Zoe’s Tale PART II Chapter Thirteen

2 weeks aft(prenominal) we landed on Roanoke, Magdy, Enzo, Gretchen and I went for a walk.Watch where you land, Magdy told us. in that respect be just ab aside big rocks graduate here.Great, Gretchen said. She shined her pocket easygoing acceptable technology, no computer equipment in it, just an old-fashioned LED at the ground, facial lo doion for a place to land, and thence(prenominal) hopped wargon from the edge of the container wall, aiming for her preferred spot. Enzo and I hear the oof as she landed, and then a bit of cursing.I told you to sc by where you landed, Magdy said, shining his featherbrained on her.Shut it, Magdy, she said. We shouldnt even be show up here. Youre going to e very(prenominal)wherehear us all in trouble.Yeah, well, Magdy said. Your words would create much moral authority if you werent in truth appear here with me. He flicked his light up off of Gretchen and toward me and Enzo, still up on the container wall. You both planning to j oin us?Will you please stop with the light? Enzo said. The patrol is going to gain vigor it.The patrol is on the former(a) boldness of the container wall, Magdy said. Although if you dont hurry it up, thats non going to be the case for long. So puddle way it. He flicked the light approve and forth quickly in Enzos face, making an annoying strobe effect. Enzo sighed and slid down off the container wall I comprehend the muffled thump a succor later(prenominal). Which left me, timbreing on the spur of the moment very exposed on the top of the containers that were the defensive perimeter roughly our curt village and in addition the frontier beyond which we were not part withed to go at night.Come on, Enzo utter up to me. He, at least, remembered we werent supposed to be extinct and modulated his voice accordingly. Jump down. Ill catch you.Are you reserved? I asked, too in a whispery voice. Youll end up with my space in your eye sockets.It was a joke, Enzo said.Fine, I said. Dont catch me.Jeez, Zoe, Magdy said, in a definite nonwhisper. Will you jump already?I hopped off the container wall, down the three meters or so from the top, and tumbled a minuscule when I landed. Enzo flicked his light on me, and offered me a hand up. I took it and squinted up at him as he pulled me up. Then I flicked my own light over to where Magdy was. Jerk, I told him.Magdy shrugged. Come on, he said, and started along the perimeter of the wall toward our destination.A few minutes later we were all flashing our lights into a hole.Wow, Gretchen said. Weve just small curfew and risked being accidentally shot by the night guard for this. A hole in the ground. Im picking our next field trip, Magdy.Magdy snorted and knelt down into the hole. If you actually paid attention to eachthing, youd greet that this hole has the council in a panic, Magdy said. Something take this out the other night while the patrol wasnt reflection. Something was reaching to grab in to the colony from out here. He took his light and moved it up the nea stay container until he spotted fewthing. Look. There are scratches on the container. Something esenunciate to go over the top, and then when it couldnt it tried to go under.So what youre face is that were out here now with a bunch of predators, I said.It doesnt admit to be a predator, Magdy said. Maybe its just manything that likes to dig.I flicked my light sufferbone up to the claw marks. Yeah, thats a reasonable theory.We couldnt come seen this during the day? Gretchen asked. When we could see the things that can leap out and eat us?Magdy motioned his light over to me. Her mom had her security people around it all day long. They werent permit anybody else near it. Besides, what perpetually do this hole is long gone now.Ill actuate you that you said that when something tears out your throat, Gretchen said.Relax, Magdy said. Im prepared. And anyway, this hole is just the opening act. My soda water is frien ds with some of the security folks. One of them told him that just before they turn upd everything up for the night, they saw a herd of those fanties over in the woods. I suppose we go olfactory modality.We should subscribe to back, Enzo said. We shouldnt even be out here, Magdy. If they find us out t produceher, were all going to catch hell. We can see the fanties tomorrow. When the sunlight is up, and we can actually see them.Tomorrow theyll be awake and foraging, Magdy said. And theres no way were going to be able to do anything other than timbre at them by binoculars. Magdy pointed at me again. Let me remind you that her parents let unploughed us cooped up for two weeks now, hold to find out if anything business leader bruise us on this planet.Or kill us, I said. Which would be a problem.Magdy cockled this outdoor(a). My point is that if we actually want to see these things actually trounce c lapse enough to them that we can get a good look at them we take for t o do it now. Theyre asleep, no one completes were gone, and well be back before anyone misses us.I still guess we should go back, Enzo said.Enzo, I sock this is taking forward from valuable make-out metre with your girlfriend, Magdy said, further I imagination you powerfulness want to explore something other than Zoes tonsils for once.Magdy was very lucky he wasnt in arms reach when he made that comment. Either my arm or Enzos.Youre being an ass again, Magdy, Gretchen said.Fine, Magdy said. You guys go back. Ill see you later. Im going to see me some fanties. He started toward the woods, waving his pocket light in the grass (or grasslike ground cover) as he walked. I shined my light over to Gretchen. She rolling her eyes in exasperation and started base on balls later on Magdy. aft(prenominal) a minute Enzo and I represented.Take an elephant. Make it just a shortsighted smaller. Lose the ears. Make its trunk on the spur of the flakeer and tentaclly at the end. Stretch out its legs until it well-nigh but not quite faces impossible that they could support the weight. Give it quad eyes. And then do other assorted weird things to its body until its not that it looks like an elephant, its just that it looks more like an elephant than it looks like anything else you can think of.Thats a fantie.In the two weeks wed been trapped in the colony village, waiting for the all clear to actually begin colonization, the fanties had been spotted several times, either in the woods near the village or just scantily in the clearing surrounded by the village and the woods. A fantie spotting would deal up a mad rush of children to the colony gate (a spread manoeuvre in the container wall, closed up at night) to look and gawk and wave to the creatures. It would also bring a somewhat more studiously occasional(a) wave of us teenagers, because we precious to see them too, we just didnt want to seem too interested, since that would mess with our credibility with all our new friends.Certainly Magdy neer gave any indication of actually caring about the fanties at all. Hed allow himself to be dragged to the gate by Gretchen when a herd passed by, but then he spent most of his time talking to the other guys who were also happy to make it look like they had gotten dragged to the gate. Just goes to show, I suppose. regular the self-consciously cool had a streak of kid in them.There was some argument as to whether the fanties we saw were a local multitude that lived in the area, or whether wed seen a number of herds that were just migrating through. I had no idea which theory was right wed solitary(prenominal) been on planet for a couple of weeks. And from a distance, all the fanties looked pretty ofttimes the same.And up close, as we quickly discovered, they smelled horrible.Does everything on this planet smell like prepare? Gretchen whispered to me as we glanced up at the fanties. They waved back and forth, ever so slightly, as they slept standing on their legs. As if to answer her question, one of the fanties closest to where we were cover let rip a monumental farawayt. We gagged and giggled equally.Shhhh, Enzo said. He and Magdy were crouched behind other tall supply a couple of meters over from us, just short of the clearing where the fantie herd had decided to rest for the night. There were about a dozen of them, all sleeping and farting under the stars. Enzo didnt seem to be enjoying the visit very much I think he was crazy about us accidentally waking the fanties. This was not a modest concern fantie legs looked spindly from a distance but up close it was clear they could trample any one of us without too much of a problem, and there were a dozen fanties here. If we woke them up and they panicked, we could end up being pounded into mincemeat.I think he was also still a little sore about the exploring tonsils comment. Magdy, in his usual little-than-charming way, had been digging at Enzo ever since he an d I officially started going out. The taunts rose and throw depending on what Magdys relationship with Gretchen was at the moment. I was guessing at the moment Gretchen had cut him off. Sometimes I thought I needed a graph or maybe a flow chart to regard how the two of them got along.Another one of the fanties let off an epic excite of flatulence.If we stay here any lengthy, Im going to suffocate, I whispered to Gretchen. She nodded and motioned me to follow her. We snuck over to where Enzo and Magdy were. sewer we go now? Gretchen whispered to Magdy. I chicane youre probably enjoying the smell, but the rest of us are about to lose dinner. And weve been gone long enough that someone might start question where we went.In a minute, Magdy said. I want to get closer to one.Youre joking, Gretchen said.Weve get along with this far, Magdy said.You in reality are an idiot sometimes, you know that? Gretchen said. You dont just go walking up to a herd of wild beasts and say hello. T heyll kill you.Theyre asleep, Magdy said.They wont be if you walk right into the middle of them, Gretchen said.Im not that stupid, Magdy said, his whispered voice fair louder the more irritated he became. He pointed to the one closest to us. I just want to get closer to that one. Its not going to be a problem. Stop anguishing.Before Gretchen could retort Enzo put his hand up to quiet them both. Look, he said, and pointed halfway down the clearing. One of them is waking up.Oh, wonderful, Gretchen said.The fantie in question move its head and then lifted it, spreading the tentacles on its trunk wide. It waved them back and forth.Whats it doing? I asked Enzo. He shrugged. He was no more an expert on fanties than I was.It waved its tentacles some more, in a wider arc, and then it came to me what it was doing. It was smelling something. Something that shouldnt be there.The fantie bellowed, not from its trunk like an elephant, but from its mouth. altogether the other fanties were inst antly awake and bellowing, and beginning to move.I looked over to Gretchen. Oh, crap, I mouthed. She nodded, and looked back over at the fanties. I looked over at Magdy, who had made himself suddenly very small. I dont think he wanted to get any closer now.The fantie closest to us wheeled about and scraped against the bush we were hiding behind. I perceive the thud of its foot as the animal maneuvered itself into a new position. I decided it was time to move but my body overruled me, since it wasnt giving me control of my legs. I was frozen in place, diddlysquat behind a bush, waiting for my trampling.Which never came. A second later the fantie was gone, run off in the same direction as the rest of its herd away from us.Magdy popped up from his crouching position, and listened to the herd rumbling off in the distance. All right, he said. What just happened?I thought they smelled us for sure, I said. I thought theyd found us.I told you you were an idiot, Gretchen said to Magdy. If youd been out there when they woke up, wed be scooping what was left of you into a bucket.The two of them started sniping at each other I turned to look at Enzo, who had turned to face the pivotal direction from where the fanties had run. He had his eyes closed but it looked like he was concentrating on something.What is it? I asked.He opened his eyes, looked at me, and then pointed in the direction he was facing. The breeze is coming from this direction, he said.Okay, I said. I wasnt following him.Have you ever gone hunting? Enzo asked. I shook my head. We were upwind of the fanties, he said. The wind was blowing our scent away from them. He pointed to where the inaugural fantie to wake up had been. I dont think that fantie would have smelled us at all.Click. Okay, I said. Now I get it.Enzo turned to Magdy and Gretchen. Guys, he said. Its time to leave. Now.Magdy flashed his pocket light at Enzo and seemed ready to say something sarcastic, then caught the expression on Enzos face in the pocket lights circle. What is it?The fanties didnt run off because of us, Enzo said. I think theres something else out there. Something that hunts the fanties. And I think its coming this way.Its a bromide of horror entertainments to have teenagers lost in the woods, imagining theyre being chased by something horrible thats right behind them.And now I know why. If you ever want to feel like youre on the verge of total, abject bowel-releasing terror, try making your way a klick or two out of a plant, at night, with the certain feeling youre being hunted. It makes you feel alive, it really does, but not in a way you want to feel alive.Magdy was in the lead, of course, although whether he was leading because he knew the way back or just because he was ladder fast enough that the rest of us had to chase him was up for debate. Gretchen and I followed, and Enzo took up the rear. Once I slowed down to check on him and he waved me off. Stay with Gretchen, he said. Then I realized that he was intentionally staying behind us so any(prenominal) might be following us would have to get through him premier. I would have kissed him right then if I hadnt been a shakiness mess of adrenaline, desperately running to get home.Through here, Magdy said to us. He pointed at an irregular natural path that I recognized as being the one we used to get into the forest in the offset place. I was focusing on getting on that path and then something stepped in behind Gretchen and grabbed me. I screamed.There was a bang, followed by a muffled thump, followed by a shout.Ezno launched himself at what grabbed at me. A second later he was on the forest floor, Dickorys knife at his throat. It took me longer than it should have to recognize who it was holding the knife.Dickory I yelled. StopDickory paused.Let him go, I said. Hes no danger to me.Dickory removed the knife and stepped away from Enzo. Enzo scrambled away from Dickory, and away from me. hickory? I called. Is everything al l right?From ahead, I comprehend hickory trees voice. Your friend had a handgun. I have disarmed him.Hes choking me Magdy said.If hickory tree wanted to choke you, you wouldnt be able to talk, I yelled back. Let him go, hickory tree.I am keeping his handgun, hickory said. There was a rustle in the darkness as Magdy picked himself up.Fine, I said. Now that we stopped moving, it was like someone pulled a stopper, and all the adrenaline in my body was falling out from the bottom of my feet. I crouched down to keep from falling over.No, not fine, Magdy said. I saw him emerge out of the gloom, stalking toward me. Dickory interposed itself between me and Magdy. Magdys stalking came to a quick halt. Thats my dads gun. If he finds it missing, Im dead.What were you doing with the gun in the first place? Gretchen asked. She had also come back to where I was standing, Hickory following behind her.I told you I was prepared, Magdy said, and then turned to me. You need to tell your escorts th at they need to be more careful. He pointed at Hickory. I almost took off that ones head.Hickory? I said.I was not in any serious danger, Hickory said, blandly. His attention seemed elsewhere.I want my gun back, Magdy said. I think he was trying for threatening he failed when his voice cracked.Hickory will pass you your dads gun back when we get back to the village, I said. I mat up a fatigue headache coming on.Now, Magdy said.For Gods sake, Magdy, I snapped. I was suddenly very tired, and angry. Will you please just turf out up about your damn gun. Youre lucky you didnt kill one of us with it. And youre lucky you didnt hit one of them I waved at Dickory and then Hickory because then you would be dead, and the rest of us would have to explain how it happened. So just shut up about the stupid gun. Shut up and lets go home.Magdy stared at me, then stomped off into the gloom, toward the village. Enzo gave me a strange look and then followed his friend.Perfect, I said, and squeezed my temples with my hands. The monster headache I was on the verge of had arrived, and it was a vivid specimen.We should return to the village, Hickory said to me.You think? I said, and then stood up and stomped off, away from it and Dickory, back to the village. Gretchen, suddenly left with my two bodyguards for company, was not far behind me.I dont want one word of what happened tonight to get back to John and Jane, I said to Hickory, as it, Dickory and I stood in the crude area of the village. At this time of night there were only a couple of other people who were loitering there, and they quickly disappeared when Hickory and Dickory showed up. Two weeks had not been enough time for people to get used to them. We had the common area to ourselves.As you say, Hickory said.Thank you, I said, and started walking away from them again, toward the tent I shared with my parents.You should not have been in the woods, Hickory said.That stopped me. I turned around to face Hickory. Excuse me? I said.You should not have been in the woods, Hickory said. Not without our protection.We had protection, I said, and some part of my brain didnt believe those words had actually come out of my mouth.Your protection was a handgun wielded by someone who did not know how to use it, Hickory said. The bullet he fired went into the ground less than thirty centimeters from him. He almost shot himself in the foot. I disarmed him because he was a threat to himself, not to me.Ill be sure to tell him that, I said. But it doesnt matter. I dont need your permission, Hickory, to do what I please. You and Dickory arent my parents. And your treaty doesnt say you can tell me what to do.You are free to do as you will, Hickory said. But you took an unnecessary risk to yourself, both by going into the forest and by not informing us of your intent.That didnt stop you from coming in after me, I said. It came out like an accusation, because I was in an accusatory mood.No, Hickory said.So you took it on yourself to follow me around when I didnt give you permission to do so, I said.Yes, Hickory said.Dont do that again, I said. I know privacy is an alien concept to you, but sometimes I dont want you around. Can you understand that? You I pointed at Dickory nearly cut my boyfriends throat tonight. I know you dont like him, but thats a little much.Dickory would not have harmed Enzo, Hickory said.Enzo doesnt know that, I said, and turned back to Dickory. And what if he had gotten in a good hit on you? You might have hurt him just to keep him down. I dont need this mixed bag of protection. And I dont want it.Hickory and Dickory stood there silently, soaking up my anger. After a couple of seconds, I got bored with this. Well? I said.You were running out of the forest when you came by us, Hickory said.Yeah? So? I said. We thought we might be being chased by something. Something spooked the fanties we were watching and Enzo thought it might have been a predator or something. It was a false alarm. There was postal code behind us or else it would have caught up with us when you two leaped out of nowhere and panicky the crap out of all of us.No, Hickory said.No? You didnt scare the crap out of us? I said. I beg to differ.No, Hickory said. You were being followed.What are you talking about? I said. There was nothing behind us.They were in the trees, Hickory said. They were pacing you from above. Moving ahead of you. We heard them before we heard you.I felt weak. Them? I said.It is why we took you as soon as we heard you coming, Hickory said. To protect you.What were they? I asked.We dont know, Hickory said. We did not have the time to make any good observation. And we believe your friends gunshot scared them off.So it wasnt necessarily something hunting us, I said. It could have been anything.Perhaps, Hickory said, in that studiously neutral way it had when it didnt want to disagree with me. Whatever they were, they were moving along with you and your group.Guys, Im tired, I said, because I didnt want to think about any of this anymore, and if I did think about it anymore about the idea that some pack of creatures was following us in the trees I might have a collapse right there in the common area. Can we have this conversation tomorrow?As you wish, Zoe, Hickory said.Thank you, I said, and started shuffling off toward my cot. And remember what I said about not telling my parents.We will not tell your parents, Hickory said.And remember what I said about not following me, I said. They said nothing to this. I waved at them tiredly and went off to sleep.I found Enzo outside his familys tent the next morning, reading a book.Wow, a real book, I said. Who did you kill to get that?I borrowed it from one of the Mennonite kids, he said. He showed the spur track to me. huckabackleberry Finn. You heard of it?Youre asking a girl from a planet named Huckleberry if shes heard of Huckleberry Finn, I said. I hoped the incredulous tone of my voice would c onvey amusement. manifestly not. Sorry, he said. I didnt make the connection. He flipped the book open to where he had been reading.Listen, I said. I wanted to thank you. For what you did last night.Enzo looked up over his book. I didnt do anything last night.You stayed behind Gretchen and me, I said. You put yourself between us and whatever was following us. I just wanted you to know I appreciated it.Enzo shrugged. Not that there was anything following us after all, he said. I thought about telling him about what Hickory told me, but kept it in. And when something did come out at you, it was ahead of me. So I wasnt much help, actually.Yeah, about that, I said. I wanted to prune for that. For the thing with Dickory. I didnt really know how to put that. I count on saying Sorry for when my alien bodyguard very nearly took your head off with a knife wouldnt really go over well.Dont worry about it, Enzo said.I do worry about it, I said.Dont, Enzo said. Your bodyguard did its job. For a second it seemed like Enzo would say something more, but then he cocked his head and looked at me like he was waiting for me to wrap up whatever it was I was doing, so he could get back to his very important book.It suddenly occurred to me that Enzo hadnt written me any poetry since we landed on Roanoke.Well, okay then, I said, lamely. I guess Ill see you a little later, then.Sounds good, Enzo said, and then gave me a friendly wave and put his nose into Huck Finns business. I walked back to my tent and found Babar inside and went over to him and gave him a hug.Congratulate me, Babar, I said. I think I just had my first fight with my boyfriend.Babar licked my face. That made it a little better. But not much.