We're Called Halfies

Raw meat, Fur coats and Vegetables

It was a further three hours before I felt comfortable enough to attempt walking through the front gate. I was nervous, understandably, because I’d only gotten through the front gate once and it was sheer luck that it worked out. I was bluffing like crazy before, but with the doubled security, and the tightened screening processes, I was feeling like this was impossible and my heart just kept thumping in an erratic pulse.     

We were about ten metres away when I pulled Howell behind a tree.

“Open your eyes, real wide.”

“Why?”

An exaggerated sigh left my mouth unguarded. His excessive question asking had been nonstop since we left the Tribe, and it was always the small things he seemed to be interested in. Like, what’s this plant? What animal is that? How do you know we’re going in the right way? Where do we go to the toilet? (I had to ask him what he meant. Turns out city boy thought that there’d be five class restrooms outside the Walled City. He got a right shock.) All these small and insignificant questions and no important ones like: What am I? Why can I do these things? Why did they save me?

“Look just open your eyes wide. I’m going to try and look in and make sure that my Brand is covered,” I held up a hand just as Howell went to speak “And yes, I don’t trust you. You’ve done nothing to earn my trust; therefore I don’t trust you to tell me if my cover-up is covering up what it needs to. So just open those lovely green gems and let me look, thank you please”

“My eyes are blue” is all that he mumbles as he opens his eyes wide, allowing me to cloud him and look into his bright green eyes. Peering in, I can make myself out in his eyes. My cover up is doing what it needs to, that I confirmed within seconds. I linger a little. This close, it’s like I’m with Blaze once more, with bright fern eyes looking at me whilst I look at him. Even just the rhythmic, clam breathing reminds me of night spent just wrapped in one another’s arms just discussing the days before and after being taken in. After always won out, even with the added responsibility of caring for so many others. It was like finally finding our family that we’d always wanted and dreamed of.

I shake the memories from my mind and pull away from Howell. I don’t need these memories; not now. I have to focus on the possibility of finding them, not the certainty of the past.

I put down the pack I had on my back and pull out my knee length hooded coat. I don the jacket, reefing the hood to cover my closely shave head, obscuring my features. Whilst I looked virtually unrecognisable as a female, my facial features were still the same and the Protectors might just look close enough to recognise me.

“C’mon lazybones. Put on your coat and we’ll saunter through like I’ve done before. No time like the present as they say”

“Who says that?”

Again with the questions?

“C’mon, I’ll leave without you”

It took less time to get in this time round. I’m not exactly sure how it happened; Howell took charge as we came within speaking distance, speaking a language that was about as familiar to me as life without a Brand and prejudice.

It took mere minutes to be profiled and let in. I didn’t even need to show my face, something that had been a definite thing to secure entry last time.

When I questioned Howell about this, he just shook his head, and told me that it was something to do with his father, and just pushed past me.

We walked down the main road, dodging cars and people as we walked in the general direction of the hospital. I couldn’t actually tell which way we were going, being that the constant dodging and weaving made it impossible for me to tell where we were going. Howell, on the other hand seemed finally in his natural element, and he was able to walk directly in a straight line, no matter how many people walked in front of him. I was actually in awe of his ability to just walk amongst these people like that.