Hunter ✔

Taken

The day I was taken was one of those rare perfect beautiful days. The wind was blowing and you could literally feel the trees sway as you touched the bark of one of the big Outeniqua Yellowwoods. The forest smelled of an intoxicating mix of damp earth and crushed leaves. The sun had just started to rise and an orange light shone throughout the forest.

I was busy walking in the dense forest of Knysna known as the Tsitsikamma forest. My mother told me once that the forest was named after the Khoi phrase meaning 'place of abundant waters'. She told me that it used to be one of the most beautiful forests in Southern Africa. After years of neglect and mismanagement it had started to fade and many of the trees had died, but somehow they restored themselves after the Fourth World War, once the humans had been dethroned. It was as if though they regained their rightful place now that the humans were not there to destroy them.

The Third World War was where every nation turned against each other, what was left of the human race after that, was almost completely eliminated after the Fourth World War where dark creatures, who called themselves vampires, took control of everything. South Africa was the last country to fall. We had no idea that the creatures even existed. Needless to say we were unable to come up with a defence.

I lived in a small village a few kilometres away from the forest called Westwood. There were not a lot of people in it, only about a hundred. Even though it appeared small it was actually one of the largest rural villages left. It was made up of a few cottages left behind after the war. My mother told me that it had belonged to a lodge of some kind. It used to be a camping sight.

After the new government took over everyone evacuated their homes. That was the first place they looked for the surviving humans. They took them out of the suburbs and burned it to the ground.

Every morning as soon as the sun rose I walked into the forest in search of food. Sometimes it would take weeks before I found anything, other times I was lucky enough to find a rabbit, a monkey, or even a stray rabbit. I remember this one time where I actually saw a small deer. It stared into my eyes and we stared at each other for a few minutes. Before I even thought of killing it, it ran away into the forest.

It is strange that although nature had somehow come out triumphantly after the war that many of the animals had not been so lucky. Most of the animals were destroyed during the war or maybe all of them ran away to their own personal Eden.

I remember my mother telling me about Adam and Eve and how they lived in paradise until they sinned and they were banished. As I walked through the forest I would always wonder if there was a place on earth where the war had not touched, where the humans and animals lived their lives oblivious to what had happened in all of the other countries, a place where something like innocence still existed.

I always felt extremely guilty for killing a rabbit or even killing a stray chicken, but if it meant food for my family, I had to do whatever it took. It is peculiar what people will do to protect their family. I always wondered what the line was though. When did you go too far? When was it okay to hurt someone else if it meant saving your family? I always believed that no one life was more important than another.

The day I was taken also happened to be one of those rare occasions where I had caught a rabbit.

I walked with the rabbit in my hands which I held closely to my chest. Its white fur was soft as I caressed it with my hands. I wore a thick jacket, a plain white T-shirt and a pair of jeans. It was the middle of June and it was freezing. The mist left my mouth every time I breathed out.

All of the leaves on the trees had long since fallen and the trees themselves looked like they were in a deep slumber.

Along with looking for food in the mornings I would also look for firewood as well. My mother insisted that I only take the wood from old dead trees to make a fire. She believed in taking care of nature and in that way nature would take care of you. She also believed in a higher power. She always said that the fact that any of them had survived at all was a miracle.