Love In The Dark: The World After

Wildlands

Ariadne and me jumped in unison. The little deer lay still. A purple puddle of blood slowly enveloping its frail body. I looked on in horror slowly turning to see Olivia, the patrol leader, holstering her gun. “It’s cute until it brings something into the stronghold… or murders everyone.” I watched in confusion and disgust. I struggled to imagine such a fragile being causing so much trouble.

“Key” She laughed sweetly, the sound a contradiction to the gruesome sight at the gates. “Shall we go?” She gestured for me to follow. I composed myself. Clearly, she must know something I don’t. I nodded.

I urged Ariadne forward and the steps of 50 more Maltos fell in line behind me. The Wildlands were beautiful, the air was sweet, the tree canopy above us cast us in shadow, yet the soft glow of the flowers kept the forest floor lit. Ariadne seemed to be very aware of our environment. Her small ears twitching in response to the forest sounds. I had spent the first 15 minutes an anxious mess but as time passed, I found myself relaxing into the rhythm of the ride.

The path we walked was well worn from the regular patrols. It flanked the walls but kept us in cover. Ariadne breathed out deeply letting out an almost growling snort. Her pace didn’t falter but I could feel she had eyed something to our right. I felt my heart skip a beat nothing really spooked Ariadne. I subtly looked into the trees. I felt the hair raise along the back of my neck. Something was definitely there, my eyes could barely focus but they were drawn around 20 meters to my left. A dark silhouette back lit by glowing vines on distant tree trunks.

Fear.

A cold chill down my spine. Even with all my comrades behind me I still felt defenceless. My morbid curiosity had me forgetting about any subtlety and I stared hard into the distance to make sure I wasn’t staring at a tree. Nope it was moving, we were being stalked through the forest. It’s footsteps incredibly light, it was humanoid, yet its eyes glowed a green blue tinge. Maybe it was one of those unfortunate souls who were thrown into the wildlands years ago. What did the mutation do to humans. I had no idea.

I pushed Ariadne faster up to Olivia who was a few paces ahead. “Olivia” I started.

“Fall back and keep your eyes forward” She snapped in a hushed tone. I hadn’t noticed. Olivia was afraid, her shoulders held tensely and her fingers white from gripping the reins. Her mount was moving anxiously too and it looked like she was struggling to keep it moving forward. I looked back. I wasn’t alone, the few trainees I could see had pale faces and the Maltos were all moving flighty. I passed on Olivia’s message and the message slowly travelled back through the patrol.

Another deep angry snort. My attention snapped towards the noise, it came from beneath me. Ariadne had her tail held high, I hadn’t noticed but with each step she almost pranced, unlike the others she wasn’t afraid. I braved Olivia again. “Olivia..”

“You don’t understand…” she whispered. I looked at her, normally she looked youthful for her age. Olivia had over 35 years as an old guard. She normally exuded confidence yet right now her face looked weathered, her eyes glistening with the hint of unshed tears. I frowned. “We wiped these out” she quietly choked out. She looked pale. I reached out to touch her shoulder, she looked through me, her mind clearly lost in another time. “Key” her tone soft as if she was talking with an old friend. “They’re going to kill us” She whispered, her voice hauntingly sad, I could tell my eyes glazed over.

My first mission, my first time in the wildlands, my first time being second in command and this?!

“No” I said my tone self-assured. “They’re not” I said my false confidence feeling less false with each second. “What are they” I kept my voice low, I hadn’t realised there was multiple.

“Tuca” She must’ve caught my look of confusion. A sad smiled as if she gave up at that moment. “A variant of human affected by the mutation. Animals… essentially”

“Do they speak English?”

“You can’t reason with them. If they are here, they want the stronghold.” She unholstered her gun and began loading up bullets.

“You’ve read books right” I nodded “Imagine a vampire without the blood, without all the weaknesses” I locked eyes with Olivia, she nodded slowly “Faster, stronger, ability to control, to mimic, to assimilate, to shapeshift and no vulnerabilities... well unless you think you can shoot something quicker than a bullet. The perfect hunter. We bombed them, in Deadzone 1.” She passed me her pistol. “Fall back take the right fork in 5 minutes. Leave the path. Get to wall and ride back to the gates and tell them you need to speak with Jace. Tell him and only him what you’ve seen. If they don’t see you, maybe some of us will live.”

“What are you going to do?” I said holstering the pistol.

“We’ve got a three day patrol to do” She smiled grimly. I nodded solemly, I was lost. I fell back and trotted towards the back of the patrol pulling any stragglers tighter. The patrol was silent except from the uneven drum of flighty hooves and anxious whines. I circled back up to the front and nodded at Olivia before falling back to the middle of the pack.

A few minutes later the path forked, using the patrol as cover we slunk into the undergrowth. Ariadne’s steps were delicate as if she understood that stealth was our objective. The beat of hooves quietened as the path disappeared behind us. The forest was dark and getting darker, the pretty glowing flowers were replaced with tall grass and thick bushes.

After around 10 minutes of walking we still hadn’t escaped the forest path. I could tell Ariadne was starting to struggle. Walking through undergrowth this thick couldn’t be easy. Ariadne stopped with a jolt. I looked ahead with a sigh of relief. Light was streaking through the canopy, from the looks of it the clearing flanking the stronghold walls was barely a stones throw ahead. If I squinted, I could almost see the green grey walls in front of me. I pushed Ariadne forwards but she refused. She let out a gentle whine. I hopped down, instantly regretting my decision as the undergrowth was up to my ribs and the floor felt mushy. I waded forwards giving her a gentle pat.

She threw her head up uncomfortably and nudged me back. I frowned. “We need to go” I whispered.

The bushes rustled and deep growls echoed around us. Ariadne perked up, her eyes wide and nostrils flared. She began pacing in front of me drawing an invisible line between me and the incoming danger. She was stressed like a mare protecting her foal. I could see them now large hound like beasts with huge fangs, large golden eyes, and droopy jowls. Their coats patchy like they had some sort of mange, and a few of them were incredibly skinny. They were hungry.