Defect - By Ryann Kerekes Page 0,42

I pull myself to standing and notice that the sky looks different. The late afternoon sunlight is beginning to fade. In a few hours, it will be dark. I wipe the tears from my face, and notice that I sliced my hand open when I fell back with the knife. And though I didn’t feel the pain before, it now stings. There’s a long slice running across the center of my palm. With my good hand, I pull my water bottle from my bag, and though I hardly have any to spare, I rinse the dirt, fur and blood from the cut.

After I let it air dry, I unwind some of the tape from around my stomach and wrap my hand, doing my best to close the wound.

I need to keep moving. Though I’m physically and emotionally drained, I make myself walk – facing into the setting sun. After a little while, the numbness of what I did to the wolf has worn off, and I notice that my throat is scratchy, and my stomach feels empty, but I don’t let myself stop yet. The thought of food tonight is the only thing I have to look forward to, and if I give into my hunger now … no. I shake my head. I have to keep going.

My hand throbs, but soon something else catches my attention. I hear a loud crashing through the woods. I duck behind a tree, and with the fading light, it’s enough to hide me. I carefully peek around the tree, keeping my cheek pressed to the rough bark. Up ahead, I see Lexi come into view. She’s stumbling through the woods, tripping over branches. She’s holding her arm, and I hear her sniffling. I stay hidden, barely breathing, as I watch her. Once it’s clear she’s in no shape to fight me, I step out from behind the tree.

“Hi, Lexi.”

She startles at my voice and whips around to face me. Her cheeks freely stream with tears. She wipes them away with the back of her hand. “Wh … What do you want?”

For once, the tables are turned, and I’m the one in control. “Are you okay?” I study her, and now that we’re closer, I can see she’s holding her arm at an odd angle and her clothes are torn. “What happened?”

“There was a fox in a cage, and when I got close the door popped open like it was rigged. The little bastard tore my arm to shreds before I got it off me.”

She had a fox, I had a wolf. Who were the sick bastards that dreamed up these obstacles? While I’d always believed the government provided protection, ensuring safety for a peaceful society, I was starting to see that wasn’t all they did.

“Let me see your arm.” I move closer and she flinches, like she’s scared of me. I reach for her arm. This time she lets me take it. I turn it over, inspecting it. The skin’s shredded, but the wounds don’t seem all that deep. No worse than the gash in my hand. I use the rest of my tape and close up the wound, securing the tape right over the top of what’s left of her shirt sleeve.

When I finish, she looks at me with softness in her eyes I haven’t seen before. “Thanks.”

I nod and set off in the direction I was headed before I found her.

“Eve, wait,” she calls.

I turn back toward her.

“Will you … stay with me tonight? We could make a camp together.” She’s looking at my backpack when she says this.

I consider it for half a second, but hear myself say, “No. We all have to learn to fend for ourselves.” Maybe that makes me cruel, or maybe it’s what they’ve turned me in to, but without waiting for a response, I turn and jog away, deeper into the forest, toward what I hope is the compound.

Once I can’t make my legs walk any farther, I look for a spot to set up my camp in the moonlight. I choose a grassy spot that’s blocked on three sides by trees. I spread out the tarp on the ground and sit facing the opening created by the trees. I take everything from my backpack and line it up. I drink most of the water, but make myself stop to save some for tomorrow.

I lay out all the food I have left. Two slices of bread, which are now little more than crumbs from tumbling