Vermin

The Wall

I winced. Looking down at my finger tips. Red and raw, small blisters starting to appear under the remaining cracks of my nails. You only needed to look at half the villages cracked bloody fingers, to see that they too had hunted over the wall. I gulped. My leg had only started healing, after the shot pellet had sliced through my muscle. I was out for weeks. And in the weeks I was healing on our wooden table, my family slowly starved. Within a week they were begging in the street. No one ever, ever had things to spare. So you can guess how well that went. But somehow we made it. Perhaps it was my brother Elfie's blonde curls, and big brown eyes, that made them look twice at those hollow cheeks and bone thin arms. They offered him the scraps of their food.
But now I was lying flat on the top of the wall, the sun slowly setting, gently brushing over the land, night threatening to dawn at anytime. I had six meters of wall to crawl across, not including the twelve meters I then had to climb down to reach the other side.
I was wasting time. I had to move now. I crawled quickly, pressed so close to the wall my stomach tore and scratched against the loose rubble. I peered over the edge of the wall, a small wood beyond. I didn't particularly know or care who it belonged to. The woods had now become my hunting grounds, my salvation. I jumped the last meter to the ground, before remembering my still sore leg. I landed hard, swearing softly. I clamped my hand over my mouth. Had anyone heard? There were guards in these woods, guards that could blend into the shadows, and shoot you went you weren't looking. My leg reminded me of that. I brushed a thumb down the hilt on my knife. It was all I had to hunt with, but it was enough. I set about building my snares with anything I could find. A root, sticks, the bit of string I had brought. I set three snares, and hid under the bushes, waiting. Within half and hour I was asleep.

I awoke with a start as a hand grabbed my ankle. A wash of panic sprang through me. And I looked round in terror of the the body sliding next to me.
"Damien!" I breathed, relief flooding round my face at the sight of my hunting partner.
"Since when have you called me Damien? What happened to all the romantic names like Sweetheart, and Cutie?" He grinned. Shameless Flirt.
"You know I don't like you like that." I said, trying not to roll my eyes. The romantic part of me is and would always be for girls.
"And anyway, when have I ever called you that?"
He closed his eyes, "Only in my dreams Ani." He said in mock sadness. "Now are you going to pick up those rabbits or should I eat them my self?" He asked, pointing to my snares. I turned to look; indeed a plump rabbit was trapped in each. I slit their throats with out a second thought, shoving them in the small sack I had brought, slinging it over my back.
"Ready?" He asked, buckling a small squirrel to his belt, alongside his bow. Damien was one of the few people in our village who had a weapon of sorts. It was probably done so our neighbours in the sparkling city of Tiyrin didn't have to fear a revolt. I growled. One hundred years ago the citizens of Tiyrin had kicked out the poor, the vermin, to make space for the city to grow. Walling us off, and planting guards in the woods to stop us getting past. We were nothing to them. We were so unimportant, our squat didn't have a name. It was simply referred to as the-village-over-the-wall.
I turned back to Damian and nodded.
The climb up was always harder returning. The extra load plus the fatigue that racked my body. But I told my self it was worth it, as my fingers and feet scrambled for a hold. We were half way up when I heard Damien swear. Flicking out his hand from the wall. A warm sticky liquid landed on my cheek, I licked it away, the sweet metallic taste of blood on my lips.
"Are you Okay?" I called up, trying to keep my voice low.
"Yeah," he whispered. "Just a sharp stone, I can barely see anything in this light." I could tell he was trying to put on a brave face, but another spat of blood fell on my forehead. He must be bleeding a lot, and our village didn't have very many medical supplies.
We finally reached the other side, panting and bloody, fingers and shoes a mess. I glanced down at his squirrel, small and scrawny. It wasn't enough to feed one person, let alone his four siblings. I pulled a rabbit out and handed it to him.
"No." He said, trying to push it away.
"Take it. You have five mouths to feed, and one squirrel isn't going to cut it."
"Anivana I can't."
"Since when has you called me Anivana?" I grinned, copying him from earlier. "What happened to Ani?" Laughter shone in his eyes.
"And what will you do if I don't take it?"
"Drop it right here, in the mud, and let the crows pick at it instead." I said, holding the rabbit in front of me.
"Fine." He snatched it out of my hand, mouth watering.
"Be careful of that hand." I said , pointing to the half dried blood.
"I'll get my dad to wrap it. You watch that leg, I know your hiding the limp."
I stuck my finger up at him, and a barking laugh exploded out of him. He thanked me for the rabbit, and we went our separate ways. I wound round the small network of shacks, avoiding the sewage water that ran through the streets. At long last, I spotted my home. Small, dark, as it always was.

First chapter! What do you think? Remember to vote a comment and check out my friend _Thorns_Roses_ !