A Voice At The River

In the morning, I stretched out my hands as I usually did before a long day of work and instead met the roof of the hollow tree. Startled, I jumped up, and bumped my head against the tree trunk, the reality of the last day hitting me fast. I was itchy and wondered if I had not made such a grand mistake leaving my pack and coming into the woods where I had no water, no food, no safety, and knew no one.

A bird chirped in the distance, and I wondered how early the day was. The moon had faded into the distance, but the sun was not yet out, a weird interloping of the two of them leaving the outside world blanketed in darkness.

My body clock usually woke me up before it was even 5am, so I decided it must still be around that time and crawled out of the tree trunk. Grabbing on to my makeshift knapsack, I began to walk in the direction of what I hoped was a stream so I could wash up. I had not gone this long without the splash of ester on my skin - even as a slave - and I was starting to see it as the most uncomfortable part of the entire experience.

I still had something to eat, and from the trees that hung low I could see some familiar fruit, so food was not such a priority. I needed to find a way to make shelter, but I couldn't do that till I was completely safe and was a fair enough distance from my pack.

I had blisters beginning to form at the bottom of my feet, and I knew that my face looked like something out of a guerrilla warfare movie. Still, I pressed on, confident that most, if not all, of my problems would be solved once I found a water spot.

In my hand I brandished the knife that I had stolen from the table, and I planned to wash it at the river. I also held it out in front of me as a form.of protection, because I had never been in this part of the woods and I had no idea exactly what or who I would find in there. I might be an Omega without the ability to transform myself at will, but I also knew that I did not want to be a dead omega, and my best chances at survival relied on the knife.

Soon enough, the sound of running water was all that I could hear, and I knew that I was close enough to the river. The thought of running water made me tremendously happy, and I forgot myself and ran to the river to wash myself up. I had not realized how thirsty I was till that instant, and now that I was aware of it, it was all that I could think about.

It didn't occur to me that there could be someone else there, or even more than one, because I simply rushed all the way there, splashing the cool water onto my face.

“Wow, someone's hot!” came a voice, and startled, I jumped. Thanks to how loosely my foot was planted by the Riverside, I feel headfirst into the cold water.

“Well, that was one way to take a bath now, wasn't it?” Turning over to where the voice came from, I was shocked to see a handsome man, surrounded by equally beautiful people, who had no business being in the woods. He was dressed in clothing that I recognised to be good fabric, and I knew that it was not readily available to just anyone, so I jumped to my feet and paid more attention to his face, hoping that recognition would visit me soon. The rest of them seemed to study me too, their eyes running across my body. I felt self conscious, but I stood my ground in spite of it.

I felt a thrum of power bubble at my fingertips as I counted them in number. They were all around me and could attack me at any minute. I felt a strength that I hadn't had before, and I knew somehow that I could take them. Someone's hand reached out and tapped my back, and acting on adrenaline, I pulled his arm over my shoulder and threw him head first into the water.

“He is a member of us, the outcasts. He was deaf, he just wanted to say hello.”

Smiling, I tucked my head and conceded that he did have a point. He didn't need to humor me or answer me with an explanation, but he had, and now I felt like I should be nice to him.

“My bad. Who are you?”

“I am from Running Brooks, and no, that is not where I'm headed,” he smiled, speaking for all of them. Murmurs of assent went through them.

“Same with you guys?” I asked, and the rest of the outcasts shrugged, obviously not used to speaking so much.

“How mysterious!” I smiled, squeezing my freshly short mop of hair. I was used to having long hair and taking much more time to wash my hair and groom myself, but hacking it off the night before had apparently been the right decision, because now I could go about my day without worrying about long hair dripping water across my shoulder as I went on with my regular activities.

I felt a little spark of attraction towards Lee, the smart, funny man who had helped me out of the river, but I also knew that it was temporary, and was just me clinging on to the first bit of human contact I had seen in quite some time.

“Where are you from, and where are you headed?” he asked me, the smile suddenly disappearing from his face. He was already becoming very serious about the topic, a trait I found instantly endearing. It was nice to be asked questions, nobody had been curious about me in quite some time.

“I don't know how to answer that without sounding at least a little bit silly. My pack is back there, and I was exiled, sort of? A long story, but I don't have a destination in my mind. I'm simply moving.”

“Would you like to move with us? We're heading to a settlement over in the east.”

“I'm David,” came one of the outcasts.

“Kimora,” said another.

“Wally.”

“Luke,” signed the deaf guy.

“Nice to meet you guys. I'm Layla.”

A pause went over the conversation, the sound of the running river being the only conceivable sound. I thought about my options and looked them over. Lee himself was at least a Beta, and could offer me protection from the dangers that loomed in the shadows of the forest. Instead of telling him how little I could do, I looked him in his eyes and simply asked him, “Can you build a shelter?”