Flashf0rward

Chapter 28: Predators

Katrina

I decided to take a break from doing some of the veggies for a bit, since I knew they would be growing good enough for the next hour, and decided to go for a short walk. As I did, I started thinking about Wren. He'd been on my mind a lot the past few days, and I had a pretty good idea why.

We'd been friends for years now, and he was one of the people in this whole village that I was the closest to. He had all of these people to talk to and be with, yet he usually came to chat with me, and even do what he did yesterday, vent to me about all of the different emotions he had running through his head. I was the person he trusted most, other than his sister. It made me feel...special.

"Katie? I asked how many loaves you wanted?" I looked up and saw Ms. Schumacher staring at me with a bit of a knowing smile. I blinked, collecting my thoughts. "Oh right, sorry. Two please." She took the warm pieces of bread, and then placed them in a bag for me. "There you are dear."

I nodded and smiled, placing the bag over my shoulder. "You were off in the clouds, huh? Thinking about someone?" I shook my head, but I knew my blush betrayed me. "No, just...thinking." Ms. Schumacher raised an eyebrow playfully. "Mm-hm. Take care, Katie." I smiled and walked off. "You too!" I said as I headed back towards the greenhouse.

As I walked back, trying to clear my mind of Wren. But damn if it wasn't difficult. The way he always smiled whenever he saw me, his black hair...I snapped myself out of it almost physically. "Stop it." I said to myself, trying to keep my composure. He was just a boy, and a friend. Nothing else.

Before I could make it back to the greenhouse, I heard my name being called from across the street. "Katrina!" Turning, I saw Jude walking towards me, and I looked at him. "Hey, what's up?" He looked down at me and rubbed his nose a little. "Do you mind if you do me a huge favour?"

I nodded. "Sure. What do you need?" Jude reached into his pocket and unfolded a large map, the one that I'd seen Wren and him looking over sometimes. On it were several markings which showed Sanctuary's location, along with the forest that was usually our hunting ground. He pointed to that particular forest.

"I was doing some recon the other day, and I saw out near the river that runs right through the centre of the forest, that there was some good quality soil. It could potentially be useful for the garden." Thinking about it, I had been needing some extra soil, and it could give me some more room for more growth.

Looking back at Jude, I frowned. "So, why are you telling me this?" Placing the map back in his pocket, he looked at me. "I need you to test the soil, make sure it's not infected. I need you to come with me to the forest." My eyes widened. I rarely did any hunting, and I'd been outside of Sanctuary only a handful of times. With the hypermorphs, it was bad enough, but now that Matthias was there too...

Jude must have noticed the look on my face. "Listen, if you don't want to come, it's fine. I can just bring some back for you." Thinking about it, I shook my head. "No, I'm going. I need to get a change of scenery anyways." Nodding, Jude smiled. "Alright. Meet me at the front gate in 5 minutes."

After heading back to my house to grab my brown leather jacket and a bag for the soil, I walked to the front entrance to see Jude standing next to his horse. He handed me a small pistol with a holster. "You remember your training?" Nodding, I placed the holster around my waist. Everyone had gotten basic gun training when they were old enough. Jude had taught me himself. You could never be too careful.

Hopping onto the back of his horse, Jude and I rode off towards the forest, my arms around his waist as I held on, looking around. The normally pristine natural view was cut off by the grey cloud of smoke coming from Matthias's camp. It sent chills down my spine whenever I saw it, so I tried to ignore it.