Animal

.:18:.

Tommy pushed himself off the wall and gestures for me to follow him. "Come on. Lucile is really sweet," he told me, smiling reassuringly as I followed him.

Outside the cabin I nearly fell from shock at what I saw. Surrounding me were not only many people carrying on with their lives, but it was indeed a village. We were surrounded by beautiful thick green trees, with the setting sun shooting some rays through the trees. It was a dirt surrounding, the undergrowth seeming to be kept clear regularly. Cabins created a large, oval circle with paths leading in different directions.

"We have trading stations," he told me. "The humans in the town know about us, but in exchange for protecting us and our secret, and letting us use their recourses, we protect their town and it's citizens."

"How does trading fit into that?" I asked, cocking my head as I watched people move among one another towards the path.

"We can trade some of our things for something we need. Sometimes when people are low on money, they can do chores for someone to earn money, or trade, if their job isn't always paying enough. But not everyone gets jobs, mostly the higher ranks, such as Silo."

"Silo has a job?"

"Yeah, he works as a bar tender. Someone has to get the money in the village in order for everyone to thrive." He turned a corner and began walking down a silent, nearly empty path.

"So, is he like the leader or something?" I asked after a few footsteps of nothing but the crunch of dirt under our feet and forest noises.

"He's our Chieftain, yes," he replied, reaching a hand from his pocket and running his hands along a low hanging branch from a tree a couple feet off of the trail. "He makes some of the orders, does a lot. The Council, however, are the real ones in charge. They have split power with the Chieftain, doing things they think need more say from more people."

"So it's basically the government," I concluded, sending him yet another glance and forcing myself not to look at him for to long. "I see."

He sighed. "It's not like that, not at all, McKenzie."

I raised one of my eyebrows and folded my arms over my chest, staring at him in disbelief. "Really? That's interesting for you to say, because I'm pretty sure that our government is like that. The president has some power, but the branches and congress has the bigger amount of it."

"We don't endanger the lives of our people," he snapped, his eyes flashing. His fists clenched as he raised his chin at me. "Unlike this country's government, which, by the way, is the reason we're here in the first place."

I bit my lip, growing silent after that. We walked in silence, listening to the dirt and leaves crunch under our feet as we walked along the path. My pride was wounded for the nth time in the past twenty-four hours, and I was to drained to argue with him anymore. Besides, he had a point (which is the cause of said wounded pride in the first place).

We eventually came to a horse-shoe shaped street, log cabins circling the area. I glanced around, noticing how peaceful and quiet it was.

The cabins were beautiful in every which way, each one holding a front porch. It had a stone pathway and a decorated garden teasing the front of the cabin, begging it's owner to walk up to it.

The log cabin was at least two stories. On the bottom, wooden pillars held up the roof that covered the porch, connecting to the main roof of the cabin. Windows decorated the front of the house, with curtains blocking anyone from looking inside.

I was pulled away from the beauty by a low growl and a few voices from the voices. I stepped closer to Tommy without noticing, glancing around rapidly. "What the fuck was that?"