The Feral Sentence (Book 1, Part 2)

By G. C.
Julien

www.gcjulien.com

© Copyright 2015 G. C. Julien

Smashwords Edition
Edited by Nikki Busch
www.nikkibuschediting.com

This is
a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events
and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination
or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

PROLOGUE

Its thick
black head blocked out all surrounding light. It stared down at me
as would a cat at a quivering mouse, tilting its head from side to
side, analyzing me entirely. I wanted to scream, but nothing came
out.

The skin
around its jaw hung loose, dangling as the creature moved in
closer. I couldn’t see its eyes—I saw only a shadowed face; curved
horns atop its head pointed toward the sky.

I moved back,
but no distance came between us. I wanted to disappear, to die, but
not at the hands of this beast.

There were
voices throughout the trees, and suddenly, the creature was gone.
There was blood smeared everywhere: on my skin, across the jungle’s
soil, and on my clothes, yet I couldn’t remember what had happened.
All I saw was this beast’s face, and all I felt was its thirst for
blood.

The voices
drew closer, and distorted figures began to surround me. I couldn’t
make sense of anything. But these figures soon became hazy, and
their voices were replaced by a rhythmic drumming in the
distance.

I cracked open
my tired eyes, and reality set in.

I lay on a bed
of dirt with cruddy hair stuck to the side of my neck and my skin
covered in uneven goose bumps. I heard women gathering in the
Village, surely making their way to the feeding area.

The breakfast
drums sounded in the distance. I was back on Kormace Island—the
island of killers.

I couldn’t get
her out of my head—Sunny. I remembered seeing her blurred
silhouette being dragged into the trees.

“
That
wasn’t a Norther,” I heard beside me.

But no one was
there. I saw Rocket’s face as clear as it had been the day before,
her brows close together and her nostrils flared. She’d been the
only one to see the beast—the only one who knew what had taken
Sunny.

* * *

Savages,
uncivilized, violent…
Ogres
,
as Rocket has called them. They were known for surviving the island
without the comfort of civilization or sympathy for human
life.

“
We’ve
always been told that Ogres were nothing more than a myth, a
fictitious tale to keep women from straying too far from the
Village,” Trim said. I could tell that she too had blindly believed
this.

And who could
blame her? Ogres? It sounded like something you’d hear in a
children’s story—a one-eyed monster vengefully seeking out human
flesh.

“
They’re
the most ruthless and barbaric women you could ever imagine,”
Rocket said, brushing her dreadlocked hair against her head. I’d
once thought her to be barbaric; I couldn’t even begin to imagine
how terrible Ogres were.

“
What
makes you think they’re women?” Fisher asked.

Rocket smirked
knowingly. “It’s an island for female felons only. They’ve never
dropped a man.”

Fisher
snorted. “Yet.”

Trim eyed
everyone curiously. “What makes you so sure they’re even
felons?”

And everyone
fell silent.

* * *

“
Brone?”

It was
Ellie.

She stood in
the entryway of my tent, her wavy brown hair over one shoulder, a
patient smile on her lips.

“
Didn’t
you hear the drums?”

Exhausted, I
rubbed my eyes and nodded. I wondered if I’d even slept.

“
Well?”
she said. “What’re you waiting for?”

I eyed my
pouch of pearls lying in the dirt, and I hesitated, suddenly
feeling guilt ridden because of Sunny’s abduction. Only yesterday,
she’d given me three pearls—the island’s currency—to buy myself
something from the market tents. And today, she was gone—dead, most
likely.

I reached for
the pouch, knowing all too well that I’d have to spend its contents
eventually. I still needed an eating dish, utensils, bathing
products, and possibly materials to build myself a bed.

A bed… God, I
missed my bed. I missed sliding on a fresh pair of pajamas after a
hot bath. A bath… I sighed. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how
much filth covered my body, every inch of skin, every crevasse,
every fingernail…

But I didn’t
linger on this thought, because I knew that my old life was nothing
more than a distant fantasy, and the more I reminisced, the
shittier I felt about myself and my present life. I’d just
witnessed more horror in two days than anyone should be forced to
see in a lifetime. I didn’t have the energy to dwell on
materialistic desires or on the luxury of cleanliness and
comfort.

For all I
knew, I could be dead tomorrow.

I followed
Ellie toward the center of the Village, where women had begun
gathering around a large fire. I could see Sumi, the Village’s
cook, moving around so quickly I wondered how she kept track of
what she was cooking.

I heard the
name Sunny several times, and I knew that word had made its way to
all the women of the Village. Information on the island was like
malaria—it spread quickly, leaving nothing but pain and misery in
its wake.

“
Here,”
Ellie said, handing me a dish made of bone. “Got you
one.”

“
Thanks,” I said.

I grabbed the
bowl and waited in line to be served by one of Sumi’s helpers. When
it was my turn to receive a hot spoonful of wild turkey eggs, Sumi
suddenly appeared, eyeing me from head to toe.

“
She
gets half,” she said.

I fumed
inside. I was starving. What did Sumi have against me? What had I
ever done to her? Ever since landing on Kormace, she’d given me a
hard time.

“
Brone’s
a Hunter,” Ellie intervened. “She gets whatever she
wants.”

She tore the
spoon right out of Sumi’s hands and filled my bowl to the brim. I
glanced at Sumi, who stared right at me, but what I received was
not a hateful glare. Instead, she smiled, as if she knew something
I didn’t or as if she were contemplating a gruesome revenge.

“
You
didn’t have to do that,” I said quickly.

Ellie glanced
sideways at me. “Why can’t you just be thankful you have someone
looking out for you?”

“
Because
you’re making me enemies!”

She led us to
a thick tree log away from the center fire. She sat down and began
shoveling egg into her mouth.

“
Br…
Brone,” she said, still chewing on gooey yellow bits and pieces,
“you’re too soft.”

I stared at
her.

“
You’re
a Hunter now.” She swallowed the last piece. “People should respect
you and fear you.”

“
I’m not
a Hunter. I’m nothing like Eagle.”

I hadn’t meant
to sound mopey, but the title I’d been given was beyond my physical
capabilities. I felt hopeless. I stared at the grass beneath my
feet, where a blue-shelled beetle hopped from blade to blade. Even
he had more stealth than I did.

I couldn’t
help but wonder how Eagle—our finest Archer—was doing ever since
she had been wounded when the Northers attacked the Village. No one
had mentioned her name since. Had she died? Why hadn’t we heard
about it? Would I be quickly forgotten if injured? Was I just a
number?

“
Eagle
was—is,” Ellie corrected, “a great Hunter. But that doesn’t mean
you can’t be. It takes time to shoot an arrow the way she
does.”

I stood
silent. Was she trying to make me feel better? It wasn’t working. I
was useless to the women of the Village. I couldn’t protect them…
or feed them for that matter. Holding a bow and arrow felt so
unnatural to me, so foreign.

Ellie sighed.
“This isn’t about being good at what you do. It’s about knowing
your worth on this island.” She leaned forward, her shoulders
rounded and her fists clenched. “Or at least… pretending to know
it. You have to be assertive, Brone. Weakness won’t get you
anywhere.”

“
You
calling me weak?”

Her lips
curved upward. “Well, yes,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“
You’re
not a citizen anymore, Brone. You’re in the wild. Learn to act like
it. If someone gives you a hard time, challenge her. You’re a
Hunter now, for God’s sake.” She threw her arms up and laughed.
“That’s one of the most respected positions on this island. You
could cut everyone’s food supply. You have leverage.”

I scoffed.
“No, I couldn’t. I’m not the leader of the Hunters. I just do what
I’m told.”

“
You
don’t have to be the one who runs shit,” she said. “You just have
to make people believe that with a few spoken words, you could turn
Trim against them.”

I was finally
beginning to understand what she was getting at. Everything was a
game. Although we functioned well together as a society, we were
still human beings. We were still women who felt the need to prove
our worth to be greater than another’s.

“
It’s
all about survival,” Ellie added, “and I won’t always be around to
defend you.” I finally sat down beside her and scooped a spoonful
of cold egg into my mouth.

“
So what
leverage do you have?” I glanced sideways at her. “No offense, but
you don’t seem like the fighting type. I can’t picture you beating
your way up to the top.”

She raised her
chin proudly toward the sky. “Pearls.”

“
Pearls?” I repeated.

But she didn’t
answer me. Instead, she eyed the pouch of pearls on my waist and
raised both eyebrows.

The island’s
currency? Did she own it?

“
You
could call me the bank,” she finally said.

My jaw
dropped.

“
You’re
the one who pays all of us for doing our jobs?” I asked.

She placed her
empty bowl into the grass by her feet and nodded proudly. I
couldn’t help but laugh.

“
That
explains a lot,” I said, remembering the defeated look on Hammer’s
face in the Tools tent when Ellie had caught her in a scam and the
way Sumi had remained silent when Ellie filled my bowl with
food.

“
Which
means you have even more leverage,” she said.

“
What do
you mean?” I asked.

“
Not
only are you a Hunter, but you’re also friends with the Village’s
bank.”

I smiled—not
because of the power I suddenly realized I had over other women but
because she’d called me a friend. All I wanted on this island was a
friend. She placed a hand over mine and squeezed it, and I felt
comforted for the first time in a very long time.

“
This is
soap?” I asked, rubbing the edge of my fingernail against the waxy
surface.

“
The
finest in all of Kormace,” she said slowly. She walked around the
wooden table, her slender figure swaying from side to side as she
moved. She picked up the unevenly chopped brick of soap and smirked
all-knowingly.

“
Coconut
oil, seaweed… and a few other ingredients.” She rubbed the soap’s
surface with the side of her thumb. “The rest is a secret. Keeps me
valuable.”

There was a
certain elusive quality about her. Her pale, crooked smile made her
appear all knowing, almost to the point of arrogant, yet her
plant-constructed jewelry and messily braided hair gave her the
appearance of simplicity and authenticity.

She dropped
the soap into my hands and I pressed it underneath my nose. It
smelled fresh but also earthy and somewhat salty—if salt had a
smell. I’d take anything at this point. I just wanted to rid my
body of its filth. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d
showered.

“
How
much?” I asked.

“
Three,”
she said quickly.

I knew she was
referring to pearls, the Village’s currency. I couldn’t understand
how she was charging three pearls for this little bar of soap. I
remembered Hammer, the butch woman from the Tools tent, and how
she’d tried to scam me into spending all my pearls on a flimsy
little leather pouch.

“
Weakness won’t get you anywhere,” I remembered Ellie telling
me.