We, who Survived

I sat in front of the fire carving new arrow shafts as Fern worked on my bow. Hawk and Parish were gone hunting while Gem prowled outside for her breakfast. We chose to stick with the trail mix.

“When the rain lets up, I want you to start bow training. Maybe if you learn to hunt first, self-defence will come easier,” Fern said as he knotted twine into braids to make my bowstring.

“What happens if I suck at that too?” I asked, stopping my carving to gaze at him. Fern grinned back.

“You won’t. I have this gut feeling you will be better than me.” He nodded at his own words before continuing with the bowstring. “I just know, trust me on it.”

The rain was gone by the time Hawk walked into the room. I had twelve arrows sitting in front of me with their signature stone tips and brown spotted feather fletching. By then, I was using Fern’s thigh as a pillow, playing with the chips of wood he was making with the patterns he was placing into my bow. Hawk had glared at me as he placed his hunting bow against the wall with its quiver. I stared back, making the point he was being mad at me for nothing. Victim Card? He should have been there and seen my condition for himself.

“Fern, I think you should speak to him now,” I whispered. As much as I enjoyed pissing off Hawk with just breathing, he had no right to say what he did. And if he still was left out, he would continue to pester me and break away the part of me trying to grow back.

Fern stilled, glancing down at me. His eyes showed his uncertainty and hesitancy towards telling Hawk. Placing down my bow, he took my hand in his before calling his brother to come to sit with us.

“Are you sure you want to be here when we talk about it?” Worry was clear in his voice. I nodded, sitting up and hugging my knees to my chest.

As soon as Hawk sat in front of us, Fern accused him of unknowingly hurting me. Which he glared at me for until Fern cleared his throat.

“Hawk, don’t jump to conclusions when you don’t know the full story,” Fern growled, surprising Hawk. “Nathan was raped by someone he trusted in his group of survivors. I saw it happen before you say anything. He suffers from flashbacks and nightmares and can’t be around new people. You doing what you did put him back in his recovery.”

Hawk glanced between us, pursed his lips before nodding.

“Sorry Nathan, it’s just my brother’s past boyfriends have always attempted at getting his chief’s namesake and uniting our villages in order to get our land. They all played on his heartstrings.” He bowed his head, hand coming to rub at his face. “I am so sorry for being an idiot.”

“It’s okay, I just did not want to be targeted for no reason,” I muttered, shrugging. Fern wrapped his arm around my shoulders, bringing me close to his side. The little gesture already had me feeling better.

“But then what village do you come from?” Hawk finally asked, making Fern chuckle.

“He’s Trident property,” Fern stated, squeezing me. “But he’s been around me so long that he acts like he was been born here.”

“Wow, that’s interesting. So, the Raistlin villagers were telling the truth. They saw a pod-shaped object crash into the forest near them. No one had gone to explore it so I don’t know if there were any survivors. Are there more of you?”

“Yes, my people are from Lifepod Six. There were twenty of us. One person was killed by that serpent and another was killed due to Snowburn. There was a rumour of someone who decided to walk outside one night and never came back, but that one seems a little far-fetched,” I explained, letting myself relax against Fern.

“Who is with your people now since you are here?”

“Zed and Jacob.”

Hawk let his wall break down after that and soon we were talking about life on the S.S.H.R. and the Trident base to how Fern and I had met and what were the plans for the future. At one point we were laughing, joking about everything between the brothers and how they grew up together. They were enjoying themselves and so was I. It felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders with having Hawk know what kept me up at night, that there was another person willing to make sure I was okay and not judging me for it.

Two days later we found ourselves packing up and getting ready to hike back to the Cree village. Luckily for us, it was not a whole day’s walk there like from the Trident base. It was only a five-hour walk which really was not that far if you put in the amount I had been walking already.

In those two days, I had managed to successfully kill a rabbit with a bullseye through the heart after a full day of target practice. Then I was able to take down Fern even though he was going easy on me. Throughout those days, I worked on my journal, worried about the survivors of Lifepod Eight and built up a little bit of body mass by exercising. Even Hawk had shown his pride for me getting all my goals done.

While we walked, I knew what I was going to do. My people would have to get along with the Cree in order for us to work together. If we did not, my people would suffer, if we did, we would thrive alongside Fern’s people. Therefore, while in deep thought, I would unite our people by marrying Fern. I knew he would not hurt me or leave me so I had no reason or cause to do the same. I guess, and you can gag if you want, we were meant to be.