Chapter One

The sun beat down on the scorched and barren land with such intensity that its rays glistened off the tiny particles of soil that was so dark that it almost looked black.  Thick heat waves hovered in between Kendra and her target, making it difficult to focus for a clear shot.  She knelt on one knee in hopes that the mountain’s shadow would dull the sun’s rays enough to improve her vision.  She silently cursed as her stomach announced its need for sustenance with a loud rumble that softly echoed off the boulders on either side of her.  Holding her breath, she hoped that it wasn’t loud enough to alert the big cat of her presence as it languidly stretched its long body across the surface of a flat boulder while it bathed in the sun’s intense rays.  Beads of sweat trickled down her torso as she slowly pulled the bow string and released the arrow.  The cat’s wail of surprise echoed off the boulders that lined the barren valley as the arrow pierced its heart.  Kendra wasted no time rushing to the oversized feline’s side.  She reached it just as the wail was replaced by a thick, reverent silence that hung heavy around the beautiful beast.

She closely inspected her kill.  If it was too genetically altered, the meat would be dangerous to ingest.  To her surprise and delight, this cat looked to be in a healthy and unaltered state.  There would be no need to toss the mutated bits of its body away.  The entire body was consumable.

Her hands trembled with both excitement and fear as she gutted the rare find. When she was finished, she rinsed the residue of blood and guts from her hands as best as she could with water from her canteen and then draped the heavy beast over her shoulders.  She didn’t know which was the more difficult part of hunting; the search for the animal or the task of lugging it home.

It was illegal to kill any animal that was in the original, pre-nuclear genetic state without a permit that was granted only for a justifiable cause. Needless to say, she had no permit.

Not only was there no permit office nearby, but, although Kendra considered the hungry bellies at home a justifiable cause, she knew that the regime would not.  If she was caught, it could mean imprisonment, servitude, or worse. 

She searched the skies for signs of a drone while she crouched low and made her way back to camp. She wore dark clothes that blended with the landscape fairly well, but her burden’s rich, buttery coloring was in stark contrast to the world around her. The more space she put between her and the kill spot and the closer she got to her home that was located on a hillside with trees to help camouflage her, the calmer she grew. 

She’d made certain to mutilate the cat’s face just enough to make it impossible to tell if it was an original or a mutant, should she come upon someone with curious eyes.

It was rare to encounter another person in those parts. She couldn’t remember the last time that it happened. So, it wasn’t running into someone while traveling home that really concerned her. It was the response to her kill once she got home. Her aunt Olga had done her best to keep their existence hidden from the authorities.  She lived in perpetual fear and was a stickler for keeping a low profile.  If she knew that Kendra had killed an original mountain lion and brought it home for her to cook, she would have surely had an attack of apoplexy.

Kendra did her best to be patient and understanding of her aunt’s fears and phobias. She had no recollection of the traumatic event that took her parents from her and left her in the care of her aunt while still a toddler, but Olga remembered it well. 

The authorities had caught wind of the fact that Kendra’s mother and father had captured a few wild animals and were raising them as livestock.  Although, it wasn’t illegal to do this, it was the law that they report all livestock and crops to the regime and give one tenth of all yield to it.  Kendra’s clan was large with many hungry mouths to feed.  Therefore, her father disobeyed the law and didn’t register their entire yield with them.  

To complicate matters, the adults in the clan were actively worshiping the gods and goddesses in hopes of the return of a better life. Her father and mother were the high priest and priestess. Since the regime demanded ultimate reverence, worship of any gods was considered a crime so severe that its punishment was death.

When they learned of her father’s deceit, the regime sent Cyborg troops to seize their livestock and confiscate their yielded crops.  The crops that weren’t yet harvested were set ablaze. As were their modest homes. 

The raid upon their homestead revealed their worship habits and Kendra’s father and mother were taken to be put to death. It was unknown to her whether they were used as food or simply executed. She hadn’t bothered to find out.  She didn’t want to know.

Her sister and brother, along with her aunts, uncles, and cousins, were seized for breeding and servitude to the aliens. 

Since Felix, Rupert, and Kendra were mere babes in arms and were too young to be of use in servitude for quite some time and there were no instructions given to the Cyborg troops -who lacked the capacity to think on their own- about what to do with babies, they were simply left to perish.

Fortunately, Olga was not at home when this all came down.  She had learned of a berry patch at the foothills of the mountain and was off collecting what she could when the raid took place. It was with a saddened heart that she returned to find three toddlers sitting amongst the smoldering remains of their homestead.

After sitting beneath the shade of one of the few trees that managed to somehow flourish on their cursed land to absorb and come to grips with what happened, she gathered the three abandoned infants and made for the hills to think on what to do.

After praying for guidance to the gods, she let the winds lead her east until she came upon a small, hidden valley that had managed to regain enough life to be habitable. When she discovered the stream of fresh water running through it, she quickly turned a small cave into a suitable shelter from the harsh elements. 

After a few days of foraging for edible wild plants, she felt that the destroyed crops of her homestead would have cooled down enough to allow her access. She considered tying the toddlers in the cave until she returned, but the fear of a wild beast finding them in her absence forced her to build a traverse and drag them back to the homestead with her.  It proved a wise decision, since -after she turned it into a fun game- they helped collect all of the singed canned goods that they could find amongst the rubble and pulled a good deal of the plants that survived the fire from the loose soil so that their roots could be replanted in their new home.

The troops had missed a few eggs that weren’t easily visible, so Olga quickly cooked them up and fed the children.  They’d taken most of the day to accomplish their mission.  Since she had no desire to travel through the night with three babies in tow, she picked through the rubble until she found some materials to make a small shelter for them. It was sooty, but it did the trick.  By the morning, they were smudged and in need of a bath, but they were rested with satisfied bellies and a hope for the future.

Olga not only managed to create a garden for them with the plant roots that they’d pulled from the ground, but she’d successfully created a home for them to live in.  It was in this home that Kendra grew into a strong, self-sufficient young woman.  In fact, she proved to be far better at caring for their needs than did Felix or Rupert.  Especially Rupert, who tended to be lazy and unreliable.

Olga was sitting on the stump that acted as a stool near the fire when Kendra entered their cave.

“I hung my kill up on the hook,” she said as she made her way to the washing barrel and immersed her arms up to her elbows in the water.

“So, the gods were with you today,” Olga said.

“Thanks be to Diana. We will eat well for a while,” Kendra said as she pulled a coarse rag from the drying rack to dry her arms and hands with. 

“Did you check it to make sure it was safe to eat?” Olga asked.

Kendra grew impatient. “You ask me that every time I hunt.”

“It only takes one slip up and your life is changed forever,” Olga replied.

Kendra pouted. “I don’t see why we can’t get a few domestics to raise.  It would be nice not to have to hunt and hope that your kill is edible.  The eggs from the few chickens we keep cooped up aren’t enough to sustain us and hunting is getting scarcer by the day.”

“Keeping the chickens is risky enough.  I’ve told you to the point that I’m tired of telling you that larger animals would be detected by the drones,” Olga grumbled. “We live in this damnable cave to keep from being noticed.”  She shrugged. “Is it really that difficult for you?”

“It would be nice if I got a little help from the men,” Kendra said. “They’re quick to fill their bellies but slow to join me on the hunt.”

“Felix’s club foot prevents him from keeping up with you,” Olga mused.  “He does his share of gardening. That’s sufficient.”

“And Rupert?” Kendra asked with a raised brow.

Olga slowly shook her head. “He’s just damned lazy. Although, he’s good for a repair of electronics whenever we manage to scavenge something up.”

“Electronics are worthless if you don’t have sufficient solar power,” Kendra snapped.

Olga struggled to stand. “I suppose I can rustle up enough life into these bones to go out in your stead now and then.”

Kendra scowled. “You’ll do no such thing. What are you cooking in that pot?”

“Turnip and carrot soup,” Olga said with a smile. “I’ll add a nice bone to it now.”

“With some meat, please,” Kendra said as she headed out to skin the cat. “I’ll get you a bone with some meat on it.  Then, I’ll cut the rest to dry out and store.”

“I got the cooler working,” Olga said with pride.

Kendra stopped at the opening and looked at the battered and rusty refrigerator.  “You’ve been struggling with that thing since you dragged it home last year.  There’s not enough power to keep it going. It spoils more than it preserves. I don’t dare trust it with this meat. I say we dehydrate it.”  

“It uses a lot of power.  We need better solar panels,” Olga said with a sigh.  “I’m going to take Rupert and Felix to scavenge for some in a few days.”

“Good luck with that,” Kendra said as she exited the cave with her knife in hand.