The Feeders. #Wattys2015

Chapter Seven: Adrina.

The blinding sunlight shone through the trees where it could, and every now and then the wind would sway the leaves above and small droplets of moisture would drop onto my skin making me shudder from the cold. the fawn was curled up against me. I took her from her mother. moments after she was born, i had been tracking her since winter, i was so hungry, but i knew i had to wait, i had to hang back till the moment was right till she was at her weakest, if i failed the first time she would had fled and i would never find her again, or maybe that was my excuse for being weak, for not wanting to kill her, at that point i had never killed anything, not even a bug on purpose. the longer i left it the more attached and less willing i became, but the hungrier i became also, i would go days without eating the feeling in my stomach becoming unbearable, my jaw began to ache and my head felt light, but then i would follow the deer to a patch of wild berry's, she would graze, then i would once she was out of range. i remember the day it happened, she was different, more alert, but more sluggish, her graceful prance was reduced to traipsing. I clambered up a nearby tree to wait for my moment, She found a patch of fern and nestled deep within them, she was barely visible from my spot, but i watched her as her offspring slowly came out of her dropping to the ground out of my line of sight, as she licked up the afterbirth , i shot an arrow straight through the top of her skull, as the fawn took its first breath at her side.

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Her amber doe eyes widened and her ears pricked, I stepped back against the trunk of a large oak tree, preparing myself for the clicking and clanging of tracks. right on cue the train was passing the bridge. will it stop today? the Fawn began to graze on a patch of dying grass and I watched full of jealousy. if only I could be satisfied by tree bark or wild berry's and grass like her. I became excited as I heard the train screeching to a halt, it happens often, they stop and then start again moments later, sometimes the door opens and I hear crying and yelling from inside and several times they have thrown bodies straight out down the 40 foot drop, sometimes the victim is alive. I scooped the fawn in my sack and slung it across my body. she resists, squirming and digging her bones into my back, but I feel safe with her around, shes a great lookout, and I guess I am just attached now. I pulled my dagger out and held it against my hip, I looked through the window on the back of the car to see everyone crowded facing the front. I pulled my body on the car, fawn squirming against my spine. I slid my body along the top of the car to look down from the emergency exit hatch. inside there was a girl she was on her knees her chest and face smushed to the floor. she was completely naked, a man of similar age was forcing himself against her, I couldn't move. then the man was tackled to the floor by another teen. I burst through the hatch, dagger in hand as I watched the guards restrain the boy again.
"let him go" I ordered seeing the blonde guy trap himself in the ahead carts from the corner of my eye. Fawn was still now sensing the tension. A woman that looked just alike the passed out girl only older was crying hysterically but almost silently. "let them both go!" I warned stepping toward the guards with my dagger raised. the guard restraining to woman laughed as me. so I stepped forward and drove my knife into his crotch twisting it once and pulling out again. the other guards back away from me and slowly moved themselves toward the carriage door. they almost made it till the teen grabbed one by his neck from behind and started to squeeze, he had the face of a maniac smiling manically as the mans face turned from red to purple.the others ab abandoned the guard, they left him for dead they detached the cart and was on their merry way. The older woman rushed to the girls side, the girl was passed out her frail body limp and exposed, it didn't feel wrong to see her naked, she had the body of a child, only even Skinnier, she had no breasts, and everything was bony, it wasn't the body of a woman, not a body that could bear children. or maybe it didn't feel wrong because the world is ending... who could care less.

"Nate, stop come on calm down" the older woman said stroking the boys shoulder "it wasn't even him" the boys hold on the dying man loosened, then he squeezed harder than before.

"but he stood there... and he watched" he spat, his face red and scrunched, and wet with tears. the man took his dying breath as the woman looked away she lay a ratty sweater over the girl and pulled her head into her lap crying now too, the boy rolled off of the guard to bury his head in his arms.

"who the hell are you" the boy said gritting his teeth at me, just now noticing my presence.

"umm, my name is Adrina"

"and what the fuck are you doing here" he growled, do i tell him, shall i be honest, should i tell them i was here purely to save their lives, i could be a hero... or should i admit that i was hear to steal the produce they carry on those trains and kill whoever got in my way.

"I've seen the train a million times before i was just curious." i said giving nothing away and clinging to my dignity.

"do you have a camp nearby!?" the woman suddenly screamed staring at me, the other passengers scattered around listened to me now.

"i do" i said simply.

"Well, could you take us there? to your people" another woman said eyes wide and hopeful.

"I don't have people, there is me, a dying woman and a deer." all of the faces in the cart turned into confused and disappointed ones.

"i can show you a way off of this train."

"yes you have to! i should think they will be back in under an hour, who knows what they plan to do to us!" the whole train car was in uproar, i could barely hear myself think

they will kill us

we are as good as dead

we didn't even do anything wrong, there is always a rebel causing troubles for the rest of us

They will kill my kids

"quiet" a small ginger girl screamed from the top of her lungs "All of you, listen here, Riley just saved all of your asses! we are free" she laughed but barely. "it was going to be me, then tomorrow it would have been both of us, maybe they decide they want you Cecil" she said to a withered old man "maybe they would have decided to throw us all out and recruit new unknowing workers... your sons, daughters... sisters" they all looked around, some nodding sadly, some staring at the girl stubbornly, brow furrowed. The redhead girl turned to me expectantly.

"there are only two ways off of this bridge. over the train car, and along the tracks, or under it." uproar again

obviously we go over it

how the hell do we go under it does this girl expect us to swing like monkeys

if the guards don't kill us, this will

"if you go along the tracks that is the first place they will look, they wont suspect you even considered going down" they all stared at me in silence, every face was hopeless, some mortified. "also down is the direction of my camp." the redheads eyes darted to look at me.

"you are going to let us stay with you" she was smiling ear to ear

"i really don't think i have a choice"

I had a small length of rope on my arm, i untied it, harnessing it to the elderly peoples waists to hold them as they jumped for the large supporting beam, one after another i watched them disappear under the tracks, then shimmy to the bottom. The girls mother turned to me "what about Riley?" her voice was full of worry.

"she will wake up in time, if shes not awake in the next ten minutes, i will harness her to me and climb down, but if you ask me, its looks like shes stirring" i said gesturing to the girl as her breathing deepened and her eyelids fluttered. "now go i think your boy needs you" i gestured to the boy on the ground curled up beside the body of the guard which he had morbidly kicked to the dirt before swinging out of the carriage himself. she smiled in thanks and disappeared out of sight.

moments later the girl sat up and her hand found the puddle of blood between her legs.

"Riley?"