Duplication

Chapter 9

-9

I’ve been told that the trees that stood tall now have grown on their own after Earth had come to an end independently, but no more would be able to grow, or they would die; conditions were unsuitable- oxygen was scarce, and rain was rare. The ground had been severely damaged due to humans’ activities; foliage was a sight that could not be seen anymore.

  Compared to the bare and yellow grounds, the trees were a picturesque sight. Humans in fact, couldn’t be more blind and thoughtless. How could they have possibly exchanged their own future, their own lives, and this beautiful planet for grey and lifeless technology?

  Even as I thought of humans, of how ashamed I was to be one of them, the tears kept threatening to be unleashed- the back of my head, the thoughts of Heather still lingering.

  My stupid eye had gotten me into this situation. I’d been too beat the next day, to even bother to visit her, when she was sick. What had been my last word to her? I could remember the last moment we had- her pulling her sheet over herself when Palmer entered- but not what was the last we said to each other.

  I stopped walking, and glared up at the sun, fists clenched at my sides. My eyes instantly put some kind of a shield over themselves- momentarily, the brightness had blinded me, but after a few moments, I had won the staring contest with the sun. No longer the brightness seemed too blinding.

  Now, I had to save my own ass, as well as my friends’. If only I had been the only one to come, I could- I could die in some way and join Heather up there. But one less member meant less protection for them, which was unfair. They wanted to live, to save the human race.

  First, I had to find food. Water had been consumed last night, and it was enough to withstand us for a couple of days- the perks of being a genetically engineered pack of teenagers- but we had not taken food ever since eating the special breakfast by Karen, and even exhausted ourselves because of the skirmish, the digging (well, practically I was the only one who did the digging), and fighting against the monster.

  I had been told by Hudson many more times than necessary, that in this wild, animals which roamed were more powerful than the ordinary ones, which have gone extinct long ago, since they were powerful enough to adapt to the harsh conditions- the scarce oxygen, food and water.

  They would surely be more difficult to kill than the animals that existed before.

Initially, back in the comfort zone under the wing of Hudson and Palmer, the prospect of killing an animal alive, roasting it and eating it had been merely disgusting. Now, it was only a hard and fast fact. There was no denying that this desperation had been led by slight hunger.

  I wasn’t exceedingly hungry now, but soon, we all would be.

I resumed walking, after making sure that I still remembered the mental photo I’d taken of the surrounding. It was better to be back before they awoke- or they’d panic. I’d wanted to come hunt for animals alone, partly because I was contrite of making them exhausted, knowing that they themselves also grieved for Heather, and partly because- a small part of me wished to be get killed.

   Being in this wide and yellow plain was both an advantage and a disadvantage- because I wouldn’t have to search for wild animals for long. They would spot me right away, exposed here. But the problem was that I could be taken by surprise if I wasn’t alert enough.

  The sun was practically drilling its way through my skin into my cells, and sweat was taping my coarse brown shirt to my back. Rolling up the long sleeves to my elbows, I slowed my pace of walking.

  “C’mon,” I muttered. “C’mon.”

As if answering my desperate call, a growl sounded from behind me.