maybe they tried to leave the forest. Or perhaps they were just hiding somewhere different. As the days passed we became automated, arriving at the same feeding spot and not checking on the others.

Eventually I became curious, just how many of us were there? I skipped my daily serving of porridge and followed the adult to the other trough sites. The boy I'd helped up so long ago was there. He also used a piece of bark to scoop out his portion before retreating into the woods. I crept along quietly as we came to the final location.

One of the boys stood, waiting directly in front of the trough, not backing away as the adult dumped the last of the contents inside. This was the first time I'd seen such a thing, all of the other children waited in the shadows only scurrying forward once the adult was out of range. But there he stood, using his hand he scooped up several mouthfuls of porridge before the adults were safely out of range and the other kids approached.

From my guess about a third of us were gone, the food portions remained the same though, which worked in our favor. I no longer stopped to help children up if I saw them sprawled across the ground nor did I talk to any of them. We were all somewhere between ages five and six by now. None of our eyes reflected the youthful glances you'd expect to see staring back. Sickly, deprived, and wild; our eyes were cold.

One day, not notably different from any other, neither of the adults came out of the building. There were no buckets of porridge that day nor the next day after that. There were also no coals to cook my fish. Eating whatever we could find, we made due. On the third day a small group of adults arrived. They called out to us. "Stay here and die or follow." They walked around from one trough to the next repeating the same words.

We followed, from a distance, hiding in the shadows as they moved further through the woods. We walked until nightfall, most of us were hardly able to stand any longer. The adults stopped for the night, resting their backs against trees. Imitating their behavior, we slept restlessly. At first light the adults stood up, not bothering to call out to us, they moved forward again.

I realized the boy that had tripped was not far away, awake and ready to go. To the other side I noticed the boy that had stood at the trough, he was still sleeping against a tree. I was a tad jealous as I noticed how heavily he slept, as if there wasn't a fear in the world. Picking up a small pebble I gently tossed it at his hand; moving forward I acted as if I wasn't aware of him. He jerked awake but didn't comment, he just stood up and started creeping along with the rest of us.

After another full day of walking we finally came to a stop. There were no more trees to hide behind, we'd have to cross a large expanse of open field. For the first time we looked at each other clearly, out in the open, away from the shadows. We were all dirty and wearing little to nothing, mostly just scraps of cloth that dangled together.

Ahead of us was a long open structure. Upon closer inspection we could see the floor was packed dirt. There were poles supporting a makeshift roof. There were no walls. Nearby was another small building, similar to the one the adults used in the forest. There were bowls stacked nearby on the ground and near that an adult stood over a large pot with a ladle in hand.

The boy I tossed the stone at was the first to run forward, picking up a bowl he held it out for food, not saying a word. The adult put a heaping scoop of porridge in and the boy moved to sit on the ground nearby. Tilting the bowl he eagerly slurped its contents. I quickly followed behind tripping boy to take a turn. We sat a few meters away from each other, still wary of everyone. Staring at each other blankly we both sniffed at the contents, we verified it smelled the same as the porridge in the forest before eating it.